


Tamers Requiem, book 3: Less than Human

by Crazyeight



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Tamers
Genre: Action/Adventure, Battle, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Multi, Platonic Romance, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-08-16 13:18:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 194
Words: 1,002,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8103943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazyeight/pseuds/Crazyeight
Summary: In the aftermath of Guilmon's death and rebirth, the Tamer's are left with new questions and doubts. New dangers begin to rise as well, and with the dawn the Tamers will face new trials. For each of them the greatest test is...themselves.





	1. Prologue: Shattered World's

The girl winced as all around her sand blew, kicked up by the rush of wind that hammered her on all sides. Blinking her crimson eyes the dark haired, crimson-eyed girl forced herself to push forward, moistening her extremely dry lips as she did so. Her legs were unsteady as she walked through the sandy dunes that surrounded her, and she stumbled a few times on more than one occasion, nearly falling, but each time she did she would get steady herself as best she could and continue onwards. Her mind was a blank at this moment; all of her willpower was focused on moving forward and finding some shelter. Not that she could see any of that sort, there being so much sand in the air around her. The girl suddenly coughed as she inhaled some sand, nearly collapsing again at that, but once more stubbornly refusing to do so. Instead she just hugged herself protectively and staggered onwards.

_It's so hard to breathe…_

How long had it been since she had arrived here, in this land of desolation and endless sand? Where the days and nights came so quickly and a globe that resembled the Earth hung in the sky, and strange creatures haunted the land? How long had it been since she had seen the digimon Lucemon do battle with the group of children known to the city of Shinjuku, and the world, as the Digimon Tamers, and destroy one of them? A memory flashed through the girl's mind… a memory of a black armored knight with blue-trimmed plating breaking apart into shards of data that was swiftly absorbed by the angelic digimon, altering his appearance from that of a young, blonde haired child to a being that looked to not only be an adult, but also half angel and half demon.

The fact that this was the same angel that she had found in the park, injured after a battle with what he had called _the Great Beast_ and had helped recover from his battle didn't do anything to ease her mind of the sense of guilt and anger that had pervaded her heart since arriving here after running up in that cloud of mist. The monstrous _Great Beast_ that Lucemon had described turned out to be one of the Tamers who were responsible for defeating the red blob from last year, and the much more recent Parasimon invasion. A conversation with a boy in her class by the name of Henry Wong had revealed as much.

Even though she didn't know all the details behind the circumstances surrounding the Tamer's battles with Lucemon, or what precisely had happened to cause the angelic digimon to view one of them as a threat to his home (though from what she had learned she felt that she had something of an idea) girl felt as though she were a party to a crime done against the Tamers as a result of helping Lucemon heal from his injuries.

As the girl strove against the wind that constantly howled around her, she saw something begin to take shape a short ways off (though for all she knew that could have been misleading due to the amount of sand that obscured her vision). Something that looked _huge._ She couldn't be sure, but it looked like a _building_! Hope kindling in her heart, the girl quickened her pace, nearly falling down again as her right foot sunk in the sand, but she held her balance. With renewed determination she strove forward, keeping her eyes set on the shadowy form that stood before her, towering above her. It occurred to her that it could have been one of the digimon that she had seen roaming around the landscape, but at this point she didn't care. _Sand!_ She was so sick and tired of it that she was starting to feel that _anything_ was going to be better than this desert of endless _sand_ and _heat!_ Just how this desert could be so hot when there wasn't a visible sun in the sky or other form of illumination (other than the _Earth_ globe) to make it so.

But then, there were plenty of things about this world that just didn't make any sense. Like those pink beams for example…

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the girl was close enough to see that, yes, the obscure object that she had picked out in the storm was indeed a building; ruins of a temple of some sort by the looks of things. It's interior looked to be dark, though some cracks in the roof looked to be letting in some small amounts of light that she could see by. Sand too but she didn't care so much about that as they were in much smaller amounts than what she was currently grinding between her teeth. She wondered if there was anything living in there, but she soon found that she didn't care. She just wanted _out_ of this storm…

Immediately upon entering the temple the dark haired girl fell the ground on her hands and knees, coughing, spitting, and gasping for air.

_Can't begin to imagine what all that just did to my lungs,_ the girl thought bitterly before crawling deeper into the building, eventually collapsing and curling up into a fetal position, a small whimper escaping her lips as all the built in pressure began to take hold of her at once. Tears forced their way out of her eyes though she tried to hold them back. It was all just too much. One would think that after nearly a week and a half she would have been used to this, but her arrival here, in this strange world that could only be the digital world that she had heard so many rumors about back home, was so unexpected, so sudden, left to survive with absolutely nothing other than the clothes that she had on her and no one to help her, that she had immensely difficult time with coping with her situation. This world was filled with strange, frightening creatures that all too often fought each other to the death and… _ate_ each other (she really had no other way to describe the sight of one digimon downloading the data of a defeated enemy), which went a long way towards discouraging her from asking for help. In addition to the hostility of the world's inhabitants and its environment (though how she was able to stay alive for so long with such small amounts of food and water that she had discovered so far was something that had crossed her mind during periods of either strangely lucid moments, or delirium), she couldn't find a way of getting back home. She had once thought that the pink beams were capable of doing that, but experimentation had just dumped her in yet another desert, completely defeating that idea and nearly causing her to give up then and there.

Round and round the girl's thoughts spun, until finally her mind, too exhausted too keep up with those thoughts, shut down, and she soon found herself falling into a deep sleep…

**###**

The girl opened her eyes sometime later, feeling a little bit better now, though still far from good. Her crimson eyes scowled as she looked out towards the entrance to the structure that she found herself in, noting the endless track of desert that lay behind her.

_At least the storm is over,_ thought the girl as she struggled to her feet. Her legs shook beneath her. She wasn't all that knowledgeable about human biology but she had a feeling that that wasn't a good sign. If only she knew where she could get something to drink or eat, but such things were lacking around here. She had found an oasis a while ago, but the appearance of two large, dark colored dinosaurs with red stripes and green plates sticking out of their backs quickly put an end to the idea. Especially when they used their fiery breath on each other and inadvertently burned the oasis to the ground.

Carefully moving further into the building the girl sought out a niche that she could use to rest and recover some more before deciding whether or not to move on.

Strangely enough, she noted that she didn't feel hungry.

_Must be because of the heat or something,_ the girl thought distractedly, and then a second later froze as she heard a noise. She stood still, straining her ears as she listened carefully. Yes. Yes, she _did_ hear something. A… _groan._ There was someone _in_ here with her! Someone…hurt? She couldn't tell for sure. Should she investigate? Or should she…?

Ignoring her better sense, the girl began to move towards the source of the noise, living up to the name that her mother had given her. If someone was hurt in here, she had to see if there was something that she could do for them. Besides. Maybe they could help her too…

**###**

Sweat trickled down his face, matting his golden hair to his skin as his body shuddered. Memories flooded through his mind as pain racked his body. Memories from the past few days, particularly that of his most recent venture to safeguard what he held dear the most came to mind. In his mind's eye, the visage of an angelic, female figure sapphire armor and golden, metallic wings stood above him, smiling gently at him as she heard him out. Her face held it's smile for a second; a smile that he would have died to make sure would never vanish from existence, and then the feeling of his hopes crashing down as her face became sorrowful. The next words out of her mouth involved something about how things were not always what they were, and that it was not their duty, his especially, to judge the actions of others. She knew in her heart that the wrong that had been done by the _Great Beast_ outside of the fortress of the Sovereign was unintentional, and that the mistake had since been corrected. He remembered how he couldn't accept that. His duty… _their_ duty was to safeguard the digital world, and that meant protecting it from _all_ possible threats! There were so many things about her that he couldn't understand…like how she could feel sorry for something like _the Great Beast_ or a monstrous program like D-Reaper, and regret their destruction even though they had proven themselves to be beyond redemption.

_Ophanimon…_

_"If you knew more fully what you had been… what you_ were, _you would not be so quick to sire death and destruction in the name of justice and protection._

What was she talking about? _Of course_ he knew what he had been! What he had done! True, he didn't remember all that much about it but he was aware of it. Ophanimon and the other Celestial Angels had never hidden that information from him, and they never discouraged him from his looking for answers when he had questions. He wasn't proud of what he had done, and was well aware of the way that other digimon looked upon him when he was around, but he had been punished for his actions. There were times where he felt that he wasn't punished enough, but he always thought that in a way that was distant and detached, as though the punishment were a cold statistic that had to be adhered to, and it was pretty much how he viewed the world around him. Well, all except Ophanimon. She was a conundrum. How she could forgive him he didn't know. So much like that woman that he had met in the real world, Aiko. One would almost think that they were the same person if not for the fact that she was definitely and undeniably human. Willing to forgive no matter what. Loving everything with a love that was undeniable for most digimon. Perhaps the closest thing to a mother's love he had ever known in the digital world.

Loving everything. Caring for everything, even when it hurt her. The Great Beast; D-Reaper; even…

"L-Lucemon?" Trembled a voice from within the darkness. Responding to the sound of the name, and the strangely familiar voice that had spoken it, he opened his blue eyes.

_Who?_

His eyes settled on the figure of a girl with short, dark hair and crimson eyes that he knew all to well. Her face was smudged with dirt and red from sunburn, and her eyes, though hollow looking in appearance, still contained some spark of emotion at what she had just stumbled upon. Strangely, he felt a protective urge flow through him.

_Noriko…Aiko's daughter…what is she doing here? This…this is no place for her…_

"You…" Lucemon coughed. "What… are you _doing…_ here?"

Noriko did not answer him, and instead began to inch away from the angelic Demon Lord, her eyes wide with fear and… something else. Revulsion? But why…?

Lucemon suddenly felt his body seize as a fresh wave of pain ripped through him as he felt his data destabilize for a brief second. His back arched, and he gritted his teeth to stop himself from crying out.

Even so, despite his efforts, a quiet groan escaped his lips. That was all it took for Noriko to stop moving away from him and look at him with concern.

"Are you all right?" The girl asked, reflexively taking a step towards him before pausing. Lucemon took a moment to wonder about what he saw in her eyes before sitting up to face her more fully.

"No," Lucemon whispered hoarsely. "No I'm not. Something… is wrong with me."

Three days ago he had found himself on this plain, continuing his journey to his level of the digital world. While making his way through the seemingly endless desert he had encountered… _something._ More precisely, it had _attacked_ him. Strange wire like constructs, similar to what he had encountered during the war against the D-Reaper, but at the same time _not_ ; he had fought against the D-Reaper before, and he knew quite well what he sensed then. Whatever it was that had attacked him, it did not share the sense of _malevolence_ that the D-Reaper had. He hadn't thought much of the injury that he had sustained in the battle… at least not until the first signs that something was wrong with him began to appear. Destabilization of data; a feeling of weakness, pain, disorientation, exhaustion…what humans termed as _the whole nine yards._ He didn't know what it was exactly that had happened, though he had some theories.

He had heard whispers of a program known as the _X-Virus_ making its way through various plains along the digital world, wiping out digimon. There had been movements of large populations of digimon in response to it, as well as rumors that the Royal Knights were abroad as well to _manage_ them. He hadn't taken them seriously when he first heard about them, though he had brought the issue up with the Celestial's as he felt that it was concerning enough to be worth investigating…

Now he wondered if those rumors had something concrete to them after all.

"There's nothing you can do for me," said Lucemon finally.

For the first time since he had seen her in this dark place, Noriko's eyes softened and she took a step closer towards him, the fear and disgust instantly vanishing from her eyes. She was about to say something when suddenly Lucemon was hit by another bout of pain. This time more than he had ever experienced before! He felt his data destabilize in such a manner that it felt like his body was trying to tear itself apart!

Or perhaps…something was trying to tear its way out of him.

Lucemon gave a bloodcurdling scream as a red Hazard symbol flared to life on his chest. His body blurred and phased out of view for a moment before _shattering_! The girl screamed in surprise and jumped back, falling over backwards. In her mind, Noriko was awhirl with confusion. Part of her was unable to comprehend what it was that had just happened while still another part knew full well what it was that she was seeing and refused to accept it. As she sat there watching, the shards of data began to break apart and disintegrate, and her mind paused. She wasn't all that knowledgeable about digimon but she had seen enough in the past few days to know that this meant that a digimon was affectively dead. Her mind screamed out against it. Though she hadn't accepted what Lucemon had done back when she knew him in the real world, what he had done to the Tamers, she had after a fashion understood his reasons. And to end like this… this kind of death…this _suffering_ …

She didn't believe that anyone deserved to disappear like that.

_"No!"_

No sooner then she had given voice to that denial a bright light suddenly appeared before her, illuminating the whole room. It reached out and connected with the shards of data, pulling at them and attempting to force them back into cohesion. A small amount of data however was separated from the rest and cast floating into the air. The light focused on the remaining data, attempting to fuse it together, but something seemed to prevent the data from doing so. Instead of combining as one, the cloud of data particles collapsed into two distinct forms, one light, and one dark.

One angel…

…And one dragon.

Noriko sat there in shock as the white light began to dim and take shape as it fell into her hands.

_A digivice…_ Noriko's mind whispered unknowingly to itself as her eyes traced over its white, arced shape and the silver trim around the screen.

The sound of a vicious growling caught her attention.

Looking up with widening eyes, Noriko saw a black colored reptile with red stripes staggering to its feet, pupils dilated while next to it an all too familiar, angelic child lay on the ground. Clutching the digivice to her chest Noriko began to back up nervously…

The action caught the attention of the dark dragon.

_"Pyro Grenade!"_

Before Noriko could react a searing heat slammed into her body, knocking her to the ground. Pain erupted throughout her body. A gasp escaped her mouth as her mind tried to grasp what was going on. The pain was everywhere. Her nerves were practically _singing_ it! She felt something in her body let go and suddenly the pain began to feel… _distant._ She felt as though she was falling away from the world around her…things were starting to become faint.

As the world began to darken in her eyes she felt her energy drain away from her…

The last thing that she heard was Lucemon's cry of rage.

**###**

Lucemon was struggling to his feet when BlackGuilmon attacked…

_"Noriko!"_

As the angel watched in horror, BlackGuilmon's crimson fireball flew towards the girl and smashed into her, her body beginning to break apart into bits of data as she hit the ground.

Data that began to flow towards BlackGuilmon.

Lucemon suddenly found himself filled with a great surge of strength as he threw himself at the dark reptile. He still felt rather weak from… _whatever_ it was that had just happened. He didn't understand it precisely but at this point was beyond caring. All he knew was a great rage at what he had just witnessed. It consumed him… it was all he knew.

As his hands made contact with the dark dragon's neck, the newly created digivice that now lay abandoned on the ground like so much refuse once more burst with light, enveloping the two combatants in its embrace. The two digimon screamed once…

And then there was darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: Reflections

Light shown down through the hole of the dinosaur hut that sat in the playground of Shinjuku Park, illuminating Jeri Katou's face as she looked up at the sky, calmly lost in thought. The sound of a bird chirping penetrated the stillness and within a second, a tree branch visible through the huts hole rustled, and a sparrow took to the air. Jeri smiled at it, her eyes following its path until she was no longer able to do so, the bird quickly becoming obscured by the hut's walls that surrounded her. Still smiling, Jeri turned her gaze away from the portal to the outside world and returned her attention to her two friends that sat in the hut with her, locked in that most brutal and demanding struggle of life and death…a digimon card game.

As Jeri watched, the dark haired, bespectacled friend of hers that sat to her left drew a card from a deck and combined it with those held in his hand and winced. Actually there wasn't much about this _particular_ match that was anything close to being _brutal_ or even a struggle. Not really, except for the fact that it was very one-sided as far as Kenta Kitagawa was concerned. There were times that she felt bad for the boy. Try as hard as he might, his skills at the card game left much to be admired. Though he had improved quite a bit over the many months that he had been a Digimon Tamer, and had become partnered with the pink fairy, Mega known as MarineAngemon (who was presently poking his head over the boys shoulder, looking at the cards that he held), he was still lacking in skill when compared to the others such as Ryo, Rika, Henry… or his companion that he was currently battling against, Kazu Shiota. Perhaps, she surmised, that it was because he wasn't exactly the most aggressive person that she had ever met, and rarely went out of his way to try and look good in front of others, or even boast. Some would say that was because he never had much to brag about, but Jeri was more certain that it was just how Kenta was, and one of the reasons why he was partnered with a digimon like MarineAngemon who in comparison to others of his level didn't appear to be all that threatening and wasn't a big fan of fighting.

Not that she would have it any other way of course. Everyone had something about them that made them different and special, and in a group such as theirs it provided just the right amount of balance that they needed to be friends with each other.

Something even Rika could attest to, even if she didn't admit it often.

"Hey," said the visor wearing boy known as Kazu Shiota from his spot just off to Jeri's right. "Cheer up Kenta. You should know that there's no shame in basking in the light of my victory, even if you're the one who's getting defeated."

Jeri raised an eyebrow as she looked at Kazu.

"You're a real humble guy, you know that?" She joked; lightly giggling as Kenta made a moaning sound that usually came from those who have been absolutely crushed by fate.

"Eh? What're you talking about Jeri? Seriously, both you and Takato have made that remark about me now. I'm one for sarcasm but that's starting to…"  
"Oh, Kazu. Can't you just take a joke?" Jeri said, covering her mouth as she tried to suppress the giggles that continued to erupt from her mouth. A faint blush appeared on her face as she thought of Takato being in the exact same situation that she was now, commenting on Kazu's boasting. "You boys take this game way too seriously…"

"But of course," spoke up a voice from just outside the hut's entrance. "After all, they must pursue the study of this game so that they can always be prepared for whatever dangers may arise in the future."

" _Thank you_ , Guardromon," said Kazu as he threw his hands up in the air, glad that someone here agreed with him.

"Well…okay," said Jeri having finally gotten control of her giggles. "But even before you found out that digimon were real you were really into this game."

Kazu huffed and crossed his arms.

"Yeah. I remember you and Miki laughing at Kenta, Chumley, and me about it. I believe our exact response involved telling you girls that at least we had a hobby…which by the way, all those comments about how we acted like kids? Need I remind you that we _are_ kids?"

"Only when it suits you," said Jeri, giggling lightly once again. "Every time Ms. Asagi or an adult gets on your case you say differently…"

Kazu chuckled at that and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well…we aren't exactly _normal_ kids, are we? Anyways, you up for another game Kenta? Hey! Earth to Kenta! Hello! Anybody home?"

"Hmmm?" Kenta looked up at the visor-wearing boy, blinking in surprise. "Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about Takato, you know? I was wondering how he was doing since he left to visit his cousin in Okinawa."

The mood in the dinosaur hut now became sullen as the three children turned their thoughts to the friend who had left yesterday to go on vacation in order to recuperate from recent, and fairly traumatic events. The memories of that time from three weeks ago, when Takato's digimon partner and friend, Guilmon, had been deleted by the wild digimon known as Lucemon, still hung heavily in their minds. Although the government agency of Hypnos had been able to gather the shattered remnants of Guilmon's data via a modified Juggernaut program and reformat it into a digi-egg, the scars from that time had remained, and of all of them Takato had been the most affected. A fact that had been driven home when, in a desperate attempt to bring back the Guilmon that he knew, Takato had rescanned his drawings and created a dark version of his partner that didn't recognize the difference between friend or foe. The realization that Takato had about how his own pain and anger had been responsible for bringing the _BlackGuilmon_ into existence was something that had shaken Takato, and though he had showed signs of trying to move past on it was clear that he needed to be somewhere where he could rest. Somewhere that would take him _away_ from being having to be a Tamer for a while and recuperate. Especially now that he had Guilmon's egg to care for.

Jeri could understand the need to do that, and she felt that it was smart thinking of his parents to send him off to visit his cousin. She hadn't been to Okinawa or met Kai, but from what she had heard from Henry, Terriermon, Rika, and Renamon when they met him last year it sounded like the right place to be if you wanted to relax.

"I'm sure that he's going to be fine, Kenta," said Kazu after a few moments of silence. "He's just got some stuff that he's got to work out, that's all. Chumley's tough. I know I don't say it often and I rag on him a lot, I know that he'll get through this."

Jeri smiled at Kazu upon hearing that.

"That's good to hear from you."

The three children sat in the dinosaur, not saying anything for a few seconds, instead letting the silence speak for all of them, and how they felt in regards to their goggle-wearing friend. Kenta furrowed his brow in deep thought as he rolled everything that had happened, and what Kazu had just said in his mind. Sure, he knew that Kazu was right in his estimation of Takato's mettle. Heck, he had proven it enough times in the past that it was almost an accepted fact of life now, but that still didn't mean that they couldn't worry about him. That was what being a friend was all about after all.

Behind the dark haired boy, MarineAngemon looked back and forth with a worried gaze, wondering about the silence that hung in the air, but unsure as to what to do about it. Humans could be so strange sometimes…

"Well," said Kazu as he quickly snapped out of his silence and began to gather up his cards. "I don't know about you guys, but I need to do something. I think that I'll go stop by Chumley's place and see what's going on there." Kazu looked up at Kenta with a small glint in his eyes. "What do ya say, Kenta? You with me?"

"Huh? What am I, you're sidekick?"

"Kentaaaa… I thought that we had already discussed this! Don't tell me that you forgot this quickly!"

Kenta just cocked his head to one side in confusion.

"What are you tal…?" Kenta stopped as the light bulb clicked on upstairs; understanding and recognition dawning in his eyes. "Ohhh…"

Jeri looked back and forth between the two boys, one eyebrow raised suspiciously as a memory from yesterday flitted through her mind.

"Does this have anything to do with what you two told Takato yesterday about _'you two taking care of things at the bakery'?_ "

Kazu looked at Jeri with an expression of innocence, which to Jeri's mind didn't look all that innocent.

"Uhhh…whatever gave you that idea Jeri? Hooo…oh my, look at the time. C'mon Kenta! We'd better get going. We've got a lot of stuff to do today. Later Jeri!"

Before Jeri could even say anything else, the two Tamers that Rika had dubbed as _the moron twins_ , grabbed their things and jumped down off of the hut's ledge towards and took off, the rust colored robot digimon known as Guardromon swiftly following after them. Kenta paused long enough to give Jeri an apologetic look before pursuing his friend. Jeri shook her head in resignation, wondering just what it was exactly that was going through their minds, but not sure if that was a matter that she wanted to pursue just yet. Looking back out through the porthole Jeri looked back up at the sky for a few second before leaving the dinosaur hut herself. There were a few people that she wanted to check up on today.

As Jeri made her way through the playground, smiling at the children who were racing about or pausing to gawk at the Guardromon that was flying through the air after his errant partner, her mind went over each of her friends. They hadn't really had a chance to all get together since the unfortunate business with Lucemon and Takato's finding out about Guilmon being reformatted. Some of this had to do with the amount of damage that had been done to the city due to the fighting that had gone on, both with Lucemon and the strange Triceramon that had shown up a week ago. The power outages at school, various roads that had been closed, and the personal parts of their lives that kept coming up caused enough difficulty in the Tamers getting together. Up until yesterday when they had shown up at the airport to see Takato off they hadn't all been together. Sure, these things happened and it wasn't always necessary for them all to be together and know what was going on in each others lives ever second of the day, but Jeri felt that it was important that they all keep in touch, especially during a time when they had all been affected greatly by something.

There had been a change in some of her friends Jeri had noted on the few occasions that she had seen them. Something akin to a growing distance; nothing serious she felt, but it was something that left her worried. One of them, Impmon, she hadn't seen much of at all, and the same went for the Legendary Tamer, Ryo Akiyama. Of course, those two tended to go their own way in life, though Impmon to a far lesser extent than the latter (or even claimed she felt, a small smile growing on her face as she thought of the impish digimon that she called her friend), so it wasn't much of a surprise. But between the two of them Impmon worried her the most. Before Guilmon had been reborn as an egg he had gone to great lengths to visit Takato on a regular basis. Closed roads weren't really much of a barrier to him, or any of them for that matter, but for Impmon they might as well not exist. But after Guilmon had returned, Takato had reported his visits as declining.

A part of her wondered if Guilmon's rebirth was reminding Impmon of Leomon, and the finality of the lion digimon's fate when he had killed him.

Jeri's face softened as she left the playground, her hand reflexively touching one of her pockets, and the note that it contained therein. Though it had nothing to do with Impmon, it was something of a comfort to her.

It was, after all, from Calumon; letting her know his intentions of joining Takato on his trip to Okinawa, written (more like scribbled, but Jeri had taught him a little about how to write during his time at her home, and had come to read the little creampuff's crude kanji) in blue crayon and a smiley face left as his personal signature. Jeri smiled as she remembered what it said, and felt determination enter her heart.

_Since Calumon is going to help Takato and I can't be there with him, the least I can do is help out our friends when they too are down._

With that in mind, Jeri set off, her mind already making its way through her memories as she tried to recall where Impmon's Tamer's lived.


	3. Chapter: 2/ Silent Hearts

Rika Nonaka took her time waking up, neither rushing nor delaying, but content with setting a moderate pace and sticking to it. As she folded up her futon and set it aside, the girl's eyes narrowed slightly as a thought fluttered through her mind like an annoying fly and she tried to shoo it away mentally. Not to be deterred however, the thought made its way back, only this time making sure that it was well enough in the background where she couldn't just get rid of it, but was still in some fashion aware of it. And what could she do about it exactly? She had, after all, helped create the thought that bothered her…all with the intention of helping a friend, and in the end she had gotten more then she had bargained for, and wasn't even sure if she wanted; a situation of her own making, which was why the thought was there in the first place. And to make matters worse she had not been expecting it at all.

Rika remained sitting on the ground for a few moments, her brow furrowed as the thought continued to hold her attention, and soon enough her mind turned to the source of the problem, and gave voice to it.

_Takato…_

Rika's frown deepened, and as if she were trying to silence the thought before it went any further she got up and went over to where her traditional clothes, full heart t-shirt, jeans, and belt were placed on her clothes rack with her school uniform. She wouldn't be going to school though, as it was the weekend, so that was a load off her mind right there. The last thing that she wanted to deal with right now was school…scratch that; _one_ of the last things that she wanted to deal with.

A familiar presence entered the girl's mind as she pulled off the top to her pajamas and set it on the rack.

" 'Morning Renamon," said Rika as she picked up the t-shirt that her mother had given her back during the D-Reaper crisis for _good luck_.

"Good morning Rika," said the vulpine digimon as she phased into view behind the girl. "Sleep well?"

"As well as anyone I guess," said the girl with a wry smile on her face as she pulled her t-shirt on and turned to look at her partner. "It wasn't what I'd call _perfect_ , but it wasn't _bad_."

"I see." Renamon tilted her head to one side, contemplating Rika's words for a moment before mentally sighing. "Any thoughts on what you're going to do today?"

"Not really," said Rika as she changed into her jeans and reached over to grab her belt. "I figured that I might as well go down to Hypnos and see if they had anything new to report on that Triceramon that rampaged through the city last week. I wouldn't normally go to them about that sort of thing but…"

"Yes. There _was_ something different about it wasn't there?"

Rika nodded as she recalled the fierce and brief battle that she and the other Tamers had had with the wild Triceramon one week ago. Renamon put it rather aptly when she said that _'there was something different about it'_. To the casual observer who was unfamiliar with the subject of digimon, one out of control saurian monster was the same as the next one with the only real difference being in whether or not it breathed fire. For those who were well versed in the digimon card game as well as the popular anime show that had grown out of it, the digimon that the Tamer's digivices had identified as _Triceramon_ , was indeed different from its usual species, the most obvious of which being its cosmetic appearance. Lighter colors of green and silver replaced the darker green and gray that was common in the Triceramon species, not to mention the addition of spines on its back and legs to go along with the much larger, and glowing horns that were its primary fighting weapon. Henry had also observed that, in comparison to how the Triceramon was normally depicted, the version that had _waltzed_ into Shinjuku and wrecked havoc had an appearance that was much closer to the actual dinosaur that was its namesake. While it was true that digimon were often divided into various sub-species that usually depended on their coloration (such as the case with digimon like BlackWarGreymon, DarkTyrannomon, BlackGuilmon, Kuzuhamon, or ChaosGallantmon), this Triceramon was not identified as being a sub-species. Though there had been a little variation in its special attacks, its data makeup, level, and attribute were all the same. There was little else that could be gleaned from the Tamer's digivice, though Henry was fairly certain that this Triceramon was far stronger than what should have been normal for his species (to which Terriermon had pointed out that, since they had not fought a Triceramon before they could not be sure as to what passed for _normal_ strength when it came to that particular digimon). During a briefing with Yamaki, the head of Hypnos had pointed out that their systems had picked out what appeared to be a foreign code inhabiting the Wild One's data that had not existed with previous digimon that had bio-emerged into the real world.

Whether or not this marked a new evolution in digimon or the digital world they could not be sure. But if anyone was certain about anything, it was that this change would likely mean trouble for the Tamers, and for the world as well.

_And it couldn't have come at the perfect time,_ thought Rika as she buckled on her belt and attached her D-Arc and cards to it. _If nothing else it'll give me something to take my mind off of everything that's been bugging me lately._

Rika frowned at the thought, her eyes pausing on the full heart image that was emblazoned on her shirt before reaching over to get her hair tie.

"Do you believe that Hypnos has made any progress in its investigation?" Prompted Renamon as Rika pulled her fiery hair up into its traditional ponytail and began to tie it together. Rika shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Kinda doubt it, but you never know. I just want to get out of here for a while, and then maybe later see what the others are up to-"

Rika's words were cut off in surprise as her hair tie suddenly snapped as she pulled and twisted it around. Bringing the broken remnants around so that she could scrutinize it, Rika glowered.

"Terrific. That was the last one too."

Renamon smirked.

"Maybe next time you should write a note to remind yourself."

Rika rolled her eyes in exasperation as she let her hair cascade down her back and shoulders.

"Very funny Renamon. That reminds me that I still need to get you that _standup comedian upgrade card_ that I thought about back when we were in the digital world."

With that said, Rika walked away from her clothes rack and threw away the remains of her hair tie, wondering if there was one that she could borrow from her mother or grandmother until she could restock. As she prepared to exit her room her eyes fell on the calendar that sat on her wall, a ray of sunlight illuminating it but falling just short of one date in particular. She hadn't circled it like she did whenever her mother had gone off on a business trip, but she still had it memorized in her mind nonetheless.

_One week,_ Rika thought as she paused at the door of her room. _It's only a few days…seems so short but so far away…_

_…Still…it doesn't seem like it's long enough._

Feeling her partner's gaze, Rika pulled open her door and exited the room, determined to not think about the unsettling issue that had been bothering her these past three weeks. As if sensing what was going through Renamon's mind in regards to her brief pause, the red haired Tamer spoke up.

"Not one word, Renamon…"

The vulpine digimon just cocked her head to one side; her gaze turning to the calendar that Rika had been looking at. The kitsune digimon's eyes narrowed slightly before she phased out of view, the sound of a musical flute filling the air the only tell tale sign of her vanishing.

**###**

Terriermon looked over at the face of his partner worriedly as he trudged his bike up the hill. Henry was being unusually silent today…okay, that was actually more of an understatement. He had been acting strange for _days_ on end. Distracted, irritable at times… and all the while there was something in his eyes that made the dog bunny digimon think of a quiet desperation. A far cry from the calm, collected, and logical Henry that he had known since they had become partner's almost a year ago, and that was not good. Not good at all.

And Terriermon had an idea as to when it had happened, having been there himself when everything had gone down; the day that had snapped the near legendary (at least in Terriermon's eyes) self-control and restraint that had been Henry's trademark from the first day that he had known his Tamer…

**###**

"Mega Barrage!" _Cried out MegaGargomon as he once more fired dozens of missiles at Lucemon, to no avail. It didn't seem to matter what he did, the angelic digimon continued to dodge the weapons as though they were moving in slow motion. Next to him Beelzemon continued to fire away with his own shotgun but didn't seem to be having any more luck than he was. All the while, Lucemon never once lost his cold, unfeeling expression. Of course, this only increased Henry's rage and he continued to fire away, trying to hit his target. An orb of white energy shot out and struck Beelzemon, sending him rocketing away from the battle zone and crashing to the ground, but still Henry didn't care. His partner's cries and attempts to get his attention were far beyond him as well. The entire world in fact, seemed to revolve only around him and Beelzemon. He didn't even see the Justimon that was rocketing towards the fight, already blasting away with his Justice Burst attack, and Lucemon gave him the same response that he had shown Beelzemon. A simple blast of energy that knocked him out of the air, and out of the fight._

_Now he was all MegaGargomon's._

_His magazines running low, Henry switched tactics, giving only one last burst of missiles Henry rushed forward, preparing to go for a close range assault on the angel. And still, without showing any more emotion than a blank wall, Lucemon evaded each and every missile that was sent at him, and then flew towards MegaGargomon._

"Paradise Lost Punch!"

_The next thing that Henry was aware of was a number of punches being delivered to his body at a rate that was impossible for him to quickly recover from. He tried to come up with a counter attack, but Lucemon moved to quickly, battering him relentlessly until suddenly he haulted with his punches and delivered a powerful kick that sent him careening upwards and then brought him crashing down to the ground. Not to be deterred, Henry once again opened up his missile tubes and weapon compartments, determined to do whatever it took to finish Lucemon off, and with a howl of unrestrained rage, let loose another barrage of missiles._

"Mega Barrage!"

_The distance between Lucemon and the missiles was much shorter this time, leaving him with little time to react to their approach, and yet he didn't once lose his calm appearance. Instead his wings glowed white and black, and with one, great flap he redirected the path of the missiles and sent them flying off in different directions, exploding along the park indiscriminately, shattering trees and sending fragments of dirt and debris flying every which way, and still more missiles went soaring into the depths of the city, impacting against buildings and crashing into streets before going off. Not noticing, or perhaps not at all caring at the devastation that he was causing MegaGargomon surged back to his feet, the sound of Henry giving a loud and powerful cry as he rushed towards Lucemon, determined to end this battle and destroy his opponent at any cost._

_His missile tubes rolled through their magazines and reloaded as he once again_ _took aim, and a split second later more missiles were fired, and they streaked towards Lucemon, who watched them approach him impassively, neither of them mindful of the flash of light or the swift moving figure approaching the two combatants until it had imposed itself in between the oncoming missiles._

_From within his data sphere, Henry's eyes widened in shock, his anger evaporating like rain after a storm as he saw a familiar figure place itself in front of Lucemon, raising a shield against his onslaught. How…? Why…? These questions raced through Henry's mind all in the blink of an eye, but it was now far too late to do anything about it. The missiles crossed the distance as quickly as lightning and impacted with the shield, causing Henry to cry out in surprise as he staggered on his feet._

" _Sakuyamon!"_

**_###_ **

_Can't say that I really blame him for being this way,_ thought Terriermon sadly as the two of them reached the crest of the hill. _Takato had been hurt pretty badly in that fight…second time that week too, and with everything that he had already been through he needed that like he needed a hole in the head. I can understand him getting angry…heck I was pretty upset about it myself, and if the situation were reversed I know Takato wouldn't have been happy either. Still, it can't be at all comforting knowing that you not only lost it, but came within inches of killing one of your closest friends just to get at Lucemon…almost becoming what you were fighting…_

Henry stopped his bike and climbed on board, having now reached the top of the hill. However he didn't as yet begin riding again; instead he opted to look out over the family cemetery that they had been walking beside for the past few minutes. There was a gathering of people there, dressed in black as they lowered an urn filled with the cremated ashes of the deceased into the earth. One of them, a child, held a picture of the departed family member. Henry's eyes softened and he stood there a moment longer, contemplating the battle that had gone on three weeks ago when he had lost control of himself.

The pressure of Terriermon's ears brought him back to reality.

"C'mon Henry," said Terriermon softly. "You don't want to be late for your martial arts practice…"

Henry nodded numbly as he pushed his bike forward and began to roll down the hill.

His path being followed by the tearful eyes of a child holding onto the picture of a loved one forever lost.

* * *

_It didn't understand how it had happened. Of course, that wasn't its function. Understanding was not a part of its programming. It didn't need it. All that it needed was to serve the role that it had been created for… to_ contain. _That was all that was needed; all that was necessary…_

_Until that is, what it had been containing got loose._

_How_ that _had occurred, was beyond its comprehension, and it had tried to track down the object that it had been created to imprison. It had been simple then as the trail was still fresh in the beginning, and its own programming was simple enough to carry out even that task in the event that such an action did become necessary. Its creators hadn't believed that it would be, but the digital world was an ever-changing place, and forces reached out into its depths on a regular basis, altering its structure and creating it, and its inhabitants anew. Not all that was made was good, or even_ natural, _but those things weren't important. Not to it at any rate. All it knew was that it had a mission to do, a task that had been interrupted. Its lack of understanding in how it had even escaped in the first place was limiting, and needed to be expanded upon so that it could ensure that such a thing never occurred again. It still needed to find the data that had escaped it and eluded its grasp so long ago. The trail had gone cold since those early days since the data's escape… except for one time some weeks later when it had unleashed the full fury of its power in the digital world, nearly disrupting its structure to the point of oblivion. It would have struck then, but a problem with the ever-growing power of the malevolent program known as D-Reaper gave it pause. Although it knew its duty to be of the utmost importance, its creators had made it intelligent enough to realize that should it be destroyed then it could no longer fulfill its duty. Survival to ensure that it could continue guarding the dangerous object was its secondary function, and it had been badly weakened due to an unexpected encounter with another human made program…_

_After the D-Reaper had been de-evolved and destroyed by the Sovereigns it resumed its search, only to find that the trail had once again grown cold. The influx of data that bore similar codes also managed to confuse it, so it had done the only thing that it believed to be the most logical course of action for this situation._

_Trapped in a tangle of shimmering blue wires a quadruped, armored digimon that it had previously not been able to identify until now… a_ GinRyumon _moaned softly, its form distorting as its data began to lose cohesion. The wires pulsed with light once and the GinRyumon's form broke apart into thousands of shards of data; data that was pulled into the blue wires as they untangled themselves. This new data that it had been downloading and processing lately was certainly unique, much like that strange virus program that it had encountered some time ago. The digimon that had developed an immunity to the virus were something of a problem though, as they confused it due to the anomalies that they carried within their code. Anomalies that set them apart from normal digimon that existed in this plain of the digital world. It had been carefully gathering data since these new digimon had been arriving, using their data to expand itself beyond its traditional boundaries and programs. Interesting creatures the digimon were, and there were some that no doubt held the power to enable its charge to escape its imprisonment…_

_Yet_ it _felt that the digimon weren't responsible for that. More data was going to be needed to arrive at an answer, and create appropriate protection for it._

_But that was a ways off for now. It still had to track down its prey. The more_ important _objective according to its programming._

_One thing at a time; one thing at a time…_

* * *


	4. Chapter: 3/ In the Mirror of My Soul

"Dum…doo… duh… dee… dum…" Impmon hummed to himself as he walked along a railing, completely lost to himself. Looking out towards the horizon, his green eyes watched the sun rise a little further into the sky before looking away and down into the streets. His gaze lighted on the crowd of people that went back and forth as they went about the daily routine of their lives. There was one time where he looked down upon the _swarm_ of humans and mocked them for the simplicity in their lives. He still did sometimes, but in a way that spoke more of _how he used to be_ as opposed to _what he is now._ He had changed a lot since those early days in the real world, when he thought that all humans were concerned about was themselves; an attitude that, ironically, he had adopted as well, and his experiences since those early days had shown him that such an outlook was highly destructive and didn't gain him anything in the end. All it did in fact was cause pain…pain for himself and those that he had seen as _friends_ (or something to that affect), and for one friend in particular. One who had forgiven him for his trespasses and spared him when no one else would have.

_Jeri…_

Impmon frowned. His thoughts had been drifting more and more to the puppet-loving girl who he had wronged nearly a year ago. Actually _wronged_ was probably not strong enough to describe what he had done to her, and what his actions had in turn nearly done to the world. Of course, that was all in the past now, and as it had been stated the girl known as Jeri Katou _had_ forgiven him for what he had done, the murder of her partner, Leomon. But forgiveness or no forgiveness, such acts had a way of weighing heavily on the heart, especially when a similar event occurs and that which was deemed to be irreversible turned out to be the opposite.

To recap, the partner of one Takato Matsuki, Guilmon, had been killed by a wrathful and overprotective digimon known as Lucemon due to Takato's loss of control in the digital world (due to no small part to Impmon himself when he had killed Leomon), which resulted in the incredibly powerful and dangerous digimon known as Megidramon; a digimon capable of destroying the entire digital world just by existing. Although the Great Dragon had been sealed away by the white knight known as Gallantmon it wasn't enough in Lucemon's eyes to guarantee that such the creature wouldn't come into existence again. Long story short, Lucemon destroyed Guilmon, and his later _second incarnation_ of BlackGuilmon and then returned to the digital world, his mission accomplished.

Or was it?

It had turned out, in fact, that Guilmon's original data still resided in Shinjuku, having not been loaded by Lucemon in his first battle with Guilmon; data that had been recovered by Hypnos and then reformatted into a digi-egg. Guilmon was now assured a second chance at life now, even though he had yet to hatch. And while Impmon was grateful that _ol' Pineapple Head_ was going to be back among the living, and everyone could be happy again…

Impmon raised one red-gloved hand and touched the evil smiley face that was emblazoned on his chest, half hidden by the crimson scarf that he wore around his neck. Impmon's frown deepened, and he reminisced about a discussion that he had with Calumon one time. Something about a conscience…

An image of Jeri's smiling face came to mind, only to be replaced a second later by the expression of bone deep sadness that she had looked at him with when she had asked Gallantmon to spare him following his defeat at the hands of the exalted knight digimon. Looking within himself he knew that there was nothing he could do to make up for what he had done, and that even though Jeri had forgiven him he had yet to completely forgive himself. Perhaps he didn't want to forgive himself, if only because he wanted to show just how bad he felt for what he had done…but was that just another form of selfishness? In one conversation that he had with Takato, the boy had made a remark about how he had been feeling sorry for himself during the time after Guilmon's death, and that it took the mistake of creating BlackGuilmon, and the help of his friends to snap him out of it. Was that what he was feeling now, because Guilmon got a chance to be reborn while Leomon didn't?

He wasn't quite sure about what he should do, or if he should even do anything at all. He wanted Jeri to have the same chance at happiness that Takato had, but…how could he accomplish that? As far as he knew there wasn't any way that he could separate Leomon's data from his own. Of all the legends that existed within the digital world, that wasn't one of them. Digimon were far more concerned with fighting and loading data so they could go to the real world then they were about what happened to a digimon after it had been destroyed and loaded. He was sure that it had at least been _thought about_ , as he had encountered groups of digimon that were content with a life without going to the digital world, but his own experiences with such groups had been few and far between, and he hadn't encountered anyone who knew of a way to revive lost digimon.

Impmon's eyes traced over the city and settled on the twin towers of Hypnos's headquarters. He stared at the building for a moment, feeling a sensation of _possibility_ growing in his mind and body, and a second later his legs propelled him through the air like a rocket.

**###**

Rika Nonaka closed the door to her home's gate and set off in the direction of Hypnos, feeling slightly out of place due to having her hair flowing past her shoulders. However she ignored this. It wasn't the first time that she had had her hair down, and it wasn't something that she fussed over anyway as she wasn't one to really care about how she looked in public, even though in all honesty she would much rather prefer that it were up in its usual ponytail. She was too busy to really care (though she felt it rather odd that she couldn't find any hair bands among her mothers things, what with her being the model in the family after all), and had more than enough on her mind at the moment to distract her from the issue. As had become something of a tradition since her days as a Tamer first began her mind focused on whatever issue was most pressing at the moment, in this case the strange Triceramon that had shown up one week ago. There wasn't too much about it that she could review in her mind that would reveal anything new though, especially since, to date, no other digimon of that type had bio-emerged into the real world to challenge the Tamers. She half expected that to end soon though. As she knew from hard experience from her dealings with the Devas, things never stayed quiet in Shinjuku for long.

As she made her way down the streets of her neighborhood, Rika's thoughts gradually turned away from the issue with the Triceramon, her musings about it not really going anywhere, and turned to a subject that seemed equally pointless to wonder over, and had been on her mind quite a bit of late. Unconsciously her mind went back to a time nearly three weeks ago when she had visited Takato to give him back the goggles that he had left in Guilmon's den, and she replayed the memory of the talk that they had, followed shortly after by her…

Rika frowned as she pursed her lips together, remembering the feel of the kiss that the two of them had shared that day. She was unsure of what to make of it. She had to admit that it wasn't anything at all like she expected, but then she never really gave any thought to the matter except when she was much, much younger. The way that she had felt when she had kissed Takato, wanting to comfort him and remind him that she and all the others were going to be there for him no matter what…she hadn't felt like that since she had first biomerged with Renamon and even a few times before then such as when Renamon first entered her life. It left her with a strange feeling in her heart that only grew as time went on, and that sensation felt… _nice._

Perhaps it was that realization that made her back off a bit since then, feeling the need to stand back and think about things for a bit before pursuing things further. Not that she needed help with doing that. Life soon became busy enough where she began to have difficulty finding time for Takato or _any_ of her friends for that matter, except during a battle with a Wild One, a brief excursion during the weekend, or at Hypnos when they had all found out about Guilmon. Either way, she needed a moment of reflection about her actions. Looking back on it now, she found it odd that she had done such a thing in the first place. She knew for a fact that she hadn't looked at Takato in _that_ way, or anyone else for that matter. Thoughts of love that went beyond the close friendship that she felt with the others, or even the close family love that she felt for her mother, grandmother, and even Renamon never entered her mind. She hadn't seen it as something that was necessary for her to even think about at this stage of her life, and yet…

The memory of the feeling of her lips pressing against Takato's…the warmth that she felt spreading through her body, and the sensation in her heart, the _desire_ to show how much she _cared_ for him…it had been rather overwhelming, and it had left her something of a mess emotionally she had sobered up enough she realized just what it was that had transpired between them…

…And just how big of a mistake that it was.

She had discussed it a little with Renamon, and as expected the vulpine digimon had told her that she'd be there if things went wrong, but as far as this particular battlefield went there was little that she could do without intruding into it directly, and this was something that she herself had to handle. There was no pride in that decision, but rather an affirmation that this was something that she had to do. Her friendship with those who were involved, regardless of how directly affected they were or would be because of her actions. She knew that she had to talk about it. She had hoped to do so with Takato earlier but circumstances kept that from happening. She had come close to doing so at the airport, but when she tried a strange thing happened. She had _hesitated._ She felt _doubt._ And in that doubt, in her hesitation, she found the fear of losing Takato's, and perhaps even Jeri's, friendship. During the time leading up to Takato's taking off on vacation (the fact that she had been the _last_ to hear about it still irked her) a feeling of _awkwardness_ had settled between them, and it had become increasingly obvious as time went on. Especially that time at the airport, when he was getting ready to board his flight and they were saying good-bye to each other. Takato and her had found some difficulty in saying the words that had once come so easily to each other. They had said them of course, but they felt forced to her and sounded the same from Takato.

Too much had been left unsaid between them. There was no doubt in Rika's mind that they _needed_ to talk, but with him gone it had become rather pointless for the time being, unless that is she biomerged with Renamon and flew to Okinawa…

Had the situation been about _anything_ else she probably would have chuckled over the thought and then berated herself for even thinking it in the first place. She was rather tempted, but if she did then it would defeat the purpose of his going on vacation in the first place. Like it or not, she was going to wait and think about things for a bit.

Her worries weren't just limited to the Gogglehead that she had called her friend for the past year of course. There was also another that she worried her actions would affect greatly, and with good reason too. After all, she was both hers and Takato's mutual friend. As well as the one human person next to his family, that Takato kept closest to his heart. And vice versa.

_Jeri…_

As if the thought had summoned her, the familiar voice of the puppet-loving girl called out to her, making Rika stop in her tracks and raise her eyebrows in surprise at running into her at a time like this. As her violet eyes watched Jeri Katou weave her way through the crowd, worry built up in her heart, and she remembered a time from their adventure in the digital world, when the Digimon Sovereign Azulongmon was taking them to face the D-Reaper and find Calumon in that bubble of clouds. Jeri was still reeling from the loss of Leomon, and Takato was trying to comfort her, only to find himself unable to help her through her grief. One thing stuck with Rika the most from that day. The memory of Jeri lowering herself to the ground, cradling her now lifeless digivice, whispering to herself these words…

_"Leomon said that everyone has their own destiny. Maybe my destiny is to be alone…"_

That lamentation hurt Rika's heart far worse than anything any enemy had ever been able to do to her, and it made her fearful for whatever the future had in store for them.

_If nothing else, I hope that Jeri doesn't get hurt,_ Rika thought as the brown haired girl made her way towards her friend, smile beaming on her face like a beacon of light for her friend.

**_###_ **

_"Hee-yah!"_

Henry threw a punch into the air as he went through his warm-up exercises. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his sensei watching his progress with a critical eye. Once, when he was younger, he would have found it mildly distracting, even without the added attention that his partner, Terriermon was giving, but he had long gotten used to it. Having practiced for years under his teacher's watchful eye, he had had plenty of time to get used to a lot of things. Even so, he _was_ distracted, though not by his teacher or Terriermon (who, despite the fact that his sensei knew about Terriermon's existence as a digimon and didn't have to pretend to be a doll anymore, remained surprisingly quiet during his martial arts sessions. Probably the _only_ time he was ever quiet willingly about anything). A few more lunges and kicks were thrown into the air as Henry's teacher passed around him, making his way in front of the boy. His eyes radiating a calmness that few, except perhaps the vixen digimon known as Renamon, could ever match as he studied Henry's motions. After a few more minutes the man raised a hand and called for a halt in the exercise.

"W-what's up, sensei?" Asked Henry as he took deep breaths, having slightly overworked himself during his exercises.

"Your balance is off, Henry," said the man patiently, with a voice that sounded as smooth as silk. "You are not putting as much focus into your movements as you have shown yourself capable of in the past. You have been this way for nearly three weeks now."

Henry inclined his head downwards, feeling shame build in his heart.

"I'm sorry, sensei," said the dark haired boy, trying to maintain the same semblance of utter calm that his teacher always had. It sounded false when he spoke though, and his teacher knew it.

"Are you still upset over your actions from the battle with Lucemon?"

Henry paused before answering. He had told his teacher about what had happened that day, about how he had lost control of himself and nearly killed a friend. Although Rika and Renamon weren't dead, and hadn't been injured beyond just a few scratches and bruises, as well as the fact that no one else, through some miracle, hadn't been killed either from the torrent of missiles that he had unleashed, his actions had left him shaken ever since. As a result, he had been immensely distracted, and it affected everything that he did. Some of it was subtle and not easily noticeable. He still handed in work for school that remained par with what he was used to doing, and his studies were still as diligent as ever. Even his relations with his friends remained the same as far as he knew, though at least on one occasion Jeri and Rika had asked him how he was doing, both sounding a little bit worried for some reason but not really saying why (though with Rika he felt that she could probably make an accurate guess as to what was wrong), and the same went for his family but so far no one had ever really called him out on it.

_I have been a little bit edgy lately,_ thought Henry. _Terriermon knows about it and he tries to help me out, but…_

Henry thought back to earlier that morning when he was passing by the funeral that was being held. True, no one had died in that battle with Lucemon, and so far the same held true for the fight with Triceramon, but with Lucemon it had come far too close for Henry to feel comfortable with how he had reacted. It was so very much unlike him; so different from how he normally acted that he wasn't sure if he even recognized himself anymore. Henry felt a little bit silly about that of course. He knew that anger was a natural response to stressful events, especially when a friend or loved one had been hurt as badly as Takato was, but he always trained to keep his emotions in check. He had learned that the hard way some time ago when he had hurt a neighborhood kid. He hated the kind of violence that made people hurt each other out of anger and rage, or the desire to inflict pain.

And he had gone and nearly done what he had spent so long trying to keep himself from doing, and nearly killed one of his closest friends in the process.

His sensei nodded, as if sensing his student's inner turmoil.

"Why don't we have some tea," Henry's teacher suggested, his voice still the same smoothness that it always was, but with a sound of fatherly tenderness to it. Henry gave a small smile and nodded gratefully.

**###**

Henry took a light sip from his teacup, feeling the warm liquid flow through his mouth and down his throat as he gulped. Calmly, reservedly, Henry lowered the cup and took a deep breath, feeling as though his nerves were starting to calm a little in the peacefulness of his teacher's dojo.

"Thank you, sensei," said Henry after a moment. "This was a good idea. I _have_ had a lot on my mind…"

"As I suspected," said his teacher with a simple nod of his head, and a small smile peaking out from beneath his neatly trimmed mustache.

Henry chuckled.

"…And yes, it _is_ about that fight with Lucemon. I know what you said before about how emotions are important in our lives, both the good and bad ones, but I can't help but think about what I came so close to doing. I mean, for a second, I sounded just like some of the digimon that the others and I had faced. I couldn't believe that it was Rika who was telling me to let Lucemon go, even after what he had done. Before it would have been the other way around…"

"We all change as we go through life Henry. We all grow in different ways, and experiences affect us in many different ways. Two different people can enjoy ice cream, but that does not mean that they will like the same flavors. The same applies to trees as well. Adversity can mold them into different shapes depending on their experiences even though they designed to grow in a similar way. How you and Rika reacted during your battle with Lucemon is a result of such experiences."

Henry looked down at his teacup and tapped it thoughtfully with one finger.

"Still…rather ironic that the shoe was on the other foot this time."

_Well, sort of,_ thought Henry, remembering that the last person to lose control the way he did had been Takato, and not Rika though she had admitted that she had come pretty close to walking the dark side herself when Guilmon had been killed.

"Sometimes it is moments such as that, that can teach us the most about what we need to learn," said Henry's teacher with a light nod.

Henry furrowed his brow as he processed this, and once more took a sip from his cup.

_So what did I learn?_ He wondered as he listened to a bird chirp through an open window.

**###**

In the blazing desert of the digital world, a dark, reptilian figure raced through the dunes, its legs pumping for all they were worth. After a few minutes it paused and turned its golden eyes up towards the orb that hung in the sky and sniffed the air. Growling a second later, the black colored reptile resumed its run.


	5. Chapter: 4/ Thoughts

Impmon stood at the edge of a rooftop directly across from the Hypnos towers, looking down at the main entrance. He felt a strange mixture of contemplation and hesitation flowing through him that was similar to what he had experienced when the Deva Chatsuramon had offered him power in exchange for destroying the Tamers. Even though his current line of thinking was far more selfless than it had been at the time that he had met the dog Deva, his decisions, like that of so many others lately, could have unforeseen consequences that bore some consideration before he actually committed himself to this course of action.

Impmon raised one gloved hand and looked down at it, his emerald eyes narrowing in deep thought.

_What if things don't go the way that I hope they will?_ The diminutive Demon Lord wondered, and an image of the savage BlackGuilmon flashed through his mind as it fired an attack on Takato Matsuki's father. Impmon grimaced at the memory, not enjoying it one bit. His first encounter with the dark virus that had looked so much like the _Pineapple Head_ that he was so used too had been quite the shock. And the way that he had acted, attacking without provocation or restraint, had greatly reminded him of his encounter with Megidramon in the digital world, which had not been a comfortable experience on its own. And to see that kind of savagery reflected in a darker reflection of Guilmon, like some kind of sick and twisted joke, brought all sorts of fears bubbling to the surface concerning what he had first thought prior to his standing in front of Hypnos at this moment; fears that quickly made themselves known, and soon enough, gave themselves an identity that he could give voice to.

_What if Leomon ends up like that?_

It was as simple as that. For quite some time now he had thought over the rebirth of Takato's partner, Guilmon, and though he was loathe to admit it, it _did_ bother him a little bit. He was glad that the goggle-wearing Tamer had been able to get Guilmon back, a trick made possible by the fact that Lucemon had never uploaded Guilmon's data when he had destroyed the bread snarfing doofus, and even gladder seeing the affect that the knowledge of Guilmon's return had had on not only Takato but on _all_ the Tamers (there had been something of a dark cloud hanging over them during the entire time that Guilmon was presumed 'dead'). But despite the fact that he was happy knowing that Guilmon had found a way to _cheat death_ it reminded him of what he had taken away from Jeri.

The memories from his time in the digital world after he had first assumed the form of Beelzemon…the battles with the Tamers, the death of Leomon, the subsequent birth of the horrific monster known as Megidramon and his transformation into the noble Gallantmon…they practically tormented him following his fall from grace, and although he had faced up to what he did and regretted it his actions weighed heavily on his heart, and became all the more heavy when Rika and Renamon came to bring him home with them, despite the fact that doing so ran the risk of all three of them missing the Arc. He had learned to live with that weight, and even use it in his struggles to rescue Jeri from the prison of D-Reaper, and even after she had forgiven him the weight remained though its presence in his mind and heart had quieted some. Even so, it was always there, would _always_ remain there, and would make itself known at times that he needed reminding of what he had done and the consequences of his actions.

Such was the case now.

He had continued to regret what he had done since then, and he had always tried to do right by the Tamers, and to Jeri in particular, but he never felt that it was enough. Especially now that Guilmon was back, that feeling of inadequacy had become even stronger. It didn't seem fair that Leomon should stay dead, and Jeri separated from someone that she was meant to be with. Partnerships of that nature were _meant_ to last. What he had taken away from that girl was beyond all forgiveness, and yet…and yet that was just what Jeri and all the others had done. They had forgiven him for his trespasses. And while he felt gladdened that they forgave him…Jeri especially…as he stood there, on that rooftop looking at the government building that sat across from him he felt as though he hadn't really earned that forgiveness. Even though his struggles to rescue Jeri from D-Reaper have proven otherwise in the eyes of his friends and comrades it no longer felt the same. He wanted to _really_ make it up to the puppet-loving girl who he had wronged. He wanted to make her truly happy again…

By reuniting her with the digimon that he had taken away from her.

_If those Hypnos guys were able to bring back Pineapple Head from the great beyond then maybe they can do the same for Jeri's partner. Why not? It's not everyday that a digimon comes back from the dead after all. You don't see any of the Devas getting up from their graves now do ya?_

Impmon had made his decision. He was going to do whatever it took to make Jeri happy. He was going to march into that building and (politely) ask to see…

_Hold on,_ thought Impmon as he leaned forward a bit, his eyes spotting two familiar figures walking in the direction of the Hypnos building. One with familiar red hair spiked up into a ponytail and another with brown hair and what looked like a green dress. It was difficult to tell from this distance but it could be Rika and Jeri. Shortly afterwards, the two of them entered the main entrance of the Hypnos building, confirming Impmon's suspicions.

Now Impmon hesitated. He wasn't at all sure if he wanted Jeri to know about his intentions until he was absolutely sure that he could do it. Of course, she had the right to know but there were some things that a person, or in his case, digimon needed to find out for themselves before involving anyone else and he didn't want to give Jeri false hope anyway. Well, no big deal. He'd just wait until he saw them leave and then check things out himself. Yeah. That's what he was going to do…

Suddenly Impmon's senses picked up a digimon standing behind him. Reflexively Impmon jumped to the side and ignited a small, red fireball above one fingertip, ready to toss it at what could be an enemy on a moments notice. Upon seeing that the digimon that was behind him wasn't an enemy, but was rather the tall, yellow furred kitsune that he knew as Renamon Impmon quickly extinguished his flame and relaxed his guard.

"Oh. It's you."

Renamon cocked an eyebrow, unsure what to make of that statement. It was rather uncharacteristic of him to be so indifferent to her. Normally he would make a sarcastic comment or babble on some nonsense that overall involved him trying to sound smart about something.

_And then there was the way that he looked when he was looking at the Hypnos building,_ thought Renamon and she narrowed her azure eyes as she analyzed the little Rookie. _I've seen that look on him before. But where? When?_

"Impmon," the vulpine digimon began in a voice that was full of concern. "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" Impmon cocked his head to one side, looking befuddled at her question. " 'Course I'm fine! What makes you think that something's wrong? BA-BOOM!"

And with that said the little imp rocketed into the air, apparently not wanting to wait and see what Renamon's response was going to be. Renamon watched his retreating form for a moment before turning away and looking at the Hypnos building and crossing her arms thoughtfully, her mind focusing on the strange, distant and sad look that Impmon had before he saw her.

_Hmmm…_

**###**

Rika frowned as she walked down the streets, lost in her own thoughts as next to her, Jeri looked at her with concern. She had good reason to, Rika supposed. Not a whole lot had been said between them since they met up, with the only exception being when Jeri had commented on Rika's hair being down, followed by her own annoyance at the other girl's observation and stating that she just happened to have run out of hair ties. Jeri accepted this with an easy, friendly smile and…Rika's frowned deepened as she felt a slight breeze play with her ponytail, tugging against the familiar feel of something holding her hair up, and the small, green colored hair tie that restrained it. A hair tie that had, not too long ago, tied back a small portion of Jeri's hair in a small pigtail of her own. Although Rika had been far more at ease then she had been a few minutes ago she still wasn't at all sure what to make of it. Jeri giving Rika the hair band that had been part of her own appearance since they had first known each other. It felt kind of weird, Jeri doing that for her but then that was the sort of thing that she would do for others. It was really just a small thing really, and she'd give the hair band back to Jeri once she had restocked her own supply, but thinking over some recent events it felt like there was much more in the act than there should have been.

_I don't know why I should be thinking that,_ thought Rika as her frown deepened. _It's not like she's trying to say anything…right? I don't think that she knows what I did…_

Rika sighed mentally, once more recalling the memory from Takato's room and the sensation of Takato's lips as they pressed against her own, both awakening and strengthening emotions in such a way that she had never thought possible outside of her bond with Renamon. And underlining it all was a feeling of guilt, as though she had betrayed the girl that was walking next to her in some fashion. In a way she felt that she had. Jeri is one of her closest friends after all, and she had been well aware of Jeri and Takato's feelings for each other (it had become something of a joke within their group as those two were taking forever to admit it to each other, as well as an amusement of sorts watching Takato act goofily around the puppet-loving girl). And now that she had gone and kissed Takato she had to wonder just what it was that she felt for the often-chaotic boy that she regularly referred to as _Gogglehead_ , her own reflections on her friendship with him and how her actions might not only affect their own bond, but also what they shared with Jeri.

_Nothing ruins a good friendship like this,_ thought Rika a little bitterly. But she knew that she couldn't keep something like this a secret, and as much as she wanted to talk to Takato about it that wasn't possible. And Jeri…Rika felt that she had to know, otherwise this was just going to eat away at her, and that could also damage their friendship. Jeri had every right to know, and if they were friends then she had to live up to her end of that unspoken bond. Jeri was likely to be very understanding of the situation after all.

_But…_

That word. _But._ It seemed to call forth a horde of possible _what-ifs_ , each one threatening the stability of her world and the bonds that she had established in it. Rika forced them away. She had been through more than enough to face her own fears, and even if she couldn't do so without qualm she would still do so nonetheless. It was all just a matter of finding the right time to do so.

_No time like the present,_ thought Rika sarcastically, knowing full well that she wasn't going to do that right away, and would likely postpone it further. _When_ she would discuss this with Jeri she didn't know, but she did know that it would be soon. Of that she was certain. She just needed to find some time to gather her thoughts before she went out to brave the storm.

"Rika?" Asked Jeri tentatively, interrupting the girl's thoughts and causing her to look over at her friend in surprise.

"Hmmm?"

"You okay? You looked like you were thinking about something and it was making you mad."

Jeri put on a small, slightly worried smile and Rika glanced away, wanting to curse herself for making her friend worry like this.

"I'm fine," said Rika in a tone that spoke of both annoyance and sadness, none of which was directed at her friend and Jeri visibly relaxed, her smile growing at the same time.

"Want to talk about it? You've been pretty down lately, even more so after Takato left to see his cousin…"

Rika hoped that her expression didn't change when Jeri mentioned that.

"…And it just seems like everyone's been out of sorts ever since that battle with Lucemon," Jeri continued, her face softening as she said that. "No one ever seems to want to talk about it but I can see that it's affected them."

Jeri suddenly gave a nervous chuckle.

"I think Kazu volunteered to take Takato's place down at the bakery while he's gone."

Rika raised an eyebrow at this, feeling faintly amused by the notion of Kazu working at the Matsuki bakery while at the same time a little bit worried about it.

_I probably don't even_ want _to know. Still…should probably check it out after I'm done with Hypnos just to make sure that numbskull doesn't do anything stupid._

"Jeri," began Rika, a little surprised at how calm she sounded for what she was about to propose. "Yeah. There _is_ something that I want… _need_ to talk to you about…"

Jeri turned all of her focus on the red headed girl, surprised at how serious Rika sounded at this moment. Whatever it was that was bothering her it must be pretty _big_.

Rika continued.

"…But…I need to think about it for a little bit, okay? But I promise…we will talk…that is if you want too…"

Jeri's smile became one of compassion and she nodded in agreement.

"Whenever you feel like you're ready, Rika. All you have to do is ask."

Rika gave a small smile at the other girl as the two of them turned and pushed open the doors that led to Hypnos's main lobby.

**###**

Yamaki glowered underneath his sunglasses as he looked at the live projector image of one of the few people that he rarely ever enjoyed seeing while working. The Chief Cabinet Secretary. Raising a folder containing some files Yamaki opened it and flipped through it even though he had reviewed the information a dozen times already. After a couple minutes, the dark head of Hypnos spoke.

"They can't be serious."

"They are," spoke the man from the projector feed. "There has been quite a bit of discussion regarding the digimon ever since the incident that you labeled _the Parasimon Invasion_ occurred, and it's been steadily getting worse ever since that most recent bio-emergence one week ago."

"The Triceramon," said Yamaki.

"Yes. The _Triceramon_. Not to mention that _other_ incident involving the Tamers three weeks ago. The report that you filed concerning those two incidents has become quite the topic of discussion due to the damage that was involved on both occasions. The fact that this ties in to one of the Tamer's digimon… _Guilmon_ if I'm reading your report right…who had nearly caused a network meltdown single handedly has also served to worsen your situation. And need I remind you about the Wong child's loss of control?"

"No sir. You don't need to. But you can hardly fault either Takato Matsuki or Henry Wong for their actions. Both were under extreme stress at those times…"

The sound of Yamaki's phone ringing interrupted the agent. Frowning Yamaki walked over to his desk and picked it up.

"Yamaki," he said sternly, and Riley's voice quickly responded.

_"Sir. We have a call from downstairs. One of the Tamers…Rika Nonaka is here looking for any further information that we have regarding last week's bio-emergence."_

Yamaki schooled his face so that it was unreadable.

"Has there been any new information regarding it?"

_"No sir, but she_ requested _that she see someone and have them fill her in on anything that we might have."_

Yamaki sighed. There were times where this job really got to him sometimes…

"Detail one of the Monster Makers. I'm sure that they have a better grasp of the situation right now."

_"Yes sir."_

Yamaki hung up the phone and returned to his conversation with the Chief Cabinet Secretary.

"Look," said the Chief Cabinet Secretary. "I understand your reasons for not wanting to do this. Frankly I agree with you, but now that the public is aware of the existence of the digital world the situation has changed. There are people who are afraid of another invasion similar to the Deva, D-Reaper, and Parasimon invasions, and because of that they're looking to our nations leaders to do something to protect them. Even with the Tamer's and their digimon protecting them there are those who still see digimon as being something to be feared. They don't see any difference at all between them or the D-Reaper program that attacked a year ago and if they know that D-Reaper was attacking the digimon and was responsible for them sending the Devas they haven't shown any signs of caring. And as I stated earlier, the loss of control from one of your Tamers didn't help things much…"

"No one was injured in that battle…" began Yamaki only to be cut off by his superior.

"I know that, but that fact has been downplayed by those who are striving to do something about the digimon. They may be few in number but they have a powerful voice. And with each digimon that goes on a rampage in Shinjuku their voice only grows stronger."

Yamaki sighed mentally.

"The pressure's getting worse isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

Yamaki hefted the file once more.

"If they go through with this…if the authorization is given to activate this on a larger scale…"

"I know. It's tantamount to starting a war. I'm stonewalling it as much as I can, but like I said they have a strong voice. That's what happens when people start becoming afraid. They're liable to listen to all the wrong things. And with politicians looking to keep their offices or climb higher up the ladder…"

"I get it," said Yamaki, unconsciously clenching one hand into a fist, wanting to flick the lighter that was in his pocket. He resisted the urge to do so however.

"I'm sure you do," said the Chief Cabinet Secretary. "But I'm willing to bet that you'll be having a hard time dealing with this as well. You're a brilliant programmer Yamaki, with a lot of resources to back you up, making you a valuable asset to the Tamers as well but a fair number of your own programs have either failed or backfired on you. We should be thankful that the general public isn't aware that it was Hypnos that inadvertently created the weak point between the boundaries in the worlds, allowing digimon and the D-Reaper to bio-emerge. That would be the last proverbial straw."

"Yes. I'm well aware of that," said Yamaki. "I'll think of something."

The Chief Cabinet Secretary nodded respectfully. Whatever each man felt about the other, they _did_ respect each other and the work that they did, and both would do whatever they could to alleviate the situation.

"I'll leave you too that then, Yamaki. I'll do what I can on this end."

With that, the projector turned off and the shades began to draw up on the windows as the lights turned on. Still clenching his fist Yamaki set down the file that he had been holding and massaged his temples. He hoped that he really could find a way out of this. There was too much going on to simply throw it all away to the rash actions of a few people. And there were the Tamers to think of…

Yamaki looked at the folder that sat on the edge of his desk. It was marked _Argus._

_They're just kids,_ thought Yamaki in the silence of his office.

Sitting down in his chair, Yamaki leaned back and began to think over this most recent turn of events. He didn't like it. Not one bit.


	6. Chapter: 5/ A Helping Hand

"Aw c'mon!" Exclaimed Kazu as he raised his clenched fists in front of him angrily, refusing to believe that what he had just heard was going to be the final word on his proposal. "All you have to do is show us what we have to do and we'll take care of the rest! Really! We'll be as careful as we can! Honest!"

"No way…" said Mei Matsuki in a deadpan voice as she drummed her fingers on the kitchen tables countertop, starting to feel just a little bit exasperated with the visor-wearing child. She _had_ considered his proposal carefully, and if there was someone around that she could trust to keep an eye on at the moment (like Takato but he was off at his cousin's place for the week). She supposed that her husband, Takahiro could do the job but she considered it too much of a hassle for him to continue baking bread and keep an eye on Takato's two friends and make sure that they didn't cause a mess. The thing was, Kazu and Kenta had shown up and (politely) asked if they could fill in for Takato at the bakery while he was gone. A _gesture of friendship for everything that he's been through_ was how Kazu had put it. Not a bad idea really. Even though she and Takahiro were perfectly capable of running the bakery on their own, a couple extra hands _would_ be nice to have. If nothing else she would have been more prepared to accept Kenta since he was fairly diligent and, from what Takato had told her of his friends and what she had observed on the occasions that he had friends over, was the _least_ likely of this pair to make a mistake. She might even have accepted Kazu too despite his rather cocky attitude (with the note to keep him from serving customers until he learned something about manners), however Kazu asking how hard it could be to bake bread if _Chumley made it everyday_ (which he certainly didn't, and usually had to be asked to help out) certainly shot that idea down the tubes.

_A little bit more tact would have been nice_ , mused Mei Matsuki as she settled her gaze heavily on Kazu Shioda who, to his credit, met it without even flinching. Of course, he had already seen more frightening things in his life than his best friends mother.

"We said that we'd work for free, didn't we? Heck, we'll do anything you want…er… _need_ done around here. Cleaning, polishing, you name it! We'll even pay for anything that we break or mess up on!"

Mei paused in the tapping of her fingers and raised an eyebrow at that as Kenta Kitagawa looked over at Kazu as if he had just lost his mind.

"Wha…? Kazu! What are you doing? We can't do that! We…" Kenta took a second to look over at Mei nervously before continuing in a lower voice. Which really wasn't all that affective since she could still hear him anyway. "We don't have any money right now, and even if we did I don't think that we could pay to replace anything that we might accidentally bust! Not to mention the fact that Takato's parents will kill us…"

"You dramatize too much Kenta," said Kazu, placing his fists firmly on his hips as he looked at his friend with a condescending expression.

While the two boys continued to have their argument, Mei sighed and looked over at the kitchen door to find her husband beckoning to her with one finger. With a sigh Mei got up from her chair and told the two Tamers that she would be back in a minute, immediately quieting them. Brushing aside the cloth that hung at the top of the kitchen door Mei went out to see what Takahiro wanted.

"Well?" Mei demanded with false heat once they had gotten out of range. "What is it?"

"I was thinking…and don't ask if it hurt…even though it did," Takahiro chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously and Mei gave a small smile at that. "Anway. Why _don't_ we give those two a chance? They hang out with Takato and they're Tamers so they can't be _that_ bad. The fact that they're here asking to do Takato's job while he's gone should mean something, right?"

"It's not a question of whether or not they have the right intentions, it's more about if they'll be able to do a good job of it, and I don't much like the idea of either one of us having to keep an eye on them when we're supposed to be doing our jobs to make a living. Kenta might be able to do it in a pinch and I'm sure that Kazu might be fine…if he'd lose that attitude. You know how tight for money we've been lately even with the Guilmon Bread boosting our sales. I _don't_ want to have to pay for a broken oven!"

Takahiro gave a small grin.

"Are you sure that they'd be able to do that?"

Mei gave the man a _'Do you even listen to yourself talk?'_ look, reminding him of the fact that the two children were _Tamers_ ; therefore the possibility was well within the realm of reason.

_If something can go wrong, it usually will_ , thought Takahiro, remembering Murphy's Law, but he quickly discarded the thought aside. Even in the shadow of his son's tragedy (which was no longer really a tragedy looking back on the day that Hypnos had told Takato about what they had done for him) he still liked to think that such things didn't have that much power in the universe and that all things balanced out in the end.

Takahiro fixed his wife with yet another smile before reaching up and clasping her shoulders, rubbing them gently.

"What do you say that we at least give them a chance? They're his friends and I'm sure that they could use something that helps them think that they're contributing on their friend's behalf right now. Besides, they _did_ say that they'd work for free and we could use a little bit of help…"

Mei sighed and took off her bandana, clutching it tightly in her hand and feeling like she was going to regret this decision. But…Takahiro did have a point. She was just too soft hearted for her own good sometimes.

"All right, fine. They can stay and help out. But I won't be held responsible for whatever it is they do. That's _your_ department now!"

"Fair enough," Takahiro chuckled, smiling sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head nervously now. "Then you can take care of all the customers that I left standing in front of the cash register…"

"I _cannot_ believe you sometimes!" Exclaimed Mei in annoyance as she slapped her husband upside the head with the edge of her bandana. Takahiro just laughed as he tried to dodge further, cloth-based attacks from his wife.

**###**

"Ah…ah…AH…CHOO!"

_-Sniff-_

"Sorry," muttered Kazu as he looked back at the bread dough that he had in front of him, silently grateful that he had turned his head away at the last minute.

"Don't worry about it," said Takahiro with a chuckle. "It takes some getting used to, believe me. Takato had an awful time when he first started…never mind about Guilmon whenever he got involved. Just use less flour next time and you'll be fine."

"If only it were that simple," muttered Kenta as he went about cleaning his glasses for what had to be the umpteenth time in as many minutes since the two Tamers started working, aided by MarineAngemon who levitated napkins over to the bespectacled boy by way of his _Kahuna Waves_ attack. Takato's father was to be their supervisor and present teacher in the art of bread making. So far they had performed well in the making of the dough, only getting MarineAngemon stuck in the batter once (Kazu had commented on the strange _lumpiness_ of the batch before Kenta asked where his partner was) and had progressed easily to kneading the item in question without any trouble…so far.

_Well, it's just kneading bread dough. It's not exactly rocket science,_ thought Takahiro as he cleaned off his hands at the kitchen sink.

"Okay," said Takahiro. "I'm going out to get a few things and check up on…uh…Guardromon out front. I should be back in a few minutes but just in case remember to bring out the bread that we have in the oven when the timer goes off, got it?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem," said Kazu giving the man a dough covered thumbs up. "We've got it covered."

"I'll bet you do," said Takahiro with a light laugh as he exited the room. "I'll be back soon."

"Later."

The two boys continued to work in the silence of the elder Matsuki's departure for a few minutes before Kenta looked up at Kazu, still kneading the bread dough as he did so.

"Kazu?"

"Yeah?"

"Not that I don't think that this is a bad idea…because I did want to do something to help Takato, but…why are we doing this?"

Kazu looked up and cocked an eyebrow at his friend.

"What do you mean? We already talked about this. You know what Chumley went through! I just want to make sure that we can do all that we can for him…his folks too if we can help it."

"I'm not arguing against that Kazu. I did agree to help out too after all and I do kinda enjoy this and everything…but you have to admit you've been acting kind of weird ever since that business with BlackGuilmon. You've been looking for ways to help Takato. I still remember that time when you volunteered yourself to get his families mail before it even arrived at their house…"

Kazu rolled his eyes at that one.

"I wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind then, Chumley. Besides, since when did it become a crime to help out your friends?"

"I never said that it was, Kazu, but you have to admit you really have been going out of your way a lot lately to do stuff for Takato. You've even been taking notes in class… _good_ notes for once and then you compare them with Takato to make sure that he's got them right. And then there was that day that you blew your allowance to buy bread for Guilmon when we heard that Hypnos brought him back to life…even though he was just an egg."

"If I knew that you were going to be making notes of everything that I did to help Takato I wouldn't have bothered inviting you on this mission…"

"Mission?" Asked Kenta, raising an eyebrow. Kazu continued to rant as though he hadn't heard his friend, his brow furrowing into a frown that was quickly turning into an angry glare as he continued to knead the dough.

"You know how it felt watching Takato hurt the way he was after Lucemon blew Guilmon to kingdom come? What it was like knowing that there wasn't anything that we could do to help him?"

"But…Yamaki…"

"I KNOW what Yamaki and his bunch did _afterwards_ , Chumley," said Kazu fiercely as he added just a little more force to his ministrations, all but squashing the dough with his hands now. "I'm talking about _before_ that. That day that we were all in Takato's room, before that mess with that BlackGuilmon and Lucemon went down…it was like that time in the digital world when Jeri lost Leomon. You remember how she was? She was totally out of it. To see Takato like that…"

Kenta and MarineAngemon exchanged worried glances.

"I remembered when I made that Blue card for the first time," continued Kazu taking a deep breath and relaxing a little as he continued kneading away at the dough. "I wanted to protect Takato. It was like all those moments where I've felt helpless to do something for someone just came at me all at once…and it was like I had a clear understanding of what it meant to help someone, just what I felt when we found Guardromon after that battle with Orochimon."

Kenta looked at Kazu, understanding flooding his mind. He was getting an idea now as to why his friend felt compelled to help Takato, or in this case Takato's parents while he wasn't around. He had given his reasons rather well in fact. How he felt _helpless_ in the face of his friend's pain. From what he had been told after the incident with BlackGuilmon, Kazu had indeed successfully digivolved Guardromon to his Ultimate form of Andromon. Oddly enough, the visor-wearing Tamer hadn't boasted about that fact as he boasted about everything else that he did no matter how minor it was. Now though, now Kenta began to suspect just how much Andromon's defeat at Lucemon's hands had hurt him, and increased that feeling of helplessness, even more so when Takato had gone off without him to help Rika and Henry. He had given it his all to help his friend and in the end it just hadn't been enough. Andromon had been beaten down along with Kyubimon and Takato nearly killed himself in an effort to prevent BlackWarGrowlmon from digivolving to Megidramon.

_I have to admit; even I felt more than a little out of sorts when it came to helping Takato. Kazu's taking it pretty hard though…_

Suddenly MarineAngemon's urgent tugging on Kenta's shirtsleeve and high-pitched squeals interrupted the boy's thoughts.

"What's up buddy?"

"PihpihpihpuhPUH!"

Kenta blinked and Kazu asked for a translation, to which Kenta immediately acceded.

"Huh? The oven…?"

And that was when the two of them heard the beeping of the oven. The smell of something burning reached their nostrils a second later.

_Have we been talking for_ that _long?!_

Panicking, Kazu and Kenta ran over to the oven and threw it open and looked in, wondering just how badly they had messed up. Kazu reached in and immediately regretted it upon putting his hand on scorching hot metal. As Kazu withdrew the appendage, trying to keep his sounds of pain to a minimum so as to not attract Mei's attention MarineAngemon flew in and fired a healing heart bubble at his hand, and then repeated the action for the tray of bread, levitating it safely out of the oven and over onto the kitchen table where the bubble popped an inch above its surface.

Kazu flexed his hand carefully as MarineAngemon's heart brought a flood of relief to him. Kazu looked up and smiled faintly at the little pink fairy digimon.

"Thanks dude."

MarineAngemon giggled and did a cartwheel in the air.

"So how bad is it?" Asked Kazu turning to the kitchen counter.

"Um…well, they're not _all_ _black_ or anything. Just a little bit here and there…and on the bottom…"

"Great. Now how are we going to explain this to Chumley's parents?"

The sound of a throat being cleared made both boys freeze up immediately.

_Aw nuts… Busted._

**###**

Rika and Jeri exited the Hypnos doors, Jeri looking over at Rika worriedly while Rika glowered. They had just talked to Henry's father, who turned out didn't have that much to tell them about the new digimon that had been popping up lately, thus rendering the purpose of the meeting rather short. If she were more like Henry, with his knowledge of computers and data, she probably would have had a lot more questions to ask concerning them. But the thing was, she wasn't Henry. _"Computers are boring,"_ she had once told her grandmother, and it was times like this where she disliked that limitation. Maybe if she had the same desire to learn something about technology as she did with the Digimon card game than that would tell a different story.

_Of course, it's not like there's really a whole lot stopping me,_ thought Rika to herself as both she and Jeri strode down the streets. Rika stuffed her hands into her pockets irritably, feeling a little ridiculous at having wasted time like this. She had already had an idea that Hypnos wouldn't have anything for her otherwise they would have called.

"You okay, Rika?"

Rika blinked and looked up at Jeri, giving her a small smile to ease her concerns.

"Mostly annoyed," the red headed girl said, ignoring some of her emotions in regards to Jeri's question. She didn't want to think about them just now. "Don't know why I went down there really. Just something to do I suppose and it turned out to be a bust. What about you?"

Jeri offered her friend a small smile of her own.

"Well, I had gone to try and find Impmon at his home with the twins. I've been pretty worried about him. He hasn't been making many appearances since Guilmon came back." Jeri's eyes became crestfallen as she thought about the mischievous digimon that was her friend. Rika's face now took on a concerned expression of its own.

"If you want I can have Renamon track him down…"

"No!" Said Jeri loudly, and then blushed as she realized how she must have sounded. "Um…that is…not yet. When I saw his Tamers they said that he was just going to be out for a little bit and that he would be back later. He had only left today and I can always see him later. I can't exactly expect him to tell me what he's doing every second of his life can I?"

"Now _that_ would be interesting," said Rika with a small grin on her face as the image of Jeri keeping Impmon constantly close as though he were a helpless baby came to mind. "But yeah, I guess you're right. That probably would be asking for a little too much. So what're you going to do now?"

"Well…you remember how yesterday Kazu and Kenta said something about _'taking care of things'_ at Takato's place? I think that they were going down there today and I was interested in seeing what it was that they had planned…"

Rika's face took on an image of bemused thoughtfulness.

"It wouldn't be that great a leap of the imagination to bet that Kazu has some harebrained scheme in his mind and dragged Kenta into it."

"So are you coming?"

Rika shrugged nonchalantly, though the look on her face belied her action.

"It's not like I have anything else to do today…"

"Great!" Said Jeri excitedly, and with that the two girls strode off to their next destination.

**###**

"How're you holding up here, Guardromon?" Takahiro asked the massive, rust colored android as he exited the bakery's entrance.

"I did the _Bread Song_ like you said Mr. Matsuki," said Guardromon in a pained, and tired voice. "But all I got in response was an angry little girl who kicked me and said she preferred Guilmon. She was most vehement about it."

"Are you sure that you did it right?" Asked Takahiro, scratching his head in a confused manner.

"If you want I could play the recording…"

"Um…better not. I don't want to leave your partner alone in the kitchen for too long and I still have some business with the crates in the alley. I'm sure that it was just an isolated accident. Most people like _Guilmon's Bread Song._ But then, it's usually Guilmon and Takato who are out here singing it…"

"I'm sure that I'll manage sir. Perhaps I need to be more dynamic with it. Kazu always tries to put a little flare into everything he does. Maybe a song and dance?"

Takahiro hesitated, though not because he actually considered the idea. Rather, the nightmarish image of the robotic digimon flailing his arms about and singing off key was the reason for giving him pause.

_I'm starting to think that having Kazu's partner advertise our products wasn't the best of ideas now. But he wanted to help and he's just too big to fit into the bakery…_

"I'm seeing it, but I don't believe it," said an amazed voice from behind Guardromon. Turning his massive frame to the side, Guardromon revealed the two forms of Rika Nonaka and Jeri Katou as they made their way down the street towards the bakery, both girls in varying degrees of surprise on their faces. And with good reason for it too. As Jeri took one, long, stunned look at Guardromon she took a moment to think on all the strange things that she had seen in the digital world, she had to admit that seeing Kazu's partner standing in front of the Matsuki bakery, waving a fan and a sign went above and beyond anything she was used to. And then there was the apron that adorned the robot's waist…

_I'm surprised that they actually found one big enough to cover him like that,_ thought Jeri, feeling as though reality was unhinging itself around her. Deciding to take a risk, Jeri looked up at the sky to see if pigs were flying.

There weren't.

_Not even a Patamon. Phew…_

Next to the girl, Rika smirked.

"Well… _this_ …is…um… _different_ ," Rika said as she came to a stop and put her hands on her waist, looking Guardromon over with a critical eye, all the while unable to stop herself from smirking…or preventing that smirk from turning into a full fledged smile that threatened to erupt with laughter.

"Good morning my ladies," said Guardromon cheerfully. "Are you here to join Sir Kazu and Sir Kenta on their mission in bread baking?"

As one, both girls tilted their heads to the side.

"You're kidding, right?" Asked Rika, unable to hide the surprise in her voice. Jeri glanced up at the sky, hoping to find some vague sign of an orange colored hamster flying around on bat wings to indicate the unreality of their situation; still no such luck.

_I knew that those two goofballs intended to do something to help out Takato's parents but I don't think that I expected this…_ certainly _not from Kazu. He's all but allergic to work unless it involves digimon._

" 'Fraid not," chuckled Takahiro. "They came in this morning, offering to do work for free."

Rika and Jeri exchanged a glance.

_"For free?"_ They mouthed to each other. Oh this was just a day for surprises wasn't it?

"Anyway, they're in the kitchen right now working. Hopefully they remembered to take the next batch of bread out of the oven…"

Rika and Jeri exchanged yet another, more worried glance.

"If you want, Mr. Matsuki," said Jeri, clasping her hands together in front of her. "We can go in and check on that for you. Rika did some baking before during the D-Reaper crisis…" Rika frowned at the brown haired girl, wondering what was going through her mind and already half suspecting it. "…And I work at a restaurant. I'm sure that between the two of us we can keep those two out of trouble while you and Mrs. Matsuki manage the important stuff."

"Jeri…" began Rika, not sure if she liked the route that this conversation was taking, but the brunette overrode her.

"So what do you say?"

Takahiro scratched the bottom of his chin as he thought the girl's proposal over.

"Well…I _suppose_ that we could let you do it. I'm sure that Mei wouldn't mind. In fact, she'd probably _prefer_ having a little female grace back there keeping an eye on things. She wasn't exactly too keen on letting them into the kitchen and it took her forever to trust Takato and I with the oven. I'll have a talk with her. In the meantime, you might as well go on in and take a look yourselves."

"Thanks," said Jeri happily as she turned to Rika and giggled. "What do you say, Rika? Looking forward to ordering around the boys?"

Rika paused as she thought this over. She wasn't exactly too keen on this idea…working in the bakery that is. It felt too much like something a _housewife_ would do and she didn't much like the idea of spending more time than was necessary in Kazu's presence. Her _babysitting_ experience (as she had described her time with Kazu and Kenta) in the digital world had been one example of this and she occasionally wondered how Takato even put up with the dimwit duo. And yet, as she had told Jeri earlier, it wasn't as though she had a whole lot to do today and…

_Hang on. Ordering them around, huh?_

A small grin appeared on Rika's face. Maybe there was a way to make this day amusing after all.

"Fine. Let's just not turn this into a habit, okay?"

Jeri giggled.

"Don't worry."

**###**

It didn't take them long to enter the bakery and tell Mei Matsuki their intentions and Takahiro's own knowledge about it. Although she was rather hesitant to agree otherwise she directed the two girls around back, with a word about how she was going to have _a talk with her husband later_ , and left them to it until she could get back to them more properly. As Rika and Jeri headed towards the kitchen they heard the clang of metal and a sound of rushing feet. Reflexively testing the air with her nose, Rika was able to wager a guess as to how successful Kazu and Kenta were being with the task that they had set for themselves. Upon entering the kitchen, Rika halted and crossed her arms over her chest, assumed an annoyed look and cleared her throat.

The two boys froze.

_Gotcha,_ thought Rika, smirking inwardly.

**###**

"What do you think that you two are doing?" Spoke up a voice that neither Kazu nor Kenta ever believed that they'd hear in a place like this. Turning slowly, carefully, eyes twitching nervously, the two boys settled their gaze on the two girls who stood at the entrance to the kitchen, looking rather crossly at them.

"Um…hey Rika…hey Jeri," stammered Kenta. "F-Fancy meeting you two here…"

Rika snorted.

"You didn't answer the question," said Jeri, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes in pretend annoyance, attempting to match her friend's rather intimidating personality. Kazu quickly regained himself after that.

"Well…what's it look like we're doing? We're baking bread…"

"More like burning it," muttered Kenta, earning him a sharp jab in the ribs from Kazu's elbow.

"Dude…you're ruining our image here…"

"Like you even _had_ one," said Rika taking a step into the kitchen, not once losing her fierce gaze. Kenta looked over at Kazu and gulped, resisting the urge to retreat a step.

"We had an idea that you two were up to something," continued Rika as Jeri joined her, though the small smile growing on her face told the two boys that she found this whole scene far more humorous than she was trying to make it out to be. "So we decided to see what was up…and prevent any disasters that you two make in the process because _I_ certainly don't feel like having to bail you two out again."

_Again?_ Wondered Kenta before remembering the incident in the digital world where Rika had lost her temper with them. _Oh. Yeah. And it happened twice…_

"Hey, c'mon!" Exclaimed Kazu a little heatedly. "We're just trying to do something nice here. How're we supposed to know that this was harder than Takato made it out to be?"

"Well it doesn't matter now," said Rika, never letting her withering gaze leave the two Tamers that stood in front of her. "Because Jeri here has got it in her head that you two need babysitting again and…"

"What Rika's trying to say," said Jeri, fixing her friend with a small glare before turning back to Kazu and Kenta. "Is that we're going to help you out. After all, you told Takato yesterday that you were going to take care of things here for him and, well, why not make it something that _all_ of his friends can help out with?"

"That's kind of what I was telling them, Jeri…"

"I know, but at least this way we can just get to the main point of our being here and get started."

Both Kazu and Kenta blinked in surprise and turned to each other, unable to hide the shock that was written upon their faces. Rika and Jeri… _helping_ _them?_ Well, the real odd one out was Rika but then it wasn't like Kazu hadn't already done his fair share of that already recently.

"What do you think?" Prompted Kenta.

"Well…what do _you_ think?"

Rika closed her eyes and resisted the urge to growl.

"Look! We can either stand around here talking about this all day or we can…"

The sound of something _popping_ in front of her caught Rika's attention. Opening up her eyes in surprise, Rika just barely reacted in time to catch an apron, hair net, and bandana as MarineAngemon giggled childishly. A second later, one of MarineAngemon's crimson hearts carrying the same implements floated over to Jeri and burst, dropping them into her own outstretched arms. Jeri turned to look at Rika and smiled warmly.

"Well…guess that we'd better get started."

**###**

The day passed by rapidly for the four children, and despite some minor setbacks involving Kazu and a brief flower war, they actually got quite a bit done, leaving both Mei and Takahiro impressed and grateful for their help. As Kenta and Kazu busied themselves with the last cleaning jobs, Jeri and Rika, having just finished up with their own took off their now much flowered aprons and bandanas and set them aside. Rika groaned and knuckled her back but not at all complaining about the discomfort. She had after all done far more extraneous tasks in the past, most of which involved battling a Wild digimon. Actually, the work had been fairly relaxing (though not something that she wanted to do often), and it had given her some time to reflect on recent events. She hadn't gotten anywhere with her thoughts but for the moment that didn't matter. Right now she was content with existing in the moment as she prepared to go home.

"You okay?" Asked Jeri in a somewhat tired, but satisfied tone. Rika thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Yeah. I am right now. Bet tomorrow will bring something to make me change my mood but for now…yeah. I'm fine."

"That's good."

The two of them exited the kitchen and waved goodbye to Kazu and Kenta, and shortly afterwards did likewise with Takato's parents before leaving through the bakery's main entrance. The two girls walked in silence for a few minutes

"Rika?" Asked Jeri. "I know that you probably don't want to talk about it right now but…about earlier? What did you say that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Rika narrowed her eyes, fighting off the memories that her friend had just brought back to mind.

_There goes my feeling good,_ thought Rika sarcastically before berating herself for the thought. Jeri was just being concerned after all.

"I'd…rather not talk about it right now, if that's okay with you. I need to think about it some more."

Jeri nodded.

"Okay. Just remember…if you ever need to talk…"

"I know. You're there."

Jeri smiled at her friend.

Rika sighed and dug into her back pocket, bringing out the green hair tie that Jeri had lent to her and she held it out to her.

"Here."

"Huh? Rika? What…?"

"Your hair band? You lent it to me today, remember?"

Jeri looked at it for a moment and then smiled again.

"Keep it. I've got extras at home, and I think that right now you need it more than I do. Think of it as a friendly gift."

Jeri closed her eyes and smiled sweetly at her friend as Rika frowned, but nonetheless brought the hair tie up and retied her hair back into its traditional ponytail, a little grateful that she didn't have it tickling the back of her neck anymore.

"Thanks Jeri," said Rika, not sure what else to say beyond that.

"You're welcome," replied Jeri, never once losing her smile.

Eventually the time came for them to go their separate ways. Rika watched Jeri go for a moment, waving her hand in goodbye before resuming her trek towards her home. The familiar form of Renamon phased into view next to her. Rika looked into her partner's azure gaze and smiled softly.

"C'mon Renamon."

Rika was just about to pass by her partner when she laid a paw on her shoulder and looked into her eyes, a silent conversation playing out between Tamer and digimon for a moment before the kitsune released her partner.

"I see…"

"I know Renamon…it's just…I'd rather not have to deal with it right now. It's just… _confusing_ , and I still need to think about it. I don't want to hurt her…"

"I know. Just so long as you don't forget that you're friends will always remain your friends…no matter what happens. You told Takato that yourself as I recall…"

Rika said nothing in response to that…nothing in words at any rate, and soon enough the vulpine digimon disappeared from view, leaving the red headed girl alone with her thoughts in the light of the setting sun.

_Tomorrow's another day,_ thought Rika as she resumed her journey home.


	7. Chapter: 6/ Breaking Silence

Terriermon glanced around the playground, his ears twitching slightly, his eyes reading a mixture of confusion and worry. The boy whose shoulder that he stood on looked over at him and gave the long eared digimon a comforting smile.

"I'm sure that they'll be here Terriermon. After all, they _did_ announce that school was to be reopened today last week. And they were there for it then…"

"How would you know, Henry?" Said Terriermon. "I mean, no offence, but you're not even in the same class as those two goofballs are. You can't _possibly_ know what they know about what they're teacher told them concerning school when it got closed down last week."

"All right. I'll concede that point but in case you forgot, Kazu spent most of the walk home that day complaining about something involving Ms. Asagi…"

"Which was strangely inaudible I might add seeing as how it's Kazu," said Terriermon.

"Well," said Henry, smiling wistfully. "You've heard the stories about her from the others just as much as I have."

"True, but I hardly call that evidence that Kazu and Kenta know enough to remember that school is back on today. I know that it's a teacher's duty to tell you guys about this stuff but don't you think that maybe this one time she might have…"

"Aren't you giving Kazu and Kenta a _little_ too much credit?" Asked Henry with a knowing smile, even though in all honesty he would have done so himself. The opportunity though to tease Terriermon about it, with the rabbit dog's view that both Kazu and Kenta were rather empty headed inside, was just too good to pass up.

And just like that Terriermon fell into it. Or so the dark haired boy thought.

"You've got a point there, but tell me something: if those two are late because of their lack of brains and attentiveness then where's Jeri?"

Henry sighed.

"You're just doing this to prove me wrong aren't you?"

"Well it would be nice to hear you admit it just once…preferably when a digimon isn't attacking though…"

"Don't jinx us then," said Henry with a laugh. Looking up at the clock that sat on top of the dinosaur dome that was the usual meeting place of the Tamers before school Henry sighed again. "Well, we might as well get going or else _we're_ going to be the ones who are late."

"What do you mean _we?"_

Before Henry could even pose a response to his partner's rather sarcastic (and correct) question, the familiar sound of Jeri Katou's voice hailing him from at the edge of the playground caught his attention. Smiling a little the half-Chinese Tamer turned and nodded in greeting to his friend.

"It's about time," said Terriermon crossing his little arms and pretending to scowl at the girl as she came to a stop in front of them, smiling happily. "Henry here was starting to think that you had thrown in with Kazu and Kenta…or even worse took up Takato's habits."

Henry rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Terriermon…"

Jeri giggled.

"No. My dad just wanted my help with something that was he thought would only take a minute and…well, it took a little bit longer than he thought."

Henry nodded as the three of them began to make their way towards the school.

"So I take it that we should be expecting Kazu and Kenta to be held back for detention today?"

"Maybe. I was going to have a talk with Ms. Asagi about that if they did show up late. You see they took it upon themselves to work for Takato's parents while he's visiting his cousin and…"

"Gah!" Terriermon suddenly began to pinwheel on Henry's shoulder, his little paws twirling about in a mad attempt to balance himself.

"Ah!" Exclaimed Henry as reflexively he brought up his arm to try and help his partner out. "Terriermon! You okay?"

"Oh yeah," said the long eared digimon as he gripped his partner's head with his ears. "I'm fine. Just…" Terriermon turned to Jeri and gave her a worried, scrutinizing gaze. "Did you just say that Kazu and Kenta were working at Takato's bakery until he got back?"

"M-hm." Jeri nodded.

Terriermon bowed his head and gave a shaky breath.

"And I thought that I've heard everything. Next you'll be telling me that Rika joined in on the fun too…"

"Actually…" Jeri began only to be interrupted by Terriermon's body hitting the ground with a _plop_ sound. Henry sighed again and bent down to pick his partner up.

"If you keep this up Jeri you're going to end up killing him."

"Sorry."

Henry shrugged.

"At least this way he'll be quiet for a little while. Anyway, you were saying about Kazu and Kenta?"

Jeri nodded again.

"Yeah. They volunteered to help out at the bakery for…well, just about everything. Even getting up extra early in the morning to pitch in." Jeri tapped her chin thoughtfully as she remembered in detail what Kazu's response had been when he had been told about that little detail. "Somehow I don't think that he was quite expecting it, but surprisingly he took it rather well. He only complained once and then turned around and said that he'd do it."

Terriermon made a sound of commiseration at that.

"So what was Rika doing there?"

Jeri smiled as she thought back on that particular memory.

"She was with me, and we wanted to make sure that those two didn't goof up. I don't think she gives them enough credit though. They weren't doing half bad when we worked with them."

_Funny. I was saying something along a similar line of thought to Terriermon earlier,_ thought Henry as said partner took a moment to clamber on top of Henry's head and sit there, looking for all the world like he was torn between passing out or throwing up. For his sake, Henry hoped it would be the former and not the latter.

"Anyway, I don't think that she'll be doing that sort of thing as often as those two. She seemed to have a lot on her mind when I met up with her yesterday."

Henry nodded in agreement. He could understand that. Seemed like everyone had something on their mind lately

The two of them walked in silence for a minute.

"So…how are you doing Henry?" Asked Jeri quietly.

Henry frowned slightly as he pursed his lips into a thin line, unsure as to how he should answer that question. He didn't usually talk about things that bothered him unless it was someone like his father or his teacher (and more often than not it was his teacher), though he did occasionally with Takato and at times Rika whenever she was willing to lend a sympathetic ear. He didn't know precisely why this was, and why this trait had heightened itself these past few weeks, although if he were to hazard a guess he supposed that it had something to do with the battle with Lucemon, the day that he had lost complete control of himself; abused his partnership with Terriermon and nearly killed Rika and Renamon.

_Who am I kidding?_ Thought Henry to himself. _That might as well be the reason why I've been keeping things inside of me more. I haven't even talked about it with Terriermon, or anyone else for that matter, with any great amount of detail since that day. Rika, Renamon, and Terriermon said that they understood and forgave me but…I guess that…I haven't forgiven myself…for what I came so close to doing._

As Henry thought about Jeri's question, the image of Sakuyamon placing herself in front of Lucemon as he unleashed the full fury of his Mega form's arsenal flashed through his mind and he involuntarily shuddered. Seeing this, Jeri reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Henry?"

"I don't know Jeri," said Henry finally. "I wish that I did but…I don't. I keep thinking back to that last battle with Lucemon and how angry I felt for what he did and how he didn't care about it at all."

Henry felt Terriermon shift on top of his head, but at the moment he said nothing.

"There was a time, shortly before I became a Tamer that I was playing a digimon computer game. I had selected Terriermon as my partner," Henry smiled remembering the little nutball's antics that he had pulled when he had been selected. But the smile quickly vanished as he continued with his tale. "But then we encountered a Gorillamon…a _real_ one that had somehow bio-emerged into the game, altering it so that no matter what I did I couldn't shut it down. The two of us fought back and managed to defeat him. Terriermon digivolved to do it and…well, he went out of control in his counter attack. After that I had a talk with my dad, and he told me about how that was just how the game worked, laughing at how I took it so seriously. But it _was_ serious. I had never thought about it at the time but all those digimon that were in that game…they were _real_ and I hurt them. Hurt them using Terriermon as a weapon, and when he arrived into the real world…"

Henry halted, realizing that he was narrating a little too much now. Jeri had already become familiar with some of their stories about how they had all become digimon Tamers. While she showed no signs of interrupting him, he felt that it was better if he just moved on to what he was trying to get at with his explanation.

"Takato and I used to talk sometimes about whether or not we'd be able to control our digimon when they digivolved. We had some trouble in the beginning after all…"

Jeri nodded, not interrupting or saying anything in response, simply content with letting the boy speak from his heart. Even if she weren't already aware that Gargomon had nearly killed Rika in a parking garage while she was trying to load Guilmon's data, she still wouldn't have interrupted him. She felt that it was far more important that he let out the fears that he had been holding in these past few weeks than to remind her of any specific details that she already knew about.

"…And I know Rika was afraid of it once after her encounter with IceDevimon. But the one thing that we never considered for the longest time was how our partners would react if we couldn't control ourselves."

Jeri nodded, still not saying anything even though their school was now starting to come into view.

"I thought that I had already learned that lesson," continued Henry. "Once, quite a while ago when I was just learning martial arts I hurt someone. Hurt them pretty bad. Ever since then I always tried to keep my emotions in check. For the most part I thought that I did okay with that. Not great, just okay. But now…after what happened with Lucemon when I nearly…"

Henry ceased talking as the two friends began to climb the steps that led to their school and came to a stop in front of the doors. Terriermon took a moment to hop down from his partner's head and glance up at him.

"Henry?" said Jeri after a second. "I can understand what you went through. I've had moments like that where I've just been nothing but angry at the world or at a particular person. We all have. I guess that it's important to you to feel as though you're in control of yourself but…sometimes you do need to let things out. Let things go, otherwise they build up and…" Jeri turned away, a look of shame crossing her face. "…Well. They…"

Jeri frowned, and her expression firmed.

"They can grow, and become something ugly. Something that you barely recognize as being a part of you."

Henry's face softened as he realized what she was talking about.

_D-Reaper…_

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't beat yourself up over what happened, and don't repress it either. It'll…" Jeri paused, trying to find the right words to say but not really doing a good job at it. She wasn't exactly used to this sort of thing. Besides, she was sure that Henry already knew most of this anyway.

_Just needs a friendly reminder,_ thought Jeri to herself, hoping that she didn't come off sounding bad with what she was trying to say.

"Trust me. It can be much, much worse that way."

The two of them stood there for a moment, letting the words sink in. Finally, Jeri shrugged her bag's straps into a more comfortable position.

"Thanks Jeri," said Henry. "I guess that I needed to hear that. It's just that there's a lot about it that confuses me still and…well, thanks."

Jeri nodded and smiled.

"Just remember, we're all there for you if you ever need to talk."

Henry smiled and nodded.

"I'll remember that. Thanks again, Jeri."

With that said, Henry bowed to his friend, who blinked in surprise before smiling herself and opened the school door.

"You coming?" She asked.

"In a minute. I've just got to say 'bye' to Terriermon here."

"Why bother? You know that you're just going to see me in a few hours anyways…"

Henry sighed.

"It's just the principle of it Terriermon…"

"You can be so weird at times, you know that Henry?"

Jeri giggled as she went inside and left the two friends alone. Terriermon looked up at his partner.

"She does have a point you know. All that stuff that she said? Even Takato would have a few words to say on the matter."

"I don't doubt it," said Henry before looking down at his partner and then getting down on one knee to look at him better. "Hey Terriermon. I just want to say that I'm sorry again for what happened that week. I shouldn't have lost it like that."

"Hen-ry!" Exclaimed Terriermon. "How many times do we have to go over this? You don't have to apologize to me! What's that you're teacher's always saying to you? _'Apologize to yourself?'_ Boy, even before Rika became our friend she hit you on the nail right away. You can be a broken record sometimes. Now get in there and get to class before you're late!"

No sooner than the words left his mouth the bell that signified the start of classes suddenly rang out loud and long, causing both Tamer and digimon to look first at the clock and then at each other with an expression of both surprise and resignation.

"Um…momentai?"

"Terriermon…"

The two friends suddenly broke into laughter.

"I'll see you later, Terriermon," chuckled Henry as he got up and headed towards the door.

"Bye!" said Terriermon, waving an ear at his friend before bouncing away to get out of sight.

**###**

The morning sun found Impmon sitting at the open window of his Tamer's home, looking out at the twin towers of the Hypnos building, feeling the wind play on his skin as the morning sun warmed it. He heard the noises of his partners as they woke themselves up, or rather Ai did. Mako was still sound asleep in bed, snoring away.

_Lazy,_ thought Impmon good naturedly as he sat there, thinking, _pondering_ about all the possible things that he could do today, but for the most part he wasn't really focusing on them. There was something else that held his attention at the moment, something that he considered very important, as important as the friendship and love of his two Tamers.

_Jeri…_

The all too familiar image of the brown haired girl and her smiling face, accompanied by an imagine _woof_ from her sock puppet made Impmon's expression fall a little. When he had come home yesterday after leaving Renamon behind at Hypnos he had been told that Jeri had stopped by to say hi to him. It saddened him a little that he had missed her and he was almost curious enough to go find her and see her but… _but_ he didn't. Thoughts from earlier that day had stopped him from doing so. Just what was it that had stopped him from entering Hypnos and asking to see someone who could help him? Renamon's presence? Jeri and Rika's being there as well (he was fairly certain that it was them, after all, Rika's distinctive hair style was a dead giveaway. Well, that and the fact that they had both entered Hypnos)? Of course, he still had some doubts about this idea of his. Doubts that had some validity from Takato's recent experience with trying to bring Guilmon back on his own. And Jeri…yes, there was Jeri to consider. If she knew that he was thinking about trying to remove Leomon's data from his own she might try to talk him out of it. He couldn't say why he thought that, except perhaps out of concern of what something like that could do to him. Always, _always_ her first thought would be about someone else, and he didn't think that it would be a good idea for her to know…if he decided to go through with it that is, if it were even possible in the first place.

And she would talk him out of it too. That was just how she was. She cared about others too much to worry about her own personal happiness, and it was that happiness that Impmon wanted to restore to her.

Just like Hypnos did for Takato with Guilmon.

Impmon raised one hand and set it outside. A red fireball flickered to life above one glove covered fingertip and he set it to dance there for a bit as he thought things over.

The sound of something stamping on the floor… _hard…_ snapped Impmon out of his thoughts.

"Got 'im," crowed a childish voice triumphantly.

"Huh?" Impmon enquired as he turned around, looking curiously at one of his Tamers, Ai, as she stood in the room, one foot planted firmly on the ground triumphantly. "Got who?"

"Just a fly," said Ai in a satisfied voice as she raised her shoe and picked the freshly crushed insect off from beneath her foot. "Mako's been complaining about it for days now and I finally got it for him."

Ai looked up at her and her brother's partner with an expression that looked so proud and happy, and hoping to see something of the same measure in Impmon as well. Impmon for his part however felt a little bit of disappointment make its way into his heart.

"You know, this window here was open. I'm pretty sure that it could have flown out on its own. Either that or you could have just caught it and let it out."

"But it's a fly," said Ai, tilting her head to once side, confused as to why Impmon wasn't happy with her for killing it. Her mother certainly didn't have any qualms about doing so with those bugs.

"Yeah, so what?" Asked Impmon as he hopped down from his perch and strode up to his partner. "That fly ever do anything to you? What if it was you're grandmother?"

Ai just giggled.

"Grandma's not a bug."

Impmon came to a stop in front of the girl.

"Okay, so it wasn't. But what if it was someone else's grandma? Or better yet, what if someone came along and wanted to squash your grandma? Would you like that?"

The little girl looked at Impmon, taken aback by the diminutive digimon's attitude over a simple fly. No one ever complained when she and Mako killed one before, so why now?

"Impmon? Are you all right?"

Impmon placed both hands on the girl's shoulders and looked fully into her eyes.

"Tell me somethin' Ai," he said, bypassing the girl's question. "How would you feel if someone just decided to step on you for existing?"

Unsure as to why Impmon was at all behaving like this (and all over a _fly_ of all things) Ai simply shook her head, wanting to understand what was going on and hoping that her partner would explain it to her.

"I didn't think so," continued Impmon. "Now why would you want to do something like that to a critter that wasn't doing a thing to you. That couldn't…well…harm a fly?"

"I…" Ai scrunched her eyebrows as she thought hard, trying to understand the whole reason for this unexpected turn of events and answer Impmon's question at the same time. "…I don't know. I guess 'cause…I saw Mom do it. And…sometimes they…they… _bug_ me!"

Ai smiled at her own joke, wanting to laugh at it, but the expression on Impmon's face kept her from doing that. Why? Why did he not look happy with her? Did she do something wrong? It was only a fly…

"Ai. I want you to listen to me, and listen good. And pass it on to Mako when he gets around to waking up too. You have to think more about what kind of consequences you're actions will have on others!"

"Conse…quen…ses?" The girl questioned, pronouncing the word carefully. That made Impmon smile a little, remembering a time when he had been dragged into helping her practice her spelling and things had wound up with her trying to teach him how to read. Something that had helped him out quite a bit (and could have used ages ago in fact). If nothing else he could now tell what kinds of box wrapped objects were unsafe to eat without resorting to the trial and error process.

"Basically how you make others feel by the stuff that you do. Remember how I left you guys because you and Mako used to fight all the time? It's something like that."

Ai nodded, a little bit of understanding entering her young mind. But, the way he had said that. Did that mean that he was going to leave them again? Because of that fly?

"Anyways, as I was saying. You have to think about what you do, because before you know it you might end up hurting someone. That fly you killed, it may not be the most important thing in the world to you but it might have been to someone else. I…did something like that once, and I took something important away from someone. All because I saw it as a fly, and I caused a lot of trouble afterwards. I've regretted it ever since then too. Do you understand now?"

"I…think so," said Ai nodding carefully. She did get it after a fashion, but she didn't know why he was acting this way.

"Glad to hear that," said Impmon giving the girl a powerful hug. One that was gratefully returned. After a few seconds Impmon pulled away and strode over to the open window.

"Anyways," said Impmon with a smile on his face and a thoughtful, and happy tone to his voice. "Give your brother my love for me. I'm going out for a bit."

Ai blinked.

"Huh? W-where are you going? Impmon. Is everything okay?"

Impmon turned to look at Ai. He was still smiling.

"Remember what I said about how I took something from someone that it was important to? I'm going to see if I can't give it back."

And with that Impmon sprang out of the window like a bullet that had just been fired from a gun.

_I promise Jeri. I'll make it all better again…_


	8. Chapter: 7/ War Drums

The four digimon stood across from each other as a gust of wind blew across the landscape. Sighing with an air of boredom at the apparent drama that the scene entailed, one of the four digimon, wearing purple and pink colored armor with strips of yellow ribbon attached to it, brought a red colored rose up to its face and sniffed it before tossing it to the side and raising a shield covered arm to point at the digimon that stood across from it.

"You are cornered," said the knight digimon that was known to the others, as Crusadermon in what was decidedly a female voice. "And you have nowhere to go. Why don't you give up now and save us all the trouble. We _do_ have duties to attend to you know."

The digimon that stood directly in front of the Royal Knight, clad in armor of gold and black stripes like a bee, humanoid shaped and carrying a twin pair of energy sabers, looked around uncertainly before answering.

"And what duties are those exactly? Do you call _genocide_ a _duty?_ You're not Royal Knights. You're _butchers_." The golden digimon put as much contempt into that word as possible, sneering it at Crusadermon and her partner, a white armored, purple winged creature. The self-styled _Dynasmon_ looked back with an expression o nonchalance and crossed arms, as if the digimon were beneath his notice.

"We do what we must to safeguard our world," said Dynasmon. "Our duty is our oath to Yggdrasil, who we are sworn to obey. Our master has deemed you and your kind to be a plague upon the digital world, one that must be extinguished if our world is to survive."

"It was _your_ master that started the plague," said the golden digimon. "We just did what _all_ digimon do to survive. We _evolved_ …"

"We did not come here to discuss the finer points behind your existence TigerVespamon," said Crusadermon as she took a step towards the golden digimon. "We are merely desiring information regarding your leaders. We wish to know what their intentions are. In exchange we offer you your life. Such a simple thing I should think. Surely that is not worth your life over."

TigerVespamon hefted his twin lances and laughed bitterly.

"What sort of fool do you take me for _Crusadermon?_ You _ask_ for information and you offer me freedom? They call you the _Indifferent Warrior,_ knight. You do not care for justice. If it had been Dynasmon I would have felt more inclined to believe his word but you don't inspire the same kind of faith or trust. I was just a FanBeemon when you destroyed my hive. My people did not trust you then but we let our guard down because you were a Royal Knight. We thought that you lived by a code of honor same as the rest. I will not make that same kind of mistake."

Dynasmon glowered, wishing that he had brought another of the Royal Knights instead of the unstable Crusadermon. Sleipmon would have been the better choice but he was currently on a scouting mission in a far off corner of the digital world, and could not take part in this war. Duftmon was tracking down the greater bulk of these _X-Antibody_ digimon with Ulforce Veedramon while the rest were preparing to follow through on the rest of Yggdrasil's orders once they were found.

_The things I must put up with,_ thought Dynasmon.

"Enough of this," said Dynasmon as he uncrossed his arms. "If you will not tell us what your leader's interest is in the human world then you are of no more use to us."

TigerVespamon froze at those words.

_They know?! They know that one of our own has penetrated the borders between the worlds? Do they suspect…? No. They can't know about the Exodus. Blast it. We were assured that they wouldn't…_ couldn't _discover anything about our doings. But if they know about the crossings…if they know about the bridge…_

_I must try to survive so that I can get word to DinoRexmon and the others…_

TigerVespamon leapt into the air, jet engines built into his armor along with blue colored, fiery wings burst to life and granting the insectoid digimon flight. He knew that the odds of his surviving one Royal Knight were long, almost impossible and here were two right in front of him with an appropriate balance of power and speed between the two of them.

_This is not going to be easy,_ thought TigerVespamon, bracing himself as the two Royal Knights leapt into the air after him.

_"Spiral Masquerade!"_ Shouted Crusadermon as she lashed out with the ribbons of her armor, her form flickering in and out of view as she accelerated in velocity.

_"Royal Meister!"_ Shouted TigerVespamon as he slashed with his lances in an attempt to dispatch the faster of the two knights before Dynasmon joined in on the festivities. As strong as he was, Dynasmon was by far stronger and could easily crush his armor. But that depended only on whether or not he could catch him, which was no doubt Crusadermon's purpose in this battle.

"Uh!" TigerVespamon grunted as Crusadermon's ribbons lashed together his lances like a whip before wrenching them out of his hands. TigerVespamon didn't even have time to react as Crusadermon appeared in front of him, shield covered arm drawn back.

_"Fist of Athena!"_ Shouted the Royal Knight who was known as the _Indifferent Warrior_ before said fist crashed down into TigerVespamon's face, sending him careening out of the sky…

…And into Dynasmon's awaitings arms as he charged up the gems on his palms.

_"Dragon Thrower!"_

TigerVespamon's view of the world vanished abruptly as he felt Dynasmon's disintegrator beams rip their way through his digi-core.

TigerVespamon's data floated on the air for a moment before being pulled into Crusadermon, who sighed in satisfaction as the last of it settled into her frame. Dynasmon simply looked at her in disgust but said nothing. Crusadermon just chuckled to herself, knowing full well about his dislike for what he saw as the _cannibalization_ of digimon, viewing it as not only despicable but also dishonorable towards ones opponents. Crusadermon didn't care. To her it was just another way to gain power, and stay stronger than the competition that threatened to dissolve the order of the Royal Knights. Even if the data was an X-Antibody digimon, power was power. Besides, it wasn't as though the data affected her in any way that made her become _like_ them, and Yggdrasil still saw fit to continue employing her. No harm at all in absorbing the strength of a fallen enemy especially when it worked to their benefit.

"Now then," said Crusadermon, breaking the silence as she placed her shield less hand on her hip. "Where to next?"

Dynasmon gave a derisive snort and looked up towards the sky, his gaze focusing on the globe that hung above them.

"We must ascertain what the enemy's interest is in the human world," he said simply, and firmly. "For some reason their efforts are focused upon that world. We already know that some of their kind have crossed the borders and infiltrated the world of the humans. We must know _precisely_ why and how many have done so."

Crusadermon cocked her head to one side. Had she not been wearing a helmet Dynasmon would have seen a sly smile spread across her face.

"You know that under normal circumstances we are forbidden to enter the human world."

Dynasmon didn't even meet her gaze, but instead continued to stare at the globe in the sky.

"This is _far_ from ordinary circumstances. We should contact Craniummon and have him lend us his support."

Crusadermon nodded, feeling a sense of excitement flush her body at the thought of entering the human world and the possibility of conducting more battles with the X-Digimon.

"At once."

**###**

Impmon landed in front of the doors of the Hypnos main entrance, looking at them for a moment while ignoring the strange stares that he was garnering from his presence. Crossing his arms the diminutive digimon took a deep breath as he gave this idea of his one more run through in his mind before taking a step forward and pressing his hand on the nearest door. Grunting, Impmon pushed on the obstruction, cursing at it when it refused to move before taking a step back. A flash of light enveloped his body and a second later a clawed hand pushed the door forward with ease, though now the new digimon had to stoop a bit in order to fit through. Looking around the lobby and continuing to ignore the increasingly frantic number of looks from passersby, his eyes sighted on the reception desk, where he immediately strode on over. Hitting his larger than average hand on the bell that sat on the desk, he spoke up to the female secretary who was calmly sitting there, having yet to notice the rather bizarre and frightening creature that had entered the building.

"May I help you?" The secretary asked in a bored voice, one hand twirling a lock of blonde hair between her fingers. She still didn't look up yet.

"Yeah. I'm here to see Yamaki," grunted a tough, almost guttural voice that had a strange, western accent that the secretary associated with the stereotypical American from New York City.

"Do you have an appointment?" Asked the woman in that same, bland, bored tone as she flicked through the archived employee list for any names that matched with the one that she had been told. Her eye twitched as she noticed something gleaming out of her peripheral vision, and the sound of something metallic clapped on the desk like a person's nails did when they tapped their fingers. Looking up finally the secretary's face went pale as she finally got a view of her _visitor_ , dressed in a mixture of leather and steel armor like some kind of nightmarish biker. And a bird like facemask covered his face with three blood red eyes staring at her patiently, almost _respectfully_. However this was lost on the hapless woman as shock held her frozen in front of this being. And as if to drive the fact of the creature's reality home, the central eye blinked once and the being spoke again, his voice betraying no humor, annoyance, or anything that was threatening to the human in front of him.

"No," said Beelzemon simply. "But you could say that we know each other pretty well. He'll see me even without an appointment."

The Demon Lord digimon offered a smile to the woman to show that he meant no harm.

The secretary screamed all the same regardless.

_Aw nuts,_ thought Beelzemon with a sigh, wincing a little as the secretary's screams reverberated across the room.

**###**

Henry sat in his seat, taking down notes as his teacher, Mr. Mori busily wrote on the chalkboard, spouting about the subject that was today's topic in his usual, semi-competent way. He had been pretty easygoing about Henry's tardiness to class this morning, as Henry had rarely arrived late and as such didn't punish him with detention, as would most other teachers. It could be easily said that Mr. Mori wasn't like other teachers in Yodobashi Shinjuku Elementary. Ms. Asagi, from what Henry had heard was moderately strict with a strict belief in the value of education and the rules of society, though she did get annoyed with relative ease, requiring almost constant medication for her migraines, which could at times make her rather volatile with students like Kazu, who caused trouble, and Takato whose attention had the bad habit of lagging. And when it came to extreme differences one could look at the fact that Mr. Iwamoto, another teacher, had a penchant for smacking disobedient students with a rolled up lesson planner whenever they messed up on an assignment (one could usually hear him berating a student from down the hall as his voice was very carrying), which was a stark contrast between Mori's teaching style which was very laid back and often goofy. Not necessarily a bad thing mind you, but Henry occasionally wished that he had a teacher that was did more teaching and less jokes.

_Or fawning over Ms. Asagi,_ thought Henry with a small smile, wondering what Terriermon would have to say about that before deciding that his partner's mind wasn't worth the trouble it would cause exploring it considering that it kept getting the rabbit-like digimon in trouble, mostly because he had yet to learn to disengage his mouth when thinking.

_But then he wouldn't be Terriermon if he weren't like that,_ thought Henry, once again grateful for having the rambunctious little digimon in his life, even with the shock of temporary separation that they had experienced at one point nearly a year ago. That period of time especially had been pretty bad for all of them.

_And to think that it had nearly happened again with Takato,_ thought Henry as he continued to copy down notes. _I'm just glad that things ended well for both of them. Takato wouldn't be Takato without Guilmon by his side._

The memory of his friend's temporary loss brought forth another memory. Looking over to his right Henry stared at the empty desk where the girl named Noriko Nakata had previously sat prior to her disappearing…

Henry frowned, once more wondering what it was that had happened to his fellow classmate. The papers had talked about her a little, but her vanishing had been overshadowed by the disaster in Shinjuku. Her mother continued to post missing persons adds asking for any information regarding the whereabouts of her daughter but so far nothing appreciable had come up. There had been enough chaos on the day that she vanished where no one could be sure who was where.

Henry remembered how she had listened to him on the day that BlackGuilmon had bio-emerged into the real world, listened to him pour out the contents of his heart regarding the death of Guilmon and the subsequent impact of that loss on Takato. He hadn't really paid any close attention to it at the time but she did seem to be quite affected by that news, and she offered that if he ever needed someone to talk to she would be there for him.

Only to go missing the next day.

For the first time in three weeks, Henry's mind, now having started to clear itself of the guilt that he had been feeling from losing control in his battle with Lucemon, began to put together various thoughts concerning the girl who had made an attempt to help him. He couldn't think of anything concrete however, and this was a situation that was better suited to the proper authorities. After all, they dealt with missing person cases all the time, whereas he was a Tamer. Playing detective wasn't exactly his forte (especially after the botched investigation into the Blue Card the day that Vajramon and Pajiramon) even though he was quite intelligent for his age group. He knew that he was a little bit out of his league in that area but he did want to find something out about Noriko's disappearance. Plus he was sure that her mother could use some comfort also. He had an idea how she must be taking this given his own family's reaction to his disappearing into the digital world and facing all kinds of dangers. The gesture might not do a whole lot but it was a place to start. After all, Noriko helped him once. It was the least he could do for her in return since she was presently absent.

Henry glanced at the clock and sighed. The day was only just starting…

**###**

Ryo Akiyama strode through the streets as he headed for school, not so much as hurrying even though he was already late, a rarity for him but something that people have come to expect nowadays. His busy life as a Tamer was the main reason behind these lowered standards of excellence, though it could also be said that his status as a celebrity also spoke on his behalf and allowed him to be cut some slack from time to time. Grateful as he was for a few breathers he did wish that such wasn't the case. At least then he'd have something else to worry himself over other then what had been bothering him unconsciously these past few weeks following the battle with Lucemon.

Above him the form of Cyberdramon flew, shadowing his partner at a discrete distance, respecting his Tamer's need for privacy…as well as to not frighten any of the humans that passed by on the streets below.

It was his partner that currently held Ryo's train of thought, distracting him on an increasingly regular basis from his day-to-day life and with good reason to. Although he had plenty to worry about concerning Cyberdramon's ferocious nature and the danger that keeping him in the real world entailed (which occasioned visits to the digital world every now and then so that the Ultimate level cyborg could blow off some steam), it wasn't this that worried the Legendary Tamer, while at the same time it was at the heart of the matter. Or rather what lay _in_ the heart of his partner, and was responsible for his savage nature.

_Milleniummon…_

There hadn't been a day where Ryo hadn't thought about the digital god, but he had hoped that after what happened during his last experience he was done dealing with him directly and had only to contend with his effects on both his and Cyberdramon's lives. And then came the battles with D-Reaper, when he had inexplicably avoided attacks from one of the programs minions at times when he _should_ have been crushed. And then came the battle with Lucemon when he had emerged unscathed from a direct _Grand Cross_ attack. It had struck him. He knew that it had, and yet nothing had happened. He hadn't been scratched. Nothing more had come out of it after that incident though, not during that battle and not since either but there was something about it that left a disquieting feeling in his heart, which was something that he didn't like. Disquieting feelings tended to be a sign of much larger things to come…

Ryo's thoughts were interrupted by the beeping sound of his digivice as it detected a digimon preparing to bio-emerge into the real world. Bringing out his D-Arc the Legendary Tamer activated the compass function as Cyberdramon, sensing the arrival of a Wild One, swooped down to pick up his partner so that they could proceed to the battle. Hopping onto the Ultimate's shoulder, much to the bewilderment of the people around him, Ryo gave a nod to signify that he was ready and together the two launched themselves into the air, ready to face whatever foe was coming.

Ryo could only pray that the day where they became the foe never came.


	9. Chapter: 8/ The King's Fear

It stood there in the center of the fog, a creature wearing a pair of knife like blades as a kind of sandal, red baggy pants with a leaf-like outline emblazoned on their surface, a twin pair of red and orange bat-like wings angling towards the front of its skinny mid-section, and golden, spiky hair sitting atop a bladed crest that made up the creature's head. Two pink colored, cloth-like arms were at its side, seemingly harmless in appearance but the twinkle of a series of razor sharp blades hidden within them hinted at the deadliness of the monster that had just entered into the world of humans. It carried itself with the ease of long experience and superiority, scoffing a little at the humans who fled from him like so much frightened cattle. They had every reason to fear him, and he didn't begrudge them that. He had known fear in his time as well, especially when he was much younger and unable to defend himself, but he disliked the wild abandon that the humans showed in their panic, caring little about anything other than themselves as they stampeded away from him. They were likely to kill themselves that way without even needing any help from some rampaging monster. The fact that he hadn't done anything didn't even make any of them give pause.

_They're probably too used to digimon going immediately on a rampage to not bother waiting around and seeing what I'm going to do. Can't say that I blame them for that attitude._

The digimon finally felt his form stabilize as his data finished settling, the false proteins already doing their work. Taking a step forward, his bladed shoes clanking on the ground beneath him, the digimon lashed out at the fog barrier with one clothed arm, a rapier appearing and disappearing with uncanny speed as it sliced a hole in the digital field. Without even pausing the digimon continued onwards, the hole expanding to accommodate his form. The field quickly disappeared upon his exit, and he breathed in the air of the human world for the first time in his existence.

_I think a certain project of ours could use a little boost in support,_ he thought as he shrugged his arms, loosening the fabric that concealed his deadly arsenal.

**###**

Ryo and Cyberdramon arrived at the scene just in time to find the newly bio-emerged digimon making his way down the streets, oddly enough _not_ causing any havoc in his immediate vicinity beyond the crowd of people who were running away screaming. While of course this usually meant that a digimon was causing trouble it didn't look to be that way to the Legendary Tamer, and more that the civilians were reacting to the digimon's presence in general regardless of whether or not it was making any threatening moves.

_They certainly have every reason for it,_ thought Ryo as Cyberdramon landed and set his partner down. The Ultimate level Vaccine didn't attack just yet, restraining himself to await Ryo's decision on the matter. In the past he was less apt to show that kind of attitude, preferring the _shoot first and ask questions later_ mode of thinking, but things were different in the real world. Wild digimon or not he could not afford to go all out as he was used to. Humans did things differently here, and Hypnos would be far more likely to want to try to send Wild digimon back to the digital world without destroying them. And while digimon would still be destroyed in battle if they resisted too much, Ryo much more preferred that they not kill a digimon needlessly even if it went against Cyberdramon's fighting instincts. And as much as the urge to fight and destroy an opponent burned within him, Ryo's wishes were something that he heeded, even more so in this _fragile_ world. So for his partner's sake he held back.

But it could be so hard at times…

Matadormon

Stage: Ultimate

Type: Virus

Special Attacks: Butterfly Trumpet Kick, Thousand Arrow, Matador Finisher Fazing-X

Ryo looked up from his blue colored, white trimmed digivice that was the reverse of that owned by the Digimon Queen.

"Hmmm…a vampire digimon combined with a matador," said Ryo to himself, thinking over what that combination might mean. "Well. Might as well go and introduce ourselves and hope that he's friendly."

"Rrrrrgh!" Cyberdramon growled his displeasure and impatience but nodded grudgingly, making sure that his partner remained close by in case the digimon turned violent. At the same time Ryo drew a set of cards from his deck, ready for use if a threat materialized and Cyberdramon would have to engage the digimon. One could never be too careful around these creatures.

"Hey," called out Ryo cheerfully, catching the attention of the Matadormon as he strode through the streets. "Welcome to the real world. Are you looking for someone?"

That was another part of the Hypnos's newest protocols regarding bio-emerged digimon. Ascertaining whether or not they had shown up looking for a partner and then contain them. Ryo didn't much like the containing part of the deal since he believed that partners should be allowed to find each other, but he did see some sense in it as a safety precaution. Of course, that meant that he was presently relying on the digimon to be truthful…

Matadormon looked Ryo over with a critical eye, taking note of the digivice that the boy had in one hand. _A Tamer._

Matadormon once again reviewed his orders in his mind before raising one cloth covered arm, a single blade extending outward from its hiding place.

_This sounds so cliché,_ thought Matadormon bitterly. _But orders are orders after all…_

Yes. Yes, you could say that I am. And that person is you."

_Uh oh,_ thought Ryo, tensing.

The Ultimate level Virus digimon surged forward gracefully as though he were dancing, the blades on his feet no longer making any sound as he raced across the street, another blade extending from his other sleeve. Growling in satisfaction Cyberdramon leapt forwards, claws extended to block the incoming attack while behind him Ryo took a couple steps back to give his digital partner room to maneuver. Cyberdramon blocked one incoming Rapier attack with one of his curved arm blades before counterattacking with a simple punch, testing his opponent to see what he could do before increasing his ferocity to suit the fight appropriately for a _non-lethal_ discourse for its resolution. Matadormon ducked underneath the punch and lashed out with his one of his bladed feet, slicing into Cyberdramon's armored leg before ducking to the side and delivering the same treatment to the dragon's shoulder with one of his rapier arms. Minor bits of data flew in the air, but nothing serious to show for it so far.

_He's trying to flank Cyberdramon!_ Thought Ryo looking at his hand and hastily chose a Taomon card before slashing it through his D-Arc.

_"Digi-modify! Taomon's Talisman Spell activate!"_

A shield materialized around the Ultimate level cyborg, successfully deflecting another slash from Matador's sword attacks. After a quick slash for a high speed card Cyberdramon swiftly turned and attacked Matadormon with _Cyber Nail_ , only to miss as the colorful digimon danced out of the way, covering himself with a flurry of sword blades turned long range weapons courtesy of his _Thousand Arrow_ attack.

_That digimon's faster than I thought._ Ryo flicked through his current hand and eyed Matadormon carefully. None of the cards that he currently had were going to be of much help, with the exception of a Golden Rapidmon card but he didn't want to waste that just yet. Although Matadormon didn't seem to be overly powerful it did have quite a few tricks up its sleeve that could render some of his cards ineffective. He thought of his Goliath set…

_That would certainly turn the tables,_ thought Ryo, one hand already drifting towards his deck…

_"Thousand Arrow!"_

Ryo looked up in surprise as he saw Matadormon fling his arms around, unleashing a group of spear-like blades in his direction. Reacting swiftly, Cyberdramon interposed himself in between the spears and his partner and used the last remaining effects of the Taomon card that Ryo had used earlier to raise a barrier against the attack, deflecting them with ease.

_That digimon's smart too,_ thought Ryo. _It didn't take him long to figure out my role in this fight._

Matadormon charged forwards, slashing repeatedly at Cyberdramon, who deftly blocked with ease thanks to the High Speed card that Ryo had used, but with its effects vanishing Cyberdramon's defensive advantage would soon end. Growling, the cyborg dragon blocked yet another attack and with his increased velocity attacked again with _Cyber Nail_. Catching the motion at the last minute, Matadormon leapt backwards, executing a back flip that allowed his bladed foot to catch Cyberdramon's chin. Cyberdramon grunted as his head snapped upwards and a searing pain ripped through his jaw. Staggering backwards, Cyberdramon glared at the Ultimate through his facemask, data floating from beneath his chin…

_Floating…_

Beneath his armored mask, Cyberdramon's eyes narrowed as he noticed that the data that was _bleeding_ from his body was indeed floating…drifting over to the form of Matadormon in fact, his body glowing lightly as the bits of data infused itself with his own.

"Ryo! He's absorbing my data as he cuts it off of me!" Growled Cyberdramon angrily, his claws glowing. Ryo's eyes went wide, catching onto their opponent's strategy. Matadormon was fighting a battle of attrition to make small injuries on Cyberdramon, while at the same time using his vampire abilities to download the small bits of data as they came out, ensuring that he retained a slight edge in the battle and staying refreshed while Cyberdramon gradually wore down from data loss. Although the amount lost so far wasn't cause for worry given the Ultimate's body coverage from his armor, barring the exception of Cyberdramon's chin injury, it would definitely become a problem if the fight dragged out for any significant amount of time.

If the maneuver hadn't been being pulled against someone he cared about the Legendary Tamer actually would have been impressed by the strategy.

Before Ryo could do anything else Cyberdramon slashed his hands together, drawing together energy in between the palms of his hands and fired it at his opponent, who again simply dodged the attack, counter attacking with his _Thousand Arrow_ attack. Cyberdramo responded by raising his arms and slashing downwards, the glowing blades on his forearms sending waves of crescent shaped energy aimed at the incoming spears. The attacks collided in a tremendous series of explosions, canceling each other out and kicking up dust and sending shards of data shrapnel flying through the air. Gritting his teeth, Ryo dug into his deck box, seeking the right cards that would turn this battle in Cyberdramon's favor.

_Veemon…no; evolution card…no; Brave Shield…noAAAH!_

Ryo felt shock course through his system as pain flared in his link with Cyberdramon as Matadormon got through an especially nasty attack with one of his arm blades that tore upwards across Cyberdramon's facemask, sending data flying through the air before being quickly drawn into the vampiric Matador that he was fighting. Although the pain wasn't quite that intense as the other Tamers, Takato, Henry, and Rika had reported it as being (probably perhaps, Ryo had surmised at one point, because Cyberdramon had reached his Ultimate form naturally before they met up again as opposed to the others who evolved them from Rookie on up), it was still enough of a surprise for the Legendary Tamer to drop his cards, a few of them landing face down on the ground. Growling under his breath, Ryo took a deep breath, focusing on his link with his partner, hoping to relieve some of the pain that his partner was experiencing as the Matadormon continued to attack viciously, stabbing at the dragon's feet with his own bladed ones. Suddenly Cyberdramon grabbed one of the sword blades with his clawed hand and _pulled_ hard on it, drawing his opponent in close enough where his weapons would be of no use to him before slashing with his arm blade. A chunk of data flew through the air as the arm blade tore through one of Matadormon's arms, nearly amputating the Ultimate in one shot. With a growl Cyberdramon brought a foot up and kicked Matadormon away from him before coughing up some data, ignoring the pain in his hand, twin to the one that Ryo felt in his own.

_Okay,_ _this fight is taking way too long here. We've got to end this now!_

_"Thousand Arrows!"_ Shouted Matadormon as he flung another group of spears from his arms, aiming them at both Cyberdramon and Ryo. Ryo ducked down and rolled out of the way, grabbing a facedown card and feeling one of the spears graze his hair as he did so. Without thinking, or even taking notice of the card that he held, Ryo slashed it through his D-Arc, his mind focused only on saving his partner…

_"Digi-modify!"_

Sparks flew as the card slid through the digivices scanner, his eyes registering the name and speaking it aloud to activate its full affect before his own mind could catch up with his reflexes.

"Milleniummon activate!"

No sooner than the words left Ryo's mouth in time with the cards exit through the D-Arc's scanner, shock immediately hit him as though he had just been run over by a Locomon.

_Wha…?_ Milleniummon?! _But…I don't recall even_ putting _that card in my deck! How…?_

Cyberdramon's roaring broke through the boy's thoughts. His head snapping upwards, Ryo's eyes widened in surprise as a sickeningly familiar image materialized around the form of his partner. Power surged around the Ultimate as a glowing, gold and blue energy form settled above Cyberdramon, sporting a twin pair of Giga Cannons on its shoulders. Wind began to whip around the field of battle as Cyberdramon turned his focus on Matadormon, growling with a haunted tone, and when he pronounced his attack, his voice had a duality to it that sent chills down the Legendary Tamers back.

_"Cannon Fire!"_

The giga cannons on Cyberdramon's back cut loose with everything that they had, sending out a barrage of fireballs all around him, smashing into buildings and detonating abandoned cars with ferocious fury. Matadormon dodged and weaved among the blasts, straining himself to the utmost to stay ahead of his adversary. Bouncing off the side of a building, Matadormon leapt over another incoming fireball and flew towards Cyberdramon, blades extended. Cyberdramon's cannons powered up as rings of data began to form around him…

There was a tremendous explosion as Matadormon's blades came into contact with Cyberdramon just as soon as he fired off his attack. Ryo covered himself before being flung backwards by the force of the explosion, hitting his head on the pavement. As Ryo tried to recover from the devastating attack, the explosion began to die down, a plume of smoke rising into the air. Ryo could hear sirens approaching, but he didn't pay them any attention. Getting back to his feet, his balance unsteady, Ryo called out for his partner in the smoke that filled the street.

_"Cyberdramon!"_

No sound answered Ryo other than the sound of energy crackling. The smoke began to lift a little fortunately, revealing the disheveled form of Cyberdramon for all to see, kneeling on the ground, claws stabbed into the ground beneath him. Cautiously Ryo approached the Ultimate level Vaccine.

"Cyberdramon?"

The dragonic digimon didn't answer. As Ryo drew closer he noticed that his partner was trembling…as though he were struggling fiercely to keep something _inside_ of him. And the thing was, Ryo felt that he probably was.

Of the Milleniummon effect there was no sign, though that didn't comfort Ryo in the least bit.

The sound of metal clanking brought Ryo's focus away from his partner and over to the form of Matadormon as he staggered forward, his form phasing in and out of stability

_No way,_ thought Ryo, stunned. _There's no way that digimon could have survived. That attack was point blank! Never mind the fact that Milleniummon's power would have been more than enough to destroy him even at a distance! How did he…unless…_

_…Unless Cyberdramon had held back in his attempt to control the power…_

_Cyberdramon…I'm sorry…_

As Matadormon closed in on them, his body blurring, Cyberdramon's own form phased out of stability for a moment before being enveloped in a glow, his body shrinking down to the much smaller Monodromon, who groaned in pain as his data structure readjusted itself.

"Monodromon!" Exclaimed Ryo as he bent down and picked up his partner.

"Ryo…" the dragon whispered, offering his partner a small smile.

"Monodromon…I…I'm sorry about using that card on you," Ryo glanced at Matadormon. He staggered, but didn't as yet burst into data yet. "I don't know how it got into my deck, and I didn't look when I should have…"

"Don't worry Ryo," said Monodromon in a tired voice. "I believe you. I know that you don't use that card and wouldn't even under the worst of circumstances. You don't think that…could he…?"

"I don't know right now, Monodromon," said Ryo. "It's certainly something to think about…even though I'd hate to think that there was something to it. Right now we've got something more immediate to worry about. Do you think that you're up for a biomerge?"

Monodromon looked up into the sky as a shadow flew over them.

"I don't think that we'll have to…"

_"Spirit Strike!"_

From the graceful form of Sakuyamon as she flew in the air, four fox spirits of fire, wind, water, and lightning surged towards the battlefield, knocking Matadormon down to the ground and ensnaring him. Without missing a beat, the shaman digimon summoned the golden ring that was her Amethyst Mandala, encircling it around the Ultimate level digimon and shrinking it so that it would only imprison him rather than crush him, a trick that she had been using a lot more lately and had last seen action in the climactic battle with Takato's dark biomerged form of ChaosGallantmon. Landing gracefully on the ground, Sakuyamon turned to face the battered forms of Ryo and Monodromon.

"Never thought that I'd see the day where I'd end up saving you," said Sakuyamon in Rika's voice, her tone far more concerned about the boy then the words that she used to express that emotion. Taking a step towards the pair, Sakuyamon looked them over, her mouth pressing into a thin line, not liking the bruises and scrapes that they had marking their bodies. "You two okay?"

Ryo nodded, his eyes taking on a serious, thoughtful look to them, as though the defeated digimon was far beyond his attention just now.

"Yeah, but I sure could use a rest after this fight. That guy was tougher than I thought he was. Do you think that you can take him down to Hypnos without me? I need to get cleaned up here."

In her sphere of blue data Rika raised her eyebrows, but nodded nonetheless, respecting his desire tend to himself and his partner before doing anything. And yet…

_It's not like him to not make some kind of stupid joke, even if it was at his own expense. Wonder what happened here that's got him so worked up…_

As Sakuyamon watched the Legendary Tamer walk away, carrying his partner, Rapidmon came to a landing behind her, Henry having digivolved him back at the school and keeping track of him via the halo viewer of his digivice.

"Whoa!" Exclaimed the cybernetic digimon as he took a look around him. "What happened here?! Looks like a train full of butt kick just rolled through!"

Sakuyamon sighed and shook her head, tapping her staff on the ground three times, signaling her loyal fox spirits to raise the inert form of Matadormon and prepare him for traveling. Sakuyamon glanced at his body as it attempted to stabilize.

_'He's going to need some serious healing before we can send him anywhere,'_ spoke up Renamon.

_'I'll say. We should probably get Kenta and MarineAngemon for this one, but we should talk to Yamaki first.'_

Sakuyamon took one last look at Ryo's receding form, sensing a great deal of distress in his soul. Shaking her head once more Sakuyamon leapt into the air.

"Let's go Rapidmon," she called to the android digimon, as he looked on in confusion before finally shrugging his shoulders and joining her, the two of them leaving the scene of battle behind them as the sound of sirens grew louder.


	10. Chapter: 9/ An Offer You Can't Refuse…

"You know," said Janyu as he attached sensors to Impmon's body with a look of exasperation. "You didn't have to frighten our receptionist. You could have called."

Impmon _hmmphed_ and crossed his arms indignantly.

"Not my fault if you guys didn't tell her that you deal with digimon these days. She's not going to be able to hold down a job if she can't take a little shock every now and then. Besides, what's she doing in this city if she couldn't handle a digimon walking up and ringing her dumb bell? Don't she know that this city is invaded by guys like me on a regular basis?"

Janyu sighed.

"Hypnos is supposed to top secret. She's not supposed to know that we deal with artificial life forms on a day-to-day basis. We're all underground…"

"Didn't you guys go public during the D-Reaper crisis though?"

"Yamaki just…wants us to maintain a low profile even though we're more in the public eye than we used to be. But we're not here to talk about that."

Impmon nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry for the late notice, and for dropping in on you guys like this. I know that you guys have a lot to do and everything, but…well, I trust you with something like this. That and I don't know who else to turn to for this…"

"Gee. Thanks," said Janyu with a grin on his face as he continued hooking Impmon up to the computers; Impmon, seemingly not taking any notice of Janyu's sarcasm continued onwards.

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I figure that if you guys can bring back Guilmon then you can help me with this too."

Janyu frowned as he finished the last of the attachments.

"Well…I don't know about that. Shibumi was the one who did all the theoretical groundwork for Guilmon, gathering his data through a modified Juggernaut portal and putting it back together. I've been going over his data recently since Yamaki sent him to New York City to help jumpstart international recognition of the digital world and develop the appropriate agencies for future dealings with the digital world. So far what I've uncovered has been very intriguing. There's a data code that I recognize from the Triceramon that showed up not too long ago. I've tried to get in touch with him but his duties are currently taking up a fair amount of his time."

Janyu's gaze softened as he stood up.

"At any rate, putting a digimon back together when his data was just floating around Shinjuku is completely different from what you're asking me to do here. Now you've told me that the digimon that you absorbed…"

"Leomon," said Impmon, his gloved hands clenching together, feeling a little bit dirty on the inside for admitting it. It was a subject that he never liked to talk about.

"Absorption is different from what happened to Guilmon," said Janyu, nodding. "Guilmon's data was, as I said, simply scattered but it retained enough gravitation towards each individual bit to stay within the area of Shinjuku and not slip through any portals. That was what made it easy to bring back together, not to mention that Takato's digivice played an important role in that job…plus whatever code it was that Shibumi inserted. However, we don't quite have an accurate understanding of what happens to a digimon's code when it becomes incorporated into another digimon's structure. You do realize, that there stands a high probability that we might not be able to separate Leomon's data from you."

Impmon was quiet for a moment.

"Impmon?" Prompted Janyu. "Did you…?"

"I heard ya," said Impmon. "You also said that Takato's digivice had helped to bring back Guilmon too, right?"

Janyu nodded. He could go into all the reasons why that was, from the mysterious workings of the D-Arc to the bond between Tamer and digimon, but somehow he had a feeling that Impmon wouldn't care too much for the technical and otherwise abstract information.

Impmon looked up at Janyu, green eyes firm with resolve to continue with what he had set out to do. Janyu was amazed at the strength and determination that the diminutive digimon showed.

"So if this doesn't work out at first, do you think that Jeri's digivice would do something?"

Janyu hesitated. He knew the story behind Impmon, Leomon, and the former Tamer named Jeri. It had come up during the countless conferences that they had while combating the D-Reaper. Since he had known Impmon he had tried not to judge him, since he had done his utmost to make up for the wrong that he had done against the girl, nearly dying in the process as well. It wasn't something that he could let go easily though, given his own morals. But then, it wasn't as if he wasn't entirely guilty of a crime, even though his son had long since forgiven him for his own trespasses. Now…looking into Impmon's eyes, he found a new respect growing in his heart for the digimon.

"It might," said Janyu finally as he looked Impmon in the eyes. "It might."

**###**

Yamaki stood at the window of his office, staring out at the city as he digested Rika's report concerning the most recent bio-emergence. The digimon, a wolf-like digimon known as _Sangloupmon_ , was currently resting in one of Hypnos's containment vessels following its regression from its Ultimate form of Matadormon. According to Rika, the digimon had been in very bad shape after its battle with Ryo and Monodromon. The shade wearing Head of Hypnos had an idea as to how hard of a time that it had been through. Given the amount of smoke that he could see from his office, and the fact that he had seen the explosion as well, he could easily say that he had a _very_ good idea. He wasn't all that happy that Ryo had chosen to not accompany Rika, Renamon, and Terriermon back to Hypnos to give a more _detailed_ report (having been there for the majority of he fight) but he allowed the Tamers some degree of mobility in how they conducted their affairs. After all, it wasn't as if they _worked_ for him.

_I'm not sure if I'm going to like the fallout of this,_ thought Yamaki as he watched the plume of smoke rise into the air. He could already hear the news reports now. Another bio-emergence, another rampaging digimon resulting in more property damage, possibly injuries and fatalities as well but he didn't know that for sure. He had sent some agents to ascertain if there were any. They had been extremely lucky so far in that no one had been killed or seriously injured from the sheer amount of battles that had taken place in Shinjuku, and while Yamaki wasn't one to believe in things like luck, he felt that whatever providence it was that had allowed them to come this far without too much incident would eventually run out and he would have to be ready for when it did.

Like the old saying goes; _hope for the best, but expect the worst._ If nothing else, Yamaki was a realist.

_Hopefully Juggernaut is going to be ready for sending our latest visitor back to the digital world,_ thought Yamaki distractedly. _With everything that's been going on we haven't had the time to properly test it since we've altered its programming. It pains me sometimes to use it. It was supposed to be my greatest defense against digimon back when I saw them as a threat and they used it against me. Thankfully it's been behaved lately. After those battles with the Devas I was starting to think that it was cursed._

Had Yamaki not had so much on his mind at the moment he would have chuckled at himself. He wasn't one to believe in curses either. Yamaki's mind however soon turned back to more pressing matters, and he glanced at Rika, Renamon's, and Terriermon's reflections in his office window. Terriermon was presently fidgeting in his seat but otherwise stayed quiet, waiting for Yamaki to say something, preferably something that went along the lines of _'good work'_ followed by a quick dismissal. Unless Renamon or Yamaki was willing to help it was going to be a long walk back to Henry's school for the little rabbit digimon.

Yamaki went through an idea that he had been considering for many months now, but hadn't been taking seriously until more recent events had come up and made him sit down and think it through a little bit more thoroughly. Turning around, Yamaki gave Rika a critical look beneath his shades. She likewise looked back coolly from where she sat, the dark gray school uniform that she wore due to her having been at school at the time of the digimon attack, making her look out of place in this government building, reminding him that although the girl was a Tamer and had seen and experienced quite a bit in her short life, the fact still stood that she was just a child. They all were, and that was why he had hesitated this long. But a glance at his desk, at an all too familiar file labeled _Argus_ reminded him of all that they stood to lose if he didn't do something to stop it from becoming any more of a reality than it already was.

_Better this than the alternative,_ thought Yamaki as he took a seat at his desk. _Especially if those fools upstairs have anything to say about it._

Yamaki took off his sunglasses and looked at the red haired Tamer.

"Tell me something Rika. How long have you been a Tamer?"

Rika's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion and she tilted her head to one side as next to her Renamon and Terriermon brought their attention to the blonde haired head of Hypnos.

"About a year," Rika replied. "Why?"

Yamaki took a moment to take a breath before proceeding, silently wishing that he had his lighter out to calm his nerves.

_Too much stress lately…and Reilly keeps telling me that I should take it easy…_

"We've developed something of a situation. I suppose that you're aware of part of it…"

Rika cocked an eyebrow, one foot shifting on the floor.

"You mean those new digimon that keep showing up?"

"It goes back further than just the two digimon that have appeared in the past two weeks," said Yamaki as one hand drifted over to the Argus file. "In fact, it goes back all the way to the first bio-emergences, although the situation had been contained at that time…or at least _manageable._ There had been quite a bit of talk running through the upper levels of our government concerning digimon during the Deva attacks…" Yamaki paused a moment. "I don't think that I have to remind you that anything I have to tell you is classified."

Rika nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing again as she began to puzzle things out in her mind. Yamaki didn't think that he had to remind her, given her background but protocol _did_ demand that he make sure that she was aware of the importance of secrecy.

"Let me guess," said Rika, picking up the thread of conversation. "Whatever it is that's going on now, that mess with D-Reaper was the last straw?"

"In a way," said Yamaki. "But as you know digimon dropped off our radar for six months after D-Reaper was defeated and your partners were returned to the digital world…"

"…And you walled up the portal that Takato found in Guilmon's hut," said Rika, glowering a little. Yamaki didn't bother defending himself. The fiery Tamer hadn't exactly seen him as the greatest of allies to the Tamers after what happened when D-Reaper was defeated, sending their partner's back to the digital world and then trying to prevent them from reuniting. She certainly could understand his reasons for it, but understanding wasn't exactly forgiveness, and as far as she was concerned any attempt to keep her and Renamon, or _any_ of the Tamers and their partners, apart wasn't an act that she could easily move on from. As she had made quite clear to Takato when they were trying to stop Locomon, she didn't trust the leader of Hypnos. As far as Yamaki was concerned he deserved her mistrust, but that wouldn't stop him from doing what it took to keep the world safe…

…Or so he liked to think at times.

"Anyway, things seemed to have calmed down during the period when digimon didn't bio-emerge. As you said, we walled away the portal that Takato had found and constructed a firewall as an extra precaution, which failed."

Almost by instinct, Yamaki glanced at Terriermon to see if he had a sarcastic comment that he wanted to add to that. The look in his eyes certainly seemed to indicate as much. Yamaki wasn't disappointed.

"It'll take a whole lot more than a nifty program to keep me out," giggled Terriermon. "But I guess that we have you to thank for that don't we?"

Yamaki just looked back at Rika, ignoring Terriermon's not-so-subtle reminder of the fact that the Juggernaut program that had been left in his body when he had been forced to return to the digital world, never mind Guilmon's amazing skills at digging. Rika eyed the long eared digimon for a moment. Yamaki could almost swear that he saw a smirk drawing at the corners of her mouth.

Renamon however remained as impassive as always.

"After your partner's returned," continued Yamaki. "Digimon began to bio-emerge again, and as you know they've been growing steadily stronger with each emergence, and talk began to circulate once again on what to do about the revived situation. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was the Parasimon invasion."

Rika nodded once more.

"Yeah. I'll bet it did," said Rika as she thought back to that day on her birthday. She had quite a few reasons to remember it well. "If nothing else could do it, that one certainly would make more than a few heads sit up and take notice."

"As a consequence of that event, people began calling for action. You're familiar with the anti-digimon groups that have been appearing lately. They want a more suitable response to take care of what they call _the digimon question._ "

Yamaki noted that all three of them bristled a little at that.

"They're voice is small. They're not quite mainstream yet, but if things keep going the way that they have been they'll become a problem. Their influence has already been felt here. Prior to Lucemon's appearance in our world I had been given instructions to design a new, combative program to give the government a more active capability in dealing with Wild Ones, to give us more independence rather than rely on children with no connection to the government."

Yamaki saw Rika frown at that. He figured that she would be a little bit annoyed by this. The clenching of her fists was also something of a dead giveaway to how she looked at the situation. Defending the city was a difficult task as it was, and even more so because not everyone saw digimon in a positive light even though it had been digimon that had saved them from D-Reaper and Parasimon. To them, the Tamers and their digimon had simply allowed for those threats to materialize. The thought of the government getting involved didn't completely bother her, as that had been the situation when she first started out as a Tamer, but if a new program was launched that threatened digimon she could see herself and the others coming to blows with them as they were a rogue group that would be seen more as vigilantes than the heroes that had repeatedly saved Shinjuku. Even though there were people who had a good view of them (she and the others were occasionally recognized by some of Shinjuku's citizens and also received letters of thanks and undying love though with the exception of Ryo this was a much rarer occurrence), it didn't take much of a genius to see how things could possibly go wrong, especially for her family.

If nothing else, Rika didn't want any harm to come to her family. She would fight and die first before letting something like that happen.

"You mind telling me why you're bringing this up?" Asked Rika, though for some reason she had a suspicion as to where he was going with this. Somehow, a part of her had always known. Had _expected_ it in fact.

Yamaki leaned back in his chair, as if considering what he was about to offer the girl, and inevitably her friends. Once started, there was no turning back.

Yamaki looked at the file named _Argus_ once again, knowing that the same could be applied to _that_ as well.

"The program that the government had me install into the Hypnos systems…it's not something that I believe should be considered using."

"What's it supposed to do? Blow up the digital world?"

"No. I don't think that we can create a program ourselves that devastating… _yet._ But the program itself… _Argus_ as it has been designated, can be taken as a declaration of war on the digital world. You remember _Grani_ , correct? There's not a whole lot that I'm allowed to reveal about it to you but essentially Argus is very much like what Grani was…only much more dangerous. If I can help it I would sooner not let something like that loose with the Hypnos systems, especially if it threatens the safety of the world."

"All right," said Rika carefully as she processed this information. "So how do you intend to do that? And why are you informing _me_ about it? Isn't this something that you'd discuss with your employees?"

"That depends," said Yamaki.

"On what?" Asked Terriermon from next to Rika.

"I'm about to submit a plan to my superiors that _should_ stall any use of the Argus program. But it would depend on whether or not you or your friends would be interested in taking on an official, active role in Hypnos and its affairs."

Rika, Renamon, and Terriermon just stared at Yamaki, eyes slightly wide in surprise. Terriermon's mouth was slightly agape as well. Yamaki continued.

"You don't have to answer now, as you should discuss it amongst your friends, including Takato when he returns from his vacation. But should you accept, it would mean that we'll have a ready and accountable group for handling Wild Ones as they arrive, one that has already proven their capabilities in the past as opposed to an untested, and dangerous program. Of course you will have to receive more affective field training than what you are used…"

Rika leaned in now, giving the man her full attention as all sorts of possibilities flew through her mind. Although she had come to dislike fighting after seeing the pain that it had put her friends through, she still recognized that she would have to fight in order to protect the people that she cared about. She wouldn't shrink from it. Not if it meant keeping them safe. As Yamaki continued on with the finer details of his idea, Rika could only think of a conversation that she had once with Henry and Takato several months ago before their digimon returned, and of one topic in particular.

_Well, Henry_ did _ask me once what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't give him an answer then…but I guess that I might have one now…_

* * *


	11. Chapter: 10/ Searching for Answers

Henry exited the school doors and breathed a contented sigh of relief. This was one of the rare occasions where he was grateful to have been let out of school, though unlike his friends Kazu and Kenta, his were for entirely different reasons. Bee lining for the school's gate, Henry immersed himself in deep thought, thinking of visiting Noriko's home while at the same time wondering if it was a good idea. He had asked around during lunch period, as he knew a few people in his class who hung out with the girl on a regular basis, hoping that he could be provided with directions to where she lived. Fortunately he wasn't disappointed, but now the only thing that remained was whether or not he should follow through with the idea. He did want to help, but how precisely he was going to do that he didn't know.

_One step at a time,_ thought the boy as his brow furrowed in concentration, continuing his trek towards the gates that led to that intangible entity that Kazu and Kenta called _freedom_. He could already hear them bursting out of the school gates behind him, getting ready to head down to the bakery again to _'do their duty for Takato'_ as they had put it when he had questioned them about what Jeri had told him after getting Noriko's home address. He found it a little bit strange hearing Kazu be responsible at something other than being a Tamer but considering that it was Kazu perhaps it wasn't so strange after all. Shaking his head slightly Henry turned to see the two boys all but crashing down the stairs, shouting something about having escaped Ms. Asagi's evil clutches.

_They don't have to be so loud about it,_ thought Henry as a small smile grew on his face, for once impressed that they, meaning Kazu as Kenta would be normally quite well behaved without the visor-wearing child, had managed to be good enough to not be kept after school. Henry took a moment to think about how serious that they were about working at Takato's parent's bakery. Hard work of that nature, with the exception of Taming and fighting digimon, was not the sort of thing that Henry would normally associate with Kazu and Kenta.

_Will wonders never cease?_ Thought Henry once more shaking his head in bemusement at their antics. Turning back towards the gate, Henry almost halted in surprise at the surprise waiting for him at the school grounds exit. Standing at the exit alongside the ever perky Jeri Katou, the ever faithful Terriermon waving his ear gleefully in hello, and a certain golden furred fox styled digimon (who was currently reclining on the school wall, ignoring the awed stairs of children who were stopping to gawk at her) was Rika, leaning against the wall, eyes closed and frowning slightly. Though this wasn't one hundred percent unusual given that she had made the trek to their school on her own, it wasn't a regular occurrence since her school was much farther away from theirs and tended to get out at around the same time that theirs did. Raising an eyebrow Henry continued his walk over to the group before eventually coming to a stop in front of them.

"Hey guys," said Henry, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. "What's up?"

"Not a whole lot," giggled Terriermon as he leapt down from off the wall and strode over to Henry, using his long ears to clamber onto the boys shoulder. "But you missed Rika scolding me earlier about sitting on her head…"

"And if you ever do it again…" began Rika in a tone that held a strange combination of amusement and annoyance as she opened her eyes and settled her gaze heavily on the little dog bunny.

"I know, I know," muttered Terriermon. "You'll have Renamon there punt me up to the moon. You don't have to remind me twice."

Henry chuckled.

"So how come _I_ have to remind you two or three dozen times?" He asked.

"Because with you I know I can get away with it. Rika there threatened to tie my ears in a knot on just the first try."

"Embellishing the story again, are we?" Commented Renamon as she shifted into a sitting position on the wall. "Rika merely asked Jeri if she knew how to tie knots."

"And you don't think that's a coincidence?"

"With you," said Rika. "It's _not_ a coincidence. It's _fate."_

"I thought you said that we decide our own destiny?"

"Then I suppose that you're guilty of making bad choices," said Rika, grinning evilly. Terriermon gulped.

"On that note…uh…why don't you fill Henry in on what…"

"Not yet," said Rika. "I want to wait for Kazu and Kenta to get here. I don't want to have to explain it twice."

"So long as you use _small_ words," chuckled Renamon, causing everyone to look up at her in surprise before chuckling themselves. It wasn't often that Renamon made a joke after all.

"Hey! Rika! Renamon! Top of the morning to you!" Exclaimed Kazu as he strode over to the group, arms behind his head and a wide, confident smile plastered on his face.

"Uh…Kazu?" Asked Kenta. "It's the afternoon…"

"Yeah. Like I let something like time stop me from making a greeting."

"Even when it's inaccurate?" Quipped Terriermon; giggling as he climbed up onto the top of Henry's head so that he could be more comfortable.

"Yeah, well. You know me…"

"Yeah, we do," said Henry, interrupting the boy. "Anyway. Rika's here to tell us something important."

"Guess that explains why she got down here so fast. Isn't your school still open or something?"

Rika folded her arms across her full-heart T-shirt.

"I had a little help from Renamon getting down here, plus my teacher let me leave a few minutes before the bell. As much as I don't like my school I'm not dumb enough to skip out on it. Now that we're all together can we get this meeting underway? Yamaki wanted me to pass this on to you guys as soon as I could."

"Does it have anything to do with that digimon attack that we missed out on?" Asked Kenta.

"Hey," said Kazu. "As much as I want to hear this information that Rika has for us, shouldn't we be moving off the premises by now? The schoolyards practically deserted and we're still standing here chatting! That's not right."

"Lighten up," said Terriermon. "It'll only take a minute."

"One minute's too lo…"

" _Anyway,_ " interrupted Rika, glaring at the visor-wearing child darkly. "Yamaki's offered us all a job working with Hypnos. Apparently he's having some trouble with someone upstairs and he thinks that having us on the payroll will make Hypnos more accountable in the future."

"Well that was a pretty blunt way of putting it," said Terriermon sarcastically. "As I recall Yamaki had what sounded like a pretty important reason other than making Hypnos look good to his bosses."

Rika shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"You can fill them in on that part then."

Kazu chose this moment to raise his hand, his eyes wide with surprise.

"So…wait. Let me get this straight. Yamaki wants _us_ to work for him?"

Rika simply nodded at the boy, her eyes narrowing slightly in annoyance at his reiterating what she had already said. Kazu pumped an arm in the air excitedly.

"Score! Now this means that I don't have to go looking for a job or anything after we're done with school and graduated. Oh man, this is going to be sweet! Being involved with digimon on a regular basis…it's going to be like a dream come true! Well, more like a second dream but still…"

"Somehow I don't think that it's going to be all fun and games," said Kenta, causing his friend to halt in his celebration and look at his friend with a confused expression on his face.

"Say wha…? Kenta, you feeling all right, dude?"

"Yeah, it's just…I really think that we should take a minute to think about this for a bit. I mean, sure it'll be cool to work for Hypnos and actually get paid for taking care of digimon…plus it gives us an option in case things don't work out for us after we graduate but do we really know what we're getting ourselves into? It won't be like what we're used to; us working independently and Hypnos backing us when things get rough or our interests coincide. I'll bet that there are all kinds of stuff that we don't know about Hypnos and we'll have to go along with it. We won't be able to do what we feel is right with the same kind of freedom that we've had so far."

Rika tilted her head to one side, one eyebrow raised as if she was actually seeing him for the first time.

"Wow. Never thought that I'd hear something logical come out of you, Kenta," the red haired girl said in a praising tone of voice. Kenta's face immediately flushed red and he looked down at the ground, suddenly finding a spot of dirt that looked interesting.

"Well…either way," said Kazu as he leaned backwards, still not losing his ever-present smile. "I think that I'll go for it. I think Hypnos could really benefit from my experience…"

" _Lack of_ , don't you mean?" Asked Terriermon from his place on Henry's head. "I know that you got Guardromon to digivolve to Ultimate recently but that hardly makes you experienced. Especially since you've only done it twice, one against Lucemon and once against that Triceramon. From what I remember Andromon got clobbered both times…"

"Way to rain on my parade Terriermon. But I'll admit that you do have a point there. I'll work on that though. Besides, it's not like you guys didn't experience any rough waters when you first started out."

"Great," muttered Terriermon. "Now he's comparing fighting wild digimon to swimming."

"It's not a bad analogy actually," said Henry. "But I think that this is something that we'll have to decide for ourselves and maybe talk with our parents about. I know that my dad is going to want to have his opinion on this."

"Still thinking of following in your father's footsteps?" Asked Rika, remembering a conversation that they had back when their partner's were still in the digital world.

"I told you before that it was what I wanted to do," said Henry. "And Hypnos might be able to help me out with that. I'll be able to work closely with my dad and his friends, learn a thing or two from them. What about you? Are you going to take Yamaki up on his offer?"

Rika held Henry's gaze for a moment.

"I'm considering it."

Next to her, Kazu chuckled.

"Heh. Can't say that I'm surprised. You always went for stuff like this more readily than the rest of us. I don't doubt that you'll get into it. At any rate, does Ryo know about this? 'Cause if not then Kenta and I can track him down and fill him in. I'm sure that he'd want a piece of the action as well…"

Henry looked at Kazu and raised an eyebrow while across from him Rika tilted her head.

"Hold on," said Rika. "Don't you have work to do at Takato's place today? I distinctly recall that you two _volunteered_ for it…as much as I'm still having trouble believing that even though I saw it with my own two eyes."

"Oh yeah…" said Kazu, his shoulders slumping a little, his grin fading a bit now. "Man, who knew that bread making could cut into your time like that? Seriously, how did Chumley manage it?"

Rika _hmmphed_ and tilted her head to one side. Thoughts of the Goggle-wearing boy took the opportunity to intrude into her mind but she pushed them away with an effort. Now was not the time for that sort of thing…

"You'll have to ask him when he gets back, and for your information Ryo doesn't know yet which leaves us with the question as to who's going to contact him and let him know about this…"

"I can do it," said Jeri suddenly, causing everyone to turn to her now. "I mean…it only makes sense, right? You guys already have a lot on your minds with Hypnos offering you jobs and having to tell your families. I can get Ryo's number and address from Kazu and Kenta before they go to Takato's place."

Rika nodded, silently cursing herself for not bothering to find out where it was that Ryo hung his hat. But then, it wasn't as if he actively made an effort to hang out with them the way Takato, Henry, and Jeri did (or in the extreme case, Kazu and Kenta when it came to Ryo). For some reason Ryo tended to be somewhat distant from the others. Not quite the same way that she had been when she first met Takato and Henry but distant nonetheless. A memory from the battle with Matadormon and she wondered about Ryo's actions. Frowning slightly, Rika shrugged the memory aside.

_I'll have to see about finding out what that was all about,_ thought Rika. _But for now, Jeri's got this one._

The group soon split apart, Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri going in one direction while Henry, Rika, Terriermon, and Renamon remained at the school entrance for a moment, watching them go. Henry turned to Rika.

"So…are you really just _considering_ taking up Yamaki's offer."

Rika frowned.

"Well…only a little, but I'm definitely leaning towards it. I'm just curious as to what my mom's reaction is going to be. She's a lot more understanding about things like this but she can still be overprotective. She might not like the idea of my taking on a job like that."

Henry looked into Rika's violet eyes with his own, gray ones.

"Would that stop you?"

Rika was silent for a moment.

"No. This is…something that I feel that I need to do. That I _should_ do."

Henry nodded.

"I hope so. But are you sure that it's what you want? I remember you telling Takato and me once about how you weren't sure if you wanted to fight anymore. I know that you still do but…"

Henry just let his words drift off. He knew that Rika would understand what he was getting at. Rika glanced over at the retreating form of Jeri a moment, her frown deepening.

"I just want to make sure that people I care about don't get hurt anymore," said Rika. "And if I have to fight to prevent stuff like that from happening to others I'll do that."

Henry smiled.

"That's probably all any of us can do…or ask. Anyway, I've got to get going. There are some things that I've got to check up on before I get home."

"Sounds like you've got a personal quest or something going on. What's up?"

"It's kind of personal," said Henry. "Hope things go well between you and your mom. Later."

"Later," said Rika as she pushed herself off of the brick wall of her friend's school and set her course for home, her mind tracing a course of its own as she did so. Up on the wall, Renamon nodded to Henry and Terriermon before vanishing in her traditional style, a whispering sound of wind marking the only sign of her presence.

Henry walked off with Terriermon still attached firmly to his head.

"So where are we going Henry? Any place in particular?"

"Yeah. You remember me telling you about Noriko?"

Terriermon thought about for a second.

"Isn't she the girl that disappeared shortly after our fight with Lucemon? The one you told me once that had asked you how about your problems and listened to what you had to say?"

"The very same," said Henry. "I managed to get her address from a friend of hers and I'm thinking about having a talk with her family."

"Oookay… Any particular reason why?"

"I just feel that I should do something to help find her. She helped me a little bit before back when Guilmon was destroyed, and if I can't find her then maybe I can help out her family."

Terriermon raised an eyebrow, feeling a little bit confused by Henry's desire to find the missing girl.

"You do realize that the odds of our finding her are virtually nil right? And don't remind me that we went and found Calumon in the digital world…"

"How exactly is that different though?" Asked Henry. "But you're right in a way. I don't even know where to begin exactly, but I'm still going to see her family anyway. Like I said, even if I can't help find her I can help her family get through this."

Terriermon looked at his Tamer with worry.

"You're not just feeling guilty about your losing control again are you? I mean, not that I don't think that we shouldn't help people but this isn't exactly the sort of thing that gets solved in our line of work, and we don't even have a job yet."

"Key word there, Terriermon. _Yet._ And no, I'm not doing this because I feel guilty for losing control." Henry's face softened a little as he remembered the torrent of emotions that he had felt when Lucemon had attacked Takato and loaded BlackGuilmon's data. "It's like I said. She helped me even though she didn't have to. I want to be able to return the favor if I can."

Terriermon nodded and settled down for the ride. Looking at it from that perspective he found it hard to argue, especially since whenever Henry got an idea in his head there was little that he could do about it. Besides, he felt the same way.

**###**

Impmon lay atop Janyu's computer, humming softly to himself as he tossed little balls of fire in the air as though he were juggling them between two fingers, looking for all the world as if he were bored out of his mind. Janyu busily typed away on his computer, glancing every so often up at the diminutive digimon's antics with a look that was both nervous and annoyed.

"Anything yet?" Asked Impmon for what had to be the hundredth time in as many minutes. Janyu sighed.

"Not yet. I told you, this is highly complex, and it's likely that we won't have any new information until tomorrow. I'm cross referencing the scans that I did of you with the ones that I made of Terriermon during the D-Reaper crisis…"

"You can hardly compare my data to that little bunny," said Impmon, more to himself than to the researcher that was the father of said digimon's partner.

"Actually, I can. And don't argue. You're a digimon, so there are some aspects about you that you are going to share with another. True, your frame and attributes are different but not so much that I can't use Terriermon's data as a base from which I can expand on. It's the best way for me to be able to get an idea on the bonding of foreign data when you're loading another digimon and how you incorporate it into your body. You digimon are highly complex creatures and even after all this time we still haven't got an accurate idea as to how your structure works."

"What's the big deal? I live, I breathe, I eat cheeseburgers, and occasionally sushi. What more do you need to know?"

Janyu just looked at Impmon with an incredulous look on his face. Impmon blinked, remembering that knowledge was going to be key here if he hoped to bring his idea to reality.

"Eh…forget that I said anything." And with that, Impmon went back to juggling fireballs. Janyu watched him for a moment.

"Do you have to do that _here_?"

"Why? Getting tired of my company?"

"No, it's just…well, the equipment is delicate. If it should be damaged the information that I've gathered will be lost and then we'll have to start back from square one."

"Hmmm…" Impmon dismissed his fireballs and crossed his arms behind his head. "Well I suppose that I could count the ceiling tiles…"

"I should point out again that this could take a while. I won't have anything until tomorrow."

Impmon pondered this in his mind for a bit before sitting up.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Ai and Mako are probably worried about me and I've been gone for most of the day." Getting up off the computer Impmon bounded over to a nearby window. He turned to look at the elder Wong. "So…when should I stop by?"

Janyu smiled.

"Any time after seven. I'll leave a window open after I get into work so that you can get in without frightening the receptionist again."

Impmon smiled.

"Thanks for doing this for me by the way. It means a lot to me."

Janyu nodded.

"Don't mention it. I just hope that we can pull this off. By the way; have you told Jeri about this?"

Impmon looked down at the floor.

"Well…not yet. If I can help it I'd rather that this be a surprise but…like you said earlier about needing her digivice I may have to. I just don't want to get her hopes up just to see them crushed, you know?"

"I can understand that," said Janyu. "Tell you what. We'll keep this between you and me for now until we know more tomorrow. After the information is fully processed and we get the results we'll decide from there. What do you say?"

Impmon smiled once again.

"Sounds good! See you then!" Impmon trotted on over to the closest window while Janyu got up from his chair and followed him. Unlatching the window and opening it for the little digimon, Janyu stepped back and watched Impmon leap out into open air without a worry about gravity's ever present effects on the world. Janyu watched him bound from rooftop to rooftop for a moment before turning and heading back to his work, smiling softly to himself.

**###**

Terriermon shifted impatiently as he sat on his partner's shoulder, wondering what it was that he was doing. They were now standing in front of the door to Noriko's home…had been for about a minute in fact and so far the boy hadn't done anything except stand there and stare when he should have knocked to see if anyone was home. So what was the deal? One ear shifting impatiently, Terriermon decided to take action.

"Henry? Not to rush you or anything but…"

"Huh? Oh…right. Sorry. I guess I just got distracted…"

"Something other than _me_ distracted you? All right. I'm jealous now…"

"Funny, Terriermon. I just needed a moment to gather my thoughts."

"It was a lot longer than just _a moment,_ " muttered Terriermon under his breath. Grimacing, Henry raised his hand and rang the doorbell and settled back to waiting, resisting the urge to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet nervously. He heard the sound of feet approaching. Finally the door clicked open, revealing the form of a woman with long dark hair that was more brown than it was black, with deep, serene eyes that spoke of experience and a special wisdom…as well as pain that hid just beneath the surface. Henry found himself swallowing a little, wondering if this was a good idea.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked, her voice flowing smoothly, her eyes assessing him before meeting with his own, all but piercing into him as they did so. Her glance flickered over to Terriermon for a moment and her brow furrowed. Henry suddenly had the idea that now would be a good time to start talking.

"Um…Yeah. I'm looking for a Ms. Nakata."

"That's me," the woman said with a nod, smiling lightly at him, though Henry could tell that it was forced. Given the fact that her daughter had gone missing he couldn't really blame her. Steeling himself, Henry spoke again.

"My name's Henry Wong…" he began.


	12. Chapter: 11/ Answer's Found?

Jeri glanced at a man's watch as the train raced its way through Tokyo before checking the scrap piece of paper that held Ryo's number and address, hastily written in Kazu's sloppy handwriting with Kenta's neater addition sitting next to it. She wondered whether or not her father would be mad at her for going so far out of her own district, especially since she had only just gotten out of school. But she felt that it was best to deliver Rika's message from Yamaki to the Legendary Tamer personally rather than call him up over the phone. It would mean more she felt, and she rarely saw him anyways. The distance between Ryo's home and that of the other Tamers being as such that the boy didn't travel much to see them unless he flew in on Cyberdramon, and Ryo had made it quite clear that with Cyberdramon's rather aggressive personality having him tag along for social calls was not a good idea since he had to constantly make sure that his partner was in check.

_It would be nice if we got to know him better,_ thought Jeri, reminding herself that was precisely the reason why she was traveling to see him in person. Apart from the few times that he had hung out with the other Tamers or fought alongside with them, his interactions with them were just that. Few. Unless that is you counted Kazu and Kenta's _fan worshipping_ and their desire to _bask in his presence_ (to quote Kazu's exact words following one Tamer meeting), but Jeri didn't. Aside from Rika and the rest of the Tamers, as far as Jeri knew he didn't have much in the way of close relations. But then, she didn't know him all that well. All the things that she had heard were mostly from Rika, Kazu, and Kenta, with the latter two praising him to the sky and Rika offering a mixture of compliments and derisiveness on his skill and personality. While between the three of them Rika had most likely given the most _honest_ viewpoint on the Legendary Tamer, it was still a biased view. In the end she felt that if she were to truly get an idea on what went on in Ryo's mind she would have to talk to him and learn a thing or two about him other than his skill at cards and his obvious liking for teasing Rika (Jeri smiled a little at the memory of their almost constant bickering, with Ryo casually shrugging off the insults and Rika just as casually, and indeed almost playfully, sending them).

Jeri checked the time once more as the train began to slow down before doing a quick calculation in her head as to what time she would be getting back home. Shrugging her school bag into a more comfortable position she reached into her dress's pocket and checked to see how much money she had, thinking that she should give her father a call to let him know that she would be late getting home.

**###**

Henry sipped his tea calmly as he sat across the table from the woman whose name he now knew to be Aiko Nakata, mother of Noriko and her brother Daisuke. Aiko watched Terriermon as he attempted to imitate his partner's polite manners with the drinking of the tea, and for the most part succeeded in spite of his diminutive size giving him difficulty in reaching the table and handling the teacup.

_At least he's not spilling or dropping anything,_ thought Henry; a little amazed that Aiko was taking so well to the fact that he had a digimon with him. But then, as far as most people's reaction to Terriermon was, they tended to be pretty positive. Unless he said the wrong thing of course, but tact was something that he was slowly learning…at least when it came to people that he wasn't familiar with. He looked over at Aiko as she poured herself another cup of tea before glancing up at him. She gave him a tired smile.

"More tea?" She offered politely. Henry shook his head. She turned to Terriermon and offered the same, to which he gratefully accepted.

"My daughter spoke of you sometimes," said Aiko, taking up the threads of conversation that had been left hanging since she had sat the two of them down at the table, unwilling to do any talking about her daughter until they were all settled. Henry found it a bit odd that she even conceded to discussing her with any degree of confidence with someone who didn't have any ability to find the girl, let alone any real relationship with her.

"Did she?" Asked Henry, somewhat surprised. Aiko nodded, her smile becoming a little bit more genuine now.

"Not a whole lot actually, but the fact that you were a Tamer in her class was reason enough for her to have something to say about you. I recall especially when she told me about a day before she…" Aiko's eyes lowered and she looked into her teacup, collecting herself in an attempt to make sure that she wouldn't break down. Henry had to admire the woman's strength of spirit to hold herself together like this without knowing the whereabouts of her daughter or whether or not she was okay. His own parents, heck _all_ the Tamer's family didn't exactly fare too well when their children had gone to the digital world. He distinctly recalled the stories of his father's reaction to Suzie being transported to the digital world and he could easily say that it wasn't the kind that was _not_ worrying or upset over the fact. Most of all, he recalled the time when he, Takato, and Rika were heading towards Zhuqiaomon's fortress and he asked them angrily if they could imagine what his parents were going through.

_And they did,_ thought Henry, his expression softening as he looked at the woman in front of him.

"Mrs. Nakata? I do have an idea what it is that you're going through. My little sister had been lost in the digital world once. As her brother I can't say that was the easiest time for me or for my family. I know that I don't have the right to say this really, but…I want to help. I really do."

Aiko looked up at the boy, her eyes calm rivers of coolness now.

"Why?" She asked simply, her tone cautious, but unwavering. For all Henry knew she had already decided to accept his help and merely wanted to know his reasons for doing so. Henry couldn't tell for sure. There was something about Aiko that made Henry think that she had a kind of wisdom about her, and a sharpness of mind to go along with it that allowed her to assess those that she was talking to. In that way she reminded him of Rika's grandmother and his sensei all rolled into one.

"I guess that I owe it to her. She helped me once and she didn't have to. She didn't even know me really and she still decided to lend a listening ear."

Aiko smiled and took a sip of tea.

"She's like that. A little headstrong sometimes though, prone to see things in terms of _black and white_ , but then sometimes that's how the world works. Not always, but sometimes. It got her into trouble at times."

Aiko sighed and set down her teacup.

"I'm not sure what I can do for you, and the police are out looking for her. Unless that is you have reason to suspect that she's in the digital world…"

Aiko cocked an eyebrow at the boy, gauging his reaction as she watched him carefully.

"I couldn't say where she is any more than you," said Henry. "Frankly I don't see how she could have gone to the digital world unless there was a digital portal open…"

Terriermon looked over at his partner and raised an eyebrow, all but imitating Aiko's expression.

"Henry. Didn't Lucemon exit through a digital portal the day that Noriko disappeared?"

Aiko seemed to start at that, but it was only a subtle motion. One that went unnoticed by both Tamer and digimon.

"Yes," said Henry. "But if you recall it was directed only in Lucemon's area. Renamon and Rika were closest when he returned to the digital world but they didn't go with him. I don't see how that could be the case with Noriko if she wasn't nearby…"

"Actually," began Aiko carefully. "There's a good chance that she was. My son, Daisuke, the day that Noriko disappeared he had said that she had gone off running towards the park during the battle. I'm not fully aware of all the particulars of that battle or the events that transpired around it…" for some reason Henry could have sworn that he caught a curious, watchful gleam in her eyes when she said that. "…But she had taken something of an interest in you and your friends activities concerning your angelic friend _Lucemon_."

Henry frowned slightly at that. He didn't think that he had given a description of Lucemon when he had mentioned him. Well, maybe she had seen his card or something. Digimon was, after all, still popular enough where she could have seen him. But there was the detail of knowing about Lucemon's involvement. Sure he and Terriermon mentioned his presence but they didn't exactly state him as being the primary antagonist, especially given that there was a BlackWarGrowlmon, and later a ChaosGallantmon running around wrecking havoc. Not too mention himself…

_Unless she's more perceptive than I gave her credit for,_ thought Henry.

"Why was that?" Asked Henry, getting the feeling that he was about to be let in on something important. Aiko paused and once more looked both Tamer and digimon over before taking a sip of tea.

"Perhaps it would be best if I started at the beginning. Perhaps it will help us both get an accurate picture as to what was going through her mind at the time that she vanished," said Aiko. There was no way that either Henry or Terriermon were going to be prepared for what she was about to reveal to them.

"It all began when Noriko and Daisuke found an angel in the park…" the dark haired woman began.

**###**

"And that should be that," said Ryo as he finished bandaging up Monodromon in the bathroom.

"Thanks,' said the purple colored reptile as he flexed his bandaged arms and poked at the wrappings around his body. "That makes me feel a lot better now."

"Yeah, well, don't play with it, okay?" Said Ryo, grinning. "You know that's not good for your injuries."

"Sorry," said Monodromon as he hopped down from the toilet and padded out of the bathroom, Ryo quickly following suite.

"No _I'm_ the one who should be sorry, Monodromon. I didn't think when I used that card on you. I _shouldn't_ have…"

"Ryo," began Monodromon, interrupting the boy. "I thought that we already talked about this. It was the heat of battle. Besides, nothing really went wrong anyway…"

"Aside from you getting hurt," replied Ryo. "And probably risking the safety of Shinjuku and the rest of the planet as well. Honestly, I don't know how that card wound up in my deck. And that frightens me. It really does."

"Too many bad memories?"

Ryo chuckled wryly.

"You could say that, to say nothing for my nerves if I find out that _he_ had somehow come back after all this time."

"I'm pretty sure that we would have noticed if that happened," said Monodromon, giving his partner a comforting look as he reached up and took hold of Ryo's wrist. Ryo smiled at the familiar feel of the reptile's claws.

"Yeah. I guess so. I can't help but worry though, you know? He never leaves us alone…"

"Never leaves who alone?" Asked a voice from around the corner of the hallway. Looking up in surprise, Ryo found himself looking at the familiar, hard face of his father.

"Nothing Dad," said Ryo, his face assuming the look of calm serenity and a good-natured grin. His father simply nodded, as if wondering if his son was being truthful or not, but he didn't press it. Maybe if he felt that this was the right time to press it, but he didn't want to leave a certain person waiting down near the door to their home.

"Right," the elder Akiyama said. "Anyway, I came to tell you that you have a visitor. She claims to be a friend of yours from Shinjuku."

_She? Friend of mine from Shinjuku?_ Thought Ryo as he tried to put two and two together. _Nah. Couldn't be. Then again…_

"Thanks Dad," said Ryo nodding his head gratefully. "I'll go see what's up."

Grunting, the boy's father stepped to the side to allow his son to pass. Ryo's mind went through the number of possibilities that the person that he was thinking of could have for visiting him, but with the two exceptions of demanding a card match or asking him about his battle with Matadormon earlier he came up empty. Unless that is she wanted to… _well, probably not._ Thought Ryo, his grin widening all the more. _Still, it would be interesting if she actually did come here for something like that. If nothing else, it should be interesting to find out why…_

Ryo entered the hallway that led to the door and his eyes widened in surprise, his thoughts trailing off as they attempted to finish their course as his gaze settled on the figure of a brown haired girl in a green dress waiting patiently at the door's entrance.

_…Jeri came…over…_

"This is a surprise," said Ryo smiling, not losing his composure. "Didn't expect to see you here."

Jeri smiled warmly.

"Well," she began. "Rika had stopped by at my school to tell the others about a proposal that Yamaki had made about all of you working for Hypnos. Everyone else was busy so I elected to be the one to tell you about it."

Ryo's grin became embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"That's awfully nice of you, Jeri but wouldn't it have been easier for you to have just called or something? Would have saved you the train fare…"

"I know, but we don't usually see a lot of you so I thought that I'd pay you a visit and talk...if that's okay with you that is."

_Oookay…_ Having not expected this sudden curveball getting thrown his way Ryo glanced in the direction of the kitchen. Not wanting to be rude Ryo turned back to Jeri.

"Care for a drink?" He asked with a smile. "We've got lots of tea."

Jeri's smile was all the answer that he needed.

**###**

Jeri let out a satisfied sigh as she placed her teacup down on the table, having just finished explaining Yamaki's proposition as best that she could with the limited amount of information that she had, stating that he would have to go to either Rika, Renamon, or Terriermon for more if he was interested but for now that was all there was to be had. Ryo in the meantime didn't give any indication as to whether or not he was interested in taking up with Hypnos and making the Tamers an _official_ government group, instead settling for nodding in all the right places and saying that he would consider it. Which was all fine. It wasn't as though he had to answer right away. If nothing else, it was perhaps for the best that he not jump into it right away, and instead look at the pros and cons that such a job opportunity could give him, especially in light of his recent troubles.

"So how's Monodromon?" Asked Jeri, looking at the purple dinosaur with a worried expression. She had tactfully avoided asking the question earlier since she knew that he had been in a recent battle and knew full well that bumps and bruises came with the territory, but now that there was a lull in the conversation she felt the need to put her worries to rest even though Monodromon looked to be getting along well in spite of his injuries (and in fact, was quite energetic and playful).

"He's fine," said Ryo. "Just a little ruffled that's all."

"Was that digimon really that strong?"

"Matadormon?" Asked Ryo. "Well…kinda. He wasn't bad. Certainly had a strategy going for him that would have been bad for us in the long run. But I'm more at fault for Monodromon's condition. I just used too powerful a card…"

"Ryo…" began Monodromon before turning to Jeri. "He always does this. I keep telling him that it was the heat of battle…"

"Yeah," chuckled Ryo laying a hand on top of his partner's head and rubbing it playfully. "He's my moral boost and confident too when he's in his Rookie form. He doesn't like it when I'm hard on myself."

"What kind of card was it?" Asked Jeri. Ryo hesitated before reaching into his deck box and pulled out the card that had haunted him since morning. He looked at it for a moment before setting it down on the table in front of the girl. Jeri reached over and picked it up, looking it over. She raised an eyebrow.

"Milleniummon?"

Ryo nodded.

"He's supposed to be some kind of dark god of the digital world. _Extremely_ powerful, able to warp time and space, create alternate dimensions, that sort of thing. He's supposed to have even more powerful, alternate forms to go along with him like Moon Milleniummon and Zeed Milleniummon but that is supposed to be his most recognizable form. Not exactly the nicest of digimon and definitely not one you'd ever want to meet in a dark alley."

"I can imagine," chuckled Jeri nervously as she handed the card back to Ryo. "We've certainly had our fair share of that, haven't we?"

"Comes with the job," said Ryo, adding his own chuckle to the conversation before taking a sip from his teacup. "But that's over now. Well, the incident with the Milleniummon card at any rate. But I don't think that I want to keep it around, especially not after what happened to Monodromon. That was nearly to much for him."

Jeri raised an eyebrow.

"What will you do with it?"

"Get rid of it. Trade it away. I'm not really particular about it. It just makes me uncomfortable now knowing that I have it and it's in my deck." Ryo did not bother mentioning that he had no idea how it got into his deck to begin with.

"But it helped you today, didn't it?" Asked Jeri. "I mean, can it be called _bad_ just because it's too powerful?"

Ryo looked at Jeri and frowned inwardly. He could tell that she saw what he was getting at, and could even understand where he was coming from.

_Except there's the fact that Milleniummon had caused me enough trouble when he wasn't just a card, and even when he is he still finds a way to add unnecessary problems in my life. I've had to face him enough times…defeated him enough times where he should have disappeared from my life all together, even and especially after Monodromon jogressed with him. But then, Jeri doesn't know that. No one here does. The only people who could, especially one of them, are…_ elsewhere. _But that can't be helped. I made my choice after all._

Ryo gave a small smile.

"Even so," he said. "I think that this is one case where I'll look a gift horse in the mouth. I have a responsibility to my partner, to keep him as safe as I can just like he does me. A card like this is too powerful for someone like Monodromon to control." Ryo looked at his partner with a soft expression. "And he's got enough to worry about without adding something like that to the mix."

For some reason, Jeri felt that Ryo was talking about something more than just an accident with a simple card. Not for the first time she wondered about the difference between Monodromon and his Ultimate form's personalities and how it seemed like they were two completely different digimon.

_But then, digimon do change sometimes when they digivolve,_ thought Jeri as she remembered Impmon and Guilmon. She recalled what Henry had told her earlier about his and Takato's worries about controlling their partners when they digivolved. She recalled some of Takato's own musings and reflections on the matter, particularly when he had forced Guilmon to digivolve to Megidramon, something that he defined as the epitome of everything that he was afraid of for his partner. It had been something that he had thought resolved after merging with Guilmon to become the Royal Knight known as Gallantmon, but after the incident with Lucemon many of those fears had resurfaced. Was it that way with Ryo? Did something happen between him and his partner that caused their relationship to be the way that it was? Maybe the Milleniummon card was something like a symbol of his concerns and fears (even though Jeri knew that Ryo was by and large fearless, she also knew enough that there were different kinds of fears, and that they didn't always manifest themselves in the same way as one would expect). She didn't see Ryo as the type of person who would hide from their problems, especially given the partner that he worked with. But because he had the tendency to work through his problems alone, combined with his strong desire to protect his partner it was possible that…well. Perhaps she was over thinking the issue. But she didn't think that getting rid of the card was going to solve his troubles.

Reaching out, the puppet-loving girl tapped the corner of the Milleniummon card.

"Then…do you mind if I hold onto it? If you're unsure about using it don't you think that it might be a good idea to at least keep it nearby just in case we might need it?"

The look of barely concealed horror on Ryo's face suddenly made her regret her asking, but before she could even question it the look was gone. Replaced by Ryo's usual, confident, and joking demeanor that was his trademark. But it was visibly shaken. She could tell.

"Uh…well," Ryo rubbed the back of his head nervously, and knew that his emotions were matched almost exactly by that of his partner, who at the moment remained quiet, waiting for him to decide what was best here. No. He couldn't say that he thought this was a good idea. Maybe he should tell her… _No. Not yet. Nothing serious…at least_ really _serious, and as far as I know negative has come up. And like Monodromon said, we would have noticed if_ he _came back. And the card; I still don't understand what that's all about. If there's anything weird about it, it might fall into the wrong hands where it might cause trouble down the line. Maybe it is better to keep it close by. What's that old expression? Keep your friends close but your enemies closer? Heh. Almost ironic that I practically live that saying…_

"Sure. Maybe it's best that you did hold onto that card. Until I'm ready to use it again without any issues, it's better off in your hands."

Ryo smiled at the girl, though he felt a dark foreboding about what he had just allowed. Jeri smiled back.

_I'd better keep an eye on her…_

**###**

Henry stood outside of the Nakata family home and bowed to Aiko deeply, holding back the feelings of deep confusion that he was experiencing due to the information that he had been given. In front of him, the woman inclined her head respectfully, and gave him a small smile before repeating the gesture to Terriermon.

"Thank you, Ms. Nakata," said Henry though he heard a note of uncertainty in his voice. Aiko looked at him with sympathetic eyes. Apparently she had heard it too.

"I'm sorry, Henry," the woman said simply, those three words covering the entirety of her families unwitting involvement in the pain that the boy and his friends had experienced three weeks ago.

"No," said Henry, looking away, feeling ashamed for some reason. He felt as though he should be angry. Takato's repeated pain at the hands of Lucemon, his near death, and his own loss of control…it had been because this family had helped Lucemon. Only he couldn't bring himself to be angry. He understood their reasons in fact. Given the right circumstances he knew that he would have done the same thing in their place. "It's…it's all right. You were just doing what you thought was right and…"

Henry stopped talking when the woman placed a hand on his shoulder. For a brief moment, Henry felt as though he was much younger. The innocent child that he was before he began his path on the road to being a Tamer. His vision became a little warped as tears glistened in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Nakata," said Henry, struggling to find more words to say. "But…it's just…it's…" Henry took a deep breath, calming himself. His mind cleared a bit, and he found words that felt appropriate to say. "Ms. Nakata. It doesn't matter what happened. You were doing what you thought was right and…" Henry looked up and fixed his gaze on Aiko's. "I promise that if I can find your daughter, I will. And if I can't, I will still try to help you in whatever ways I can."

Almost by reflex, Henry noted that Terriermon was being strangely quiet.

Aiko simply nodded.

"Thank you," she said before looking at the color of the sky as the sun set it ablaze with its setting. "Do you need someone to drive you home?"

Henry gave the woman a reassuring smile.

"No thanks. My home is close by. I'll be fine."

Picking up Terriermon, Henry once again bowed to Aiko and took his leave, feeling a strange sensation that he equated with _relief_ flooding through his body. As he made his way out onto the streets he thought over what he had been told. Although the information, as surprising as it was, told him a lot more than he had known it didn't help him with figuring out where Noriko had disappeared. Her running off towards the battle, presumably (based only on her little brother's account of the event, and he wasn't even there to see precisely what had happened to her other than _she had gone running to the site of battle)_ , could mean many things. For all he knew she had been killed in the firefight that had ensued, most likely when he had lost control. That last thought made him worried but there had been no casualties. Well, so far as he knew. Certainly the news reports hadn't reported anything other than property damage (he found it amazing that his family or that of his friends had been hit with any lawsuits over the sheer amount of destruction that was caused in each successive battle), so there was hope. But where was Noriko then? The digital world, as her mother had asked? He hoped not, but if she was in proximity to an active portal in that fight she could very well be. He still had his doubts though. Given that the only active portal had been the one summoned by Lucemon and it hadn't affected any of them he couldn't see how that could be the case.

But… _but…_ without anything else to go on it seemed like the most viable theory, unless of course it was a kidnapping, a rare occurrence in Japan, which held just as much weight as Noriko being in the digital world. However, with the way that the digital world worked, especially after how it had snatched up Suzie unexpectedly all those months ago, he felt that the digital world was a far more likely possibility.

"You're awfully quiet," said Henry to Terriermon after a few moments of silent thinking.

"I'm still processing what we were told," said Terriermon. "I mean it's not everyday that we find out that someone inadvertently cared for someone else who tried to destroy us."

"Point taken, but what do you think of it? Am I doing the right thing by deciding to help them?"

Terriermon looked at his partner as if he had gone crazy.

"Did you just hear yourself just now? Henry, they didn't know what was going on. It's not like they were actively going out of their way to hurt us."

"I know. It just…seems weird."

"This from the guy who had helped that ol' flame turkey Zhuq's fight D-Reaper even though he tried to kill us? And then there's Beelzemon…who can ever forget that guy?"

Henry chuckled.

"I guess you have a point there too. Sorry Terriermon. It's a little bit different this time around, and it's got me all confused inside."

"Momentai, Henry. It's not that big of a deal to me really. Well, it sort of is but it kinda reminds me of some of the stuff from the digimon TV show that you and the others talk about so much. You know about how it's important that we all realize our mistakes and learn from them? Don't be too hard on Noriko, Aiko, or yourself Henry. We've got bigger stuff to worry about, like finding Noriko. Even though I still think that you've set yourself an impossible task but then again it wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened. We found Calumon in record time despite how big the digital world is. I'm sure that we can do the same with her."

"You sound awfully confident about that," said Henry, smiling a little as he felt the darkness in his heart lifting.

"Momentai! You never know. We could turn this corner right now and run into her…"

Suddenly Henry's digivice began beeping in alarm as a digital field materialized in front of them. Gasping in surprise, Henry pulled it out along with his sunglasses, preparing to combat whatever digimon was about to emerge into the real world.

"Whoa," whispered Terriermon. " _That_ was unexpected. Wonder if this means that my prediction will come true?"

"You mean like it did when Sandiramon showed up in the subway tunnels when you wished for something exciting to happen?" Chided Henry as he slipped on his shades. He could see a figure materializing in the depths of the fog as it rolled over him.

"I was kinda referring to the time when Rika, Kazu, Kenta, and Renamon found their way back to Takato's goofy flag back in the digital world. Remember how we had just missed the…?"

Terriermon's words were cut off as the figure shrouded by the dense digital fog began to walk towards them. Taking a step forward, Henry broke the barrier of the fog and entered, heading towards the figure. He could feel Terriermon tensing his body on top of his head. After a few, short moments, the cloud covered figure finally became visible. Both Henry and Terriermon's eyes widened in surprise at the sight before them. Walking unsteadily towards them was a girl with short, closely cropped hair that was made unruly by whatever elements she had been exposed to and red eyes that looked out towards the world but was too dazed to even see it.

_I don't believe it,_ thought Henry, trying to grasp what he was seeing. _I just don't believe it…_

"Terriermon…that's…Noriko."

As if her name was a signal, the girl collapsed to the ground with a resounding thud.


	13. Chapter: 12/ A Little Development

He looked up at the sphere of digital information that hung in the sky as rings of data rotated around it, setting it aglow against the night sky, giving it an almost ethereal beauty against the dark background. The glow was by no means diminished by the burning feathers of the firebird that was the guardian of the digital world's southernmost quadrant, the digimon Sovereign known as Zhuqiaomon. The great Mega level digimon looked thoughtfully upon that world, as he had done countless other times in his existence; a habit that had only increased since the battle with the D-Reaper had concluded and the Chaos had been permanently sealed away. Sealed like so many other threats and dangers that had rampaged across the digital world in times past though he had not been there for most of them. But that was neither here nor there. At the moment, the real world held his attention and his thoughts were drawn to the events of the past year; of his servants that had been lost, and of those _humans_ that they had fallen too…the Tamers.

Frowning, Zhuqiaomon looked down upon his court, his burning eyes glancing at the statues of the servants that had fallen in the line of duty to the Tamers; the Devas. A fitting tribute to those servants who had remained loyal, pending the exception of Antylamon, the only Deva who had accepted a human as a partner and betrayed him. Or so he used to believe. Zhuqiaomon's gaze paused on the engraved image of the massive, acrobatic rabbit digimon and he pondered it for a moment. He knew full well that his opinion was biased. The Chaos known as D-Reaper had gone a long way towards affecting his opinion of humans as it had been _their_ creation and the humans had done nothing to aid the digital world when it had first appeared so long ago. Indeed, he had believed that its reappearance and evolution had been _their_ cause, their attempt to extinguish the digital world and the light of evolution. Time and events had radically altered his opinion of the humans. Though he still abhorred the idea of humans and digimon working together, even _merging_ together he was wise enough to see that such a union got results and was one of the primary reasons why the Chaos had been defeated, and not only that it was the humans themselves who had done so when all else failed, even at the risk of permanently separating the Tamers from their partners. That kind of sacrifice, and the Tamers determination in the face of impossible odds had affected the Sovereign greatly. True, he didn't trust humans, but he had learned to respect them as he would any warrior that was willing to give their all for what they held sacred. And the same applied to the partner digimon who had risked themselves in the fighting.

Which was why, engraved beneath the statue of Antylamon, his former servant, was the legend _"Each serve in their own way"_. Zhuqiaomon had felt it _fitting_ for the digimon now known as Lopmon. One day the images of the Tamers digimon would be immortalized in stone for their contribution to the war against the D-Reaper, though Zhuqiaomon didn't believe that this would come about because of his doing…

Zhuqiaomon stiffened as he felt the pressure of his senses as they detected three digimon approaching his castle. Flapping his great wings, Zhuqiaomon narrowed his eyes and rose into the air, heading towards the exit that stood at the ceiling of his fortress, where he had been staring out of at the human world. Upon exiting his home the great bird alighted at the peek of his strangely shaped castle and stared out into the distance in the direction that he sensed the three digimon approaching. They were still a good ways off, but for him to feel them at this distance worried him as it signaled that they were digimon of tremendous power, something that was not to be taken lightly in this world or _any_ world. Especially with the disturbances that had been occurring from the massive amounts of digimon migrating from world to world, particularly that of the so-called _X digimon._ Those creatures presented a dilemma to the Sovereigns and each dealt with them in their own way (he himself preferred to let them go their own way so long as they didn't cause the sort of trouble in his domain where he would have to involve himself directly), but when all was said and done all bowed to the will of Yggdrasil. Even Fanglongmon…

But thoughts of digital deities and rulers aside, Zhuqiaomon wondered what sorts of entities were coming towards his domain. He supposed that he should alert the other Sovereigns, as they were presently _elsewhere_ , continuing to oversee the reconstruction of their areas of the digital world that had been decimated during the course of the D-Reaper war, but there was something about the three presences that he was picking up that felt _familiar_ , and at the same time not so much as a threat as it was the feeling of an _order_ and _command._ Either they actually weren't a threat to him or they were superbly confident in their power, and from what he felt they had every reason to be.

Reaching into the core of his being, Zhuqiaomon sent a call to his brothers and fellow Sovereigns, warning them of what was closing in on their domain. Once he had done so, Zhuqiaomon returned his attention to the distant horizon, his attention now focused entirely on the forces that were approaching. All he could do now was wait.

**###**

Henry stifled a yawn as he leaned against the leg of the dinosaur hut of Shinjuku Park's playground, eliciting a light giggle from the brown haired girl in front of him.

"You sound awfully tired," she said, striving to restrain her laughter and only being mildly successful at it.

"I had a busy night last night," said Henry as he looked down at the ground between them, his eyes falling on the GrapLeomon that Jeri had face up on the field. At present she had two data files and a face down program card, no doubt a modifier to protect her digimon. If he wasn't careful she could digivolve to Mega next turn and clean him out. Of course, due to his exhaustion he had already mistakenly allowed her to get to Champion, and then Ultimate…

"That's an understatement and you know it," said Terriermon as he hopped up onto Henry's shoulder, his expression serious. Jeri looked at the dog-bunny of a digimon with a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean?" asked Jeri.

"It has to do with last night's bio-emergence," said Henry as he stifled yet another yawn. "You remember that Noriko girl who went missing a few weeks ago, right?"

"Yeah. It happened around the same time that Lucemon returned to the digital world, right?"

Henry nodded, smiling wanly.

"Well, last night I had gone to visit her mother and…"

"Oh for goodness sake," interrupted Terriermon, rolling his eyes in disbelief at his partner's ability to draw out a long story from something that didn't require such. "Henry and I saw Noriko bio-emerge!"

Henry sighed dejectedly.

"Terriermon…"

Jeri's eyes widened in surprise, the game between them now forgotten as this latest subject took root in the conversation.

"She was…wait. Are you sure?"

Henry nodded, eyeing his partner carefully to make sure that he didn't say anything more on the subject.

"Pretty sure. Terriermon didn't sense any nearby digimon…"

A _s far as I know,_ thought Henry, thinking back on last night's events and remembering the strange way his partner had acted. _But he said that it was nothing and we didn't see any digimon._

"…And when the others showed up they couldn't find any either, and usually digimon are quite blatant about presenting themselves when they arrive in the real world."

Jeri sat there, a little stunned at this as Henry drew from his deck.

"So…she's been in the digital world all this time? And she _found_ a way back on her own?"

Heny shrugged. "Won't know for sure until she wakes up. She collapsed when Terriermon and I found her, and after we got her mother she took her straight to the hospital. I told my dad about it and he said that he'd tell Yamaki so that he can send someone to look in on her. She looked like she had been through a lot…"

"I can imagine," said Jeri as she lowered her playing hand. "I wonder how she survived liked that…"

"Momentai," piped in Terriermon. "Ryo did pretty well on his own for about a year, and it's not like eating food is altogether necessary you know…"

"Yeah, but with the way some of your larger cousins go about their daily lives concerning each other it is amazing that she made it back in one piece," said Henry. "She had to have had help. The digital world isn't exactly the safest of places to be for a human, and even more so if you don't have a partner and we didn't see a single digimon when she arrived."

"We can definitely say one thing," said Terriermon. "Yamaki's going to break his lighter when he hears about this. It's not every day that a person breaks the barriers between the real and digital worlds on their own…"

"You can say that again," said Henry, and then added as an afterthought; "And don't say it again just because I said that. It's just a figure of speech."

"Ohhh…fine. Take all the fun out of it…"

Jeri giggled lightly. "You must be more awake then you thought if you were already one step ahead of Terriermon."

"No. Just used to him enough to know what he's thinking." Henry frowned at his hand, scanning the cards. He just drew his MegaGargomon card; a sure win if he played it but he didn't have all the necessary requirements for it at the moment and wouldn't for a while. He was in a tight spot. Better to just sit back and defend for now. His Rapidmon card had the flying ability after all, and that would assure him more than enough protection at this stage of the game. Provided of course that Jeri didn't evolve to Mega…

Henry glanced up, noting for the first time that morning that Kazu and Kenta had yet to show up again. No doubt they were working again at Takato's family bakery, and while he wouldn't normally be concerned knowing that that was what they were doing, it did bring another, more worrying question to mind.

"Hey. What time is it?"

Jeri smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said. "We have at least another hour before school starts."

Terriermon giggled and flapped his long ears.

"I still don't get why you guys even bother to get up so early just to get to school. It's not like it takes you that long to get to school Henry. I bet you could have caught a couple more _z's_ that way…"

"Not with you around," muttered Henry sarcastically as he placed a modify card face down and passed the turn over to Jeri.

"What was that?" Asked Terriermon, pretending to clean the insides of his ears with his tiny fingers. "I don't think I heard you properly…"

"With ears like that I'm surprised that you…uh oh."

As Henry watched, Jeri played another data file and revealed her face down program card, sweeping them all away gracefully to the offline zone before placing a SaberLeomon card over her GrapLeomon with a smile.

_Nuts…a complete chain…and the worst of it is that she bluffed me! I could have attacked and won the match!_

Terriermon looked back and forth between Jeri and Henry, noticing that Henry had adopted a somewhat alarmed expression on his face now. Given that there wasn't a digimon sneaking up on Jeri he could only assume that it had to do with the SaberLeomon card that Jeri had just thrown down. Taking stock of the situation, Terriermon opened his mouth to speak the one altruism that ultimately defined his life's philosophy. In a word…

"Momentai?"

Henry groaned.

**###**

A dossier flopped down on the top of Yamaki's desk, causing the blonde haired head of Hypnos who sat behind said desk to lean back in his chair, gripping his lighter and resisting the urge to flick it open as he took on the appearance of complete and utter calmness. Raising an eyebrow Yamaki looked at the Chief Cabinet Secretary who had deigned to visit him at this time rather than their traditional method of speaking through video feeds. He hadn't asked the man the reason for this _personal_ visit, as he knew that his position and authority was going to be all the reason that he needed, all the reason that mattered. Besides, he did say yesterday that he wanted to meet with him regarding a certain topic that had been on his mind of late. If any excuse was needed, this was certainly the perfect one.

"Well?" Yamaki asked, his voice not demanding an answer or an opinion, but simply putting the ball in his court now to decide which way he wanted to go. With politics, one had to be _tactful_ with people in high places.

"It looks to me like it's a sound system so far," said the Chief Secretary, his tone sounding somewhat bored as though he were going over something that he had seen a million times. Yamaki knew however that such was not the case. He had known the man for far too long.

"Is that all?"

"What do you want me to say Yamaki? People are going to see this as an attempt by you to prevent the Argus program from being used. I can't blame you for it given our previous experiences but you know that not a lot of people are going to look at your system and take it seriously. Incorporating the Tamers into Hypnos, placing them _officially_ under your jurisdiction won't look like things will change much. Just that they'll be paid now to do the job that they are already doing…"

"As well as receiving proper training," said Yamaki. "True, their skills in combating Wild Ones are second to none but they need more, and with the resources of Hypnos we can prepare them more properly for whatever situation comes up. I have one of the Wild Bunch members, _Daisy_ , working on an integration program for Argus…"

"Yes," said the Chief Secretary, waving the man off. "I've read reports on it. I have to admit that I'm certainly impressed with the idea and it has merit. But people are already familiar with how much freedom you allow the Tamers when they're not working for you, and they don't believe that even hired there will be any reason for your relationship with them to alter in any significant way to give the impression that the Tamers are not only a deterrent against digimon attacks but are accountable. That, and there's the belief that you may have gotten _too_ attached to them…"

The man smiled warmly at Yamaki, which caused the other man to shift uncomfortably in his seat. The Chief Secretary knew that he had struck a cord with the man.

"But I know that you don't need me to tell you all of this. You're just as aware of the situation as I am. At any rate, it's not me that you'll need to convince. You already have my full support. And to make things easy for you I'll present your plan at the next meeting. Given that the Tamers have quite the service record when compared to a dangerous and untried program I'm sure that there are going to be quite a few sympathetic ears for me to bend. I can't promise that there will be any success…"

"Just get my foot in the door," said Yamaki with a nearly invisible smile on his face. "That's all I ask. Hypnos was started on less stable ground then this."

The Chief Secretary chuckled.

"Can't argue with you there." Picking up the folder the Chief Cabinet Secretary nodded once to Yamaki, got up and showed himself out of the man's office, determined to see what he could do for the blonde haired head of Hypnos. As the door clicked shut, silence filled the room as Yamaki turned his chair around to look out at the city below him.

The sound of a lighter flicking open broke that silence a second later.

**###**

Sangloupmon floated in the vat of water, his body completely and totally immobilized by whatever process it was that the humans had done to imprison him. He felt as though an electrical current were running through his body, and he heard a steady stream of voices, _human_ voices and slightly distorted by the liquid that surrounded him. Humans…he didn't mind them so much, but there were times where he thought of them as helpless sheep, or at least gullible fools. Oh sure, they were something else when they fought alongside a digimon partner, particularly when they merged with them but there were times when they showed such extreme amounts of shortsightedness. _Especially_ when they had a reason to be afraid of something, at which point they bent whichever way the wind blew if it offered the remotest chance of keeping them safe and allaying those fears. True, not all of them showed this quality but for the large majority of them…

Sangloupmon opened his eyes and looked out at the distorted images of a group of humans as they busily worked with their machines. Two of them were presently talking. One of them dressed in the same clothes as the rest of the technicians who went about the laboratory, _switching_ their _switches_ , while another was dressed…well, differently. Similar in appearance to the human scientist, but with darker, shorter clothing, and he carried himself with the air of someone of authority. Sangloupmon chuckled to himself and closed his eyes; glad to know that everything was going according to plan so far. Let the humans think that their choices were their own, that their actions weren't being guided by a higher power to serve another, greater purpose; the purpose of survival. And it couldn't be done without their help. Almost ironic in a way given everything that he had heard about how humans and digimon were stronger together than they were apart. He just hoped that his little appearance earlier had done what was needed to push events where they needed to go to solidly ground their _unsuspecting_ help in things. If not, he had what he needed to make sure that he would get that help.

_Can anyone say_ snake in the grass? Thought Sangloupmon smiling to himself.

* * *


	14. Chapter: 13/ Hearts and Minds: Part 1

Janyu busily typed away on his computer, his brow furrowed in concentration as he put all his focus into analyzing the information that he had gathered yesterday from when Impmon had stopped by, looking for a way to separate a digimon's data from his own. An interesting challenge, Janyu felt, and normally not one that he'd consider tackling alone, but with most of the Monster Makers presently scattered to help major governments build up their own monitoring systems for the digital world and actively seeking out any Tamers that may exist beyond the ones presently located in Shinjuku it was the best that he could hope for. Aside from himself, Daisy was the only one who had remained in Shinjuku, and that was because she was working on some side project with that new _Argus_ program that Yamaki had introduced to the Hypnos systems. Janyu frowned as he thought of the Argus program. From everything that Yamaki had told him (and he had told him quite a _lot_ , having no desire to hide anything that could be of importance to Janyu, and more specifically how it could affect his son) it wasn't the sort of thing that was in the interest in either the human or digital worlds to be used. At least, not to the extent that it had been proposed so far.

_Whoever would have thought that building something like the Arc, and what it eventually became would have such far-reaching consequences in how we deal with the digital world? But then who would have thought that a bunch of college students designing artificial life forms like digimon would have such a tremendous impact? Besides Shibumi that is…_

Thinking of the Monster Maker who was the most well versed in the operations of the digital world Janyu looked away from his computer and glanced at the stack of files that he had printed up concerning Shibumi's notes regarding the reformatting of Guilmon. Janyu heaved a sigh as he looked over the sheer amounts of code and mathematical notations. At present he didn't feel very confident in his ability to do as Impmon had asked him. There were too many variables to consider, and then there was the fact that this was different from Guilmon's situation. Where the crimson lizard had been dispersed into his individual bits of data he had not been absorbed and integrated into a digimon's system. The opposite held true in the case of Leomon. Janyu believed that there stood a chance that he could separate Leomon's data from Impmon, but…

_I wonder if there's anything in that code that Shibumi used for Guilmon that could be of help,_ thought Janyu as he sorted through the paper and pulled up what he was looking for, going over each individual line of code carefully. _The data here is so similar to what Riley had detected in the Triceramon, and that Sangloupmon that Rika and Renamon brought in yesterday as well. I wonder what sort of affect that this code would have on Guilmon. It went a long way towards reconstructing his digi-core so that his data could have something to gravitate around. I have to wonder though, is this code a natural byproduct of the digital world's evolution, or did Shibumi introduce it like he did with the evolution algorithm?_

_So many questions…_

Out of curiosity Janyu switched over to his E-Mail box to check for any new messages. He had sent an inquiry to his old friend concerning the line of code that he had used but so far he hadn't gotten a response. Hardly a surprise given that he had a lot on his plate with setting up the International program for dealings with the digital world. Even so, the man was usually quite prompt about answering messages, especially one from an old friend; the only exception being when he had been in a coma and his spirit was exploring the digital world but that was something else all together.

_I just wish that we were more adequately equipped to do something like this,_ thought Janyu, ignoring the breeze coming from the open window that threatened to blow his stack of papers every which way. Frowning again in frustration, Janyu clapped one hand down on the pile and went back to looking over the information on his computer. _I'll need to study this information a little more in-depth, but I'm starting to think that…_

"Hey!" Called out a voice that was all too familiar to Janyu, and he stiffened in his chair in surprise. Faintly he recalled the gust of wind from the window. "Doc! What does a fella have to do around here to get your attention? Sheesh!"

Turning, Janyu put on a smile and chuckled.

"Nice to see you too Impmon," he said. "I see that you were able to get in this time without spooking out our secretary…"

"Well, it helps that you gave me an open window invitation," said Impmon, laughing lightly as he rubbed the back of his head. "So tell me somethin' doc. What's the news today?"

"Complicated," said Janyu returning to his computer. Impmon walked over to the man and hopped up on top of his computer and sat down.

"That's what you said yesterday, pops. How about telling me something that I don't know."

Janyu grimaced at the use of the name _pops_. He wasn't sure if he liked being called that nickname. It made him feel old.

"It's nothing really, though it looks like that this is a lot more complex than what I initially thought. The scans from your body show that you have accumulated a lot of data… _loaded_ digimon I presume?" Janyu looked at Impmon with a raised eyebrow. Not accusing the diminutive little demon lord, but not quite simply asking either. Impmon lowered his head in shame and swung his feet a little, looking for all the world like a child that had been caught in a lie.

"Yeah. I…ah…absorbed a lot of digimon before running into the Tamers."

Janyu nodded, ignoring his feelings of resentment towards the digimon upon recalling that Impmon had once tried to kill his son. That had been a long time ago, and Impmon had since then turned away from that path and become a valuable ally. Still, that didn't change the fact that his parental instincts wondered about him at times.

"I thought as much. The data that a digimon absorbs congregates around the central core, which is essentially the heart of a digimon. That data can then be used for digivolution purposes or to aid the digimon in battle, such as using their special attacks or attributes to compensate for any disadvantages that they might already have when in battle. However, the longer that data remains stored within a digimon, the less of a chance there is that it will be able to reform itself as a separate entity, especially if that data is used regularly by the digimon that its stored within. Usually a digimon can only reform when damage to its overall data or digi-core is superficial, even if the form has already broken apart. It also helps if that digimon has an outside source of energy to act upon, allowing it to recharge the right information to rebuild its digi-core. The process is accelerated and made easier if that digimon has precision control over its digital makeup and is capable of manipulating vast amounts of data within its body…"

"No offense doc," said Impmon as he reclined on top of the computer and tapped it impatiently. "But a lot of that is going over my head. I only got _'the longer that data remains stored within a digimon, the less of a chance there is that it will be able to reform itself as a separate entity'_ and that was it. So unless you can dumb the rest of that stuff down for me, would I be too far off the mark by guessing that you _can't_ remove Leomon's data from me?"

Janyu shook his head.

"No. You wouldn't be too far off the mark on that possibility, at least with the equipment that I have I won't be able to. The information that I got from you is _vast_ to say the least, and I have no way of distinguishing the individual digimon data that you absorbed from each other. There's a lot there. If it weren't for the fact that our computers were built to handle this kind of strain mine would have crashed the second it began analyzing your body structure. I need a little bit more to go on. Something that can help me, and at this stage of things the only way that I can see how would be by using yours and Jeri's digivices. As Jeri's was connected to Leomon's right up until the time of his _death_ , it will have all the information that I need to help me, as well as all the resources necessary to see to it that Leomon _can_ be reborn."

Impmon sat up and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Well…Jeri's at school right now…I suppose that I can talk to her when she gets out…"

Janyu nodded.

"I should have a program ready by then for operating with her digivice."

**###**

Bed sheets. That was the first thing that Noriko was aware of when she felt her consciousness float back up to the surface; that and the sharp smell of medicine. Shifting beneath the blankets the dark haired girl rolled her head to one side, unconsciously sniffing the air before slowly opening her crimson colored eyes, her gaze softening as they met the window that gave her an excellent outdoor view of the city. A great sense of relaxation entered the girl's mind as she turned to face the ceiling. She couldn't quite understand it though. Where she was that is. She…Noriko frowned and her relaxed feeling vanished like a magicians trick. _Where_ was she, exactly? The last thing that she remembered…

A torrent of images assaulted the young girls mind, and she clenched her eyes shut, trying to make sense of what she was seeing, but they were too random and strange for her to even make sense of and they disappeared almost as soon as they came. But one stuck out in her mind the most. A _desert._ A desert that was the epitome of all the deserts she had ever seen photographed or written about. And it was _vast…_

Shaking her head, Noriko turned her head again and glanced at the door. It was currently open, and she could see… _Mom!_ Her mind cried as she felt relief and happiness flood through her body. Her mother was here, currently talking to a doctor. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying but given that she was in a hospital she could easily guess that she must not have been feeling very well…right? Her mind felt foggy for some reason, her memories _vague_ and lacking definition as though she had just woken up from a half remembered dream. A dream that involved…Noriko frowned again and raised one I.V. connected hand to her forehead, feeling a dull ache throb beneath her skull.

_Was that it?_ Wondered Noriko _Did I get sick or something? Sick bad enough to make my mom take me to the hospital? What happened…?_

Noriko strained her mind, trying to find some recollection of what had happened to her before calling her mother and then making her worried about brain damage. Of course, with the way that her head kept hurting from her attempts to remember, brain damage seemed quite likely to occur, and it only kept getting worse…

Suddenly an image of what looked to be a blonde haired boy with angelic wings coming out of his back and hair flitted through her mind, and Noriko sat up instantly, blood pumping through her body at a greatly increased pace as her muscles tensed up. Dimly she heard herself growling as if at some threat, and there was a faint, _burning_ sensation on her left hand. She ignored both however as she slowly looked around the room, feeling her hackles rising…

Her sight fell on her mother, standing in the doorway with the doctor, looking at her with an expression that was hard to distinguish.

Noriko blinked. "Mom?"

"Noriko…" Aiko whispered. "I…you…"

"M-mom?" Noriko stammered, her hands clutching the bed sheets uncertainly as the doctor rushed towards her from behind Aiko, stethoscope already out to check her heart and breathing. "What's going on?"

Aiko tilted her head to one side as she looked at the girl, narrowing her eyes a little and leaning forward as though she were trying to get a better look at something on the girl. Noriko was about to reiterate her question when the appearance of what looked like a small penlight took up the majority of her attention upon its clicking on. Blinking in surprise, Noriko leaned away from the doctor.

"Sorry," the man chuckled. "Just testing your eyes."

"O-okay," Noriko mumbled as she relaxed a little, her eyes returning to her mother, who had by this point gotten closer to her and was now sitting on the bed beside her, a small, nervous smile on her face. Reaching out, Aiko grasped her daughter by the shoulders and pulled her in for a much needed hug, one hand smoothing Noriko's dark hair while the other rubbed her shoulder gently. Noriko couldn't help but be confused by the whole situation, but for now was content to let things go where they would.

"Welcome home, Noriko," Aiko whispered in a voice that sounded thick with tears. Noriko raised a hand and clasped the one that her mother held at her shoulder, their fingers becoming intertwined together as Noriko's expression softened. As she did so Noriko took notice of a man in the dark suit that stood outside of her doorway, dialing a number on his cell phone and once more the girl's curiosity regarding her situation was tickled. But there was a time and place for that sort of thing, and right now she just wanted to hold and be held by her mother…

No one noticed the strange, hazard like symbol that was rapidly fading from her left hand.

**###**

The final bell rang at Shinjuku elementary and Jeri sat up and began to gather her things, smiling a little at the sight of Kazu and Kenta as they all but blasted out of their seats and ran for the door. Only to return a few seconds later to grab their things and repeat the process over again, causing their teacher, Ms. Asagi to watch them go with a bemused expression before shaking her head in resignation. She had heard about Kazu and Kenta's new, after-school job down at the Matsuki bakery and it was something that she still expressed some measure of surprise over. Mainly at how serious that the two boys were about it and how much their work, particularly Kazu's, had been improving ever since they took it up.

_There's hope for them yet,_ Jeri could almost hear Ms. Asagi say in her mind and she giggled a little. As she finished packing her things away, her two friends Ayaka and Miki walked over and joined her, their bags already set to leave school for the rest of the day.

"Ready to go?" Ayaka asked with a beaming smile on her face and Jeri nodded her assent and together the three girls left the room after giving a bow to Ms. Asagi. As they made their way through the crowded hallways their conversation went back and forth between various subjects ranging from the antics of Kazu and Kenta, to Ayaka and Miki bemoaning the fact that because of Kenta's _new job_ they wouldn't be able to see MarineAngemon. Jeri giggled at that, taking note of the fact that Kenta had become quite popular with the girls in their class ever since they had seen him with MarineAngemon for the first time. Ayaka and Miki especially seemed quite taken with the tiny, pink fairy and quite regularly made it a point to play with him after school, making enough of a scene where Kenta would turn several different colors of red reminiscent of Takato whenever he was around her, and get worried about his partner. MarineAngemon certainly worried enough for the both of them whenever one of the girls caught him. Honestly, it surprised Jeri sometimes that he hadn't suffocated from the sheer amount of attention that he received.

_If nothing else, at least Kenta's getting more attention than he's used to,_ thought Jeri. _At this rate a girl is going to have him picked out as her dance date before the year's out._

As the girls exited the school Jeri noticed that Henry was standing at the edge of the gate, chatting a little with Kazu and Kenta while Terriermon practiced his acrobatics on the school wall, making children _ooh_ and _aaah_ whenever they passed by.

"Hey Jeri," spoke up Ayaka, causing the brown haired girl to turn to her blonde haired, pig-tailed friend and smile sweetly.

"Yeah? What's up, Ayaka?"

"I was just wondering if you were going to be playing any games of digimon today…not that I'm interested or anything but seeing as how digimon have been becoming quite big in our lives lately…"

"Yeah! Can we?" Chipped in Miki in an exuberant voice.

Jeri giggled again, a little bit surprised with the two girls, given that they hadn't shown too much interest in the card game or the TV show, even though they had a high amount for playing with the real thing (more than was healthy Jeri sometimes felt, but nothing that she was overly worried about). But here they were, asking now. In a lot of ways it reminded her of when she had first claimed that she wasn't interested in digimon. Looking the blonde haired and dark haired girls that were her friends Jeri half expected cards to start falling out of their bags at any moment. So far that didn't happen yet.

"Sure you can. There's no reason why you shouldn't. And if you want to learn how to play the game I can help you with that, or Henry and Rika can when I meet up with them later. Of course we're going to need to get you two set up with decks…"

"Oh, that's no problem," said Ayaka happily as she dug into the pockets of her shorts and produced a deck of cards with an all too familiar backing. "Miki and I went shopping last night and we blew our allowances on these cards." Ayaka's expression suddenly turned into a frown. "We're kinda having a little bit of trouble understanding the rules though…"

Again, Jeri giggled.

"As I said, you'll have me, Henry, and maybe Rika to help you out with that. It shouldn't be any…"

Jeri stopped as she noticed a black colored feather float down in between her and her two friends, and then a shadow fell over her. Looking up Jeri smiled as her friends unconsciously took a step back. Above them, coming in for a landing was the biker clad digimon known as Beelzemon in his Blast Mode. Landing gracefully in front of them the Demon Lord digimon smirked and waved at the girls, chuckling a little when Ayaka and Miki waved back absentmindedly, stunned expressions frozen on their faces.

"Hey there, Jeri," said Beelzemon, nodding to the brown haired girl respectfully.

"Hi Beelzemon," said Jeri, giving the ex-Demon Lord a warm, welcoming smile.

"HEY! IMPMON!" Called out Terriermon from his partner's shoulder as Henry walked on over to see what was going on. "FANCY SEEING YOU HERE! YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE DON'T YOU?"

' _Impmon's'_ middle eye twitched a little at Terriermon's continued refusal to call him by the name of his Mega form.

"Well, well, well," quipped Beelzemon, smirking at the rabbit-dog digimon good-naturedly. "If it isn't ol' helicopter head. Did your partner's kid sister drag you around on her world fashion tour yet? 'Cause if you wanted to make a bigger entrance then me I'm pretty sure _that_ would do it."

"Hu-wha…?" Terriermon sputtered as his balance on his partner's shoulder suddenly became a little precarious. "How did you…?" Terriermon looked over at Henry with an accusatory stare. "Don't tell me that you told him about the _Princess Pretty Pants_ treatment that Suzie used to put me through…"

"What makes you think that I said anything?" Asked Henry _innocently_. "As I recall you were the one who said that nickname had a ring to it. And you just confirmed it for him just now anyway…"

Terriermon lowered his head and groaned.

"Great…there I go shooting my mouth off again…"

"See why I get after you so much now?" Asked Henry with a sympathetic smirk on his face.

"As touching as this is," said Beelzemon impatiently. "I didn't come here to listen to you guys trade one-liners and listen to Terriermon philosophize about why he came out the way he did." Beelzemon turned to Jeri Katou. "I came here because I needed to have a word with Jeri about something important. In private."

Jeri raised an eyebrow as Beelzemon held out a claw for her, and after a brief soul search Jeri nodded.

"Sorry," Jeri told Ayaka and Miki. "It looks like my afternoons going to be packed. Henry and Rika will have to help you two."

Now it was Ayaka's turn to blink as she came down to earth.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure. Don't worry about it."

Smiling, Jeri accepted Beelzemon's hand. Picking her up carefully Beelzemon waited until Jeri was settled in a position where she would be comfortable for flight, and with a flap of his black wings, Beelzemon leapt into the air and took off, heading off into the heart of the city. The three children and one digimon watched them as they departed, Ayaka shaking her head for a moment before her focus latched on her friend Miki. Miki was presently enraptured by the leather clad Demon Lord as he flew away, and a light blush colored the girl's face. Miki sighed in a contentment that Ayaka recognized all too well.

_Oh no…don't tell me that she's…_

"Ayaka?" Asked Miki in a breathless voice, the redness in her cheeks flaring just a little bit more. "Do you think that one day I'll have a partner like that guy?"

Ayaka could only stare at Miki as if she had lost her mind while on Henry's shoulder, Terriermon just shook his head after hearing that comment, wondering just how it was that the world had come to this. Henry chuckled.

"Momentai," the dark haired boy said sarcastically to the long eared digimon.


	15. Chapter: 14/ Hearts and Minds: Part 2

A massive blue colored, fog crawled across the desert of the digital world, like an airborne tidal wave that threatened to envelop everything in its wake, and woe to the poor digimon that got caught within its grasp. Small sparks of electricity burst to life in front of the cloud as the field encroached across the landscape, and every so often blue tendrils would emerge from the fog, hovering in the air like a serpent testing the air before retreating back into the cerulean colored depths that hid the source of the tentacle. After many hours of movement passed the great fog barrier slowly came to a halt, and a new tentacle emerged from within, this one bearing what looked to be an eye-like structure fixed to its end. The tentacle surveyed the land around it slowly, taking its time to absorb each and every detail that lay around it, the eye-like object apparatus making a humming sound all the while.

After a few minutes the eye paused, continuing its humming sound and mixing in a few clicks and beeps before retreating back into the fog.

_Unidentified clusters of data anomalies detected. Initiating scan…processing…_

_…_

_…_

_Scan incomplete. Insufficient range for proper scan completion and identification of data anomalies. Suggest and activate investigation protocols for further analysis and uploading of new data. Initiating movement and formulation of possible defensive algorithms/programs for potential hostiles._

The fog resumed its journey, its course altering in a new direction…and a new purpose…

**###**

Rika opened the door to her home's gate and closed it behind her before making her way up to her family's home, her eyes holding a deep, inward gaze to them as she strode up to the porch and kicked off her shoes. Nearby, Renamon materialized out of thin air and watched her Tamer carefully as the red headed girl set her shoes to the side and slid open the door to her room to change out of her school uniform. School was _finally_ over for the day and now Rika could turn her thoughts to more pressing matters then the next history assignment or math quiz. The fact that her thoughts presently revolved around nothing and everything simultaneously was of no importance to the girl, as it was her own way of picking and choosing a subject to focus on once it demanded her attention. The only thing was, enough had happened in recent memory where she had quite the pick of the crop over what to think about. Still, Rika was practical, and for the time being decided to focus on what was most immediately in her mind. Last night's bio-emergence for instance…

_Never expected_ that _to happen,_ thought Rika as she hung up her school uniform and tugged on her classic, full-heart T-shirt. _A girl just bio-emerging like a digimon does without an Arc to help her, or even a digimon. That's one for the history books. I wonder if Henry has heard anything new about her. Probably not…_

Rika frowned, not really at all certain why she was focusing on that particular subject. True, it was… _different_ from what she was used to. Digital fields didn't normally spit out people unless a retrieval program like the Arc was helping them, and the fact that the girl in question that _had_ bio-emerged had belonged to Henry's class was interesting to learn to say the least, especially given the length of time that she had been gone (coinciding with Lucemon's return to the digital world) but overall there wasn't much that she felt she could do about it until she knew a little bit more or met up with Henry again to discuss the girl. Ultimately she felt that the subject was more of a momentary distraction from other thoughts that had been weighing on her these past few days. From her job opportunity with Hypnos to… Rika's eyes slid over the calendar that hung on the wall near her door. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she realized that a specific date had been recently circled with a bright red marker.

_Four more days,_ thought Rika feeling a slight tension build up within her before disappearing once more, for a little while at least. There were more immediate issues that concerned her and required her attention.

Fully changed now Rika slid open the door of her room and wandered on down to the main household, making her way towards the kitchen, sharing a glance with Renamon and smiling slightly when she saw her partner enjoying some tea with her grandmother and… Rika raised an eyebrow as she stepped into the room.

"Um…this is a surprise," said Rika with a slight smirk on her face as she stopped in the kitchen entrance, one hand resting on her hip as she tilted her head to one side in imitation of her partner. Across from the girl, the melodious laughter of her mother, Rumiko Nonaka greeted her.

"Don't be," said Rumiko as she took a sip from her tea. "I came home early today when my photo shoot was interrupted by another mob of fans. I didn't want to deal with it today. You know Rika, I'm starting to see your point of view regarding modeling…"

Rika blinked in surprise but didn't once lose her smirk.

"Now that _is_ a surprise. I never thought that I'd hear that from you, especially after all those times you tried to fit me in a dress and take pictures."

Rika could just make out a small grin of amusement on her grandmothers face, and while Renamon remained as impassive as always the faint trickle of amusement slipped through their bond.

_And she should be,_ thought Rika. _Looking back on it now it is worth a good laugh. Even though I didn't think it was funny at the time…in fact, I wouldn't find it funny even now._

"Times do change, and so do people as you well know," said Rumiko as she took another sip of her tea before grimacing. "Although one thing hasn't so far, and that's my preference for coffee…"

"Now dear," said Seiko calmly, with a little bit of humor in her voice. "Tea is healthier for you. After all, you don't want to lose your alluring appeal."

"I almost wonder if it would be worth it," muttered Rumiko. "Why do all the good things taste bad, Mom? It just doesn't seem right."

"I'd hardly say that tea tastes _bad_ Mom," said Rika as she took up a seat next to her family with a smile. Rumiko returned the smile and raised a hand to caress her daughter's hair.

"Hmmm," said Rumiko in a tired, content voice that held a jesting tone matching Rika's. "You even inherited your grandmother's tastes. I wonder if you skipped a generation."

Rika shrugged her shoulders before reaching over and picking up the teapot, accepting a spare cup from her grandmother before pouring herself a drink of the steaming liquid.

"So anyway," said Rumiko as she returned to her drink. "How was your day?"

Again Rika shrugged, but this time chose to elaborate a little.

"Nothing major. Mr. Ogawa was a little bit strict today when he passed out a pop quiz but other then that I can't say that anything important happened."

"I see. So no word from Yamaki then?"

Rika paused slightly as she raised her teacup to her lips and took a sip, noting her grandmother giving her daughter a look of disapproval, but not saying anything in regards to the question. This had been something of a bone of contention between Rika and her mother when she had informed her family last night of her decision to take the man up on his offer to join Hypnos and work for them. Not that her mother had directly voiced her disagreement, but Rika could tell that it was there in the way that she spoke about it. She had certainly been surprised enough upon hearing about her daughter's choice where it had been a near thing though…

"Nothing yet," said Rika calmly as she set her drink down on the table. "And I don't expect anything right away either. Yamaki did say that he had to get approval from some higher-ups. Knowing him though he'll probably find some way around them."

"I suppose," said Rumiko as she leaned forwards on the table and rested her head in one hand. "How long do you think it will be before we find anything out?"

"Don't know," said Rika. "I'm just playing by ear right now, Mom. I'll find out eventually. I'm in no hurry."

Across from the two women and kitsune digimon Seiko nodded with a small smile and stood up, collecting the pot of tea and heading towards the kitchen, saying that she would go and make some more and inviting Renamon to join her. Renamon, after a quick glance at Rika as though she were trying to read her emotions, did so with a nod, getting up gracefully from her place by the table and joining the elderly woman and leaving Rika and Rumiko alone with each other. Silence reigned in the room for a moment before either of them spoke. Rumiko glanced at her red haired daughter with an appraising eye before smiling gently. Rika raised an eyebrow at her mother.

"What's that look for?" Rika asked.

"Just thinking," said Rumiko. "Remembering to be more precise. There used to be a time when you and I wouldn't have exchanged more than a dozen words between each other, with me doing most of the talking. It seems funny how things can change in so short of a time."

Rika frowned and turned away.

"This is going to turn into a talk about my choice of job isn't it?" Rika tried to keep her annoyance out of her voice, but she just couldn't help but let some of it through. Some old habits died hard it seemed…

"No…well, actually only a little bit. You have to admit it is rather unexpected, but I guess that's because I never considered that sort of thing when I was growing up. But then," Rumiko chuckled a little before continuing with a slightly sarcastic note to her voice. "Digimon weren't as big a part of my life as they are in yours."

Rika _hmmphed_ , but the sound had a grin behind it. "That's because they weren't around then."

"I suppose," said Rumiko as she leaned on the table a little. "I _am_ glad that you're taking your future into your own hands however. But you should know that it's only natural that I worry about your choices. This _is_ an important time in your life, and the job that you're planning on taking is dangerous."

_Being a Tamer is dangerous on a regular basis,_ thought Rika, but she didn't say that out loud.

"I was made a Tamer for a reason Mom," said Rika. "That's a responsibility that I can't just ignore for my own selfish reasons…"

As Rika said that, she recalled the feeling that she had when she first merged with Renamon to become Sakuyamon, the desire to protect her friends, her family, and everything that mattered not just to her but to others as well. A deep-rooted desire to protect that most precious gift of life was much too strong for her to ignore. Rumiko nodded with a smile.

"I'm not saying that you should, Rika," said the blonde haired woman softly. "I told you once that you should be free to make your own decisions, and I still believe that. I won't get in your way if you're sure that this is what you want to pursue, but I just want to make sure that this is what you want. As I said, it's only natural that I worry about you. I don't want you growing up with any regrets…"

Rika was silent for a moment, one hand caressing the ceramic cup that she held as if in agitation.

"Do you have any regrets?" She asked finally. Rumiko was caught off guard momentarily by the question, but she simply smiled once again and reached out to touch her daughter's cheek gently, brushing aside some of her hair as she did so. Rika looked at her mother with a surprised look on her face.

"No. I don't have any regrets…well, with the exception of my not having gotten to know you better, sooner but other then that, no. I'm happy with what I have done, and happier still because I have you." Rumiko's smile grew slightly. "If only you knew how much you made me proud of you…"

Twin violet gazes held each other for a moment before Rika looked away, uncertainty entering her mind for the first time in a while.

"Mom?" Asked Rika as she kept her gaze fixed on the table in front of her, feeling as though her mind was working two steps ahead of her and she had yet to catch up with it. "How did you and Dad meet?"

Again, Rumiko was caught off guard, and she raised an eyebrow in surprise. The subject of Rika's father was something that they hadn't discussed between them since…well, since Rika had been a little girl. Silently she wondered why they had never talked about him much since those early years, and why Rika was bringing him up now of all times. Deciding that it was better to simply humor the girl and ask why she asked later Rumiko spoke again, her eyes taking on a distant, nostalgic look to them.

"It was in high school when we met. I remember the smile that he had when I first saw him. I remember that the best. I suppose that it was what made me fall in love with him, well, that and his heart. He had a lot of passion in him…a lot of drive." Rumiko looked at Rika, not once losing her smile. "You're a lot like him in fact; different, but still alike. Anyway, there wasn't anything special that brought us together. Certainly not anything that you'd read in a romance novel, it was just something that grew between us as time went on. The way that we looked at each other, the way we spoke…we shared a lot of things between us that helped us grow closer together. It became more obvious as time went on, and my friends kept asking me when we were going to go out, and before I knew it…" Rumiko's smile brightened a little at the memory of days long gone by. "He was so different from most of the other boys that I went to school with. Your friend Ryo sometimes reminds me of him. He had a little bit of his confidence."

Rumiko's smile faded and she turned to look at Rika with a curious look.

"Why do you ask, Rika? As much as I enjoy talking about things like this with you, it doesn't seem like something that you'd do unless you had something on your mind. Is something wrong?"

Rika frowned a little as she looked down at the table, as though just her gaze alone would be enough to bore a hole through it. Watching her daughter's body language Rumiko surmised that yes, something _was_ bothering the young girl, and most likely it was something _other_ than just her choice in career. She and her daughter may not have been very close until more recently but she knew Rika well enough to recognize any visual cues she gave when something was on her mind, and _especially_ when it bothered her.

"It's…" Rika began, her frown deepening as she swallowed. "I…was just wondering and…well…" Rika's hands drew up into fists as she fought against the desire to hold what she felt she needed to talk about in. Old habits died hard indeed it seemed, and the habit to not discuss certain things with her mother was one of them though she had been breaking that habit down bit by bit. They were closer now then they had been in years, but an old fear on how her mother would react to whatever she had to say gave her reason to pause. Briefly she was reminded of the talk that she had with her teacher all those weeks ago when he had let her leave school early so that she could help Takato. The situation was similar in that respect, but different. This was after all, her mother, who she _should_ be able to trust anything with, no matter what.

And she felt that she needed to talk about this with someone…someone who had some experience with what she had done and could give her some perspective on what to do next. The thing was, she knew what she had to do, but fears of losing people who were important to her just wouldn't leave her. Briefly she recalled a conversation that she had with Takato back during his difficulties about how his friends would always be there for him no matter what. She knew also that the same would apply to her as well, but there was that little seed of doubt that rested within her. And it only grew as time went on…

_Great. Now_ I'm _the one who's in need of a pep talk,_ thought Rika a little grouchily.

"I…" Rika felt as though her face was burning, and she berated herself for it before continuing. Still, it seemed as though she couldn't help the heat that she felt in her face. "…I need some advice Mom. Something happened a little while ago, and ever since then I haven't had a clear idea of how to react to it…"

Rumiko listened carefully as Rika filled her in, a dull redness spreading across the girl's face as she spoke intermingling with what looked like discomfort, embarrassment, and…shame? Yes. Shame was definitely in there, which only led to confusion on Rumiko's part, so she listened all the more closely. After a few minutes of listening, Rumiko's eyes widened in surprise.

_Well…I certainly hadn't been expecting_ that! Thought Rumiko deliriously as she let the news settle in heavily on her. _Oh, Rika…_

**###**

Across the city, in a state of stunned surprise remarkably similar to what Rika's mother was experiencing, Jeri Katou felt her eyes widen as like the aforementioned woman she tried to process what she had been told. Her mind had transformed into a something akin to the desert of the digital world as she ran it through her mind once again. In front of her, Impmon and Janyu looked at her worriedly before exchanging glances.

"Jeri?" Asked Janyu as he looked back at the young, brown haired girl. Were he a doctor he would have pulled out a penlight to check the girl's visual acuity. "Are you all right?"

Jeri didn't as yet reply to the man's question. Instead her eyes widened just a little bit more…

_They couldn't have said…what I thought they just did…could they?_ The thought echoed in Jeri's mind. Something about it just held her attention, like a moth to a flame.

_They couldn't…_

"Jeri?"

"Huh?" Jeri jolted to attention, feeling herself rock slightly on the backs of her feet as she felt herself crash back to reality. She glanced down at Impmon, who was looking at her with wide, concerned eyes. "I'm sorry, would you mind repeating that again. For a minute there I thought that you said…that you said you could…were going to…"

Impmon shifted his feet and looked down at the ground, frowning for a moment before looking back up at the puppet-loving girl.

"We are. I came here yesterday asking Mr. Wong here…" Impmon indicated the man that they were both familiar with that was next to him with a nod of his head, trying to sound as respectful as possible. "…If he could help me and he ran me through a whole bunch of tests."

Impmon shifted his feet again, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, but after everything that had happened, after everything that he had gone through and what he had put Jeri through however unintentional, he continued as best as he could, in as strong a voice as he could muster considering the circumstances.

"I…I wanted to try and make it up to you…about what happened to Leomon and everything. I had wanted to make it a surprise too but…um…things kinda hit a snag…"

Jeri, still trying to find some sense of mental clarity from the shock that she had received had only been half paying attention up until she heard the word _snag_ emerge from Impmon's lips.

"I don't…what do you mean?"

Janyu stood up now, feeling that it was now his place to take up the conversation.

"What Impmon is trying to get at is," said Janyu as he walked over to where Jeri stood and laid a hand on her shoulder. "We need your help in trying to revive your partner, specifically your digivice. We have the equipment, and a variation of the Juggernaut program that Shibumi had created shortly after bringing Guilmon back but not the means to do so without taking any serious risks. Your digivice should still be connected to Leomon's data…imbedded deep in his code. If we can use that…"

Jeri shook her head, still trying to fully comprehend everything that she had just heard, but for some reason something in her hadn't quite fully grasped the situation. Shortly after leaving the school grounds she had asked Impmon, in his Beelzemon form, what it was that he wanted to talk to her about, but he simply stated that he wasn't going to reveal any information pertaining to that until they reached their destination, which had as the journey progressed, become increasingly obvious that that place was Hypnos. Upon entering an open window and finding Henry's father in the room waiting for them, Beelzemon had de-digivolved and proceeded to tell Jeri…to tell her that…

Jeri squeezed her eyes shut as she focused on the memory, letting it cascade through her mind as she would a gentle breeze on a warm summer's day.

_"I want to bring Leomon back,"_ the memory of Impmon spoke to the girl, a strange look of sorrow on the diminutive digimon's face as he looked up at her.

Jeri opened her eyes and looked at Impmon, feeling a thousand different emotions roiling through her mind. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"Mr. Wong? Could you leave us alone for a second?"

Impmon's eyes widened in surprise, an expression that she was sure was mimicked by Henry's father in equal measure. Still, the adult nodded his head, respecting her need to have a word with Impmon alone before continuing things any further. Quietly making his way out of the room, Janyu closed the door with a low click, leaving Jeri and Impmon alone together. For the next few moments, the two just looked at each other, neither one saying a thing; Impmon simply waiting for Jeri to speak her mind and Jeri trying to gather her thoughts enough to appropriately perform said action. After those few moments ended, Jeri, having finally collected herself enough, opened her mouth to speak.

"Impmon?" She asked in a soft voice as she got down on one knee so that she was on eye level with the tiny Rookie. "Why do you want to bring Leomon back?"

Impmon blinked his wide, green eyes, obviously befuddled by the question. Jeri couldn't blame him. The question startled her a little herself. Not once would she have thought to ask something like that. During the many months since Leomon's deletion at the hands of Impmon back in the digital world, and her own abduction and subsequent imprisonment by D-Reaper, Jeri had come to grips with the trauma that the loss of her partner had done to her, accepting it and moving past it as best as she could. True, she still felt the pain of that loss, but she no longer let it rule and dominate her life as it had before. She remembered what Leomon had told her about how everyone had their own destiny, and what Rika always said that everyone was able to choose their own destiny, and how that idea, coupled with Calumon's bravery and helplessness in the face of danger, had given her new reason to fight with every ounce of that _Lion Heart_ spirit that Leomon and her friends always said that she had. She had chosen life even in the shadow of death and when all was said and done, even though her partner was no longer there with her, Leomon, his life and his death, gave her meaning to her existence. Gave her reason to love life despite the pain that it sometimes bore.

During the majority of the time after her partner's death, she had never once given thought to the possibility of Leomon returning. Not once, even after Guilmon had been brought back to life after his apparent _'death'._ Except maybe in her dreams…

Impmon bit his lip against asking Jeri what kind of question was it that she was asking. _Doesn't she_ _ **want**_ _Leomon to come back?_ He wondered.

"I…" began Impmon, swallowing a little before continuing. "I was just thinking, ever since Guilmon came back that, maybe, we should try to revive Leomon. I mean, if Guilmon was allowed a second chance then why shouldn't Leomon? After all, I took him away from…I…"

Impmon clenched his fists together as he struggled to say the words. Prior to Guilmon's return he had always had a difficult time talking about his actions on the day that he killed Leomon. Not that it was a subject that people brought up regularly of course, but for him the shadow of guilt hung especially heavy over his shoulders, and after Shibumi had brought Guilmon back to life it had only gotten worse. As much as he hated to admit it, Guilmon's return was almost like a slap in the face for him, reminding him of what he took away and would most likely never be able to return. He wanted to do right by Jeri and the Tamers, especially Jeri, but with this…

"Impmon," said Jeri softly as she placed her hands on the diminutive digimon and gently pulled him into a hug, catching the Rookie by surprise. "What happened, happened. It was a long time ago and you weren't exactly yourself at the time. I don't want you to go through your life feeling guilty for what you've done. I know what can happen to a person when they feel bad about something and let it control their life. I don't want that to happen to you."

Impmon returned the hug gratefully, feeling his eyes tear up a bit as he did so. In spite of Jeri's assurances that she bore him no malice for what he did, even with Guilmon coming back to life as an antithesis to what she had experienced, he couldn't help but continue to feel the enormity of what he had done weigh on his heart. In his minds eye he went back to the digital world, his battle with Gallantmon just concluded. He was beaten, finished. Gallantmon stood poised to exact justice on him for his actions, and he was egging him on to carry it out. Only…only Jeri spared him from his fate. Letting him live when he had no right to. It confused him greatly at the time, and what was worse was seeing such anger in the girl's eyes as she professed hatred for him and what he had done, and she had _let_ him _live!_ It left him feeling hollow on the inside…

_"I am nothing now…"_

True, she no longer felt that way towards him, so far as he knew that is, as she never indicated any other emotion except friendship and love but there was always a small part of him that wondered if that was what she really felt. He didn't believe that he deserved the kind of forgiveness that she gave him (even though she had done so freely and without hesitation, and had been glad to see that he had survived his near death experience in his attempt to rescue her from the D-Reaper's _Kernel of Consciousness)_ , but he still wanted to give her the kind of happiness that she deserved; the happiness that he took away from her.

"I just want you to be happy," said Impmon quietly.

Jeri pulled gently away from the Rookie digimon and looked him in the eyes, smiling softly at him.

"I am, Impmon. I am."

"So…does that mean that…you don't want to bring Leomon back?"

Jeri lowered her eyes.

"I do actually," she said. "I do. I miss him a lot sometimes even though we only had a short time together. It's just…I don't know. I guess that I'm too used to the idea of death being permanent. Things are different for humans. I guess that's why we learn to value life more, and the memory of something or someone that was close to us.

"Jeri…" began Impmon. "You and Leomon deserve a second chance, just like Takato and Guilmon got theirs. Just like…you gave me. I said that I wanted you to be happy, and this is what I figured would do it. I don't want you to be alone."

Jeri's mouth drew up in a smile once again as she stood up. "I'm never alone, Impmon. I have you, Takato, Rika, Henry, and all the others with me. But if this is what you want…" Jeri trailed off as she let the words sink into her mind.

"Is it what you want?" Asked Impmon. Jeri thought about it for a moment, but only for a moment, nodding her head as she felt a tear escape her right eye, feeling all the emotion for her lost partner and for Impmon begin to overwhelm her. She missed Leomon terribly, but there was still one thing that she needed to know, so that she could be comforted in knowing that it was worth it.

"There…there won't be any danger to you, will there? I…I wouldn't want you to be hurt again trying to help me."

Impmon let a small smile spread across his face as she said that.

"That's what Henry's dad is for, so we'll have to ask him…"

**###**

"And that should do it," said Janyu as he finished connecting the last of the wires to Impmon. "You're all hooked up. Now let's see…"

Moving over to his computer Janyu glanced at the two digivices that he had connected to his computer, Jeri and Impmon's, and began typing, preparing the program that he had designed based off of Shibumi's notes. It had taken him some time to get it all together. So far it looked like everything was going to go smoothly. Of course, that didn't mean that the project itself was going to be a guaranteed success…

Janyu looked over his shoulder to see Jeri standing beside Impmon on the scanning bed that had held Terriermon a year ago when he had the Juggernaut program uploaded into his data to defeat D-Reaper. It was the same place that Terriermon had been when he had the program removed several months later, and it was done so relatively quick and painlessly (though Terriermon had on both accounts complained of a _tickle_ in his ear). The process by which Janyu hoped to retrieve Leomon's data, now that he knew what to look for thanks to Jeri and Impmon's digivices helping him to discern what data was what, should be just as simple, or at least close to it. Granted, retrieving another digimon's data was a lot more complex then removing Juggernaut from Terriermon had been, especially since Juggernaut wasn't imbedded as deeply as Leomon's data appeared to be.

Janyu frowned. _This is going to be tricky…_

"Jeri?" Asked Janyu. "I'm about to activate the equipment, so I'll need you to stand back, otherwise you might interfere with the scanning process."

"Yes, Mr. Wong." Jeri reached over and clasped one of Impmon's, red gloved hands with her own, giving it a soft squeeze before letting go and backing off a bit as she had been told. Janyu nodded.

"Okay. I'm about to initiate a low level scan Impmon. It'll be just like it was yesterday, although you might feel a slight _tingling_ sensation. If you do, it's nothing to worry about. That's just the scanner as it analyzes your data and filters out the various information that composes your body."

"Just get on with it, Doc," mumbled Impmon to himself. Janyu turned his attention back to the computer and typed in a few commands. A mechanical arm positioned itself over Impmon and a low _humming_ sound began to fill the room. Impmon grimaced slightly as he felt the tingling sensation that Janyu had informed him of.

"Okay," said Janyu as his computer began to feed him information. Next to him, the orange and purple trimmed digivices that were connected to his computer began to make beeping noises. Jeri cast a concerned glance at them.

"Um…are they supposed to be doing that?"

"Yes. Don't worry about them. They're just helping the computer sort through Impmon's digital makeup. I should be getting something in a few seconds."

True to his word, a window appeared on Janyu's monitor, showing him schematics and graphs based on the information that was being fed to him. Janyu frowned as he looked at it.

"Hmmm…maybe this won't be so easy," muttered Janyu as he typed on his keyboard, flipping through various screens and commands until he came to one that would offer him. Finally after about a minute he spoke up again.

"I'm getting ready to initiate phase two Impmon. I'm going to have to increase the intensity of the scan a little so as to compensate for the strength of the bonds between data. There will be some mild discomfort just so you know…"

Impmon nodded absentmindedly as he listened to Janyu talk. For some reason the scan was making him feel a little lightheaded in addition to the tingle that he felt in his body. Jeri looked back and forth between Impmon and Janyu, a worried expression on her face as she clasped her hands together tightly.

_Impmon…_

The beeping of the two digivices increased in intensity, as did the sound of the scanning equipment as Janyu increased the intensity of the scan. With a few commands Janyu began to prepare the modified Juggernaut program for final extraction and containment of the data…but _only_ at the first sign that data was actually being loosened and leaving Impmon's body. Narrowing the focus of the scan to the data that he was looking for Janyu pressed a few more commands, his frown reappearing and deepening.

_Something's…not right here…I don't understand it…_

Janyu looked over at Impmon and then back at the computer. Jeri caught his glance and raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Wong? Is everything…?"

"Something's not working," said Janyu as he analyzed the data that the scans were collecting as they tried to extract Leomon's data from Impmon. "The data won't budge. I may need to increase the intensity of the scan but…"

"But?" Prompted Jeri.

"But…an increase in the strength of the scan will run the risk of destabilizing Impmon's body. The higher I go, the greater the risk. Right now we're only at a level two scan, and I dare not go above a level three. According to Yamaki's files from the capturing and containment of wild digimon, a level four scan was usually enough to make a digimon lose data-molecular cohesion. If he digivolved to Beelzemon, the risk level would be considerably lower, but due to the increase in his data capacity we'd need to run a more intense scan to extract Leomon's data, and we'd be back to where we started…"

"Just run the scan Doc," said Impmon angrily, raising his head a little so as to get a better view of the two humans. "I can take it."

"Impmon…" began Jeri, only to be overrun by Impmon as he once again demanded that Janyu increase the scan's power. Janyu looked at Impmon for a moment, and then at Jeri before complying. Impmon grimaced, biting back a groan as he felt the scan penetrating his body. For a moment he swore that he could see through his body. And that feeling of lightheadedness only got worse…

"No!" Exclaimed Jeri, raising one hand to her mouth as she saw Impmon's body phase out of view for a brief moment. "Mr. Wong! You've got to stop this! Impmon! He's…"

Janyu looked back over at the diminutive digimon and his eyes widened in shock.

"Powering down scanner," said Janyu as he hit a few command keys. The hum from the equipment that hovered above Impmon gradually began to decrease as it powered down. Letting go of a shaky sigh Janyu got up and grabbed a glass of water that he had in the room and followed Jeri as she rushed over to Impmon's side. Leaning over so he could get Impmon to a sitting position, Janyu gave the glass to Jeri and she raised it to the Rookie's lips. Impmon drank slowly. He looked a little groggy, probably from the machine, and he was presently as limp as a rag doll.

"Jeri…" Impmon murmured as the girl took the glass away from his mouth, her eyes watching him and full of concern. "Did we get him…?"

Janyu sighed again as he laid a hand on Impmon's head, trying to comfort him.

"I'm sorry," Janyu said. "But the procedure didn't do anything. I'm afraid that Leomon's data is just too deeply integrated into your body to remove safely."

"Shoulda' gone higher," muttered Impmon weakly as he opened his eyes, his brow frowning now. "I bet that woulda done somethin'."

"Impmon!" Gasped Jeri, shock and anger making their presence known in her voice.

"I bet that it would have!" Said Impmon, sounding a little bit angry himself now.

"Impmon! Janyu said that a scan higher then a level three would have killed you…!"

"I coulda' take it!" Said Impmon as he sat up more fully, and then immediately regretted it as his arms trembled. Apparently the scan _had_ been a little too much for him…

"I don't think that it would have mattered if you could or couldn't," said Janyu as he fixed Impmon with a grave look. "Your body had assimilated the data too well, and too much time has passed since you absorbed it. Leomon's data has become an integral part of your body's structure. Removing it would likely mean having to delete you as well, and presently we don't have the technology or the resources to keep your body together in order to safely extract it from you without endangering your life." Janyu's eyes softened as he continued looking at Impmon. "I'm sorry…"

Impmon lowered his head at those words, feeling as though those words were the final death knell for the fate of the Lion digimon known as Leomon. He couldn't say anything in response to that. He just felt… _empty._

He didn't even feel Jeri's arms as they wrapped themselves around him and pulled him into a hug, rocking him against her like a mother would a child. He didn't even hear Jeri apologizing to him and crying his name as she held him…

**###**

Flames beat upon the air as Zhuqiaomon waited patiently in his hall for his _visitors_ to arrive. He had alerted his fellow Sovereigns to the nature of his guests and they were presently watching through hidden communication screens. If anything were to happen to him they would be the first to know, and from there they could prepare the appropriate response to what could possibly be a new enemy.

The doors leading into the firebird's main fortress slowly drew open, and in entered three armored digimon, calmly, confidently, as if they had every right to be there, and Zhuqiaomon narrowed his eyes at them. At another time he would have considered such impudence an affront to his glory and power, but given the nature of the beings in front of him he could only respect them, however bregrudgingly. After all, beings such as they were legends in the digital world…

One of them, large and humanoid, covered in blue armor with a helmet resembling a human skull and carrying a giant double bladed spear and a shield; Craniummon.

Another, garbed in light, streamlined pink and purple colored armor with yellow ribbons, and carrying a yellow shield that covered the digimon's arm as though it were another fist strode next to the first one, carrying a rose almost indifferently; Crusadermon.

And the last one, white and blue armor with tints of gold and great, bluish-purple colored wings emerging from his back, carrying itself with an air of command that was neither impetuous or condescending; Dynasmon.

Royal Knights; servants of Yggdrasil, the ultimate ruler of the digital world. They carried out his orders with utmost efficiency and _never_ without fail. Other digimon have digivolved to share their appearances, strengths, and powers, but never to the complete totality that Yggdrasil's warriors held. So little was known about them, and not all of them were known, as they only appeared when Yggdrasil deemed their presence required. Lesser digimon would have confused other versions of the Royal Knights for the real thing, but the Sovereigns knew better. They recognized Yggdrasil's handiwork all too well.

Zhuqiaomon watched them as they approached him and came to a stop before him. Other digimon would have bowed, or offered some token of respect. Not these digimon. Nor did he expect them to do anything of the sort. They were Royal Knights, the Praetorian elite. They bowed to _none_ save Yggdrasil, their creator and master.

_So what are they doing here?_ Thought Zhuqiaomon. _I thought that Project Arc had left this plain of the digital world…_

Zhuqiaomon realized that asking himself questions to which he knew no answers was pointless, and soon reposed it to the Royal Knights who stood before him.

It was Craniummon who answered for all three of the Royal Knights.

"The key to the human world," the dark colored, vaccine digimon answered roughly.

And in the highest plain of the digital world, home of the Four Digimon Sovereign, the skies darkened and lightning flashed.


	16. Chapter: 15/ Hearts and Minds: Part 3

Noriko looked into the mirror and frowned, her crimson colored eyes resting on her hair for a moment and her mouth drew into a small grimace.

_Hair's gotten longer,_ the girl thought dourly as she raised a hand and touched her hair, fidgeting a little with the strands that were now no longer the length that she had grown accustomed to during these past few years. It was still short, as her hair was nowhere even close to touching her shoulders, but it was now dipping just past her jaw. It had started to fill out more too, a much thicker tangle then she was normally used to. It was only a small thing to complain about, given that the dark haired girl had a long list of things to complain about already, but there was the fact that it had all happened during the three weeks that she was gone from home if she recalled what her mother had told her correctly. Three weeks that she didn't remember.

She didn't like it.

Blowing at a strand of hair that didn't quite reach her eyes Noriko pouted a little as she leaned on the bathroom sink, studying her reflection a little, noting that her skin had tanned a little bit from…wherever it was that she had been. As she stood there the girl remembered what had happened after she had woken up. The explanations of her mother, the questions of the police, and then those strange government agents that came to ask her questions of their own…

At that the girl felt herself tense up a bit. Those agents…from _Hypnos_ she remembered their name was. She had heard about them a year ago back during some of the early appearances of digimon in the real world, followed by the documentary that was done on the Monster Makers and digimon when the D-Reaper attacked. They scared her a little to be honest, though they had assured her that they had no reason for her to be frightened. Noriko's hands gripped the sides of the sink as she thought back on the day that she had woken up. So much had happened, and there was a lot of information to take in all at once. Finding out that she had been missing for three weeks had been bad enough, but to hear that you had emerged from a digital field that formed from her emerging from the _digital world_ had been enough to send the girl into a state of near shock. The fact that it had been one of the Tamers that had discovered her upon her _bio-emerging_ had kept her from completely freezing up. To her, that knowledge was like having an anchor to ground her to reality.

_Kind of ironic that it was Henry who found me,_ thought Noriko, thinking back to a time when she had sat down at his desk and asked him if he wanted to talk. It may have been three weeks ago, but the memory was still as fresh in her mind as though it were yesterday, and from her perspective it was. Noriko felt a pang of guilt as she remembered that, after a fashion, she was somewhat responsible for that last battle that she had witnessed before she had… _disappeared._

Noriko buried her face in her arms as she felt tears start to sting her eyes. Too much had happened in so short a time, and she hadn't even had time to adjust to her last remembered experience! And Henry…what did _he_ think now? What did the other Tamers think? Her mother had told her that Henry had stopped by the evening that she had returned to the real world, and she had…she had…

_She told him…told him about Lucemon!_

Anger suddenly flared in Noriko's mind and she threw out one of her arms, raking it across the sink's countertop, sending various items, soap, her mother's jewelry, and toothbrushes all crashing to the ground. Noriko stood there for a moment, breathing heavily and blinking furiously, trying and failing to keep her tears from running from her gold colored eyes…

Noriko blinked in surprise. _Gold_ colored?

"Noriko? Is everything all right?" The girl started at the sound of her mother's voice calling to her as she approached the bathroom, momentarily forgetting about the oddity that she had just seen. The door slid open and in walked the graceful form of Aiko Nakata. The older woman glanced around the bathroom floor, her eyes full of worry but assessing the situation. Looking at her daughter's tear streaked face Aiko's expression softened and she walked over to Noriko and pulled the girl into a hug, stroking her hair softly, not saying a thing but simply let the silence speak for itself. Noriko clung tightly to her mother as she got a hold of her emotions.

"Mom…?" Began Noriko in a whisper after a few seconds, only to be shushed by her mother as Aiko continued to stroke her hair.

"Shhhh…it's all right. Just let it out…"

Noriko hitched her breath as she felt her emotions start to drain out of her, her body relaxing a little. Her mother had been right this morning in preventing her from going back to school today, even though she _hated_ the thought of having to put her life on hold even over something like this. It would have been a little too soon for her considering the adjustments that she was still going through and the fact that she had an appointment at Hypnos later that afternoon to make sure that she wasn't still suffering from any debilitating effects from her time in the digital world, and to see if she could recall anything else…

_If only I could_ remember _what had happened!_ Noriko's mind all but shouted, feeling frustrated at the unfairness of the situation that had been thrust on her. She wanted it to be all _not true._ That this was all just a dream that she would soon wake up from. Regardless, reality was what it was, and all she could do was live in it. If she could remember she could be certain that her time in the digital world (that thought still had a way of surprising her to no end) would be no more different in that aspect.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Aiko pulled away from Noriko and looked at the girl in her eyes, her gaze soft and compassionate, but scrutinizing. One hand still gently caressed Noriko's hair as she looked at her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The woman asked, and Noriko looked down feeling shame and uncertainty wash through her. She hated having emotional outbursts, especially in front of her mother. But…as her mother told her on the occasions that she did act this way, it was… _okay._ Everyone needed to let go sometimes. She always knew just what to say in situations like this.

Noriko chewed on her lower lip.

"It's…it's nothing Mom. N-nothing that we haven't already talked about anyway."

Aiko searched her daughter's eyes and Noriko could almost swear that she was mentally sighing. No doubt she was feeling just as frustrated as she was about all of this, if not more so since _she_ was aware of the gap of time that had gone on since her disappearance. Noriko had no recollection. Aiko…she had to sit through it all, hope that someone had some information on the whereabouts of her daughter, and wonder what to tell Dai, her little brother, why his older sister wasn't home yet. Motherhood was a blessing, Aiko had told her once as a joke that had a touch of seriousness to it, but it could also be a curse. Not that she would trade it for the world of course, but caring for someone and wanting to keep them safe at all costs, and being unable to do that or failing in that duty…love could be a terribly heavy burden at times.

Noriko now had an idea of what she meant by that.

Noriko pulled her mother into a hug this time, wanting to comfort her this time instead of being the one who was comforted, and her mother returned it gently. She could feel the strength of spirit that radiated from her mother's body, and not for the first time she marveled at it. It had been that spirit that had always pushed her to move forward even when she felt as though she couldn't or didn't want to continue, like a comforting light in the dark. Something to strive for, and Noriko wanted to be worthy of having a similar strength of spirit, even though her mother's experiences were vastly different from her own.

"Noriko," said Aiko softly as she held onto her daughter, interrupting the girl's thoughts. "Just because we've already talked about it doesn't mean that the topic ends just like that." Aiko pulled away from Noriko and fixed her with a firm stare, though her grip on her daughter's shoulders neither strengthened nor lessened in the gentleness in which they held her. "Whatever it was that you went through, for whatever reasons it is that you don't remember your disappearance or where you went, simply _talking about it_ does not change the fact that you're still affected by it." Aiko indicated the mess that lay on the floor with a perfunctory glance. "When something's bothering you, you should face it, not hide from it. And remember, you _do_ have family and friends who care about you and can help you. You're not alone in this…"

Noriko started to look down at the ground, only to be stopped by Aiko as she cupped the girl's chin and brought her face up, making her look into her mother's eyes. They held each other's gaze for a few seconds.

"I…I know Mom," said Noriko, her voice trembling a little bit as her hands gripped into fists. "I'm…I'm sorry…"

Aiko smiled softly and nodded.

"I'll help you pick up," the elder woman said. Noriko was about to protest but one look into her mother's eyes told her that arguing against it would not be within her best interests at the moment. In the end, all she could do was nod, and together the two of them began to clean up the small mess that Noriko had made. Once more Noriko felt a pang of guilt in her for having lashed out like that, even if they were against _things_. She had lost control of her temper and had taken it out on something that belonged to her family. Small thing, but silently Noriko wondered what would have happened if it hadn't been something inanimate.

The thought made her shudder and reflexively Noriko looked up at the mirror, and into her crimson eyes. A memory tugged at the edges of her mind and her heart began to beat a steady, nervous rhythm within her breast.

"Mom?" Noriko asked all of a sudden, not sure why she was doing so except for being driven by the need to know.

"Yes?" Came Aiko's answering reply as she walked over to the sink and began to arrange some of the items that she carried on counter.

"When you…when you came in, did you notice anything weird about my eyes?"

Aiko turned to Noriko and raised an eyebrow. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Um…no reason. Just…I thought that I saw something funny…but it might have been a trick of the light."

Noriko finished picking up the remainder of items on the floor and handed them to her mother who, for some reason, had a strange look of deep consideration on her face.

**###**

"Goodbye Henry! See you tomorrow!" Called out a blonde haired girl in pigtails as she walked across the playground, accompanied by a shorter, dark haired girl in a gray dress. Both of them had wide smiles on their faces as they began their journey home; content with the way things had gone with their day. Henry waved halfheartedly as he collected his digimon cards and replaced them in his deck box, and gave a dejected sigh. Next to him sat Rika as she likewise gathered up her own card collection, eyeing the half-Chinese boy with a look that spoke of profound amusement. And even though he wasn't looking at Jeri, who currently sat across from Rika, Henry could tell that she was in the same boat as her red haired friend, though she was actively making an effort to keep a straight face.

_That could have gone better,_ thought Henry dryly before giving a wry smile to his human friends. Today was the second day since Jeri had taken off with Beelzemon and left Henry to his own devices with teaching Jeri's two friends how to play the digimon game. It had stunned him a little having something like that dropped into his lap so suddenly, especially with his concern for whatever it was that Beelzemon had wanted to talk to Jeri about (something that he had found out the next day when he met up with her, Kazu, and Kenta prior to the beginning of class as was their usual routine), but the shock didn't exactly get better from thereon in. No. In fact, it only seemed to get worse. The one girl, Miki, had snapped out of her dream world daze of whatever fantasy she was concocting involving Beelzemon and then proclaimed to the world in a fashion that was bizarrely reminiscent of Takato's story about Jeri when she had first encountered Leomon that she was going to become a digimon Tamer, and that Henry was going to help her learn how to become one.

Ayaka at least had the frame of mind to try and calm her friend down and be sympathetic with Henry's sudden and unexpected plight, but even she admitted the desire to wanting to learn how to become a Tamer.

_Somehow I've got the feeling that Kazu and Kenta would have been better for this,_ commiserated Henry. _Yesterday was just a little too weird, and today certainly wasn't any better._

Of course, Henry was exaggerating. Miki's attitude aside it really wasn't that bad. Both girls threw themselves into the game and learned well. Miki with all the passion and determination of someone who truly thirsted for knowledge, whereas in contrast Ayaka was a bit more tempered back, though no less determined. In a lot of ways they reminded Henry of his relationship with Takato, the two of them balancing each other out and making up for each other's weaknesses. It worked out well that way, especially if the two girls did, by some chance end up becoming Tamers (something that had a fair chance of occurring seeing as how Kazu and Kenta, especially Kazu, had become Tamers). Still, Miki's enthusiasm was a little bit disturbing.

_Hopefully she'll calm down tomorrow,_ thought Henry, already hearing Terriermon's sarcastic voice asking him if tomorrow came right after _never._ He pondered on this for a bit, wondering if indeed he had been hanging out with the little rabbit digimon for too long.

"You know Henry," said Rika as she finished packing away her cards and looked at the boy with a small grin. "You're lucky that I showed up when I did…"

"Yeah," said Terriermon with a giggle as he tumbled out of the hidden recesses of the dinosaur hut that they sat beneath. "Henry would have been lost without you here to help shoulder the weight of teaching them how to play a card game. Especially with that Miki girl. _She_ looked like she was going to tear Henry to shreds, glomp me and make me her partner. But…if she's better then a Tamer who gets on my case whenever I make a joke and doesn't have a sister who dresses me up in doll clothes all she has to do is ask…"

"Nnnng…Terriermon…"

Terriermon chuckled nervously. "See what I mean? I rest my case."

"Sorry to just dump them on you like that Henry," said Jeri, giving the boy a sympathetic smile.

Henry laughed lightly. "It's all right, even if they are a handful. I _am_ grateful that you two dropped by to lend a hand…"

"Don't mention it," said Rika, waving her hand dismissively. "It's what any friend would have done. If nothing else it sure wasn't boring. Besides," Rika grinned devilishly at Henry. "It's not often that we see _you_ of all people get embarrassed and frustrated the way that you were."

"Yeah," said Terriermon, leaping up onto his partner's shoulder with a giggle. "That's because that honor usually goes to Takatomon, but since he's not here right now and with Kazu and Kenta taking care of the bakery for him _someone_ here had to make due. Leave it to ol' Henry here to take one for the team when the call was made. What're you going to do for an encore?"

"Terriermon…" came Henry's predictable reply.

"What? Momentai!"

The trio of friends laughed beneath the dinosaur hut at that. The sound had a strong, hearty feeling to it that had been lacking somewhat these past few weeks. To Henry, it was a sound that was worth hearing, even if it was at his own expense, and made all the more worthwhile just to see his two friends smiles. Their skies had been, figuratively speaking, too gray of late and lacking in light.

_At least for a little bit we can forget about the things that are bothering us,_ thought Henry as he looked at his two friends. Silently he wished that Takato were here to join in on the laughter. Of all of them he probably needed it the most.

As the laughter died down Rika looked at Henry, her face stuck between the laughter of the previous moment and the seriousness of what was on her mind.

"Hey, Henry. Have you given any thought to what I asked you last night?"

Henry nodded, remembering the conversation that the two of them had over the phone after he had gotten home. Given their line of work, he couldn't say that what she had asked surprised him at all, but instead seemed like a natural progression forwards.

"Yeah. I fired off an E-Mail to my sensei last night before I turned in and I got a reply back this morning. He said that he'd be glad to have you drop by the next time that I go to him for lessons."

Rika cocked an eyebrow. "Did he say anything about…?"

Henry shook his head.

"I think that he'd rather talk to you one on one about that rather then let me be a bearer of news, good or bad. He's like that sometimes. I'm surprised that you didn't ask Renamon about teaching you martial arts…"

Rika shrugged.

"She can do things that I can't do. But before you say anything else I _did_ ask her. She pointed out the differences between human and digimon methods of fighting, and that they wouldn't suit me if I ever had to fight on my own."

"Given the way she bounces around and disappears into thin air I don't blame her," said Terriermon. "It'd be like trying to teach Henry how to do a _Henry Tornado_."

Jeri giggled at that, and even Henry had to grin a little as he playfully tapped his partner on the side of his head with his fist.

"And need I point out that Tai Chi is wasted on you with those little hands and feet?"

"Touché."

Henry laughed lightly and got to his feet.

"Anyway, I'd better get going now. Mom wants me home before supper, and if there's not a digimon rampaging through the city then she won't accept another excuse from me. Later you two."

The two girls said goodbye to their friend and watched him go for a few minutes before finally looking away, silence settling in between them. Rika glanced at the sky, noting that it was steadily becoming increasingly orange as time wore on.

"So…" began Rika, picking up the threads of conversation. "How's Impmon doing after what happened yesterday?"

Jeri turned her gaze down at the ground.

"He's…not happy about it. He didn't talk much. I did my best to cheer him up…treated him to a meal at Hypnos's mess hall, comfort him and tell him that it was okay. I told him that I appreciated what he did and…" Jeri sighed. "I don't know. I think he feels pretty bad about himself right now. He wanted to help me, bring Leomon back to life and…in the end, he couldn't do that; I think that hurt him very deeply.

Rika's gaze softened as she looked at Jeri, feeling a torrent of familiar emotions beginning to build up in her mind, and with them came the memory of Jeri in Azulongmon's transportation cloud; Jeri…without Leomon. Crushed by the weight of the grief of the lion digimon's passing.

_Jeri…_

"I told him," Jeri continued, the light of the setting sun illuminating her face, and the twinkle of unshed tears brimming in her eyes as she thought about her impish friend. "That it didn't matter if he brought Leomon back or not. He's still my friend, and he has nothing that he has to be ashamed about when he's with me."

"How'd he react to that?" Asked Rika quietly. Jeri looked at her hands that were folded in her lap.

"He…said that he needed some time alone to think about things. And as much as I wanted to do otherwise…I…let him go. But before he left I told him that I loved him as I did every one of my friends, and that no matter what I would always be there for him…"

Rika looked down at her jeans.

_I sure hear that a lot,_ thought Rika feeling a sense of irony in those unspoken words. Jeri absently wiped at her eyes and looked at Rika, her mouth transforming into a wide smile.

"Well, no matter what I have faith that Impmon will be okay. It's like he said. He just needs time to think things over."

Rika frowned, wondering just where it was that Jeri got that kind of faith. What Impmon went through, the kind of knowledge that he had to deal with every day of his life after that disastrous moment in the digital world, especially now with the knowledge that Leomon wouldn't be making a comeback like Guilmon…that was hard for anyone to swallow. Even more so for Jeri, and yet…and yet for some strange reason she didn't let it bother her.

"Jeri," began Rika as she folded her arms across her chest. "How can you be so cool about this? I mean, you just had a chance to get Leomon back and it slipped out of your fingers…"

Rika regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but Jeri just smiled at Rika. A smile that was so very much like the one that Takato wore before Guilmon died, wide and full of happiness, friendship, and love for the world around her and the people in it. And more then that, it was an _honest_ smileThere was no false pretence in it as there had been previously.

"Leomon once told me something about destiny. About the decisions that we make and how they effect others. You've said so yourself that we can decide our own destiny, and Leomon…" Jeri looked up at the ceiling of the dinosaur hut, her smile growing even wider now. Jeri sniffed lightly as a tear traced its way down her face. But to Rika's surprise, it was a tear of _joy_. "What Leomon did the day that he… _died_ , maybe…maybe that was _his_ destiny. And maybe, because of that, my destiny is supposed to be something else. He gave his life to protect Renamon. I can't do something like that for you and the others when you're in battle but…maybe I…"

Jeri trailed off, unsure about how she could sound out the rest of her ideas to her red headed friend. How she felt about the Tamers and digimon that had practically become her extended family. She wanted to be there for them… _all_ of them when they needed it, Takato especially, but how to say it…

For the time being, the description of how deeply she cared for her friends went beyond words.

After a few moments Jeri smiled at her friend and stood up, making Rika blink in surprise.

"Jeri?"

"C'mon Rika. I don't know about you but I think that we should be getting out of here before it gets dark out. If you want, we can go down to my house or yours and hang out for a little while longer. Ms. Asagi was lighter on the homework today…"

Rika cocked her head to one side, wondering what was going on with the puppet-loving girl. She was acting rather _peculiar_. Well, more peculiar then usual. But she did want to continue talking with Jeri. They didn't do that often and…

The image of Takato flashed through her mind.

_Not now,_ thought Rika, even though she knew, just like her mother had told her, that she was going to have to talk about _that_ particular subject sooner or later. At present, she wanted to be as far away from that mindset as possible.

"You pick the place," said Rika with a nod as she got to her feet. Jeri giggled and together, in the light of Shinjuku's setting sun, the two friends left the dinosaur hut, shadowed by the ever-watchful eyes of Rika's friend and partner, Renamon.


	17. Chapter: 16/ Rika's Confession

_"Well? Are you ready?"_

_"Is it time?"_

_"Almost Sangloupmon. Almost. I'm still awaiting word from our superiors from the other side. Something's presently interfering with transmissions…"_

_"That's worrying. Royal Knights?"_

_"I doubt it, but at this stage anything's open to speculation. I've heard some pretty disturbing rumors when I was in the digital world. Rumors that make it sound like the Chaos…or as the humans call it, the D-Reaper…has come back, but with the Sovereigns not doing anything to investigate them…bah! I'm just rambling. A habit that I've picked up recently…"_

_"Doesn't seem like a good habit. You've been living among them for too long."_

_"You're telling me. But we're getting off topic now. I wanted to tell you that we'll be moving soon. Or rather_ you _will. Our little project could use a boost you know and your little scene wasn't good enough to motivate the higher ups. The man in charge of this place, Yamaki, has seen to that. He finally got his own project approved. I'm sure that you can guess what that means."_

_"With the information I have, not really, but I surmise that Project Exodus could be delayed indefinitely."_

_"That's right. Which is why you must move soon. Not yet though. Not yet. The most opportune time to strike is when you'll be able to show those Tamers to be the ineffectual group that they are, and you can't do that until you're at full strength. But if that opportunity does not present itself at the moment that the humans try to send you back to the digital world…"_

_"I get the picture. Escape."_

_"The success of Exodus demands no less…"_

**###**

There was a feeling of tension in the air as Rika and Jeri made their ways down the alleys and streets that led to Rika's house. At least it felt like there was to Rika, but then she certainly had her reasons for being tense, as it could be said that the red headed Tamer had a lot on her mind these past few days. Surface thoughts, concerning her family, specifically her mother, and her own possible job with Hypnos but those thoughts were more of a distraction for what was really bothering her. Namely, the friendship that she shared with Jeri and Takato; the friendship that she felt that she had felt she had abused…

"You're being awfully quiet," said Jeri as she looked over at her fiery friend with what could be taken as a nervous smile. Rika, her thoughts now broken, turned her violet gaze over to the girl with an expression that, in contrast to how she was actually feeling inside was calm, collected, and measuring.

"I was just thinking," said Rika after a second of contemplation. "Now remind me again why you decided on hanging out at my house. It's a pretty far walk for you to take whenever you decide to head home, and we _always_ hang out there anyway…"

Jeri looked away nervously, but did not once lose her smile.

"I know. But I like visiting your place. It's so nice, and peaceful…"

Rika _hmmphed_ a little at that, but the sound held a tone of agreement to it without wanting to be committal. Jeri _did_ have something of a point she supposed. After all, she certainly enjoyed the appearance of her home if not to the same degree that everyone else she knew did. But then, she lived there so she was probably a little too close to it to see it with the same sense of awe.

"Whatever you want, Jeri," said Rika as they rounded a corner, the front gate of her home now visible. "I _did_ say that you could choose where we would hang out. Besides, Renamon and I can give you a lift home afterwards so you won't have to worry about any weird thugs or wild digimon giving you any trouble."

Jeri beamed.

"Thanks Rika!"

"Yeah…well, don't mention it. That's…that's what friends are for, right?"

Jeri raised an eyebrow at the way that Rika had said that, but didn't comment on it right away as they approached the entrance to Rika's home, Renamon phasing over to the other side so as to unlock the door and let the two children inside. Together the two girls made their way up to Rika's porch and took a seat on the porch to take off their shoes. As they did so, Jeri gave Rika a quizzical look before continuing with the removal of her own shoes. Renamon walked up to the porch and opened up a slide door, turning slightly to look over at where Jeri and Rika were currently sitting.

"Rika," the vulpine said simply. "I'm going to inform your family that we're home. Your grandmother might want to know if Jeri's staying over for supper, should I…?"

Renamon let the sentence drift off a bit, and Rika glanced over at Jeri, who nodded and smiled.

"Sure. I'd be glad to…that is, if no one minds…"

Rika shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, to which Renamon took to be a yes and promptly entered the house. Jeri turned to look at Rika, a wide smile on her face…

…Only to falter when she saw a strange expression on Rika's face. It was very subtle, and something that most people would have overlooked but Jeri had known the fiery Tamer for quite a while now, and as a consequence of their association she had come to read her visual cues in regards to her emotions. Maybe it was just her. Maybe it was the way that the light reflecting off of her, but for some reason Jeri could have sworn that she, figuratively speaking, saw a shadow fall over Rika's face. For the brief second, Jeri saw a great depth of emotion hidden in her friend's eyes, and then Rika got up with a sigh and began to walk towards her room. After a few moments, Rika halted and turned to look at Jeri, who had not yet moved from her spot on the porch and was presently staring at Rika with a curious gaze. Rika raised an eyebrow.

"Hey," Rika asked. "You coming?"

"Huh?" Jeri started, blinking in surprise as she snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh. Yeah."

Getting up Jeri followed Rika into her room, feeling a little bit troubled by what she had seen.

**###**

Time flew by at a rapid pace for the two friends. At least it did from Jeri's point of view, and she now found herself sitting in front of the TV in the living room. The television was on, playing some drama show but neither girl really paid that much attention to it, giving far more attention to the digimon game that they had going on in front of them and only occasionally splitting it with the homework that they had strewn about on the floor to the side; the TV just served as background noise. Of Renamon and Rika's grandmother, they were presently in the kitchen enjoying a quiet conversation with each other over a cup of tea.

Rika was presently focused on her hand, her eyes darting to the field occasionally to remind herself of what was going on. Jeri smiled slightly at that. Rika's lessons had been paying off over the course of these past few months. Not for the first time did she have the legendary Digimon Queen in a difficult position. She had successfully crushed Rika's first attempt at executing a chain evolution with her preferred digimon, Renamon, forcing her to start over from scratch while Jeri had a Champion level version of Minotarumon. In one more turn she could digivolve to Ultimate. True, she had sacrificed the greater power that a chain evolution would have offered her, but she lacked the proper cards to accomplish such a maneuver. Risky if Rika was able to successfully digivolve Renamon to Kyubimon on her second attempt, even with Minotarumon's type advantage and greater defensive and offensive power, but if she could just prevent her from doing that until she reached Ultimate…

Of course, Rika always had more than one way of turning the tables. She still won more than she lost against her prized student.

Rika drew a card from her deck…

The subtle curve of Rika's lips as she looked at it told Jeri all that she needed to know. The game was now in Rika's court. A second later, Rika confirmed it as she slapped down a program card that enabled her to digivolve Renamon straight to her Ultimate form of Taomon.

The game went on for five more minutes after that move. Even though Rika had gained an advantage in both level and power, Jeri was not without a few tricks of her own, and the match seesawed back and forth between the two. In the end however, Rika, with her greater reservoir of offensive and defensive cards, her intimate knowledge of how to use them, and her natural talent for strategy triumphed. It wasn't easy but she had won. Immediately following the battle Rika went about taking apart her deck, sorting through her cards as she removed and added cards as she deemed necessary to compensate for Jeri's maneuvers before preparing to reshuffle her deck. Jeri watched Rika as she went about her rather odd ritual, her mind contemplating her friend's expression and movements. She hadn't lost any of her flare for the game that was for sure. Her motions were as sharp and as professional as ever, and yet…

During these past few months, Jeri had been becoming increasingly attuned to the emotions of the people around her, her friends especially, picking out things that prior to her experiences as a Tamer she had never noticed before. She didn't know why this was so, though she suspected that after what she had gone through when D-Reaper had held her prisoner she had become more sensitive to noticing that sort of thing. She herself had spent her fair share of time hiding what she really felt from the world around her so that they wouldn't be hurt so in that way too, she supposed, was a reason why she could recognize it so readily in others. Just like at this very moment she was sure that Rika was hiding whatever she was feeling at this very moment.

_Ryo was like that,_ thought Jeri as she placed a hand on her dress's pocket, feeling the Milleniummon card that was tucked away snugly inside before returning her attention to the present situation. So often now it seemed that her friends had something on their minds. Ever since that mess with Lucemon had concluded each and everyone had something going on inside of them that made them… _tense_ she supposed. Henry, Ryo, Kazu, Kenta, Impmon, and even Rika. She had talked to most of them about it; reminding them that if they ever wanted to talk she was there for them, and for the most part they had opened up. She knew that there were still some things that hadn't been revealed to her just yet but that was okay in her mind. There was such a thing as moving too fast.

She wanted to help her friends… _all_ of them if she could even though she knew that with some things there were a line that she dared not cross lest there be a breach in the etiquette that lay in their relationships, and she ceased to be just a listening ear and confident. Discovering where that line lay was the real challenge, more so with Rika at times as she had the habit of becoming irritable whenever a subject became uncomfortable. But this wasn't about finding a challenge. This was about trying to help those that she cared about. And after seeing that brief expression of emotion on her friends face, an emotion of what looked like _regret_ (something that looked so foreign to Rika, who always seemed to be a pillar of strength to Jeri and had no regrets, or if she did they were few and far between) Jeri felt all the more that she had to be there for her friends whenever they needed someone to be there for them.

"Rika?"

"Hmmm?" Rika only gave a nominal glance up towards her friend as she organized her deck and began to rebuild it. "Yeah? What's up?"

"I was just wondering if…well…how you were doing."

Rika paused with a card in her hand and raised an eyebrow. Looking up at Jeri, Rika gave the other girl a scrutinizing glance.

"What is this? _My_ turn now to be psychoanalyzed?"

Jeri winced slightly and Rika immediately looked down at her cards, already feeling bad for her rather poor choice of words.

"Sorry, Jeri," Rika said as she slowly, _calmly_ , placed the card she held back into its original place on the table that she shared with the brown haired girl in front of her. "I shouldn't have said that. It's just…" Rika gave a slight sigh and furrowed her brow. "Things have been a little bit tense lately. Between everything that's happened so far…Yamaki offering me a job, those weird new digimon that have been showing up, and what's happened to Takato…I don't know."

"Do you…" began Jeri tentatively as her hands clung tightly to the edges of her dress, hidden as they were beneath the table. "…Want to talk about it?"

Rika gave a wry, humorless chuckle.

"You know…it used to be the other way around between us, where _you_ needed a little encouragement…"

Jeri frowned slightly. "You're changing the subject."

"All right. So I am," grumbled Rika as she leaned on her elbows on the tabletops surface and wrapped her arms around each other. "I'm just not sure how far I want to go into this." Rika looked down at the cards in front of her, feeling her friends gaze and a torrent of emotions rose in her heart, making her begin to feel a bit tongue tied. This was the moment that she had been dreading for the past three weeks. The moment that her mother, her grandmother, and even Renamon had told her that she would have to deal with eventually. She recognized that of course, and had ever since that incident in Takato's room three weeks ago. But the thing was…she was afraid. Yes. _Afraid._ Not exactly a new word in her vocabulary having felt fear before in the heat of battle before (especially when the digital world's half of the D-Reaper came crawling out of the vortex between the worlds, she felt no shame in admitting that) but this was something of a completely different order. She had to have gone through this scene, at least one much like it with either Takato or Jeri a thousand times in her mind and even now she found herself no more ready to talk about it then she was before. And the reasons behind this hesitation were hardly simple, especially with what she was afraid that she'd lose if she did tell Jeri what she had done.

Rika clenched her eyes shut and drew her hands into fists. _How do I tell one of my best friends that I went and kissed the boy that she likes? And not only that…_ not _regret it?!_

It was complex. Rika had realized that quite a while ago. She knew full well that what she had done was a mistake. It _shouldn't_ have happened. But that was just it. It _did_ happen, and what only made it worse was that even now, with the memory of how Takato's lips felt, as she pressed her own against them, she held no regrets about the act. She couldn't understand why that was so just as she couldn't understand why she had that dream about him re-scanning his drawing of Guilmon, and in both cases she was confused tremendously. Rika pursed her lips into a thin line as she felt her heart begin to pick up an uncomfortable pace in her chest. All it took was for her to open her mouth and say the words that she needed to get the conversation rolling, but in a rather bizarre twist of irony Rika found that performing such acts took more courage then she was prepared for.

_This isn't like fighting an enemy,_ she thought with a sense of harshness in her mind. _What I say…heck, what I_ did _…I don't want Jeri or Takato to be hurt from this and yet I_ know _that no matter what I want that's just what's going to happen!_

_"Leomon said that everyone has their own destiny,"_ whispered a memory from a time in the digital world. _"Maybe my destiny is to be alone."_

_Jeri…_

Another memory came to Rika's mind; that of Takato's face in the afterglow of the kiss that they had shared. Stunned, surprised, looking even more lost then he had been before she had even entered his room. The look of confusion on his face as she left spoke volumes to her in ways that she had never thought possible before. It was then that she truly realized what had happened…what she had done.

_Takato…_

They were both her friends. She cared for them both deeply, more so then she had believed herself to in times past, especially for Takato it seemed and she…

The gentle touch of Jeri's hand as she reached over and placed it over Rika's interrupted the red headed Tamer's musings, causing her to open her eyes and look into Jeri's in confusion. Violet met amber, and all of a sudden Jeri's smile, containing all the friendship and care that she could possibly have, gave Rika all the courage that she needed to take that final step.

"Jeri…" Rika began. "Something… _happened_ a little while ago. Ever since then I've…been afraid of what it meant and how it would affect our friendship…"

Jeri blinked in surprise and tilted her head to one side in confusion. " _Our_ friendship?" The brunette enquired, wondering what it was that had happened for Rika to worry about something like that. It was strange enough seeing Rika worry about anything, but about _their_ friendship? She didn't understand.

"Yeah," said Rika, her voice dropping in octave for a moment before she frowned at it, looking as though she was berating herself for the sudden display of weakness before continuing on in a close approximation of her usual tone. "Jeri…I'm…I don't know how to explain it, or even how it happened in the first place. I've been confused…and…I…I don't want to lose our friendship. You mean a lot to me…both you and Takato…"

Jeri was starting to become _really_ confused herself now, and the mention of Takato's name in the conversation wasn't really helping a whole lot. As she wondered what sort of meaning that Rika's words held she gave a soft squeeze of Rika's hand, trying to lend her normally strong willed and independent friend the strength that she needed to see this through to the end.

"Rika?" Jeri prompted. "What is it that you're trying to say? You know I…"

"I kissed him, Jeri," Rika blurted out suddenly, her face flushing a deep crimson as she said those words. Jeri froze as the full meaning of the words took hold, impacting her like a cannon ball. The dam now broken, Rika continued speaking, the tension flowing out of her body a little as she felt a weight roll of her shoulders.

"I kissed him," Rika repeated. "I kissed Takato. I had gone to his house a couple days after that business with BlackGuilmon and Lucemon finished up. I had found his goggles at Guilmon's home before then and I kept forgetting to return them to him…until that day that is and…he was telling me about what he had felt when he was biomerged with that dark version of Guilmon. He wasn't taking it too well and I…I was trying to remind him that we were all going to be there for him, to help him get through his problems and before I knew it…" Rika looked down at Jeri's hand that still covered her own. She could feel the tension in it as the girl processed this unexpected news. Rika felt her heart drop at it.

Jeri looked at her friend, eyes wide with surprise as understanding bloomed in her mind. All of a sudden she was realizing things that she had only peripherally noticed before. Takato and Rika's distance with each other, the odd, strangely sad and half concealed glances that they gave each other whenever they were together, the awkwardness in their last goodbye as Takato was getting ready to depart on his plane, the split second emotion that she had seen on Rika's face as they took off their shoes on the porch…Jeri could have kicked herself for not seeing it sooner.

"Rika…" began Jeri, her voice full of compassion, worry, and sympathy. Beneath her hand she felt the fiery Tamer tense up as well, though whether it was because she was afraid of what Jeri's response was going to be or just not liking the possibility of Jeri feeling _sorry_ for her she didn't know. For all she knew it could easily have been both. A thousand thoughts flew through the brunette's mind as she thought over what Rika had told her. Gathering up her own courage Jeri gave Rika's hand another soft squeeze, feeling resolve build up strongly in her heart. Jeri fixed her eyes firmly on Rika's and leaned forward a bit.

"Rika? Do you care about Takato that much?"

Jeri could almost swear that Rika had _flinched_ when she had asked her that, but it was so barely noticeable that it might not have even been there to begin with, and was just a result of her imagination.

"Rika…you don't have to worry about losing my friendship. I told you that I'd be your friend no matter what happens. In fact, I'm… _glad_ that you care about Takato, and that you were trying to help him…" Jeri pressed her lips together and lightly chewed at the lower one. She had to be careful about how she worded her next sentence. She reflected briefly on her own feelings for the brown haired, crimson eyed boy that she had come to care about during the past year but pushed them to the side for the time being. Rika was much more important right now.

"Do you…" Jeri began to reiterate, but Rika overrode her.

"I don't know," the red haired girl said, sounding somewhat calmer now that Jeri had assured her that nothing was wrong between their friendship. She still sounded uncertain though. "It certainly looked like it… _felt_ like it. Ever since Takato lost Guilmon I worried about him a lot. I was angry about it too. I'm just so sick and tired of watching my friends get hurt like that…" Jeri gave another soft squeeze of Rika's hand at that. "…And I kept trying to help him after I found him at that construction site where BlackGuilmon bio-emerged. He was so out of it then, more so then when…" Rika paused as she realized that she was just about to mention how Takato had looked in her dream. She wasn't all that sure if she should even consider bringing _that_ up just yet, though she had an idea that at some point she might have too. There was a lot about it that she just didn't understand, especially when factoring in the one that Takato claimed to have about her almost a year ago. Rika shook her head before continuing. "Anyway, I just…I remembered feeling like I was _useless_ in helping him like you are, but you weren't there so I tried to do what I could." Rika shrugged her shoulders, her mouth trying to draw up in a small smile as she considered how that must have sounded. The smile didn't reach her eyes though and it soon vanished.

Silence reigned in the room and the air adopted a tense feeling to it. Not heavy or suffocating but just enough to be noticed as both girls tried to think things through, welcoming the silence for the brief respite that it gave them to collect their thoughts before continuing with their conversation. Jeri thought over everything that Rika had told her, and of _other_ events that mainly concerned Takato after his battles with Lucemon, and more specifically when BlackGuilmon had attacked him when both she and him were outside of his bakery. That especially held her attention. For some reason she felt that it was ironic that Rika felt inadequate in helping Takato. There were times when she felt much the same…

_Maybe it would be better…_

"Jeri?"

Jeri looked up, startled from her thoughts. She hadn't realized that she had said that out loud. After a few seconds of looking into Rika's questioning eyes Jeri looked down.

"Sorry. I was just thinking that…maybe…maybe it would be better if…you were with him instead…"

"Jeri? What…?"

"I can't protect him Rika; at least, not in the same way that you can. There have been plenty of times where I've felt useless. Takato has you, Henry, Kazu, Kenta, Impmon, and Ryo out there helping him, protecting him. Watching his back and…I can't be there for him…"

Rika jerked her hand out from beneath Jeri's, startling the girl to looking up at her friend, and gasped in surprise when she found Rika looking positively _angry_ with her.

"Don't you _say_ that!" Rika all but hissed. For a brief instant the red headed Tamer felt that she could almost hate Impmon for taking Leomon away from Jeri even though he had long repented for his acts against them. "Don't you _dare_ say that! Just because I go and kiss that Gogglehead is no excuse for you to just give up on him! You're strong in your own way! You protect him in your own way! Takato doesn't need me to hold his hand all the time when things get rough! I watch out for him because that's what friends _do!_ Sure I care about him, probably a _lot_ more than I realize, _but_ …" Rika's gaze softened a little now as she felt her ire ease up on the girl. "…That's no excuse for you to just give him up, especially on my account. And one more thing… you're _not_ useless! So get that crazy idea out of your head!"

Now it was Rika's turn to cover her friends hand with her own, and the two girls shared a long, soul searching look into each other's eyes. In that moment, whatever fears they had about each other and their friendship was blown away and they both smiled at each other. Their bond was as strong as it had ever been, as if nothing had ever upset it to begin with.

"Rika?"

"Yeah?"

"It's getting kind of dark out. Would it be okay if I stayed here for the night?"

Rika cocked her head to one side. "What? You mean like a sleepover?" That would be something of a first. She hadn't had her friends aside from Renamon stay the night at her house since that one time during the D-Reaper invasion. The idea felt almost alien to her…but for some reason she felt that she would welcome the experience.

Jeri nodded at Rika's question. Rika smiled softly.

"Sure," the red headed girl said, chuckling lightly to herself. "Why not? After all, we kinda have a _lot_ to talk about…"

Jeri's wide smile all but lit up the room they were in. For the first time in a long while, Rika felt as though things were almost right with the world.


	18. Chapter: 17/ A Taste of Chaos

Henry Wong walked alongside his father, his eyes fixated on the government building that contained the Hypnos agency as they approached it. On the boy's shoulder, Terriermon shifted to make himself more comfortable. Henry glanced at him but did not comment on the movement as his mind was presently _elsewhere_ for the time being. A short time ago his father had informed him that he was going to head on down to Hypnos so as to prepare the digimon that Rika had brought in for transportation back to the digital world, a task that had been made rather difficult due to some oddity in the Sangloupmon's data, but Janyu and some of his fellow coworkers had finally been able to crack the code and factor it into the Juggernaut program so that there wouldn't be any _mishaps_. It had taken quite a bit of time, going over each and every zero and one in Sangloupmon's data without causing any damage to the Champion digimon, especially considering the fact that Yamaki dumped the side project involving Impmon into his lap, but as usual the effort was well worth it. If everything worked out, Sangloupmon would be _the_ very first digimon that they were returning to the digital world that was whole. Battered and one level lower then he had been when he first showed up, but alive nonetheless, which was a marked improvement over previous battles unless you counted Locomon as he returned to the digital world without any harm. However, taking into consideration the sheer number of Parasimon that had been destroyed at the same time Henry didn't factor that experience in. To quote an old saying, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Somehow it seemed rather appropriate for Henry's feelings in regards to the matter.

Henry reflected on the reasons as to why his father had asked him to come along (over the unspoken protest of his mother no less, having seen the look that Mayumi had given her husband). He had let it be known that he was a little leery of the idea of Henry going to work for Yamaki when he told him about it, even if it did make perfect sense. As much as Janyu liked the idea of his son following in his footsteps as a programmer, he still had a powerful parental instinct to protect his son from danger. And when it came to working for Hypnos danger was going to likely become _quite_ common, especially where the digital world was concerned. But, as Janyu had admitted the day that he and Henry had their _talk_ about Henry's decisions concerning his future, that perhaps it was inevitable and he couldn't protect his son from the world, be it real or digital. He hadn't brought up Henry, or any of his children to do that anyways. _But_ , that didn't mean that he still couldn't be concerned.

_Well, Yamaki did say that he wanted a Tamer present for this if anything went wrong and their usual methods of containment weren't effective,_ thought Henry as they neared entrance to the Hypnos building. _I wonder if any of the other Tamers are going to be there. Probably not. It_ _ **is**_ _kinda late and Yamaki usually doesn't disturb any of us at this hour except in the most extreme of emergencies. And he knows that our digivices are capable of picking up incoming digimon signals anyway and we've always stayed on top of handling that without him, even Suzie…_

Henry chuckled a little at the thought of his little sister, who had one time beaten both him and Terriermon in noticing the signal of a Wild One late one night, despite being half asleep at the time. He was grateful that his father had been quite adamant to Suzie that she was not joining in on this little _mission_ (not that he believed that his father would have done otherwise; given the choice _he_ certainly wouldn't have). Not like there was a whole lot of effort required for that. The little girl had been showing signs of fatigue after dinner had concluded, and with Mayumi, Jaarin, and Lopmon helping Suzie had been whisked away to bed with barely a complaint.

_"Sure beats using tranquilizers on her,"_ Terriermon had commented at the time, to which Henry had followed up with his classic response to his partner's sarcasm, making his family laugh a little to lighten the mood.

"Hey Dad?" Asked Henry, trying to break up the silence that had fallen between them since they left the apartment building.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"I was just wondering…"

"That's a surprise," Terriermon interjected sarcastically in a low tone. Henry grimaced but ignored him, for now at any rate.

"…You weren't too pleased with my entertaining the idea of working for Yamaki, but here we are going over to Hypnos. Why is that?"

A car passed by the two of them, its lights illuminating the two for a moment before vanishing into the night behind them as Janyu pondered his son's question.

"It was something that Shibumi said," the elder Wong began calmly. "He said that it was inevitable for humans and digimon to interact with one another, and that sooner or later the day would come where our two worlds would merge and then the next stage of human evolution would begin. It was something that I tried to prevent when we were preparing to defeat D-Reaper. I firmly believed then, and still do after a fashion, that the digimon weren't created for this world." Janyu gave an apologetic look to Terriermon, who simply shrugged and smiled sympathetically at the man. He held no misgivings about what had happened almost a year ago. In a way he had also understood it. Considering what was going on at the time this hardly came as a surprise, though if he had to give a reason for why he understood what had happened, his excuse from when he defended Janyu from Impmon would more then suffice in his eyes.

_"You're Henry's dad."_ It was simple and to the point. Besides, he was never one to bear a grudge anyway. Suzie's treatment of him from a year ago was an excellent example of that aspect of his personality.

Janyu continued.

"I didn't think that digimon had a place in our world…the _human_ world, and I believed that the same held true for humans with the digital world even though Shibumi said that the digital world was all about communication and bringing things together. The dangers that I saw you and your friends face, it was far beyond our own ability to cope with it and I didn't much like the idea of sacrificing my family, or even the world for the concept that Shibumi envisioned. I had believed that it was over after the digimon were returned to the digital world and that we'd never have to worry about them again…"

"But then Takato found that digital portal," said Henry. Janyu nodded.

"And you saw how much good it did us to try closing it off. The digimon just kept returning anyway, though admittedly I had an indirect part in that."

Terriermon gave a light giggle, sensing that he had become part of the topic of conversation now.

"Wouldn't be the first time that juggernaut thingy Yamaki made backfired on him."

Janyu chuckled.

"Well, you were right about one thing; there's very little that can keep you away. When Henry told me about how he told you to meet back at our place if you ever got lost I didn't once think that you could do it from the digital world. But back on topic, after the digimon returned to the real world and bio-emergences began to pick up again I realized that I had been fighting something that was simply inevitable. Digimon are meant to play a part in our lives now regardless of how we feel about it. A new age is coming and it's best that we prepare for it as best as we can. All we can do is manage the flow until we're ready to experience the new digital era to its maximum potential. And as much as I don't like the idea of my children getting involved, it seems that things are going to be that way anyway. If you want to work for Yamaki, if you believe that it's the right thing for you to do, then do it and don't let anyone stop you. Just…be careful. For my sake and your mothers, please, be careful."

Henry nodded as he looked away.

"I'll do what I can Dad."

"That's all I can hope for," said Janyu as they crossed the street and entered the main lobby of the Hypnos building.

**_###_ **

_Dreams…more like_ nightmares _in fact. Images of a past that he'd sooner forget flashed through his mind like an unstoppable surge of water. Old friends, challenges, battles flew through his mind in rapid succession. Fondness, friendship, fear, anger, betrayal…these emotions he felt the most as he floated in the darkness of his mind. Familiar images of old enemies, struggling against him, threatening to tear him to shreds appeared like warped mirrors in front of him, stretching and contorting as he watched them, making a mockery of all the emotions that he had hidden from himself, his helplessness and complete isolation in the face of the dangers that he confronted… especially against the most powerful of them all. The one to whom all the others were merely child's play in comparison, and_ he _was linked to it. He was its source, its power, and neither could exist without the other._

_A black, armored, dinosaur like face covered with a glowing energy field appeared and it turned to face him. It's eyes pierced to the very core of his soul and its mouth drew up into a grin._

_"Your power is eternal," spoke the creature in a voice that chilled his blood. " As such, so is mine. You will_ never _be rid of me."_

_The creature began to cackle loudly, and the mirrors of memories that hung around the teenage boy shattered. The laughter echoed within the dark recesses of his consciousness, never ending. Never…_

**###**

Ryo Akiyama's eyes snapped open as he felt his heart slam in his chest, a light gasp escaping his mouth as he woke up. He didn't bolt up however. During the course of his adventures in the digital world he had learned to control his reflexes with almost hair fine precision, and at this moment this habit was facilitated by his desire to not wake his sleeping partner as he lay next to him. The last thing Ryo wanted was for Monodromon to worry about him, especially since given recent events they both had enough to worry about already. Slowly, carefully, so as to not disturb the sleeping purple colored dragon Ryo climbed out of bed and exited his room to head towards the bathroom. As he padded down the hallway Ryo felt his heart rate beginning to fall to a more comfortable rhythm as his nerves began to ease and his muscles relax from their tension.

Ryo slid open the door to the bathroom, walked in and turned on the faucet. Leaning over into the sink Ryo splashed some water on his face, faintly wondering why it was that people did something like that when they woke up. Was it just to clear the cobwebs from their sleep-ridden mind? To wake themselves up? Or did such an act serve simply as a tension point in a movie or TV show? Ryo dismissed the thought with a wry chuckle as he considered the irony of that line of thought. After all, the world that he had come from was represented as a television program, various assortments of movies, and a commercial franchise that consisted of cards and magazines, all of which was duplicated with almost disturbing accuracy, including the lives of some old _friends_ that he had left behind so long ago…

Ryo turned off the faucet and stood there for a moment, water dripping from his face and into the sink. However you sliced the pie, he definitely felt his mind clearing a little now and he checked his options.

_Milleniummon…_ the Legendary Tamer thought, his mind thinking going to that moment when Jeri had unexpectedly showed up at his house. _This…could be a problem. With each day that goes by I'm getting more and more signs that he's coming back. First the battle with the D-Reaper's Horn Striker, then Lucemon. And now this time it's that Milleniummon card that somehow got into my deck and my dreams. I'm starting to think that…no. No thinking. I_ need _to talk to someone about this. I need to know if everything's all right with Monodromon. Hypnos has a lot of resources, I wonder if I could get their help in this. According to Jeri, Yamaki was interested in recruiting us and I haven't given it all that much thought…_

Ryo thoughts were interrupted when he felt his hackles rise as the air around him suddenly turned chill. Raising his head slowly, the Legendary Tamer looked into the mirror…

His clear, blue eyes rested upon a vampiric figure wearing a bat winged mask and a cape that was all too familiar to him.

After all, he had faced him back when he first fought Milleniummon.

_Myotismon…_

Crimson energy flared to life in the vampire Ultimate's hands, and all of a sudden Ryo's mind was back to the digital world, remembering how Myotismon had intended to cut off his head and offer it to his _partner_ as a gift. Ryo's mind sped up as adrenalin rushed through his body, and on pure reflex he spun around, one knee raising to strike out at his opponent even though he already knew that it was a lost cause. He was helpless here! But even so, he wouldn't go down without a fi…

_"Ryo! It's me! It's me!"_

Ryo staggered as his leg paused in mid air. Blinking in surprise as saw Monodromon standing in front of him.

"Wha…?"

"Ryo?" Enquired the small, purple dragon with a concerned look at his partner. "Are you okay? You're acting kinda weird."

_You don't know the half of it,_ thought Ryo as he looked over his shoulder and into the bathroom mirror. All it reflected so far was just himself, his partner, and the bathroom setting around them. There was no sign that a Myotismon had ever been in the room with him.

"Um…Monodromon? What are you doing in here?"

The dragon shrugged, and although he relaxed a little bit Ryo could tell that he was still being wary around his human partner. "I woke up and found you gone, so I took a look around. Came in here and found you just about ready to kick my head off. You know, normally it's _you_ who has to worry about _me_ going out of control when I'm Cyberdramon…"

_Or Milleniummon,_ Ryo finished in his mind as he relaxed his stance. After a second of consideration Ryo stepped around his partner and exited the bathroom.

"Monodromon. Wait for me at the door. I'm going to get dressed."

"Uh…okay. Are we going somewhere?"

Ryo paused and looked at his partner.

"We're going down to Hypnos. _We've_ got trouble…"

Monodromon gulped audibly. He had noticed the emphasis that Ryo had put into the ' _we'_.

_Oh no… Not again…_

**###**

Sangloupmon floated in the tank, extending his senses outwards. The chemicals in the water were preventing him from making use of the full range of his abilities, as was the point of the prison, but thankfully he had been learning to get around such limitations. A little _outside help_ of course had sped the process up of course (Sangloupmon chuckled a little at that, sending bubbles of air floating up to the top of the tank), but the effort was almost entirely his own. It had to be otherwise _he_ would have been noticed. Well, regardless. There was no time to reminisce about recent events. Time was starting to become crucial. He hadn't quite completely regained his strength, which was bad because it looked like Hypnos was gearing up to send him back to the digital world. Not good from his point of view and certainly not good for his mission. He had to get out of here _now_ so that he could finish what he started. The fate of his people depended on his staying here, and, in an odd twist of irony, the humans that he had been sent to battle…

Beneath his bat winged shaped facemask, Sangloupmon's eyes opened wide as his senses suddenly picked something up.

_It's time…_

**###**

Henry stood aside as he watched his father along with two of his friends, Babel and Daisy as they worked with some of Hypnos's technicians, feeding data into computers, calculating the amount of power that they'd need to create a stable portal leading to the digital world. Henry had to admit that he was impressed. Information that had been gathered over the years on digimon bio-emergences, specifically the more recent ones when the Devas, Grani, D-Reaper, Locomon, Parasimon, and Lucemon appeared in the real world, had yielded interesting results in data exchange between the real and digital worlds. They were still a long ways from regular and easy transportation as power and portal stability were the major limiting factors but they had come far from the first try with the Arc, and then later on with Grani. There was also the fact that transforming data into particles was, for some reason, much easier then vice versa without a natural portal to consider but for Hypnos's current purposes what they could do was all they needed. Not too many people were all that eager to conduct any direct explorations of the digital world until they were certain that they could get there without an arm ending up in a place where it wasn't supposed to be.

_I can't help but wonder how long it will be before movement between the real and digital worlds becomes as commonplace for humans as it is for digimon,_ thought Henry as he watched his father and his coworkers type away busily on their computers. _I wonder what the world will be like then…what technology will be like then. There's a lot of potential out there that can be reached because of what happens here. Good things…and bad._

Henry frowned. There was a lot to consider here. What sort of consequences would they have to face in the future? New technologies brought new dangers. Nuclear energy for example was a source of great power, but at the same time held the world at risk of annihilation, and kept the world gripped with that _cold fear_ for nearly half a century. The creation of the AI brought about digimon, and the Internet the world that they lived in. Digimon who had powers that far surpassed humans in so many ways. It was almost ironic that between the two, AI did not start out as a weapon and yet so far had proven to be just as dangerous if not more.

_What other sorts of dangers will we end up facing?_ Wondered Henry. _With the world the way it is I have to wonder if we can take this new development. There are people out there who see the Monster Makers as people playing 'God', and hate and fear them for it, and they see us Tamers in much the same light. Others see them and us as something revolutionary and awe inspiring. Is it all worth it? All these new possibilities? I can see why Dad was so set on keeping me out of this in the beginning, and why Yamaki kept trying to destroy digimon. They_ are _dangerous…_

Henry looked over at his friend and partner, Terriermon, who was presently sitting on the floor looking at the tube glass containing Sangloupmon, his eyes narrowed as he watched him cautiously.

_…But they're also our friends,_ finished Henry smiling softly. If nothing else he was certain that all his experiences, and everything that would come afterwards _was_ worth it. The experience of being friends with Terriermon, of actually _merging_ with him, being a part of him, was one of the greatest things he had ever felt in his life. He felt that he had been a part of something greater. Something _bigger._ Henry had never been quite one for religious experiences, having more of a mind for logic and science, but having felt what he did when he first biomerged with Terriermon he surmised that must be what it felt like. He wouldn't trade his friendship with Terriermon for anything else in the world.

_"Admit it Henry, you'd be lost without me,"_ Henry remembered Terriermon joking once almost a year ago. He smiled fondly as he recalled that his response was something along the lines of he was _'lost with him too'._

_It works both ways I guess, but at least Terriermon helps me find myself at times…in his own unique way, and the same for him from me. It's kind of what I told Renamon once about how our being partners helps us fill in each others weak points and we're all the stronger because of it._

Henry bent down on his haunches so that he was more level with his long eared, loud mouthed partner and looked back and forth between the rabbit dog digimon and the glass tube containing the captive digimon.

"Terriermon? Why do you keep staring at the tank? I mean, I know that there's a digimon in there, but it's not like it's being a danger right now or anything."

Terriermon looked over at his partner and raised an eyebrow.

"Henry. I'm surprised at you. What was it that you were always telling me about not underestimating people? To ' _not do that'_ right? Here we are with a digimon in a vat for what? The first time, and trying to send it to the digital world? How often have we gotten lucky enough with a digimon to bring him back _alive_ and then send him home? I can only think of one occasion…never mind the thousands of Parasimon that we blew up…"

Henry chuckled a little at that. He had been thinking something similar along the lines of that when they were walking here.

_Guess great minds do think alike after all; although_ great mind _isn't something that I'd normally apply to Terriermon. Maybe I'm just rubbing off on him._

"Why don't you take your own advice for once Terriermon and momentai?" Asked Henry with a lopsided smile on his face.

"Oh great," muttered Terriermon as he crossed his arms. "Now I'm rubbing off on you…"

Henry blinked. _Oookay… That's weird. Didn't I just think that?_

Something's going on!" Exclaimed one of the technicians all of a sudden, snapping Henry and Terriermon out of their thoughts. "I'm reading an influx of data coming from the digimon! I think he's going to…"

_"Sticker Blade!"_

The sound of glass shattering as thousands of tiny knifes ripped through the imprisoning vessel filled the air, and fluid washed out onto the floor. Sparks flew from wires and outlets that were too close to the liquid and the lights flickered for a moment as people began shouting in surprise. Henry was already pulling out his D-Arc and cards. He had to take care of the water before it became a problem for all their equipment! Revealing the top card of his deck to be precisely what he was looking for Henry slashed it through his D-Arc.

_"Digi-modify! Fridgimon's Sub-zero Ice Punch activate!"_

Two fist-like globes of snow materialized around Terriermon's tiny paws, and with a nod of his head the long eared digimon rushed forward. One brief contact with the liquid was all it took to put a halt to the oncoming wave and within an instant the technicians had their very own frozen sculpture. Henry's eyes panned over to the remains of the tank and blinked. Of Sangloupmon there was no sign.

_Wha…? Where'd he…?_

The beeping of Henry's digivice answered him. Raising the arc shaped device Henry found the compass function had activated.

_It looks like it's still in the room with us. But I don't see where it could be…_

_"Black Mind!"_ Growled a voice from over where Terriermon stood. Henry's head snapped up just in time to see the massive, wolf shaped form of Sangloupmon materialize out of the rabbit dog's shadow. Terriermon had just enough time to look over his shoulder, his mouth agape in surprise.

"Uh oh…"

_"Terriermon! Watch out!"_

And as if that wasn't enough, alarms suddenly blared to life, and over the loudspeakers a voice was alerting the Hypnos staff of an impending bio-emergence.

**###**

"Multiple Wild One signals sir!" Spoke Riley as she typed furiously on her computer counsel. "High level! Estimated breach into the real world in six minutes!"

Yamaki gripped his lighter tightly as he felt an all too familiar stress blanket his mind. He watched the signals as they raced across the screen encircling him and his employees. It looked like a fair number of them were _entangled_ with each other, as at least six of the signals had ceased all movement for the time being. The rest continued on for at least a second and then… _turned back?_ Yamaki didn't like this. There were just too many of them and this was definitely the wrong time for them to start showing up. He had to take care of them and _fast!_ For a brief instant his mind thought about the Argus program that his superiors had him install, but he forced that out of his mind. If he could, he wouldn't resort to that unless there was no other alternative.

"Use Yuggoth!" Yamaki ordered fiercely as his grip on his lighter tightened even more.

"On it!"

**###**

Data exploded into the air as Crusadermon ripped through a Seadramon carrier of the X-Antibody with almost contemptuous ease before looking over at her partners Dynasmon and Craniummon. She couldn't _believe_ the luck that they had today. Upon arriving in the digital zone that lay between the real and digital worlds they had come across a small group of X-Antibody digimon, and not only that, but _two_ of their leaders from the primary level of the digital world were among them! Both were Megas of course but they were hardly any threat to beings such as the Royal Knights, especially with such a ragtag group that they had with them. Mostly Champions and Rookies with only a couple Ultimates. Barely what she would call an attack group, and in the condition that they were in when the she and her companions spotted them they hardly made a decent scouting party. A fight was a fight though, and Crusadermon was more then happy to oblige when the order was given to attack. The leaders were to be left alive if at all possible, and the rest were to be deleted without a moment's hesitation. Still, even in her battle zeal, Crusadermon couldn't help but wonder at the condition of these _X-digimon._ They certainly looked like they had already been in a battle, and were in the process of fleeing from something. Another digimon? A Royal Knight? Crusadermon didn't know for certain, nor did she care all that much. Orders were orders, and when it came to executing enemies of her master, Yggdrasil, she was more then happy to carry them out.

Crusadermon slashed at a Thundermon with the ribbons on her armor, bisecting it in two before rushing forward to lend aid to Dynasmon as he was crushed beneath the massive weight of a large, cybernetic, red armored beast-like creature with twin, long fangs protruding from its mouth. It was one of the leaders of the X-digimon resistance movement! Oh, she had heard of the power of this one, and that of the DinoRexmon that Crusadermon was presently tangling with, and was more then ready to test it to its max. Powerful? Yes, that is if the reports were true (and the way Dynasmon was struggling it certainly looked it), but that did not change a thing. _They_ were Royal Knights. They did not lose.

She was going to enjoy tearing this digimon apart.

None of the combatants noticed incoming trio of energy spheres as they surged towards them.

**###**

"Yuggoth has made contact," spoke Talley as she read off the incoming data. Wild Ones are being dispersed."

"We're still getting a reading on some of them," said Riley. "Their signals are faint, but I think that they're still attempting to bio-emer…"

Suddenly the sound of an emergency alarm broke into the main control room, interrupting the Chief Operator of Hypnos. The floor vibrated beneath Yamaki's feet as an explosion reverberated throughout the building.

_"What's going on?!"_ Shouted Yamaki as he raced towards the door, anger and frustration surging throughout his body. Riley watched him go for a moment before the beeping from her control panel alerted her to yet another problem.

_What's…no. Oh no…_

**###**

Jeri lay in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling with a contemplative look on her face as she thought about everything that had happened these past few days, and specifically what she had learned today. Turning her head, the brown haired girl's gaze settled on the sleeping form of her friend, Rika, as she peacefully dozed away in the darkness of her room, perhaps the only real peace that she found all week. Craning her head back towards the ceiling, Jeri's thoughts settled on a certain brown haired boy that was off vacationing in Okinawa. She wondered what was going through his mind at this moment, and if he was happy. Given that he was probably sleeping right now like Rika was and like she was supposed to be doing any stressful thoughts were probably miles away from his mind. But then, this was Takato that she was thinking about…

Not for the first time she considered her relationship with the boy who had fought so hard to save her from D-Reaper, and how she felt about him. There was no denying that he made her feel happy, what with his rather goofy looking smile and clumsy charm that always made her laugh no matter how down she felt about things. And his spirit…his _passion_ when he had something worth fighting for, like he did when he battled against D-Reaper. It was as though all worries that she felt could melt away when he threw himself, everything that he was, out there, ready to help his friends and defy all the odds to do it. It sometimes made her feel out of place when she couldn't accompany him or any of the others into battle like she had in the digital world. Helping out…feeling _useful._ Of course, that was how things had started between them. Takato, Rika, and Henry fighting and she on the sidelines supporting them, wishing that she could do more to help and for a brief time she had that…was able to help.

But as with all things, it did not last. Her destiny had altered. _Changed_ from what she had believed it would be. She had accepted that of course. Had long come to terms with how her life had changed for her, but there were things that she still wondered about. She worried about her friends a lot whenever they went out to do battle against a wild digimon and that was to be expected. But the fact still remained; she couldn't do anything to help them… _protect_ them when they were in the thick of it like they could each other. She hated that feeling of helplessness. She _wanted_ to help her friends as best as she could, but when they were in battle…she couldn't _do_ anything.

_Is that why I felt that Rika would be better for Takato after she told me that she kissed him?_ Wondered Jeri as she turned her head back to Rika. The red headed girl shifted beneath the blankets on her futon and sighed beneath her breath. _Because she can protect him when he needs protecting, even in battle?_

Jeri bit her lower lip as she thought that over. It was almost funny in a way. Rika had expressed feelings of inadequacy in helping a friend in the way that Jeri did, and Jeri likewise felt much the same about her own inability to help friends in whatever they were doing no matter how dangerous. In that way she supposed that she was a little bit jealous, and she disliked that too. Rika was her friend, one of her _best_ friends, and that friendship was something that she treasured highly. She didn't want to lose it, and if she could help it she wouldn't.

_How does Rika feel about Takato?_ Wondered Jeri as she turned on her side so that she faced Rika more fully. _I mean, she told me that she kissed him, but she never said that she…_ a small smile appeared on Jeri's face at the four-letter word that she left unspoken in her mind. For some reason it seemed rather funny to associate it with the fiery Tamer who lay not to far off from her. _She said that she cares for him a lot, so maybe…_

There was a lot to think about here, and even if they all sat down and talked about what had happened, there stood a good chance that things would remain unresolved. Only time would truly tell how things went for them in the end.

_I'm in no hurry,_ thought Jeri as she closed her eyes, feeling exhaustion begin to steal over her. Smiling a little, Jeri let herself drift off, her mind chasing the subject over and over into the world of dreams, where in them she found Takato, smiling and…

_Wait…_ thought Jeri as she felt a tension fill her heart. _Something's wrong…_

_"Guilmon…"_

_Takato. That's Takato's voice I hear. What's going on? Something sounds…_ he _sounds…_

_"Guilmon NO!"_

The image of Takato and his smiling face began to change, the world altering to become a much more chaotic place. Takato looked exhausted… _fearful_ even. His eyes desperate as he searched for some way to…to do what? _Is he fighting? What's going on?_

The sound of something being struck…of wood shattering and splitting filled the brown haired girl's mind, and with it came Takato's cry.

_"Guilmon!"_

There was a red light, and suddenly Jeri bolted awake, throwing herself into a sitting position as she looked around, breathing heavily and looking around her uncertainly.

"Jeri?"

Jeri turned to look over at Rika, who was also awake, her eyes alive and sparkling and…something else as well, but she couldn't tell for sure what it was.

_Did she also hear…did she also dream…?_

The sound of a gentle _tap-tap-tap_ on the slide door leading to the outside echoed in the bedroom, and as one both girls looked over to find a familiar, diminutive form with large ears knocking on the door, its shadow reflected on its surface from the moonlight.

"Helloooo! Helloooo! Hellooo! Hellooo!" Called out a childish voice that both girls immediately recognized. Exchanging a glance Rika and Jeri both leapt out of their beds, with Rika pausing just enough to grab her cards and digivice, somehow sensing that she would be needing them, and headed towards the door. Renamon materialized out of thin air a second later, having sensed her partner's distress in her sleep.

Rika threw the door open just in time to see Calumon begin to turn around, his head slumped between his shoulders.

"Aw nuts…I hoped that someone was awake or home. I tried Jeri's house but she wasn't there…"

"Calumon?" Called out Jeri tentatively from next to Rika as they both stepped out into the moonlight. Within the time space of a second Calumon turned around and threw himself at the brown haired girl, squealing excitedly.

"JERI!" The little creampuff of a digimon cried as he flew into her arms and hugged himself closely to her. "IT'S SO AWFUL! I TRIED TO GET HERE AS QUICK AS I COULD AND…!"

"Calm down," said Jeri as she stroked Calumon's head softly, trying to soothe him though her voice quavered a little itself. All of a sudden she had a _very_ bad feeling about the news that Calumon had brought with him. "What's wrong? Is Takato okay?"

Calumon took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself before answering.

"It's Takato…he's in trouble. A big, mean digimon showed up…and then another even _meaner_ one, and…and…he _needs_ help!"

"At Okinawa?" Asked Rika, her eyes narrowing. Calumon's answering nod was all that the red haired girl needed. Not bothering to rush back inside to change into her _battle gear_ , Rika gave a glance over at the golden furred kitsune and they both leapt out into the yard to give themselves enough room for what they needed to do.

"Rika?" Came Jeri's voice, causing both of them to halt and turn around before they could execute their biomerge. Amethyst met Amber as the two girls shared a glance.

"Please…" began Jeri, her voice trembling a little at the thought of Takato being in some sort of danger. "Protect him."

Rika nodded.

"I will. _That's_ a promise."

A flash of light and a call of evolution later, the magnificent and graceful form of Sakuyamon appeared where Rika and Renamon had once stood. Turning to face Jeri, the Shaman digimon spoke to the brunette in her strange, double voice.

"Let the other's know what's going on. We'll be back as soon as we can."

With that said, Sakuyamon leapt into the air, her silver hair and bronze armor flashing in the moonlight as she took flight, quickly vanishing into the night sky. Jeri stood there, watching for a few moments before turning around and heading back inside, noticing that some of the house's lights had turned on. The sound of feet approaching Rika's door could be heard in the quiet of the night.

"Rika?" Called out the familiar voice of Rumiko Nonaka. "Yamaki's on the phone! He says that…"

The door slid open and the blonde haired woman stuck her head in, glancing around the room.

"Rika?" She called out again before seeing Jeri standing in the doorway leading outside. Jeri felt her heart increase its already uncomfortable pace.

_Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_ She wondered.


	19. Chapter: 18/ No Sooner Spoken then Broken…

Takato lay facedown on the porch, his stomach feeling slightly uncomfortable from the pressure that his weight was exerting on it, but the sensation was distant so he was able to ignore it as he looked out towards the sandy beach, watching the waves crash upon the shore. The water shimmered from the sunlight that beat down upon it like a thousand reflecting mirrors, and down at the edge of edge of the water that constantly flowed up and down the surf, two tiny objects pranced around, giggling like little children. Takato smiled slightly as he saw them, knowing that the description fit the two objects rather well. After all, Calumon was practically the epitome of childlike innocence and personality, and Takato knew that he'd be hard pressed to find any one, digital or human that could act more like a hyperactive three year old then the little creampuff digimon that had been his friend this past year; even Guilmon, who was renown for his immature side almost as much as Calumon couldn't quite match the In-training digimon. Of course with the way things stood right now that distinction, what there was of it, had narrowed down to a point so fine that you could split hairs on it and there were plenty of reasons for that. One of which being that Guilmon wasn't quite Guilmon at the moment.

Takato watched the little red ball that was his closest friend in all the ways that mattered and more as it chased after Calumon, pushing its stubby little legs as hard as they could go. Guilmon, or rather _Gigimon_ , had digivolved that morning from his Fresh form of Jyarimon during breakfast making him one step closer to becoming Guilmon again. At least, that's what it seemed at first. There was the issue of his physical appearance, which was slightly different from what Takato remembered with the most distinguishing feature being that of a big X on his back. On that front Takato had brushed it off. The last time he had seen Gigimon the little digimon had been forced to return to the digital world, and he had been surrounded by a warm glow that blurred his body. Takato had also been cradling Gigimon at the time, trying desperately to understand what was going on and refusing to accept that his best friend was leaving him so he thought, or hoped, that maybe he just didn't get that good of a look. There was still something nagging at the back of his mind about the X symbol but he couldn't quite place what it was. Strange markings aside, Takato had more important things to worry about and Gigimon was presently at the top of the list. Takato had very good reasons for that too. True, _Guilmon_ had survived his brush with death, having had his individual data collected and reconstructed but something was still wrong.

"Hey, Takato," spoke up Kai as he walked out onto the porch from inside and strode over to where his cousin lay. "How's it going?"

"Well," Takato began, a small, wistful smile appearing on his face as he pondered his words. "It's a start."

Kai followed Takato's indicating gaze and nodded in understanding.

"I'm sure everything's going to be fine Takato," said Kai confidently. "You and Guilmon have come through rougher stuff then this. Heck, he just came back from the dead. There aren't that many who can lay claim to that you know. This is just a temporary setback. Real small one too in comparison to some of the stuff you two have already experienced."

"I guess so Kai," said Takato, his voice lowering a little with his eyes. "It's just…do you think that he'll come back all the way? I mean, you remember this morning after he digivolved…"

Takato didn't elaborate any further. He didn't need to in fact. After all, Kai was just as aware of Gigimon's situation, having been there when it had been discovered. The thing was, though _Guilmon_ had come out of his egg alive again and had even successfully digivolved to his In-Training form after having a good breakfast, there was something _amiss_ with him, and it wasn't just the X mark that was on his back either. The problem lay in his mind, or at least with his memories. Gigimon couldn't remember fully anything about himself, those that were around him, or even anything about life back in Shinjuku. That had been a rather hard pill for Takato to swallow when Gigimon looked up at him with a questioning gaze and asked him what his name was. At first Takato and Kai were confused about the little red creature's question, but it soon became apparent that Gigimon didn't know Takato, Kai, Calumon, or even Kai's grandfather. He knew nothing about any of the friends that he had back home either or even what _Guilmon Bread_ was (though at that Gigimon had smacked his lips and asked if that was food that he could eat). Gigimon's lack of memory had nearly shattered Takato's confidence once again. After so long of holding out hope that Guilmon would come back fine after having nearly lost him Takato felt the sting of losing hope once again.

Oddly enough, Gigimon had inadvertently given Takato his hope back when he saw how much Takato had been upset by this revelation. And he did so with the one word that Takato had heard the most during the course of his year as a Tamer, courtesy of a certain loudmouthed, long eared digimon that was partnered with a certain Henry Wong.

_"Shmoementai…"_

_Takato blinked, hearing the word emerge from Gigimon's lips. Still bleary eyed, Takato asked Gigimon to repeat what he had said._

_"Shmoementai?" The little red ball said again, making an attempt to cock his head to one side in confusion, only to fall over a second later as he upset his own balance. Sniffing lightly, and with a small smile on his face that spoke of renewed hope, Takato bent down and picked up the little red and black football._

_"I think you mean_ momentai…"

Takato smiled again as he thought on his partner's attempt to cheer him up, remembering the last time Guilmon had attempted to pronounce Terriermon's trademark word and failed. It had happened shortly after a battle with a wild digimon known as Musyamon. Takato had apologized to the red dino for not thinking properly about his partner's safety and Guilmon had tried to comfort him by copying Terriermon's (then Gargomon) favorite word, only to have it come out wrong. Repeated attempts at saying _momentai_ proved fruitless but that day had stuck out in Takato's mind quite well, and to hear Gigimon make an attempt to pronounce a word that, if he had no recollection of it, he never heard before told the Goggle-wearing boy that things were not as hopeless as they seemed. Guilmon was still there, just buried. Takato suspected that dying and being reborn had something to do with that. In the TV show digimon would sometimes lose their memory of their previous actions when they died and were reborn. It wasn't always the case, but the show had made it quite clear that things of that nature did happen.

_Of course, the digital world that my friends and I went to sure wasn't the one from the show. Weird how everything else was exact except for that._

"I'm sure that everything will work out," said Kai. "You said so yourself that there was reason to hope so why are you always expecting the worst now? You weren't always like that. In fact, I recall you were always ready and willing to believe that the best would happen so long as you and the others stuck together."

Takato thought about that for a moment, remembering all those times where he had been confident about how things would turn out no matter how bad the odds looked or how bad they got.

_Of course, a lot of bad things did happen to us,_ thought Takato thinking of all the battles that he and the others had against D-Reaper, and how they had been forced to retreat so often until they had finally defeated it. And then there was Leomon. That right there had been the only time where things had gone wrong sufficiently enough where they didn't turn out okay. Leomon had died, and Jeri still bore the scars from his death to this day even though she had moved past it.

_Maybe I'm just going about this all wrong,_ thought Takato. _Jeri's okay now and she's got all of us with her. We defeated D-Reaper even when things looked hopeless, and our partners came back when we thought that they were gone for good. Guilmon came back even when he was destroyed by Lucemon, so why not? Why shouldn't his memories come back? He remembered momentai after all. Maybe it's like amnesia because he had been hurt so bad. I don't know everything about what happens to digimon when they're destroyed or even when they're loaded, but I do know that believing in them can help them get through the tough stuff._

Takato got up from off the floor and resettled himself into a sitting position, looking more content and confident in himself then he had been in a long while. Other thoughts and worries floated through his mind but they didn't bother him so much at the moment. Guilmon was back, and right now that was all that mattered. He just had to help him come back the rest of the way.

"You're right Kai," said Takato after a few minutes of thoughtful silence. "I've just been worried, you know?"

Kai chuckled. "I know. You've said as much ever since you got here." Kai clapped his cousin on the back and gave him a small grin. "Cheer up. You've still got some time left before you have to go home. Why don't you make the most of it by hanging out with Guilmon or Gigimon or whatever he's calling himself right now instead of moping? It's okay to worry, but with the way you do that you're going to end up dying before you turn twenty. Guilmon's safe and out of danger. The rest is small potatoes right now. Speaking of which, grandpas close to having dinner ready. You'd better collect your two digital friends there before they start building sandcastles again."

Takato laughed at that and got to his feet.

"I'll do that. Just be sure to save some food for Gigimon and Calumon when we get up here. You know that they eats like a bottomless pit."

"Something that surprises me since their stomachs don't look to be that big," laughed Kai. "How do they do that by the way?"

Takato gave his cousin a mysterious, and almost devious grin.

"That Kai is one of the greatest mysteries of life."

And with that said, Takato ran off the porch and began to race towards where Gigimon and Calumon were, with an unusually high mountain of sand rising behind the former while the latter looked on in amazement. After a few seconds Gigimon ceased with his relentless digging and began making excited noises as he pounced into the hole that he had made. A second later he leapt back out like a ball that had just been kicked, holding something in his mouth. Takato squinted his eyes, wondering what it was that Gigimon had found.

_It kind of looks like a seashell,_ thought Takato as he approached the duo. Calumon pointed Takato out and Gigimon turned around and his eyes just _lighted_ up upon seeing him.

"TAKATOOOOMMMOOOOMMMM!"

Takato didn't have a second to sweatdrop at Gigimon's insistence on calling him _Takatomom_ (a deviation _away_ from his calling him _Takatomon_ from a year ago, reminding him all to well of the day when he and Guilmon met Renamon in the alley and Guilmon had called his Tamer his _mommy)_ as the tiny red ball of a digimon launched himself at the boy as though he was blasted out of a cannon. Still a long way from the massive dinosaur that could boll him over, Takato only staggered back slightly as he caught his partner, laughing as he did so.

"Hey there boy," chuckled Takato as he pulled his partner back a short ways so that he could get a better look at what he had in his mouth. "What'd you find there? Buried treasure?"

"Yuth!" Beamed Gigimon, his words muffled by the dirt-encrusted object that he had in his mouth. "Look! Lookie! Treathure!"

"Okay, okay," said Takato setting Gigimon down and reaching out for the object. "Let's take a better look at this, okay boy? Now let's see…"

Gently taking Gigimon's find from the digimon's mouth Takato walked over to the shore and began scrubbing it off in the water while Gigimon and Calumon watched. After a few minutes Takato's eyes went wide and he brought the item up to his eyes to get a better look at it. Calumon saw it and expanded his ears in glee. Leaping into the air the creampuff digimon flew over to Takato.

"Hey! Isn't that one of the seashells that Guilmon found last year and buried before leaving for home?"

Takato just nodded his head dumbly and looked over at his partner in amazement.

_Guilmon, you never cease to amaze me…_

There was a brief pause in Takato's thoughts before he decided that a quick amendment was required before proceeding any further.

_I just hope he doesn't decide to go looking for that dinner he buried last year. I'm sure that fish is going to smell pretty bad by now…_

**###**

Night settled over the island of Okinawa with a silent hush, and the moon, upon peaking out from behind the clouds soon found Takato, Kai, Gigimon, Calumon, and Kai's grandfather sleeping blissfully beneath its mystical light. Takato's eyes shifted reflexively beneath his eyelids as the glow from the moon touched him, but his rest was not disturbed, restoring to him a little of the innocence that had been missing from him these past few weeks. Slow, calm, even breathes escaped the boy's mouth and all about the world was silent.

At least for the moment.

Takato's gold rimmed D-Arc, which had been silent during his stay at Okinawa suddenly began a sequence of agitated clicks and beeps as its screen lit up, indicating the bio-emergence of a digimon from the digital world was about to occur within his vicinity. Hearing this even through his sleep, Takato awoke and groggily checked his digivice, and quickly realized it for what it was.

_Oh great. Of all the times…! Well, I'd better at least check it out. Hopefully I won't have to fight it or anything. Gigimon's too small to do any real damage…in fact; come to think of it I should probably leave Gigimon here so that he won't get into trouble. I don't know how much he remembers about fighting, and I'd rather that he'd not get hurt. I'm not even sure what being destroyed would do to his ability to digivolve like normal._

Great. I can already hear Rika calling me a Gogglehead for even thinking like this. And she wouldn't be that far off from the truth either…

Remaining adamant in his decision though Takato pushed thoughts of his red headed friend to the side and got up, pulling on his goggles and grabbing his D-Arc and cards as he stepped outside. Breathing the cool, night air Takato was about to continue onwards until he felt something press against his left leg and something else land on his right shoulder.

"Hi!" Said Calumon in an excited voice, surprising Takato who bit back a cry. "Where're you going?"

"You're not leaving, are you Takato?" Asked Gigimon as he rubbed up against Takato's leg, looking up at the boy with eyes that were both expectant and sad, as though he dreaded Takato's answer.

"No!" Takato exclaimed at first before settling into a gentler, quieter tone. "No, of course not. It's just that my digivice is picking up an incoming digimon signal and I wanted to check it out and see what was up without waking you guys up."

"Takato," began Gigimon in a voice that was far more mature then he had previously used since hatching. "Calumon says that I'm supposed to be by your side always. Am I not supposed to be with you anymore?"

"Gigimon…" Takato's gaze softened. "It's not like that. It's just…I don't want to see you get hurt again like what I told you about before. That's all."

Gigimon looked down at the ground and bit his lower lip, trying to think of a reason why he should go with Takato against his better wishes. He felt deep down inside that though Takato was right to want to protect him, he felt that he had an even more important reason to go with him. But how to describe it…how to say it in such a way to convince Takato otherwise…it was beyond him to find the words at the moment, and he hated it. Gigimon felt some tears begin to well up in his eyes and he shut them tight, wanting to pound the ground with his little feet in irritation. A small whimper escaped the digimon's mouth. One that Takato heard.

_Oh great,_ thought Takato, wanting to kick himself for being a heel to his partner and friend. _Here I am about to head off into who knows what without any of my friends…more importantly without Gigimon who only wants to stay by me and help and I'm blowing him off because I'm worried about him. Kai's right. I do worry too much sometimes. I used to believe more in Guilmon and myself whenever we went into something like this, so what's happened? Am I just too afraid that I'll lose Guilmon again to not want him or anyone else to risk themselves to help me? Would I do that to any of the others if they were here? Henry wouldn't let me. He'd convince me that it would be smarter to have him come along for the ride while Terriermon would be more blunt about it. So would Rika for that matter. She'd just invite herself and be angry with me for trying to keep her out of it. Renamon would probably be the same way. Maybe a little more understanding but she wouldn't approve. And they'd be right too. And there's no one else here who can handle this if things get violent. What am I going to do? What was it that Tai said in the TV show when he and Agumon returned to the real world after that fight with Etemon? Throw the digivice at the bad digimon and hope they get scared and run away? I'd be street pizza if I did that!_

Takato sighed mentally.

_Rika's right. I_ can _be such a Gogglehead at times…_

"I'm sorry Gigimon," said Takato as he got down to one knee so that he could be more level with Gigimon. "I know that you want to help. I'm just going to have to get used to all this again. I've been expecting this but I guess that I wasn't really ready for it. We've been through a lot of danger before boy, even if you don't remember it all. I almost lost you once because of it too. I guess that I was overconfident from everything that came before so I got careless. But I promise, that no matter what happens I'll keep you safe." Takato's face became firm as he decided to make an amendment. " _We'll_ keep _each other_ safe, just like we used to… Uh, right, boy?"

Gigimon just bobbed his head up and down excitedly. He may not have any recollection about his relationship with the boy that he saw as his friend and parent but he was more then willing to stand by him no matter what he went through. He felt that strongly about it, and because of that he had a feeling of _familiarity_ about the scene. Perhaps Takato and Calumon were right about his having known them from another time…or maybe he was just going crazy. Whichever the case, Gigimon was willing to go along with Takato because he trusted him that much. That feeling of _familiarity_ told him that much, and it only seemed to be getting stronger the longer that they stood there.

"Ohhh…" Calumon smiled and sniffed. "I love watching two people make up and be friends again. Does that mean that you're going to kiss or hug like those people on TV do?"

Takato chuckled before making a mental note to tell Jeri that Calumon might want to cut down on the TV before it caused confusion between what was real and what wasn't. "I don't know about the kissing part but I think that I'd just settle for a hug. Somehow though I don't think that we have time for anything like that. My digivice is really starting to act up."

"Is a digimon arriving now, Takato?" Asked Gigimon as he took a look around him, surveying the terrain instinctively though he didn't know what it was exactly he was looking for. He felt that he should though.

"From the looks of things it should be coming real soon. We'd better get a move on so that we can get a more accurate idea of where it's going to show up…"

Suddenly the ground behind Takato exploded, causing the Tamer to jump in surprise as he landed on the ground and was showered with dirt and debris. A fog began to grow from the hole as a massive figure began to appear at its epicenter.

"…Or we could just wait here and let it come to us," said Takato sarcastically. Getting to his feet Takato brought his goggles down over his eyes and began to cautiously inch himself forward with Calumon and Gigimon following closely behind. Raising his digivice to get a more accurate reading Takato tried to peer through the fog, hoping to see the shape of the digimon that was currently obscured by the digital mists. No such luck yet, but he could already tell that it was going to be _huge_.

A low, guttural growl emerged from the depths of the digital field as the form shifted. Takato swallowed nervously.

_Here goes,_ were Takato's last thoughts as he steeled himself for whatever he and his two friends were about to face. Unconsciously he pulled out a card from his pants pocket and he took another step forward, breaking through the last of the fog that hid his potential opponent from his view.

The sound of growling increased.


	20. Chapter: 19/Between Two Rocks

Lines of data surged around him as he tore through the barriers that separated the real world from the digital world. Fear crept into the creature's mind, as he sped relentlessly forward, no longer feeling the data that seeped through the numerous open wounds that covered his body. He was beyond pain at this moment, though the great beast that considered himself _the Lord of the Jungle_ felt deep shame in what he had done and in the fear that continuously pervaded through his mind. It wasn't often that he felt fear. He had faced great monstrosities in his life. Digimon from the Dark Area, the Chaos, had survived the first incursions of the X-Virus that destroyed his home and activated the X-Antibody code that lay dormant inside his body, and had done battle with the Royal Knights and their servants. But to date none of those enemies had ever given him such a feeling of helplessness as he had recently experienced.

_It had all been so unexpected,_ thought the great digimon. _We never saw it coming until it was too late. Never once detected it until it was already on top of us. Ninety percent of our forces on the primary digital plain…_ destroyed _effortlessly. The Royal Knights had never been so destructive. I've never even seen the Chaos destroy so swiftly. The Exodus… This is just inconceivable! Our forces…! DinoRexmon!_

_…_

_…_

_How could this have_ happened?

No answer came to the digimon as the final barriers between worlds were torn asunder and he finally burst outwards into the place of reality, erupting in an explosion that clouded his vision.

**###**

The fog bank began to part slowly as Takato, Gigimon, and Calumon took the last few steps forward, revealing the newcomer for all to see. Takato's eyes widened slightly as he took in the awesome form of what was most decidedly a digimon, and his expression was matched, if not bested by the two In-training digimon that stood behind him. Lying on the ground, growling angrily to itself was a large, quadruped lion-like creature with a bluish-gray mane of fur protruding from its back, and surrounding its neck and ankles. Red, metallic armor covered its body, giving the digimon a cybernetic look to go along with its primal appearance, courtesy of the four, long and threatening saber-like teeth curving downward from its mouth. Raising his digivice, Takato called up the analyzer program to see what sort of information he could gather on the world's newest digimon. He didn't recognize it from any of the cards that he owned, nor from any that he had seen amongst his friend's collections so any information that he could get would be helpful.

_I just hope that we don't have to fight it,_ thought Takato as the halo circle appeared above his digivice, preparing to display the statistics of the digimon in front of them. _Gigimon's too little to handle this guy. He's bigger then my parent's_ bakery, _if not bigger then Gigimon's appetite. I'd bet that he's an Ultimate. Great, it'd be just my luck if this guy turns out to be a Mega. If push comes to shove I hope that Gigimon's up for a biomerge, otherwise we won't stand a chance._

Takato frowned at his digivice as the halo circle came up blank and then receded. The digivice made a few clicks and beeps before pulling up the halo circle again, this time only displaying an image of the armored animal-like digimon, but still no stats were revealed.

_Is this guy like the Devas? Can he shield his digital profile like they could?_

"Come on," Takato whispered to himself, not liking this. The digimon was already starting to move. Well, _twitching_ really, and though it wasn't doing much more beyond that Takato had the distinct feeling that things wouldn't remain that way for very long. The world just seemed to work like that for some reason. Takato glanced over his shoulder and back at his cousin's house. Dimly he recalled the last time a digimon, or group of digimon, had shown up here.

_I'm thinking that now would be a good time to wake Kai and his grandfather and get the heck out of here…_

A sudden shift from the massive, lion digimon in front of him, followed immediately by a low growl stopped Takato in his tracks.

_Oh no…_

The lion-like digimon groaned as it shifted its clawed paws and opened its eyes, testing the air with its nostrils. A second later its limbs were moving to help it get back to its feet. Its body was shaking. Takato could see the strain that the effort put on its form. A closer inspection (as close as he could get at the moment without being noticed or to be perceived as a threat) showed scratches and burn marks decorating that crimson luster armor. The gray and blue main likewise looked more then a little bit ruffled, and shards of data floated from what looked to be puncture wounds and small breaches all over its body. Whatever had happened prior to the digimon's appearance in the real world it was clear that there had been quite a struggle. His concern and sympathy for the digimon's well being overriding his sense of caution, Takato took a step forward, one hand raised outwards and his mouth already opening to ask if the digimon was all right before he caught himself and remembered the danger that he, his friends, and family were in. He _had_ to get them out of here! It was too late however. His last minute motion caught the attention of the cerise armored digimon. It looked up sharply at Takato, golden, _feline_ eyes sparkling brightly in the moonlight before moving over to the two digimon that hung near the Goggle-wearing Tamer. Its growling increased an octave as its hackles rose.

"Um…ah…" Takato stammered, cursing himself for sounding frightened even though he had every reason to and cursing himself even more for even _thinking_ that this was a good idea. Everyone was in danger now! Of course, the issue likely would have been forced regardless of whether or not he ignored his digivices signal but it was more of the principle of the thing that bothered him. Well, here was hoping that the digimon was friendly and would listen to reason.

"…Hi?"

_Oh yeah._ Real _intelligent there Takato…_

The digimon eyed the human and the two low-level digimon in front of him warily, trying to shake some sense into himself. Fatigue from battle combined with stress and pain from his injuries clouded his mind, making it immensely difficult for the lion digimon to calm down and relax. His senses were still screaming that danger was around him, threatening him from all angles and that to ensure his continued survival everything around him _had_ to be destroyed. The human and the two digimon, however weak they were due to their level, were just as liable to be a danger to him as that _blue cloud_ and its tentacles of electricity that had destroyed and loaded his comrades. He had heard tales of how humans were capable of making digimon digivolve and granting them great power in the process. His first story had come from a savage Gorillamon who had been wrecking havoc in his home village, raving all the while about how humans used their digimon _pets_ to attack and destroy digimon as they entered the real world. The story had been broken and tattered due to the Gorillamon's rage (and its condition, having had a badly battered appearance when he had encountered it) but it had been clear enough to stick in his mind and make him wary about humans and a bone of contention between himself and his _co-leader_. At the moment, none of those thoughts entered his mind. Pain from his injuries, coupled with his earlier experience that led to his fleeing the digital world were all the reason that he needed to stay on his guard. No matter _how_ threatening the human and his companions may have appeared (and they certainly didn't look like much), all it would take was a proverbial match and then the fire of battle would be set ablaze…

"Hey Takato?" Called out a tired voice from within the house that stood behind Takato, causing both the human and all three digimon to freeze up at it; Takato's eyes widened in shock as he recognized the voice as belonging to his cousin, Kai. "Where are you dude…?"

_"Kai! Get out of here now! There's a digim…!"_ Takato didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence as the lion digimon crouched and then leapt forward as if Kai's voice were some kind of trigger, its roar resounding upon the air like a relentless drumbeat that drowned out the Tamer's words. Claws stretched outwards, aiming for Takato, the intent of ripping him to shreds dripping off of each razor sharp point and edge. The Goggle-wearing Tamer didn't have time to get out of the way…

Fortunately, Gigimon did.

Seeing the oncoming attack, Gigimon leapt forth, springing off the ground by the strength in his stubby little legs, aided by some great reservoir of power that suddenly seemed to materialize out of nowhere. His fear evaporated like water in a desert, and all he knew was a desire to protect Takato from any danger that threatened him.

Even if it was at the cost of his own life.

Words emerged involuntarily from Gigimon's lips as a nimbus of light surrounded the In-training digimon, a light that was matched by the gold-rimmed digivice that was held tightly in Takato's right hand as he stared at his attacker with wide eyes, frozen in shock. Time almost seemed to come to a standstill as the world held its breath, waiting to see the outcome of this converging forces of life and death that were rushing towards the Tamer in their twin attempts to save or damn him. Gigimon's body began to expand and become more saurian in appearance while the other digimon's claws began to take on a glow of its own.

_"Gigimon! Digivolve tooo…!"_

_"Highland Fang!"_

_"…Guilmon!"_

Takato was knocked to the side as a heavy weight slammed into him from his left, the air rushing from his lungs in one _whoosh_ as he impacted hard with the ground and rolled over a short ways. A large object sailed over him and a yelp could be heard echoing upon the air along with the smack of two bodies colliding in midair. As the Tamer attempted to draw air into his lungs he rolled his eyes upwards just in time to see a familiarly outlined, red colored shape go flying off towards Kai's house, wood cracking as it smashed into it.

_Guilmon…_

The name whispered through Takato's mind as his eyes grew larger in shock and his mouth dropped open. Everything all of a sudden seemed to hang tilted on the edge of a cliff as the image of his friend being brutally thrown into Kai's home burned into his mind. The digimon stalked forwards, completely ignoring Takato now that it had found a digimon to do battle with. The digivice in Takato's hand was now displaying the stats of the digimon but they didn't register just yet, still too shocked by the scene that was occurring around him to even take any notice of it. Not that he would have been able to read it anyway. The light that had appeared on the screen didn't vanish even though it had receded a bit. In fact, it was starting to grow bright again.

The lion digimon drew closer to the house, growling menacingly. Within the shadow filled depths, Takato could see Kai rushing forward towards the red colored shape that was now starting to get back up. A great, clawed foot stamped down hard on the ground as the armored lion continued its approach and the cerise colored dinosaur shrugged off a loose board, growling back at his opponent. The shouts of Kai's grandfather could be faintly heard as he dashed outside to see what all the commotion was about, but all this was ignored by Takato as his attention was purely focused on the growling red reptile that stood within the damaged building, its glowing gold eyes feral as it flexed its claws. Takato couldn't really make it out, with the exception of an unusually white stomach ( _something's missing,_ thought Takato bewilderedly, though he could not recall what that was for the life of him in the chaos that had erupted so suddenly and unexpectedly on what was supposed to be his vacation), but it definitely looked like Guilmon. Who else could it have been? Didn't Takato hear Gigimon digivolving when the unknown digimon attacked? He couldn't really recall, but that didn't seem to matter as much. He _knew_ beyond a shadow of a doubt that his friend was in there, had saved him, and was now going toe to toe with the massive digimon. He had to help him!

A red colored reptile leapt forward from the shadow of the house and out into the moonlight, its body aglow with the mystical aura that the moon bestowed upon him. The armored lion digimon, unimpressed simply snorted and took a step forward, its claws glowing and sparkling with a surge of electrical energy, revealing its intention to delete Guilmon. Flashes of the battle with Lucemon flew through Takato's mind, and with it came a sudden fear as to what would happen to Kai and his grandfather should they lose here.

_It's not going to happen! We won't lose! We're going to win, and I…will_ not _ **…**_ _lose Guilmon…_ again!

_"Guilmonnn!"_

Takato's digivice burst once more into a blinding light that blew away all the shadows of the night, cascading over the land around him and enveloping Guilmon in its all-encompassing embrace. The unknown digimon roared in pain and turned away, trying to shut out the light as it assaulted his senses. The light was gone almost as quick as it had occurred, only this time… _this time…_ something much _larger_ and _heavier_ was coming towards him.

A razor sharp blade fixed to one, massive, red colored forearm snapped outwards and sapphire electricity crackled at its edges before being thrust outwards, a voice loudly proclaiming to the world its intentions as it sped towards its specified target with the deadly precision of a surgeon.

_"Radiant Blade!"_

The lion digimon howled as the arm blade scored across his armor, the weight and velocity of the attack pushing him backwards. The attack did little to harm him though, as his armor was made to be highly durable and was fully capable of withstanding a large amount of punishment, far more than this mere _Champion_ could dish out, but this unexpected shift in events had caught him by surprise. A surprise which was exasperated by a vicious, clawed right hook from the large, dragon digimon that had slashed at him before having the full weight of the saurian slam into him, lifting him upwards onto its shoulder and charge forwards, carrying the battle away from the humans.

Takato watched the battle for a moment, somewhat stunned by the way things were turning out but well practiced reflex, ingrained into him from all his previous experiences from taming swiftly brought him out of it. A quick look over at Kai and his grandfather revealed that they were okay, if not a little bit shaken. Kai saw Takato looking at them worriedly and nodded, indicating that yes, they were all right. Satisfied with this confirmation Takato got a stronger grip on his D-Arc and soon found his legs propelling him towards the battlefield. Growlmon had now halted in his banzai charge as the lion digimon had taken the moment to sink its claws into his back and pull himself out of the dragon's grasp, and was about to take a huge bite out of Growlmon's shoulder when the crimson dinosaur bent downwards and bucked forcefully, dislodging the feline from his back and throwing him to the ground. Takato gasped as he finally got a good look at his partner, taking note of a few cosmetic changes in Growlmon's appearance as he was finally fully revealed in the moonlight. They were small differences and otherwise would have been easily missed by anyone else during the heat of the battle, but Takato had created Growlmon and that made him intimately familiar with his partner's design. Every color, every stripe, it was all recorded in Takato's mind, heart, and soul in such a way that he could never forget them even if he tried. Growlmon was _different_ from what Takato remembered. Stripes on his ears and face where there shouldn't have been any; a white chin where there had once been red and a far leaner and musculature appearance then the bulky, dinosaur shape that had been with him in his previous incarnation, and a number of raised, red colored spines decorated the end of Growlmon's tail. Other then that there was hardly any difference between Growlmon's current appearance with what he had prior to his _rebirth._ At least, none that he could see right now anyway.

Takato was snapped back to reality as the lion digimon crashed to the ground after having been thrown off of Growlmon's back, producing a small tremor. An arm blade snapped out and Growlmon swung it in an upward arc and brought it down to deliver the finishing blow. Takato brought up his deck and began to swiftly rifle through his cards in an attempt to find something that would give his partner a little more _edge_ then normal. If he was any judge of a digimon's defense, that armor the lion had on him was going to take a lot just to punch through.

Takato didn't have the time to find the right card.

Twisting on the ground, the armored lion caught Growlmon's arm blade in his teeth, placing it nicely between his smaller teeth and the much larger ones that protruded towards the front of his mouth. With a swift jerk a loud, snapping sound filled the air and Growlmon howled in pain as the blade was abruptly broken off. Takato gasped in surprise and dropped his cards as he felt intense pain rip through his right arm, twin to the one that Growlmon felt right now. Bringing his eyes up, Takato had just enough time to see the lion digimon toss the broken off arm blade and then lunge forward, slamming into Growlmon's stomach and smashing him to the ground. Takato's legs shook and his vision swam and shimmered as he felt the air leave his lungs once again, but he forced himself to stay on his feet. Gritting his teeth and bringing up his D-Arc, Takato called up the analyzer program, fighting through the pain so that he could find some way to help his partner in this fight. This digimon was surprisingly tough to beat down, and Takato was starting to get a nasty suspicion as to why that was. A second later his D-Arc only confirmed his suspicions.

DinoTigermon

Stage: Mega

Type: Data

Special Attacks: Highland Fang, Ground Fang

_A Mega! Ouch! Well that's just great. I've got to do something. None of my cards look even remotely useful against this guy. I'm willing to bet that he's got Chrome Digizoid armor or something and I don't have a Thor's Hammer or a Zudomon card on me to even the odds! There's only one way to get out of this and stay in one piece. And_ one _is_ exactly _what I mean!_

Raising his digivice, Takato's expression firmed as he felt a familiar calmness and focus settle over him. Determination welled up in his heart as he spoke the words that would allow him to help his partner.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

Takato held his breath as he waited for the familiar feel of energy wash over him. The digivice clicked and beeped as it processed his command. However, something was wrong. Takato raised an eyebrow and looked at his digivice questioningly.

"Um…pretty please?"

The only response that Takato got was a searing pain erupting across his face as DinoTigermon slashed Growlmon across the face with his claws as he pinned the Champion to the ground. Takato nearly dropped his digivice at that, but held on firmly to it as though it were a lifeline. Confusion flared in his mind but he had no time to think on it at the moment. He had to help Growlmon _now!_ He couldn't take on a Mega as a Champion, especially not by himself and since biomerging, for whatever reasons was out of the question the only other option was to take him on as an Ultimate. There was a good chance that his viral attribute and heavy armor would give him the advantage that he needed to take on DinoTigermon given that he was a Data type.

_Provided that is, that he can still digivolve to Ultimate,_ thought Takato sarcastically as he picked up a card from off the ground, ignoring another flash of pain in his ribs as DinoTigermon dug a hind claw into Growlmon's side. Growlmon was still struggling to fight, still struggling to regain his feet but the Mega was just too strong for him. Blue shimmered upon the surface of the card that Takato picked up and he began to bring it to his digivice, preparing to slash it…

DinoTigermon growled as his claws cut at Growlmon once more, sinking deeply into the dragon's scales. Believing that it was now time to finish the battle the lion opened his mouth to deliver the finishing blow. As he leaned forward something caught his attention and gave him pause. One moment, a quick snag of the dragon's scent…yes, that was it, something in the smell, and in his _eyes._ Something… _familiar._ It took only a moment's introspection and all of a sudden the raging fires in DinoTigermon's mind became as ash to him, leaving him filled with shame over what he had done, and had been about to do.

_An X digimon…a carrier…_

The moment in which Takato was preparing to slash the azure card that would enable Growlmon's digivolution to his Ultimate form and DinoTigermon's discovery hung in the air; Takato pausing slightly as he realized that DinoTigermon had ceased his attacks on Growlmon. Growlmon, who continued his struggles against the Mega threw the digimon off his body and clambered back to his feet, his body swaying unsteadily from exhaustion and his injuries, but the feral look in his eyes revealed that he was still willing to fight. And yet, he too paused as he analyzed his opponent. His instincts, for some reason, were letting him know that whatever danger DinoTigermon represented had now ended. The two combatants stood there, staring at each other. Growlmon flexed one arm gingerly, cringing slightly at the pain that flared through the broken off end of his arm blade, causing Takato to wince a little as well. The seconds ticked by as their breathing returned too normal…

The moment did not last long.

Takato's D-Arc began beeping in agitation once again as its screen flashed red. The sky above them tore open and a new figure emerged, landing heavily on the ground as a fog that settled over the battlefield. Takato narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the newcomer, already afraid of what it could be. It appeared to be humanoid, and it had white armor with gold trim, and large, dark colored, bat-like wings emerging from its back. Horns arched forward like a bulls. Feeling that a little more information would be important, Takato raised his digivice.

_Let's get a better look at this guy…_

Dynasmon

Stage: Mega

Type: Data

Special Attacks: Breath of Wyvern, Dragon Thrower, DNA Disintegrator

_Two Megas now?!_ Thought Takato as he snapped his head up at the armored digimon, eyes wide in shock. _Two in one night?! And without the ability to biomerge? This is just not my evening is it?_

_I really hope that I just did something wrong with the whole biomerge thing and that there isn't a problem with it…_

**###**

Groaning, the newly arrived Dynasmon got to his feet and surveyed the area around him. Anger surged through his body as he clenched his fists together. Just scant minutes ago he had been with his two comrades, Crusadermon and Craniummon, doing battle with a group of traitorous X digimon as they fled on their way to the real world. What fortune it had seemed to him at the time that they had chanced upon most of the leaders of the rebel group…that is until a strange energy configuration had exploded on them. He didn't know what happened to the others, and that _infuriated_ him! To have his duty interrupted like that…to have victory snatched from his grasp so quickly and unexpectedly…it grated upon his honor as a Royal Knight. At least he was in the real world now. Hopefully his fellow comrades had survived whatever it was that had attacked them and they could continue on with the remainder of their mission and…

Dynasmon froze as his eyes settled on the two digimon that stood near him. There was something about them…about _one_ of them in particular…

Dynasmon's eyes widened as he stared at the lion digimon, recognition bursting in his mind, recognition that was matched by the lion known as DinoTigermon as well.

_"Dynasmonnn!!!"_

Suddenly, DinoTigermon lunged at the Royal Knight, almost knocking him over. Not to be deterred however the Royal Knight caught hold of the beast's claws and pushed backwards, trying to throw him off so that he could prepare an effective counter attack. The move wasn't as good as he hoped it would be though, and DinoTigermon was on him once more. The lion threw a glance over his shoulder at Takato and Growlmon as he locked hold of Dynasmon once again.

_"Get out of here! I'll try to hold him here!"_ Shouted DinoTigermon as he grappled with the Royal Knight, completely surprising Takato and Growlmon. Just a second ago they had been bitter enemies and all of a sudden he was telling them to get to safety? That didn't make any sense!

"Worry about yourself _rebel_ ," said Dynasmon as he threw the lion's paws downwards towards the ground, releasing them and reaching upwards, grabbing hold of the feline's saber-like teeth. Dynasmon fixed the digimon with a hard look as he brought him down to face level.

" _This_ is the fate of all who would oppose Lord Yggdrasil…"

Dynasmon's left leg snapped upwards, connecting sure and hard with DinoTigermon's jaw as he pulled on the sizeable fangs that were DinoTigermon's calling card. A wet, squelching sound could be heard in the night and a second later DinoTigermon, now bereft of his large fangs went flying through the air and impacted into the ground with tremendous force. He did not get back up. Takato's eyes slid over to Dynasmon, who was presently holding onto the twin fangs like some kind of sick carnival prize before simply making a _tsking_ sound and tossing them aside disdainfully. The Mega began to walk towards the fallen digimon, slowly, calmly, as though he had all the time in the world. Takato and Growlmon were beneath his notice. They didn't even register as a threat at the moment.

Takato watched the Royal Knight approach with finality to his steps, metal clanking loudly on the dirt ground, giving Takato the impression that he was hearing the footsteps of doom coming towards him. There just didn't seem to be a way out of this. Things just kept going from bad to worse. Growlmon, who had now taken up a defensive position in front of DinoTigermon and his Tamer, was too worn out and injured from his earlier fight to have another battle, especially against another Mega and a Royal Knight to boot!

_Oh man…how am I going to get out of this one?_

**###**

Calumon flew through the air, straining his ear-like wings as hard as he could to get as much speed as possible out of them so that he could get back to Shinjuku and find the others as quickly as he could. He had done so once before the last time he had been in Okinawa, and had gotten back in record time (a fact that Rika had commented about after their adventure had ended that day) and he was sure that he could do so again. Up until the _shiny knight guy_ had shown up, Calumon had been a silent spectator, wishing that he could do something more to help Takato and Guilmon, but having returned the light of digivolution to the digital world there wasn't really a whole lot that he could do anymore to help his friends except cheer them up and find things that needed finding. As soon as he saw that new digimon arrive Calumon knew that he was going to need to bring in some help for Takato and hope that he could make it back in time.

_I sure hope that the others are still awake and not playing hide and seek,_ thought Calumon as he desperately raced against the clock. _Because this is_ the _worst time to play that sort of game. Gotta go! Gotta hurry! Like an airplane! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I_ know _I can! VRRROOOOOOOMMMM!_

As Calumon flew through the air, rings of data code enveloped his body and a second later he found himself in front of a familiar house.

_Wow. That was fast…_

**###**

 "Tamer…"

"Huh?" Takato turned to look at DinoTigermon as he lay prostrate on the ground, his body phasing in and out of stability. DinoTigermon took a deep breath and closed his eyes, seeming to measure his words carefully before speaking again, as though danger weren't already barking at his heels and he was carrying on a polite conversation.

"I'm sorry for attacking you. I regret having done so. I was…confused and injured. I did not recognize you for what you were…you and your partner."

Takato glanced furtively at Dynasmon. He still wasn't moving any faster so far, and Growlmon had yet to engage him in battle.

"Um…you know, this is a _really_ bad time to be making apologies…"

DinoTigermon smiled softly, his body phasing again before stabilizing.

"Perhaps, but it appears to be the _only_ time at the moment. Not that it matters now." DinoTigermon took another, deep breath. Events were falling into place now. Not precisely how he would have chosen them to work out, but perhaps it was better this way as opposed to previously laid plans.

_The death of a martyr…DinoRexmon. I told you there was another way to garner the aid of these humans. I just wish that we didn't have to be so deceptive about it…_

"I must warn you…the Royal Knights…Yggdrasil's servants. They bring devastation with them…preventing the course of evolution and they rain destruction upon all that oppose them and their master. Beware…they will soon set their sights on the real world…" DinoTigermon coughed once. "…If they haven't already…"

"Enough of this!" Said Dynasmon fiercely. "Your time has come! Now you face the justice of the Royal Knights! _Dragon Thrower!"_

Raising his arms and opening his hands, Dynasmon revealed a twin set of jewels fixed to the palms of his hands. Blasts of energy erupted from them and shot towards DinoTigermon before Takato and Growlmon could even react. DinoTigermon screamed once, and then particles of data floating through the air were all that remained of the Mega lion digimon. Takato watched them disperse for a moment, his mind awhirl with confusion.

_He's gone…_

"And now, for you."

"Wha…?"

Takato's head snapped over to Dynasmon just in time to see the Royal Knight level a brutal kick to the side of Growlmon's face, sending him crumpling to the ground with an earthshaking crash. Takato felt pain rip through his head and his fingers opened up almost against their will, his blue card and gold trimmed digivice falling to the ground with a soft thud. Takato's legs became unhinged and he fell forwards, just barely catching himself in time. Blinking back black spots that threatened to overwhelm his vision Takato looked over to see Dynasmon standing triumphantly over Growlmon, one hand raised and already glowing, preparing to finish the job that he had started.

"None but the chosen will live in Yggdrasil's new world! You _X digimon_ are not a part of it! It is time to wipe the last of your blight off the face of the digital wor…!"

_"Spirit Strike!"_

Dynasmon shouted in surprise as four elemental foxes of fire, water, wind and lightning surged towards him, wrapping themselves around his limbs and pulling him away from the fallen dragon. Dynasmon looked up angrily as he used the gems on his hands to blow the fox spirits away, and his eyes widened in time with Takato's as they both took in the female figure that hovered in the air above them, golden armor gleaming in the moonlight, and a face that was absolutely _livid_ with fury.

Sakuyamon fixed the Royal Knight with a glare that, had she had been able to, would have burned him all the way through his Chrome Digizoid armor.

"Get… _away from_ him!" Sakuyamon shouted angrily as she landed on the ground.


	21. Chapter: 20/ Caught in the Crossfire

A blonde woman with her hair tied back in a neat bun sat at her desk in one of the many offices of the Hypnos agency, typing busily on her computer. Her focus was so intent on the line of programming that she was creating, tuning out the rest of the world around her in a way that was reminiscent of her own boss, Yamaki Mitsuo, that many would have been surprised to find her quite pleasant to talk to during those moments that she wasn't working, and in fact would have found her charming, friendly, and surprisingly easy going for someone who worked at Hypnos where stress, darkness, and secrecy was practically the name of the game as well as the spirit. Newcomers who did not know her all that well would have been surprised to find that she kept a photo of a child, her son, on her desk as they would not have believed her as actually having one or being fully capable of being a mother as well. Those who knew her on a day-to-day basis would have likewise been surprised, though for entirely different reasons that had nothing to do with how she was when working. After all, they knew her motto was _'business before pleasure'_ , and given the type of environment that they worked in this came as no surprise.

The thirty-five year old woman who had been named from birth _Amaya Abe_ had many layers. There were times where she worried those who were close to her as she pushed herself relentlessly into her work, more so in the past year but they could fully understand her reasons for doing so. At least, that's what they believed though they didn't know everything that was going on. Not even those who were closest.

_Network scan complete,_ thought Amaya as she analyzed the incoming data that was continuously being archived by the Hypnos operators Riley and Tally. Amaya raised an eyebrow as she took note of the massive influx of data. _Whoa. Quite the number we have tonight. Not as many Wild Ones as we saw during the Parasimon invasion and not even close to what came out during D-Reaper…_

The woman reflexively gritted her teeth as she thought of that last one, and with the reaction came a memory of pain…and darkness. She pushed it to the back of her mind almost instantly.

_…But nothing at all that I'm searching for. Did the pattern just disappear when it went back? He promised that he'd return and see me…when things were…_ settled

Another memory came to mind, and an icy crawl made its way down Amaya's back. This one too she repressed with some effort. Amaya sighed and typed a few more commands so as to get a better idea as to what was going on as she continued downloading and recording the information.

_This should be where Yamaki orders Yuggoth to be deployed…_

Amaya's prediction soon rang true as the familiar data signature of Yuggoth appeared on the screen and connected with the multiple signals that threatened to breach the barriers between the worlds. Amaya smiled softly, almost smugly as data patterns were broken apart and scattered like dust in the wind.

_Good riddance to bad rubbish,_ thought Amaya coldly, and unknowingly to herself as her gaze briefly glanced at the photo of her son, her _only_ child before returning to computer's monitor. Suddenly Amaya frowned darkly. _Hold on…what's going on here? Some of those signals aren't returning to the digital world. In fact, it looks like they're…_

Amaya gave a cry of surprise as suddenly alarms started blaring all over Hypnos, and the sounds of explosions could be heard above their and that of startled employees clamor.

* * *

_"TERRIERMON!"_

Henry's shout resounded upon the air as Sangloupmon erupted from the rabbit dog digimon's shadow, light reflecting off of the metal blades of the wolf's claws, giving emphasis on their keenness. Time slowed to a standstill as Sangloupmon stood poised over Terriermon, claws raised and ready to finish him off once and for all as he stood there gawking in surprise. Henry had no time to slash a card to aid his partner. He didn't even have time to find one. In his minds eye he was back in the parking garage that he had entered back when Rika was still attempting to load data out of Guilmon. Terriermon had intervened at the precise moment that Renamon was firing her attack. Though that was a long time ago and Terriermon had survived that encounter, the same fear of losing his partner ran through Henry's mind, and it all amounted to the same thing.

Time's up.

_"Sticker Blade!"_ Shouted Sangloupmon as he brought his claws downwards. At the same time Henry burst forward, completely ignoring the white light that flared to life from his digivice. The same light that encompassed Terriermon as Sangloupmon's claws descended towards their ultimate destination.

_"NOOOO!"_

_D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N_

_"TERRIERMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO…GARGOMON!"_

The sphere of data that had formed around Terriermon's body burst apart, revealing a large, green and white furred humanoid animal with blue denim pants, an ammunition belt slung across his chest, and a pair of gatling guns fixed to his wrists where hands should be. Being quite familiar with this form, Terriermon, now in his Champion level mode of Gargomon, brought up one of his gatling guns to block Sangloupmon's attack while bringing back the other. Sparks flashed as Sangloupmon's blades clashed with Gargomon's gun barrel. Grinning, Gargomon pushed his other one forward as green flames licked at his barrels. A second later his _fist_ made contact with Sangloupmon's armored face and the wolf was sent crashing backwards, knocking over various computer equipment in the process.

_Thank you…_

Henry let go of a breath that he didn't know that he had been holding when he saw that his partner was still alive. He didn't take long to celebrate as it looked as though the battle was still on. Sangloupmon was fast recovering from Gargomon's attack, despite the fact that it had been unleashed point blank and had been vaccine based to boot (Sangloupmon, being a virus, was especially susceptible to Gargomon's techniques). The situation was also quite perilous in that they were stuck fighting in a room full of civilians, never mind the fact that it was taking place _inside_ of Hypnos.

_Yamaki's not going to be happy,_ thought Henry sarcastically, feeling some ludicrousness in that thought. He had more important things on his mind and in front of him at this moment; worrying about Yamaki's emotional mindset once he found out just what was going on in his building was the _least_ of his worries right now, especially since his father was there as well. If his father got hurt…

"Gargomon!" Called out Henry, pushing the thought to the side for the time being so that he could think clearly. "We've got to get this fight outside! _Now!"_

"I hear ya Henry," cheered Gargomon as he kept his guns fixed on Sangloupmon, who was presently circling the Champion vaccine. Gargomon didn't dare fire just yet. There were still too many scientists and technicians who were hiding in all the wrong places. "I'm thinking a little power boost is in order here…"

"You said it," said Henry as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a newly formed Blue Card. "It's time to take out the trash!"

"Jeez Henry. And you say that _I'm_ too much of an action man…and I'm a dog!"

Sangloupmon merely snorted as he listened to the banter of the human and digimon, trying to ignore the pain that he felt coursing through his body. Gargomon's attack had hurt him pretty bad for something that was unleashed at the last minute. As much as he hated the idea of doing so he was going to have to play a much smarter game here if he was to survive.

_"What's the matter?"_ Chided a voice nastily in his mind. _"I thought that you were going to do whatever it took to help prepare the way for Exodus. We all agreed that it was the best and more importantly the_ only _way to destroy Yggdrasil's servants. You wanted to rain fire upon the Royal Knights…this is your chance to make it all happen. And yet here you are, losing. Pretty pathetic if you ask me…"_

_Shut up,_ thought back Sangloupmon. _I know what I have to do!_

_"Then stop dawdling and show me then. We don't have all day you know. The Royal Knights are coming after our comrades. We need to give the humans_ all _the motivation that they need to unleash their secret program."_

_As if you couldn't do that yourself?_

_"They needed_ assistance _to make it a_ reality. _Besides, my powers have their limitations. The Tamers, and even that fool Shibumi would know that if they suspected me and knew what I was. It's my nature. But enough small talk. You're the one in a position to do something. So do it already."_

_For someone who has as much power as I've seen you have you sure are an enigma. At any rate, consider it done._

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Shouted Henry as he slashed the blue card through his D-Arc. "MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

Sangloupmon leapt forwards as light once again enveloped Gargomon and a sphere of data materialized around his body. Snarling, Sangloupmon jumped into the air, his claw blades glinting in the light as he executed his signature attack.

_"Sticker Blades!"_ Sangloupmon shouted as he hurled a barrage of tiny blades from his body at the same moment that Gargomon burst forth from his data sphere, transformed into the armored, emerald colored, Ultimate level digimon that the vampiric wolf recognized as Rapidmon. As Gargomon, Sangloupmon's attack would have had a chance of deleting the offending dog-bunny from existence, but as Rapidmon his attacks were now effectively rendered useless against him.

Too bad that Rapidmon was not his target.

_"Henry!"_

Henry fell as he felt something roughly shove him to the side at the last moment. Glimmering blades surged past his head and a cry rang on the air. Henry gritted his teeth as his elbow struck the floor on his funny bone, but he fought to keep from losing himself in the sickening pain that drove its way up his arm. Struggling to get back to his feet, Henry blinked bewilderedly as he tried to regain his bearings. Suddenly all rationality in him froze as his eyes found the inert form that had just earlier saved him at the last minute from Sangloupmon's attack. Blood was starting to pool on the floor beneath the man who had leapt to his aid.

_No…_ Henry's mind whispered as it tried to deny what he was seeing. _It can't be!_

_Dad…_

_"Sticker Blade!"_

* * *

 Ryo and Monodromon exited the subway tunnels and glanced around to get their bearings. Monodromon tugged at the clothes that Ryo had let him borrow, a holdover habit that they had picked up some time ago from a friend that they thought could be trusted. That had been a long time ago, practically a lifetime from Ryo's point of view but the effects of that period in the Legendary Tamer's life were still noticeable and was one of the reasons why he had never fully opened up to any of the other Tamers, even Rika as it could easily be said that she was his closest connection to the world outside of his father and Monodromon. But that was neither here nor there right now. Right now their destination was the twin towers of the Shinjuku government building where the agency of Hypnos lay, supposedly in secret though it enjoyed that to a far lesser degree then in times past thanks in no part to D-Reapers invasion of the real world. Their reason for heading in that direction was because, in Ryo's words, _their past was catching up with them_. Monodromon shivered a little as he recalled the dark fear that had fallen over his heart when his Tamer had uttered that sentence.

_I thought that everything with Milleniummon was done and over with,_ thought Monodromon as he walked with his partner, ignoring the strange looks that they were getting from people due to his short size and obvious reptilian features that had not been hidden by the hoodie that Ryo had given him. _I should have known better, even after that jogress I had forced on him. Somehow he never vanishes entirely. He just sleeps for a little while until he finds a new shape for himself to take. And that's when things will get interesting._

Monodromon looked up at the sky sadly.

_I wonder how much longer it'll be this time? Ryo said that he's seen some signs of Milleniummon coming back…taunting him with dreams, cards, and ghosts from our past, as if wanting to remind him constantly of his existence. Not too smart to give your enemy a heads up that you're about to make a comeback, but then he always was overconfident in his abilities. Comes with being a Digital God I suppose with mastery over time and space. I wonder if we're going to involve the other Tamers, and if so, how will they react to the news? Ryo's never been one to completely open up to them, not even Jeri when she dropped by to see us after that fight with Matadormon, and even though he jokes around with Rika he doesn't go out of his way to tell her anything about himself. He has his reasons I guess, but I wish that he didn't keep things to himself so much._

Monodromon sighed mentally. In the past, both here and at his _old_ home, groups had always hung together, drawing strength from each other and becoming a _team_ that always stood together no matter what. With the exception of one friend, perhaps the only one that he had ever trusted, Ryo had never been a part of a team before. Sure, he had fought alongside such groups, allying with them whenever the situation warranted but the fact stood that he and Monodromon were by and large alone in their struggles; their destinies forever caught up with that of the digital worlds and vice versa. As near as they could tell they were alone in what they did and could never draw strength from any other except themselves, a complete turnaround from the way that the digital world normally did things. Monodromon wanted to say that they were part of the Tamers team, and that they didn't have to fight alone, but harsh experience had taught them otherwise.

In many ways this saddened Monodromon, who sometimes felt that destiny had been far too demanding with the Legendary Tamer, and that he himself was responsible for Ryo's never-ending isolation from others who could help him and offer him friendship and love to comfort him when things got rough. They were things that Ryo wanted as well, but due to experience, and destiny, those things were to be held at arms length lest they be taken from him. Had they known Rika beyond that one card tournament and later in the digital world, they would have been surprised by the similarities that they had between them other then skills and digivice colors.

_Rika always talked about how we could all choose our own destinies,_ thought Monodromon, remembering the Digimon Queen that Ryo seemed to have taken such a shine to since meeting up with her again in the digital world. _Sometimes though…sometimes it's not always like that. Sometimes it's like the destiny chooses you._

Monodromon was snapped out of his thoughts as Ryo's blue colored, white trimmed digivice suddenly gave a cry of alarm, the screen flashing red and green as it picked up the signal of a Wild One bio-emerging into the real world. Ryo brought out his digivice and frowned at it before looking up at the sky, seeing if he could get an idea as to where the trouble was coming from. The fog that suddenly appeared off in the distance was all the clue that he needed.

"We've got company," said the Legendary Tamer in a hard tone.

* * *

Impmon sat on the top of a stone gargoyle, looking at the small ball of fire that he had hovering above one, crimson glove covered finger. The flame sat there for a moment before rotating in a circle, as though it were matching the contemplativeness of the diminutive virus digimon's thoughts. After a few minutes of idly doing nothing more but that continuous, circular motion Impmon snuffed the flame out and scowled.

_So that's it, huh?_ Thought Impmon, not for the first time. _Just like that? The one chance that I have to make things right for Jeri and I don't even get_ that?

Impmon had been in this rut of thinking for quite some time now, beating it around in his mind almost continuously for hours on end. His Tamers were worried about him due to the darkening of his mood since he had last seen them. They had tried their best to cheer him up after having guessed that things hadn't worked out for him, and he had tried his best to _be_ cheered up knowing that that was what Jeri would have wanted him to do. But…there was still something in him that bothered him. Impmon looked down at his gloves and scowled at them, as though their red color was in a way reminding him of the blood that he had on his hands in regards to the fate that he dealt to Leomon, Jeri's partner. Not a day went by where he didn't regret what he had done, but for a time he had found the strength to live with his actions, and by knowing what he did and recognizing it as being wrong, use it to make him a stronger, better digimon from what he had been. Gone was the selfish Impmon who had badgered the Tamers and then tried to kill them in exchange for power, but his shadow remained on his soul, and now because of what had happened at Hypnos it seemed that nothing would ever remove the stain of his actions.

Impmon hammered his fist on the concrete statue that he sat on, clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. Anger flared in his heart as he recalled the happiness that Takato had upon discovering that his partner was no longer dead. As much as he tried to not be upset over the matter, he couldn't help but _hate_ Takato's good fortune.

_Why do things have to be this way?_ Impmon thought angrily to himself. _Why does Takato get to have his partner back but Jeri doesn't? It's just not fair!_

Impmon growled in frustration as he got to his feet and paced around angrily on the limited space that he had available on the Gargoyle's head. He felt a sense of futility in his thinking. After all, if the universe were _fair_ in anything that it did then there wouldn't be any pain. No inequalities, nothing that was like how things were either in the digital world or here in the real world. He disliked the fact that that was how the world worked but was powerless in changing it to be otherwise. And from what he knew from experience, forcing the issue tended to make matters worse, so what was a mon to do exactly? He wanted to make Jeri happy, but being denied the ability to return that which he had taken from her he was stuck. And Takato…as much as he hated the fact that Takato's luck had been far better then Jeri's he couldn't bring himself to resent the Tamer, his partner, or _anyone_ for it. And not only that, he knew full well that he _shouldn't._ After all, he had already been guilty of _one_ sin, that of _gluttony._ He didn't want to be guilty of _envy_ as well.

_I'll try to figure somethin' out,_ thought Impmon in an attempt to renew his determination to help Jeri however he could. _No matter what, I'll make it so that she'll be happy again._

Impmon's thoughts were interrupted as he heard something that sounded like a soft _thump,_ like an explosion off in the distance. Looking up he spied the familiar form of Calumon flying in the air, coming from the direction of Jeri's house and seemingly heading towards Rika's. Cocking his head to one side, Impmon tried to figure out what the Creampuff was doing here when he was supposed to be with Takato back at Okinawa. Realizing that he wasn't going to be getting any answers by just standing there and gawking, Impmon took one step forward as he prepared to follow the diminutive creampuff of a digimon…

…Only to freeze up as a fog of digital data suddenly materialized around him.

_Oh you have_ got _to be kidding me…_

Turning around with a scowl on his face a flash of light swiftly enveloped him and within seconds, the much larger form of Beelzemon stood, his three eyes scanning the area for any potential hostiles while his claws twitched. Soon enough a form began to take shape in the epicenter of the fog. For some reason he had a sense of foreboding from the humanoid figure that he saw. After a few more seconds a gust of wind blew the fog away, and revealed what was most definitely a digimon fashioned as something akin to a knight. It was thin and wiry with a mask obscuring its facial features; the pink colored armor that it wore was formed as such so as to suggest a feminine shape to its body, and a gold colored shield covered its right hand. Yellow ribbons were attached to its arms and shoulders, perhaps as some kind of display, though for some reason Beelzemon had an idea that they were anything but.

Beelzemon frowned as he cautiously took a step forwards. The knight looked to be badly beaten, but even though it was presently lying on the ground, seemingly helpless he knew from experience with Gallantmon that knights were notoriously hard to beat down, and to think that this one would be helpless was something that was not to be readily believed if one had the desire to not have their data being blown to its constituent components and then loaded. Nature tended to favor the swift and strong, and though luck was said to favor the foolish, it could not be counted on forever nor should it be depended on.

Still, a closer look was required to see if this digimon knight was all right.

Beelzemon got as close as he believed was safe before speaking out.

"Hey! You all right?"

Silence answered him, and for a moment, Beelzemon allowed himself to believe that the knight was truly unconscious.

The thought lasted little more then two seconds.

With a speed that was almost impossible to believe, a pink and violet blur slammed into Beelzemon's stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs and throwing him backwards. As he crashed hard on the rooftop, Beelzemon heard the harsh, feminine chuckle of the knight who was now walking towards him as though nothing had ever been wrong with her.

"Why of course I'm _all right_ , my dear. Could be better but that's just how things roll sometimes. Now you're not the target that I'm looking for, but Demon Lords such as yourself are always a wonderful substitute. Curious. I thought that we had banished your ilk to the Dark Area. This time there will be no such oversight…"

_Someone want to rewind this scene and tell me what the heck is going on here?_ Thought Beelzemon as he struggled to his feet, just in time to see that familiar, pink and violet blur come rushing towards him. Beelzemon sighed.

_Didn't think so. This is going to hurt…_

_"Fist of Athena!"_


	22. Chapter: 21/ The Inner Battle

"Guilmon Bread…" Muttered Kazu as he lay prostrate on his bed, snorting lightly as he continued to sleep away. "…Loaf of bread…shaped like my head…"

Kazu was tired. More to the point, he was _exhausted,_ or at least he fancied himself tired enough to be that way and he sure _felt_ sleep coming on him more heavily then usual (which was an understatement in and of itself as sleep always stole over him rapidly). His efforts at the Matsuki Bakery were finally beginning to take their toll on him. Granted, they had been doing so for the past four days, what with the having to get up at a far earlier time then usual to get down to said bakery and help Takato's parents around the shop before going to school (at the crack of dawn no less). Combined with the homework that he had been struggling to keep on top of it was amazing that he hadn't once collapsed in class all week, something that was a strange reversal of his usual habits.

But then, things had ceased being _usual_ quite some time ago.

Kenta had been much the same way, though he was adjusting to the schedule changes much more readily and easily then his visor-wearing friend, and indeed had come to enjoy baking as he grew increasingly familiar with the subject. It wasn't something that he intended to spend the rest of his life doing, as he had pointed out one day while listening to Kazu rant about how he couldn't understand how Takato could cope with this sort of lifestyle, but it certainly wasn't something that he minded doing. Especially since it was for a friend.

Over on the boy's dresser next to the bed, his rust colored digivice lit up and began to make a series of agitated clicks and beeps as it detected the arrival of a wild digimon from the digital world. Kazu, for his part, made no indication that he had even heard it and continued to snore away, mumbling to himself random lines from the Guilmon Bread song and going on about other assorted pastries, making it quite clear that he had been working for so long at the bakery that his dreams were now filled with flowered dough and sweet aromas. Not to be deterred the digivice continued with its beeping as though it were long used to Kazu's habits even though it was just an automatic function that the digivice had built into it. Groaning slightly and rambling something about yeast Kazu turned over on his bed hard enough to make his blanket flop over the side and hit the digivice, knocking it over the edge where it clattered on the ground and landed beneath the bed, all the while never once stopping with its warnings, only instead, oddly enough, becoming a bit more agitated with them.

Had Kazu been more awake, he would have wondered as to whether or not the digivice was trying to tell him something, which would result in a question being raised as to it being alive or not.

Continuing to snore away, Kazu settled down more fully, and being in the deep sleep that he was he didn't notice the large shadow that loomed in front of his bedroom window, raising a massive arm and tapping lightly on the glass.

"Kazu?" Called out the voice of Guardromon from behind the windowpane. Guardromon paused as he waited for his partner to awaken from his slumber, knowing just how tired his Tamer had become from working at his best friends family bakery. He admired Kazu's desire to do whatever he could to help Takato, even when the boy wasn't around to help and it showed him just how far the strength and depth of their friendship ran (and not for the first time either), but occasionally he wondered about the wisdom of Kazu's decision in undertaking this particular quest. His time outside of school had practically shrunk to zero, and more then once he would end up missing meeting their friends and fellow comrades at the park. He was under no obligation really to stay at the bakery, as he worked for free despite the Matsuki's insisting that they pay Kazu and his friend Kenta, and the only thing that held him there was his word. That alone seemed to be enough but as the mecha stood there in the night, waiting for Kazu to wake up, he wondered why this was so and why Kazu was so determined to stick it out until Takato came back.

Did he feel that he had something to prove?

_I should probably ask,_ thought Guardromon, feeling a sense of guilt from his emotion chips as he thought about his partner lying inside the house, still sleeping. Raising a fist once more with a sigh, Guardromon gently tapped the glass window and called out his partner's name, trying to prompt him to speed up with his awakening as a digital menace was wrecking havoc somewhere in the city. After waiting patiently for about a minute, during which Kazu merely shifted in bed and did little else, Guardromon turned and headed around the back. Having lived with the Shiota family for quite some time now he had picked up a few tricks on how to best get Kazu's attention.

A few minutes went by, during which silence reigned and Kazu breathed slowly and comfortably. Suddenly an earsplitting scream ripped through the air, and Kazu immediately flung himself out of bed, slamming to the ground awkwardly with a groan of pain, half expecting to see a horrific Ogremon, D-Reaper agent, or in the most extreme case Ms. Asagi ripping their way through his home with the last of whom demanding the answers to last weeks reading assignment. Finally hearing his digivice's irritated beeps, the boy, finding it by the light of its screen, reached under his bed and brought it out, blinking blearily at it as he tried to make sense of what it was saying. Before he could do so, the enraged shout of his mother tore through the air as she flung open the door to his bedroom.

"KAZU!"

_Man, I hate it when Guardromon wakes my Mom up to get me going…_

* * *

A massive, blue armored monstrosity strode through the streets; ignoring the throes of humans who ran in a desperate bid for survival as his feet rent cracks and tore holes through pavement. Though he felt pity for the humans, the weak, fragile creatures that they were, they were far beneath his notice and he continued onwards with a relentlessness that clearly told the panicking crowd that he was not someone that was going to be stopped should anyone feel inclined to try such an action. An invisible aura of _threat_ and _purpose_ protruded from his body, activating the survival instincts that all people are born with and sending them scattering in all directions. Aura's aside, the creature, most decidedly a digimon (as little else rampaged through the city of Shinjuku), had an appearance that would have been enough to frighten the cities good citizens. Dark blue plates of armor covered the creature's humanoid shaped body, and large purple spikes stood at the top of his shoulder plates. Violet tufts of fine hair rose from a metal facemask shaped like a skull, and from within the open eyeholes, two blood red irises burned, almost as though they promised pain and death to any and all who stood in his way.

Craniummon, so called due to the shape of his helm, continued to stomp forward as he hefted a great, double bladed spear and a massive shield in his arms. He had no idea as to what it was that had just transpired. One moment he had been grappling with one of the leaders of the rebel _X digimon_ , a DinoRexmon, and had delivered a brutally savage blow with his weapon, and in the next a blast of energy sent him careening towards the real world, where he found himself waking up in sometime later. He didn't know what had happened to the others, be they comrade or enemy, but he _did_ know that he sensed an X digimon nearby. It was a short ways off. Not too far fortunately though it would undoubtedly be aware of his presence. At least it _should_ be, but for some reason what Craniummon was sensing wasn't showing any signs of attempting to escape.

_Good,_ thought Craniummon without emotion. _Perhaps when I find him I can get what my comrades are searching for and leave this plain of existence behind me after I've found the others. Priorities…the_ mission _comes first, and my lord and master desires to know what it is that the X digimon are up too._

Craniummon continued on his way, his sights set on the twin towers of Hypnos that lay ahead of him.

* * *

Ryo Akiyama narrowed his eyes within his sphere of data as he and Monodramon in their biomerged form of Justimon flew through the air, propelled by the power of the forward momentum provided to them via their legs. Just scant minutes ago they had received a signal from Ryo's digivice informing them that not one but _two_ digimon had bio-emerged in the real world, and that despite having business of their own to attend to, an investigation was warranted. Previous experience suggested that they would most likely be in for a fight as well hence their merging though Ryo hoped that for once they could avoid fighting and not tear up half a city block in their attempts to disable a rampaging digimon.

Experience also had taught them that such an attempt was rarely successful. Most digimon that crossed over to this plain of reality fought hard enough to the point where deletion was less of a choice then otherwise, with the only notable exceptions being Locomon, who had been controlled by a Parasimon, and Matadormon, who had been badly weakened by a blast via a Milleniummon card followed up by an attack from Sakuyamon. As Justimon surged through the air, aiming for the closest area of Shinjuku that his digivice had indicated as being a sight of a bio-emergence he wondered if this time things would be different. He really didn't think so, and when it came to things involving digimon all he could do was hope for the best, but expect the worst to happen. That attitude had helped both him and his partner survive many a battle with a wild digimon.

_That looks to be it,_ thought Justimon as he flew closer and began to angle his body in preparation for a landing. In his data sphere Ryo took notice of the digimon that stalked through the streets towards the Hypnos building. So far it looked to not be raging out of control, as he had expected; a good sign, but he knew enough to know not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Executing a flip in the air Justimon came to a landing directly in the path of the armored, dark knight digimon that _strolled_ forwards, calmly and without hesitation or confusion towards its surroundings.

_Actually its lack of hesitation is probably something to worry about,_ thought Ryo sardonically as he looked the digimon over. It was certainly an intimidating creature. Its red eyes, while not its most prominent feature (as that honor was granted to the large, double bladed spear and shield that it wielded in its hands) were certainly the most noticeable when put up against its dark colored armor, making Ryo wonder if the digimon was of the virus type, especially with its skull shaped helmet that it bore upon its head. Having never encountered this digimon, nor being in the proper state of being to analyze it with his digivice Ryo could only go on appearances to hazard a guess as to the nature of his possible opponent. Anything else was left up to fate.

Realizing that the digimon had _still_ yet to halt in its movement Justimon raised his cybernetic arm and pointed it at the warrior, aiming the blaster portion at its head before calling out to it.

"Okay, that's far enough!" Said Justimon loudly in his strange, double voice; one half of it was a snarl due to Monodramon having taken his default form of Cyberdramon upon their merging. "Stop right there!"

Finally, the large, knight digimon came to a halt and its crimson, glowing eyes cast down upon Justimon as if seeing him for the first time and contemplating him. As Justimon waited, he had the distinct feeling that he was being sized up. He noticed the digimon heft its blade upwards in a subtle manner, and Cyberdramon growled, taking the motion as a threatening gesture. Despite the fact that Cyberdramon tended to see everything as a reason to start a fight Ryo felt that his partner was spot on with his assessment. It looked like the warrior digimon was gearing up for a confrontation.

_Even though he looks like he's been through one already,_ thought the Legendary Tamer as he looked the dark knight over carefully, taking note of each dent, burn, rent, and tear in the digimon's armor. Despite what looked to be some pretty serious injuries to its digital makeup, the digimon did not appear at all affected by them.

_Looks can be deceiving…_

The dark knight chuckled lightly, and in a way that seemed… _respectful_ to Ryo, and not the dark, aristocratic laughter that he had become accustomed to since his earliest days as a Tamer. Ryo frowned in his data sphere and kept his guard up.

"A digimon that chooses to live in the human world," said the warrior digimon as he slowly raised his spear and swept it downwards, creating a gust of wind that made Justimon's scarf blow behind him like some kind of epic hero from out of a storybook. "Very well. It is not often that I encounter a Chosen of the partner variety. I don't pretend to understand why it is that the Ancient Ones, the Guardians, and the Celestial Angels feel the necessity to work through agents such as you, but their doings are not my concern. My lord Yggdrasil…"

Ryo frowned at the name, wondering about it as the strange, armored digimon continued to talk.

"…Has not objected to the bonding and merging of humans and digimon thus far, so the time has not yet come to address it. As such I will offer you one, and _only_ one chance to take your leave and avoid this battle. Consider it a gift from Yggdrasil. Now…I sense the presence of an X digimon in this world, and it is my duty to investigate it. Should you attempt to interfere your life will be forfeit."

_That's pretty direct,_ thought Ryo as he tilted his head to one side from within his data sphere with an expression of confusion on his face. _X digimon? Don't know what he's talking about there, and ditto for that whole bit involving this_ Yggdrasil _but from what I can already gather I'd say that this guy intends to cause some trouble…_

Justimon did not waver from his place in front of the dark digimon.

"Sorry. But I can't let you do that. Not without a more peaceful resolution to the matter. Something _other_ then stomping flat the entire city…"

"My target would learn of my presence here," said the digimon matter-of-factly. "I cannot afford to lose him. He could warn the others of his kind, and they are all a danger to my master and his plan." The knight hefted his weapon once more, this time pointing it at Justimon. "I cannot allow any delay. Every moment I waste is a moment in which my master's enemy's plans come that much closer to fruition. Choose now. Step aside, or perish!"

"Some choice," said Ryo sarcastically though within his data sphere his expression did not match his tone. "But like I said. I can't let you do that. And if you fight me, your enemy, whoever he is, is going to be alerted to you anyways and you'll still lose him…"

"In which case," said the knight in a tone that suddenly became as hard as stone. "I will have no choice but to destroy this city to ensure that he does not escape. _End Waltz!"_

Turning suddenly, the strange, warrior digimon began spinning like a top, and a destructive shockwave erupted from the cyclone, surging in all directions.

_Oh great,_ thought Justimon as the wave engulfed his body and swept him up into the air. _Can't these guys,_ just once, _not try to resolve things by destroying everything around them?_

No answer could have been more direct then the sight of his skull-faced opponent emerge from the tornado and rush towards him, whipping his twin-bladed spear in an upward arch and brought it slashing downwards towards him in an attempt to finish this battle as swiftly as possible. Not at all surprised by this, Justimon decided to step things up a bit.

_"Voltage Blade!"_

Morphing his cybernetic arm into a large, rectangular device that projected a red and orange energy blade from its tip, Justimon brought it up and blocked the oncoming spear. The force of the blow sent him falling back towards the ground where he landed gracefully, only to leap backwards as his opponent came at him again, narrowly missing landing on top of him and skewering him with his weapon. Frowning within his data sphere, Ryo switched tactics. His arm morphed again, this time returning to its original form of an arm before growing in size. Raising the lengthened limb above his head, Justimon slammed it down into the pavement, calling out _Thunder Clap_ as he did so. A shockwave tore through the ground, aimed at the armored knight as it charged forward with a speed that was rather surprising for its size. The sudden upset in the warrior's footing courtesy of the sudden instability of the ground caused the knight to throw himself forwards so as to avoid falling and leaving himself open to a counterattack. Not having any time to prepare his attack properly, the knight swung with his spear with a much smaller arch then before, catching Justimon off guard as he brought the flat of his blade down on his head with a loud _clang_.

Justimon gave a cry of pain as the force of the blow threw them through the entrance of a nearby building. People who were still inside trying to find a way out screamed in surprise and fear as Justimon came barreling in, glass, metal, and concrete flying in all directions. As if to add insult to injury Justimon plowed into a wooden receptionists desk, sending splinters of wood into the air. Justimon groaned in exasperation as a chunk of wood fell onto his head and rebounded off the metal plating that protected it.

_That went well,_ thought Ryo sarcastically as he got to his feet and brushed himself off. _I can already hear Rika telling me how sloppy that move was, but at least now I have an idea as to how tough this guy is. I can already tell that he's stronger then that Horn Striker agent that I fought during the D-Reaper invasion, and this time there won't be a cord that I can go for to weaken it. I hate to say it, but I'm going to need some help on this one. Wish I knew who he was…_

_"I have an idea who it is…"_ chuckled a voice from the darkness that surrounded Ryo's data sphere. A voice that seemed all too familiar…

_"Cyberdramon?"_ Asked Ryo hopefully, though he somehow doubted that he was the one who had just spoken.

_"What?"_ Snarled Cyberdramon. Justimon flexed his fingers, as if in anticipation.

_"Did you just say that you had an idea as to the identity of the guy that we're fighting?"_

_"No,"_ answered Cyberdramon impatiently. From within his data sphere Ryo shook his head before getting their combined form moving again, not bothering to continue the conversation. For some reason he wasn't at all surprised by his partners gruff response. At the moment all he cared about was vanquishing their adversary and not some voice that came out of nowhere, if he even heard it at all (and he certainly gave no indication that he had). Ryo doubted that he was imagining things. Too much had gone on recently to make him want to believe otherwise. That was the whole reason why he and Monodramon had begun their journey down to Hypnos in the first place. And now, here they were, fighting yet again another digimon with a preference for a scorched earth policy when dealing with an enemy. He had to take it down before he could worry about his own problems.

_Why hasn't this guy shown up to continue our fight?_ Wondered Justimon as he dashed forwards, leaping through the hole that he had made in the wall and took a look around. _In fact…where'd he go…?_

"I had hoped that you had better sense then this," called out a voice above him. Looking up, Ryo saw his opponent standing on the roof of the building that he had been sent into, holding his spear in front of him. "But I suppose that it can't be helped. You have the heart of a warrior born. I would have been surprised, and disappointed if you had abandoned this battle after so brief a confrontation."

Moving forwards, the armored knight took a step out into the air, and slowly descended towards the ground before coming to rest on the ground, pointing his spear at Justimon.

"Now that we have both been properly warmed up, why don't we continue this fight? Only this time, don't hold back. Lives are depending on both of us this day; lives from my world against the spread of the X-Antibody, and lives in your world for protecting it. Either way, the fate of two worlds depends on the conclusion of this battle, so you will give it your all or this city will be made ashes."

Justimon got into a defensive stance, trying to think of some way to turn the tide of battle. The most obvious way would be to break the biomerge and have Cyberdramon go toe to toe with the digimon while he was backed by card effects, but being the judge that he was of an opponents strength and intelligence, he didn't believe that it would be the most viable strategy, especially given Cyberdramon's level disadvantage and the fact that, as a human, not only would he be made a target he would also be more vulnerable.

_I just hope that someone gets here to lend a hand,_ thought Ryo as his enemy charged at him again, rotating his double bladed spear in his hands like a quarterstaff. _Otherwise things are going to_ really _get messy…_

* * *

Suzie Wong looked out the window of her families apartment home as she held her digivice in her hand, transfixed by the seemingly endless number of buildings that stood before her. Her digivice was making a series of clicks and beeps, and the compass function was pointing towards the depths of the city. Her mother was still awake, drinking some tea in an effort to calm her nerves. She herself was supposed to still be asleep in fact, but her digivice had awakened her, which was why she was where she was now. Lopmon stood at the young girl's side, looking up at her with wide, dark eyes, awaiting her Tamer's decision. It was plainly obvious that Suzie's mother, despite not being aware that her daughter was awake past her bedtime, would not allow the girl to venture out into the city even with a digimon as an escort but they did have a duty to take care of. And judging by the fact that the digivice had not ceased with its noises, whatever was going on had not been taken care of yet.

Suzie looked over her shoulder to see if her mother had entered the room. She hadn't. Turning her head back towards the window, Suzie walked over to the slider and tugged on it, trying to get the window to open so that at the very least Lopmon could go out and, upon digivolving to her Ultimate form of Antylamon, take care of whatever bad, evil, nasty digimon had come to wreck havoc in the city just like in all those monster movies that she watched whenever her older brother Rinchei was around. Huffing angrily when she found that the window would not open, due to the fact that it was locked, Suzie turned to her partner and mimed with her hands that she should get up on top of her head and unlatch it. Nodding in understanding, Lopmon climbed up, taking care so that they wouldn't be heard until she finally unlocked the window with her ears. This time, tugging together, the two partners opened the window just enough for Lopmon to exit through so that she could go investigate the situation. A gust of cold air caused Suzie to shiver slightly. They would have to hurry.

Squeezing through, Lopmon leapt outside at the precise moment that Suzie's digivice burst with light, enveloping the long eared, dark colored rabbit digimon as words came unbidden to her mouth.

"LOPMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…ANTYLAMON!

The light died down, revealing a much larger rabbit with an acrobatic disposition. Landing with an easy grace upon the ground, Antylamon bounded up into the sky, laughing with joy at having returned to her Ultimate form. A joy that was matched by Suzie as she squealed excitedly from her family's apartment before being interrupted by her mother as she came to see what all the noise and light was about.

* * *

Justimon was thrown into a car with tremendous force as his enemy bashed him with his shield. Groaning from pain and exhaustion, the Mega digimon tried to remove himself from the smashed and twisted metal of the vehicle. His enemy was approaching him slowly and calmly as if he had all the time in the world. His spear was extended like an executioner's axe over its potential victim's neck, and his glowing red eyes held no mercy within their depths. It was becoming increasingly clear to the Legendary Tamer that there was no help coming for him. The others had no doubt converged on the other bio-emerging digimon and were finding it to be about as difficult to put down as he was finding this one. The strength that this knight-like digimon held was incredible, easily rivaling most digimon that he had encountered in the digital world, with the possible exceptions being that of the Four Sovereigns (though having not fought them he could not say that he could properly judge that), which brought to mind the question as to the nature of this digimon's identity. The name of his master, _Yggdrasil_ , meant nothing to him though for some reason he felt that there was something familiar about it. Something that tugged at the edges of his memories, but for the life of him he could not figure out what it could be.

_This is not going well,_ thought Ryo as he struggled to remove himself from the car's remains. The bent, gnarled metal held fast, reluctant to let him escape as though it were a cruel, jealous lover. Soon enough, his opponent towered over him and brought his spear against Justimon's throat. Justimon looked up into the dark knight's red eyes, still struggling to escape his imprisonment though hope was beginning to dwindle.

_"Hmmm…Eniac's changed things quite a bit since I've been gone,"_ spoke up the voice that Ryo had heard earlier, its tone suggesting that it was amused by the circumstances that Ryo was in and not at all concerned with the fact that his life was about to come to an abrupt end. Ryo heard Cyberdramon snarl angrily as he finally heard the voice that Ryo had spoken of earlier, and Ryo's eyes widened as his partner gave confirmation to all of his fears.

_"YOU!"_

The voice chuckled in bemusement.

_"Yes. Me. Miss me Monodramon? I know Ryo does…"_

The spear blade rose slowly. Had Ryo been paying attention he would have thought that it was moving _too_ slowly. If he had been, he would have known who was responsible immediately and without question.

_"Milleniummon,"_ Ryo breathed.

The voice chuckled again.

_"Can't get anything by you can I, Ryo? Not that I'm trying to of course…"_

_"What do_ you _want this time?"_

_"Straight to the point are we? I'm surprised that you haven't figured it out yet. The same thing that I've always wanted ever since I first met you. Surprising how things turned out in the end last time, but this time things will be different. This time, my wishes will know reality."_

Ryo clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth.

_"Not this time. In case you haven't noticed, there's a digimon standing above me and he's about to finish me off…"_

_"Ahhh…yes. Craniummon. Lovely chap…"_

Ryo continued speaking over Milleniummon's words.

_"…And if I die, you'll die too. It's that simple. If dying is what it takes to stop you, then I gladly accept it!"_

_"Except you won't Ryo. Your destiny won't allow it. You and I are tied with the digital world's fate from now until judgment day. There is no escaping it."_

_"And what makes you think that destiny can't be altered?"_

_"Picking up Rika's philosophy now? Bad boy. You don't get a choice in the matter anymore. You picked it foolishly all those years ago back in our old world and now your stuck with it. But I'm going to help you Ryo. You and your friends. You see, one of them, Takato, is currently being attacked by a Dynasmon…a member of one of those annoying Royal Knights much like the Craniummon that's standing before you about to deliver the Coup de grace. I've managed to get the word out to two of his_ close _friends thanks to Calumon, but my ability to involve myself more fully in matters is…limited thanks to my other half, Monodramon."_

There was a pause from Ryo.

_"Why should I help you? Takato's proven himself to be fully capable of handling himself. I've got every confidence that he can win whatever battle he's fighting. He dealt with D-Reaper when the rest of us were losing, and he merged with BlackGuilmon to try and stop him from fighting…"_

_"Things are different now. Something else is preventing him from merging with his partner. I can't quite make it out…yet, but I do know that without assistance Takato Matsuki's partner will die. Sakuyamon will not be able to make it in time to help him."_

Ryo could scarcely believe what he was hearing. Milleniummon, one of the greatest evils he had ever encountered if not _the_ greatest, was actually offering to _help_ his friends? There had to be something to this…some price. With Milleniummon there always was…

_"Why are you helping us?"_

"That, _my dear Tamer, is for me to know and for you to find out. You could sit here, trying to think of all the possible ways that I could benefit from helping you while you wait for death to claim you and your fellow comrades…or you could trust me just enough to accept my offer while it's there and investigate my reasons later…waiting for me to show up. But that's the risk you've been living with ever since Monodramon forced that jogress with me, and you've been keenly aware of it since you've brought us to the real world. I hope that your decision sits well with you oh Legendary Tamer. Because one way or the other, you'll see yourself as losing. You have_ everything _to lose in this new home of yours…but you also have everything to gain."_

In his minds eye, Ryo saw not Craniummon but the twisting, two-headed dragon form of Milleniummon with the moon and starlit sky behind him. Set against the dark background was Takato's anguished face as he looked upon some great struggle that he had found himself unable to participate in, the flashes of which he was seeing now. The scene changed to Sakuyamon as she flew through the air, urging every bit of speed that her Mega form could muster to get to Okinawa as quickly as she could. What little of her face he could see showed him that she was greatly worried. And there was something else too. Perhaps it was because Milleniummon's presence in his mind was heightening his perceptions, or perhaps it was because of the memory that he had from the final battle with ChaosGallantmon when Sakuyamon had unleashed her attack and filled the park with a comforting light. An image of the Cherry Blossom that he had seen then, floating gently towards the ground came to mind and held his attention for a moment, as though it were explaining something to him just by its presence alone. Ryo's image of the world returned to Takato's face, this time crestfallen. The expression that he had worn when the loss of Guilmon was still fresh and weighed heavily on his heart.

Something about the scenes drew Ryo. Feeling his harsh expression softening, something in his heart became freed and suddenly a surge of power tore through the Legendary Tamer's body. The world around him snapped back to normal at that precise moment; Craniummon's spear descended towards Justimon's heart.

_"Make a decision…"_ Milleniummon's voice whispered in Ryo and Justimon's mind.

The blade point drew nearer. Once more the images of Takato and Sakuyamon's faces came to mind, and the spears path suddenly came to a halt as Justimon clapped his hands together on its sides, catching Craniummon off guard. Craniummon's eyes widened in surprise while in his data sphere, Justimon smirked. The rings of data that rotated around him began to quicken their pace and a bright light emerged from within Ryo's heart.

_"Show time,"_ said Ryo and Cyberdramon together as the light erupted from within, engulfing Justimon and Craniummon together before exploding outwards.

* * *

Antylamon arrived onto the scene shortly after seeing an intense light burst from within the depths of the city. She was rather surprised at the lack of devastation that should have accompanied such an explosion, but she wasn't going to look at it as a bad thing. She disliked the damage that was caused in battle, and too see so little of it from a large explosion was a miracle in her eyes. Leaping into the streets Antylamon looked around, trying to find any of the Wild Ones that Suzie's digivice had picked up. She couldn't ask Suzie if any were still around via their connection through the digivice, as she was currently being lectured by her mother about sneaking out of bed and making her worried, so she had only her senses to give her any clues as to the location of any nearby digimon.

So far, only one remained within her immediate vicinity. And that was a small, purple, spherical shape of Cyberdramon's In-training form of Hopmon, who was currently nestled in the crook of an unconscious Ryo Akiyama's right arm, as they lay prostrate on the street. Coming closer, Antylamon carefully picked the two up, pausing when she heard something clatter upon the ground. Looking to see what it was, Antylamon raised an eyebrow as she saw Ryo's digivice, glinting in the moonlight. Grimacing at the small fragile, looking object, the former Deva gently picked it up, and gave a small gasp when she got a closer look at it.

Ryo's blue colored digivice, where once a ring of white surrounded the screen, now held a ring of gold inscribed with strange symbols etched into its surface.


	23. Chapter: 22/ "And the Lion Shall Roar…"

Ryo gasped as he was jolted awake. By what, he didn't know. Certainly the fact that there was a giant bunny-rabbit had nothing to do with it as he had awoken to far stranger and oft more frightening sights then that in the past, most of which were altogether in a more chaotic situation then bounding off rooftops. What he _did_ know, was that a feeling, possibly that of dread, lay in his heart as though in expectation of something. Something _big_. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he knew that something was coming now, and it was _aimed_ right at him. Memories of his battle with the digimon known as _Craniummon_ flashed through his mind, and he recalled his conversation with his old enemy, Milleniummon.

_He was offering me something,_ thought Ryo as he bounced slightly in the grasp of Suzie Wong's partner, Antylamon. _At least, I think he was. For some reason he wanted to help, but to do that he needed me to do…_ Ryo frowned. _What, exactly? It's so hard to remember…_

An image of him fighting Craniummon, stopping the knight digimon's final attack as a burning field of energy began to flow over his body came to mind. Waves of power had surged through him when that happened, extending inward and outward beyond the limits of Shinjuku, and with it came a feeling of _oneness_ that transcended beyond anything he had ever experienced previously. Not even his first biomerge with Cyberdramon could compare with the sensation that he had felt then. But the question remained… _what_ was that had _happened?_

Ryo sighed and closed his eyes once more as the two feelings of completion, and fear at what his old nemesis had wrought clashed. He wasn't going to be arriving at any answers anytime soon. He was too tired from whatever it was that had happened to really give it the contemplation that was required. One thing that disturbed him though…about that feeling of completion…of _oneness_ …for some reason it had felt _right._ It had felt _good._ And the fact that Cyberdramon had felt the same, despite everything that had happened to them before in previous dealings with Milleniummon, was a tad bit unsettling to the Legendary Tamer.

Tad bit _is an understatement,_ thought Ryo as he felt himself drift further and further off into sleep. Unconsciously he pulled Hopmon closer to him as the sensations of rising and falling, like a crib does to a child, rocked him back to the world of dreams. This time at least, Ryo did so without protest.

* * *

_"Spiral Masquerade!"_ Shouted Crusadermon as she slashed her yellow ribbons at Beelzemon's body at a speed that was practically impossible for the Demon Lord to follow even with the enhanced senses that he had. Beelzemon gritted his teeth as he fought to keep himself from crying out against the onslaught, but even he had to admit that this battle was putting him to the test.

_Nothing hurts worse then a paper cut,_ thought Beelzemon sarcastically as a ribbon slashed a thin cut across his right cheekbone. Growling in frustration Beelzemon jumped backwards to avoid any further injuries, but even as he did so Crusadermon was on him within an instant, this time smashing her shielded fist into his stomach before executing an upward kick that sent him flying on his back towards the destination that he originally had in mind. Recovering almost instantly Beelzemon rolled to the side as Crusadermon descended towards him once again, stabbing downwards with one of her yellow ribbons as though it were a spear, actually penetrating the stone hard rooftop that they were fighting on and withdrawing it just as easily. Not to be perturbed (as he had seen far stranger things in all of his travels and battles) Beelzemon regained his feet in an instant and drew his Berenjena shotguns from their holsters and took aim at the offending, pink and violet colored knight that had attacked him so relentlessly.

"So, you like to have a good fight, do ya? You certainly make quite the impression on me; I'll give you that. But when you mess with me, the impression that you'll get is one from a _Double Impact!"_

With the pronunciation of his attack complete, Beelzemon's shotguns flashed as they let loose a twin pair of shotgun shells racing towards Crusadermon with deadly accuracy and even deadlier speed. As though she weren't at all concerned with the oncoming projectiles of death Crusadermon's form flickered as she sped up, easily dodging the attack without looking as though she had even moved. His brow furrowing angrily Beelzemon stepped up his attacks, increasing his rate of fire at a rapid pace, all the while Crusadermon's form simply continued to flicker as she dodged the bullets with contemptuous ease. Finally, when Beelzemon's guns came to a dead click sound, signaling that he was out of ammunition, Crusadermon sped forward and once more smashed her shield into the Demon Lord's face.

_"Fist of Athena!"_

Now Beelzemon gave a cry of pain as he felt his balance let go and his body topple backwards, his face jarred by the sudden impact that the metallic shield had inflicted. In a desperate bid to not lose whatever position of strength that he had in this battle Beelzemon flung his arms outwards, catching himself on the ground and flipping backwards, delivering a kick into Crusadermon's face with his spiked boots. Sparks flashed as the Royal Knight was thrown backwards by the unexpected assault and Beelzemon smirked as he reoriented himself on the rooftop, landing with an easy grace that belied the shakiness that he was presently feeling in his limbs.

Beelzemon's smirk vanished when he heard Crusadermon beginning to laugh at him.

"Hey! What's so funny?!" Beelzemon demanded hotly, incredulous as to how the Royal Knight could laugh at a time like this.

"You are," chuckled Crusadermon as she rose to her feet from the spot she had landed on. "You Demon Lords are always the same. You shout about how strong and powerful you are, patting yourselves on the back for the small victories that you attain in battle, but in the end you are nothing more then hot air blowing on the breeze."

Crusadermon took out a rose from seemingly out of nowhere and continued speaking whilst Beelzemon seethed silently in rage at the contempt that he heard in the knight's voice.

"When last we fought, each and every one of you promised that you would wreck a terrible vengeance upon us Royal Knights and the digital world…" Crusadermon eyed Beelzemon carefully as she playfully sniffed her rose. "…But so far I'm unimpressed with your empty oaths. Are you ready to fight for real this time, or do I have to increase the level of our game in order to get you to take this seriously?"

Beelzemon met Crusadermon's gaze levelly.

"Lady, I don't know what all this is about. I don't know _anything_ about this whole _Demon Lord_ business but frankly I could care less. All I _do_ know is, you showed up here and started attacking me." Beelzemon's eye color began to shift from blood red to emerald green as he said this, and the color of his leather clothes began to lighten slightly from the black that they had been before. "And while I ain't too keen on the idea of killing anymore, I do have a responsibility to make sure that you don't get the chance to hurt anyone else in this city _or_ this world."

Crusadermon scoffed at Beelzemon.

"Oh please! Don't tell me that a _Demon Lord_ actually cares about what happens to these pathetic humans! As much as I admire their tenacity and their ability to invoke digivolution in a digimon, they are hardly worth protecting. Not that it matters anyways. Once a Demon Lord, always a Demon Lord, and it is my duty to ensure that your kind never walks the real or digital worlds again. Feel free to try and stop me if you must, but you should know that you're fighting a losing battle."

Beelzemon gave a fearsome cry as great, black feathered wings tore their way out of his back and a mechanical, energy cannon materialized on his right hand, finishing his transformation into his _Blast Mode._ Crusadermon cocked her head to one side as she witnessed this sudden, and unexpected change in the Mega level digimon, suddenly unsure what to make of it. Beelzemon fixed Crusadermon with a dark glare as he raised his cannon, the _Death Slinger_ and brought it to bear on his opponent.

"Then I guess I'm going out with style," said Beelzemon as the cannon began to power up. _"Corona Blaster!"_

* * *

 "C'mon Guardromon! Can't you go any faster? I mean seriously! I've seen you fly faster then this before. Heck, my _grandmother_ could go faster then this…"

"Well, unless you want to become a smear on the pavement before we even get to the battle…"

"You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs…"

"I'm not sure that that's an apt metaphor, Kazu…"

Kazu frowned at his mechanical partner from his spot on Guardromon's head as they flew above the city. He knew that his partner was right when considering his safety, but moving at the pace that they were going was grinding on his nerves. He could see flashes of light where two digimon were fighting (he couldn't tell who they were due to the distance and the darkness in the sky that was called _evening_ ), and he wanted to get there as quickly as possible to help out whichever one of his friends was in trouble. There were times where Kazu disliked being so much weaker in comparison to his fellow Tamers. Not that the power difference was making him jealous (though the fact that Kenta's partner, MarineAngemon, was a Mega sometimes irked him), it was more that it limited his ability to join his fellow comrades in battle, as Guardromon was often deemed to be either too low of a level or too inexperienced with fighting to be of any serious help. Even after he successfully digivolved Guardromon to Andromon there was little that signified any change in this. True, his friends never begrudged his presence when he showed up to join in on the fighting, but sometimes it looked like they worked more to protect him when they should have been working together with each using their own strengths to contribute.

_Maybe it's just my imagination,_ thought Kazu with a sense of bitterness. _But sometimes I feel as though I'm only holding the others back. I want to protect my friends and help them when they duke it out with some wild digimon…_

Kazu briefly recalled Takato's battles with Lucemon and his encounter with the dark, demonic version of his partner as he thought this.

_…But what good can Guardromon and me be, when we're stuck at fighting at the Ultimate level only?_

Kazu shook his head as Guardromon rocketed forth.

_I can't think like that,_ he thought. _I've got to believe in myself and in Guardromon if we're going to be able to lay out any bad guy that comes our way! 'Cause if we don't, then we really will be holding the others back!_

Raising his head with a surge of determination, Kazu thumped his chest with his fist.

"Guardromon! How about a little somethin' to set the mood for the big fight that's up ahead? What're our rules for _savin' the world?"_

"Fight gallantly, save the damsel in distress, ignore homework, and laugh in the face of the villain…"

Kazu playfully slapped his hand on his partner's iron armor and laughed.

"You got it! Now let's go! HI-YO GUARDROMON, AWAYYY!"

* * *

Beelzemon cried out in pain as Crusadermon once again evaded the blasts that he fired from his _Death Slinger_ cannon and came in to belt him across the face with her _Fist of Athena_ attack before launching into the lightning swift slashes of her _Spiral Masquerade._ Things were not going well. Even with his mode change evening up the odds in that Crusadermon was no longer the only digimon involved that could fly, he was still at a disadvantage. Crusadermon was incredibly fast, and it didn't help things much that his energy cannon took one second too long to charge up to unleash his attack. The weapon itself, being as large and bulky as it was did little good in the up close and personal kind of combat that Crusadermon favored.

_This isn't working,_ thought Beelzemon as he gritted his teeth and fought through the pain Crusadermon was inflicting on him. _I'm going to have to switch tactics!_

Dismissing _Death Slinger_ for the time being Beelzemon flapped his wings and pulled backwards, one hand going for the Berenjena shotgun strapped to his leg while the other began to glow a dark, violet color around the clawed glove. Focusing hard, Beelzemon's third eye widened as it tracked Crusadermon's movements. For a brief moment, the blurred form of Crusadermon became visible as she flew towards him, shield hand pulled backwards to deliver yet another earthshaking _Fist of Athena_ attack. Beelzemon smirked.

_Gotcha this time…_

Quickly raising his right fist, Beelzemon parried the shield before clasping around her forearm and pulling the Royal Knight in close. In the same instant, he whipped out his Berenjena shotgun and fired it point-blank three successive times at Crusadermon's mid-section. A second later, Beelzemon let go of his grip on the knight's forearm and using his _Darkness Claw_ attack, slashed at her armored face. As Crusadermon shrieked in pain and surprise, the Demon Lord pulled back a bit with a flap of his wings and summoned back _Death Slinger_ and brought it to bear on the Royal Knight. The jaw-like apparatus at the front separated as electric death in the form of a purple sphere of energy began to form between them and dance upon their tips. Beelzemon pulled the trigger.

_"Corona Blaster!"_

Crusadermon's howls increased exponentially as the force of Beelzemon's attack once more caught her by surprise and sent her careening backwards as gravity took course over her now, out of control flight path, bringing her down on top of a rooftop with enough force to kick up dust and smoke as fragments of concrete was kicked up into the air. Beelzemon hesitated to deliver the finishing blow as he flew closer. The attack that he had delivered had been pretty brutal, but having fought a Royal Knight once before in the form of Gallantmon and ChaosGallantmon, Beelzemon knew from firsthand experience that it was going to take a lot more then that to put down Crusadermon no matter what condition she was in when he found her. He was loath to finish her off though, as she was currently lying on top of an apartment complex. A stronger attack would undoubtedly endanger any innocent bystanders that were inside.

_I guess the next move is up to her,_ thought Beelzemon grimly as he came to a landing and folded his wings behind his back.

Crusadermon got to her feet with a groan, and then chuckled harshly when her gaze lighted on the Demon Lord, surprising him.

"Not bad," said Crusadermon, her breathing ragged, but oddly enough she remained in good spirits. It was as if this fight were _invigorating_ her in some way that had nothing to do with her physical condition. Beelzemon shook his head in disbelief.

"I can see that I underestimated you a bit," continued Crusadermon as her hands fell to her sides. Beelzemon narrowed his eyes. "But I think that it's time to draw this game to its destined conclusion…"

"You're nuts lady," growled Beelzemon, stunned by Crusadermon's willingness to continue this fight in the condition that she was in. But then, he shouldn't have been surprised. He would have done much the same if he were in her shoes.

_So would Gallantmon, the Demon Lord thought to himself quietly._

Beelzemon frowned at the Royal Knight.

"You can barely stand, much less fight. I don't know who you're trying to impress here but you're not doing yourself any favors by continuing this battle. Look. If you just stand down I can get you to some people who can help you. And then, whatever your mission is we can help you out with that too before sending you back to the digital world! C'mon…just swallow your pride for once and let this one go already!"

Crusadermon paused as the Demon Lords words took a moment to settle in. It was rather surprising hearing them coming from a digimon like him. A Demon Lord that was more interested in helping someone, an enemy especially, then deleting and downloading their data? It was certainly a first for her. But then, it could be possible that it was all just a trick to get her to let her guard down…

Crusadermon smiled darkly beneath her helm as she raised her hands. Data began to form between them and began to take shape, forming a saber-like object reminiscent of Gallantmon's primary choice of weapon, only smaller and with gold and black stripes running up and down its sides. Blue fire surged up the sides as the weapon finished forming.

Crusadermon took a moment to glorify in Beelzemon's look of stunned surprise before rushing at him once more, stabbing outwards with her new weapon.

_"Royal Meister!"_ Crusadermon shouted, her cry of attack startling Beelzemon back to reality. Not having time to try and shoot her, Beelzemon brought his _Death Slinger_ cannon up reflexively to ward off the oncoming assault. Crusadermon's smile widened as her weapon surged forwards towards its target. The sound of shrieking metal filled the air as the upper half of Beelzemon's _Death Slinger_ cannon collapsed on the ground. Not even given a moment to mourn for the loss of the cannon, Beelzemon was thrown to the ground as Crusadermon deftly kicked him to the ground and pinned him down with her foot. Leering over the viral Mega digimon, Crusadermon pointed her lance at him and laughed.

"I really must thank that TigerVespamon for the data that he _donated_ to me when I destroyed him. Perhaps you can do that for me when I absorb you as well…"

Beelzemon's jaw opened slightly as he let that one sink in.

_Absorb? Oh no…_

Crusadermon pulled back her saber and Beelzemon's eyes traced its path. Scavenged data from a destroyed digimon…

The whistling sound missile flying through the air interrupted the weapon's final descent.

_"Guardian Barrage!"_

Crusadermon cried out in pain and shock as two missiles impacted into her armored form, dashing her to the side. Snarling underneath her breath, Crusadermon leapt into the air to avoid a counterattack from Beelzemon and looked for the source of the interruption, her eyes narrowing to slits beneath her helmet as she spied a Guardromon and a human child come to a landing on the rooftop that she and Beelzemon were fighting on.

"Hey! Beelzemon!" Shouted Kazu Shioda as he hopped off of his partner and drew a card from his pants pocket. "Need a little help there?"

Crusadermon glanced over at Beelzemon as he struggled to rise to his feet. Her mind racing, the Royal Knight realized that having lost her chance to destroy the Demon Lord outright thanks to the Guardromon's interference she was no longer confident in being able to destroy him as he was in far better condition then she was despite the injuries that she had inflicted upon him. Especially now that he had help. True, Guardromon was merely a Champion, but if she knew one thing about humans from the information that she had gathered over the years, it was that a digimon's level didn't stay the same for very long when danger was around.

_I need fresh data to heal myself and properly conclude the fight. The Guardromon will be more then adequate for what I need…_

Her form blurring once more Crusadermon sped towards Guardromon in the blink of an eye and kicked the oversized android down before Kazu could even react. Turning on a dime, Crusadermon lashed out with her free hand and slapped Kazu viciously across the face, sending him to the ground with a cry.

"Stay out of this boy," Crusadermon said in a warning tone that was far too jovial for the situation. "I don't want to have to hurt you too much now…"

_"Guardian Barrage!"_

Crusadermon _tsked_ as she lashed out with her razor edged, yellow ribbons, bisecting the two missiles as they rocketed towards her and causing them to explode prematurely. Not in the least bit daunted Crusadermon charged forwards and stood on top of Guardromon, the saber that had formerly belonged to TigerVespamon hovering directly above the android's eyes. Guardromon's eyes widened as he gulped. Had he been able to he would have begun sweating.

"Stay still," said Crusadermon in the same, jovial tone that she had used against Kazu. "This will only take a second."

The saber was raised slightly. Kazu's cry of rage and denial as he clambered back to his feet, fumbling for a card, _any_ card went largely ignored by the Royal Knight as she prepared to deliver death to his partner.

All this, Beelzemon saw.

It wasn't all that he was seeing though. In the time space of a moment, a lifetime of memories and decisions, the good, the bad, the in-between, all of them flashed through his mind. He saw Leomon, telling him about the real truth of strength and power. He saw Jeri's face, sad, lost, and horrified by his killing and subsequent absorption of the noble warrior as he asserted his own definition of power over the Tamers and their partners, their helplessness before him. He saw Takato's face, contorted with rage at what he had just witnessed, unable to comprehend how Beelzemon could even do such a thing. It hadn't been long after that that the monstrous embodiment of the Digital Hazard, Megidramon, was created, an event that would have repercussions later on down the road and leave Beelzemon with a sense of self-loathing for the crimes of his past. And now, here he was, reliving the same situation only in the reverse. Another digimon with their own views on strength, willing to do whatever it took to gain power and destroy all of her enemies, regardless of the pain that she caused, the lives that she took and trampled over in her quest.

A spark of rage flashed in the Demon Lords eyes, and the remains of _Death Slinger_ also sparked in time with it. An orange aura flickered around the shattered blaster before bursting into a bonfire, catching Crusadermon's attention and causing her to halt just centimeters away from the finishing blow and turn to see what the source of the light was. Beelzemon growled in anger as the fire that surrounded his right arm grew in intensity, breaking down _Death Slinger,_ transforming it into shards of data particles that flowed up into Beelzemon's hand, taking a new shape.

"You can't do this," said Beelzemon in a voice that could have crushed boulders with its intensity and cause the heavens to echo with thunder. Beelzemon didn't take any notice. He was too focused on the Royal Knight who was just now starting to look more then a little uncertainly at him. Beelzemon didn't even notice that he had started charging towards Crusadermon, just like he didn't notice the sudden shift in his eye color from green…to blue.

_"You_ WON'T _DO THIS!"_

The flames that surrounded his right hand flared suddenly and arched upwards, lengthening until it was as long as the arm that held it before being blown away by a sharp gust of wind. Sharp steel shone in the moonlight and traced its way upwards as Beelzemon lunged forwards.

_"LION KING'S SWORD!"_

A second later Crusadermon's scream could be heard over the sound of tortured metal giving away and the Royal Knight's body burst into shards of data. Beelzemon slowly opened his eyes and looked upwards at the pink and Rose-colored data particles as they rose into the air. Whether or not they returned to the digital world was not his concern however. Turning away from the data, Beelzemon looked over at Kazu and Guardromon, wondering why it was that they were standing there, gawking at him.

"Hey," said Beelzemon. "You two all right?"

Actually Kazu didn't look all right. His nose was bleeding and judging by the mark on his face he was going to have a really nasty bruise the next morning to go with it, but so far he was still conscious and functioning.

_Well, about as much as Kazu can anyways,_ thought Beelzemon sardonically as he took a step forward.

"Hey. Did you hear me? I asked you if…"

"The sword," Kazu whispered as he pointed at Beelzemon's right hand. "You've…you've…"

Beelzemon blinked and looked down, raising his hand as he did so. He gasped. In his hand he was holding a simple looking blade without a hand guard that was all too familiar to him. It was longer then what he remembered, but the design…he had seen it only briefly in the digital world and even though it had been sheathed then, he still recognized it.

"…Leomon's sword…" Kazu whispered once more. Without warning the boy's eyes rolled up to the back of his head and he slumped forwards. Beelzemon snapped out of his reverie and rushed forwards in time to catch the Tamer before he could even hit the ground. Silence reigned for a few minutes during which Beelzemon looked up at the stars, twinkling in the dark night above him.

_Leomon…_ thought the ex-Demon Lord with a mental sigh of relief at the memory of the lion digimon who had twice now helped him in his time of need. _Thank you…_

The silence was shattered by the sound of an explosion coming from the direction of the Hypnos building. A flash of light erupted from the depths of the city as Beelzemon fixed his attention on the commotion and focused on it with his third eye. As he watched he caught the outline of Rapidmon…or at least what passed for Rapidmon (he couldn't be too sure, in the darkness of the night, but he thought that the mechanical dog-bunnies color was off for some reason)… dropped a wolf shaped figure from its arms and fired a twin pair of missiles from its arms.

_"Rapid Fire!"_

The missiles detonated, the light from their explosion forcing Beelzemon to close his now azure eyes to protect them from its intensity.

And unknown to him, clutching onto the unresponsive body of his father, Henry Wong wept in anger and sorrow.


	24. Chapter: 23/Angel of Wrath

"Get… _away from HIM!"_ Sakuyamon shouted angrily as she landed on the ground with graceful ease and an expression on her face that promised punishment of the most extreme kind to the Royal Knight known as Dynasmon for his trespasses against her friend. Takato's mouth stood agape and blinked in surprise as he witnessed this sudden and unexpected turn of events. If he had been expecting anything to happen that would change his and Growlmon's fortunes this certainly hadn't been it.

_Rika…Sakuyamon…_ Takato shook his head, trying to shake off the stunned surprise that was presently blocking up his thought processes. _She…she came. But how…? Why…? Did she know that I was in trouble? Or…? Or did she…?_

A thousand thoughts whirled through Takato's mind, but he didn't have time to sort through them just now. Sakuyamon and Dynasmon were presently circling each other, and judging from their stances they were getting ready to fight. Dynasmon, even in his relatively battered condition from whatever had transpired prior to his arrival here in the real world, had so far proven himself to be an immensely powerful opponent, having already defeated another Mega without even breaking a sweat (though admittedly, DinoTigermon had been in a similar condition as the Royal Knight). As strong as Sakuyamon was, and despite being well rested for the battle, Takato had the sneaking feeling that she was going to need help for this one.

Royal Knights, Takato knew from experience, were renown for their ability to take vast amounts of punishment and still be able to fight well.

_Not that I was able to show the same kind of durability,_ thought Takato remembering his battle with Lucemon before pushing the memory to the side. This was not the time to be thinking about that sort of thing. Looking behind him, Takato was relieved to see Growlmon pushing himself up with his powerful arms. Memories or no memories, it was apparent that his willpower, when it came to fighting at least (as it certainly never applied to his appetite), was still as strong and unbreakable as ever. Takato's expression firmed as he nodded to his best friend. They were going to need it.

"Takatomom?" Asked Growlmon in a woozy voice.

_Poor guy,_ thought Takato as he gingerly fingered the side of his own head as another memory came to mind. _He must still be hurting from Dynasmon's attack…_

"Yeah boy?"

"Who's the lady who's come to rescue us? She's very pretty…"

_That's right,_ thought Takato as he bent down to pick up his digivice and the blue card that he had dropped on the ground earlier, fighting down the slight blush that he had developed from another batch of memories that had emerged from his partner's assessment of Sakuyamon upon seeing her. _He doesn't remember much. He doesn't know that he's friends with Sakuyamon…or that she's the biomerged form of Renamon and Rika._

"That's Sakuyamon," answered Takato as he got back to his feet, his hands once again clutching the blue card and gold trimmed digivice. "She's a friend. And we have to help her."

"Okie Dokies," replied Growlmon as he staggered upwards, trying to maintain his balance as he recovered from his injuries. His remaining arm blade snapped outwards and began to crackle with electricity. Takato felt a twinge of pain in his right arm from when DinoTigermon had broken off Growlmon's other arm blade, but the pain had become a distant thing despite the closeness of the link that they shared. Adrenaline combined with determination was taking care of dulling the shared pain. Raising the blue colored card to his digivice, Takato glanced at his friend and the Royal Knight. The familiar desire to protect his friend and comrades from harm arose within his heart and fired up his spirit. A second later sparks flashed as Takato slashed the card through the reader portion of his D-Arc, and a sphere of data began to materialize around Growlmon.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

M-A-T-R-I-X D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"GROWLMON! MATRIX DIGIVOLVE TOOO…WARGROWLMON!"

The sphere of data shattered, revealing the newly digivolved Ultimate level digimon, standing at attention and ready to do battle for his Tamer. With a mighty roar, WarGrowlmon took a step forward, causing the earth to tremble slightly beneath his weight.

Within her azure colored data sphere, Rika Nonaka raised an eyebrow.

_"Why'd he digivolve to Ultimate only? Why didn't Takato just biomerge with him?"_

_"I don't know Rika,"_ answered Renamon's voice from the darkness that surrounded the sphere of data. _"Perhaps Guilmon had been injured before we got here. Or some perhaps some circumstance regarding his rebirth is preventing them from biomerging. That might explain why his Ultimate form is different from what we're used to seeing…"_

Rika frowned as she looked WarGrowlmon over, not at all sure if she liked what the difference in appearance entailed. WarGrowlmon was definitely different from what she remembered. While the basic arrangement and size remained the same, the armor that covered the war dragon's body was wholly different. More angular and brimming with what looked like a greater variety of weapons and shoulder engines for combat and flight. The most obvious difference was the digimon's arms, which looked like little more then cannons when put up against the clawed, mechanical limbs that he had previously. And the arm blades were _definitely_ the most changed by far. Instead of the massive, scythe shaped blades they had taken on a more angular, _fang-like_ appearance with one great spike jetting away from the core blade. For a brief moment Rika cursed the fact that her Mega form prevented her from analyzing the digimon so that she could get an accurate idea as to its capabilities and why it was different. At least that way she would know what to expect and not be caught off guard.

_No time for that now,_ thought Rika as she turned her attention back to Dynasmon, who appeared to be unmoved by the dragon's transformation. Instead his attention was focused on the shaman digimon that stood in front of him.

_Of course,_ thought Rika, never once relaxing her guard. _Level…_

"Tell me something," spoke up Dynasmon in a calm, measured voice as he looked Sakuyamon over and frowned. "What reason does a soldier of the _Seer Council_ have going against Lord Yggdrasil's wishes to come here to protect an X digimon from my lord's will?"

Rika blinked within her data sphere, suddenly feeling confused.

_"Seer Council? Yggdrasil? X digimon? What's he talking about?"_

_"I don't know Rika,"_ said Renamon, sounding somewhat confused herself. _"But perhaps we can use this to our advantage. If there is a definite ranking system involved from wherever this digimon comes from, we might be able to use it to send him back to the digital world without having to do battle with him…"_

Rika shook her head.

_"We don't know what we're getting into though, or even what rules this digimon goes by. For all we know this_ Seer Council _could be subordinate to him or a completely separate group. I say that we forget about all of that and concentrate on keeping Takato and WarGrowlmon out of danger. And to be honest, I could use a little action to blow off some steam."_

Rika heard Renamon chuckle from within the depths of the darkness that surrounded her.

_"You never change…"_

Rika smirked.

_"I can't be any other way. Now let's send this guy packing!"_

Twirling her bronze vajra staff in her hands, violet energy shimmered around Sakuyamon's body as she fixed Dynasmon with a fearsome glare.

"You have crossed the border between the two worlds," said Sakuyamon in her dual voices of Rika and Renamon. "And have threatened the bonds of friendship by your actions and your mission. I cannot allow this to be continued."

Dynasmon scoffed at the priestess.

"I have sworn an oath to my lord Yggdrasil, and he has commanded that none save those who are Chosen are to be allowed to live in his new digital world. These… _X digimon_ ," Dynasmon pointed at WarGrowlmon with a look of disgust. "They have violated the sanctity of the new world and have broken all commandments. They are an abomination that cannot be allowed to continue to exist lest they corrupt all of existence with their _impurity_ , the _X antibody_."

Over on the sidelines, Takato blinked in confusion.

"But…Guilmon hasn't even been to the digital world for…uh…well, quite a while…"

_Smooth Takato…_ thought Rika sardonically as she kept her attention focused on Dynasmon. Dynasmon glowered.

"Be that as it may, I still have my orders. No X digimon will escape the wrath of Yggdrasil, and that monstrosity you stand beside bears its code within him. It must be purified!"

As Dynasmon said this the jewels on his hands began to glow and he pointed them at WarGrowlmon.

_"Dragon Thrower!"_

_"NO!"_

Takato's shout was joined by that of Sakuyamon's as she threw herself towards her friends, a shield of purple crystals materializing around her as she did so.

_"Crystal Sphere!"_

Dynasmon's disintegrator beams crashed into Sakuyamon's shield, and though she grunted from the strain of the blow the shaman did not falter, and instead her body burst into a golden aura as the shield immediately began to radiate outwards, encompassing her allies as the crystal shards that made it up smashed into Dynasmon, forcing him to retreat as he pushed against it. Finally, with a great cry, Dynasmon leapt up into the air and beat his wings in an attempt to gain some distance from the ever-increasing shield of crystal shards radiating from Sakuyamon. Within her data sphere, Rika frowned and gripped her bronze, vajra staff in her hands as her eyes traced the Royal Knight's path in the sky. As she watched, Dynasmon's body also began to glow and he opened his mouth. The image of a dragon began to flicker to life around him.

_"Breath of…"_

_**  
**I don't think so,_ thought Rika as she grimaced. Her left hand went down to her belt faster then the eye could follow, her fingers touching the four pipes that were attached to it as she mouthed a quick incantation before once again summoning the four elemental fox spirits of lightning, fire, water, and air and sending them to attack her opponent.

_"Spirit Strike!"_

As quick as the strike of lightning, the four fox spirits lashed outwards, snarling as they flew towards Dynasmon. Blue flames began to envelop the Royal Knight's body and Sakuyamon set her mouth into a firm line as she waited for her fox servants to make contact…or for Dynasmon to do so.

_"…Wyver…!"_

Dynasmon was cut off before he could complete his attack as the four fox spirits slammed into him. Sparks flashed as they slashed at his armor, tangling themselves around his body in their attempts to find a weak point in which they could gain access to the vulnerable digi-core that lay within. Growling in frustration, the jewels on Dynasmon's hands once more began to glow as he glared at the four fox spirits that continued to harass him.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Sakuyamon retracted her sphere until it encompassed only her, WarGrowlmon, and Takato and solidified it into a clear, energy projection before she stepped out of it. Takato raised a hand and was about to follow her when he encountered an obstruction preventing him from leaving. The shield itself.

_Wha…?_

"Sorry Gogglehead," said Sakuyamon without even turning to look at him, her attention still focused on the Dynasmon above her. "But right now I need you and Dino-Boy to stay out of the way until I need you. As much as I'm sure you want to help, this guy's a major player and last I looked, Growlmon had been injured. He's going to need to regain some energy before he gets his chance to step in."

As Dynasmon fired repeatedly at the fox spirits that flew about him, hacking at his armor with their mystical claws, Sakuyamon finally looked over her shoulder at the goggle-wearing Tamer.

"Unless that is you two can biomerge…"

Takato's eyes widened at that. The way that she said that gave Takato the distinct impression that due to his digivolving Growlmon to his Ultimate form only, she was aware, or at least suspected that he was having trouble in the biomerging department.

"Uh…actually…"

"Thought so," said Sakuyamon grimly. "Don't worry. You two will get your chance. Think of this as insurance just in case this guy unleashes something big your way, okay?"

Takato lowered his hand hesitantly, not at all certain if he liked this idea. For some reason he found himself not at all happy with being kept out of the fighting when he could at least do something. The reasoning _did_ make some measure of sense in his head; keeping WarGrowlmon in reserve until an opening was made that could be exploited. After all, WarGrowlmon _was_ at a level disadvantage, and the alterations in his form combined with his lack of memory of his previous life made it certain that he was completely inexperienced for this battle as opposed to Sakuyamon's battle experience and greater speed…

So why did his heart disagree?

_Something feels off here,_ thought Takato as he looked at Sakuyamon, feeling uncertainty take hold within him. But before he could say anything Sakuyamon turned away from him and leapt up into the air, using her mystical abilities to give her the power of flight. Takato's eyes flashed and he leapt forth, only to once more be stopped by the barrier that kept him and WarGrowlmon imprisoned.

"SAKUYAMON!" Shouted Takato as he pounded his fists on the shield. If the shaman priestess heard him or not she gave no indication of having done so as she flew through the air, reaching Dynasmon at precisely the same moment as he blew away the last of her kitsune spirits that had been plaguing him. Dynasmon turned just in time to see a fuming Sakuyamon fly at him at rapid speed and lash out with her staff, the metal object slamming into the side of his armored face with a resounding _clang_. Dynasmon winced beneath his helmet but was otherwise unfazed by the assault thanks in part to his Chrome Digizoid armor. Sakuyamon growled in irritation as she backed off a bit, fighting to not let her simmering anger take hold of her in the heat of the battle. It was plainly obvious that this digimon was her superior when it came to physical attacks, and with the amount of armor that he had covering his body it was highly unlikely that she could simply bludgeon him to death with something as simple as her staff. She needed something stronger, and with a lot more finesse if she were to overcome this particular opponent.

Fortunately she had that in vast abundance.

Before she could even power up her next attack, Dynasmon flew right at her, determined to close the distance between them and use his own strength where it would best be to his advantage. Seeing this, Sakuyamon flipped backwards in midair, her foot beginning to glow blue. As Dynasmon flew over her she lashed out, striking at his midsection and eliciting a grunt from the Royal Knight. Though the attack did little to actually harm him, it did surprise him just long enough to allow her to use another attack. Slashing her staff outwards, violet streams of energy formed upon the air and surrounded Dynasmon and began to enclose around him.

_Gotcha,_ Sakuyamon smirked as the bands of energy trapped Dynasmon in their crushing embrace. The Royal Knight strained against the entrapping energy rings, temporarily rendered helpless, though his armor protected him from the pressure that the rings exerted upon him. Not letting this moment go to waste Sakuyamon once again slashed her staff upon the air.

_"For friendship lost and friendship reborn,"_ Sakuyamon intoned as hundreds of shards of amethyst materialized in the air around her. _"In the name of all that is good in the world…you_ will _not win this day!_ Amethyst Wind!"

As Dynasmon struggled to free his body, the many shards of crystal rained down upon his trapped body as a great gust of wind blew over him. Dynasmon gritted his teeth. He would not give his enemy the satisfaction of crying out.

* * *

Kai poked his head out of the hole that had been made in his family's home cautiously as he checked to see what was going on. There was still the sound of battle being waged and flashes of light taking place in the night sky, but it seemed oddly distant for something that had been happening just on his grandfather's doorstep just scant minutes ago. He wondered if Takato had biomerged with Guilmon and had taken the fight up into the air (an odd thing since Takato had told him once that unless he was in his Crimson Mode or in the digital world he wasn't really able to fly), but upon seeing that Takato and WarGrowlmon were still on the ground…and _not_ fighting as far as he could see. In fact, they both appeared to be watching whatever was going on. Craning his head to get a view, Kai raised an eyebrow as he saw what looked like a distinctly female figure illuminated by the moonlight, gracefully dodging an attack by the knight digimon that had appeared earlier. Shaking his head, Kai turned his attention to his grandfather and attempted to help him get back to his feet. He was going to have to see what Takato knew about the situation…

* * *

Takato frowned as he watched Sakuyamon fight Dynasmon, his hands clenched into fists. He felt angry about what was going on, and what was more he felt helpless as well to effect things. He couldn't believe that Sakuyamon…that _Rika_ of all people had just done that! Sealed both him and WarGrowlmon in a protective shield to keep them out of danger. He knew after a fashion that she was right to keep him and WarGrowlmon out of the fight. Having seen Dynasmon's power up close, he had an idea as to just how much of a fight WarGrowlmon would put up, especially since even though he could fly he couldn't fly very well or very fast, essentially making him a sitting duck. Of course, stuck where they were, no matter how protected, they still were a sitting duck, and the very act itself practically flew in the face of how they had operated in the past. Takato wanted to understand why Rika had done what she had done, but…

_No. I can't think like that,_ thought Takato as he forced his hands to unclench. _I have to believe in Rika. I have to believe that her reasons are good ones. She and I…are friends…_ Takato resisted the urge to wince at that. It almost sounded as though he were trying to convince himself of that fact. _We've fought by each other's side for this long…trusted each other with a lot of things that went with Taming and friendship. For better or for worse…I trust her reasons…_

As Takato finished that thought, a great cry erupted from Dynasmon as he pronounced an attack, and a massive, blue colored, flaming dragon appeared in the sky. The dragon gave a tremendous, echoing roar before lunging at the shaman priestess that hung below it. An explosion lit up the night sky and Takato once again found himself slamming his fists against the shield that kept him and WarGrowlmon away from the conflict.

"RIKA!" Takato shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice drowned out by the nightmarish explosions that filled the air.

* * *

Sakuyamon was surprised to say the least when Dynasmon ripped free from the bonds that restrained him, but not so surprised that she didn't dodge the _Dragon Thrower_ attacks that he sent her way. Sakuyamon retaliated with a flurry of _Amethyst Wind_ attacks combined with coordinated _Spirit Strikes_ , but as before they had little to no effect on their target.

_He's just too heavily armored!_ Thought Rika angrily as she dodged another blast from Dynasmon's jewels. Growling, Dynasmon flew forwards once more in an attempt to grab hold of the shaman digimon and use his immense strength to disable her. Not willing to be caught Sakuyamon attempted to dodge once again…

…Only to be caught by her long, flowing, silver hair as Dynasmon twisted in midair, grabbing at her as she passed over him. Giving a cry of pain as Dynasmon jerked her towards him, Sakuyamon concentrated deep within herself, feeling the mystical winds blowing through her as once more her body began to glow with a golden aura.

_"Crystal Sphere!"_ Shouted Sakuyamon as she summoned a whirling storm of amethysts around her body and sent them radiating outwards, redirecting some of them with her mind to slice at the area of her hair that the Royal Knight held firmly within his grasp while the rest smashed into his body, this time eliciting a cry of pain from his mouth. Turning on a dime, Sakuyamon stepped up her attacks and once more unleashed her _Amethyst Mandala_ , the waves of energy crashing into Dynasmon and sending him careening backwards. The knight didn't take long to right himself again and he glared at Sakuyamon.

"What's the matter?" Spat Sakuyamon as she breathed heavily, but happily. No matter how much she disliked fighting, there was still something about it that charged up her spirits, getting her going like nothing else could. "Can't keep up with me?"

Dynasmon narrowed his eyes.

"I do not know why your kind has turned against Yggdrasil at this late hour," said Dynasmon, barely contained rage evident in his tone. "But I swear that whatever the reason is, you _will_ pay for it! Yggdrasil's will, will not be undone! Nor will it be challenged by the likes of you!"

"Dream on," said Sakuyamon as she steadied her staff. "You threatened my friend. I'm sure that you would do the exact same thing if you were in my position and I attacked someone you knew and cared about, or at least trusted."

Dynasmon was silent for a moment as he took this in before nodding and raised one hand in salute to the shaman digimon.

"Each of us has our own duties," Dynasmon said in a tone that was oddly filled with the warm glow of respect for Sakuyamon. "Perhaps you are not what I thought you were. But that does not change the fact that you are interfering with my mission. All X digimon, no matter who they are, are to be eliminated. They do not belong in my master's world…"

"…And digimon that cause pain and death so callously don't belong in this world either," shot back Sakuyamon as she clenched one gloved hand into a fist. "So let's get one thing straight between us. I don't care who your master is or what your mission is. You threatened one of my friends. That makes taking you down my number one priority…"

"Likewise for me to you as well," muttered Dynasmon as a light blue glow began to envelop his body. "It is time that we ended this!"

Dynasmon suddenly arched his back and opened his mouth as a surge of power filled his body. Blue flames licked at the air and the knight cried out.

_"Breath of Wyvern!"_

Sakuyamon gasped in surprise as a blue, fiery dragon lunged at her with blinding speed and impacted her body. Pain erupted all over, threatening to overwhelm her mind as she felt gravity take its toll on her now limp form. Gritting her teeth as she saw the ground rushing up to greet her, Sakuyamon called upon what magic she could to enable her to fly again and was, for the most part, marginally successful as she landed…or rather crashed into the ground. The brunt of the impact fortunately had been lessened by the magic that she had used as well as the armor that she wore. Distantly she heard Takato shouting her name, but she didn't pay too much attention. Right now she was breathing heavily, striving to recover from the devastating blow that she had received. Raising one arm, Sakuyamon pulled herself up from out of the trench that she had dug in the dirt ground, feeling the world swim around her. She refused to pass out though. Not when Takato and WarGrowlmon needed her…

Within her data sphere, Rika shook her head and gathered her strength, and with Renamon's help she pushed her Mega form back to her feet. Distantly she heard something falling to the ground…a piece of her armor that had taken more then its fair share of damage from the blazing dragon attack that Dynasmon had hit her with. Dynasmon landed on the ground a short ways off, looking her over to see if she was still a threat before walking towards her. Rika heard Takato shouting… _begging_ for her to lower the shield so that he can help.

Takato might as well have been shouting from Shinjuku for all the good it did him. As hard as Rika tried to do so, she could not collect herself from the daze that she was in. She didn't even hear Dynasmon speaking as he came closer to her.

"It's over Sakuyamon," said Dynasmon, his footsteps echoing as he drew closer. Takato pounded relentlessly on the shield and was now joined in his attempts to get out by WarGrowlmon as he slashed at the shield. Neither was even remotely successful. "Time to meet your fate."

Dynasmon reached out and grabbed Sakuyamon by her neck, jerking her forwards as he raised his other hand, the jewel beginning to glow as he powered up his finishing move. Takato was practically howling now. Tears streamed down his face at the helplessness of his situation. Rika's desire to keep him and WarGrowlmon out of the fight was working against her and there wasn't a thing that he could do about it. None of the cards that he had with him would have been able to breach the shield that Sakuyamon had thrown around the two of them.

_No…this can't be happening! It…_ can't be! _Rika…_

_"RIKA!"_

Sakuyamon gave out a gasp, not at the feeling of air being cut off from her lungs, but at the strange and sudden fury of emotion that blew up in her heart. Looking into Dynasmon's eyes told her everything that he intended, and that was the death of her, Takato, WarGrowlmon, and anyone else who attempted to stand against him. A deep-rooted anger that she had been holding back on when she had first begun her battle with Dynasmon suddenly flared to life, mixing with her desire to protect everyone and everything that she held dear. Her eyes narrowing dangerously Sakuyamon realized that Dynasmon _did_ have a weakness that she could use. Without even thinking, Sakuyamon summoned one shard of amethyst in one gloved hand, and with a fearsome battle cry containing all the rage and anger that was in her heart, Sakuyamon lashed out at Dynasmon and drove the crystal shard into the Royal Knight's right eye.

Screaming with rage and pain, Dynasmon threw Sakuyamon to the ground and clutched at his face, not even noticing the tremble of the earth beneath his feet until the massive form of WarGrowlmon enveloped him within his shadow. Dynasmon glared at the Ultimate level, virus digimon with his remaining good eye as data seeped down his helmet.

_"You…"_ the knight began angrily as WarGrowlmon began to power up his weapons, each and every one of them sighted on Dynasmon.

_"Atomic Megalo…BLASTER!"_

Twin, crimson energy blasts erupted from WarGrowlmon's chest and slammed into Dynasmon's body. Dynasmon screamed as the blasts pushed him backwards, making him crash into a cluster of trees where he, seemingly, burst into shards of data. WarGrowlmon watched the data float aimlessly away for a moment as he felt his instincts begin to calm down. His eyes, which had previously been narrowed to slits and feral, returned to normal and he looked down to see a yellow fox-like digimon, holding herself up shakily with one arm and looking over to her side. Following the foxes gaze, WarGrowlmon found his Tamer, sobbing heavily as he held onto the inert form of a red haired girl, and crying out the name, _Rika,_ over and over…


	25. Chapter: 24/ Resting Period: Part 1

_"Well now…this was rather unexpected. All three Royal Knights have been defeated. DinoTigermon has been deleted along with a large portion of our forces…that'll put a crimp in Project Exodus for certain…"_

_"We still have our forces in the Verdani Terminal led by WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon…"_

_"Except that they've cut themselves off from us, remember? They didn't approve of Exodus or the involvement of the humans of this world. They don't want to involve innocents in a war that would surely cause severe damage and casualties to both sides."_

_"It amazes me that they could turn their backs on their own people knowing full well that Yggdrasil planned to wipe out the old world when he unleashed the X-Virus."_

_"They have their reasons, just like you had yours when you broke away from the others. Like I did when I first joined with your group. At any rate, we must rethink how we're going to go about this now that our forces are crippled…"_

_"Crippled? I don't think_ crippled _even describes what happened to us last night. We were getting destroyed! I haven't seen so much as a single survivor of that battle, aside from DinoTigermon and you saw what happened to_ him _when the Royal Knight Dynasmon caught up to him."_

_"Yes. That blue cloud was even more unexpected then the defeat of the Royal Knights at the hands of the Tamers. The Tamers at least we know something about in terms of their capabilities. After D-Reaper and Parasimon, defeating the Royal Knight's is certainly within the realm of their capabilities. This…_ entity _…I've never seen anything like it. Although from what you've told me about D-Reaper there seem to be some similarities."_

_"D-Reaper…_ the Chaos _was a formless red mass that only took on more definite shapes in the human world. This thing…there are similarities, I don't dispute that but there were differences. If I didn't know any better I'd say that it was searching for something. Even when I'm caught up in trying to survive I pay attention to any subtleties."_

_"Hypnos hasn't picked up anything unusual on their scanners. It's safe to say that whatever that program was it hasn't found a way to bio-emerge yet. But if it's been assimilating data from the digimon that it's been encountering so far, I wouldn't count on that staying that way for very long. You said that it was resilient to your attacks? What do you figure? Some kind of immunity to the X-Antibody now?"_

_"Your guess would be better then mine. You're the one who happens to be the expert at this sort of thing, though from what I saw I would imagine that there is at least a resistance."_

_"Hmmm…well, there may be a way that we can use this. Project Argus is still garnering support, especially after the most recent disaster at Hypnos. If this entity makes its way to the real world and the Tamers show themselves as being inadequate with dealing with it…with or without Exodus, your people will get the aid that they need to combat Yggdrasil and his servants."_

_"I see. And what of the Royal Knights? What about them?"_

_"Their involvement may be beneficial to us later. I say let them be for now. Just make sure that you stay clear of them for the time being. I don't want to have to rescue you twice."_

* * *

Renamon looked out towards the horizon from her spot on the floor by where her Tamer slept peacefully, watching the morning sun as it rose elegantly in the sky, transforming the sky from a deep darkness to a rough, golden-orange hue that only brightened as the minutes ticked by. The kitsune's ears twitched as she heard sounds emanating from within the Urazoe household, home to Takato's cousin, Kai and his grandfather, Wataru. Looking down at the sleeping form of Rika, Renamon gave a small smile upon seeing that the girl's rest wasn't disturbed, and her slow, even breathing continued unabated. Rika had been left exhausted from the battle with Dynasmon, more so then Renamon had been despite the closeness of the bond that they shared, perhaps due to Rika's age despite the experience that she had in dealing with the fatigues that came with battle. Dynasmon had been a particularly powerful opponent as well, and his last attack had caught them both unprepared to defend against it. It was a wonder that they had managed to summon the strength necessary to deliver their final blow against the Royal Knight.

And that was something that Renamon always admired about Rika. No matter how powerful her foe was or what obstacles were thrown in her way, she always had the inner strength that was required to overcome them.

Renamon placed one paw on her partner's face, caressing it as lightly as she could so as to not wake the young girl up from her sleep and thought back to last night, remembering how fearful and upset Takato had been about Rika's well-being after the battle had concluded. Renamon couldn't really blame him. He had been shut behind a force field, by one of his closest friends no less and had been made to take a back seat and watch as she and Rika, as Sakuyamon engaged in battle with Dynasmon and had come within inches of being destroyed. Not exactly the smartest move, Renamon felt upon further reflection (though she had to admit some measure of reluctance in going along with the idea to begin with) but one that she could understand given the girl's desire to protect her friends from harm.

_This could become a problem,_ thought Renamon, her azure gaze becoming introspective as she thought over the torrent of feelings and emotions that she had experienced from her merging with Rika. _Rika's still largely unsure about her feelings for Takato at present, and Takato…_ Renamon narrowed her eyes slightly as she thought about the goggle-wearing Tamer that was her friend and ally. _…I can imagine that he must be highly confused about their situation, perhaps more so then Rika due to his own feelings for Jeri. Their friendship, their bond has been thrown out of balance by Rika's actions. Rika's desire to keep her friends, in this case Takato, safe from danger is causing her to be overprotective, which will disrupt how they interact with each other and fight battles in the future. By the same token, their uncertainty of_ how _to interact in light of what went on between them…_

Renamon shook her head as she turned her attention back to the sunrise, amazed as to how things between two people could change so suddenly and drastically because of one act of deep, loving friendship. After a fashion she could understand. In her own way, Renamon loved Rika the same way that she did her, both caring about each other and trusting each other the way that few others could. But this…what occurred between her Tamer and Takato was something that she could tell was of a completely different order then what she had known in the past, and it held the power to strengthen or destroy the bond that they shared. Renamon gave a small sigh as she thought about how things had gone between her and Rika back at the beginning of their partnership. At first glance things had appeared so simple. Rika had simply been a way for her to get stronger and Rika hadn't been much different. As time had passed they had grown to care about each other quite a bit, more then either of them would have admitted until the lack of communication between them nearly cost them their lives as well as their partnership.

_And now she's going through almost the exact same thing all over again, only this time with Takato…_

Renamon was jolted out of her reverie at the sound of a light knock on the slide door that led to the room. Getting up from where she sat, Renamon gracefully walked over to the door and opened it just enough to see who was there. Renamon relaxed when she saw that it was Takato, holding what looked like a tray with breakfast.

"Um… morning Renamon," said Takato in an uncertain voice. Renamon nodded in greeting to the boy and gave him a small smile.

"Good morning Takato. Sleep well?"

Takato chuckled nervously.

"A little bit. How's Rika?"

"She's still resting, but otherwise she's fine," said Renamon, taking note of the sigh of relief that the boy made upon hearing that the red headed Tamer was okay.

"That's good," said Takato. "After last night I was worried that she…well…you get the picture. You were there after all…"

Renamon looked at the boy with a concerned expression, having seen a brief shadow of fear appear on his face as the memory from last night passed through his mind.

"Takato…"

"A-Anyway! Um…I…ah…I brought Rika some breakfast that I thought that she might like. Kai and his grandfather are putting together some day clothes that she can use and trying to guess her size until we get her something from town…" Takato's voice trailed off as he began to look a little uncomfortable now, though why precisely this was Renamon couldn't tell. Rika _was_ still fully clothed, even if she was only in her pajamas, a result of the speed that they had to depart the house from. Renamon frowned as a thought entered her mind. There was something unnaturally odd about how quickly they had arrived at Okinawa…

"Um…yeah," continued Takato, stammering a little as he held out the tray of food to the vulpine digimon. "So…uh…this is for you guys and we'll see you around whenever you two feel ready."

Takato offered Renamon a goofy, uncomfortable grin as she accepted the tray with a slight inclination of her head.

"Thank you. How's Guilmon doing?"

Renamon thought back to the crimson colored dinosaur that she had not seen these past few weeks, remembering her own surprise in spite of her exhaustion at finding that Guilmon had changed quite a bit during his _rebirth_ , mostly in his appearance if not his personality. While the way he looked was something to wonder about, and perhaps be concerned over it was not the main thing that she regarded as being important at this moment. Guilmon's mind, or rather his memories, the lack thereof had surprised her when he had greeted her and asked her name. Later, when Takato was helping Kai and his grandfather dress her wounds he had informed her that Guilmon was missing most if not all of his memories of his previous life, no doubt as a result of his having been deleted. This, Renamon found, saddened her as it seemed to diminish the bond that she and the rest had shared with the red colored reptile for the past year. Trying to help bring out Guilmon's memories, if they were still there and only buried, was something that she intended to try at some point when she was able.

"Well," began Takato as he scratched the back of his head nervously. "His arm still hurts from last night, but as that hasn't affected his appetite I guess that he's okay. Right now he's having breakfast and hoping that Calumon will stop by later…"

Renamon nodded again and a silence fell between the two friends. After a few seconds Takato's expression became troubled.

"So…ah, I'll see you guys later."

"Of course," replied Renamon and with that Takato turned and walked away, Renamon watching him go for a few seconds before closing the door to the room and walking back over to where Rika lay, setting the tray of food down as she arrived. She debated waking Rika up so that she could have her breakfast while it was still fresh and continuing to let her rest. Fortunately, the fiery Tamer took care of the decision making for her as she made a light groan, shifted her legs beneath the blanket that covered her and carefully cracked open her eyes. Renamon paused as Rika took a moment to stretch and yawn, rubbing her eyes as she awakened to the world around her. Suddenly the girl paused, as if contemplating something before nearly flying out of her bedding, her eyes widening in surprise as Renamon caught her by the shoulders. Rika panted heavily for a moment, her eyes wide before finally relaxing and taking a look around her. Renamon waited as the young girl collected herself.

"Renamon?" Asked Rika uncertainly. "What…?"

"Dynasmon was destroyed," said Renamon. "You passed out from exhaustion after the fight was over and we devolved. It is now the morning after the battle and all is well." Renamon paused. "Well, as well as things can be I suppose."

Rika looked at her partner with a suspicious look.

"What's that mean?"

"I'll explain as you eat," said Renamon as she picked up one of two containers of food that had arrived with the tray. "Takato was kind enough to bring us breakfast while you slept…"

Rika frowned as a light blush crept its way onto her face at that when Renamon handed her the container and a pair of chopsticks for her to use.

"Hmmph. Since when does Takato get to be my nursemaid?"

Renamon gave Rika a critical eye.

"Perhaps for the same reason that you've chosen to be his protector," said the vixen with a subtle, hinting tone to her voice, causing Rika's blush to increase in its intensity as she took the container and proceeded to open it, her motions controlled, but agitated.

"Stupid…" Rika muttered to herself grouchily as she began to pry off the lid, faintly wondering why it was that something in the container felt… _odd_. As though it had liquid in it…

"What is Rika?" Asked Renamon. "The fact that Takato decided to get you some food or…?"

"It's…" Rika began, interrupting her partner before pausing as she searched for the right way to express what she was feeling just now. "…I don't know. _Everything_ I guess. This whole situation. Me…him…this _isn't_ what I expected Renamon. Things feel so weird right now, so off kilter that I don't know quite how to react to that Gogglehead. Knowing him he's going to want to give me too much space and not want to talk about … _that_ , and if he _does_ he's going to be tripping over his own words and…"

Rika growled at the lid that covered her plastic container. It was proving rather difficult to remove for some reason.

Renamon watched her Tamer struggle with the lid, knowing that Rika preferred to deal with even the smallest of problems on her own and respecting her desire to do so. In a way, it almost felt to her that this was an externalized struggle of Rika's emotions.

"From what I recall of our own conversations, this meeting hasn't been something that you've looked forward to with any degree of optimism. In fact, you've been more or less dreading it for weeks now. What did you call the waiting period this past week? _The curse of expectation?"_

Rika halted in her attempts to open her food container and closed her eyes as she gathered her thoughts. The soreness in her muscles was as nothing compared to the flurry of tightly wound emotions that she had been experiencing during the last few weeks.

"Yeah. I know. I…guess that there really isn't much to say about that. It's just…I don't know. I value Takato's friendship and I care about him a lot but…" Rika furrowed her brow and shook her head, the loose strands of her hair, no longer tied back in the traditional ponytail that was her trademark, brushing across her face and the back of her neck. Rika blew at them in annoyance as she looked back down at her food and returned to trying to open it. "…I just wish I had some clue as to what's going through his mind about…what happened between us. I wish that I were certain about anything involving _that_."

Rika again paused for a moment.

"I wish that I was certain about how _I_ felt…"

Rika's frown became deeper and her violet eyes narrowed as she resumed her attack the container's stubborn lid.

"Stupid," the red haired girl reiterated. Renamon didn't say anything, as there was little that she could say that they hadn't already discussed before. The only clear option was to do with Takato as she had done with Jeri, and that was to talk to him and take things from there. Renamon sighed mentally. Rika's own questions in regard to how she felt about Takato were one of the issues that she had given much thought of during the time following the day of the kiss that she shared with Takato, and each time that she did so she couldn't arrive at a concrete conclusion as to what exactly those feelings were. She knew that in times past she felt a strong sense of camaraderie, at least once they had become more comfortable around each other and had fought side by side often enough. Their friendship had its ups and downs, as was the case with many friendships but it had grown to become consistent and strong since their early days, becoming to the point where they could easily count each other as being among their _closest_ of friends. Rika had been greatly affected when Takato had gone into depression after Guilmon had been killed by the angelic digimon, Lucemon, and that experience combined with her desire to help Takato get through his loss had caused her to become emotionally closer to the boy…

But did that mean that she cared about Takato in a way that went beyond the normal boundaries of friendship? Or had she been moved out of pity?

A good question, Renamon felt. And certainly one worth considering along with the hundred of others that had managed to further complicate Rika's already complicated life. Renamon wished that there were more that she could do for her, but aside of simply offering emotional support this was something that only Rika and Takato could handle. It was simply a matter of finding out who would have the courage to make the first move.

Rika gave a triumphant smirk as the lid finally popped off. Setting it aside, Rika picked up her chopsticks and prepared to dig in.

"Anyway," said Rika, glancing briefly at Renamon before turning her attention to her breakfast. "What else has been going on while I was ou…?"

Renamon raised an eyebrow at Rika. The girl had cut herself off before she finished her sentence. Looking over at the Tamer, Renamon found Rika looking at her breakfast with eyes that had gone slightly wide in surprise. Moving her gaze down to the container Renamon found that the container held soup, the same kind that she herself had. _Misoshiru_. The same soup that Rika normally had at breakfast when home.

"Rika? Is everything…?"

"Y-yeah," stuttered Rika, frowning at herself as she did so before raising her chopsticks and began eating. "It's nothing."

Renamon kept her gaze on Rika for a moment before speaking again, this time updating her on Guilmon's condition since his revival. Rika listened intently as she ate, though her mind was more focused on the food that she was eating. As Rika ate, a thought made its way through her mind, and though it was little more then a whisper it still sent echoes through the corners of her mind.

_He remembered…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Misoshiru, or Miso shiru (Miso soup) is a traditional Japanese soup containing a kind of flavored broth and miso paste (which is made by fermenting rice, soybeans, and barley with salts and some type of mold called kojikin). Any other ingredients used vary from place and season in Japan. In an English/Japanese comparison of the dub and original versions of the Tamers season (more specifically episode 43 Beelzemon's Big Day) when the Tamers made breakfast at Takato's house Rika/Ruki is supposed to have said something along the lines of how she preferred Misoshiru for breakfast before being scolded by Renamon. Whether this is true or not, I don't know for certain (as I have no access to subtitled versions of the Tamers season), but I felt that it had a place here. Not really all that big in the grand scheme of things but a nice addition nonetheless.


	26. Chapter: 25/ Resting Period: Part 2

Rika opened up the door to the room that she had slept in, holding onto the tray carefully in her arms as she made her way out and slid the door shut behind her. Renamon phased into view next to the auburn haired Tamer and shared a glance with her, both of them nodding to each other before the vulpine digimon disappeared from view, apparently setting off with her own agenda in mind before they did anything else. With a firm expression set on her face, Rika turned and began to walk down the hall as she attempted to recall the layout of the house from her last visit, her bare feet making a padding sound on the wooden floor as she went. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. The house may have been constructed in the same manner as her own, traditional home, but it was significantly smaller by comparison and everything that was necessary was much closer to the living quarters then she was used to. As she made her way into the kitchen and placed the tray on the counter and dumped the containers into the sink, Rika noticed the sound of a musical instrument being played upon. It had a familiar, sound similar to that of the tone on a Sanshin, a banjo type instrument, and it played with a haunting, melancholy sound that drew her. Leaving the confines of the house Rika listened carefully and began to follow the sound over to the house's front porch where she found Kai's grandfather, Wataru Urazoe sitting, plucking away at a Sanshin just as she had thought.

_I've seen him use that the last time I was here,_ thought Rika as she stood there for a moment, listening to the elderly man continue to play the Sanshin. _Funny. Back then I thought that it was just a weird quirk of his, and he had already been pretty weird when I first met him. Now though…things seem to be different._

Rika tilted her head to one side as she remembered just how different a person she had been even in those days. The Deva attacks had only just been beginning, and while she had ceased to see digimon as lifeless data and fully accepted Renamon as a friend, she had still been of the mind frame that anything not having to do with digimon was for intents and purposes strange, stupid, or not worth knowing.

_Funny how things work out,_ thought Rika as a light breeze played at the loose strands of her hair.

With one last pluck of the strings, the music faded away, and Wataru spoke without looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was there.

"If you're looking for your friend and Kai they're currently out on the ocean fishing for our lunch."

Rika blinked. _How'd he know that I was here?_

"Uh…yeah. Thanks," said Rika giving a wry chuckle. "But I wasn't looking for them. At least not yet."

"I see," said Wataru as he gave one of the strings on his Sanshin a light _twang_ with his fingers, apparently trying for a new tune. "We managed to put together some clothes for you that a neighbor was kind enough to provide. We weren't certain as to your size so we have a few pairs waiting for you in the living room."

Rika nodded and said a quick _thanks,_ not sure what more to say to that. Her last experience here had taught her (and everyone else in this household for that matter) that the clothes would be to her satisfaction and that anything with an overabundance of the color pink or even the hint of a skirt would not so much as exist in whatever clothing that had been picked out for her. Casting her eyes around the area Rika frowned upon finding the hole in the wall, a remnant of the battle against Dynasmon. Or was it DinoTigermon? Renamon had only told her from her conversation with Takato last night that two Mega digimon had arrived in this area of the real world, not what it was that they had done upon getting there, though given her own experiences it didn't seem like it would be that hard to guess.

As Rika looked at the hole in the wall her eyes lighted on the familiar outline of a small rowboat sitting on the water a distance away from the island, little more then a dark shape to her from this distance. She fancied that she saw two figures swimming in the ocean but she couldn't be sure.

"Don't worry," said Wataru still playing his Sanshin, his fingers moving over the strings with a smooth, easy, almost _affectionate_ grace, neither moving too fast nor stringing too hard, but each according to the strings rhythms, blending them in with a kind of harmony that Rika found fascinating to listen too. "The damage can be repaired. There are more important things to worry about in this world then a little piece of damage to a house. Of course, a home with a hole in it is not something that one should ignore either…"

Rika gave the old man a quizzical look, faintly wondering if he was referring specifically to the hole in his wall or to something else in particular. Wataru, she recalled from her brief, first meeting with him from nearly a year ago had a way of sounding vague and unassuming that could hold layers of meaning to his words and his actions. She had once blown him off as being eccentric and odd (a sure sign that he was related to Takato she had felt at the time) but there was something about him that unnerved her while simultaneously making her feel at ease. She didn't quite know what to make of him anymore, but she had an idea that there was more to the elder Urazoe then what she had originally thought.

_Maybe I'm reading too much into things,_ thought Rika with a light shake of her head before continuing with a more pessimistic tone. _Or maybe Gogglehead said something that he shouldn't have. Not that I blame him. Even I went to talk to my mother about_ that _before I went to talk to Jeri._

Rika cast her mind back to her conversation with her mother. She was still rather surprised that her mother hadn't dissolved into a fit of giggles and extreme happiness at finding out that her daughter had found a boy that she liked in a way that was more then just friendship. It was quite the opposite of what she had been expecting, or maybe she just didn't give her mother enough credit. Rika supposed that despite all the bonding that they had been having since the brief pause in her life as a Tamer she still had the mental image of a woman who would become the stereotypical girly-girl at so much at the slightest rumor that her independent and tomboyish daughter had a boyfriend. Instead of reacting the way that Rika had expected, Rumiko had become quite… _nostalgic,_ and almost _melancholy_. They had had a long talk that day as she recalled, with Rumiko showing quite a bit of concern for how Rika had taken her _experience_ , taking on a glow of maturity that she had only come to see when she realized that her mother was not the selfish woman that she had previously thought she was.

_Sometimes I can't believe that it's taken me this long to find that out,_ thought Rika as she glanced back at the hole in the wall and at the boat that floated on the sparkling water, thinking over what grandfather Urazoe had said, wondering if there really was something of an application of his words to her own situation. _Holes can be repaired. I can't exactly leave it as it is. In this case, it_ _ **is**_ _important to fix it. But the question is…is this the right time for that?_

Rika drew her left hand up into a fist.

_Takato came here to get away from stress…and…as much as I'd like to talk about what happened between us and set things as straight as I can…this might not be the right time. Yamaki's going to need to know what happened here, and what's going on with Guilmon so that when Takato gets back he'll have an answer about his condition and maybe even a solution. Mom's probably worrying about me…_

Rika's thoughts trailed off as she realized what it was that she was really doing. She was essentially talking herself out of having a discussion with Takato. She wanted quite badly to discuss things with him, and she was sure that the same applied to Takato as well, but in her heart she did wonder if this was the right time. She couldn't ignore what had happened between them, as she had thought about it quite a lot ever since she had kissed the boy, but…was it right to confront him about this now? Shouldn't she wait for his vacation to end before talking to him about it, rather then interrupting it and possibly making things between them worse?

Rika frowned, hating the direction that her thoughts were going. She disliked the uncertainty, the _timidity_ that they had to them. She had never once been able to talk or act normal around the Gogglehead that she called her friend ever since that fateful day, and even her thoughts felt as though they weren't sure what to think about him. It clashed with how she went about things in her life, with her personality especially. She recognized that yes, some things in life were going to be filled with periods of uncertainty, and she knew that this was one of them, but she had known Takato for at least a year. Not really a whole lot of time but given the sort of things that they had been through together she felt that she knew him well enough that their friendship was strong enough to weather this particular bit of trouble. They had already been through quite a bit already. Why should this challenge be any different?

_Besides the fact that it drastically alters how we look at each other and our friendship,_ thought Rika with a sense of bitter sarcasm as she folded her arms across her chest. As though noticing Rika's tension, Wataru looked over at her and gestured with his Sanshin.

"Would you like to play?" The old man asked with a smile on his face. Rika looked at him and smiled back, but politely shook her head _no_ in response. Not in the least bit slighted by the girl's refusal, Wataru went back to his Sanshin and plucked at the strings again.

"You know," he said calmly, his voice carrying an undertone to it that oddly reminded Rika of the gentle breeze that continued to blow at the tips of her hair. "There comes a time in everyone's life where they need to take a moment to step back from what they do and intend to do. Sometimes it is necessary to revitalize ones spirit so that they can have a clearer understanding of what they have to do in the upcoming future…"

Rika again fixed the elder Urazoe with a raised eyebrow, now certain that he _did_ know a little bit more then he was telling, not doubting that he would have been aware of the troubles that lay heavily on her heart even without Takato saying anything. There was just something about him that looked deeper then just what was appearing on the surface. Perhaps because he had already experienced such emotions in his own life.

"Sorry," said Rika after a few moments had passed in which she had actually given some thought to what Kai's grandfather had said. "I'm not too terribly interested in…"

Rika paused as a thought came to mind that made her reconsider her decision.

_Didn't Kai say the last time that I was here that his grandfather was a martial arts master?_

* * *

Takato burst up from beneath the water and pulled himself into the boat, gasping for breath as he took off his goggles, trailing water behind him and bringing himself to rest on the floor of the boat. Kai chuckled as he watched his cousin.

"Better now?" Asked Kai with a small, humorous smile on his face.

"Much," said Takato as he let himself be lost to the rhythmic rocking of the boat on the surface of the water, enjoying the heat of the sun upon his now wet body. "I really needed that."

"I'll bet you did," said Kai, looking over at their catch so far. A few fish lay in between them, most of them having been caught by Kai earlier when they had both been in the water, to say nothing of Takato's own fumbling attempts to do his share of getting their meal. But then, Kai _was_ the expert in the family when it came to that sort of thing. Takato's gifts lay in a field completely different from fishing.

A silence fell between the two boys as they sat, or in Takato's case lay, in the boat. It had been among them all day so far, and had even been there since last night. Both knew the reasons for it, but at the same time neither had been quite willing to bring it up until they were in a more private setting where they could talk more freely. After all, the main reason for their silence, and specifically Takato's present tension, had to do with a certain red haired, violet eyed girl who had come all the way from Shinjuku last night to help him in his fight with Dynasmon.

"So…" began Kai after a few minutes, noting the way Takato tensed up at the breaking of the silence. "She's here."

Takato's expression became crestfallen as the subject that he had been dreading ever since coming here and even before then once again came up.

"Yeah. I know, Kai. I just…wish I knew what to do. What to say…"

Kai nodded in understanding. During the time that Takato had stayed at his home this past week, the subject of Takato's two friends Rika Nonaka and Jeri Katou had been a topic of occasional conversation between them and only them (though Kai suspected that his grandfather had a sense that something more was up other then what he had been told by Takato's parents when they had phoned at the start of the week). When Takato had first arrived at the airport and they had talked, Kai had been sure that Takato's troubles stemmed from a guilt that he felt for his close friend Jeri for his luck in getting back Guilmon when her own partner, Leomon remained deleted. Takato had certainly admitted as much later, but much to his own surprise he had found that that had only been half the story. It had only been a couple days ago that his city-dwelling cousin had filled him in on the full story and he had been made aware of the uncertainty that had been weighing quite heavily on Takato's heart for at least three weeks, with little time or chance to be able to relieve the burden.

Kai cast his gaze over at the mainland, his expression contemplative as he leaned forward and placed his chin in his hands.

_Poor Takato… He's been feeling so conflicted lately. On one hand he's got some pretty strong feelings for Jeri…strong enough where he's been able to experience her pain as though it were his own, even across long distances. And then there's Rika. Someone who has been a pretty close friend of his and has only recently shown him feelings that she's had for him that he wasn't even aware of before, and is not sure that he can acknowledge. He cares about them both, and he doesn't a want to leave either one of them hurt…_

Kai looked over at his crimson-eyed cousin with a look of pity.

_Man. How did he get himself into this? Dealing with digimon is a walk in the park by comparison._

"You know that you can't really avoid talking to her. And I doubt that you'll have a better time then now…"

Takato simply nodded numbly. Had it not been for Renamon's story about Calumon showing up at Rika's house he would have wondered if _talking_ had been the original reason for her showing up the way she did in so timely a fashion. Okinawa wasn't exactly next door to Shinjuku and it would have taken her a lot longer then the time in between Calumon's departure and her arrival to show up. Unless that is she was _a lot_ faster then he initially thought. Another puzzle for later it seemed…

Takato thought back to that moment in his room when Rika had kissed him, feeling his heart flutter a little at the memory of the feeling and emotion that the act had caused in him, and his mind continued to go back through his memories from that period of time. The much simpler motions and gestures of friendship and support that she had given him then, each of them surprising him and even giving him some sense of comfort and stability in the hurricane of emotions that had been experiencing at the time. The fact that they came from Rika seemed very important for some reason, perhaps because they showed just how much she had changed since the first day that they had met (barring the dream that he had about her two nights before their fateful first encounter), how much more caring she had become. Her displays of friendship and care had completely altered the way that he saw her as nothing else before had, and if that view of her had been a mirror the kiss was the rock that had completely shattered it, revealing something completely different from what he had normally come to expect. In many ways he could liken the experience to the beauty that lay beneath the waters that surrounded Okinawa, and it held him spellbound.

And to have something like that revealed to _him_ of all people…

Takato's thoughts seem to take on a feeling similar to the rocking of the boat on the waves, drifting from one thought to the next with ease, slipping in and out of Rika's show of feelings for him and his own feelings for Jeri, who had been one of the closest people to his heart for the longest time now. So often now he had thought about telling Jeri how he felt about her, though he hadn't exactly been in a rush for that sort of thing. He had thought that he'd wait until they were both a little older before… _you know_ … telling her but as time wore on his feelings for the brown haired, puppet loving girl who had one of the sweetest, kindest and most understanding smiles that he had ever seen in his life grew and strengthened until he felt that he could no longer really keep them in. He had come so close to telling her too, but he had been interrupted the day that fate had intervened and sent a digimon named Lucemon into the real world, demanding that he and Guilmon be held accountable for the consequences of unleashing Megidramon upon the digital world. Had he not been so distraught from the pain of losing Guilmon that day he would have wondered if the universe got some kind of perverse joy out of interrupting him whenever he was about to admit his feelings to the girl that he liked. She had helped him then too. Helped him in a lot of ways. Staying with him longer then she should have in an attempt to comfort him, showing a patience and understanding that went above and beyond what he would have expected of her, even recognizing his desire to aid his friends in their battle against BlackWarGrowlmon and letting him go through with it, something that he _hadn't_ expected from her given her own experience with Leomon. That had also changed her in his eyes. He had known that she was strong from the way that she had moved on past her grief from Leomon's death, but to be strong enough and understanding enough to let him go and face his mistakes even at the risk of his own safety, without any assurances that he would come out of the venture all right…

Around and around Takato's mind went, remembering things about his two friends and thinking about how he felt about them and how they showed how they cared for him since he had known them. But as it was with him he still hadn't come to any realization that could possibly help him in how he was to deal with this pickle that he had found himself in. In the end it all boiled down to two things; how he felt for them and his wish to not hurt either of them. He cared for Jeri quite a bit. _Loved_ her, you could say, but he didn't know how she felt about him. He knew that he cared about Rika, but didn't think that he could return her feelings if she wanted things between them to be more then the friendship that they had shared this past year. That is if Rika's feelings and display of emotion were genuine and weren't a result of being moved by his pain from Guilmon's death.

He needed to talk to them. He needed to talk to Rika…

_But that's the tricky part…_ thought Takato as he lay there in the boat, feeling his body dry beneath the heat of the sun.

* * *

Renamon phased into view on the sandy beach and looked around her, extending her senses until she found what she was looking for. Disappearing from view once again, Renamon used her shadow phasing powers to traverse the distance separating her from the being that she had been searching for before reappearing once more. Renamon focused her gaze on the crimson lizard that had first been her enemy and then her friend as he dug relentlessly through the sand, mumbling to himself inaudibly as he did so. A curious quirk, Renamon felt, but it was one that she believed would be helpful for Guilmon.

_Last night, when Takato had told me that Guilmon was lacking his memories of his past life, he had informed me that he had taken to digging around the beach and unearthing items that he had buried during his last stay. Odd trinkets here and there, and…as disturbing as it might be…old food._

Renamon folded her arms across her chest as she considered how best to approach this. She wanted to see what she could do to jar the reptile's memory and help him remember his past. Takato's story had indicated to her that Guilmon's memories were not wholly lost, but instead lay buried beneath his subconscious, perhaps as a result of his having been reformatted. Whatever the case was Renamon had a suspicion that Takato was in the right of things and that Guilmon, the one that knew his Tamer and all of his friends, was still alive and well. It was all a matter of trying to find him and show him the way home.

_Perhaps the home that he is familiar with would be far better for helping him remember who he is then this place. As I recall he didn't come here often…_

Renamon was interrupted from her reverie by the sound of Guilmon's triumphant cry as he reached into the hole and pulled out what looked to be a piece of sparkling, water rounded glass. Even as dirty as it was, caked from mud and sand it still shone quite beautifully in the day's sun. Renamon gave a small smile at it.

_So it is true what they say,_ Renamon thought sarcastically. _The simple minded are attracted by shiny objects…_

It was at that moment that Guilmon had sniffed the air and turned around, his golden eyes brightening upon seeing her and he waved one claw at her.

"Hiiii!" The red dinosaur exclaimed in his usual, happy fashion. Memory or no memory, he still had the tendency to act as simply and ridiculously as he always had from the day that they first met.

"Hello Guilmon," said Renamon as she approached the dino, taking in the alterations that had been made to his body. Guilmon had become sleeker from what she remembered. Taller too, and his chest was now bereft of the strange, hazard marking that had been one of his trademarks. Given past experiences Renamon wondered if it's vanishing was a good sign. "Find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah!" Chirped Guilmon happily. "I followed my nose and it told me that something shiny and special was buried here so I started digging and sure enough, here it is! Whee-hee!" Guilmon raised his arms excitedly, looking somewhat ridiculous for a digimon who was much more vicious looking from how he had been prior to his rebirth. "Takatomom says that I'm the only treasure finder who doesn't need a map! Wanna see?"

Renamon nodded respectfully and dropped down to one knee so that she was on more of an equal level with the red saurian before taking the piece of glass from him. Even though Guilmon had grown he still wasn't taller then she was. Not by a long shot.

"It's very beautiful Guilmon," said Renamon after a few moments in which she studied the piece of glass carefully. "You must have been very proud when you first found it last year."

Guilmon's face became troubled at that as she handed the piece of worn glass back to him.

"Yeah, except I don't really remember it…"

Renamon was silent.

"Renamon? Takatomom says that I knew you from another time…"

"You did," said Renamon in a calm, reassuring voice as she looked at him in the eyes; azure meeting gold beneath the light of the rising sun.

"Were we friends?"

"Yes. Yes we were," said Renamon offering a small, half concealed smile for her friend, who now looked away, as though ashamed that he could not recall who she was or anything about her.

"Were we good friends?"

"We didn't start out on the best of terms," said Renamon, feeling no desire to lie to the crimson reptile even though she was now ashamed of that time. It had been so close to being disastrous, and if it had not been for Henry's intervention it very well would have. "But afterwards we fought side by side. We trusted each other quite a bit."

Renamon smile grew to be fonder as she recalled a moment when they had first gone to do battle with D-Reaper in the human world. Guilmon had mentioned something about how she had always been right before, so there was little reason for him to doubt her assessment in the D-Reaper's strength and how they should approach it.

Guilmon gave a small, childish groan in frustration at his inability to recollect what he had been told in regards to _what came before_ , and Renamon placed a comforting paw on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Guilmon," she told him. "We will do all that we can for you to help you remember. You have my word on that."

Guilmon's answering smile was reward enough to the kitsune. All she could do now was hope that she and her friends could live up to that promise.


	27. Chapter: 26/ Resting Period: Part 3

Rika got into her beginning stance for what had to be the fiftieth time that day, fighting to keep from showing her irritation at the old man who watched her performance with a critical eye. It had seemed like such a simple request earlier, asking Kai's grandfather if he could show her something about the martial arts as she had been thinking of taking it up. She had an idea that the training itself would be difficult. Nothing worth anything ever came easy in her experience; with the only exception being the Digimon card game itself but then one could easily say that she had a natural talent for that. She didn't quite know what to expect out of Wataru though, except maybe a brief sparring match so that he could see what she could do, and then proceed from there to the actual training. So far the lessons that she had been taught so far were not within the realm of her expectations. When she had prompted him for a quick lesson, it had seemed as though he had changed in some way. The quirky old man's relaxed exterior had abruptly vanished and what had taken its place was…something else. Something, calm, inquisitive, patient, and what was more, watchful. The light in his eyes took on a deep, penetrating look that, while wasn't threatening in any way, shape, or form, was definitely of the kind that would not permit deception on her part if she were at all inclined towards it. Not that she would have of course.

Rika had the pleasure of meeting Henry's martial arts teacher once during the D-Reaper invasion. He had been much the same way; only he had worn that invisible _cloak_ of expression on his face much more often, and did so in a way that one could feel a great deal of respect towards him instinctively. It was something that she easily recognized as Renamon also had this, and to a far greater degree (to the point where she could be intimidating even when she wasn't trying to be that way), and Henry as well though far lesser in comparison to the vulpine digimon that was her partner. The feeling that she had gotten on each of those occasions didn't demand anything from her, but instead she got the idea that they were more of a listening ear that was also capable of sharing a few words or lessons if she was willing to do the same back. She hadn't thought much of it then, but thinking on it now brought a whole new dimension to her perspective on the matter, especially towards Henry.

_This guy has layers,_ thought Rika as she brought both of her fists to the side of her waist as she had been taught. For the first few minutes or so since Rika had asked him about the training, Wataru had put her through some basic stretching and warm up exercises and had now settled on teaching her some of the basic forms and repeating them over and over again, going from a relaxed position to the beginning _ready_ stance, and pausing every so often to discuss the stance's importance in her training, or to impart a philosophical or history lesson to her concerning the nature of the martial arts. Not really much progress from her point of view, but then as Wataru had pointed out, it was something that _did_ take a lifetime to master, and the younger you were the better and easier it was to teach. In spite of her own experience with fighting, Rika was going to have to work hard if she were to become good at the martial arts.

_Not sure why I thought this was a good idea,_ thought Rika as she closed her eyes and took deep, even breaths as Wataru had taught her. She didn't even see the point to that either. Why was listening to ones breath that important? Rika shook her head mentally. She had thought that there was something to this; that it would be useful if she were going to work for Hypnos when Yamaki offered her the job. She definitely saw the results with Henry, never mind how skilled Renamon was with her own version of the martial arts. Although she had Renamon to guide her moves when they were biomerged, they weren't anything that she was used to, and she wanted to be able know and fully understand what she was doing in the middle of battle so that if she had to she would be able to make intelligent decisions on her own without having to rely so much on Renamon's expertise.

Rika began to punch the air rhythmically as her _teacher_ had instructed her, timing her punches under his watchful eye. This went on for a few more minutes before Wataru stopped her, shifting her to a new stance that was geared more towards kicking then punching and then the process continued again. Her practicing, him watching her, stopping her to correct her stance or to show her something; again and again, over and over Rika shifted between the two stances. Were she not already used to the regimen of practicing with cards and knowing the necessity of such diligent practice she would have begun getting impatient. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity had passed, Wataru looked out towards the shore to see Takato and Kai bring their boat up to the dock, and he turned to Rika.

"That should be enough for now," said Wataru. "Takato and Kai have returned. Why don't you go and relax while lunch is made."

Rika wordlessly nodded and stretched as the old man turned and headed off towards the house. Rika watched him go for a few moments before looking up towards the top of the roof with a raised eyebrow.

"Well? What?"

The familiar form of Renamon phased into view on the roof top with a half hidden smile on her face.

"I see that you're actually serious about taking some lessons," the kitsune remarked humorously. Rika _hmmphed_ and crossed her arms.

"Are you saying that you doubted that I would?" Asked Rika, her tone taking on the same, playful and teasing tone that Renamon had as a smirk graced her features. Renamon chuckled lightly and leapt off the roof and flipped in the air and down to the ground. Rika watched her glide through the air with the seemingly effortless task, wondering if she would one day be able to perform the same deed on her own.

"Of course not Rika," said Renamon as she brought herself back up to her full height. "I have never seen you back down from something when there was a challenge behind it. Perhaps it is time that you moved onto something like this, given the kind of work that you intend to do for Yamaki…"

Rika shrugged her shoulders.

"So what do you intend to do now?"

Rika thought about that for a moment before answering.

"Not sure," the red haired girl admitted finally. "Kai's grandfather is getting things ready to make lunch when Takato and Kai get up here with whatever it is that they've caught. If it weren't for Kai I'd wonder if any of it was edible. Takato may know something about making food but he's hardly a fish specialist."

"Have you managed to contact your family today and let them know that you're all right?" Asked Renamon. Rika frowned and shook her head, mentally berating herself for not thinking to do something like that. Knowing her mother, she would be worrying quite a bit about her right now.

"No, I haven't gotten around to it. I should but…" Rika frowned. "…I don't know. Maybe we should biomerge and head back to Shinjuku as soon as we can. Yamaki's going to need to know what's going on and I'd rather not have to give Kai and his family a huge phone bill on top of the repairs that they're going to have to make from the fight."

"I see," said Renamon. "And what about Takato?"

Rika felt her body stiffen for a moment before relaxing. Her expression hardened as she came to a decision on the boy who had been on her mind so often these past few weeks.

"He's still got a couple days of vacation left before he goes home," she said in a tone that sounded as though she were trying to convince herself of something. "I say let him have them."

Renamon narrowed her eyes at her Tamer, but nodded nonetheless. She sensed that there was much that Rika hadn't said in regards to her decision, leaving it rather open to interpretation, but she was sure that she had her reasons for them. Things were…complicated when it came to the subjects of Takato Matsuki and Jeri Katou. That she knew quite well from their conversations on the matter of Rika's display of affection towards Takato. Rika turned and began to walk down towards the beach. Without a word exchanged between them Renamon vanished and reappeared by Rika's side, walking beside her without missing a beat. They walked in silence for a few seconds.

"Guilmon still has no memory of his past life," said Renamon, picking up the threads of conversation. Rika _hmmphed_ once again, but the sound didn't have any real force behind it.

"Not surprising given that he only hatched a couple days ago. Given that he was deleted a few scrambled algorithms are to be expected."

"Perhaps," said Renamon with a nod of her head. "But then Vajramon didn't have any scrambled data when Rapidmon defeated him."

"We talked about that one before. For all we know it might have been a trick or something. You know those Devas have shown themselves capable of breaking themselves apart to go wherever they wanted. Remember Indramon?"

"Of course," said Renamon. "It's difficult to forget someone like him. I'm just trying to put things in perspective. Perhaps it also has to do with the amount of time that Guilmon's body had been fragmented."

Rika once more shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"It's not like we'll really be able to find out with all the guesswork until we get back to Hypnos and fill them in on the situation," she said. Renamon eyed Rika before falling into silence. Something about the way she had sounded made it clear to her that she wanted some quiet time to think and reflect on things before settling on any final decisions. Renamon decided to allow her that opportunity and they continued to walk in silence. Time passed as they made their way down the path, during which no other noise was heard save for birds chirping and singing their songs, the leaves rustling as a light ocean breeze blew at them, and their own footfalls upon the ground. After a few minutes, a new sound joined the rest, the sound of two boys talking. It wasn't long before the familiar forms of Takato and his cousin Kai came into view, the former of whom was glaring at his cousin with an embarrassed expression on his face.

"…Kai. I wish that you wouldn't keep reminding me about that octopus shot a cloud of ink at me when I was swimming…"

Rika raised an eyebrow at that.

_Something tells me that I don't want to know…_

"C'mon Takato. Admit it! That had to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen anyone have as much bad luck with aquatic animals the way you have. Even Guilmon has better luck then you do on the water."

"Funny to you maybe. You weren't the one in the middle of it. Now can we _please_ change the subject?"

"Why? Is talking about it too embarrassing?At least it didn't stink you up afterwards. Maybe I should bring it up at lunch when we next see…Rika!"

"I know her name Kai, you don't have to shou…" Takato stopped cold in his tracks as he caught sight of the familiar, fiery Tamer as she approached them, her gaze coolly measuring them while faint humor danced in her violet eyes. All of a sudden, Takato felt his throat close up as his words began to tangle themselves on his tongue.

_Aw nuts…_

Rika and Renamon came to a halt in front of the two cousins and after crossing her arms she looked at Kai, who grinned sheepishly at her and rubbed the back of his head, taking a moment to compose himself.

"Hey Rika," said Kai. "Glad to see you up and about. I take it that the clothes that we put together for you met your standards?"

Kai gestured to what she was wearing, which was basically a plain, white T-shirt that stretched past her waist and hung loosely around her in a baggy fashion, coupled with a pair of jean shorts and sandals. Rika nodded in appreciation.

"It was the least girly thing that I could find among the pile available so…thanks."

"Hey, no problem. You saved us after all. Anyway, check it out!" Kai hoisted up a pair of fish that he had been holding. "Did Grampa send you out to meet us or something? If so you might want to head back to the house and get washed up 'cause we'll be having lunch soon. Then Takato can tell you about his little misadventure…"

"I overheard," said Rika in a deadpan tone that made Kai blink in surprise. Rika regretted having done so instantly but she really wasn't in much of a mood to be hearing any stories right at this moment, however amusing they promised to be. "But that's not why I'm here."

Rika settled her gaze heavily on Takato as she said that, causing him to look even more nervous then he already was. Kai looked back and forth between the two of them as understanding clicked in his head.

"Uh…okay. I'll…ah…leave you two alone then."

Rika and Takato waited until Kai had gone some distance away from them, and for Renamon to port away before speaking.

"So…uh…what did you want to talk to me about?"

_As if I didn't already have an idea,_ thought Takato as he felt his heart rate begin to quicken.

"Renamon and I are going to be going home soon," responded Rika, her eyes narrowing subtly, sensing some of Renamon's surprise through the link that they shared. "And I wanted to say goodbye before leaving."

Takato blinked.

_Okay…that's not what I was expecting…_

Rika's eyes narrowed even more.

"Well, what _were_ you expecting, Gogglehead?"

Takato jumped slightly as he realized that he had actually spoken aloud.

"Ah! Ah…well, it's just…I guess that I thought that you'd…me… _we_ …"

Takato closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath as he attempted to organize his thoughts. For some reason he felt as though he were meeting her back at that alley again, right before she took him down to her house and promptly informed him that they wouldn't be working together. Takato shook the thought away.

"I thought that you had come down to _talk_ …I guess…"

Rika's face softened a little at that. The thought had crossed her mind, more then once in fact, but after her exercise with Kai's grandfather she had wondered if it was the right thing to do, confronting Takato about what had happened between them, or if it would be better to wait until she was more certain about where precisely her own feelings lay.

Rika felt her hands tighten angrily. This _still_ felt as though she were running away…

"I'm not exactly in the _talking_ kind of mood right now," admitted Rika, her voice losing some of its harshness. "And I can't imagine that you're looking forward to one either."

Takato reluctantly nodded and scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling a little bit better in Rika's implication that she was just as nervous as he felt right now.

"Yeah, you're right about that, but…I bet that we'd both feel a lot better about it if we just got it out of the way…"

_He makes a good point there,_ thought Rika to herself. _We should talk. I hate all the uncertainty. The_ not knowing…

_…_

_Still…_

"Look Takato," said Rika closing her eyes. "I'd…I want to talk too, but _now_ really isn't the best time for that…"

"When then?"

Rika opened her eyes and looked at Takato, who was staring at her with a sad, lost expression.

"Excuse me?"

"When would be the best time to talk? I mean we've been avoiding each other for weeks now…"

Rika shifted uncomfortably.

"I know…"

"Then when? I want…" Takato looked away finally, turning his gaze up at the sky and he shifted his feet. "…There's a lot that I want to know… _need_ to know, and I'm sure that you do too, and it doesn't do either of us any good if neither one of us says anything…"

Rika looked away, letting the loose strands of her hair fall over her eyes and hiding her face. Rika bit her lip, feeling as though her heart were in her throat right now. An uncomfortable feeling made its way through her body, making her hate herself for putting them in the position that they were in. She opened her mouth to say that she was ready to start talking when the mental image of Jeri intruded in her mind. A Jeri that was sad…and believed that she would always be alone. The image put a halt to all of Rika's words. Growling angrily to herself Rika pushed forward and walked briskly past Takato, catching him by surprise.

"R-Rika?"

"Later Gogglehead. We'll talk… _later._ Right now I'm going to get Renamon, and go home."

"Wait," said Takato raising one arm in a bid to stop her. Why did he feel as though he were just about to lose everything? That his whole world was hanging by a hinge, ready to break off and plunge into the abyss? "W-Why don't I go with you?"

Rika halted and looked over her shoulder, her eyes flashing.

"What?"

Takato lowered his arm uncertainly, fighting against the nervous drumbeat of his heart against his chest.

"My vacation is almost over anyway…and…well…I thought that…since you're so intent on leaving…"

"No."

Again Takato blinked. Rika could have rolled her eyes at his dumbfounded expression. Was he really _that_ thickheaded, or was there another definition to the word _no_ that she wasn't aware of?

" _You_ still have a couple days to go as I recall, _Gogglehead_. I don't want you losing them on my account…"

"But Rika…"

_"Goodbye_ Takato!"

Rika's words cut across Takato's like the sharp edge of a razor blade giving every and all indications that their conversation was over, and their affects were immediately felt. Not even bothering to look back Rika walked off, leaving the confused boy behind, knowing full well that if she did look, she would have seen the pained expression on Takato's face. She didn't think that she could have stood it if she had seen it.

Time passed as Rika walked down the path, shadowed by the form of her partner. How much time she didn't know, except that it had certainly been long enough where Takato was no longer visible. He was probably still standing there for all she knew. After a few more minutes of walking Rika walked over to a tree and leaned against it. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes but she refused to let so much as one fall. However, she made a light, gasping sound as she hugged her arms close to her body

"Well that was brilliant…" Rika gasped bitterly. A familiar presence made itself known in her mind and Rika opened up to it. The world around her altered subtly, becoming shadowy in appearance and _blurred_ as the familiar form of Renamon materialized in front of her.

_"Rika. Why did you do that?"_

_"Do what?"_

Renamon's eyes narrowed slightly at Rika's tone, but she chose not to comment on it.

_"You know full well what I mean Rika…"_

Rika furrowed her brow angrily.

_"There's nothing to talk about,"_ she grumbled.

_"So why haven't we biomerged and left already?"_

Rika was silent, but in her mind it felt as though a firework had just gone off in her head. Renamon had raised a good point. Why _haven't_ they left already? As Sakuyamon they could easily fly away…

Rika did not like the way that train of thought was going, and she pushed off the tree and resumed walking again with Renamon falling into step shortly after.

_"You don't think that you should leave yet,"_ said Renamon matter-of-factly. Rika frowned.

_"What makes you say that?"_

Renamon's expression did not change.

_"I know you too well Rika. You don't feel right about what you did. Why else would we still be here when you've made it quite clear that we were leaving?"_

A pause.

_"Rika. Why did you do that? Why do you want to leave now, and leave things between you and Takato the way that you have?"_

_"And here I thought you said you knew me too well…"_

Renamon was silent for a moment.

_"There was a time, early in our partnership that I had faced a group of insect digimon…FlyBeemon. It was sometime after we had encountered IceDevimon and you said that you hated digimon…"_

Rika winced upon recalling that particular incident. She had hated that time more then she hated the period after her kiss with Takato.

_"I had met Henry shortly after the battle had ended. He and Terriermon claimed to have seen you outside of the digital field, and that you were…_ distraught _at the time. And in the end you had left…"_

_"We already talked about that, remember?"_ Said Rika, feeling a little bit irritated with how this conversation was being conducted.

_"But do_ you _remember?"_ Asked Renamon. _"Because the parallels are very similar to each other. Then you were afraid that I would become as IceDevimon was. A creature that only lived off of the suffering from others, not caring who I hurt or destroyed in the quest for strength…"_

Renamon took a moment to gauge her Tamer's reaction before continuing.

_"…Sometimes I can't help but wonder if the situation is the same here."_

The two friends lapsed into a period of silence as Renamon watched Rika carefully. After a few moments, Rika spoke up.

_"I don't know why I did it Renamon. Why I kissed him that is. And every time I look back on it, I keep thinking about how I felt then. The way it felt, wanting to help him…be there for him and…how it felt…holding him. You remember how out of it he was from Guilmon's death. How he kept trying to stand back up, hiding the pain that he felt. You know…putting on his brave face so that we wouldn't have to worry about him so much…_

Rika smiled bitterly as she remembered that time, her eyes glistening slightly.

_"…Only we knew that it was a farce. I certainly saw it that way, and seeing how events kept beating down on him after that…it was just like Jeri hurting all over again. I hated seeing him come apart like that. I wanted him to know that he could count on us and…"_

_…_

_"When I kissed him Renamon, it felt like there was something more. It felt like something woke up inside and it reached out. I felt…I wish I could describe it Renamon. It was as if everything Takato felt…I felt. And…I wanted to do anything I could to help take his pain away…to make him feel better._

_"But now…that feeling is still there. It hurts Renamon. It hurts but at the same time it feels like it shouldn't. Like it should be something special…but every time I focus on it, every time I see Takato or Jeri…I can't help but feel that I'm stealing him. Taking him away from someone who matters and knows how to make him feel better. Someone that he cares about…"_

Renamon nodded. _"Jeri."_

Rika nodded.

_"Rika,"_ began Renamon. _"Do you remember the night that you sung to him?"_

Rika's cheeks suddenly took on a reddish hue to them, causing her to glare at her partner.

_"I thought we agreed to never talk about that again."_

_"Do you remember your reasons for why you did that?"_ Asked Renamon, unfazed by Rika's irritation. Rika frowned at Renamon and cautiously nodded, deciding to humor her.

_"I felt him…he was upset. Everyone else had gone off to fight a bio-emerging digimon and he couldn't…"_

Renamon nodded.

_"And it was keeping him from sleeping. You used our powers as Sakuyamon to ease his pain just enough so that he could rest."_

_"So what's your point?"_

_"What I'm saying is Rika, regardless of how you feel for him, you_ do _care for him. Whether as a friend or something more has yet to be determined, but what you did today was a denial of that and an affirmation of everything that you have been afraid would happen between you two. If we leave now, you'll lose everything that you have with Takato be it friendship or love. Do you really want that?"_

Rika looked away from her friend, feeling a grim sort of irony about the whole situation. That _did_ seem like what she was trying to do.

_"No…"_ said Rika quietly at first before repeating it again in a much firmer voice. _"No. I don't want to lose Takato. I don't want to lose his friendship. Not if I can help it."_

The air around the two shimmered and swam like water as the world snapped back into focus. The darkness vanished as the rays of sunlight poured down from the sky, illuminating the world around her once again. Renamon held her paw out to Rika, and she looked at it questioningly before she realized what the gesture meant. A second later her hand joined Renamon's and together they vanished from view.

* * *

"Takato," said Kai from his place by the room's door as he nervously watched his cousin angrily slam an article of clothing into his bag. Not too long ago Takato had come back, fuming, and silent except for when he said that Rika was going, wouldn't talk to him, and when he offered to go with her she had rebuffed him. In short order upon his return he had made a beeline for the room that had been his abode since coming to Okinawa and began packing straightaway, declaring his intentions to go home, as if by doing so he was rebelling against Rika's strict instruction for him to stay where he was for the remainder of his vacation. "Don't you think that you should rethink this? Or at least calm down? I mean, you haven't even figured out how to hide Guilmon and this time you didn't bring a suitcase big enough for him…"

Takato responded by grabbing another piece of clothing and jamming it into his bag, huffing slightly as he struggled to get it in past the zipper, cursing himself for bringing so much stuff with him. Guilmon watched his Tamer uncertainly, one claw raised to his chin, unsure as he was with the sudden change in Takato's personality.

"I don't get it. Why's Takatomom so upset?"

"I'll explain it to you later Guilmon," said Kai giving the crimson reptile a sympathetic look. "If I can convince your Tamer to hold off on going anywhere first that is…"

Takato grunted angrily as he finally made enough room in his bag where he could finally finish packing. Reaching over, Takato picked up the photo of himself, Henry, and Rika and looked at it for a moment, his eyes gazing at the familiar image of Rika before moving to place it in his bag.

"You just don't understand Kai. And I wish that I did too to be honest." Takato's shoulders sagged as he putting the photo in his bag and placed one hand on the zipper. "She…she just won't say anything to me. She doesn't want to talk." Takato's hand drifted away from the zipper and he stood up, his eyes drifting over to the open slide door that gave him a view of the outdoors. His eyes softened a little as he took in the surrounding trees and the ocean waves farther off to the horizon. "She's like that sometimes…even after… _everything_ that we've been through. Before there was an unspoken understanding that she would talk when she wanted to. For Henry, Jeri, Ryo, Kazu, Kenta, and me it was enough that we could trust her to be there in a battle and to be our friend. It wasn't like that at first before we became friends though. She was…a _lot_ more antagonistic in those days and sometimes I got the feeling that she didn't like us all that much. I certainly felt that she didn't see me in any positive light. I guess she was right to. I was inexperienced, weird, and if she were here she'd probably come up with a thousand more reasons…most of them ending in _Gogglehead_ probably."

Takato sighed and Kai approached the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It almost feels like she hates me, only it'd be easier if she did. I don't know what her deal is. She says that we're friends, and that we're going to be there for each other…heck she sometimes makes fun of me whenever she tells me stuff like that because it's the same thing that me, Henry, and Renamon used to tell her, and now…"

Takato growled angrily and crossed his arms, having lost all idea on how to express the frustration that he was feeling.

"Don't you think that following her home to confront her would make the problem worse then it already is?" Asked Kai after a few seconds of silence had passed between them. Takato frowned. He felt that there was some truth in Kai's words, but the anger that he felt over Rika's earlier actions still held him in a firm grip. Kai sighed mentally, wishing that his grandfather had been available when Takato had burst into the house like a storm that had been let loose so that he could offer some piece of wisdom for Takato. With or without him though, Kai would do what he could as best as he could. They stood together during the V-Pet crisis without even batting an eye, and he would continue to stand by him even now.

"I guess," said Takato finally, but the tone in his voice indicated that he didn't really want to see Kai's point of view. For Takato, he had plenty of reason for this. Rika had shut him down and shut him out when he needed to talk to her the most, and from his perspective, with anger and frustration heightening and altering his perceptions, it only seemed as though that was all she ever did. _Especially_ when confronted with something like what happened between her and him. He felt that he only had to look no further then how things had gone between her and Renamon. There was still the voice of reason that told him otherwise though, reminding him of other times that she had opened up to either him or someone else like Renamon or Jeri, but in the fiery fury that clouded his mind, that voice was very small, and was little more then a whisper.

Breaking away from his cousin's touch, Takato went back over to his bag and began to struggle with the task of closing his bag.

"I get what you're saying Kai, but I'm sick and tired of being in the dark about this. I've been out of it too much already, feeling bad about myself and everything else. Last time I let it get to me I created a monster…"

Kai put a hand over Takato's as the zipper began to close, halting him in his progress.

"Then you _have to_ stop and think again Takato," said Kai, looking his cousin in the eyes with his own dark ones. "Because if you do this, you'll only be repeating the same mistake."

"One of the smartest things I've seen all day," said a familiar voice from outside the room. Startled, both boys turned to see Rika and Renamon standing at the entrance leading outdoors, Rika's arms crossed over her chest and her eyes set in a hard expression. For once, Takato met it without flinching, and returned it with one of his own. Kai felt as though he were trapped between two oncoming boulders.

"Rika…" said Kai softly.

"Kai. Guilmon. Could you give us a moment?"

_Didn't we already just do that?_ Thought Kai sarcastically with a simple nod. Renamon entered the room and followed Kai and Guilmon into the interior of the house, closing the slide door behind them. Rika and Takato stared at each other in the silence that followed.

"Thinking about leaving?" Asked Rika, indicating the bag that Takato had been in the process of closing, not breaking her gaze away from Takato's.

"Yeah. What about it?"

Rika raised an eyebrow at that, faintly surprised by it, though she wondered why she continued to be so. She had seen him angry with her in times past, and towards others, most notably with Beelzemon after he killed Leomon. He had even called her an idiot once on Locomon when she demanded that he let her fall to keep him from going over with her. Perhaps because it was such a complete change from his usual, goofy nature that she had grown accustomed to that she really couldn't see him being this way. With calm, measured steps, Rika entered the room and got down in front of him on her haunches, placing her arms on her knees as she faced him fully, her violet eyes fixated on his crimson ones. The burning embers from earlier still glowed within them. Looking down at the boy's bag, Rika noticed a familiar photo that was obscured by the half closed bag. Reaching over Rika tugged on the zipper, drawing it back with a soft, whispering sound and gently reached in, pulling out the picture and looking at it. It was one that she remembered well. It had been taken shortly after the V-Pet crisis when she and Henry were at Okinawa. Their friendship had been newly formed then, their adventures only just beginning…

_And to think, this was something that I would have thrown away not too long ago._

Rika gave a small smile at the photograph as she remembered that day. They had gone out on the boat with Kai and he offered to take their picture as a memento of their time there. Copies were made, but come to think of it she couldn't recall what she did with hers. Just that she had placed it away in some dark corner of her room, most likely a drawer, and forgot about it. Even though she called Takato and Henry her friends then, her priorities were somewhat _different_ then.

"Rika?"

Rika glanced up from the photo to Takato, taking note of the fact that the fire that had been in his eyes earlier had died back somewhat, and was replaced now with confusion over her silence and her actions. Rika took a look inside herself, and thought things over for a second. Finally she placed one hand on the ground and sat down the rest of the way before returning her eyes to the picture that she held.

"That was some summer wasn't it?" She asked, indicating the photo. Takato raised an eyebrow and nodded, his confusion only growing rather then decreasing. Rika continued to look at the picture, her thumb moving up to obscure Henry's figure for a moment, taking in the image of just herself and Takato before removing her thumb, thinking herself silly and ridiculous for having done so in the first place.

"I know that you want to talk Takato," said Rika finally, amazed at how calm her voice sounded to her ears. "Believe me. I do too, but…I need more time. About what happened between us…if you were to ask me just what exactly I felt…about you…" Rika felt her face heat up a little but she pushed onwards, ignoring the momentary blush. "…I wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer, or even an honest one. There are still some things that I need to sort through first."

_Even though it seems like that's all I've been doing,_ thought Rika sardonically, but was grateful to see Takato's face soften as he nodded in understanding.

"Anyway," said Rika. "I've been thinking. Seeing as how you're all set to go home and everything and _I'm_ thinking about going home as well, maybe it would be a good idea if we take the plane together. I have an idea that you're going to need a way to hide Guilmon, so Renamon can help out with that…"

Takato's eyes widened in surprise as he processed what Rika was saying. Something clicked in his mind. Was she…offering him a compromise? Takato's mind was awhirl now with confusion and surprise, but he felt somehow… _comforted_ by Rika's affirmation that things between them needed to be discussed. It felt that she wasn't turning away the friendship that they had shared for the past year, that she was willing to fight to keep it even though she had admitted that she wasn't really any more ready then he was to talk. Things were still unsteady between them, but they had an understanding between them now. Breathing a sigh of relief, Takato felt that maybe…just _maybe_ it was for the best that they held off on their _talk_ for the time being. He still needed to talk with Jeri…

"Um…Rika?" Began Takato uncertainly. "Uh…I…um…"

Takato blushed lightly. His frustration had completely died away, returning the same, goofy, awkward personality that Rika had known him best by. He wanted to apologize to her, or at least say something like how he was grateful that she came back as it set his mind at ease a little, but due to his nervousness his words failed him. Rika gave a small smile, understanding what it was he was trying to say. Having known him for a while now she had come to know how his mind thought in times like this. Almost instinctively she raised a hand towards him, pausing halfway as she remembered that certain things and feelings between them stood unspoken. They both looked at the hand for a moment as it hung there in the air, and before Rika could think to pull it back, Takato, much to his own surprise and Rika's, found his own hand entwining with hers. Takato and Rika's eyes met during that moment, neither one saying a thing as a strange feeling washed over both of them like a gentle wave, flowing from their enjoined hands and to their hearts. After a few seconds they looked away from each other, but their hands remained joined as though neither one was quite willing to be the first to let go.

Silence reigned as the two friends left each other to their thoughts and feelings.

* * *

In a world between worlds, the dimensional crossroads where reality was constantly in flux and numbers floated aimlessly through the abyss, clouds of data began to pull together from miniscule portals leading to the world of humans that had given birth to the digital landscape. The broken shards of data congregated together and began to take shape and form, slowly, carefully, until finally three figures appeared. Their bodies phased out of stability for a moment before the world around them began to warp, and new clouds of broken data were pulled towards them. Their bodies ceased phasing as the data began to accumulate within them. And through it all, a sentence echoed in the shimmering and warping landscape around them, though neither of them was able to give voice to it.

_"This is_ far from over…" the three figures said together.


	28. Chapter: 27/ The Darkened Path

Aiko closed the door leading to her son's bedroom silently after looking in on him to see how he was doing, smiling softly to herself as she heard it give a quiet click. Turning her gaze down the darkened hallway of her home Aiko calmly crossed the distance to the bedroom of her second, and eldest child in the family, placing her hand on the doorknob and turning it slowly so as to not disturb the young girl who lay within…

Noriko frowned slightly as soon as the door started to open. Something, some inner sense, an intuition perhaps brought about by a mother's parental instincts regarding their child caused her to pause for a brief moment before resuming her opening of the door with much more caution then she otherwise would have exercised, her senses keyed up to react at so much as the slightest sign of danger. The door opened all the way and came to a rest upon the room's wall, and a small amount of light emanating from the living room and spilling out into the hallway illuminated Noriko's bedroom just enough for the woman to get a clear view of the place. Aiko relaxed visibly upon seeing that there was nothing amiss in the room that could have possibly triggered her sudden uneasiness, although she did wonder what it was her daughter was doing, standing by her window in the darkness when it was well past her bedtime. After all, Noriko had said that she was going to go to turn in early tonight and she _had_ been tired all day today.

_It would be just her luck to be suffering from insomnia at a time when she's tired,_ thought Aiko with a touch of sarcasm as she stepped into the room. Aiko froze in place a second later as her ears picked up a strange noise coming from Noriko's direction.

_Is that…_ growling? Aiko narrowed her eyes and leaned her head forwards as her eyes now caught sight of something, something that was _glowing_ in the darkness and looked as though it were coming from the area of Noriko's left hand. It was hard to tell for sure as it was so dull and was mixing with the light thrown off by the digital clock that sat next to the young girl's bed but…

Aiko gave a soft gasp as Noriko shifted slightly in the darkness, one hand becoming illuminated in the pale moonlight that had pooled into a small spot on the bedroom window. For a second, a _brief_ second it looked as though Aiko was looking at the epitome of darkness, as though an inky blackness had completely enveloped Noriko's skin and her _fingers…_

The strange growling sound that was coming from Aiko's daughter increased in intensity suddenly as Noriko made a harsh, scraping sound with her _fingers_ upon the wooden sill that surrounded the window.

"Noriko?" Called out Aiko softly, surprised to find that a tremble had worked its way into her voice. Had she not felt such _fear_ for her daughter's well being, she would have wondered where it had come from. Prudence and worry for her daughter however kept Aiko's mind focused on the present situation. _Noriko_ spun around at the sound of Aiko's voice, her _growl,_ such as it was, cutting off almost immediately with a sharp snarl as the girl got into a crouch, hiding herself in the shadows of the room. For a moment it appeared as though a pair of eyes reflected a haunting, wolfish glow before disappearing all together with the literal blink of an eye.

"Mom? Called out Noriko a second later, her voice sounding confused as to what was going on. Raising a trembling hand, Aiko searched hastily for the light switch and flicked it on. Light flooded the room, causing both Aiko and Noriko to blink at the sudden change in illumination. Aiko carefully looked Noriko over, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw her daughter, dressed in her usual aqua green pajamas and squinting her eyes against the brightness of the lights as her vision adjusted. There was no sign of any discoloration on her at all outside of her hair, which still maintained the length that she had returned home with as the girl had yet to show any initiative to cut it back to her usual, and preferred length.

_All in due time,_ Aiko thought as she went over to her daughter and gently placed her arms on Noriko's shoulders.

"Noriko, what are you doing up still?"

Noriko frowned and looked down, her brow furrowing in concentration.

"I…don't know Mom. I guess I thought I heard something."

Aiko nodded. She had heard some soft _thumping_ sounds, reminiscent of explosions, off in the distance earlier. She had worried at first as to whether or not she would have to rouse her children and get them out of the apartment but the way things sounded now it was most likely resolved now. It was almost funny how used to the thought of digimon and their oft destructive _bio-emergences_ she was now. Almost. Not for the first time she wondered if she should take her family and move to another place that was far removed from Shinjuku. The only reason that she hadn't so far was because D-Reaper had taught her that there wasn't any place on Earth that you could go that would be safe as far as the digital world was concerned. It was essentially _everywhere._

"Well, in any case," said Aiko as her face softened and she indicated Noriko's bed with a slight nod of her head. "It's nothing that should concern you right now. _You're_ supposed to be in bed anyway. You have school to attend in the morning." Aiko sighed and shook her head, remembering Noriko's insistence that she be allowed to go back to school as soon as possible so as to make up for all the assignments that she missed while she was _missing._ Honestly, sometimes it seemed as though the girl couldn't sit still and relax for a moment.

_Always busy,_ thought Aiko as she helped her daughter into bed. Once the girl was settled Aiko brushed a few stray strands of hair from Noriko's face and looked her fully in the eyes, her gaze full of concern.

"Noriko. Are you sure that you're all right?" Aiko asked, her memory recalling what she had witnessed upon first entering the room. Was it all just a trick of the light? A mental illusion? She couldn't be sure, and she doubted that Noriko's answer, if it weren't a confirmation of what she had seen, would in any way allay her doubts to the contrary. Noriko had been to the digital world after all, with no recollection as to what had happened to her while she was there. _Anything_ could have happened to her during the two weeks that she was _missing._ "If you don't feel up to going to school tomorrow…"

"I'm fine Mom," said Noriko, her voice taking on a nervous, flighty edge to it. Aiko sighed mentally, wondering what it was that Noriko felt that she had to prove? What else could there be? The school had offered her enough time to stay home and readjust, deal with the authorities as needed and catch up with her assignments. Briefly Aiko recalled the boy Henry who had stopped by the day that Noriko had returned home. She had taken an interest in his doings back before she disappeared. Was there something about him that made her want to go back and resume life so soon? Well, whatever the case was she wasn't going to bar her daughter from doing so. But…

_But._

The memory of Noriko standing at the window, _growling_ ( _was she growling?_ Aiko wondered), and the strange visage that she had seen upon her entry into the room, the darkened skin revealed in the pale moonlight flitted through her mind. Perhaps it was just her imagination. Perhaps Noriko had been sleepwalking (though she knew full well that was her own wishful thinking. Noriko didn't say anything about sleepwalking, but then it could be possible that she simply wasn't aware of it. Sleepwalkers tended not to be aware of such a condition). Perhaps…

_Perhaps I should consider trying to get a hold of those people from_ Hypnos. _Or at least track down the children who are partnered with digimon. They might associate themselves with such an organization and make it easier for me to find them. I'll see what I can dig up tomorrow while Noriko's at school. I just hope that nothing happens in the meantime._

Aiko pursed her lips together as she finished up that line of thought and then leaned forward and kissed Noriko on the top of her forehead. She wished that she could shoo her worries away and that nothing bad had ever or could ever happen to her children, but that was just not the way of the world; that was something that her now-departed husband had taught her a long time ago, God rest his soul. Bidding her daughter a good night Aiko got up and headed towards the door, pausing briefly to look over at the window sill that Noriko had been standing in front of before she had turned on the lights. Her eyes narrowed as she half expected to find _claw_ _marks_ gouged into the wood before her gaze visibly relaxed upon finding none. Her mind put to rest for the time being Aiko reached up to the light switch and flicked it off, gently closing the door behind her with a click.

Had she taken a moment to look behind her, she would have noticed a pair of golden eyes gleaming in the rapidly disappearing light before being shrouded in the darkness of the room.

* * *

A cold wind blew across the rubble-cluttered street surrounding the Shinjuku government building as Sangloupmon struggled to get to his feet, pain ripping through every fiber of his being for every motion that he made. Shards of data were floating away from his body and the viral wolf felt his strength flowing away from him rapidly. Gritting his teeth Sangloupmon tried to fight through the pain so that he could focus and activate his Shadow shifting abilities and escape before the Rapidmon closed in on him and finished the job. Even now he could hear the Ultimate level android moving in on his position. He was going to be there at any second and he had to get out of there _now!_

The Rapidmon had practically turned rabid after he had digivolved following his attack on the human child. He hadn't gotten that good of a view as to what it was that had set the Android off, as he had been a little too busy at the time fighting for his life against an opponent that he had quickly realized he was outmatched against, and after a brief struggle Sangloupmon had found himself blown out of the building that he had been captured in! The city streets, thanks in no part to gravities invitation and nigh irresistible strength, soon rushed to greet him and pain became the all knowing concept of his world before…Sangloupmon blinked as he fell to the ground, one of his bladed paws vanishing beneath him in a shower of data shards. This was no good. He had taken far too much damage! Trying to activate his abilities was too much of a strain for his already ravaged body to deal with! He had to let go of his hold on his present form and devolve if he were to survive the severe loss of energy that he was suffering or else he would be deleted.

_Like it matters at this point,_ thought Sangloupmon as he felt something let go inside of him and his body glowed and began to shrink. _I may survive by de-digivolving back to the Rookie level, but I'll surely not survive against that Rapidmon. Where is he anyway? It's not like it takes him that long to get where he needs to go…_

As the last remnants of Sangloupmon's data finished reformatting itself into a small, impish creature with a leaf shaped facemask and two colored eyes, one red and one green, painted on the front, a massive, humanoid shaped, mechanical entity with two large ear shaped structures fixed to its head and dark green body armor slammed down onto the earth on its curved feet and pointed its arms at him. The former Sangloupmon, now Dracmon, struggled to his feet and began to back up, sweat dripping down his face. It didn't matter if he tried to run now or not. Rapidmon had caught up with him and few ever escaped him or his missiles once he found you. It was time to make peace with his digi-gods and prepare himself for the final deletion.

_"It doesn't have to be that way you know,"_ spoke up a familiar, calm voice within Dracmon's mind as in his minds eye, a dark figure materialized behind Rapidmon. Dracmon's first thought, as always whenever he saw this particular being was that it was a Digignome, but closer inspection revealed that although there were similarities between the giggly, wish granting beings that had dwelt within the digital world before there was even such a thing as a digimon, this being, whatever it was, had far too humanoid a shape to be one. Spindly arms and legs with great, clawed hands and feet hung at its sides as it floated in the air, reminding Dracmon of a Cherubimon. Two long, thin strands of _hair_ (as Dracmon described it, having no other way to describe them) sprung up from its roundish, semi-flat head, flexing like an insects antenna and behind it, a pair of wings stretched and flapped slowly upon the wind, vaguely resembling hands of sorts and were, so far as Dracmon was concerned, the only thing that even gave the creature its resemblance to a digignome. Darkness shrouded its body like a cloud of ink, obscuring its features somewhat as it began to move its hand, focusing it on Rapidmon as his cannon began to load up a fresh missile.

_Please…_ thought Dracmon desperately. _If you can get me out of this…_

_"As if you even have to ask,"_ thought the entity. _"DinoRexmon isn't one to sacrifice his subordinates. You may yet prove to be of some use still here in the real world in your current form…"_

_Huh? I don't understand…_

_"We'll talk about it in greater detail later. For now, it should be enough to know that I'm saving you. Excuse me while I dispatch this piece of data rubbish._

Without warning a sphere of crackling black energy shot out from the aura of darkness and smashed into Rapidmon, throwing him forwards into the air with a scream of pain and shrieking metal. As Rapidmon landed on the ground behind Dracmon with a resounding crash, Dracmon shivered involuntarily as his leader's _ally_ began to enshroud him with his dark aura, causing a fog of digital information to bloom up around them as they made good their escape. As dark a being as he was, there was something about the _entity_ that disturbed him, and not for the first time did he wonder why it was that he had allied himself with the X digimon.

But as always his worries and fears were drowned out, much in the way that his vision of the world was by the ever-encroaching darkness that enveloped him, by the desire to _not_ know what the being's reasons were. Some secrets were far too disturbing to find out.

But still, Dracmon couldn't help but wonder if they had simply traded the devil that they knew…for the devil they didn't.

* * *

Rapidmon's mind was aglow with a rage that he had never felt in his life upon seeing Henry's father take Sangloupmon's attack to save his son, and his partner Henry. The closeness of the link that they shared whenever he digivolved to Ultimate certainly made it a lot worse, raising the fires of anger to a level that he had never dreamed possible before and it seemed to him that the world around him became darker, reality harsher in some fashion and his own thoughts nursed a mercilessness and a desire for vengeance that under normal circumstances would have given him pause. Was this what Takato and WarGrowlmon felt when Beelzemon murdered Leomon? Was this the never-dying wrath that Guilmon felt when he transformed into Megidramon? Rapidmon couldn't be sure, and in truth didn't care at the moment. All he was fixed on at this very moment was making this digimon pay for what he had done to Henry's dad. There wasn't going to be any fooling around either. As much as he wanted this digimon to suffer for what he had done he couldn't take the chance that it was going to be able to escape. Of course he doubted that it would be doing any escaping any time soon after taking that _Miracle Missile_ attack the way that it did. Especially after falling all that distance to the ground. Gravity was indeed a harsh mistress and it exacted payment most brutally from any who failed to meet up to its _standards of excellence._

Rapidmon smirked darkly beneath his helmet as he flew in closely, his arm canons already starting to load up their next payload as he landed hard on the ground and took aim at the now reformatted Rookie form of Sangloupmon. It had survived the fall and the attack by conserving its energy and devolving, but it was all for naught. _Now_ , it was all over. _Now_ it was time to pay the piper…

Rapidmon's body suddenly, and inexplicably went into overload as he felt something smash into him from behind. Circuits sparked and pain flared in his body as he found himself flying over Dracmon from the force of whatever it was that had impacted him. Did Dracmon have backup? Was that why he had tried to make a break for it? Rapidmon slammed into the ground with brutal force and he felt something tear loose from his body armor. Wincing beneath his helmet Rapidmon struggled to get back to his feet so that he could defend himself, but only succeeded in rolling onto his side. Using his arms to push himself into a kneeling position Rapidmon looked up to see a digital field materializing around Dracmon. Anger flared once more and he brought his missile launchers.

_"Rapid Fire!"_ Rapidmon shouted as two missiles roared from the launchers built into his arms and flew into the digital field. There was a flash of dark energy from inside the field as the missiles passed through the barrier and Rapidmon's eyes widened slightly as a cold voice spoke to him from within the field's depths.

_"Silly rabbit…tricks are for kids…"_

Suddenly there was another flash of dark energy and to Rapidmon's shock and surprise his found his own missiles flying right at him! Leaping up at the last minute, Rapidmon narrowly missed getting hit by his own attack and they slammed into a building behind him, detonating with explosive force that sent shrapnel and concrete flying everywhere. Rapidmon glowered at the disappearing digital field, cursing his lost chance before looking up at the hole that he had made in the Hypnos Tower from the battle. Giving a roar of anger Rapidmon's cannons took on a dark glow at their tips for a moment and began to spread across his body, his voice continuing his howl of frustration towards the heavens…

"Rapidmon?" Called out an all to familiar voice, causing the android to snap back to reality. The dark discoloration of his armor faded back to its usual, normal green as he looked just in time to see Beelzemon alongside Guardromon with Kazu sitting on the top of his head approaching him.

"What?" Rapidmon snapped irritably at the Demon Lord, having been the one who had spoken in the first place. Beelzemon raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey. You doin' okay? We saw you fightin' earlier and thought that you might need some help. No need to get snappy with us."

"I've…" Rapidmon paused. He had been about to say that he had _dealt_ with the problem, but that wasn't the truth and he knew it. Growling in frustration, Rapidmon willed his anger away for the time being so that he could at least converse civilly with Beelzemon. The last thing that they both needed was a fight to start because he was too free with his mouth and too venomous with his words.

"Never mind," said Rapidmon after a couple seconds. "Look. Henry's inside of Hypnos right now and we've got some wounded in there too. We've got to do what we can to help out until we get some ambulances here!"

"Wounded huh?" Asked Beelzemon as he cast a glance over at Guardromon. "Say no more." And with that, Beelzemon flapped his bird-like wings and soared upwards, entering Hypnos through the hole in its exterior wall. Rapidmon watched him for a moment, frowning beneath his facemask as Guardromon and Kazu quickly followed behind him before falling into step behind them. He could still feel Henry's pain through their link as easily as though it were his own.

_I just hope that things aren't as bad as I think they are,_ thought Rapidmon grimly, faintly disturbed by what had transpired earlier with Dracmon. But that was something to worry about later. Right now there were people who needed their help.

_Oh Henry,_ thought Rapidmon as relief flooded his system at the sound of sirens as they began to close in on the Shinjuku government building. _I'm so sorry…_

* * *

 Amaya Abe staggered out into the streets, her mind ablaze with fear and shock as fire trucks and ambulances began to pull up. Other employees who had made it to the ground level before her were already filling in Firemen and medics in on the situation as best as they could based on what they knew and experienced. Amaya stopped for a moment to catch her breath and sort her mind before looking up at the sky. Cerulean colored eyes caught sight of the three digimon just as they disappeared into Hypnos one by one and her face faltered as painful, nightmarish memories filled her consciousness; memories from the D-Reaper invasion, and of the much later Parasimon attack. As Amaya watched, her mind drifting, lost in her memories, making her not notice when she had been led over to one of the ambulances by a medic. So caught up in her thoughts was she that she didn't notice when she had been covered with a blanket, or given a cup of steaming, hot tea to calm her nerves. All she knew were her memories, and one thought that repeated itself through her mind in time with those memories. After some time had passed Amaya looked down and rummaged through her suit's breast pocket and brought out a well-worn photograph of a young child. Her son.

_When? When will this all end?_ The woman thought as her eyes furrowed into a dark glare as she cast her eyes back up to the smoking hole in the towers of Hypnos.

The blinking lights of the fire trucks and ambulances, as well as the voices of the firemen and medics relaying information and orders over their radios were all the answer that she received in the dark of the night.


	29. Chapter: 28/ The Day After

Yamaki sat stone faced in front of his computer, his chin leaning on the tops of his hands as he looked at the turned off monitor. He made no move to turn it on however, instead finding comfort in its blankness of which seemed to represent his present mood and thoughts. The sun rose elegantly behind him, its path silent, and routine. That was fine though. A little bit of peace and quiet, in light of recent events, seemed to him all that he needed in order to get his thoughts together. After all, the day was going to be anything but.

A pair of arms folded themselves around his neck and Yamaki reflexively reached up and clasped a smooth, feminine hand into his own, rubbing it gently with his fingers as he gave a tired sigh.

"So much for what was supposed to be our day off," said Riley as she leaned onto his shoulder and followed the blonde haired man's gaze to the inactive computer, raising an eyebrow at it before shrugging it off as just another one of Yamaki's eccentricities. She had known him long enough to recognize his odd moments as something as a manifestation of sorts for both his nervousness and uncertainty about a situation, or when he was being contemplative. In this case, it was probably more of the latter then the former even if they were both mixed in. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way. Not after what had happened last night.

"Events certainly seem to have the greatest of timing don't they?" Said Yamaki finally. Riley noticed the tired tone that he had in his voice and gave his hand a soft squeeze of comfort. Riley smiled slightly. Yamaki could pretend to be the tough, secretive, cold, lone wolf Head of Hypnos all he wanted, but she had the advantage of seeing his gentler, more caring side come out into the light of day, even if he refused to admit that he had such tendencies.

_He just hasn't had many opportunities to reveal it because of his job as a government agent,_ thought Riley as she leaned her head against his. _He's spent too much time with technology. At least his interaction with the Tamers loosened him up some._

"You can hardly fault the digital world for what goes on there you know," she said in answer to his question. "You might as well tell the Earth to stop spinning."

"An apt metaphor," said Yamaki with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "I'm sure that there are digimon out there capable of that sort of thing."

"You just had to go and ruin my point didn't you?"

"Not intentionally. I'm sorry. It's been a long night."

Riley nodded as her thumb caressed the man's hand, a sympathetic smile growing on her face.

"You have been up for almost the entire night. Any news on Janyu?"

"I called Seibo Hospital a little while ago. His condition is stable. Apparently he wasn't hurt as bad as we all thought that he was. He's going to be out for a while though so that he can recover from the surgery."

"That's a relief. I'm sure Henry's going to be happy to hear about that. His father means a lot to him…"

Yamaki nodded, remembering the conversation that he had had with the boy's mother shortly after he had received confirmation from the hospital about Janyu's condition. It was definitely going to be good news, perhaps the first that he had received all day, if not perhaps the only one that he was going to get.

_Now if only I could get some information on what had happened with Nonaka,_ the Head of Hypnos thought remembering the brief conversation he had with the former Tamer Jeri Katou after he had called Rika's home to inform her about the trouble that was about to hit Shinjuku. He had a feeling he was going to catch some heat for her sudden disappearance in the _line of duty_. Of course, Rika Nonaka, the self-proclaimed _Digimon Queen,_ hadn't _officially_ signed onto Hypnos as yet (even though he had made the offer and she had definitely been the most receptive to the idea so far) but her absence would not sit well in the eyes of his superiors. It would serve as a way of saying that the Tamers were not reliable and held loyalty more towards each other then to their government. If nothing else it would serve to improve the case for the Argus program over the integration of the _unwieldy_ and _unreliable_ Tamers into the Hypnos agency. And that was not something that Yamaki wanted to allow.

Yamaki's eyes drifted over to the folder labeled _Argus_ that sat next to his computer, and unconsciously he felt himself shudder.

_Hard times are approaching,_ thought Yamaki grimly as he reached over and picked up his sunglasses, sliding them onto his face as he once more gave Riley's hand a soft squeeze. It was time to go to work.

* * *

Ryo Akiyama stretched out on the couch, groaning slightly at the patch of sunlight that had settled on his face, glaring through his closed eyelids. Reflexively his hand reached out, seeking for the form of his partner, only to clasp at nothing except for the familiar feel of blankets covering his body. Frowning more at the absence of his partner then at the inexplicableness of his present situation from what his memory was presently telling him, Ryo sat up with a groan and took in his surroundings. He was in an apartment, that much was certain and a well-to-do one at that, and he was lying on a couch facing a rather large window. Standing at the window facing him, calmly drinking some tea was a dark haired woman that seemed awfully familiar to him, but for the life of him he couldn't recall who she was. She had short, closely cropped hair, a loose fitting, baggy sweater, and a pair of small, thin glasses. There was an expression about her face that indicated exhaustion and worry that had only recently been relieved. The woman looked up, and upon seeing that Ryo was awake her face brightened visibly, and all of a sudden the last remnants of worry that she had slid away.

"Good morning Ryo," said the woman kindly as she took another sip of tea. "Sleep well?"

Ryo gave a small smile as he tossed aside the blanket and moved his legs off the couch and to the floor, wincing slightly as he felt his muscles ache from the battle from last night.

_What was it I was fighting? Oh yeah…a digimon called Craniummon…_

Ryo frowned as he looked around, his gaze glancing briefly at the woman standing at the window.

_Where'd Hopmon go? Let's see, the last thing that I remember was being held in…was it Antylamon's hands? …And I was holding Hopmon…and before that was…Milleniummon…_

Memories suddenly flooded Ryo's mind faster then he could grasp them and a panicked expression appeared on his face. Misinterpreting it (but still understanding Ryo's expression to an extent) the woman took a step towards him.

"If you're looking for your digimon, don't worry about him. He's in the kitchen right now having some breakfast." The woman's expression once more took on a worried expression as she glanced in a direction that Ryo assumed was the aforementioned room of the apartment. "I just hope that Suzie isn't bothering him too much."

Ryo's eyes widened as he now realized why it was that the woman had seemed so familiar to him now.

"Mrs. Wong?" Ryo asked, his voice sounding throaty, and a tad bit scratched. The woman turned towards him.

"Yes?"

Ryo swallowed and coughed, attempting to clear his throat so that he could sound more normal. He hadn't seen Henry's mother in quite some time, and had only gone to his family's apartment a couple times (getting odd looks from Henry's older sister, Jaarin both times in fact). In fact, the majority of the times that he _had_ seen Henry's mother was during the D-Reaper invasion. This fact reminded him that he did not often see the other Tamers outside of a battle or a situation that demanded all of their attention.

Ryo's face became downcast as he realized that given what had happened to him recently, the odds of that changing anytime soon had just shrunk considerably.

"I was wondering…how did I get here? Not that I'm not glad that I _am_ here, I mean, it beats sleeping outside but it's just…did Suzie's partner bring me here?"

"Yes," said Mayumi Wong as she glanced once more towards the kitchen area, raising an eyebrow at a rather loud _clanging_ noise emerging from it. "Suzie let Lopmon out of the apartment when her _digivice…_ " Mayumi glanced at Ryo to see if she had gotten the terminology right before continuing. "…Told her that there was some trouble going on. Antylamon showed up a little while later with you in tow and we set you and your partner up on the couch. I called your father a little while ago, so he'll be stopping by to pick you up and take you home. Sorry that Henry couldn't stay here to fill you in on things."

"That's okay," said Ryo, giving Mayumi a reassuring smile to assuage her of whatever worries that she had. "He's got school to go to after all."

_Something that I keep missing too much of,_ commiserated Ryo silently. _But then, that's destiny for you._

"Well, there is that," said Mayumi quietly as she looked down at her tea cup contemplatively, a strange expression passing briefly on her face like a cloud obscuring the sun. Ryo raised an eyebrow, wondering if something had happened last night and was about to ask until a sudden clamor coming from the kitchen interrupted him, catching their attention.

"Hopmon!" Called out the familiar voice of Suzie Wong in a panicked voice. "Come back! I just want to help look nice for Mr. Wyo when he gets up!"

"Suzie, maybe he doesn't want to wear the dress you picked out for him."

"But why Lopmon? Tewwiewmon nevew complained about it before…"

Ryo looked over at Mayumi Wong with a worried expression. The elder Wong was already shaking her head and moving in the direction of the kitchen to put a stop to things before they ran out of control.

"Suzie…" Mayumi called out while Ryo watched her go for a moment before falling into step behind her, one hand scratching the back of his head in bemusement at the trouble that his partner had gotten into in so short a time.

_I just hope that this is as far as our trouble goes right now,_ thought Ryo as he once again thought about last night's battle. In the back of his mind he felt that last night's events were only signaling their beginning.

* * *

Kenta looked over at Kazu with wide eyes as the visor-wearing child sat within the shade of the dinosaur hideout that had been their hangout for longer then either cared to remember before frowning. Sitting down next to him, Jeri looked at Kazu with a worried gaze.

"Kazu," began Jeri, pointing to the large, black and blue bruise that stood out quite prominently on the boy's face. "I'm thinking that you need to let Kenta and MarineAngemon see to that bruise on your face."

Kazu waved a dismissive hand to the girl, his eyes closed and relaxed, not even bothering to vocalize his response to the puppet loving girl, though part of it was no doubt due to the fact that with the way that his face felt, speaking was the absolute _last_ thing that he wanted to do.

"He wouldn't let me check it out when me and MarineAngemon showed up at Hypnos last night to help out with the damage control," said Kenta grouchily as he folded his arms across his chest.

"But why?" Asked Jeri, perplexed now. "It looks like it really hurts…"

"My Tamer wishes to have a remembrance of last night's battle," said Guardromon from his place just outside of the dinosaur hut. "As I recall, he said something about a _'warrior must retain his battle scars'."_

Jeri looked over at Kenta and cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Did he actually say that?"

Kenta sighed.

"Well, not in so many words. Frankly I can't see why he'd want to keep a bruise, especially one like _that_. For one thing it's temporary and another he's definitely hurting from it. Beelzemon told me last night that he got hit by a Mega when it was trying to destroy Guardromon."

Jeri's eyes widened at that and she quickly turned her face to Kazu and scowled at him.

"You two…need to lighten…up," said Kazu, his voice sounding distorted due to the stiffness of his jaw. "I told you guys…I'm fine. The docs checked me out…and besides, it's not like anything's broken or fractured. I got lucky…"

Kazu winced visibly and moved one hand to his face, massaging the bruise and groaning as he did so.

"I'm pretty sure that luck had nothing to do with it," said Kenta as his frown darkened. "From what Beelzemon told me, that Crusadermon didn't consider you enough of a threat to really go all out on you. If you had managed to do something that really teed her off it would be a different story. And _don't_ tell me that this is just you're way of getting out of having to answer Ms. Asagi's questions, because that's pretty shallow if you ask me."

Kazu cracked open an eye and looked at his companion critically, wondering at the angry tone that Kenta had used with him. Kazu looked Kenta in the eyes for a moment before finally groaning in defeat and shaking his head.

"Alright Chumley, if it'll set your mind at ease you can have your little pink fairy guy fix me up after school. We still have to head down to Takato's bakery anyways to help out, and I don't want any of the customers getting scared away by this." Kazu pointed at the dark discoloration on his face before getting to his feet and grabbing his book bag. "Anyway, I think we ought to head down to class now. I'm not getting stuck in another one of Ms. Asagi's after school detentions. Last one there is a rotten digi-egg!"

Kenta shook his head as he watched his friend take off at a pace that didn't normally befit the visor-wearing child when he was on his way to school before looking over at Guardromon. The mechanical android was as impassive as always.

"Boys."

"Huh? What's up Jeri?" Asked Kenta, pausing in his reaching over to his book bag. Jeri had a small frown on her face.

"Kenta? Is Kazu feeling okay? He's been acting kind of weird for days now. I know that he's normally _odd_ but this seems to be a little bit more then usual. He's been more attentive in class, more diligent about his homework too from what I've noticed, and…well, I didn't look too closely at those since it seemed to be for the best but his refusing to let MarineAngemon deal with his injuries? What's that about?"

Kenta frowned as he hoisted his bag to his shoulders and returned his gaze to Jeri.

"It's kind of simple actually," said Kenta after a couple seconds. "It has to do with Takato."

"Takato?"

Kenta nodded.

"I talked with him about it back when we first started working for Takato's parents. He's been out of sorts ever since that battle with Lucemon when he finally got Guardromon to digivolve back to his Ultimate form. Did you know that they lost that fight?"

Jeri nodded. She had heard about the events of that particular battle from varying accounts of each of the other Tamers, and Kazu's evolving Guardromon to Andromon had been something of an accomplishment for him despite the fact that Lucemon had brutally defeated both the newly evolved Ultimate and Kyubimon in one fell swoop.

"Well," continued Kenta. "In the past, whenever any of the others had digivolved they were able to win against powerful enemies. Takato, Guilmon, Henry, Terriermon, Rika, and Renamon defeated a lot of bad guys when they digivolved to the next level for the first time despite being inexperienced with their forms. Gallatmon defeated Beelzemon and MegaGargomon defeated Zhuqiaomon. Neither one of them were pushovers but they still won, and that was because they had something to fight for. People that they had to protect because they cared about them. Kazu…he had all of that going for him, but in the end it didn't matter. Lucemon defeated Andromon without even breaking a sweat…"

"But…I don't get it. Rika and Kyubimon lost that fight too, so why would Kazu be affected by that?"

"It doesn't matter that Rika lost that fight too," said Kenta. "What matters to him is that he was trying to help someone and he failed. He feels that he let Takato down in some way. Everything that he's been doing since then I think is in some way a way that he feels that he's making up for it." Kenta looked over at Guardromon, who at the moment continued to stay silent, remaining impassive despite the fact that the conversation was about his partner. Kenta looked back to Jeri and began walking. Jeri followed.

"It's quite possible," continued Kenta. "That his reasons for not wanting the bruise healed are the same as helping out at the bakery. He couldn't help Guardromon, so his keeping the bruise is probably something like atonement for that. That's just what I think anyway…"

Jeri looked at Kenta as if she were seeing him with new eyes. There was something about Kenta's reasoning that had struck a cord with her, and in a way it made sense. She knew as well as anyone, if not better the kinds of feelings that came when a person felt unable to do something when the whole world just seemed to turn against them, and the kinds of dangers that kind of thinking could entail. It was rather amazing that she hadn't picked up on it sooner, and that it was Kenta who had done so before her. Kenta was usually quiet and shy. Not very outspoken and tended to flow in whatever direction Kazu leaned with little pressure required from the other boy's part. In some ways he reminded her of Takato back before he had become a Tamer, but in others he reminded her of Takato after first combining with Guilmon to become Gallantmon, only to a far lesser degree. It was times like this that Jeri caught a glimpse of the _real_ Tamer beneath the visage that the others chose to let the world see. And now, she had seen a little bit of the real Kenta.

"You know Kenta," began Jeri with a small smile growing on her face. "There's a lot more to you then meets the eye."

Kenta looked at her with a surprised expression, his face starting to take on a slight redness to it as he took in her small, glowing smile.

"Huh? W-What makes you say t-t-that, Jeri?"

Jeri giggled lightly and shook her head.

_Boys…_

A small, rustling sound caught their attention as they began to close in on the gate leading to their school. Looking up they both found Terriermon, sitting on the stonewall, head cocked to one side as he watched them.

"Terriermon!" Cried Kenta joyfully. "I haven't seen you since the fight last night. How are you doing?"

"Feeling a little bit better then I was last night," said Terriermon as he raised an ear in salutation to the two children. "Yamaki called this morning. He said that Henry's dad is going to pull through."

Jeri's eyes brightened at that news. She had heard a little bit about what had happened to Henry's father that morning when Kazu and Kenta had first shown up, and it had answered her questions as to why Henry hadn't arrived at the park as was usual for him to do (though judging from Terriermon's presence he had arrived at school _early_ rather then _late_ ).

"So where's Henry now?"

"In class, where you guys should be," giggled Terriermon as he placed a tiny paw on his mouth.

Kenta opened his mouth to say that they had plenty of time before snapping it closed with an audible click. The last time he had said something like that he, Kazu, Rika, and Renamon had been dragged into a data stream in the digital world. It would be just his luck for something of similar equivalent to happen as soon as he said that.

"He's right about that," said Kenta as he took a step into the schoolyard. "We'll have to talk to him when we have more time. Bye Terriermon!"

"Bye-bye!" Called out the rabbit-dog rather cheerfully as he waved his ear at Kenta and then looked down at Jeri. "Hey. Jeri. You _do_ have to be in class before the bell rings…"

Jeri's face became contemplative.

"I know Terriermon. I was just thinking about everything that's happened lately. I've been worried… Been worried about a lot of things."

Terriermon did a summersault off the brick wall and landed in front of Jeri, a look of contemplation appearing on his face now.

"Yeah. Things have been kind of chaotic lately haven't they? We still don't even know what the word is about Okinawa."

Jeri bit her lower lip as she recalled the brief meeting that she, Rika's family, and those Tamers who had been able to attend (sans Henry who had been busy informing his mother about what had happened to his father at the time) had had with Yamaki. The Head of Hypnos had managed to squeeze in some time to talk to them about what had happened that night and organize things as best as he could with the resources they had available. Beelzemon had immediately elected to go to Okinawa on his own, and given the fact that he had the ability to go there without having to commit any of Hypnos's resources to the effort there was little argument on that front. So far, all that they knew for certain was that the Wild Digimon signals that had appeared in Okinawa had disappeared from Hypnos's detection systems, so either Takato had managed to take care of the situation himself or Rika and Renamon had gotten there in time to intercept the digimon before things got too out of hand. Given the distance between Shinjuku and Okinawa there stood a better chance that the former had happened rather then the latter, but with digimon like Sakuyamon one could never be one hundred percent certain. At least Yamaki had been able to pull some strings so that he could get some help to check out the area. Only time would tell on how things went from there.

Jeri blinked when she felt Terriermon jump up onto her shoulder and hugged her head with his ears.

"Momentai Jeri. I'm sure that everything's going to be fine. This is Rika and Takato we're talking about, remember? Sure Takato trips a lot and Rika has the tendency to get into trouble that's over her head but they've handled some pretty tough stuff before! They'll be fine!"

Jeri gave a small, worried smile at the little Rookie.

"You're pretty confident about that."

Terriermon giggled.

"When you consider the kinds of things that we've gone through and come out of I have every reason to be confident. We've had some good news today. I'm sure that by the time that we all see Yamaki we'll have a little bit more. Now Momentai Jeri. And hurry up and get to class! You wouldn't want to be late either now would you?"

Finally letting loose a light giggle of her own, Jeri reached up and gave Terriermon an affectionate scratch behind the ears before dashing off towards the doors, Terriermon leaping off of the girl's shoulders a second later and catching a breeze with his long ears.


	30. Chapter: 29/ New Roads

Noriko jogged down the halls of Shinjuku elementary school Yodobashi as her heart slammed in her chest fearfully.

 _Oh great,_ thought the girl irritably as she fought down the fear that threatened to overwhelm her, blowing at the strands of hair that continued to get in her magenta eyes from the gusts of wind caused by her rapid motion. _First day back to school from wherever it was that I was and I oversleep. At least I was able to get Dai to his class okay, what with his wanting to stop and gawk at every third thing that caught his attention. Oh man, Mr. Mori is_ so _going to kill me…_

Actually that was an overstatement, and Noriko knew it all too well. Mr. Mori was perhaps one of the most understanding and laid back teachers she had ever met in her life, at least when it came to disciplining students about tardiness. When it came to teaching a class he could be goofy, at times awkward (especially whenever the occasional student called him out about a fact that didn't quite fit with the information that their text books were showing them), and downright _quirky_ , as she had overheard Ms. Asagi say about him once. Not that he was a bad person, not by any means, but a certain camping trip from last year came to mind when he had freaked out while telling a story about some crazed spoon obsessed psychopath. He had gone on about _monsters_ for the remainder of the night and had been dragged off by Ms. Asagi to chill out.

And despite the fact that Mr. Mori had freaked out about _monsters_ in a tent belonging to three of Shinjuku's resident Tamers lent him some credibility, it still did not change the fact that he was just what Ms. Asagi had described him as. _Quirky._

 _It could be worse,_ thought Noriko as she came to a dead stop in front of her classroom, leaning forwards on her knees for a moment to catch her breath. _I could have had Iwamoto for a teacher…or I could have run into the Principal on my way in through the doors. Either one would have been bad._

Straightening up Noriko looked down at her clothes and dusted off nonexistent dirt, as she looked herself over to make sure that nothing was amiss. She had chosen her clothing to be simple and practical as was her usual habit, opting for plain, grayish shorts that ran down past her knees and midway down her shins, and a white t-shirt. Nothing fancy, nothing special, and a long way from the usual kinds of clothes that girls her age wore.

Noriko frowned as she reached up and brushed some hair out of her eyes once more.

 _Going to have to get a handle on that,_ she thought, scowling briefly. _First chance I get, I'm fixing this hair. Wish I knew how Mom and the girls in my class handle it._

Taking a deep breath Noriko banished those thoughts to focus on the task ahead of her. Willing herself to calm down, she counted to three and reached towards the slide door of her classroom and slid it open.

_Here we go…_

Quiet greeted the girl as she stepped into the room, and Noriko repressed a wince as she felt all eyes suddenly turn towards her. Noriko allowed her eyes to drift over the room, pausing on a couple of her friends, Ayame, and Hisa before continuing their course, once more pausing on another student, Henry Wong, who's gray eyes had widened somewhat at her appearance as if he hadn't been expecting her to show up. Well, perhaps he had every right to be. She _was_ given quite a bit of time to recuperate from events after all…

"Welcome back Noriko!" Said Mr. Mori as he walked up to the girl, making her jump in surprise and her face to take on a slightly red complexion from being taken off guard like that. "I must say, that we didn't expect you to be back so soon after your…er… _difficulties_ , but nonetheless it's good to have you back."

 _Just what I was thinking,_ thought Noriko as she scrunched up her face slightly at the man's rather obvious observation. Oh well. He was speaking for the class as a whole after all.

"Well, here I am," said Noriko, putting an enthusiastic tone into her voice to go with the small, awkward smile that was starting to curve on her lips. "Ready to get back into the swing of things."

Mr. Mori suddenly began chuckling.

"Heh, that's pretty good Noriko. _Getting back into the swing of things…ahem…coughing…_ er… anyway, if you would be so kind to take your seat. I haven't finished the attendance yet so I'll just check you off as _here_ now that you are _here._ I'll be wanting to see you after class to see what you have to make up still for the time that you've been gone and what we can work around in regards to… _that._ You'll have to have some of your classmates help you out with the notes you missed. My cat fluffy accidentally set fire to my copies two days ago." At that Mr. Mori blinked as he realized that all of a sudden he had become the center of massive number of confused and incredulous looks at the story. Mr. Mori chuckled nervously and resumed speaking. "O-Okay class, get out your history textbooks and turn to page 194. Today I want to begin a new chapter…"

Noriko proceeded to turn the man out as she made her way over to her desk and sat down with a sigh and a frown. As she unzipped her bag and began to dig through its contents for her history textbook, Noriko felt an odd sensation that she could only describe as _'being watched'_. For the most part she just shrugged it off as post-return jitters. She did get quite a lot of looks when she had come in after all. Maybe she was still nervous about being back. As Noriko placed her textbook on her desk and began turning the pages she began glancing around her peripherally. Her crimson gaze settled on Henry Wong and froze there when she saw him looking at her out of the corner of his eye, jerking away as soon as he saw her doing likewise.

Noriko groaned inwardly as the memories of her time with Lucemon came to mind, reminding her that she had basically cared for a being that had harmed a friend of the boy.

_This…is going to be weird…_

Had Henry been looking once more, he would have noticed that Noriko's eyes had taken on a strange, blue hue to their sad appearance that did not normally belong to her crimson irises.

* * *

Ryo got into the car with his father, Hopmon held protectively within his arms as he sat down and proceeded to buckle himself in. Ryo smiled sympathetically at his partner. The little purple colored digimon was presently shaking, shame creeping onto his face and heating up his scales.

 _Poor guy,_ thought Ryo as his mind traced back to that brief episode in the kitchen when he had rescued the little In-Training from the clutches of Henry's little sister, Suzie Wong. _Never would have thought that something like that would happen to him, being an only child after all. She just about had him that frilly, pink bonnet and dress almost tied on and_ knotted _by the time Mrs. Wong and I got out there. I don't even want to know how she was able to fit Hopmon into that tiny doll dress without tearing it. I'm just glad that he didn't digivolve to Cyberdramon. He wouldn't have stood for it if that happened._

Ryo's face became downcast as another thought came to him.

_Neither would Milleniummon for that matter._

Ryo closed his eyes and let out a yawn as he stretched in his seat and then relaxed. The soreness in his muscles from last night's exertions made their presence known to him once more and he winced.

"I called you in sick today," said Ryo's father in a tone that caused Ryo to frown slightly.

_That doesn't sound good…_

"Thanks Dad," said Ryo, not missing a beat. "I could do with a little bit of rest after what happened last night."

"I can imagine," said the boy's father, his tone easing up a bit. "Was it that rough for you out there?"

 _Well Milleniummon certainly made things easier,_ thought Ryo sarcastically though he didn't bother sharing this particular bit of information with his father, even though he knew that sooner or later the issue was going to come to light.

_As much as I know sooner would be better, I'd much rather that it be later._

"Let's just say that it was something of a workout," said the Legendary Tamer as his mind went over his battle with Craniummon. "That digimon was at a pretty high level. Well seasoned too. I got the feeling that he was toying around with me from the way that we were going at it."

"Are we going to be seeing a recurrence of what happened last time?"

"Which _last time_ are we talking about Dad?"

Ryo's father let out an audible sigh as he smoothly took a right turn.

"I don't know. It's just… it seems like every time we turn around something comes up where you have to go out and fight something _big._ It's never just small things Ryo, you're holding the fate of the world in your hands and…it's difficult sometimes living with something like that, having it hanging over your head, and worrying about someone you care about. Back before we came _here_ , I thought that it was over…"

"So did I Dad," said Ryo in a low voice as he caressed the scales of his partner's body. Hopmon was feeling tense beneath his fingers. He knew what Ryo's father was talking about. They both did.

 _I can't help the cards destiny dealt me,_ thought Ryo, his face softening a bit.

Silence hung within the car for a moment. Ryo's father eventually broke it.

"So what's it going to be this time?"

Ryo looked over at his father. To his credit, he was able to hide the surprise that he felt.

"What makes you think that something's going to happen, Dad?"

"Ryo. Be straight with me. The last time you disappeared and went to the digital world you had a look on your face like you were expecting something to happen, and that no matter what you wouldn't be able to avoid it. Now I don't know all the reasons why you do what you do or why you _have_ to do it, and I've done my best to accept it and not ask too much about it, but I have to know something. Are you going to get mixed up with the digital world again? Are you going to have to go back to the digital world to take care of some problem again?"

Ryo stared at his father for a few seconds before looking away. Memories from previous battles came to mind. Battles that he should have been harmed in; should have had a hard time walking away from but in each engagement he had gotten away without a scratch. Craniummon, Lucemon, the Horn Striker… all of them hinting that something on some deeper level were happening to him. Signs that he _should_ have recognized, but he had ignored the signs. Didn't want to recognize them for what they were. All he had wanted was to have _some_ level of normalcy back in his life without having to worry about _him_ coming back.

 _Funny how things work out,_ thought Ryo. _After everything that I've been through…everything that I've experienced…Milleniummon just won't leave me alone. Could he be right? Are we like light and dark? Forever destined to be tangled in each other's webs, one unable to exist without the other? I wish that I knew for certain, but that's a question that not even the Digimon Sovereign could answer._

"I might have to Dad," said Ryo finally, instinctively pulling Hopmon against him in an attempt to reassure the In-training digimon. "I might have to."

Ryo glanced out the car window and looked up at the sky, his face softening as he held onto Hopmon. As he watched a stray wisp of a cloud separate itself from a much larger one he wondered how Rika and Takato were doing.

For the first time since he had chosen his destiny, he couldn't decide if he should feel relieved or worried over the lack of Milleniummon's voice in his mind since the battle with Craniummon had ended.

* * *

"Really Yamaki," said a dark haired, thickly set man as he placed a folder on Yamaki's desk, the blonde haired Head of Hypnos scowling behind his sunglasses. "I know full well how it is that you feel about the Argus program but the situation is out of your hands now. Your friend, the Chief of Cabinets, has done his best, as have you, to stall its activation but due to your rather _sloppy_ handling of the digimon situation those in parliament have come to feel that a more pragmatic means to controlling dangerous, wild digimon is now not only favorable, but a necessity."

Yamaki grimaced.

"You don't honestly believe that this is going to work any better then any of my previous efforts, do you? Frankly, I don't see what you and Argus can do that the Tamers aren't already capable of…"

"You mean besides being more dependable?" Said the man, raising a mocking eyebrow at Yamaki. "According to your most recent report, and to a good many of your reports, the Tamers have a history of doing things _their_ way. One, Rika Nonaka, disappeared last night…"

"She was going to Okinawa to help one of the other Tamers," Yamaki grated.

"True, but the fact remains that she was not around to lend aid when it was needed. According to your profile on her she especially has a tendency of doing things _her way._ Need I point out that during the Parasimon incident she had refused to let you handle the situation? I have sources that tell me that as a direct result of her disobedience she had been possessed by one of these _Parasimon_ , and endangered not only the Tamer that you claim she had gone off to help, but also the success of returning Locomon to the digital world. And need I remind you that it was _because_ of your plan that enabled the Parasimon invasion to begin with. And I don't think that I need to mention anything about Juggernaut's dismal _failures_ , both before and after D-Reaper…"

"There was no way that we could have predicted _any_ of those events!" Yamaki said, fighting to keep anger out of his voice. The dark haired man who sat across from him looked down at Yamaki's right hand, taking note of how tightly the Head of Hypnos held onto his lighter before looking back to meet his eyes.

"Except that _you_ did. I believe that you had discussed it with some of your _sponsors_ back before you fully integrated Juggernaut into your systems. The words _'unlimited powers of destruction'_ and _'indefinite lifespans'_ come to mind. Your earliest reports on digimon, enhanced by your final reports following the D-Reaper incident, indicate that you believe digimon fully capable of doing anything within their power, and risk _displacing_ humanity should they be allowed to enter the real world. Of course, your later words paint a much kinder picture of them then your earlier ones due to an encounter with the _famed…_ ah…Takato Matsuki, is it? It's almost ironic when I look at his profile. He seems to be the most amiable of all the Tamers, and the most reliable when it comes to following orders. I say _ironic_ because in the end he turned out to be holding the most dangerous digimon specimen that has yet to be encountered."

The man looked impassively at Yamaki for a moment before delivering the next proverbial _hammer blow._

"The word _'Hazard'_ has started to be whispered in the upper levels of government when it comes to digimon…"

Yamaki's glare deepened beneath his sunglasses.

"I know what the situation is."

"Then you should appreciate our position Yamaki. The Tamer's are _children_ ; I feel that I should remind you of that fact. Impulsive. And their emotions influence their digimon partners to such a high degree where they can be just as much of a liability as anything else. I don't dispute their service record. No one does, but there are those who want assurances that _non-Tamers_ can still accomplish the same duties should the need ever arise. We're allowing you to continue with your own program of including the Tamers into Hypnos, even if the thought of using children as _soldiers_ doesn't sit well with people, but we want _results_ on the Argus program and _soon._ You are to begin testing as soonest as you are able. Is that understood?"

Yamaki flicked his lighter open as he gripped it hard.

"Crystal."

Yamaki snapped the lighter closed with an audible click.

* * *

Guardromon stood next to the dinosaur hut, having not moved an inch since the Tamers departed to go to school, and though the sun shone down brightly on him, illuminating his metal armor and warming it, the thoughts that were running through his mechanical mind at the moment left him with the impression that the weather had taken a turn for the worst to dramatically suit his mood.

 _I can almost hear the pangs of raindrops on my body now,_ thought Guardromon as his cybernetic eyes lowered in sadness. _I'd rust if it weren't for the fact that I was treated to be water proofed…_

Of course, Guardromon knew full well that it wasn't raining, but there were times where his mind took flights of fantasy, inspired in part by his views and goals concerning justice. He had often viewed himself as something of a knight errant, and had admired those digimon who took on the forms of knights as a manifestation of their _justness_ and _righteousness_. He had been inspired quite a long time ago, well before he had first digivolved to Andromon, by his first sight of an actual _Royal Knight_ , one by the name of Ulforce Veedramon as it battled against an evil digimon known as Daemon. So strong, so assured, never giving up no matter how bad the odds were or what dangers were thrown in his path, and he had _won_ in the end. His desire to protect the helpless from the dark powers of the Daemon enabled him to summon the strength that he needed to overcome his nemesis, and it was in that moment that Guardromon knew that he had found his destiny. His _calling._

With the memory of that incredible digimon as his role model on the ways of justice, Guardromon had set out on his path, righting wrongs wherever he could find them like a digital equivalent of the human story _Don Quixote_ (though he knew the story not). Eventually he had digivolved, and though the form was not that of a knight it was still good enough in his eyes and he continued his mission.

And then he met Orochimon, and then came the Tamers.

_Kazu…_

He hadn't thought much of humans before. He considered them a curiosity before he joined forces with them, but he had admitted to having the desire to have one for a partner. He had heard the rumors of those digimon who became stronger by being partnered with such creatures, and the thought of having someone that he could share his adventures with, laugh and fight alongside by as a knight and squire, if not as two comrades on equal footing, certainly had a ring to it that he liked but he didn't get his hopes up. His _mission_ as a guardian of justice and protector of the weak tended to override such dreams and thoughts. His was a lonely path after all just like a knight's path was. He had no time or place to have such thoughts where his mission was concerned…

And then he became partnered with Kazu.

A strange child to be sure; hyperactive, always rushing into danger, but occasionally he showed a part of himself that would do any knight proud to have the boy fight by his side. As time went on and they fought against more and more opponents he continued to grow and show more of the brave, caring aspects of his personality and their ability to work together got better as a result, eventually culminating in his finally digivolving Guardromon back to his Ultimate form of Andromon.

Guardromon made a light, commiserating sound as he leaned forward to get a closer look at a flower that was growing near the dinosaur hut that he was presently standing guard outside of, his body creaking and groaning with the effort. The conversation that he had heard Kenta and Jeri having prior to their going to school disturbed him somewhat. Not because it put Kazu in a bad light or anything, far from it in fact. It was more that what they said made _sense._ He had noticed the change in Kazu's personality of late, being increasingly protective of his friends, particularly in regards to Takato's well being. His working at the Matsuki bakery was just one example of this, and while it wasn't an extreme example it still emphasized the zeal that he was putting into his efforts to _atone_ for his apparent _failure_ to protect Takato, and Guardromon himself, from danger.

Guardromon thought back to last night, remembering how Kazu had refused MarineAngemon's attempt to heal him of his injuries. Kazu had received it courtesy of the Mega level digimon Crusadermon when he had tried to protect him.

_Does Kazu feel that bad about what happened? Does he feel as though he's letting everyone down? For the longest time he wasn't able to digivolve me to the Ultimate level, and that had us sitting on the sidelines at times while the others dealt with the more dangerous threats. I must admit that I certainly felt a little out of place because I couldn't do as much as Takato, Henry, and Rika but I was comforted by the knowledge that our time would come, and it did!_

Despite this knowledge, the whispers of Kenta and Jeri's conversation came to the massive android unbidden to his memory banks.

" _In the past, whenever any of the others had digivolved they were able to win against powerful enemies. Takato, Guilmon, Henry, Terriermon, Rika, and Renamon defeated a lot of bad guys when they digivolved to the next level for the first time despite being inexperienced with their forms. Gallatmon defeated Beelzemon and MegaGargomon defeated Zhuqiaomon. Neither one of them were pushovers but they still won, and that was because they had something to fight for. People that they had to protect because they cared about them. Kazu…he had all of that going for him, but in the end it didn't matter. Lucemon defeated Andromon without even breaking a sweat…"_

" _But…I don't get it. Rika and Kyubimon lost that fight too, so why would Kazu be affected by that?"_

" _It doesn't matter that Rika lost that fight too," said Kenta. "What matters to him is that he was trying to help someone and he failed. He feels that he let Takato down in some way. Everything that he's been doing since then I think is in some way a way that he feels that he's making up for it. It's quite possible that his reasons for not wanting the bruise healed are the same as helping out at the bakery. He couldn't help Guardromon, so his keeping the bruise is probably something like atonement for that…"_

Guardromon sat down on the ground, his body making a loud _crashing_ sound as he brought it to earth. His electronic gaze remained fixated on the flower in front of him as he did so.

 _I can understand that a little bit,_ thought Guardromon. _I can understand not liking the sting of defeat, but I always managed to pick myself up and keep going. Kazu has never seen himself as a failure in the past, and he's contributed greatly to his friends in combat situations even in situations that were outside of his expertise. He should know that he doesn't have to atone for anything._

Guardromon however, felt that things weren't that simple. Humans as a rule never were for some reason.

_Oh dear…_

* * *

 Henry frowned as he busied himself with copying down notes from Mr. Mori's rather long-winded lecture (a rather odd change of pace for the man). His motions, though studious and as diligent as ever were not reflective of what was going on inside of his mind. Though he was there, in the class in the _physical_ sense, the same could not be said for the rest of him, as he was focused more on the rather traumatic events from last night.

Henry's pencil paused on the sheet and the half-Chinese boy closed his eyes. An invisible shudder ran through his body as he recalled his father's unresponsive body, the way it felt to him as he held him, the stickiness of his blood that adhered to his hands, and pooling on the ground beneath the…

_Stop it!_

Henry took a deep, calming breath and emptied his mind as his sensei had taught him from his martial arts classes. He waited a few moments, sinking himself into the world around him, hearing the noise of his breathing, the noise of other students busily jotting down notes, the scratch of their pencils on paper and the noise of the clock as its second hand ticked away. He became aware of the whole world around him, while at the same time he became distanced from it; it came at him in the most intimate way possible while vanishing from his sight all together to the point where he ceased to be aware that reality even existed. Drifting…drifting… His emotions and his spirit centered itself before draining out of him until all he envisioned within him was a white light in which all fears and darkness vanished like smoke on the wind. Finally, Henry reopened his eyes and relaxed the tight grip that he hadn't realized he had developed on his pencil and resumed writing. The memories of his father still haunted him, but for now he could hold them at bay and accept them for the place that they had in his life. His father was going to be all right, and in the end that was what mattered.

He remembered the feeling of relief that he had felt when he had heard the news that morning while looking in on Ryo, who was still passed out on the couch since he had been brought in. Rinchei, Jaarin, Suzie, and their mother had all equally been happy, especially their mother, who had been badly worried about her husband and trying not to show it. Henry had stayed up late keeping her company, and though she had allayed his fears by telling him that she didn't blame him, his life as a Tamer, or Janyu's _intelligence_ when it came to creating digimon (she had however, jokingly in spite of her fears, told him that he could be too smart for his own good sometimes), or even digimon in general, Henry still felt that he _was_ to blame for what had happened.

He knew that he shouldn't be like that. The situation was what it was, and things had gone out of control the moment that Sangloupmon had tried to make good his escape. His father had simply reacted accordingly when he had seen his son in danger, as any parent who loved and cared for their child would.

 _I'm just glad that things seem to be working out in the end,_ thought Henry. _I just wish that they didn't have to go the way that they did._

* * *

 Lunch time.

It was a rare occasion that Henry was grateful to have a break away from his teacher's voice and just relax as best as he could. Again, not that his teacher could be boring, but he was…well, he was out there, and a number of students agreed with him on that front without a comment even having to be voiced. Henry reentered his homeroom, having just returned from having gotten his lunch and set his tray down on his desk, placing himself down in front of it in short order. His eyes wandered a bit, taking in the classroom around him. A bit of curiosity bloomed in him as he wondered where Noriko was. The thought that he should talk to her lay in the back of his mind, and given her own disorientation from her return to the real world he imagined that she could use a sympathetic ear. She had been there for him when he was upset over Takato's loss, and even though he had his fair share of trouble right now there was no reason why he couldn't reach out to someone. True, she had her friends there for her, and while he reasoned that they would be supportive of the girl he didn't feel that they could relate. Noriko had been to the digital world, a strange and completely alien place to most humans. Harsh too. How it was that Noriko had gotten through unscathed was something of a curiosity to him, as she hadn't returned to the real world with a partner. But he was precluding the possibility that she could have gotten help from a regular wild digimon. An uncommon occurrence to be sure as most digimon were interested in blasting each other to smithereens and absorbing the losers data but his own experiences assured him that there were some good hearted digimon who didn't share the philosophy of 'survival of the fittest'.

 _I wonder what Yamaki has to say about it,_ thought Henry. _It's not everyday that the digital world spits out a human, but I guess that he might not consider it that big of a deal after working with us. And Noriko's not being prevented from attending school so that's something._

Henry glanced over at the room's entrance to see some more of his fellow classmates file in, and his gray eyes picked out Noriko's face among them. Noriko saw him looking at her and she hesitated briefly before resuming her pace and heading over to her seat with her friends following closely behind. One of them, Hisa cast a glance in Henry's direction, as though having seen the reason for Noriko's hesitation. The girl raised an eyebrow but as yet did nothing. Henry sighed and returned his attention to his meal, not wanting to interrupt Noriko's private moment with her friends.

 _There was something in the way that she looked at me,_ thought Henry as he took a sip from his milk carton. _Something that looked like…_ shame. _I wonder why… could she be thinking about Lucemon? When I saw her mother, Ms. Nakata, she told me that Noriko had taken care of him after his first two battles with us. Could she be feeling bad about taking care of someone who had hurt one of my closest friends and destroying another? I guess I would too if I were in her position. Lucemon certainly didn't seem to care about what he had done the last time we ever saw him. I may not know Noriko all that well, but this must seem like a betrayal of trust to her. I let her in when she lent me a listening ear and she found out that she was harboring one of our enemies._

Henry placed his milk carton back down on his tray and looked over at Noriko. It was plainly evident that she wasn't into whatever it was that her two friends were talking about though it was certainly not for a lack of trying that much was certain. He wondered if her seeing him looking at her had upset her in some way.

 _If Terriermon were here he'd be telling me that I should go and talk to her rather then wondering_ what-ifs and feeling guilty about her feeling bad. And he's right. I should be doing something to smooth things out between us. She tried to help me when she had no reason too. I'm sure that her reasons for helping Lucemon were pretty much the same, and there's hardly anything wrong with that. And even if that's not what she's upset about, I can still lend a friend to her.

Gulping down the remainder of his milk Henry gathered his resolve, picked up his lunch tray, got up from his seat and walked over to where Noriko and her two friends were sitting.

"Uh…hi," began Henry as he came to a stop in front of the three girls. They looked at him with curious, and expectant expressions on their faces. Henry focused on Noriko, who was presently looking back at him, meeting him gaze for gaze, not flinching away but Henry could tell that whatever she was feeling bad about, it definitely revolved around him.

 _Weird,_ Henry noted absently. _Of all the things that she could be upset about considering what's happened to her…_

"I was wondering if I could have a talk with you, Noriko," said Henry before looking over at her two friends. "Er… _alone."_

Both girls raised their eyebrows and looked over at Noriko, clearly not expecting this, but the red-eyed girl simply nodded, and reluctantly they got up and moved over to some other nearby desks. Close enough where they could keep an eye on the situation but far enough so as to allow the two their privacy.

Henry took a seat at a desk adjacent to Noriko, swiveling around in the chair so that he faced her more directly.

"I guess you're wondering why I wanted to talk to you," said Henry after taking a couple seconds to collect himself.

"The thought did cross my mind," replied Noriko as she fiddled idly with the plastic fork that came with her lunch, her eyes not quite meeting Henry's.

"I wanted to ask you how you were doing," said Henry as he leaned forward in his seat and placed his arms on his knees and clasped his hands together.

"I'm…fine," said Noriko as she finally brought her eyes up to meet his, one dark eyebrow raising skywards as she looked at him. "I'm here aren't I?"

Henry gave a wry chuckle and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, but that's not quite what I meant. Well…actually it is, but it's not one hundred percent what I was asking…"

"You want to know how I'm handling my disappearing aren't you?"

"Yeah," said Henry, deciding that Noriko's directness was the better path to follow now that the question was out there. After all, it was true.

Noriko scowled.

"Just about everyone has asked me that so far. Ayame and Hisa did, though Hisa was a bit subtler about it. They're not wrong to but…" Noriko's scowl deepened before breaking into a look of sadness. "Never mind."

Henry raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why _'never mind'_? I'd like to know. I'd like to be able to help you if I can."

Noriko looked at Henry, her face going from sad to shocked in the blink of an eye.

"Huh? H-Help me?" She stuttered out. Had she just heard him right?

"Yeah," said Henry, giving her a small, reassuring smile.

"You don't…" Noriko paused and lightly chewed on her lower lip, as if she were anxious about something. "You don't…hate me?"

Henry blinked in surprise.

"Hate you? Why should I hate you? As far as I've seen so far you haven't given me a reason to not like you."

"But…Luce… My mom told me that she told you about how my family and I took in that angel digimon and cared for him. And he's…he's responsible for hurting one of your friends…"

"Noriko. About a year ago I met someone who used to think that all digimon were lifeless data and were good only for battle. At the time she didn't care about the digimon that she and her partner hurt or deleted, and even attacked the partner of one of my friends. She was very hard to get along with for quite a while, and sometimes it was all we could do to keep the peace with her, but in the end we all learned from our mistakes and wound up becoming very close friends. Her goals were a lot less noble to begin with then yours were but that doesn't change the fact that we became friends. It shouldn't change that with you either."

Henry paused for a moment before continuing.

"And to be honest," he said finally. "I'd like to be your friend."

Noriko cast her eyes downwards at that, uncertainty written clearly on her face, but there was a look in her crimson colored eyes that looked like she was calmer. More at peace with herself, as though something had just been laid to rest. Henry smiled upon seeing that.

Behind him, the sound of two girls stifling giggles could be heard in the background.


	31. Chapter: 30/ Faint Hints

A man with dark, neatly combed hair, a black mustache, and blue-colored martial arts vest walked calmly into his training room, having just bid goodbye to a student. His every step and motion carried with them a certain kind of grace as well as a deep-rooted discipline that one would normally associate with the military were it not for the gentle, knowing look in his eyes. Chou Kitamura, or Chou Sensei as his students normally called him, paused when he reached the center of the room and cast his eyes about as though he were searching for something.

"Don't you normally wait for Henry to get out of school?" The man called out in a gentlemanly tone of voice. There followed the sound of embarrassed laughter as a diminutive form walked in behind the man from the room's entrance.

"Well, he's kinda busy right now and I was bored. So I figured, what the heck? Might as well have a look around, and I…uh…wound up here."

Chou turned around to find a familiar little creature with alternating patterns of green and white fur and long ears trailing on the ground and descending from its head, giving it the appearance of a rabbit. Chou bowed respectfully to the creature in greeting.

"Hello Terriermon. What can I do for you today?"

Terriermon cocked his head to one side.

"How _do_ you do that?"

Chou raised an eyebrow.

"Do what?" The man asked, though a small smile and a glint of light within his eyes told Terriermon that he knew what the little rabbit-dog was talking about. Terriermon rolled his eyes and placed his tiny hands on his hips in irritation.

"Oh come on! I see that smile beneath your mustache! You can't fool me! How did you manage to know I was here when I was able to slip in unnoticed? You didn't even turn around!"

"There is always more to others then just what you see on the surface," said Chou. "Just like I can tell that your reasons for coming here are not what you say they are."

Terriermon blanched and began to rub the back of his head nervously.

"Uh…yeah…about that…"

Chou nodded in understanding and turned around, indicating that Terriermon follow him out of the room.

"Come. I'll pour us some tea so that we can talk."

"Ahhh…"

Terriermon carefully placed the teacup he was holding down on the table and leaned back on tabletop's surface. Chou, seeing that the little digimon had finished, reached over with his teakettle and began filling it up again with the steaming hot, flavored liquid.

"Do you want to talk about it now?" Asked Chou as he placed the teakettle back down on the table and regarded Terriermon with a contemplative gaze.

Terriermon fixed the elder human with a scrutinizing gaze as he gathered his thoughts. The man had been Henry's teacher for quite some time now; far longer then Terriermon, having known Henry and trained him from early childhood while Terriermon had only entered Henry's life little more then a year ago. That said Henry had always shown himself to value his teacher's advice. In some ways Chou was almost like a second father figure to Henry, and the Tamer often approached him with questions that he normally didn't do towards his real, biological father, Janyu. Why this was Henry had never made clear and Terriermon had never asked either, but the man did offer a different perspective on things that Janyu, with his parental protectiveness, might not have been so free about. It was this perspective that Terriermon was looking for, as he did not want to burden his partner with any more worries then he already had.

"I'm sorry for imposing on you like this…" began Terriermon, but Chou waved him off.

"There's no need to apologize for anything. You are the partner of one of my students, and what is more, you are an individual. If you have something on your mind, then you should open it to someone when you need to. I must admit as to being curious as to why you chose to approach me rather then discuss it with Henry."

"Well…did you hear that Henry's dad was hurt last night?"

Chou nodded. "Yes. Henry called me about it this morning in fact, asking that his class with me today be canceled so that he could visit Janyu in the hospital. Is that the subject that you came here to talk about?"

Terriermon gulped.

"Sort of. It's kinda connected Henry's dad getting hurt."

"I see. Please…continue."

Terriermon nodded.

"It was supposed to be something simple that night. We were going to be sending a digimon back to the digital world. It was supposed to be the first time that we were going to do that successfully. Well, outside of the time that the Locomon went back on his own…and the time when me and the rest were made to go back after we kicked D-Reaper's booty…"

Terriermon paused a moment in recollection before shaking his head, realizing that he was drifting away from the topic.

"Anyway, it looked like things were going fine until the digimon broke loose. Henry told you most of the story, about how I went toe to toe with the digimon and kept blasting it until it got away…"

"From the way Henry told the story it sounded like he wasn't sure if that was the case."

Terriermon shrugged his shoulders.

"He wasn't there when it happened. I had taken the fight out of Hypnos by that time, but the digimon definitely went back to the digital world. I'm sure of it! Digital Fields don't just pop up out of nowhere unless a digimon's about to bio-emerge or unless they're going back to the digital world."

Chou looked at Terriermon's face as he poured himself a bit more tea, his face a picture of the patient, listening ear.

"Something weird happened then," continued Terriermon. "And I'm not just talking about the fact that I got bushwhacked, though that on its own was weird enough! That digimon had someone helping him. Yamaki wasn't all to thrilled to hear about that when I told him. I don't know if it's reached any higher ups but I guarantee that it didn't make his day, or rather evening."

Chou raised an eyebrow.

"Are you expecting another digimon attack like the Parasimon invasion?"

Terriermon again shrugged his little shoulders.

"Got me Teach. I only know what I saw and felt, and I was attacked from behind. Some of the digimon that have been showing up recently have been different from what we usually get. I don't know what's different about them, but something's off and I don't like that. I feel like I'm fighting in the dark here and that's not good either."

Terriermon scowled as he flapped his ears irritably.

"From what I know about nature," said Chou calmly as he sipped at his tea and glanced towards an open window. "Change is a part of nature, and to adapt to those changes one must change with them. Nature is always in motion; _fluidic_ , and has never been about staying in one place for very long. The creation of the digital world can be seen in similar terms, an evolution of life beyond the normal constraints of the physical world while at the same time remaining a part of it, as it was that very world that gave birth to it. Something that you know better then I do if I'm not mistaken."

Terriermon chuckled wryly.

"Well, just because I'm from the digital world, can digivolve and do things that most creatures in the real world can't do doesn't mean that I understand it better then you do. From what I understand you guys don't understand your birth world any better then I understand mine, and you've been around a _lot_ longer."

"We've only begun to understand the mysteries of the world; to borrow an allusion we've only begun to see only the tip of the knowledge that the universe has to offer us. There are those who wonder if we're ready to begin to fully explore it and see the advent of the digital world as something that humanity is not at all being prepared for. It's alluded like teaching a child to drive a motorcycle before they've mastered the bike."

"Too much in one sitting, huh?" Asked Terriermon, getting an idea what Chou was talking about.

"You could say that. But I get the feeling that that's not what you came here to talk about."

Terriermon frowned.

"There you go again. How _do_ you do that? If you're not picking hidden people and digimon out without seeing them, you know what's on their minds. If I didn't know any better I'd say that you were a digimon yourself!"

Chou chuckled lightly as he took a sip from his tea.

"Coming from you I think I'll take that as a compliment," said the man with a smile on his lips. "Now, you have spoken to me about the battle at Hypnos to some degree, but I sense that there's something more behind your words. Is there something about it that you fear? Something outside of your encounter with the digimon?"

Terriermon's face became downcast.

"Last night…when I was fighting that digimon… something happened to me. I don't quite know what it was, but a part of me thinks that I should."

"Can you describe it?" Asked Chou.

Terriermon furrowed his brow for a moment as he thought it through.

"I don't know really. I do know that I certainly didn't feel like Momentai at the time. The digimon had attacked Henry, and I just…it felt like something in me just _snapped._ All of a sudden I just wanted to take that digimon apart and everything! And…something happened to my body. It was like the armor of my digivolved form _darkened_ , and I wanted to scream and blow up just about everything around me. Afterwards, when I dedigivolved I felt like throwing up, but before that…" Terriermon heaved a sigh. "…For a moment it was like there was another side to me that I didn't know existed."

Terriermon was silent for a moment. Chou waited, allowing the little dog-bunny a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Henry spoke about what had happened in the battle with Lucemon," said Chou, picking up the threads of conversation. "He had spoken of how he was affected by the ordeal that your mutual friend, Takato had to go through at the time and how he had harmed a friend in his attempts to get at the digimon."

Terriermon nodded.

"Yeah. It definitely wasn't his best moment. It still bothers him what he came close to doing, but he manages. But what does that have to do with my problem, if you don't mind my asking?"

Chou took another sip of tea before lowering it back down to the table and speaking again.

"From what I have observed, and from what I've been told, a digimon when partnered with a human share a close connection with each other. A connection that grows stronger as you both grow stronger."

"Yeah. When we digivolve to Ultimate we feel each others pain and emotions…"

"And when you evolve to an even higher level, you merge together physically."

"So what are you trying to say? That Henry somehow made me lose my temper in that fight and getting a darker shade of green on my body when his dad was hurt?"

In his minds eye Terriermon was already backtracking to the time in the digital world when Takato had forced WarGrowlmon to digivolve to the rampaging, all-destroying monster known as Megidramon.

"Not necessarily. You were your own self long before you met Henry. Whatever feelings and emotions you have you had them before then, but the link that you share with Henry could have enhanced those feelings. As it's already been established that you two don't need a link to care about each other. The events from that battle gave an edge to your emotions. Emotions can be a source of great strength, but they can also be a source of great danger if one allows themself to become consumed by them. I don't pretend to know what goes on in a digimon's lifecycle and what precisely affects them, but I have come to believe that a partnered digimon's form is ultimately influenced not only by their personality and environmental factors, but by the essence of the human that they're partnered with. Your mechanized forms for example reflect Henry's intelligence, his logic, and his belief in technology and the future."

"Yeah, except there's a hole in that line of thinking," said Terriermon.

"Oh?"

"Most digimon have a pretty clear cut evolution line with very few deviations from it. According to Henry and some online sources that have to do with the digimon card game and show, I only have a couple and they're both technically the same thing. And they were around before Henry and I met up."

Chou raised an eyebrow, but something in his expression told Terriermon that he was not quite convinced.

"Perhaps then those evolution lines were created with Henry in mind," said the man with a twinkle in one eye. Terriermon just shook his head.

"Great. Now you're starting to creep me out, 'cause one of Henry's dad's friends said something along the lines of that back when we were in the digital world. You sure that you're not a digimon?"

Chou chuckled. "Quite."

Terriermon raised picked up his teacup with his tiny hands and drank from it.

"I can kind of see what it is that you were talking about though, and what it was that happened in that fight. I can't say that I'm comforted by that knowledge, but in a way I can see why Henry didn't want me to fight when we first met up. I still know that I have to fight when the situations arises, but the stuff that comes up when we do, it makes me wonder what the point of it all is. We could get along so much better if we weren't wasting so much time and energy wailing on each other so often, you know?"

Chou nodded in agreement. "If only the world worked that way."

"If only," agreed Terriermon, returning the human's nod.

* * *

"High level Wild Type detected," intoned Riley as she typed away commands on her computer. "Primary tracer has been evaded, and an anomaly within the core Yuggoth program has prevented Yuggoth from being activated."

Yamaki frowned at that. An anomaly within Yuggoth? That shouldn't be possible. The program was flawless and even the most skilled hackers would have a difficult time hacking into the systems that safeguarded it.

_I'll need to run an analysis afterwards,_ thought Yamaki distractedly as he gripped his lighter tightly in his hand, refocusing his attention on the matter at hand.

"What are your orders sir?" Asked Talley from her spot behind Riley. Both women were looking at him expectantly. Yamaki's frown deepened.

_I didn't want it to come to this,_ the blonde haired head of Hypnos thought bitterly. _But with the Tamers in school I have no choice but to act. I'd like to convince myself that this is the best way, but I can't. At the same time I can't stand back and not use whatever means are at my disposal to protect the city._

"Activate Argus and set it at the Agnis subprogram level one with level two on standby. Monitor the progress of the Wild One and get ready to activate Argus on its location."

"Yes sir!"

_May heaven help us all for what we are about to unleash…_

* * *

Guardromon flew through the air towards the sight of the bio-emergance, made evident by the obvious presence of the digital field that had bloomed up within the city depths. Guardromon zeroed in on the field, his sensors already trying to ascertain what sort of activity was going on and what kind of force he was likely to need. The fact that deadly force tended to be the normative type to be used did not deter him from this. He did not believe in destroying digimon unnecessarily unless he had no other alternative, and since this was becoming standard policy among the Tamers and Hypnos he saw no reason to change his ways.

_Looks like someone's already there,_ thought Guardromon as he took note of a flash of light that illuminated the fog barrier.

"Hi there!" Exclaimed a voice suddenly as Guardromon felt something lightweight land on the top of his head. "What's going on Guardromon?"

"Good to see you have arrived sir Terriermon!" Said Guardromon happily, grateful to see the long eared digimon. "I'm just heading off to yonder digital field to deal with whatever ruffians appear to be causing havoc with our fair city. Care to lend me some aid in this quest?"

"You bet! Now if only Henry would _digivolve me_!" Terriermon said this last bit with some force behind it, as though willing his words to be heard by his absent Tamer who was presently forced to stay at school. Terriermon, though he was grateful for having the talk that he had with Henry's teacher had realized that there was something of a disadvantage to not being with his Tamer at a moment like this.

"Hmmm…" began Guardromon, as though taking notice of Terriermon's lack of evolution. "Perhaps he didn't hear you…"

"Phooey! You know those digivices can pick up our voices from _miles_ away. He'd better get around to digivolving me soon or I'm going to teach him a thing or two when this is all over!"

"We still have to fight our opponent first," said Guardromon as he flew into the digital field. "But perhaps we won't have to do that."

"Yeah. And Zhuq's is going to be sending us a gift telling us how much he loves humans. Right."

"Didn't you tell me once that Zhuqiaomon gave you the ability to biomerge in the real world?"

"Well, we were told that the _Sovereign_ sent us the gift. The messenger didn't say which one…"

Terriermon and Guardromon were interrupted from their conversation by an explosion and a bright flash of light in front of them, causing them to draw up short in their path as something large landed heavily on the ground with a resounding crash. A cry of pain echoed upon the air as the mists began to part revealing a battered, red and gold-feathered bird digimon garbed in a dark ninja type outfit and a purple bandana tied around its forehead. Hopping down from Guardromon's head Terriermon frowned and leaned forward.

Peckmon

Stage: Champion

Type: Vaccine

Special Attacks: Spiral Claw, Thousand Beaks, Kunai Wing, Burning Spiral

_Seems like Henry finally made it to the party,_ thought Terriermon with a relieved smile as he felt the information suddenly called forth in his mind. _Good. Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought. But I wonder…who was it that beat up on him like this? I'd say that it was Cyberdramon but when I saw him this morning he didn't look like he would have been able to handle digivolving to the Rookie level, and I haven't sensed Antylamon's presence when Guardromon and I got here…_

A shadowy figure materialized within the fog and stepped forth, revealing itself. It was tall, humanoid shaped, and gray colored with little to no features on its face except for three horns. It was rather small in Terriermon's opinion; smaller then what he would have expected to have dealt this kind of damage to the Peckmon, though it was still taller then an average human. Light armor covered every part of its body, allowing for excellent flexibility, and with the gray colored hair that seemed to flow down its back the being had an appearance that seemed almost _demonic_ while at the same time carrying a wild _elemental_ aspect. It was almost like all the idealistic hero appearances that Terriermon had seen in some of the manga collections that Takato and Henry had, only with alternating patterns of light and dark grays.

No Data

The information flashed through Terriermon's mind, causing the digimon to frown while next to him Guardromon raised his arms, getting ready to defend the two of them should the _digimon_ , if that was what it was, chose to attack them. In front of them the Peckmon started to stagger to its feet, spitting and coughing as it did so.

_"K-Kunai…W-W-Wi…"_

The Peckmon didn't have a chance to finish pronouncing its attack. The gray colored, faceless digimon raised its hands and slammed its fists together. Gray colored, fire like energy erupted from a twin pair of gauntlets on its wrists before enveloping the digimon's body, spiraling outwards and slamming into the Peckmon, reducing its body to broken shards of data that dispersed into the air. As the gray fire died down, revealing the silent warrior for all to see, Guardromon and Terriermon stood dumbfounded by the speed and ferocity of the attack. It was not something that they would have associated with a being that seemed so… _empty._ Terriermon felt a shiver run down his spine as the digimon turned its attention to them and looked them over with a face that had no eyes. Terriermon's ears perked up slightly as he heard something that sounded like Henry's computer when it was trying to connect to the Internet, and after a few seconds the sound cut off. A fog bloomed up around the strange, dark warrior and its body disappeared, leaving the two digimon stunned and speechless.

"O-kayyy…" began Terriermon after a couple seconds of silence in which both he and Guardromon struggled to interpret what they had just witnessed. "Somebody care to explain just what happened here?"

Guardromon turned to Terriermon with a confused expression.

"Um…that digimon just destroyed a Peckmon…"

"I was being rhetorical!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of Henry's teacher from the character lists that I have was only mentioned as being 'Chou Sensei' and so far as I know it was never mentioned in the show (either dub or sub). The last name of Kitamura was my own addition and was the last name of the Japanese voice actor who played him. Seemed kind of appropriate. And now we have the first signs of Argus and what it is. Kudos bars and cookies to whoever can guess what this 'soldier of Argus' was. :D


	32. Chapter: 31/ Bad Moon on the Rise

_"Well?"_

_"Interesting…"_

_"Is that all you have to say on the matter? 'Interesting'? The first test was a success!"_

_"_ Just _the first. There are still the others that must be made. Nine for the remaining level one subprograms, ten for level two. And then there's the upper levels to worry about…"_

_"Worry? Why worry? If Agnis worked out then the rest should be fine…"_

_"Except the humans don't work like that. In a situation such as this they'll want to thoroughly test out Argus in all of its levels and subroutines before they think about trying to go up into the upper levels, never mind trying to mass produce it. And need I remind you that the level two's have a certain_ wildness _in their programming that could make them more difficult to control when activated? Juggernaut was much the same way, only that was because of a corruption of its code via D-Reaper and the Devas. Not a good mix."_

_"You almost make it sound like Argus is alive…"_

_"This coming from a digital life form. How hilarious. And ironic. No wonder your particular species has all but hunted itself to the brink of extinction just to prove how strong each individual is."_

_"I'll ignore that. Now that you bring it up though, Argus exhibits some features that are rather…_ familiar."

 _"It_ is _an artificial digimon. I should think that they share similarities. Grani did, if only to an extent."_

_"I wonder…"_

_"Wonder what?"_

_"Hmmm? Nothing. Just remembering an old story from when I was a Rookie. Something about Agnis reminded me of it, that's all. Nothing important."_

_"Hmmmph. Whatever. Anyway, Dracmon's back in the real world now…"_

_"What's his role supposed to be again?"_

_"Eyes and ears. We know nothing about what goes on with the Tamers as individuals and what they could plan to do in response to this. My own_ connection _to Hypnos only gets us so far…"_

_"The Terriermon that fought him last night…aren't you worried that he'll recognize him?"_

_"Recognize him? Not particularly. I altered his digital code just enough to give him something akin to a 'different scent'. Should they meet it will seem as little more then a coincidence that two Dracmon appeared in the real world. Of course, Terriermon will be suspicious I imagine, but that's only if they actually meet. Dracmon has specific orders to stay out of sight."_

_"Easier said then done given that the Tamer's and their digimon have the ability to detect that are digimon nearby."_

_"True. But that's why I've added the little 'addition' to Dracmon's code. It doesn't just give him a different scent you know."_

_"Camouflage?"_

_"You could say that. It will be interesting to see what we learn out of this."_

_"So what next?"_

_"Now…we wait. Yamaki will put Argus through its paces and will receive the green light to incorporate it fully into Hypnos's systems. A pity that we lost all of our other forces to that strange data field."_

_"I'm still here though, and so is Dracmon. As long as we have that much Exodus is still a go."_

_"Perhaps it's better this way. The way you and DinoTigermon had it originally planned would have made it seem like an invasion rather then a flight from the Royal Knight's and their genocidal X-Program. If it weren't for Dracmon already establishing himself a 'reputation' with the Tamers I'd have him be the ambassador of our woes. They'd believe a battered Rookie far more easily then you, a warrior, DinoRexmon. Alas…"_

* * *

Data blurred around the three figures, surrounding them with zeroes and ones, various letters and mathematical equations. All of it was drawn into their bodies, filling in places on them that were battered, torn, and rent.

One of them, a massive, dark colored figure with a face shaped like a human skull and armored from head to toe like some kind of knight from a story reached forward, data coalescing in his hand before taking shape, stretching out and forming a large, two bladed spear. Hefting it easily, the armored figure looked it over with approval.

"Still hard to believe that human had actually destroyed the Claimh Solais, Craniummon," spoke up a voice from behind the armored figure. Turning, his expression masked by the skull shaped helm that covered his face, the figure spoke in return.

"His power was certainly… _impressive,_ to say the least Dynasmon. I was lucky to have brought my Avalon shield to bear when he unleashed his attack. I would have desired that our Lord Yggdrasil have told us that the Legendary Tamer existed in this world. I would not have been so gentle with him if that were the case."

"I'm certain that our lord and master did not expect us to engage him," said a white armored, purple winged figure that had been identified as Dynasmon as he appeared behind the digimon he had named Craniummon. "After all, this area isn't within our jurisdiction. This realm is under the protection of the Digimon Sovereign Zhuqiaomon and our own leader, Omnimon. Were it not for the release of the X-Virus and the sudden appearance of the X-Antibody digimon Omnimon would be dealing with events here. And need I point out that under normal circumstances we are also forbidden to enter the human world?"

"Of course not," said Craniummon. "But the information would have been helpful to us in the long run. When Omnimon sent you and Crusadermon out here he did not deign to inform you of anything in regards to the human protectors of this world. But as you stated, you were not expected to go to the human world. How is Crusadermon?"

"Recovering," answered Dynasmon. "Though her injuries be grievous she is coming along well. All she needs is more data infusion and she'll be ready to rejoin us for battle."

"I see. And how is your eye?"

As if in response, Dynasmon's right eye, which had only recently been reconstructed from his earlier battle with Sakuyamon, blurred slightly. Dynasmon cursed silently under his breath.

"Somewhat lacking I'm afraid, but better then earlier."

Craniummon nodded, chuckling lightly.

"She certainly got you good didn't she? All that Chrome Digizoid armor protecting you and the only thing that you left vulnerable was _that._ If she weren't an enemy I would have applauded her for showing such fortitude in battle, especially for one of her species. Any thoughts on why the Seer Council has chosen to turn against us at this point in time?"

Dynasmon frowned.

"I do not believe that she is a part of the Seer Council. Another one of those digimon who are partnered with humans perhaps, otherwise she wouldn't have interfered to begin with…"

"Unless their priorities have changed," supplied Craniummon. Dynasmon shook his head.

"Perhaps, but the Sakuyamon had the stink of a human on her. That and she had mentioned having an acquaintance with the human that was partnered with the X digimon on that human island. The Seer Council, to the extent of my knowledge, does not actively seek out such bonds. They prefer being removed from such matters."

"True, but the world _is_ changing. The Seer Council, in spite of being aloof has been known to take an active hand in events. They did with D-Reaper after all. Perhaps they are doing so again with the advent of the X-Virus and Project Arc."

"Perhaps we should pay them a visit when this is all over," said Dynasmon. "But first we must ascertain what the X-Digimon's interest is in this world. They have shown far too much of late, and what's more there're even X-digimon living there! Even _partnered_ with humans!"

"Yes, you mentioned the digimon that attacked you when the Sakuyamon destroyed your eye. The description you gave…is it not similar to of our fellow Gallantmon's earlier forms?"

"Similar, yes. But I have my doubts as to whether or not they are of the same species. We would need more information on this world, and as we cannot attain that at the moment we would need to see its Mega form to know for certain. At any rate, its species identity is of no importance to us! We will determine what its purpose is for being in this world, and then if we find that it goes against our master's plans then we shall remove its presence from existence."

"But first," said Craniummon calmly, indicating a direction off to his right with a subtle nod of his head. "We must wait for Crusadermon to finish healing."

"Yes," replied Dynasmon. "We were caught off guard due to our injuries sustained in battle; we will not make the same mistake twice."

* * *

Riley took off her visor and climbed lowered her seat to ground level, sighing in relief as she felt her back crack when she stretched.

"Taking off now Tally."

The shorthaired brunette looked down from her seat at the longhaired, red headed woman and gave her a small smile.

"Okay. I'm going to get started on running some systems checks before Yamaki gets back. You know how upset he was about Yuggoth not activating."

Riley nodded at her friend and coworker, not bothering to remind her that Yamaki had already been seeing to that personally since Argus's successful field test. Tally had already made a point earlier in the day to do it in case something was missed. Young she may be, and inexperienced, but she did have a flare for the Hypnos technology that even Yamaki admitted was impressive and if there was anyone who could pick out anything that Yamaki missed (though the likelihood of that possibility was so small as to be nonexistent) Tally could.

"Okay. Just try not to work yourself too hard okay? Yamaki wants us both at our best when we report in tomorrow, got it?"

"Got it," answered Tally as she continued typing away on her computer, returning to her work with a speed and energy that rather surprised Riley, making her wonder if she _had_ actually found something earlier and was just double checking to make sure. Shrugging her shoulders Riley exited the room, giving a small wave over her shoulder and checked the time. It was about three thirty. A little bit early actually to be leaving work but she had some personal business to attend to and that required her to get a head start. Some of the heads upstairs hadn't been to thrilled about it due to the skills that she had in computer programming and the timing of her business with that of the launch of Argus but it could not be helped right now.

 _That's just the way things work I guess,_ thought Riley drearily as she entered the elevator doors and pressed a button to take her upstairs. Her first stop was to check in on Yamaki and see how he was doing. He had been pretty distant since the Yuggoth incident, and had been oddly silent with his habit of clicking his lighter whenever he was nervous or upset about something. It was almost eerie given how used she was to his little habits and nuances. She could only imagine just how upset he was by it.

_The timing is certainly odd too. It's almost like someone wanted to make sure that he would resort to using Argus…_

Riley shook her head as she stepped out of the elevator and began walking down the hallway towards Yamaki's office, dismissing the thought as she approached the Head of Hypnos's door and rapped lightly on it with her knuckles.

"Yamaki? Sir?"

"Come in."

Carefully turning the doorknob and pushing forward Riley entered Yamaki's office and closed the door behind her. It didn't take her long to find the man sitting at his desk in front of a laptop, his sunglasses off and his brow furrowed as he looked over whatever information was displayed on it. He did not look happy.

"I'm going to be going home now," said Riley as she came up in front of the man. "Just thought that I'd stop by and check up on you before I left."

"How kind of you," said Yamaki flatly before raising a hand and massaging his temples. "Sorry."

"The guys upstairs giving you a hard time?"

"I guess that would depend on your definition of _'hard time'._ I've submitted my report to them concerning the conduct and operation of the Argus program and they're ecstatic about it. They want me to move to level two testing as soon as possible."

Riley raised an eyebrow, barely concealing the shock that she felt at the idea.

"Level _two?_ But…that level's unpredictable! We can't seem to get the algorithms to cooperate right with the command subroutines!"

"I know. They're suggesting that we merge level's one and two together, using level one's code to overwrite level two's operations and replace it. A lot to ask at the last minute given how long this has been in development." Yamaki frowned as he glanced over at the file that lay next to his laptop. "Odd thing about all of this. Argus is much more advanced then the original Zero Arms Grani program. For something that was in development during the weeks prior to the Parasimon attack they certainly made quite a lot of breakthroughs. Some of what's in Argus is much more advanced then any of the theoretical work that the Monster Makers ever put together, and the developers of Argus were working _without_ their help for the longest time. At least until they needed help smoothing some of the bio-emergence and command codes out, but by then they had already gotten most of the work done. Argus is closer to a digimon then Grani ever was. Even the use of levels bears some resemblance to digimon. _Agnis_ for instance…"

Yamaki sighed.

"Or maybe I'm just letting my imagination getting the best of me."

"From what we've seen so far that might not necessarily be a _bad_ thing," said Riley with a small smile on her face. Yamaki gave her one of his own before going back to his computer.

"You'll let me know how your mother's doing, right?"

"Sure thing. I'll try not to be too long tonight."

Yamaki waved her off.

"Don't worry about me. I was surviving on my own before I met you…"

Riley chuckled.

"Given what you made for me the first time you cooked me dinner I'm surprised that you're still alive."

"Ha. Ha. Say hi to your mother for me and give her my regards. I'll see you tonight."

"Okay. Bye."

* * *

The bell rang, signaling the end to yet another school day, and children filed out of their respective classrooms in short order, pausing only long enough to listen to whatever last minute instructions and announcements their teachers had to give them and then taking off, gathering in their little groups as they did so. Noisy chatter filled the hallways and schoolyards as they made their way out from the stuffy, air conditioned air of the school and into the fresh, spring air of Shinjuku. It was a little bit warmer then usual for a spring day, but no one paid it any mind. As Shinjuku had, at one point been on the receiving end of a rather bizarre cold spell deep in the Christmas season once upon a time, one that was digimon related no less, and involved a digimon that was reputed to be called a _Santamon_ no less, there was plenty of reason to enjoy the warm weather while it lasted.

But that's a story for another time.

Noriko felt as though the air was much, much warmer for some reason as she walked next to Henry as they left class together, but she couldn't figure out what the reason for that was. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that her two friends Ayame and Hisa were continuously hanging in the background, giggling rather loudly every time she threw a glance over her shoulder to see what they were up to. Odd thing was, they weren't doing anything that she could see _except_ giggling. That, and they always kept themselves at a discreet distance from her and Henry.

 _Not for nothing, but they're starting to creep me out,_ thought Noriko as she raised a sardonic eyebrow as she saw her two friends once more breaking into a fit of barely suppressed giggles and looking rather pointedly in her direction.

 _It's mostly the Bambi eyes that are actually doing the creeping,_ grumbled Noriko, as she turned away and scowled. _I can handle the giggling, but the little cute faces that they keep making that keeps disturbing me…_

"Well, this is where we part," said Henry as he came to a stop and turned to Noriko. Noriko looked at his face. It was a lot calmer then it had been earlier; more relaxed and carefree. There was still some tension remaining in his facial expressions but he no longer seemed awkward or as upset.

 _Glad that I could take his mind off of his dad getting hurt,_ thought Noriko as she shrugged her bag onto her shoulders for better support. He had told her about that when she had asked him, quite out of the blue in fact, if there was anything wrong. Of late she had been becoming rather attuned to the emotional state of people around her and while Henry had concealed his stress rather well it still all but screamed at her that he was upset about something. Their conversation in fact during the entire lunch period had been rather educational for the both of them.

"Thanks for…um…asking me how I was doing," muttered Noriko as she once more heard her friends giggling behind her. This was starting to become… _embarrassing._ "Even if I don't remember anything about what happened…"

"Hey, no problem," said Henry. "I'm glad to help. I hope that things go well for you."

There was a brief pause between them.

"So…are you going to meet up with your partner now and try and figure out what happened earlier?"

That had been the part that was educational for her. There had been an interruption towards the end of lunch with Henry's digivice going off and him switching over to his partner's point of view and getting his cards ready for battle. It was one of those times that Henry had looked troubled about something, primarily due to the fact that the strange gray colored digimon that had shown up. Henry's digivice had been unable to read its data. So far he was presently doing well with concealing his disquiet over it but she could still see that he was uneasy to some degree. Noriko wondered how often it was that Henry had to push back his emotions and hold back. He seemed to do okay with it so far, but did that ever get him into trouble as a Tamer? In television shows that kind of attitude tended to get characters into some difficulties when dealing with certain situations or working with a team.

 _Of course, this is_ not _a TV show,_ thought Noriko, fiercely berating herself for thinking in terms of fiction.

"Yeah. There's no way around that, I've got to let Yamaki know what Terriermon saw, and hopefully figure out what to do about it."

"You don't sound so sure about that."

Henry ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Well…" Henry looked as though he were just about to say something and then hesitated. When next he spoke Noriko had the funny feeling that wasn't what he had been about to say. "Yeah. We'll figure it out. Anyway, I've got to go now, so later."

Noriko frowned slightly, not believing the smile that Henry gave her as he stepped away but simply waved at him as he left. Noriko stood there, watching him as he met up with five other students. She didn't notice when Ayame and Hisa had drawn up next to her until Ayame threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Ah! Huh-wha-?"

"Noriko," began Ayame in a jovial, knowing tone. "You are one lucky girl, you know that?"

Noriko frowned. "All right, what are you going on about now? And just what was it with all that giggling earlier? You guys were embarrassing me!"

"Oh just be glad that Henry didn't notice us," said Hisa clasping one hand to her mouth to cover the mischievous grin that was forming. "Anyway, you two certainly seem to be hitting it off rather well. Not bad, Noriko. Not bad at all. He's _quite_ the _catch_ you have there."

Noriko glowered as she removed Ayame's arm from her shoulders.

"I think you guys have left me at the bus station or something because I have no idea what it is that you two are talking about…"

"Uh-huh," chuckled Ayame. "That's what they _all_ say."

Noriko was just about to make a snappy reply to that when suddenly she felt a strange pressure in her head that felt like a _tug_. As though drawn by a magnet Noriko looked over to the wall where Henry was heading towards just in time to see a long eared digimon that she had seen on numerous occasions following the D-Reaper incident hop out of a tree that sat on the other side of the brick wall. The world seemed to alter around her, becoming _sharper_ in the contrast of light; noises became louder to the point where she could hear her two friends hearts beating in their chests, and a strange burning sensation on her left hand and chest caught her attention…but only peripherally as two voices blended as one spoke from within her mind.

_Data…_

"Noriko?"

Noriko's vision of the world suddenly snapped back to normal as she felt Hisa grasp her arm carefully. Noriko looked at her friend with a confused expression. Noriko suddenly realized that her heart was beating faster then she was comfortable with, and her breathing had become deeper, heavier. The burning sensations and the strange voices had disappeared entirely.

"Huh? What's up?" Noriko asked, dismissing the strange sensations now that they were gone.

"You okay? For a minute there you looked kinda mad about our teasing you. You know that we don't mean it…right?"

Noriko blinked before giving her friend an uncertain smile.

"Uh…yeah, sure."

Hisa nodded, though it looked like she was also a little uncertain.

"So…um…are you going to be coming with Ayame and me down to my house after school?"

Noriko sighed as she became crestfallen.

"Sorry. I can't. My Mom wants me to baby sit Dai this afternoon. I can't leave the house until she gets back."

"Oh…well, another time then…"

"Yeah…"

* * *

"Yo! Henry!" Called out Kazu as he waved at him from next to Jeri. " 'Bout time that you got here. Who was that girl that you were talking to?"

Terriermon, who had just hopped up onto Henry's shoulder upon reaching him raised an eyebrow at his partner. He wasn't the only one. Jeri and Kenta seemed a bit curious themselves upon hearing Kazu's question, and while Jeri's two friends Ayaka and Miki, who were standing next to Jeri, weren't as familiar with Henry socially (despite his having taught them a little bit about the Digimon card game) they too raised eyebrows, apparently sensing some juicy gossip forming around the dark haired, half-Chinese Tamer.

Henry however, never got a chance to answer as Kazu quickly switched gears.

"Ah…never mind! I'm sure that that's not what you wanted to talk about anyways, right? My man Guardromon and Terriermon met up with a weird digimon today…"

"I know. I saw it thanks to Terriermon. We couldn't get a read on its information."

"Weird certainly describes it," said Terriermon, nodding in agreement with Kazu. "It was a regular Silent Sam! Didn't so much as say hi or anything. Just obliterated the wild digimon and that was it. Didn't even shout its attack either. It _was_ really weird. Whatever it was it was not normal…"

"I'd hate to point this out," said Kenta. "But the digimon that have been showing up lately haven't been normal for a while. Remember that Triceramon?"

"We get the picture Chumley! Anyway, we'd better hurry on down to Hypnos and report this. Besides, we still have to get some word on Takato and Rika so we have to go down there anyway."

Upon the mention of their two wayward friends Jeri looked down and it seemed as if a shadow passed across her face. Seeing it, Kenta spoke up.

"Hey, Jeri? You okay?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah. I'm just worried about Takato and Rika, you know? It's been so long since they've been gone. I've been worried about them…"

"I know," said Kazu. "Even I had more trouble focusing on Ms. Asagi then usual when thinking about what kind of trouble those two could be in, or _were_ in depending on what happened. Man, I hate it when we're separated like this! I can't watch Chumley's back!"

Henry nodded in agreement.

"We'd better get going then if we want to hear anything. I'm going to have to bring Ryo up to speed when this is over, provided that he stayed the day at my parent's apartment…"

"Huh? He was at your apartment today?"

"Indubitably Kazu," intoned Guardromon. "Terriermon told me about it while we were on our way here. Apparently Ryo had something of a scuffle with a wild digimon last night as well and was taken down to Henry's home to recover. He was still there this morning when they left."

"Aw man, how come _I'm_ the last one to hear about these things?!"

"Um…Kazu?" Spoke up Jeri. "This is the first time the rest of us are even hearing about this too you know. Henry's in a different class from us…"

"Hmmmnnn…" Kazu groaned in irritation. "All right, let's get going then. Time's a'wastin'!"

"Kazu," said Kenta. "Don't you and I have work to do at Takato's place?"

"Aw man… I totally spaced on that…" Kazu frowned, torn between his desire to find out what precisely it was that happened earlier and his obligations to Takato and his parents. Sensing that something needed to be done Jeri stepped forward.

"If you want I can go in your guy's place to Hypnos and then fill you in later. Or I can take your place down at the Bakery…"

Kazu's head snapped up in Jeri's direction.

"What? You only worked there the one time to help Kenta and me! Only Kenta and I know how to get stuff done down there!"

Jeri huffed and placed her hands on her hips indignantly. "Now listen…"

"Uh…sorry Jeri, but he is kind of right. Kazu's come up with a system for organization there so only he and Takato's parents know where everything is and how to keep up with the all the orders. Plus he's got something of a talent for making Guilmon Bread."

Terriermon pretended to clean wax out of his ears as he heard that.

"Did I hear him right? Kazu? Organized?"

"Terriermon…" began Henry in a warning tone. The long eared digimon giggled.

"Sorry Jeri," said Kazu.

"It's okay," said Jeri smiling at the visor-wearing boy. "I know how much working at Takato's home means to you, but what happened earlier does kind of demand your attention."

"Well, maybe not," said Kenta as he felt an idea beginning to form in his mind. "If you want Jeri I can go and you can take my place at the bakery. Kazu can show you what's what around there so that if we can't make it…uh…" Kenta blinked as though he had just realized something. "…Well, like I said, if you want that is."

Jeri smiled.

"Actually, I'd be glad to do what I can to help you guys out if you can't make it to the bakery. I can imagine that this will take some time."

Jeri looked over at Kazu and eyed him with a playfulness that reminded the boys of a cat that had just caught a Canary.

"Looks like you've just got yourself a new baking partner!"

"Uh oh…" muttered Kazu.

The group of Tamers began to move off now as they continued to discuss the events of the day, leaving behind the two girls that had followed them out, Ayaka and Miki, to stare at their backs in disbelief. Jeri took a moment to bid them goodbye before rushing off with Kazu and Guardromon while Kenta, Henry, and Terriermon split off to head down to Kenta's place to pick up MarineAngemon before heading down to Hypnos. Ayaka exchanged a look with Miki.

"Looks like it's just you and me now," the pig-tailed, blonde girl said to her companion.


	33. Chapter: 32/ Notes and Surprises

Noriko sighed as she busily scribbled out notes in her notebook, glancing every so often at the open textbook that lay in front of her to make sure that she had gotten it right before moving on. Her head was propped on one hand while the other held her pencil as it moved half-heartedly upon the paper. An expression of absolute commiseration was on her face as she dealt with the enormous task of catching up with all the homework that she had 'missed' while in the digital world.

_Bored…_

Thinking back on it though she supposed that she should be grateful that Mr. Mori had allowed her an entire week to get the assignments done. 'At her leisure' he had told her before she, Henry, and her two friends left class, though she still had a timetable to meet. She _should_ have been grateful, but she wasn't and mainly because it boiled down to having a little extra something to work on each night until she was caught up.

So _bored…_

With another discontented sigh Noriko glanced over her shoulder and at the doorway that led from her bedroom out to the hallway that emptied out into the Living Room, the sounds the television echoing throughout the apartment. By the sound of the music, _Butterfly_ , Dai was watching the first season of Digimon again. It was almost funny that the show continued to run in spite of the fears that some parents had about the show serving as some kind of magnet for digimon activity (given how close the card game and show were to the real thing, something that still caused quite a bit of speculation within the scientific community) and a possible threat to their children. But then a certain thing called money had a way of making the world go round, and with scientists and the military purchasing digimon related materials in order to study the creatures (being the closest and most basic digimon material available for study outside of the Tamer's partners, and they were off limits by order of the government) the franchise had received a new breath of life, never mind the fact that children themselves had a greatly renewed interest in digimon as well and many actively believed that they could become a Tamer through the cards.

Needless to say, digimon as a collector's item was going through the roof in sales.

 _At least Dai gets to do something fun,_ grumbled Noriko as she tapped her pencil on top of her notebook in exasperation. _Why did Mom have to go out? I would have liked to have hung out with my friends today. They would have helped ease the some of the tension at least._

Picking up her pencil with another, dragged out sigh Noriko settled back into her note taking and tormenting herself with thoughts of all the things that she could have been doing had she been allowed to do something else today _other_ than what she was doing now. She knew that it was pointless but she just couldn't help herself. It seemed like it was a curse for children to think about the things that they weren't able to do at the moment instead of the things that were important if one expected to have a livelihood in the future.

Eventually Noriko's mind tired of such torturous thoughts and went back to the conversation that she had with Henry that day. She had to say that after everything that she had angst about since her 'return' she felt a lot better knowing that she had crossed that particular bridge, and that her return to school wasn't met with anything extremely untoward her. Henry didn't hate her because she had helped Lucemon. Far from it in fact he seemed to even _respect_ her because of it. At least, that was what he had told her. A part of her did wonder if he was actually being truthful with her, as she did not know him very well but as he had seemed rather sincere there didn't seem to be any reason to doubt him. He had even expressed an interest in being her friend, and wanted to introduce her to Terriermon at one point once things had calmed down for the both of them. And she had to admit; despite whatever it was that she was going through due to her having been in the digital world (even if she didn't remember it. Henry, like her doctors, had attributed the phenomenon to shock), she rather looked forward to it.

 _Now if only Hisa and Ayame would stop it with all the giggling and teasing then things would be perfectly fine. Seriously, what_ was _that all about?_

Noriko shook her head, feeling that she would never be able to understand the inner workings and motivations of her two friends. They were something of a strange pair there was no denying that. Not the strangest that she'd seen but strange enough in her eyes, Ayame especially as she tended to be the more mischievous of the three of them, or at least the one with the most tomboyish streak. She had a lot of energy in comparison to her and Hisa, who tended to be the more reserved of the trio. There was little that Ayame didn't do once she set her mind to it and at times frightened boys with her bluntness and endless amount of energy, a stark contrast to herself and the more studious and _proper_ Hisa though neither of them were slouches by any means especially once Ayame got them both going. The number of times poor, short haired Hisa had gotten into trouble for coming home in dirty dresses because of Ayame's antics were without number and were probably only exceeded by Kazu Shioda's after school detentions. That is, if Henry told her right about that particular Tamer…

Noriko glanced back at her notebook for a brief moment before returning to her notes. Her pencil hovered above the paper as she prepared to write again when it suddenly froze the instant it began its descent. Noriko frowned as she looked down at the paper, reading what she had written. Something about it…

Noriko looked back at the book in the hopes that she had copied the information right before looking back at what she had written.

_"…Human and Beast digimon…"_

_"…War…"_

_"…Restoration of order…"_

_"…The Ten Legendary Warriors…"_

_"…Sealed away…"_

_"The three Celestials…"_

Noriko's eyes widened as she read the words. _What…_ _ **is**_ _this? That's definitely not from the chapter! I don't remember writing_ this! _It's like something out of a fairy tale book! I can't turn in this! Mr. Mori will throw a fi…!_

Noriko gave a harsh gasp and clutched sides of her head as pain suddenly assaulted her, tearing through her skull relentlessly. Images flashed through her mind, none of them something that she understood. She was in something that looked to be a void, and her hands, or what looked to be her hands as the images were from _her_ perspective, lashed out viciously, punching and pummeling some strange, red armored entity with a golden half ring behind his back. Her fists were moving at speeds too quick for her to tell if they were truly hers, but a feeling from those images, _memory_ perhaps, told her that they weren't. But…if that was so, then why was she seeing this? _What_ was going on?!

 _Noriko's_ apparent assault on the strange entity ceased for a moment and the scene slowed to a crawl. Everything around her seemed heightened in some way, as though she could see and hear everything. Her heart had taken on the sound of thunder, her voice that of a volcano erupting, her fists the hammer blows of an asteroid impacting with the Earth. Her attention was soon drawn to one specific area, taken away from the conflict and whatever else was going on. A spot of armor gleamed within the void, reflecting her face back at her, a face that she had seen once before, prior to her waking up in the hospital. A face that had a cold, superior, aristocratic look and golden hair hanging down in front of it like dreadlocks. Wings emerged from the head and the reflected figures back, half angel and half demon and clothes of alternating patterns of black and white covered him.

_The heat of the desert sun as it baked her skin… two black and red dinosaurs fighting, destroying an oasis… the taste of desert sand as a storm washed over her… and a hidden temple offering shade and shelter…_

A snarl suddenly echoed through the girl's mind as the pain within her skull intensified suddenly. Giving a small cry Noriko leapt up from her desk, knocking over her chair with a resounding crash. Noriko clasped the sides of her head, gritting her teeth as tears forced their way past her closed eyelids. Distantly she heard her little brother, Daisuke calling to her, asking if everything was all right. Finally, after what felt like an eternity the pain in her head abated and Noriko lowered her arms, sniffing slightly before answering her brother. Her voice shook, but at least it sounded convincing, something that surprised her given the circumstances.

"Uh…yeah!" She called, hoping that she hadn't worried him with her hesitation. "I'm fine. Just knocked this stupid chair over and it landed on my foot!"

There followed some light laughter from down the hall as Daisuke, now satisfied that nothing serious had occurred returned to watch his favorite TV show. Noriko looked down at the chair, as though she were seeing it for the first time. She raised her left hand uncertainly, her whole arm was shaking and she looked it over carefully. She wasn't sure what it was she was looking for but as there was nothing there her heartbeat began to slow down considerably. Taking a shaky breath Noriko picked her chair back up and set it back at her desk. She tore out the piece paper from her notebook that she had been writing on, crumpled it up furiously and threw it in her waste basket, her hands clenched in tight fists as she watched the offending object sink to the bottom, forgotten.

 _Now I'm going to have to start that all over again,_ growled Noriko as she sat back at her desk. After a moment she looked over her shoulder and back at the wastebasket, her heart taking up a nervous rhythm in her chest.

_What…was it that just happened there?_

Silence remained her only answer.

* * *

Yamaki looked at the two Tamers and their digimon as they sat at the table, calmly waiting. Or at least as calmly as they could he supposed. Henry looked to be a little bit tense, perhaps impatient to get moving and see his father at the hospital. Yamaki couldn't blame him, but Janyu would have to wait if he wanted to hear the full story about what his partner, Terriermon, had encountered earlier.

 _Only two of them,_ thought Yamaki grimly as one of his technicians set up the projector. It did not exactly bode well he felt. It seemed that the Tamers had been rather fragmented lately, pulled in directions that life had been forcing on them of late. Takato, the one that he considered the most reliable of the group as well as their unofficial leader, was at Okinawa, his present condition uncertain, as the last report he had received was that he was being attacked by a wild digimon. Rika and Renamon had gone off to help him and haven't been seen or heard from since. By the same token Beelzemon had gone off after them once he had heard that the goggle-wearing Tamer was in trouble. Well, not right away as Yamaki was able to convince him to take a com device for communication purposes but the fact still remained that he wasn't available to help out or attend any meetings and his Tamers were much too young to be able to understand the sort of things that he was going to be talking about. Suzie's age also prevented her from being here and participating, that and her and Henry's mother would have expressly forbidden it. Ryo wasn't around either, but either Henry or Kenta could update him on the situation later, and Kazu…Kazu was busy working at the Matsuki bakery. Yamaki had considered calling the place to see if they could let the boy go for a moment but Kenta had assured him that he would see to it personally that Kazu would get an update.

_Still, they were never so spread apart before. I know that it's not permanent but after giving them my offer that they join Hypnos this is not exactly the best of starts even if it isn't official yet._

Finally the technician looked up at Yamaki and nodded, indicating that he was now finished with the projector. After the technician left Yamaki turned off the lights and began running the projector.

"What I'm about to show you," began Yamaki. "Is a program that has been under development for quite some time and was only recently field tested today. It's called _Argus._ "

Henry and Kenta leaned forward, while the latter of the two exchanged a look with his partner, MarineAngemon who floated nearby. On the screen was an image that was simple in its design, looking like 'Y' shape with two lines running vertically at the upper end of it with a third middle one within the center. It was a strange symbol, interesting too, but not one that either boy felt any sense of relation to or understanding towards.

"This is Argus," began Yamaki as he clicked the projector button and advanced the slide forward, bringing up a picture of a familiar figure. Tall, covered with gray armor with a featureless face and a body structure that gave the two Tamers the impression of a wild, demonic man. "The AR-1 Guardian-Synthetic program. Argus. Designed to be a combative, versatile system against wild digimon that have breached the barriers between the worlds, or if you want think of it as something like a police force."

Terriermon cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't really look like much."

"Terriermon!"

"What?! C'mon! That guy doesn't look like he could swat a Flymon! I don't care if he took down that Peckmon today, he's not very intimidating!"

 _"This_ was only the first level of just _one_ part of the Argus program, and as you know was recently field tested today where it performed well within the boundaries of expectations." Yamaki clicked the projector button again, advancing it to another picture, this one containing a series of twenty symbols separated into two rows of ten, one labeled 'level one' and another labeled 'level two'. Kenta's jaw dropped upon seeing them.

"There are _more?!"_

"Back when it was being made, the designer teams felt it necessary to split up the program into various parts in order to have some of the individual subprograms specialize in certain areas so that they could compensate for whatever was thrown their way. Having studied the structure of digimon and how individual bytes of data interact with each other to perform attacks, they decided to fight digimon on the same terms as a test bed for the final project, mimicking the basic elements of the Earth to give them an idea of what they were looking for. Ice, fire, wind…that sort of thing. I imagine that with this test they'll be wanting to move on to incorporate more powerful techniques."

"Hold on," interrupted Henry, raising his hand. "Are you saying that you're trying to create artificial digimon?"

" _I'm_ not," said Yamaki, turning to face Henry. "I have more then enough faith in the capabilities of you and your friends as Tamers, which is why I've been opposed to this plan from the start. However, my superiors went ahead and began designing it without my approval or with the resources of Hypnos." Yamaki turned to look at the display of the Argus program and frowned. "Rather amazed that they made it this far without us."

"What makes you say that?" Asked Kenta.

"The team that put Argus together did so without the aid of Henry's father and his friends, the Monster Makers. From what I can gather their resources and information on the basic structure of a digimon was rather… _limited._ Yet somehow they were able to create something that is closer to a digimon then Grani ever was when we first built the Zero Arms unit."

"What I want to know is why would they even build it in the first place?!" Demanded Terriermon hotly. "Not that I don't mind having somebody from the government taking up some of the slack but still! I thought that you were offering us jobs not too long ago to deal with stuff like this! So why come up with this?"

Yamaki frowned.

"My superiors do not feel… _comfortable_ depending on children to bail them out of a crisis even if they're more then qualified to handle it. The invasions of D-Reaper, the Devas, and Parasimon have done their jobs to frighten the public badly enough where action must be taken, and the military itself refuses to sit by and take a backseat to anything involving the digital world. Each invasion has caused quite a bit of property damage, and some lives were lost during D-Reaper's attack on the real world. Some people feel that a war is coming and want to be ready for it."

"But wasn't that what Mr. Mizuno was trying to correct people on?" Asked Henry. "I mean, you sent him off to do just that since he knows more about digimon then anyone."

"Nonetheless," said Yamaki. "There are some who believe in being prepared."

"Not exactly a bad idea," said Henry, remembering the purpose of his martial arts classes. "So long as defense is all that you're working for."

"It _is_ just for defense…right?" Asked Kenta tentatively.

"On paper it is," answered Yamaki. "But I am concerned about the governments plans to mass produce Argus once they've finished working out all the bugs and modified it further. Some of the blue prints and proposals that I've seen indicate a project beyond what I've shown you. Right now Argus is only in its infant stages and is more or less harmless to the digital world, but if it were to… _evolve_ if you would, then we'd see something that could be potentially as devastating to the digital world as the D-Reaper was. One of my contacts has recently sent me some information regarding some extensions to the current levels of Project Argus. I'm not supposed to know about them, but since I do I can't say that I feel very comfortable about it. The _Emperor Dragon_ and _Blue Wolf_ codenames are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg."

Henry, Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Terriermon all exchanged worried glances.

Yamaki clicked the projector button. "Moving on. Now _this_ , is the Zero Arms Orochi, codenamed 'Celestial Blade'…"

* * *

Aiko took a sip from her cup of tea before placing it down on the table countertop. Hearing the cries of joyful laughter she looked over to see a young girl with brown hair and a Chinese style vest holding onto a strange, gray colored creature with absurdly long ears and three horns on its head. The creature, whose name she had learned was Lopmon, did not at all look comfortable in the clutches of the little girl.

"Your daughter's quite the handful," Aiko said with a small smile on her face, looking over at the dark haired woman who sat across from her.

"That she is," said the woman, returning the smile as she raised her cup to her lips. The woman looked at Aiko with one eyebrow cocked. "You seem rather comfortable with all this. Most of my friends were rather apprehensive when they first saw Lopmon and Terriermon playing about in the living room."

Aiko smiled softly.

"I had the opportunity to care for a digimon briefly, so I'm rather used to it. It's returned to the digital world now."

"Oh. I see."

Aiko took another sip of tea, reflecting over the course of events from the past few hours, kicking herself for not listening to the Agent's advice when her daughter had first woken up on having someone available for contact, but she had simply wanted things done and over with without anyone constantly checking up on her to see how things were doing. After all, she had come back home with a clean bill of health even if she was missing a couple weeks of time from her memories. Aiko sighed mentally. This had been one of those rare occasions where she hadn't listened to her good sense and allowed for regular contact with her family and Hypnos. Her sense of privacy, and her protectiveness towards her family did at times earn her something of a black mark in just that area of parental protection.

 _I suppose that I have my husband to thank for some of that,_ Aiko thought with a sense of irony. _He didn't believe that you could trust the government. I should have learned my lesson then. His distrust was what got him into trouble in the first place, and why I left him to begin with. I should have known that he'd rub off on me, even after all that time we were separated…_

Aiko looked over at the little girl, Suzie, remembering why she was here to begin with. Having foolishly cut herself off from Hypnos she had no method of contacting them in regards to her daughter. The agent who had met her at the hospital the day that Noriko had woken up had told her that should anything _odd_ happen with the girl due to her being in the digital world that she should get in touch with them, but she had refused. She hadn't believed that anything could _possibly_ be wrong when the doctors had submitted their lab reports, and they had been quite thorough in their testing, with advice from Hypnos to back them up. At least one technician from Hypnos, a blonde haired woman named Daisy had come down to take care of it personally and nothing seemed wrong then. A false sense of security, and because of that she was paying for it now.

Aiko shuddered when she remembered the strange events that had occurred last night, and not at all feeling comfortable with having sent her daughter to school. To her, it only looked like another foolish mistake, but her instincts told her that Noriko and the children of Yodobashi Elementary would be fine, and if there was anything that she trusted in the world it was her instincts.

_Even if it can be a hard thing to do…_

Fortunately for her it hadn't been all that difficult to track down a connection to Hypnos. Her daughter had the acquaintance of one Henry Wong, a Tamer from her class no less and she had met the boy, and his partner in person when they came over to her home the day that Noriko returned. An amiable duo. Quite likeable, and because of this she had quickly found a way of contacting the boy and, hopefully, through him meet with someone from Hypnos. After getting an address from her phone book she had gone over and introduced herself to the woman who was now sitting in front of her, Mayumi Wong, Henry's mother. She had no doubts that she had found the right place. Suzie bolting forward with a bizarre animal clutched in her arms more then confirmed it.

After explanations were made Mayumi had allowed Aiko inside for tea while they waited for Henry to come home, where they chatted for a while, sharing some stories while Mayumi quizzed her to make sure that she was genuine about needing to talk to Henry and about his knowing him. The mention of her daughter, Noriko had been the real clincher. Mayumi was able to recall Henry being disturbed by the girl's disappearance when they had heard about it on the news. It had been enough to set her mind at ease.

Aiko glanced up at the kitchen clock and sighed.

"I'm sure that he'll be here any moment," said Mayumi, quickly grasping what was on Aiko's mind. Aiko gave her a grateful smile but shook her head.

"Sorry. But I really must be going. Noriko and Daisuke are home now and I told Noriko that I wasn't going to be too long. I don't want her getting worried about where I am and nearly burning our apartment down trying to fix Daisuke dinner."

Aiko chuckled as she remembered a time a little over two years ago when Noriko had come close to doing just that. Of course, the young girl was better with technology now and could safely operate a microwave and an oven without setting fire to the drapes but there was a part of her that did not want to risk such an event occurring again until Noriko was a little bit older.

Mayumi chuckled as she reached over and grabbed a pen and a scrap piece of paper and handed them to Aiko. "All right. Here. Write your phone number down and I'll have Henry give you a call when he gets in, okay?"

Aiko nodded and did so before getting up and headed towards the door. She bid Mayumi goodbye and thanked her for her hospitality, said goodbye to Suzie and Lopmon, and left.

* * *

Tally groaned as she exited the main control room, grateful for the end of her shift. Now she could finally go home and sleep. Yes, sleep…

 _Ohhh… You know, as interesting and fun as this job can be sometimes, it can be pretty hard on the rear. Waaay too much sitting around for my tastes, and my friends tell me I'm the one who has the_ cushy _job. Grrr…I'll show them 'cushy job'…_

Tally turned a corner and saw a familiar blonde haired woman exiting the woman's bathroom. Tally's eyes softened when she saw her, easily recognizing her. Amaya Abe. While she wasn't the most skilled worker at Hypnos she was one of the most renown, though not exactly for the kinds of reasons that would normally make one famous that had nothing to do with the dedication and hard work that she put into her job. Amaya was someone that everyone had looked on with pity for the past few months, though if she knew this she certainly never showed it. She was rather strange too, at least as far as some people were concerned, Tally being one of them.

 _Sometimes I wonder what goes through her mind,_ thought Tally as she paused at the woman's room to watch Amaya make her way back to her post. _It's been months since she came back to work. After what had happened you'd think that she'd be…I don't know…_ different _I guess. Angry, but she's still the same as she was when she first started working here. It's like she wasn't affected at all by what happened, but I still see that she keeps that picture on her desk._

Tally sighed, not wanting her thoughts to give so much as a silent voice to the tragedy that surrounded Amaya. It had been months since Amaya had lost her son during the D-Reaper crisis. A rather sudden, and unexpected loss at that, and Amaya had been at ground zero when her son had been killed in the crossfire once the fighting had broken out. She couldn't help but think that a person could be changed in some way by seeing their only child killed right in front of their eyes. Perhaps that was part of the reason why the woman disturbed some people even though her personality remained as bright and cheerful as ever, showing no outward signs of grief or anger. It was as if the death of her son hadn't affected her. For God's sake, Rob McCoy still grieved over the loss of his granddaughter, Alice! Why didn't Amaya react like that?

 _Everyone grieves in their own way,_ thought Tally, remembering what Riley had to say on the matter before turning and entering the bathroom, turning her back on the woman who was the subject of many a rumor at Hypnos.

Amaya continued to walk down the hallway, not caring in the least what she was the subject of.

Behind her, cast from her body by the harsh light of the Hypnos light, was a shadow with hand-like wings and a pair of insect like antennae.

* * *

Dracmon surveyed his surroundings cautiously before hopping down from the tree that had been his hiding place and down into the paved path of Shinjuku Park, scratching his chin as to where he was going to go at the moment.

 _"Find the Tamers," he says,_ Dracmon intoned mentally. _"Spy on them," he says. "Figure out what they intend to do and then report back to me." Sure. No problem, I say. How hard can it be to find a group of kids with digimon in this place?_

Dracmon scowled darkly.

 _Only that's just it, isn't it? I_ don't know _where_ any _of these Tamers live and I can't seem to find them! Sheesh! Isn't this the place that they come to hang out so much? It's a jungle out here! I can't find diddlysquat and it's already starting to get late out! My two bosses are not going to be happy if I waste more time trying to find them. Too bad I lost my Champion form in that fight with Rapidmon…_

Dracmon paused as he noticed a shadow falling over him. Turning in confusion, Dracmon cocked an eyebrow, already wondering how it was that someone could have possibly gotten behind him without him hearing or even sensing them. It just flew in the face of everything that was normal with a digimon.

 _Hold on…_ thought Dracmon as his eyes widened beneath his mask. _There's two of them…why is that one with the short hair and dress looking at me like tha…?_

"OH MY GOD!" Screamed a loud, female voice excitedly and a second later Dracmon found himself in the grips of a powerful hug as the young girl reached forth with dashing speed and glomped onto him tightly, squishing the diminutive Rookie to her. _"Ayaka! I..._ We _found a digimon!"_

"I can see that Miki," grumbled a girl with blonde pigtails and a red and orange striped shirt. "You don't have to yell. And careful will you? He could be dangerous!"

 _Dangerous?!_ Thought Dracmon deliriously as he felt the air to his brain suddenly get cut off by the hug that held him trapped to the girl's chest. _I think_ I'm _the one who's in danger right now!_

The world began to swim in the little demon's eyes as he began to pass out from lack of oxygen.

_Houston…we have a problem…_


	34. Chapter: 33/ What Dreams May Come

_The whisper of wind as it blew across the burning, desert landscape; the thunder of a thousand feet as they impacted with the ground, punctuated by the cries of attacks being pronounced and screams of pain rending the air. The air was hot with heat, and not all of it came from the desert floor as it baked beneath the light of the digital sun. Digimon ran in all directions, fear laced within their eyes, granting speed to their movements as they strove to escape the object of their fear. It was clear that whatever it was that they were running from, it was powerful for there were_ many _digimon stampeding here. Digimon of all shapes, types, and levels. High above in the sky, a WarGreymon tore through the air, aiming towards the source of the disturbance as he gathered a sphere of golden energy in between his Dramon Destroyers and raised it above his head, preparing to level it upon his target with as much strength as he could muster. Other digimon, Champions and Ultimates also fired off their attacks, pulling back to retreat every so often…_

_Apparently they were losing ground._

_A beam of light erupted from the horizon and smashed into the WarGreymon just as quickly as he tore off his golden Brave Shield from behind his back. He had no time to throw it up in front of him to ward off the blow and the energy blast tore through him, smashing his digi-core to pieces and dissolving him into streams of data that was quickly being pulled towards the source of the beam. A cry of rage erupted from within the army of digimon and a Piedmon suddenly burst forth, swords loosed from his sheathes and prepared to strike…_

_Another beam of light smashed into him, tearing off one of his arms and throwing the dark clown backwards. More beams of light followed and soon enough the Piedmon went the way of his fellow WarGreymon, his data being pulled like a magnet towards whatever entity had deleted the two Megas._

_A cry of despair welled up from the army now and an all out stampede began as digimon tried to retreat…running wherever they could to try and find safety. Even the uncertainty of the data streams were considered to be far more favorable then continuing to exist on the same plain with this seemingly unstoppable opponent. All they had to do was put some distance between themselves and the force that continued to assault them and they would be safe…_

_It was all for naught however. The ground suddenly erupted from beneath the army of digimon, and a blue haze covered them as at precisely the same moment similarly colored tentacles entangled themselves around the digimon, pulling them downwards. The forms of the digimon destabilized and blurred before breaking apart into shards of data and being pulled into the tentacles. Glowing with a burning, azure color as they loaded the data the wire-like tentacles began to merge together, creating a vaguely humanoid form with a central, eye-like structure in the center of what appeared to be a head. After a moment, a voice boomed from the entity, echoing across the landscape as it spoke._

"Hazard signature not detected within downloaded digital anomalies. Reinitializing scanning procedures and cross-referencing with existing paths of Digital Hazard signature. Processing…"

* * *

"GUH!"

Takato's eyes bolted open as he sat up from the wooden support beam that he had been lying against, looking around him to assure himself of his surroundings before relaxing. The familiar porch of his cousin's home greeted him, as did the surprised, and slightly concerned looks of Guilmon, Kai, Renamon and Rika as they looked at him from where they sat.

"Are you okay, Takatomom?" Asked Guilmon with his childish voice, his golden eyes looking his brown haired Tamer over carefully for any outward signs that could possibly given him discomfort.

_Maybe that beam he was laying on made his back all crampy…_

"I'm fine Guilmon," said Takato, leaning back and giving his dinosaur partner a small smile. "Just a bad dream, that's all."

Rika, who had been watching him with curious eyes, raised an eyebrow at the word _dream_ and cast a glance over at Renamon. The vulpine, catching Rika's expression and its meaning simply shrugged. Rika frowned but did not say anything, and eventually turned her attention to the bowl of food that she had been eating from.

_Wonder what that was about,_ thought Takato with a slight frown, having caught Rika and Renamon's brief 'silent conversation' (as Kazu liked to call it whenever observing such a phenomenon between the two partners). Takato quickly shrugged it off and stretched out a bit, restraining a yawn as he did so. It was now around mid afternoon. A few hours had passed since he and Rika had their 'argument', and while things between them were still left unresolved they now had an understanding between each other that neither would make a move to talk until they were both ready to do that.

_The waiting can sure be unnerving,_ thought Takato, his eyes softening as he recalled the mess of emotions that he had had lately concerning the red haired Tamer who had been his friend for the past year. Not wanting to go down that road again so soon after Rika's telling him that she needed to think things through for a bit Takato turned his attention away from the situation that had been troubling him these past few weeks and to the dream that he had just awoken up from.

_The digital world,_ thought Takato with a frown. _I haven't thought about what's been going on there for a while now. The last time any of us had a real talk about it had been shortly after the Parasimon invasion. Well, since I've last been home anyways. Rika hasn't said too much about what's been going on since I left._

Takato sighed mentally, realizing that his train of thought had just come back around to that particular issue once again. Of course it _had_ been on his mind ever since Rika had kissed him in his room, and given how things had been between them before that moment the shock alone had been enough to warrant such focus.

_Still… I wonder what's been going on in the digital world since we were last there. The only other time that we had an idea as to what was going on came from a satellite feed from when the D-Reaper had invaded our world. It had destroyed most of the digital world in the short time that it had been in ours. Yamaki told us that the digital world had been recovering pretty rapidly after we defeated D-Reaper, and when we got our partners back they had quite a bit to say about it also. Seemed as though everything's been going fine…well, if you discount the Parasimon attacking, which was the only serious event that happened after we got our partners back…_

_…Well, except for that business with the Santamon and all those Frigimon, but between those two we never found out what that business with the Parasimon was about besides invading the real world._

Thoughts of the word 'invasion' soon brought to mind other memories from the previous night when first DinoTigermon had bio-emerged followed by the Dynasmon. Those two encounters disturbed him, particularly because of what had transpired as a result of their arrival, and what DinoTigermon had said to him right before he had disintegrated into data.

* * *

" _Tamer…"_

" _Huh?" Takato turned to look at DinoTigermon as he lay prostrate on the ground, his body phasing in and out of stability. DinoTigermon took a deep breath and closed his eyes, seeming to measure his words carefully before speaking again, as though danger weren't already barking at his heels and he was carrying on a polite conversation._

" _I'm sorry for attacking you. I regret having done so. I was…confused and injured. I did not recognize you for what you were…you and your partner."_

_Takato glanced furtively at Dynasmon. He still wasn't moving any faster so far, and Growlmon had yet to engage him in battle._

" _Um…you know, this is a really bad time to be making apologies…"_

_DinoTigermon smiled softly, his body phasing again before stabilizing._

" _Perhaps, but it appears to be the only time at the moment. Not that it matters now." DinoTigermon took another, deep breath. "I must warn you…the Royal Knights…Yggdrasil's servants. They bring devastation with them…preventing the course of evolution and they rain destruction upon all that oppose them and their master. Beware…they will soon set their sights on the real world…" DinoTigermon coughed once. "…If they haven't already…"_

" _Enough of this!" Said Dynasmon fiercely. "Your time has come! Now you face the justice of the Royal Knights!_ Dragon Thrower!"

_Raising his arms and opening his hands, Dynasmon revealed a twin set of jewels fixed to the palms of his hands. Blasts of energy erupted from them and shot towards DinoTigermon before Takato and Growlmon could even react. DinoTigermon screamed once, and then particles of data floating through the air were all that remained of the Mega lion digimon. Takato watched them disperse for a moment, his mind awhirl with confusion._

' _He's gone…'_

* * *

_What did he mean by all that?_ Thought Takato. _In fact…better question; what_ was _that whole thing about? Those two digimon seemed to have quite a bit of animosity between them, like they had known and fought each other for a long time. I wish I knew what DinoTigermon meant by Yggdrasil. I don't think that I've seen anything in the digimon franchise that mentioned anything like that. There were some rumors though about the Royal Knights but I didn't see or read anything that indicated that they were an actual, organized group like the Sovereigns were…or rather the 'Harmonious Ones' like they were called in the TV show._

Takato frowned, reflecting on how disparate the information regarding his favorite television show and franchise seemed to be about the world that it sold and told a story about. Even the information on something like the Digital Hazard, from what he had read in various magazines prior to his adventures in the digital world and what Henry said about it the first time Megidramon appeared, was extremely vague and severely lacking. For the first time he began to wonder if there was something that the creators of the digimon game and its subsequent shows were trying to hide.

_Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Kazu would probably think so. Rika might think so…_

Takato paused to look over at the red headed Tamer, only to freeze when he saw her looking at him with a small frown on her face. Red clashed with violet for a moment until Takato jerked his gaze away. The air around his cheeks suddenly began to feel that much warmer.

_…Or not,_ thought Takato as he fought down the heat that had bloomed in his cheeks. Distantly Takato wondered why things always had to be so difficult.

* * *

_Okay,_ thought Rika, as she looked Takato over, wondering about his rather strange reaction to her watching him. _Why am I getting the feeling that he's being paranoid about something? It's not like I'm going to jump on him and start pounding or anything._

Rika turned her gaze away from the brunette Tamer and frowned at what remained of her dinner as though it were somehow at fault for Takato's strange reaction.

_Not that I can't fault him for acting that way,_ thought Rika irritably. _I've certainly gone and turned his whole world upside down, and it didn't exactly help that he had already lost Guilmon at the time that I kissed him._

Rika closed her eyes and pursed her lips together.

_That was just so stupid of me! Makes me wonder what was going through my mind when I did that. Of course, I already_ know _what was going through my mind, but I didn't intend for_ that _to happen between us! I was just…_

Rika paused and frowned at her ranting.

_This isn't doing me any good. It's not doing either of us any good. How long has it been since I kissed him? Three weeks? And I still don't know what it is that I feel for him. If it weren't for the fact that it would have been the wrong thing to do I would have gone back home after waking up from that fight with that Dynasmon. Can't exactly do that though. Not if I want Takato to stay my friend and…_

Rika sighed mentally and brushed some hair out of her eyes, wishing that she had a hair band or something to tie her hair back with. Rika looked over at Takato again. He had a look of deep concentration on his face now. He had been like that earlier before he saw her looking at him, and shortly after he had woken up from a 'bad dream'…

_I don't know. There's a lot about this that I don't understand. Mom said that this would take me a while to figure out, and that it wasn't going to be easy but I sure wish that it was the other way around. This is going to mess things up between us_ and _Jeri until we actually do get around to talking. And the fact that I can't really talk to Takato until I know what it is I feel for him that made me do…_ that _…it almost feels like someone's twisted idea of a joke._

Rika turned her attention over to Takato's cousin Kai, briefly wondering if he could offer any insight before dismissing the thought completely. While Takato could trust him with what was troubling his mind, Rika didn't know him well enough to do the same. That, and it didn't feel right _to_ involve Kai in a matter that was her own to work out. Kai had enough trouble, she was sure, worrying about Takato then adding a stranger like her to the list. Besides, she knew Takato well enough to know that her present course was at least along the lines of the right one, and aside from telling her family, Renamon, and Jeri about what had happened, she much rather preferred to keep it to herself.

Rika was brought out of her reverie by Renamon as she suddenly looked up at the sky and frowned.

"What's up Renamon?" She asked, instantly recognizing that the vulpine digimon had sensed something. Rika's hand instinctively went to her waist before remembering that her D-Arc was sitting on the floor next to her. She noted that Takato had snapped out of his thoughts at her question and was already digging out his own, gold trimmed digivice from his pants pocket.

"Something's coming," said Renamon in a low voice as she got to her feet. "Something… _familiar."_

"How familiar are we looking at here?" Asked Takato as he pulled out a digivolution card along with his digivice. "As in _enemy-familiar,_ or _friend-familiar_?"

Renamon's tail swished in agitation as she narrowed her focus to a hair fine point. The sense that she was getting…it felt more like _both._

"I can't tell from this distance Takato…" began Renamon, only to be interrupted by the sound of a scream cutting through the air. On instinct Takato and Rika both dashed forward, aiming towards the source of the scream, with Renamon phasing out of view and Guilmon exchanging a confused look with Kai before they too joined in on the race. The group pounded down the path and into the woods that led towards the neighbor's house. The scream that they had heard continued unabated, pending the occasional pause for breath, only now there seemed to be angry expletives thrown in as well as the sound of something impacting with something else. No one could quite make out what was being said, but they were all pretty sure that it wasn't _'how do you do?'_

Rika looked over at Renamon, taking note of the fact that Renamon hadn't ceased in her course or speed as she phased in and out of view along the tree line. Whatever was going on, Renamon was apparently of the opinion that they were on the right course. Not that she doubted Renamon's instincts of course, as when it came to that she found them much more reliable then her own digivice's alarms, but the noise that was being raised didn't seem like the kind that normally started whenever a digimon bio-emerged.

_Except for the yelling part,_ thought Rika sarcastically. _Other then that, if I'm any judge it sounds more like someone inept and lost wound up where they shouldn't have been._

The group came to a sudden halt as a punch bowl was thrown across the path and another shout rent the air.

_"OUT! OUT YOU LITTLE DEMON! GO ON! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I KNOW OF WAYS TO GET RID OF LITTLE MONSTERS LIKE YOU, NOW IF YOU DON'T GET A MOVE ON I'LL USE THE…_ DON'T _YOU GIVE ME THAT LOOK! YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!"_

A dark colored blur rocketed out of a bush and tumbled onto the path in front of the group with a grunt, a small black machine tumbling out of one red gloved hand and landing a short distance away. The group looked on, eyes wide and stunned at the sight in front of them, and even Renamon couldn't quite hide her own surprise at what she saw. The little figure of course, was someone that was well known to most of the group there, and even though Kai had never seen him before he sure heard about him from his cousin. Before anyone could say anything the bushes rustled once again and an adult, brown haired human woman wearing an apron and a pink shirt erupted forth, wielding a spatula and brandishing a wooden spoon like a pair of weapons as she glared at Impmon as he struggled to reach the device that he had dropped in his rush to escape from the raving, madwoman who had been pursuing him.

"You're trapped now," said the woman in a low, threatening voice as she towered over the helpless Impmon as he finally grasped the device in his hand and rolled over to face his pursuer.

"Mrs. Ishahara?" Spoke up Kai, confused as to just what exactly it was that was going on. _What's wrong with her? She already knows about digimon…she saw Guilmon yesterday when she gave Rika some fresh clothes to wear…heck, she saw him last year when she stopped by to give that Minami girl clothes too…_

_…Although Grandpa kept calling him a 'strange dog' whenever she saw him…_

While Kai palmed his face in embarrassment Renamon took the initiative to phase into view in front of the woman who was presently threatening Impmon and grabbed the hand with the spatula just as it was descending…

"Ah!" Gasped Mrs. Ishahara as she found her arm in the powerful grip of the digital vixen. Her violet eyes locked with Renamon's cold, blue ones and her mouth fell open in surprise.

"A…a…a…" Renamon's eyes narrowed but she released the woman, and she stumbled backwards, still stuttering as she tried to find words to say. Unlike Guilmon, Mrs. Ishahara hadn't seen Renamon, who made certain to keep out of sight while she was around. Her sudden appearance had thrown the woman off balance both physically and mentally as she tumbled backwards and collapsed to the ground. Her mouth continued to work as Renamon looked down at Impmon, her eyes throwing concern in his direction.

"Are you all right?"

"I prefer to take the fifth on that question for the moment," moaned Impmon as he massaged his head and got up into a sitting position. Mrs. Ishahara in the meantime finally broke out of her paralysis.

"A…kitsune…"

And with that, the woman's eyes rolled up into her head and she fell over, collapsing fully on the ground with a soft thud. For a moment, no one spoke as they attempted to absorb the rather bizarre and unexpected scene. After a few seconds Guilmon tilted his head and blinked profusely in confusion before breaking the silence.

"Ah…Takatomom? I thought naptime was already over. Why is the Ishahara lady sleeping now?"

Takato hung his head and groaned while Rika looked over at the boy with a sympathetic smirk.

"He's definitely your digimon Gogglehead," she said with a small chuckle as she folded her arms over her chest and shook her head in resignation.


	35. Chapter: 34/ Preparations for Home

"Sit still."

"No! C'mon! That stuff hurts!"

"And it will continue to hurt if you don't _sit still_. Now for the last time…"

"I don't see the reason why I even need this treatment. I'm digital, not organic…"

Renamon narrowed her blue eyes as she glared at the diminutive imp as he complained like a spoiled toddler.

_I thought that he had outgrown this stage after our first trip to the digital world. Guess I was wrong…_

"You still get sick when you're in the rain too long, don't you?" Asked Renamon, her voice only containing the barest hints of her annoyance. Annoyance that went largely unnoticed by Impmon as he scowled at her.

"What's your point?" Asked Impmon, neither confirming nor denying such an occurrence, though with Renamon he might as well have held up a sign that gave a 'yes' to her question.

"You figure it out," said Renamon as she placed one gloved hand on top of Impmon's head to restrain him and brought up a ball of cotton and dabbed it in a scrape that sat just above Impmon's left eye. Fortunes from a certain woman's spatula that had been swung at just the right angle, or rather _wrong_ one depending one's point of view. Impmon squirmed beneath the treatment, gritting his teeth as his wound flared up and sent sizzling pain through him as Renamon swabbed antiseptic over it. In spite of his struggles he was clearly no match for the vixen in his Rookie form, and due to his exhaustion from having flown all the way to Okinawa from Shinjuku in his Blast Mode Mega form of Beelzemon, he presently was unable to digivolve and remove her himself.

Over in the doorway leading to the bathroom where Renamon was currently treating Impmon, Kai, Takato, and Guilmon all exchanged glances while Rika and Kai's grandfather simply watched the bizarre scene impassively. After a few moments Wataru turned and left so as to call the Ishahara household and see how Mrs. Ishahara was doing. After the woman had fainted Renamon had taken her back to her home and, after frightening the rest of the household's established residents, told them to make sure that she got 'plenty of rest' and that they should tell her it would be ill-advised to go attacking a digimon again anytime in the near future. Afterwards they had taken Impmon back up to Wataru and Kai's home so they could ask him what it was he was doing at Okinawa and treat his injuries.

The latter of these two tasks proved to be somewhat… _difficult_ as Impmon became uncooperative, which had the unfortunate byproduct of decreasing the amount of information that Impmon gave them. Given the link between the news from home, Impmon's lack of cooperation, and the necessity to have all questions answered sometime _before_ it got dark out, Renamon had volunteered to take care of Impmon's injuries as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Given that Impmon had nearly singed off Wataru's eyebrows in the first attempt, this decision was made rather post humorously.

After a couple minutes Renamon finally finished and stepped back while Impmon scowled at her and rubbed his injury tenderly.

"You didn't have to be so rough about it fox-face," Impmon grumbled.

"And you didn't have to act like such a child," replied Renamon in a tone that would brook no argument from her companion. Impmon of course, missed the cue to end the conversation right then and there.

"You sound like my Tamer's mother whenever one of them has a fall."

"Oh?" Renamon raised an eyebrow humorously and flicked her tail. "Is that a fact? Well then maybe I should send you to the corner for a time out…"

"Renamon!" Rika interrupted, her voice taking on a slight edge to it due to the time that the argument had been taking up. "Can we just move onto the main reason why he's here already?"

Rika frowned when she heard a light, _chuckling_ sound from next to her and she turned her baleful gaze to the direction of a certain goggle-wearing Tamer from whom she had heard the noise come from. Takato, upon seeing the look she was giving him immediately dissolved into a coughing fit that was about as convincing as his ability to lie; which is to say, not at all.

"Uh…yeah. Ahem…Rika's got a point there," began Takato nervously, visibly fighting off the urge to fidget. "Not that we're glad to see you Impmon, but why are you here?" Takato raised the rectangular, black colored device that Impmon had brought with him. "And why did you bring one of Yamaki's communication devices with you?"

"And afterwards you can tell us what it was you did to make Mrs. Ishahara so upset," said Kai with a small grin on her face. "She didn't freak out that bad when she first saw Guilmon."

"Let's just stick to what's important," said Rika. "Why are you here? Did something happen back home or what?"

"You could say that," said Impmon as he hopped down from off the toilet seat and strode out of the bathroom. "Shinjuku did see quite a bit of action, but we handled that okay…well, sort of okay. Henry's dad got caught in the crossfire…"

"Mr. Wong's hurt?!" Exclaimed Takato. "Why didn't you mention this earlier? How's he doing?"

"Hey! Take it easy my goggle-wearing friend! I heard he was doin' fine when I on route to this place, so there's no need to flip out or anything! As for why I'm here I flew all the way here to see just what the heck was going on! After I saw Jeri last night she was going on about how Calumon showed up at Rika's house when they were having a sleepover sayin' how you and Pineapple head were in trouble and that Rika and Renamon were on their way to bail you out! Turns out that my presence won't be required after all, and all I got for action was a punch bowl thrown at me just for asking directions from that crazed lady!"

Impmon pouted a bit at the thought of not getting to blow off any steam and being assaulted before looking at the two Tamers.

"So what about you two? Care to tell me what happened on your end of things?"

"Well…it's kinda complicated…" began Takato only to be interrupted by Rika.

"Hold on. That's all you're going to give us? What else happened Impmon? How's Henry doing?"

Impmon shrugged his shoulders.

"Ol' Henroid wasn't exactly in a talkative mood you know. He was right there at ground zero when his father got hurt. Anything else and you'll have to give Yamaki a call, which was _why_ he had me bring along that communication device. He wanted me to report back to him as soon as I got here to scope out the situation, but thanks to my ever alluring charm actually failing me for once when I asked that Ishahara lady for directions…"

"Right," said Renamon in a flat tone. Impmon ignored her as he continued.

"…And foxy's poor first aid skills I haven't been able to get around to that yet."

Impmon turned to Renamon and cocked an eyebrow.

"Never thought that I'd see the day where you'd end up playing _nursemaid_ to me…"

"Don't push your luck," said Renamon, a small smirk barely visible on her muzzle. "Or next time I'll leave you to Rika's tender mercies."

Takato opened his mouth as if he were going to say something in response to that, paused as he thought better of it, and then changed what he was going to say.

"I'll…uh…I think I'll try to get the communication device working and get in touch with Yamaki; let him know that we're going to coming back home tomorrow."

"Fine," said Rika. A second later she turned and frowned at him. "But at least _this time_ , ask me before you decide to send anything with my name attached to it. _Got it?"_

"Ah…sure!" Replied Takato, blinking uncertainly as he detached the stylus from the communicator and turned it on.

_Oookay…what was that about?_ Wondered Kai before shaking his head. _Well, whatever it is I'm sure that it's more their business then mine…though I bet I can get it out of Takato later…_

"Now," began Impmon, taking up the threads of conversation again as he looked over at Guilmon. "So tell me something Pineapple Head. What's with the new look?"

Guilmon pouted and looked up at Takato.

"Mmmmnnnn…Takatomom…the digimon called me a name…"

Impmon's eyes widened in surprise and he started angrily, shaking his gloved fists in the air as he began to rant.

"Hold on! First off, I've called you 'Pineapple Head' before and you never complained! Second, what's with this 'the digimon' stuff! You know my name and…wait. Did he just say… _Takatomom?_ Takato- _mom?!"_

Renamon sighed as Impmon looked around rapidly from one person to the next, his expression full of confusion and clearly asking for some answers to his questions.

"This is going to take some explaining," the kitsune began.

* * *

Impmon sat on the sandy beach, his green eyes furrowed into a frown as he listened to the waves crashing upon the shore. The water sparkled from the golden light of the sun as it set. After a few minutes Impmon idly picked up a rock and tossed it out onto the water, watching it skip on the surface before an oncoming wave enveloped it and gravity combined with weight forced it to sink.

Impmon played through his memory of Renamon's conversation with him regarding Guilmon's new look and lack of memories. Between the two Impmon was understandably distressed about Guilmon's amnesia, and the change in appearance made it seem as though Takato had gone and created a whole new digimon just as he had when BlackGuilmon had come into existence. If it hadn't been for the fact that he had been there when the monster maker Shibumi had given Takato the digi-egg that contained Guilmon's _original_ data he would have felt that his assertion would have been the more correct one.

And that he just didn't understand.

_When I was with the others when Takato got Guilmon back, that Shibumi guy didn't mention anything about Guilmon looking different when he hatched. I don't get it. From everything that Takato and the rest told me about him he's supposed to be pretty sharp. As sharp as guys like him come, so why didn't he say anything about this? Did he make a mistake or something?_

Impmon groaned and massaged his temples.

_This is giving me a headache…_

"A penny for your thoughts?"

"What do you want fox-face?" Demanded Impmon, not bothering to look around.

"To talk," said Renamon as she walked over and came to rest next to the hobgoblin of a digimon. "You've been rather quiet since I explained to you Guilmon's condition."

Impmon grimaced.

"What? You miss the sound of my voice already? I thought that I was too much fun for you. That's how helicopter head phrased it once…"

"And you believed Terriermon?" Asked Renamon, her voice betraying no hint of emotion that could have been taken for teasing. Impmon however knew better.

"Well…he did make a pretty good point back when we were in the digital world after that trouble with D-Reaper cleared up. Never mind the fact that it was Pineapple Head himself that agreed with him in his own, unique way."

"Really? I'll have to have a talk with Guilmon when his memory returns."

Impmon paused for a second.

"You think that he'll get it back?"

"I have faith that he will," said Renamon. "Guilmon may be absentminded at times but he's hardly the kind to forget something that's important to him. And as you know, we were _all_ important to him. To be honest I'm not all that surprised that he is like this, at least so far as his memory is concerned. He was deleted not too long ago. That sort of thing is not easy to come back from."

Impmon lowered his eyes at that.

"Yeah. Don't I know it?"

Renamon looked down at Impmon, her eyes contemplating his words as a memory from earlier in the week occurred to her. Impmon appearing at Hypnos and looking at the building with an expression of deep thought as though he were contemplating some important mission…or perhaps an old crime. She was well aware of how Impmon felt about what he had done to Jeri and his killing of Leomon (his near death in an attempt to rescue Jeri from the clutches of D-Reaper had a way of driving that fact home in ways that his own personal laments of his actions never could), and though she never asked she knew that Lucemon's deletion of Guilmon had distraught him quite a bit, perhaps because he had seen something of a mirror image of his old self in that digimon and more specifically his actions. Guilmon's rebirth, she suspected, had probably gotten him thinking about Leomon, whose data he still held within him from that battle so long ago. Due to some rather pressing events she hadn't followed up on the former servant of Zhuqiaomon to see what was going through his mind, and with things going the way they were, and Impmon being who he is possibly not wanting to share his thoughts, it didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon.

_We have all given Impmon our forgiveness, Jeri more so then anyone. So why doesn't he feel that he has been?_

Renamon knew the answer to that question as soon as she had asked it. Because even though each and every one of the Tamers and digimon had forgiven him for his trespasses, Impmon had yet to forgive himself. And knowing that Guilmon had gotten a second chance at life while Leomon continued to remain dead and not able to protect Jeri or, from his perspective, help her smile each day did nothing to comfort him. Guilmon was now a permanent reminder of what he had taken away and could not return.

But perhaps there was something that he could do to help himself come to terms with himself again.

"Impmon," began Renamon. "When we get back to Shinjuku tomorrow, I would like for you to help me help Guilmon remember his previous existence."

Impmon's eyes shot up as he looked over at the vulpine digimon.

"Huh?"

"Don't you want to help him?" Asked Renamon, somewhat surprised by his reaction.

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I? I guess it's just…I don't have the first clue on how to do that."

"We'll work it out," said Renamon confidently as she sat down next to Impmon and crossed her arms. "But we still have to go home first and get Guilmon into a familiar environment. We must be careful though. Too much stimulation and he might react in a manner that neither of us will like."

Impmon folded his arms behind his head and lay back upon the sand, his mind already thinking about what to do to help Guilmon.

_Of all the things I ever expected to do to help that Pineapple Head this sure ain't one of them. Breaking him out of laboratories or raiding restaurants…if he ever got the desire to do something like that that is…sure. But help him remember himself? That's like telling ol' Long Ears to not forget to momentai after every third word. This is going to take some real thinkin'…_

* * *

The light on the screen of the black colored communication device vanished as Takato clicked it off.

"Well, that's that. Yamaki knows about the situation, has told our parents, and is expecting us to back tomorrow."

"I got that Takato," said Rika from her spot across from him, remembering the relief she felt when Yamaki told her that he would contact her family to let them know that she was alright. "I was here the whole time, remember? I just hope that he'll have something of an explanation for Guilimon's lack of memory and appearance, _especially_ about your inability to biomerge. That's a bad thing to lose considering the trouble that Yamaki and Impmon have told us has been going on at home. Two digimon attacking with similar descriptions as our knight friend who jumped you last night? That can't be a coincidence."

"I wonder if they're linked to the digimon that Henry's dad tried to send back," said Takato, more to himself then to Rika. Rika just shrugged.

"Can't say. We don't exactly have a whole lot to go on." Rika frowned as memories from her fight with Dynasmon came to her. "There was a lot that Dynasmon said that confused me. Things like _Seer Council, Yggdrasil,_ and _X digimon._ "

"I don't know what those are…"

"Didn't think that you would Gogglehead. As much as I hate to say it neither of us really have an idea as to what really goes on in the digital world or what the politics are outside of the fact that there are the four Sovereign digimon. The Royal Knights…you and I both know them from some information from the game but we never knew anything about the Sovereign digimon before until we met them and learned that they were the Harmonious Ones from the TV show. But from the way that the Dynasmon reacted to me and Renamon when we were biomerged I can guess that the Seer Council is probably a group of wizard or sorcerer type digimon. Yggdrasil is probably something like a leader. I noticed that Dynasmon only referred to it in 'singular…"

"I guess so. Like you said, we don't know a whole lot about the digital world. It's too bad that Mr. Mizuno isn't around. He was in the digital world for quite a while before we first met him. He might know something."

"Maybe. I have a feeling though that this stuff about _X digimon_ is simpler then we think. Dynasmon was specifically targeting you and WarGrowlmon by the time I showed up, right?"

Takato nodded.

"Yeah. And before that other digimon that showed up. The DinoTigermon I think he was called. He mentioned some similar things too like what Dynasmon talked about."  
"Well," said Rika. "Whatever this _X digimon_ is, I'm willing to bet that it's a group of digimon…like a class or something, and that Dino boy is one of them now. That would probably explain his new look even though it doesn't tell us how he got to be that way. You once told us that you scanned drawings that you made of Guilmon, and that was what created him in the first place. Is there anything in them that could explain that?"

Takato pondered this for a moment.

"I don't think so. I wish that I had them with me to be sure of that but I know that I didn't write anything about an _X digimon_ when I was making his stats. Fact is, he's a lot closer to his original picture now then he ever was."

Rika cocked an eyebrow.

"Come again?"

"The Hazard sign that was on Guilmon and BlackGuilmon's chests? I didn't draw that in when I first drew them. Not even when I last scanned them. I always wondered about that but it didn't seem important after a while, especially once the Deva attacks started so I guess I just forgot about it."

Rika tilted her head to one side, her crimson hair brushing lightly against her shoulders.

"You have a habit of doing that don't you? Kind of like that dream you once had about me…"

Rika drifted off as she noticed Takato suddenly become uncomfortable, causing Rika to immediately curse herself for bringing it up considering what was left unfinished between them. With Impmon's arrival at Okinawa she had come close to forgetting what had happened and had lapsed back into the familiarity that she was normally used to exercising when around the goggle-wearing boy.

_Or was it that?_ Rika wondered. _I don't think that I would have brought_ that _up even under normal circumstances, and outside of Renamon I still haven't told anyone about my own dream about him…_

"Sorry," said Rika after a few seconds in which the silence began to become uncomfortable. "It's starting to get late, and we have things to get ready for going back home tomorrow."

"Yeah," agreed Takato as he looked up and met Rika's lavender gaze. "Yeah, we do. I…uh… I'd better go check up on Guilmon. Hopefully he's not being too much of a handful for Kai. You know how he is with food…"

"Yeah…you do that," said Rika in a glum tone.

Takato got to his feet and headed for the door. He slid it open, paused, and looked back.

"Rika?"

"Yeah?" Rika wasn't even looking at him. Her expression was hard, introspective, and fierce. Almost angry…

Takato chewed on his lower lip for a moment before speaking again.

"I…I just wanted to say…I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," replied Rika in a soft voice. "Tomorrow. 'Night."

" 'Night."

Takato stepped out and slid the door shut behind him, leaving Rika alone in the room with her thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original drawings of Guilmon in, so far as I can tell, every episode that they're shown in do lack the Hazard symbol on them, (in fact, Guilmon's stomach is sometimes colored red instead of white). Just a little curiosity that I thought needed mentioning, and is important to this story. 'Till next time. :)


	36. Chapter: 35/ A New Day

Jeri Katou slowly opened her eyes to the new day and stretched beneath the blankets of her bed. A small, content smile bloomed on her face as a sigh escaped her lips as she breathed the morning air, glorying in the warm feel of the blankets that surrounded her. Not for the first time did the comfort that her bed offered her make her think that she was in the embrace of a loved one, reminding her of times that she had cherished from days long past and times that she knew that she would cherish in the days to come, with family, friends, or someone even more special and close to her heart. Resolving to not move from her bed for the few minutes that she had before her stepmother came in and told her to get going if she wanted to get to school on time Jeri snuggled deeper into her blankets, breathing another sigh and drifting between sleep and wakefulness. Her smile broadened as she caught the scent of freshly baked bread on the air…a _gift_ from having spent time down at the Matsuki bakery to help Kazu help Takato's parents until the boy got back from his vacation.

_Takato…_

Jeri's smile faltered as she remembered a few things that had occurred the night before last when Rika had taken off to go help Takato following Calumon's appearance at Rika's home. Jeri had been relieved to hear from Henry when he and Kenta dropped by to tell them that Yamaki had received a message from Impmon, Takato and Rika that they were all alright, and that Guilmon was back among the living once again. Henry hadn't alluded too much about the silly and sometimes childish crimson colored dinosaur but Kenta had quite a bit to say about the information that Takato had given Yamaki, some of which worried her, namely Guilmon's change in appearance (something that had caused quite a bit of confusion within the group) and amnesia. That last part alone caused quite a bit of worry with Jeri, but Kenta had maintained optimism that Guilmon would be 'right as rain' soon if they all did their best to help the oversized dino remember his previous life.

_Of course,_ thought Jeri, releasing some pent up tension in the form of a light chuckle. _Kazu just had to go and ruin Kenta's point by saying that if things were right as rain we'd all catch cold…poor Kenta. I just hope Guilmon's really all right. I'd hate for him to have to go through everything that he has and lose everything that was important to him._

Jeri sighed.

_I wonder how Takato's coping with things right now. I know that he'd have hope that Guilmon will remember things the way he used to, and if he doesn't I know that Rika won't let him think like that. She's like that sometimes. I remember Takato telling me once about how she helped him move past his fears of losing his friendship with Guilmon during the pig Deva's rampage._

Jeri rolled over in her bed so that she was now facing the wall, idly tracing a circle in the sheets that covered her bed with one finger. Images of her two friends Rika and Takato rolled through her mind as Jeri thought back to her conversation with the red headed Tamer during their sleepover together. Things were… _confusing_ to say the least. Up until now she hadn't thought that much about how she felt about their mutual friend and unofficial leader of the Tamers, perhaps because she had never really been in a situation that had forced her to really look at them and how they might affect someone else that she was close to. She knew that she cared about him quite a lot and had suspected that he had feelings for her that were just as mutual as hers were for him, but she wasn't exactly in any rush to admit them, though there had been a few times shortly after the conclusion of the D-Reaper invasion where both she and Takato practically stumbled over their words whenever they were around each other where she was sure that one of them _would_ say something about how they felt or slip up, the latter of which one of their friends would have attributed to Takato…

…But it never happened. They had remained simply close friends. Not that they should have been anything more at their age, as she was certainly willing to wait until they were older to sort things out but Jeri had to admit being occasionally disappointed whenever things that she said that could be called _hints_ flew over Takato's head and he would just look at her in confusion. Poor, clueless Takato, but naivety was one of the things that she had liked about him from when they first met. Of course, back then she viewed him differently. Cute, and silly…and weird given his open obsession with digimon, but not exactly the worst thing that she could think of given that she was something of a closet collector of the game herself. When she found out that he was a Tamer and had a _real_ digimon he seemed to just open up to her and she found out things about him that she otherwise wouldn't have if things were different. Admirable qualities of courage and fortitude, becoming something of a heroic figure that she had read about in stories so often. Not quite the same as Leomon had been when he first arrived in the real world and she had become practically smitten with upon first sight but close enough. It was rather ironic that he had biomerged with Guilmon to become a knight, transforming into the kind of storybook hero that Takato, in his beginnings, had liked to compare himself to and she had always admired, and just as equally ironic that he had rescued her. True, he wasn't Gallantmon when she had woken up in his arms (that honor had more or less gone to Rika on top of the runaway Locomon from almost a month ago) but the scene had been close enough to be almost out of a fairytale.

_But between the two of us, Rika's more the part of the princess,_ thought Jeri, smiling a little as she knew that Rika would hate the comparison and disliked being in the position of 'damsel in distress' even less.

_Funny,_ thought Jeri as she continued to trace circles on her bed sheets. _I didn't think much about it back when we were preparing for Rika's surprise party…when I asked Takato to help Rika's mother distract her. Mrs. Nonaka had been the one to suggest the Cherry Blossoms and I thought that it was a great idea. Takato wasn't too sure about it but I had persisted. I remember how Takato had thrown up his hands, looking nervous, saying that perhaps it would be better if he tried something else because he didn't think that Rika would like doing something like that, with my response being something along the lines of 'you never know what she'll like if you don't do more things with her. Besides, you might like hanging out with her like that. I always have a good time with her when it's just us together…'_

Jeri couldn't help but find some ironic humor to the situation. She wasn't sure how long Rika had _felt_ the way she had for Takato even though Rika admitted that she herself was unsure what her feelings were for the goggle-wearing, occasionally fumble footed Tamer, but Jeri realized that she had essentially, however unknowingly, pushed Takato over to Rika without any thought as to the consequences thereof. An accidental 'matchmaker' move that seemed almost a typical… _Takato_ act. Rika, being one of the most mature Tamers of the group, second only to Henry and Ryo, might have easily mistaken Takato's 'distraction' as to mean something else other then just friendship. Of course, she had quickly deduced that there was something fishy going on and had dragged the admission of his distraction for a surprise party out of Takato. By Rika's own account of the matter a couple days later when she and Jeri were discussing it the next day while hanging out, it was "either that or the Gogglehead was actually asking her out on a date", the latter of which she claimed to be highly unlikely unless he had been put up to it. They had both laughed at it then, but now…

_Not so funny anymore is it?_ Thought Jeri as she shifted beneath her blankets. _All this time and Rika…she never gave any hints. Never said or did anything that led me, or anyone to think that she thought of Takato in that way._

Jeri thought back to her conversation with Rika, and how she had told her that it was perhaps better that she should be the one to be with Takato. The reasons that she had given for believing that didn't make Rika happy, far from it in fact but Jeri couldn't help but think that upon learning of Rika's actions. Rika had been there from the beginning of their days as Tamers, had helped him when he needed help. True, she had been there to do the same for a time while Leomon had been with her but if there was one thing that she was keenly aware of it was that she couldn't do that anymore. Without Leomon by her side she couldn't fight by Takato's side or protect him, Guilmon, or _any_ of her friends from the dangers that threatened them during battle. This helplessness and inability to do anything had often tugged at her whenever her friends had gone off to battle an enemy. She had accepted it then though it did bother her from time to time, and then…when Lucemon had destroyed Guilmon…

_I had been with Takato then. I couldn't do anything and the others had been too far away. They weren't able to get there in time because of that. If…things were different…if Rika had been there instead…_

Jeri's hand clenched at her bed sheets angrily, knowing full well that if Rika knew that she was still pursuing that line of thought she'd be just as furious with her as she was with herself, but she just couldn't help herself. There were just so many times that she felt so useless to her friends…

* * *

" _Don't you say that!" Rika all but hissed. "Don't you dare say that! Just because I go and kiss that Gogglehead is no excuse for you to just give up on him! You're strong in your own way! You protect him in your own way! Takato doesn't need me to hold his hand all the time when things get rough! I watch out for him because that's what friends do! Sure I care about him, probably a lot more than I realize, but…" Rika's gaze softened a little now as she felt her ire ease up on the girl. "…That's no excuse for you to just give him up, especially on my account. And one more thing… you're not useless! So get that crazy idea out of your head!"_

* * *

Jeri released her hold on her sheets as the memory played through her mind. She knew Rika was right, but she couldn't help the way that she felt sometimes, just like Rika couldn't help how she felt for Takato now regardless of how she saw him before the incident with Lucemon came down on them. They were all victims of their circumstances. It was all so confusing, but if there was one thing that Jeri was certain of it was that she cared about all of her friends, and if Rika wanted to be with Takato then she wasn't going to get in her way. The happiness of her friends was much too important to her…

Jeri was interrupted from her thoughts as she felt something small, and lightweight land on the edge of her bed and then scramble onto her shoulder. Risking a peak, though she had an idea as to what it was, Jeri's amber colored eyes met the large, blinking, and happy green eyes of one, white colored cream puff…Calumon.

"Wakey, wakey Jeri, Jeri," Calumon chirped, causing the brown haired girl to smile and shift her weight so that she could face him more fully.

" 'Morning Calumon," said Jeri groggily as she sat up. Calumon hopped off of her shoulder.

"Sleep well, Jeri?" Chirped the In-training digimon as he expanded his ears and tilted his head to one side.

"As well as anyone can, silly," replied Jeri as she swung her legs over towards the ladder of her bunk bed and began to climb down.

"Oh?" Calumon's smile disappeared and his face became questioning at the way that she had answered his question. "So you didn't sleep good?"

Jeri giggled, realizing that she had accidentally mislead him.

"No, no. I mean I slept well, it's just that I've got some things on my mind, that's all."

Calumon raised one tiny hand to his chin and tilted his head again.

"Those must be some pretty important things then if you're thinking about them when you're asleep. I usually can't do something like that because then I can't go to sleep. My brain just gets too busy to sleep. You must be super talented…"

Jeri giggled again but decided not to try and correct him on that right now. She had to get ready for school.

"So…what were you thinking about?" Asked Calumon as he floated on over to her while she opened up her dresser drawer and began to pick out her clothes for the day.

"Lots of things," she answered.

"Like Guilmon and Takato?"

Jeri nodded. "At least we now know that both them and Rika and Renamon are okay."

"Yeah! They're tough! I can't wait to see them when they get back!"

"Yeah," said Jeri softly as she folded her clothes across her right arm and walked over to the bedroom door and slid it open, a small, but worried smile appearing on her face as she did so. "Me too."

"So what are you going to do when you see Takato?" Asked Calumon as he plopped down on Jeri's head when she left the room and began to head towards the bathroom to change. "I'll bet that you're going to kiss him!"

At that Jeri's face turned bright red. Out of all of her friends, Calumon was perhaps the most aware of her feelings for Calumon due to the fact that they had a far closer association then anyone else that they knew, driven primarily because Calumon had chosen to live with her after returning to the digital world. She had at one point commented on her feelings about Takato to her stepmother while working with her in the kitchen at their family restaurant and Calumon had happened to overhear it. Not that he was eavesdropping mind you but with ears as big as his there was very little that he missed. As a result of his direct, childish nature and his own predisposition towards the nature of love (fueled mostly by Jeri's characterization of the human definition of the emotion and various soap operas that he watched on television whenever he got the chance) he often asked Jeri when she was going to get around to cementing her feelings in any concrete manner and teased her good humouredly about it whenever he got the chance.

_At least he keeps the promise I made him make about not mentioning it or_ acting _this way in front of the others,_ thought Jeri grouchily.

"Calumon!"

"Awww…but Jeri…like the people on the talking boxes say, you've been carrying such a torch for him and I know that he likes you…"

"I think that you've been watching too much TV lately. We're going to have to start weaning you off of that for a bit just so that you can come back down to Earth."

"But I'm already in the real world…"

"You know what I mean! And no, I'm not going to _kiss_ _Takato_ when I see him again!"

"But I'm sure he'd like it if you did," continued Calumon. "And you would too. It would make both of you so happy…"

"Not in this case Calumon," said Jeri glumly as she approached the door to the bathroom and knocked on its surface gently to see if there was anyone in there already. There weren't.

"Huh? Why's that?" Asked the little creampuff, perplexed.

"It's…complicated." Jeri opened up the door to the bathroom and stepped inside.

"Well…could you explain it to me?" Asked Calumon as his ears sagged downwards

Jeri shook her head apologetically.

"It's what I was thinking about earlier. Like I said, it's complicated and between me and Takato." _And Rika,_ thought Jeri in her head, but she didn't want to say anything about that.

"I just don't want to talk about it right now," finished Jeri as she closed the bathroom door behind her. There followed a second of silence in which no further noise could be heard until the door opened up again almost as an afterthought and then Calumon was abruptly deposited outside.

_"Especially_ not now," said Jeri as she shut the door quickly behind her once again while Calumon was busily tumbling in the air trying to right himself.

"Whoa!"

* * *

Noriko hefted her backpack onto her shoulders and looked down at her little brother Daisuke as he slowly and carefully tied his shoes together, taking his time so as to not miss a single loop. Noriko sighed audibly at the speed of her little brother but otherwise did not say or do anything to rush him. Daisuke tended to get quite irritable whenever someone interfered with his tying his shoelaces together, which would only result in _more_ time being wasted. This she knew by bitter experience and had no desire to have a repeat of such an event no matter how many times they had come close to being late because of Daisuke's slowness in the matter. Eventually he would learn and pick up a speed and rhythm, but until then she was resigned to waiting many, long minutes until the boy was satisfied that he had done the job right and wouldn't have to worry about a shoe flying off his feet while he was playing at recess.

"Got everything you need?" Called out Aiko as she exited the kitchen, busily drying her hands on a dishrag.

"Yes Mom! We've got our books, our bags, lunch money, and Dai's wearing his pants on right…for once."

"Hey!" Cried out Daisuke as he finished putting on the last touches to his shoes and got to his feet, glaring at his older sister.

_If looks could kill_ , thought Noriko sarcastically at her brother's failed attempt to stare her down.

"All right," chuckled Aiko as she bent down and gave Daisuke a hug before turning to Noriko and repeating the gesture.

"Okay. Now remember, I'm going to be home a little bit late tonight so there are leftovers in the fridge and some Yen on the counter with the number for take out in case you want to call something in. House rules still apply. Be home before dark, if you go anywhere you take Daisuke with you. No _ifs, ands,_ or _buts_ about it and I expect that you _both_ have the day's homework done before you turn in."

Noriko frowned.

"Yeah, we know. I'm still a little bit confused as to why you want to see Henry's folks…"

Aiko shrugged. "I just have some questions for them, that's all. It has to do with the digital world. I feel that I… _may_ have been a little too hasty with dismissing the aid of those Hypnos agents…"

Noriko's brow furrowed even more. Memories flashed through her mind. Memories from when she had caught sight of her eyes changing color shortly before her return to school, and another time when she had a strange vision and written some rather bizarre notes when she had been working on her homework. She wondered…had she done something to set her mother ill at ease?

_But…she'd tell me if there_ was _something wrong…wouldn't she? She never held back on me before. Except for that time with Dad…_

Noriko shook off the thought, and the memories, deciding that it was best to trust her mother. Whatever her mother's reasons were for meeting up with Henry's family after she was done with going back to work (having taken some time off to search for her, and later to help her readjust to coming back home).

"Well…okay. Be sure to say hi to Henry for me if you see him there."

Aiko smiled and then proceeded to pinch her daughter's cheek playfully.

"I'll do that."

"Hey! Don't _do that_ , Mom!"

"Just trying to put some color back into your cheeks," Aiko chuckled as she stood up.

"I don't _need_ color, Mom," grumbled Noriko as she folded her arms across her chest, her cheeks picking up a rosy tint to them from being treated like a little kid. "My face is perfectly fine without any help…"

"Well, it is now," smirked Aiko. "After all, I want my little girl to be looking her best when she goes to class…"

"Grrr…Mom…"

Aiko tilted her head to one side and gave a false sigh. Off to the side Daisuke giggled and Noriko glared at him menacingly.

"Sorry. It's so easy to forget that you're not my baby girl anymore and that you're all grown up. Now, you'd better get going Ms. Independent and mature. You still have quite a few years of education left to go through."

"All right, all right…"

Aiko gave her children another quick hug and watched as they left the house. Aiko sighed again, this time for real.

_It's so easy to forget what I saw that one night,_ Aiko thought. _From how she acts you'd think that there really is nothing wrong with her. Maybe I am just being paranoid but…I can't ignore what I saw. I just hope that I can get to the bottom of this and that nothing's wrong with Noriko. I don't think I could take it if I lost another one of my family…_

Aiko turned away from the door and shut it with a click behind her before walking back towards the kitchen so that she could get herself ready to leave. She paused briefly to look at a picture frame that had the image of a man with dark hair, eyes that looked like they held great depths to them, and a broad, almost silly grin. After the moment passed Aiko entered the kitchen.

_At least young Henry will be at his home today. Hopefully nothing will happen that will prevent that…_


	37. Chapter: 36/ Surprises

"Good morning Janyu," said Yamaki as he stepped into the hospital room, a good natured, companionable, but crooked smile on his face that looked more like a smirk that was normal for the blonde haired head of Hypnos. Janyu sat up in his bed in surprise upon seeing the man but winced suddenly and settled back down into his bed, repressing a groan of pain from the stress that his motion had placed on his injuries. Yamaki looked the man over with a critical eye, surveying his injuries…the ones that were visible that is. Janyu had a cast covering the entirety of his left arm and the one covering the lower half of his right leg, and a mess of bandages wrapping around the upper left thigh. From what Yamaki remembered from Henry and various Hypnos employees who were present at the time that the man had been hurt he had rushed forward and knocked Henry aside to avoid his getting struck by Sangloupmon's _Sticker Blade_ attack. As a consequence of his actions he had received three knifelike blades jammed in his left arm, with two out of three becoming lodged in the bones of his arm causing fractures and breaks in them; the _Humerus_ of the upper arm and the _Ulna_ of the lower to be more specific while the third had just jammed itself into the meat of his shoulder. Both legs were also out of commission, and they had been messy enough on their own. Fortunately they weren't as bad as the damage he had received in his arm. And with the number of blades that _had_ been thrown at him, it could have been _a lot_ worse.

Yamaki winced beneath his sunglasses, remembering seeing Janyu's inert form on the ground, blood pooling on the ground beneath him from the blades that were imbedded in his body.

As things stood Janyu, had been a very, _very,_ lucky man.

_He's going to need a lot of therapy to his life back to normal,_ thought Yamaki with a sense of guilt that he hadn't been there when things had gone wrong. _It's a good thing that the hospital is going to be keeping a close eye on him during that time. I made sure of that._

"Yamaki," said Janyu in a strained voice as he settled back down in his bed, his lips caught between a grimace and a grin at his forgetfulness over his injuries and the doctor's advice to 'take things easy'. Yamaki grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the bed and sat down in it.

"How are you doing?"

"As well as I can be I suppose. I'm not liking the position I'm in."

"I can understand that," said Yamaki with a nod. "Has your son dropped by to see you?"

Janyu shook his head. "He has school to attend, remember? He does stop by once it lets out, and he tells me how his day went. He told me quite a number of interesting things yesterday…in spite of the drugs they give me to dull the pain making me feel groggy."

"I see. Does it hurt much?"

"Only when I move…or when I'm not, which is just about all the time. I can't even laugh much either, and the doctors can only give me so much in the way of painkillers, and even _that_ isn't exactly going to be the best for me if this keeps up."

Yamaki nodded, fingering his lighter idly with one hand. He could understand where Janyu was coming from.

"So…" began Janyu in a tired voice that strangely bordered on a chuckle. "Did you just come here to see how I was doing, or did you have something more specific in mind? In case you didn't notice, I'm a little bit…out of it at the moment."

Yamaki simply raised his lighter and flicked it open before closing it again before answering.

"Actually I did just come here to see how you were doing. I may not be the best at connecting with my employees, or even the best employer but I do only what I can do to ensure that I can keep things running, and that includes people."

"Sorry," said Janyu, losing his jovial tone as exhaustion once again tugged at him. "I guess that the drugs are getting to me. But if you do have something that you want to tell me or do…as best as I can that is…I would very much like to hear them."

Yamaki flicked his lighter open again.

"I think that for now it's best that you rest Janyu…"

" _Please_ Yamaki. There's really not a whole lot going on here, and it would help quite a bit if I had even _something_ to think about during my stay. Henry tells me that you activated Argus…"

Yamaki sighed and rubbed his temples.

_I had hoped to keep him out of things involving Hypnos until he was better. I should have known that he'd be able to get something out of his son…_

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"Yamaki…why…?

"I'm afraid after the attack that left you injured was the last proverbial straw for the higher ups. There was quite a bit of damage caused in the fighting, never mind your own condition though to be honest our superiors were more concerned about the amount of equipment that was destroyed in the battle; primarily the damage that had been done to the modifications that you and the Monster Makers had made to Juggernaut. You know how much that cost. It's heartless I know, but there are people who only care about results and the bottom line…"

"…And we've just been set back," finished Janyu. Yamaki nodded, glad that the man's medications hadn't completely addled his mind.

"So…what happened?"

"We tested Argus on its lowest setting. So far it's a success but I'm sure that pressure from the top is going to want results from the upper levels." Yamaki frowned. "Daisy still hasn't managed to get around the unpredictability of the level two program. Makes me wish that we had _all_ of the Monster Makers available for this…"

"Well, you know that the rest of the world needs help in setting up their own programs for areas that now see digimon activity after D-Reaper weakened the barriers between the worlds. I don't suppose that you could find a way to recall Shibumi from his New York conferences. He's been there long enough…"

Yamaki shook his head.

"I have thought of yesterday and sent him a message. He hasn't returned it so far but I expect to get one before today's over."

"Strange…"

"What is?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of Shibumi after I had gone over his data for Guilmon. Remember? When you detailed me to help Impmon? He never got back to me. But then, I have been out of the loop lately so I haven't exactly been able to check but still. It's not like Shibumi to not respond to an E-mail about something like this. He's very much on top of these things."

Yamaki frowned.

"If I get in touch with him, I'll ask him about that. In the mean-time…" Yamaki paused as he thought of something. "Hold on. When you were looking over Shibumi's data for Takato's partner, did you notice anything strange about it?"

Janyu nodded.

"There was a line of code imbedded in the original structure that I didn't recognize. We have complete scans of all the partner digimon when they came back so I compared the two and I found something that didn't quite match up; _similar_ yes, but there was something different about it. I can't make heads or tails of it. Why do you ask?"

"I had been in touch with Takato Matsuki yesterday. He said that Guilmon is… _different._ A change in appearance, loss of memories, and he can no longer biomerge."

"I see. Then we have a problem."

"Yes. Whatever Shibumi did, it's drastically altered our side of the playing field. Perhaps even more then we realize, because I noticed that the code that's in Guilmon's data is the same as what we saw in that Triceramon and the Sangloupmon. They all share similar data patterns."

Yamaki's eyes widened beneath his sunglasses.

"Why didn't you tell me about that particular part?"

Janyu chuckled.

"In case you didn't notice, I'm a little under the weather. Plus I was still studying the data and cross-referencing Shibumi's notes. You were preoccupied with Argus and I didn't want to disturb you until I had something more concrete. I guess that this clinches it though, doesn't it?"

"In a way," said Yamaki. "If you don't mind I'd like to go over the data that you were looking over…"

Janyu raised an eyebrow. "You even have to ask? You are my boss, remember?"

"You're forgetting that I once told you that you were allowed to use the resources of Hypnos as you saw fit. While that may have changed with your contract I still have a high degree of respect for your resourcefulness and your knowledge regarding digimon…"

"Yamaki," interrupted Janyu. "I thank you for that, but you still have to remember that you _are_ my superior. While I'm touched that you asked first, it is still within your power to go over my information while I'm incapacitated if the data is as important as we both think it is."

The two men looked at each other in silence for a moment before Yamaki nodded.

"Thank you."

"Not sure why you're thanking me…"

"Just accept it as it is Janyu," said Yamaki with a smirk as he reached into his coat pocket. "By the way. I passed this around Hypnos and collected some signatures. I'm not normally used to this sort of thing but I thought that you might appreciate this."

Pulling out an envelope Yamaki tore it open and pulled out a rectangular object from it before handing it to Janyu's good hand. Raising an eyebrow Janyu took it and looked at it. Janyu chuckled as soon as he saw it.

It was a 'get well soon' card.

"Now here's one for the history books," joked Janyu while Yamaki clicked his lighter closed. Janyu looked up at Yamaki with a playful smirk on his face. "Any other surprises you have for me?"

* * *

"You found a _WHAT?!"_ Jeri's surprised shriek cut across the park, threatening to shatter windows and set off car alarms with its intensity. So great and unexpected was the noise that a certain long eared digimon pulled his ears together tightly to blot out the sound that hammered against his digital eardrums.

"Owww…you mind toning it down, Jeri? That really hurt…"

"Sorry Terriermon."

"What about me?" Asked a small, white colored digimon as he held his tiny hands to his own, now shrunken ears.

"Sorry Calumon."

Jeri, Henry, Kenta, and Kazu all exchanged glances before turning to the two girls in front of them, Ayaka and Miki, the latter of whom was looking quite started by Jeri's reaction while the former, for some as yet unexplained reason did not look at all surprised.

"Told you that she'd react this way," said Ayaka simply.

"Hang on," said Kazu. "Let me get this straight. Yesterday you two found a digimon and now you think that automatically makes you Tamers? Give me a break!"

"Um…" began Kenta. "But what about Jeri? I mean, I don't mean to bring it up Jeri but didn't you think something similar about Leomon and you two still wound up becoming partners even though it didn't look like it to begin with?"

Jeri nodded, a hint of sadness falling over her face before vanishing just as quickly.

"He's got a point," said Terriermon from atop Henry's head. "Humans have been known to get partners from the strangest events and they don't always happen right away. I mean, just look at Kazu and Guardromon."

"And what is wrong with how Kazu and I became partners?" Asked Guardromon.

"Yeah! And need I remind you that you were swimming in a data stream while all that was going on?"

"I'm not saying anything was wrong with you too becoming partners or how it happened, even though I got the edited, and might I say _biased_ version of the story from Rika, I was just saying that we can't expect this sort of thing to happen like it does on the TV show. I came from a game and Guilmon came from a picture after all."

"He's got a point," said Kenta. Kazu grumbled slightly but did not as yet say anything else on the matter.

"But that doesn't tell us much about this," said Henry, turning his attention to Ayaka and Miki. "I'm surprised that you were even able to capture it…"

" _If_ that's what they did," chipped in Terriermon. "I for one would like to propose the possibility that this is a joke seeing as how they don't have it anywhere nearby."

"It _isn't_ a joke!" Exclaimed Miki indignantly. "We captured a digimon last night! We even have _proof!_ "

Pulling off her bag roughly Miki unzipped it and dug through its contents until she brought out a digital camera, turning it on and flipping through various pictures that she had until she found what she was looking for.

"Let's see…Mom…Dad…Fluffy…Dad holding Fluffy… Dad getting mauled by Fluffy… Aha! Here we go!"

The children gathered around Miki to see the picture. It was a simple one of Miki herself flashing the 'V' sign while holding onto a dark colored, demonic like digimon with a leaf shaped, black colored mask with two eyes, one green and one red, painted on its surface. Two, bat like wings wrapped around its waist, and even though it wasn't smiling it had a look about it that said that mischief was a part of its very nature. Jeri, for her part, wasn't all too surprised by Miki's 'catch'. She had heard from Ayaka how smitten she had been when she had first seen Beelzemon drop into the schoolyard. The resemblance between the two, despite the obvious difference in size (hinting that the little demonic digimon was most likely at the Rookie level) was rather uncanny.

Terriermon's reaction was instantaneous.

"HEY! THAT'S THE DIGIMON THAT I WAS FIGHTING THE NIGHT BEFORE LAST!"

"Wha…?" Stammered Henry in surprise.

"It's the same one Henry! It's gotta be! All right you two! Tell me where he is so I can track him down and blow his hide to kingdom come!"

"NO!" Shouted Miki angrily as she pulled the camera away from the long eared digimon as though just being near the picture was the same as being near the actual digimon that was portrayed on it. "I won't let you hurt Beanie!"

"Beanie?!" This from all the Tamers and digimon, with the exception of MarineAngemon who gave a 'puh?' as his question, but given that it was said at the same time and in the same questioning tone as the rest, he didn't need a translator for anyone to pick up what he meant.

Ayaka rolled her eyes.

"It's what she calls the little guy. Don't ask why. Just be glad that she didn't decide to call him 'Baby Beelzemon' or something like that…"

"AYAKA! You're _not_ helping!"

"Well you know what my feelings are about this…"

"Would you two give it a rest already?!" Said Kazu hotly, shutting the two girls up almost instantly. Kazu turned to Terriermon. "You sure that those two digimon are the same one that you fought the night that Henry's dad got hurt? Couldn't it be possible that they're just two separate digimon that happen to look the same?"

Ayaka blinked in surprise and looked at Kazu with a raised eyebrow and a curious look on her face.

_Huh? Did Kazu actually say something…_ sensible _for a change? I must be hearing things…_

"He does have a point there Terriermon," said Henry, though he himself had to admit that he was curious about the whole thing.

"Well…I'll concede that, but I don't know. Don't you think that it's just too much of a coincidence that these two snag one that looks just like the one _after_ I get clobbered trying to take out the first one? I tell ya, there's something fishy about this."

"There is that," conceded Henry. "But we don't know that for sure. Now…you two said that you found him wandering around the park last night, right?"

"Yeah," answered Ayaka. "Miki jumped him and squeezed him a little too hard. Which is why we were able to capture him so easily…"

"Never thought to try that," said Kazu sarcastically. "But then again, most of the digimon that we fight tend to be the kind who would give the hug, and not in a friendly sort of way."

"Too much emphasis put on bone crushing and beating the data out of us," said Guardromon.

"Exactly. You two took a real risk doing what you did. Not exactly the smartest of moves to make, and I should know about making 'not smart' moves."

Ayaka looked as though she were just about to shoot back a nasty reply before pausing, tilting her head to one side in a quizzical fashion that was reminiscent of Renamon, and then surprised herself by nodding in agreement. Ayaka looked greatly perplexed by this occurrence.

"Anyway," continued Henry, not wanting to lose the stream of his part of the conversation so that Terriermon wouldn't get any funny ideas while he was at school. "Ayaka and Miki found the digimon after school yesterday. We don't know how long it's been here, but the one that _you_ fought yesterday returned to the digital world…right?"

"Not exactly a good point there, Henry," said Terriermon with a scowl. "That digimon had help when I fought him the first time around. If he had help getting through the barriers then don't you think that he'd be able to get _back_ just as easily as he left? Remember the Devas and how they got around? Same difference."

"Even if it's grammatically incorrect," sighed Henry with a shake of his head.

"What's it doing now?" Asked Jeri raising one hand. "I mean, you don't have the digimon with you so…"

"He's at my house now," said Miki cheerfully. "Beanie's taking some time to settle in right now. He's not a bad digimon once you get to know him…"

"You mean _'once you told him that you knew the Tamers',_ right?" Asked Ayaka in a sarcastic tone. "Because that was the only way that you were able to get him to settle down and not try to escape."

To a man, the Tamers looked at each other and winced. There were just so many ways that they thought that this could be considered a 'bad thing'.

_Hopefully this digimon isn't something bad. If Terriermon's right and this is the same digimon from the night before, and it has something helping it, we could be in for some trouble. Something's coming our way, I can feel it. I just hope that Takato and Rika get back before whatever's coming gets here. We're going to need all of our strength for this one._

"We're going to need to check this digimon out," said Henry before adding on upon seeing Miki's shocked expression. " _Not_ to destroy him, but just to be sure that he's not the same digimon that we think he is. Terriermon and I will…"

"Don't you have to meet someone today, Henry?" Asked Terriermon, and the boy frowned, remembering that he had promised Noriko's mother last night on the phone that he'd see her after school.

_It had sounded pretty important too…_

"Oh…yeah. Forgot about that…"

"Don't sweat it Henry. I can go there. I mean, I saw this digimon up close, so I should be able to tell if it's the same one."

"And if it is, what then? You know it's harder for me to help you in a battle when I'm not with you even with the camera function of the digivice."

"I can go," said Kenta. All eyes turned on him. "What? C'mon you guys. I want in on this too. Besides, MarineAngemon's a Mega…"

"No offense dude," said Kazu. "But he's hardly the fighter type if things get rowdy…"

"I have to agree with Kazu on this one," said Ayaka.

"He scared off the D-Reaper by himself," said Kenta flatly, folding his arms over his chest with a frown. "Not that I'm bragging or anything but that's something not even Gallantmon in his Crimson Mode can attest to.

"I don't see any problem with it," said Henry.

"Really?" This from both Kazu and Kenta.

"Why not? MarineAngemon's got great restraining powers and shield defense, and while his abilities may not be all that powerful offensively they're still more then enough to handle any digimon from Fresh to Champion, and some Ultimates…that is, if you believe what the print says on the card, and he accounted for himself pretty well during the Parasimon invasion."

Kenta beamed and looked over at his angelic partner with pride. MarineAngemon giggled happily.

"Maybe I should go too…" began Kazu, only to be stopped by the shake of Henry's head.

"Guardromon's too big to enter Miki's house, plus if a fight starts Guardromon might make more of a mess of things. We need something small for this and as non-lethal as possible. Terriermon will know if the digimon's who he thinks he is and if he is then MarineAngemon will handle him. Are you guys up for it?"

Terriermon stood up proudly on Henry's head and flexed his tiny arms as though he were showing off his nearly non-existent muscles.

"Anytime, anywhere!"

"How about you MarineAngemon?" Asked Kenta.

"Puh!"

"He says 'yes'."

"All right then. After school you know what you all have to do."

"Don't worry Kazu," said Jeri with a light giggle. "I'll be sure to keep you company again at the bakery."

"Great…" moaned the visor-wearing child.

* * *

Yamaki busily typed away on his laptop, breaking away every so often to look over Janyu's notes and reference it with the information that he had displayed on his computer's screen.

_This is far more complex then I thought it was,_ though Yamaki. _From what I can see, wherever it was that Shibumi had gotten this piece of code he had, metaphorically speaking, used it to 'sew' together Guilmon's broken data and reconstitute the algorithms that made up his digi-core. But that was not all that it did. It appears to have spread quite a bit into Guilmon's digital makeup, influencing it in ways that might suggest an increase in power and possibly an outward change of appearance._

Yamaki switched over to a screen containing the code that made up Guilmon prior to Guilmon's 'death' when he had returned from the digital world with the other partner digimon and compared it with the more recent scan.

_Of course, the current map of Guilmon's code is much more primitive, being in a lower evolutionary stage then the Rookie manifestation but still. This code, whatever it is, will make itself more apparent as Guilmon digivolves. I wonder if Shibumi knew that it would go this far when he inserted it into Guilmon._

Yamaki frowned, as he looked the data over again.

_Interesting…it looks as though this code was used as something akin to a 'restart' button. 'Rebooted' I guess you could say but all the old information is still there. Just buried beneath layers of data and overshadowed by whatever this new algorithm is. I wonder if I could come up with a program that could be used to bring the old code back. I'll have to see what I can do about that…_

Yamaki switched out of Guilmon's digital maps and went to check his E-Mail, glancing down at the computer's clock. 12:47. Yamaki frowned as he looked through his account.

_Still nothing from Shibumi. Janyu's right. This isn't like him. He would have sent something by now, especially given how much he worked on bringing Guilmon back. The man is nothing but efficient. Even when his mind was trapped in the digital world he was still working on solving its mysteries and helping the Tamers. Could there be something wrong?_

Picking up the phone on his desk Yamaki dialed a number.

"Riley. See if you can't get a hold of Shibumi. I don't care what he's doing right now wherever he is but get a hold of him whether it's his hotel number, his cell phone, or the number of a United States senator. I have some important questions I need to ask him."

_"On it sir!"_


	38. Chapter: 37/ Kenta's Battle: Part 1

_"This isn't good. Yamaki's picked up on our trail. He knows that something's amiss now."_

_"I told you that if you attempted to block anything going between the humans that you would be detected. Sooner or later someone was bound to notice something. I'm actually surprised that we've lasted this long!"_

_"Well, that's because Mr. Mizuno's been rather busy lately. I just wanted to make sure that his attention wasn't anywhere near what was going on with Hypnos while we executed our plan."_

_"What exactly is it about this 'Shibumi' that you fear? He's only human…"_

_"So are the Tamers and we've seen what they can do. Mizuno may be human but he's also a human who helped create your kind and evolved it by adding the evolution algorithm to your world…what you would call the_ catalyst. _He is not one to be trifled with. He knows many things that other humans do not. He has held court with digimon and digignomes during his 'stay' in the digital world."_

_"Afraid that he'll recognize what you are?"_

_"…You know…I've always suspected that you knew what I really was. How'd you know, may I ask?"_

_"Hmmmph! You may look different and your powers may be altered but you still carry the stink of your kind about you."_

_"The nose 'knows' eh? Figures…"_

_"But back to my question._ Are _you afraid that Shibumi would recognize you for what you are and figure out a way to use that against you?"_

_"A little bit, yes. Shibumi's an unknown factor in our plans. He could upset things for us. We don't dare move against him because he has proven to be unnaturally lucky with these kinds of things. It's like he knows some things in advance when he shouldn't. Not that he's perfect mind you because he isn't, but he's quite possibly the most dangerous human in existence. I…knew him a long time ago. Before I became what I am…before I came to the real world…following those Tamers…"_

_"Now you're getting nostalgic."_

_"It was another life. Hard to believe that I was so much more cheerful back then. I didn't understand the pain that life could put you through until I came to the world of humans. It's why I joined your group in the first place. I understand what it means to experience loss. It seems like it's all that these humans ever feel. Their lives…much too short and always in danger of being cut off…so easily too…"_

_"You're doing it again, so back on track. So Yamaki's on our trail? What are we going to do about that?"_

_"Us? Nothing. One thing that I've learned during my stay with the humans is that some problems tend to solve themselves without any interference from our end. Yamaki's about to be…_ interrupted."

_"I see… You know, sometimes I think you get some kind of perverse pleasure in watching things unravel. I don't understand you sometimes."_

_"You can't understand the motives behind a being that's not of your own kind DinoRexmon. Have you ever met a digimon who could understand a digignome or one of those aimlessly moving programs like D-Reaper or our blue clouded friend out there?"_

_"Point. So Yamaki's about to be halted?"_

_"Temporarily of course, but nonetheless he's stopped. A victim of someone else's war…"_

_"You almost sound smug about that…"_

* * *

Yamaki stepped into the main control room, every step measured as he peered around the room. Anger bit into his mind like a savage animal but in spite of that he held it back as best as he could, with the only outward sign that he showed of his temper being that of the death grip that he held on his lighter. He didn't bother with flicking it open and closing it, as was his usual habit such was the intensity of the anger that he felt. He had every reason to be angry at this moment. Approximately three hours ago he had tried to get a hold of one Gorou Mizuno, a.k.a. 'Shibumi' only to meet up with something he hadn't expected to happen. According to his operators Riley and Tally something had intercepted his call and had affectively 'canceled' it. Suspecting that something foul was afoot Yamaki had Riley do an analysis of any and all outgoing messages that had been sent to Shibumi's E-Mail account. During the next three hours they had begun to get a rather disturbing picture. Someone…or _something_ , did not want them contacting Shibumi, and had done the same to the E-Mails as had been done to the call.

Shibumi had never once received a single message from any of Hypnos's agencies during the entire time that he had been down at New York.

He, Riley, and Tally had been in the process of trying to figure out just what was going on and track down its source when Riley had received a communiqué that interrupted them, and unfortunately demanded his full attention as well. Someone had arrived at Hypnos, and he was bearing news that did not sit well with him.

"Where is he?" Demanded Yamaki hotly when his eyes came to rest on Riley.

"Over here Yamaki," hailed a familiar voice from over by the floor level control panels. Yamaki followed the voice over to its source and he began to descend down the stairwell, glaring behind his shades at the figure that was now smirking impetuously at him. It was a thickly set man, clean-shaven and with short, well-groomed, dark hair that was standard for most agents and government officials that Yamaki had come across in his time. He was also a man that Yamaki had hoped to never see again.

"I thought that I made it very clear to the board that you were to _never_ set foot in this facility again," said Yamaki, struggling to keep his tone even.

"As I recall the board said that they'd keep your suggestion under advisement," said the man, clearly unimpressed with Yamaki's simmering anger. His smirk disappeared though as he became businesslike with the Head of Hypnos. "They never said anything about keeping me away from here."

"Get out of here Itokawa," growled Yamaki. "Before I call security and have you thrown out bodily. The last time someone let you in here you activated Juggernaut without authorization and nearly destroyed this building! Your unfamiliarity with the technology almost caused an even bigger disaster then when the Devas first corrupted the Juggernaut program!"

"I realize that mistakes were made Yamaki, but I'm not here to defend them. Merely… _improve_ upon them so that they don't happen again. And unfortunately for you, you don't have the authority to _throw me out._ I'm here under orders." The man named Itokawa reached behind him over to the control panel and picked up a folder that Yamaki hadn't noticed earlier and handed it to the man. Raising an eyebrow Yamaki accepted the folder and opened it, scanning the papers that were contained therein.

"I trust that you'll find that everything is in order," said Itokawa calmly, and with a subtle tone of satisfaction. "As of right now the Argus program has been placed under _my_ jurisdiction. I am in control of making sure that the testing of Argus continues without interruption."

"They can't be serious about this!" said Yamaki, unable to hide the frustration and surprise that he felt.

"I'm afraid that the board is _deadly_ serious, Yamaki. And unanimous…with the exception of your good friend, the Chief of Cabinets that is but his vote was but one, and to allude to an American saying he hardly makes up an army. Be warned Yamaki. Should you give me any difficulties the board _will_ suspend you so if you intend to get rid of me I suggest that you go about it in a more roundabout way or talk to the board yourself. And if you're wondering why this is happening now when the first level was tested successfully, the answer is simple. The board knows that you've been dragging your heals on this project and fighting it every step of the way. They want someone who won't be so resistant to the program operating it. It works out well for both of you Yamaki. The board gets its program and you can put all of your focus on training the Tamers and making them a part of Hypnos, just like you wanted and you'll remain a first line defense of the real world. What more do you want?"

"Someone in charge of an unpredictable program who at least _knows_ what they're getting themselves into and an idea as to what kind of impact that Argus could have on the digital world."

"I have an idea," said Itokawa turning away from Yamaki. "Juggernaut was most instructive on that front. Now if you don't mind…Ootori. Megumi. Prepare to activate Argus. Set it on level one, sublevel program _Chak_ , and have it set to bio-emerge on present coordinates on the last digimon to breach into the real world. I want to see a demonstration…"

"Belay that order!" Countermanded Yamaki. Itokawa turned to the blonde haired man with a dark look.

"Yamaki," he began in a low voice. "Need I remind you that _I'm_ the one who's in charge of Argus now, and as far as Argus is concerned I'm on equal footing with you. The board can and will suspend you if you stonewall this project any further. The same will be done to your two associates if they refuse to follow orders and I know that their loyalty to you is strong enough where they will do so even if you hadn't ordered them. Now I want you to consider something. Outside of this building, cut off from its resources the three of you won't have any way of stopping me from running this place or using Argus as I see fit. You want to fight me on this one? You'll just have to do so from within and on the same terms as me, which means a slower, more patient game. Do we have an understanding of each other?"

Yamaki gritted his teeth and gripped his lighter even more tightly.

* * *

Dracmon was _not_ happy.

Actually, not happy was something of an understatement. Having all sense of positive emotions consumed in a growing serpent of fiery, roiling anger and fury was a far better description. Being void of all happiness of all manner aside, perhaps a closer examination as to why he was in such a rut would help clarify his feelings better.

_'Humor them', he says,_ growled Dracmon mentally as a white furred, fluffy cat made its rounds about him, sniffing the masked little demon tentatively and eyeing him with bright, green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. _Easy for him to say; he doesn't have to put up with stuff like what I just went through…_

The primary reasons behind Dracmon's lack of positive reinforcement came from the fact that he had realized just how far he had fallen since arriving in the digital world. In each and every encounter with the Tamers he had fought them…and lost miserably, getting hurt badly enough with each successive battle that he had been forced to de-evolve a level in order to stay alive. That had been bad enough, but he had tried to cope with it even though it meant that his usefulness in the success of the Exodus (which had now become extremely low due to the fact that there were now only two X digimon remaining in the group) was negligible. Being reduced to scouting and spying hardly seemed to be the role that befitted a digimon of his status, and he resented it.

_But then, my so-called_ status _is nothing now. Getting caught by a little girl…I don't believe it. After everything that I've been through, a…_ little…HUMAN… _girl ends up catching me, rendering me unconscious with barely a struggle. I would much rather have been deleted by that Rapidmon then to face this humiliation. If it weren't for the fact that the girl…Miki…said that she was friends with the Tamers I would_ _ **so**_ _be out of here and never look back. But nooo… The Oni wouldn't have it! He thought that this would be the best way in which I could observe the Tamers without arousing any of their suspicions…_

The white furred cat suddenly began purring and nuzzled Dracmon fondly, causing the little demon digimon to frown disdainfully.

_As if being caught by that human child wasn't bad enough, now I've got this…ah…ah…Ah…AH…_

Dracmon's nose began to tickle and twitch beneath his facemask as something powerful began to build up within him. Dracmon felt panic coming onto him as the sensation grew stronger and soon erupted forth in a powerful explosion that, while it left no smoking holes, still made Dracmon rise several centimeters off the floor and caused the cat to run out of the room, bolting at high speed. Dracmon eyed the door with a scowl and rubbed his nose irritably.

_Well, at least that's one less problem that I have to deal with…_

The sounds of footsteps approaching interrupted Dracmon's thoughts and after a few seconds a tall woman with long, dark hair and a wide smile poked her head into the room. Dracmon grimaced, recognizing Miki's mother almost instantaneously, having been introduced to Miki's family after regaining consciousness last night.

"Awww…" The woman cooed in a painfully cute, babyish voice to the Rookie. "Does the widdle digimon have a cold? Stay here while I fix you some Chicken soup…"

Dracmon groaned inaudibly. _Yep. Definitely a step down for me. Oni…you'd better not let this arrangement be permanent or I'll make sure that I'll make your life miserable even if I have to come back from deletion to do it!_

Dracmon wrapped his arms around his body and shivered suddenly.

_Actually…_ cold _is kinda right. When did it get to be so chilly here?_

* * *

The end of yet another school day had come at last and children filed out of their respective classrooms and into the schoolyard with only a vague sense of an orderly fashion. All had only one goal in mind, the school gates, and they made for it with as much speed as was permitted of them within the confines of the school hallways and rules of proper conduct.

"Well," said Kenta as he looked down at his partner, MarineAngemon as he poked his head out from underneath his outer shirt. "This is it, buddy. We're about to undertake a mission of great importance and danger for the team…"

"Momentai," chirped a certain long eared bunny-dog as he plopped down on top of Kenta's head just as soon as he stepped off the school grounds. "Technically you two won't be going alone. You'll have me and those two girls accompanying you. Nothing to worry about."

"Not exactly very comforting for me though," grumbled Kenta. "I mean, I have fought in some battles before, especially during D-Reaper but I'm used to sitting on the sidelines while you guys do the real work. I'm a little nervous about this."

"Well, just think of this as your big moment to shine and spread your wings. And what little wings they are too…" giggled Terriermon, indicating MarineAngemon with one long ear.

"Puh?"

"He's just being sarcastic MarineAngemon," said Kenta with a small, comforting smile. "Just remember, it's not the size of the dog that matters, it's the fight."

"Apt metaphor Kenta," chuckled Terriermon. "Bravo. So where are the two Tamer misfits?"

"They had to go to the bathroom and told me that they'd meet me out here when they were done. Did you see Henry all ready?"

"Yup!" Chirped the dog bunny. "Off to see a friends mother as weird as it sounds, but there you have it. He promised that he'd meet her so he couldn't ditch the meeting…"

"Seems a bit weird if you ask me," spoke up Kazu as he and Jeri came up from behind Kenta.

"That's what I just said," said Terriermon as he rolled his eyes.

"Momentai Terriermon," said Jeri with a soft giggle.

"Hey! That's my line!"

"Whatever," huffed Kazu as he crossed his arms. "So Chumley, what was the deal with you bugging out of the room like that? It's not like you had to rush to meet Ayaka and Miki you know seeing as how they're in the same room as we are."

"I just needed the fresh air. It's too stuffy in that classroom sometimes and I wanted to avoid Ms. Asagi before she gave me detention or something before I was able to carry out my mission. You know how she is when she's in one of her moods."

"Was she bad today?" Asked Terriermon, looking over at Kazu and Jeri for confirmation.

"Not as bad as Kenta thinks she was, but yeah, she was kinda moody. Kept looking at me, rubbing her forehead, and popping aspirin at just about every opportunity; not exactly very healthy if you ask me. Wonder if Mr. Morri tried to pick her up again."

"She's probably worried about how Takato's doing," said Jeri looking downcast. "He had something of an impact on her when Guilmon was… _deleted_. Remember how she wanted to keep you guys from going out to face a Wild digimon? She's been like that a lot ever since, even though we told her that Guilmon was coming back."

"She was never too fond of the idea of us facing dangerous stuff that's for sure," said Kenta. "Can't say that I blame her."

There followed a brief period of silence in which the three children looked at each other, as though gauging the emotional weather of the other two until finally Kazu stretched his arms and yawned.

"Well, I guess that we'd best get going. Takato's Mom wanted me to man the cash register today and I don't want to disappoint my first day on _that_ job."

Jeri looked at Kazu incredulously.

"Wow Kazu. She must really trust you if she lets you do that."

"Mmm…I doubt it. She told me that she had to run an errand and Mr. Matsuki has to make a quick delivery around that time so with Kenta gone I'm the odd man out, so she's calling it a 'trial basis'. She'll probably take one look at you and change her mind. Not that I'll be complaining if she does because let's face it; I'm too new to this stuff to trust to ringing up a customer and counting their change. Anyway, good luck with that little digimon Kenta. If it causes you too much trouble and blows something up be sure to give me a call and I'll close up shop in order to save the day."

"Kazu!"

"What? I'm just wishing him luck…"

Kenta watched the pair as they walked off, continuing to bicker with each other, only to be interrupted by Calumon as he came out of wherever he had been hiding to land on top of Jeri's head. A small smile appeared on his face before turning away just in time to see Ayaka and Miki come to a stop in front of him.

"Evening ladies," said Terriermon from on top of the boy's head.

"Don't you mean _afternoon?"_ Asked Ayaka, not looking at all amused with the long eared Rookie.

"Afternoon…evening…they're really all the same if you think about it."

"Yeah, except that one's dark and the other's not," muttered Kenta.

"Score one for Kenta," chuckled Terriermon. "At least you say something other then _'Terriermon'_ whenever I make a comment. I have a feeling that we're going to get along _just fine…"_

Kenta groaned, feeling his cheeks beginning to grow warm.

"Um…shall we go then?" He asked the two girls, both of whom looked at each other before nodding reluctantly. Together the three children plus two digimon began to walk.

* * *

"Hey Kenta," asked Ayaka after about fifteen minutes of walking and no one saying anything, including Terriermon, a surprise in itself.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me something. How did you get to be a Tamer? Jeri once told me about how she became one and we've all heard about Kazu's _heroics_ when he became a Tamer, but you've never mentioned anything about how you came to be a Tamer to that cute little guy."

Ayaka indicated MarineAngemon, who was now floating between the two, eyeing Ayaka with a cautious look. Kenta couldn't blame the little guy. In times past the blonde haired, pig tailed girl had given him reason to tread, or float carefully around her whenever they met. She had the penchant of screaming excitedly at the sight of him and trying to catch him. Kenta winced mentally as he recalled one such incident occurring shortly after the Locomon disaster. Then it had been _both_ Ayaka and Miki. He had been hard pressed to escape them _that_ day.

_Funny. Ever since I got him the girls all crowd around me. Kazu used to joke that MarineAngemon was going to be the only reason why I ever got a date once we got into High School. I'm starting to wonder if he's right…_

"I don't know really. We met the day that we were getting ready to go home. Calumon had released all of his digivolving power and that was around the time that MarineAngemon showed up. Well…more like _crash-landed_ but I helped him out of that and sent him off to join the other Megas to help battle D-Reaper. I guess he just took a liking to me because the next thing I knew I found him in my pocket with my digivice…"

"Yeah," chuckled Terriermon. "Kazu couldn't figure out how it survived _that_ , but I don't think that we should at all be surprised. He's a tough little guy."

"Pih!"

"He says thanks."

"No problem."

"Hmmm…" Ayaka contemplated this for a bit. "So…what? You just became a Tamer because you did something nice for him? Is that how it works?"

Kenta shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. Kazu became partnered with Guardromon after helping him out. I think that it has more to do with caring and wanting to help someone more then yourself. For the longest time Kazu and I wanted to become Tamers and we only became them when we weren't thinking about what we didn't have. Maybe that's how it works."

Ayaka looked at Kenta with an expression that was Kenta could only define as… _approval_ and… _astonishment?_

"Wow," said Ayaka, looking at the bespectacled, dark haired boy with new eyes. "That was…really deep, Kenta…"

Kenta felt his heart pick up a nervous rhythm to it and he turned away from the pig-tailed girl with an embarrassed blush blooming on his face.

"Er…Thanks…"

"But how did you become a Tamer if you made MarineAngemon go off to join the other digimon? I thought that you had to be with your digimon in order to become partnered with him, and you said that you weren't aware that he had gotten into your…er…pocket."

"I don't know. I never asked him." Kenta turned to MarineAngemon with a questioning look. One that MarineAngemon answered with a series of _'pihs'_ and ' _puhs'_ until Kenta nodded in understanding.

"What'd he say?" Asked Ayaka.

"He says that he followed some weird, glowing fish thing and that it showed him the way. He must be talking about a digignome."

Miki raised an eyebrow.

"What's a digignome?"

"Um…well, from what I remember from what Azulongmon said when we saw him…"

"Azulongmon?" Asked Ayaka, raising an eyebrow. Kenta sighed.

"This is going to take some explaining…"

"Take your time buddy," said Terriermon from his place on top of Kenta's head. For some reason the little bunny-dog sounded awfully… _cheerful_ about the situation. "They're not going anywhere."

MarineAngemon glanced up at Terriermon and raised an eyebrow before looking at Kenta.

"PihPihPuh."

"Oookay…so he's smiling…"

MarineAngemon turned away from Kenta and shook his head as though in disappointment.

"PuhPuhPuh…"

Kenta frowned.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

* * *

The small group continued on their journey until they finally were outside of Miki's front walk. Looking it over carefully, as though checking it for any booby traps Kenta took a deep breath to steady himself.

_Okay… Take it easy Kenta. This is no big deal. No big deal at all. You've faced down D-Reaper agents and scared away the J-Reaper. Handling one tiny Rookie should be a walk in the park…_

"Hey!" Demanded Terriermon from atop Kenta's head. "Are you going to go in or what? We have an ink drop to check out!"

"I'm going, I'm going…"

_Is that frost on the window?_ Thought Kenta distractedly as he took a step forwards, with the two girls behind him.

The sound of glass breaking from a flurry of frozen snowballs erupting from behind it and the battered form of a small, dark figure jumping out a second later gave them all reason to pause once again.

"Hey!" Shouted Terriermon, pointing in the direction of the retreating figure. "There he is! The Dracmon! Hey! Hold it buddy! I've got a bone to pick with you…!"

"Never mind him! Mind _that!_ " exclaimed Ayaka as she detached herself from Kenta's arm and pointed at the new figure that was emerging from the shattered window and hopped down from the ground in pursuit of the Dracmon. It was about child sized, smaller then any of the humans gathered before it though it dwarfed both Terriermon and MarineAngemon. It had stubby, bear like ears on top of its head and some headgear strapped just below them. It was mostly gray and white colored, and had what looked like the appearance of rugged, military boots and armor that made Kenta think of a soldier from the science fiction movies that he and Kazu would watch when they were younger. Despite its rather comical, innocent appearance it shouldered what looked like a rocket launcher. It hardly looked dangerous at all, but Kenta knew from hard experience that looks weren't everything. MarineAngemon was a case in point.

Kenta frowned as he looked up from his digivice, the item was not displaying any data that he could use to identify the _digimon_ and use to his advantage. In fact, the color scheme and the entities silence seemed to indicate that there was a good possibility that this was an agent of the Argus program that Yamaki had told him and Henry about.

_But why is it_ here? _Could it be after the Dracmon? Never mind! I'll just deal with it now and face the consequences later. I came here to check out that Dracmon and I can't do that if it ends up being destroyed!_

The small bear leveled its launcher on the shivering form of Dracmon, who had paused in its stride as soon as Terriermon had yelled at it. Seeing this, Miki screamed a warning to the little demon, but it looked like it was too little, too late.

Suddenly, without warning Ayaka burst forward, a look of irritation and flat out anger on her face. Her motion caught the bear's attention and it shifted its target…

…Only to be caught a second later by one, well placed kick from the pig-tailed girl to the bear's face. The bear fell backwards and crumpled to the ground without so much as a sound, its form flickering uncertainly as its rocket launcher fell from its hand uselessly.

* * *

Riley blinked beneath her visor in surprise.

"Subprogram Chak has been… _disabled!"_ She said in disbelief. Below her Itokawa looked up at her with annoyance.

"How?" Was all he asked, his voice taking on a hard, edged sound that all but demanded that she clarify. Glaring at the man beneath her visor Riley was about to answer when Tally spoke up in her stead.

"Sensors indicate a high level digimon is in the area…"

"Really?" Itokawa grinned and turned to the control panel and began typing in commands, grateful that Yamaki had left to take his complaints to the board of directors that they all answered to, as it left him unable to prevent him from dealing with this _high level digimon_ in the way he felt was appropriate. "Let's see how it handles this one then."

Riley's and Tally's eyes went wide beneath their visors as their sensors registered what the man had done.

" _No!_ " Exclaimed Riley. "Level two hasn't been fully tested yet! It's unpredictable! _SIR!"_

* * *

Ayaka looked down at the inert figure below her, her body trembling with realization at what she had just done. She had just… _defeated…_ a digimon. With just one kick! What was more; she had actually gone in and _fought_ the digimon! It didn't sit right for some reason…attacking something like that. But as she took some calming breaths and remembered that it had invaded the house of one of her friends, she couldn't help but feel some small measure of satisfaction from all of this.

_Oh man…I just realized! Miki's mom was supposed to be here! Is she…?_

Ayaka's thoughts were interrupted by a blanket of mists suddenly bursting forth from the air in front of her. As her eyes widened in disbelief a tall figure began to materialize in front of her. It was thin, almost _avian_ shaped with wings on both a featureless head and coming from its back. Long, metallic claws rose into the air as an eyeless face focused on her, and Ayaka saw that despite the bird like contours it was more predominantly human shaped then otherwise. Black orbs flared to life in the creature's claws and Ayaka felt herself shaking again. The creature's claws paused briefly before surging down towards the young girl, and reflexively she closed her eyes, biting back a scream as the attack descended.

The last thing she heard as she awaited her eminent doom was the sound of Kenta and Miki screaming her name.


	39. Chapte: 38/ Kenta's Battle: Part 2

Ayaka closed her eyes as she saw the claw descending towards her, gritting her teeth together to keep herself from crying out. Nonetheless, a small whimper escaped her lips as the full realization of what was about to happen to her hit her like a runaway truck. She was going to die and there was nothing that she could do about it…

_Hang on,_ thought Ayaka as she noticed that death had not yet swooped down to claim her like some avenging angel of darkness, and that she wasn't about to see a light at the end of a dark tunnel. _What's going on here?_

Risking a peak, Ayaka cracked open one eye to see that she was surrounded by an ocean of pink. Further inspection revealed the strange avian creature pressing its claws against what appeared to be a barrier that was the source of the color, dark energy crackling around its claws as it struggled to reach the young girl but to no avail. And in front of her, its tiny wings spread wide was a little fairy digimon that she had come to recognize all to well during the past year.

_MarineAngemon…_

The barrier crackled again as the avian figure slashed at it with its claws again before flapping its wings and backing up, raising its arms once more in preparation for an attack…

_"Terrier Tornado!"_

With incredible speed the small rabbit-dog digimon known as Terriermon twisted his ears and began to spin rapidly like a top, creating a miniature version of a tornado that was the attacks namesake and began to surge towards the avian creature, leaping up into the air and surging forward to smash into the avian creature's head, catching the winged being off guard and knocking it to the side as Terriermon's spinning ears smacked into it repeatedly. Flapping its wings the humanoid bird creature managed to retain its position in the air and then slashing its arms to the side sent a gust of wind at the long eared digimon, blowing him away while pink colored blades slashed at him from all sides, eliciting a cry from his mouth as he impacted with the ground with enough force to kick up dust into the air.

"DIGI-MODIFY! GREYMON'S NOVA BLAST ACTIVATE!"

Quickly popping out of the heart shaped barrier that he had erected around Ayaka MarineAngemon flew towards the bird digimon, his face set into a frown that would have surprised Ayaka had she seen it. Opening his mouth as wide as he could, MarineAngemon blew an ever expanding ball of fire at the bird, the force of the fireball slamming into its body with tremendous force before exploding, its power aided by the residual affects of the air attack that the avian had launched, feeding the flames with extra oxygen to give it a blue tint to its fire.

_Now that's what I call 'fanning the flames',_ thought Kenta sarcastically as he covered his head with his arms from the fallout of the Nova Blast while Miki did likewise. Kenta took a glance at Ayaka and breathed a sigh of relief as he lowered his arms and looked at the two cards that he had in his hand.

_Real glad that I had that Hyper Speed card on me. I'd hate to think of what would have happened if MarineAngemon didn't get there in time…_

"Is it over?" Squeaked Miki tentatively from where she stood behind Kenta. The dark haired boy swallowed inaudibly, hoping that the fighting was over and grateful that the extra powered Nova Blast that he had MarineAngemon cut loose hadn't set fire to the surrounding area or Miki's house. That would have been something that they all could have done without.

_Somehow I'm willing to bet that this isn't over…_

Kenta's thoughts, though pessimistic bore fruit as the avian digimon burst up into the air from the cloud of superheated smoke that had previously surrounded it and trained its head on the ground below, taking in all of the humans and digimon that were below it. Kenta dug into his pants pocket and drew out two more cards, a Kabuterimon card and a Shellmon card. Though he wasn't as well versed in battle strategy or as experienced in combat as the primary Tamers, Rika, Takato, Henry, and Ryo, or even good enough at the card game to warrant a victory against Kazu or Jeri, Kenta had been having thoughts of late on how he could contribute to fighting Wild Ones. This was facilitated by the fact that he and Kazu had at one point been surrounded with their partners by an army of D-Reaper agents, and while they weren't the most powerful agents that the Tamers had come across their sheer numbers had certainly been cause for worry and would have overwhelmed them if not for Guardromon and MarineAngemon employing their attacks and abilities together with MarineAngemon making up the shield that protected the four of them and Guardromon blasting away. While they had managed to escape that confrontation in time to rescue the other Tamers from the destruction of the D-Reaper, it had been enough of a lesson for Kenta to think about looking for ways to better defend himself and his partner upon the return of the digimon to the real world.

He had asked the others about how they had gone about using their digivices and their cards. Not that they knew anything more then he did of course, and he had been present for a good number of those battles that revolved around card slashing after all, but he had managed to glean some useful information out of the others that he hadn't thought too much of before, such as the use of digimon cards to grant temporary attributes, attacks, and physical features of other digimon. Ryo especially had been most helpful with this feature due to his vast experience from the digital world, and Henry had offered some insight as well due to his technical, inquisitive nature. Now Kenta had an idea that he hadn't heard or seen anyone try before, and while it excited him it also scared him, and he had always held off on it because he didn't want to risk his partner being destroyed or damaged in some fashion, and since there were always the others who were more powerful then he was he felt no serious need to try out his ideas.

Now however, with only himself there with MarineAngemon, and Terriermon not digivolving to a higher form, he saw no other choice if he was to protect Miki, Ayaka, and 'Beanie' from whatever this _digimon_ or _Argus_ program was that had come to fight them.

Kenta frowned as he raised his cards to his D-Arc, noticing that the avian hadn't yet done anything to attack, but instead appeared to be looking down at the gray and white bear that lay prostrate on the ground in front of the heart barrier that was currently still protecting Ayaka. Had there been a face that Kenta could easily track and analyze he would have thought to expect a look of anger of some sort, though he didn't know why. There was just something in the way that the humanoid bird regarded the bear that seemed to suggest some kind of camaraderie that he had seen amongst his own friends. There was nothing that Kenta could go by on the creature's face for an emotional cue, and yet…

_It had attacked Ayaka first,_ thought Kenta in a moment that held remarkably clear thinking; a moment that he had never experienced in all of his time as a Tamer. _But…wouldn't that be what was expected? Defending a fellow program, like a police officer or a soldier would do with their buddy? Wouldn't they be programmed to do that? Well…digimon are data too, and they're alive. The Arc took on some level of intelligence before it became Grani, and it wasn't even a digimon…_

Kenta was snapped out of his reverie when the avian digimon suddenly turned in the direction of the fallen Dracmon that Miki had found yesterday and with a quick flap of its wings began to descend upon him. Such was her speed that Kenta didn't have any time at all to scan any of the two cards that he had out. MarineAngemon fortunately was still powered up by the affects of the Hyper Speed card that Kenta had slashed earlier and quickly materialized in front of the Dracmon, the expression on his face shouting defiance to the oncoming opponent before breaking into a silly smile as he unleashed his attack.

_"Kahuna Waves! Puh!"_

A blue heart was spat out of MarineAngemon's mouth and floated lazily over into the path of the bird where it impacted it with little more then a simple _popping_ sound, bursting like a bubble and enveloping the creature in a hazy, blue aura. As though taken off guard by the unexpected attack the winged being changed the angle of its flight path and crashed into the ground, digging up a trench in Miki's front yard. A brief silence hung in the air and was broken a second later as the _digimon's_ claw raised and slammed down into the ground, hoisting its body up, a groan escaping from…

Kenta's mind froze as it registered the sound. It…it was _actually_ groaning in pain! Up until this point it hadn't made a single sound, not even when it was attacking like most digimon tended to do and…Kenta's eyes widened. Color! He saw colors _other_ then the grays that he had seen previously on this being. Light, lilac hues decorated the metallic arms and… its skin! It had taken on a soft color not at all dissimilar to what he and the girls had themselves. Yellow electricity sparked around the avian's body as it stood up, and its hair flickered back and forth between mottled gray and black to light blue before finally settling on the blue. Clear blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight as it turned to survey its surroundings, confusion and pain apparent in their sky like depths and all of a sudden Kenta felt…shame at having to fight it. He didn't know why, but something in those eyes, so sharp and full of life, completely the opposite of the faceless being that he and MarineAngemon had fought just a second ago, told him that _she_ (as the being appeared to him now that it had taken a moment to stay still) was not someone who would normally be his enemy.

"Wha…what's…going…on?" The humanoid avian gasped in a strained voice. Kenta felt his guard beginning to rise as a part of him wondered if this was some sort of trick that it was using to lower his guard. Kenta shared a glance with MarineAngemon.

"Pihpuhpuh," spoke MarineAngemon in his usual fashion.

"Are you sure buddy? It could be a trick…"

"PihPihPuh," replied MarineAngemon and he floated on over to the program possibly digimon bird, who took a cautious step backwards and flexed the wings on her head in agitation, a pained expression appearing on her masked face as she did so. Kenta gulped nervously. As a holy digimon MarineAngemon had the ability to detect evil intent in digimon or digital creatures in general, which he hadn't picked up on when this entity had been faceless and gray…almost as though something was _suppressing_ it in some fashion and had just been released by MarineAngemon's virus cleansing powers. He wasn't at all certain that they could trust this being…whatever it was, but MarineAngemon had told him that she wasn't a threat to them, and if there was one thing that Kenta counted on and could trust in this world it was MarineAngemon's instincts. Out of curiosity Kenta raised his D-Arc and rescanned the entity and was quite surprised by what he got in response.

Zephyrmon

Stage: Hybrid/ Beast

Type: Variable

Special Attacks: Plasma Paws, Hurricane Gale

"It's a _digimon,"_ Kenta whispered aloud as he looked up in awe at the digimon that was now identified as Zephyrmon. "I don't get this though. I've never seen a digimon like that before. What's my digivice mean by _Hybrid_ and _Variable?"_

Kenta didn't as yet receive an answer to his questions, but instead watched as MarineAngemon hovered in front of Zephyrmon, blowing hearts at her with a happy expression on his face. _Zephyrmon,_ for her part began to look more relaxed as the healing hearts helped her recover from the damage that she had received from the battle with the fairy digimon, and even reached out with one clawed hand tentatively towards MarineAngemon to rest upon like, ironically enough, a bird would. MarineAngemon took the offer of rest gratefully while simultaneously releasing his hold on the bubble that still held Ayaka. The heart shaped bubble popped and dropped the pig-tailed girl to the ground, landing on her feet.

_This just makes no sense,_ thought Kenta with a shake of his head in disbelief. _I thought that thing was a part of the Argus program because of how it looked and because I wasn't getting any data on it with my D-Arc, and now for some reason it's changed, and_ _ **is**_ _a digimon. I don't understand this at all…_

"Pihpuhpuhpih," spoke up MarineAngemon to Zephyrmon in what sounded like an apologetic voice. The humanoid bird chuckled humorously before turning to the children.

"Anyone care to translate that part?"

Kenta started a bit before answering, unsure as he was about speaking and still trying to comprehend that this was a digimon that had just a few minutes ago just tried to attack Ayaka.

_Well, my Mom always told me to not hold a grudge and let sleeping dogs lie, and since she seems nice enough and just as confused as I am I might as well give her the benefit of the doubt. At least she's not trying to rip into us again._

"Um…he says that we're sorry for attacking you, but you kinda left us without a choice. You were about to hurt one of our friends…" Kenta indicated Ayaka who was now shakily backing away from the eagle winged digimon. Zephyrmon frowned.

"I…apologize if I did so, but I must say that I have no memory of having battled you except…" Zephyrmon's frown deepened in thought and she turned her head in the direction of the house. Following her azure gaze Kenta's eyes widened once again as he realized that the strange, bear like entity that Ayaka had taken out earlier had disappeared.

_Did it get deleted? I didn't think that humans could harm digimon or programs just by kicking them. If so…Ayaka's a lot stronger then I thought she was. I hope that whatever that bear thing was, it didn't die. Because if it did, and it was really a digimon like Zephyrmon…_

"Hey," spoke up Miki. "Not wanting to break this up or anything, but where's Dracmon?"

* * *

"I don't believe this," growled Itokawa through gritted teeth. "The _Shutu_ program…"

"I warned you sir," said Riley. "The level two subprograms are _unpredictable_ at this stage of development…"

Itokawa glared at Riley.

"You know just as well as I do that the unpredictability of the level twos have nothing to do with this. Shutu had the highest degree of control and far better compatibility with our systems then any of the others, _especially_ the _Vritra_ program which has been classified as a high-class danger to anything and everything around it when active. _Something_ has corrupted the core programming of Shutu and now it won't respond to any of our commands. Is there any way that it can be shut down until we can affect repairs?"

"Already on it," answered Tally in a harsh tone, not bothering to call Itokawa _sir_ as she busily typed away on her keyboard.

"You'd think that having studied Argus he would already know how to disable it," muttered Riley in a voice just loud enough for Tally to overhear. Tally nodded subtly before speaking to Itokawa again.

"It will take some time to recall Shutu. The Wild digimon is attempting to escape. I've managed to realign Chak and have sent it in pursuit but I don't think that it can catch up with it at its current rate of speed…"

"Then activate the Agnis and Wolf programs and have them intercept it. After the Wild One is dealt with have both programs on standby to deal with Shutu should it become a danger to the area. I don't want any casualties or damage happening on my watch, is that understood?"

"Crystal," answered Riley flatly as she grimaced, feeding the commands into the computer.

* * *

Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Ayaka raced through the streets, following the digimon signal that Kenta's digivice was picking up in the hopes that it was Dracmon they were following. Above them Zephyrmon flew through the air, her form fading in and out of view as she accelerated to high speeds, having offered to help them once she had received the quick version of why they were looking for Dracmon and her own involvement in recent events. Kenta had been reluctant to leave at first, wanting to check and see if Miki's mother had been hurt in the tussle that Dracmon had with the dark colored bear from earlier but his concern was more or less put to ease when Miki's mother burst out the door wondering what all the noise was about and why there was ice in her daughter's bedroom, and stating that she had also called the police. Miki stayed behind to try and placate her mother and prevent her from worrying about her. Fortunate indeed since Kenta would have worried about her being in harms way if more fighting broke out.

_Too bad that I didn't have time to convince Ayaka of that,_ thought Kenta but given the amount of time and distance that they had between them and the little digimon they couldn't afford to lose any more. Kenta was just going to have to keep a close eye on her until this was over.

* * *

_"Hmmm…we have yet another problem. Dracmon's in trouble…"_

_"Oh? You mean that the Tamer's have found him out? I thought you said…"_

_"Not from the Tamer's. Someone at Hypnos, that Itokawa person, has ordered the use of Argus and targeted Dracmon as he happened to be the most recently bio-emerged digimon to appear, making him a target for testing. Blast…I should have seen that coming…"_

_"What are his odds?"_

_"Very low? He's at the Rookie level as you know, and Hypnos has sent two level ones, backed by an earlier sent level one to contend with him. Three to one odds…"_

_"Isn't that overkill?"_

_"Yes, but they happened to lose control of one of their other subprogram that they launched when one of the Tamers interfered. That I don't quite understand either. How could that little fairy digimon corrupt Shutu's programming?"_

_"Shutu…you mean 'as with the wind'? I could have sworn that I've heard that somewhere before…"_

_"Oh? Never mind that for now. Dracmon is in trouble. With this many potential hostiles I don't think that I'll be able rescue him without some kind of distraction…"_

_"Heh. Heh. Say no more. I've been itching for some action since we were devastated by the Royal Knights and that strange blue cloud…"_

* * *

Dracmon narrowly dodged a barrage of ice balls fired from the gray bear as it came at him from behind. Cursing as he rolled across the ground Dracmon got to his feet, trying to track the entity as it leapt from tree to tree, apparently attempting to outflank him.

_The irony of this is just sickening,_ thought Dracmon sarcastically. _I mean, here I am, an emissary of X-Digimon everywhere and a soldier in the cause of the Exodus, and here I am being attacked by a program that's supposed to be the salvation of my people! This has just not been my week, that's for sure. Blown apart by a kid slashing a card he called_ Milliummon; _viciously assaulted by a Rapidmon and then captured by a little, human girl who's pet makes my nose itch! Anything else want to take its turn at taking me down a few pegs?!_

The sound of something hissing and the sudden increase in temperature in the air was his answer. Turning Dracmon's shoulders sagged as they came upon two, gray colored, humanoid figures towering above him on either side of him, blocking his path of escape. One of them, resembling something of a wolf with a scarf, only lacking a face, was holding a weapon with a bar of energy extended outwards, giving it the appearance of a sword. The other, also lacking a face appeared more as a wild man with a mane of white hair with two horns protruding from the sides of its head.

_Just_ had _to jinx myself didn't I?_ Thought Dracmon as a cloud of mist materialized around him.

"All right!" Shouted a female voice from up in the air, causing all three figures, and one presently hiding in the trees to look up at its source. Dracmon's eyes widened beneath his mask as he saw Zephyrmon flying towards them, flapping her wings to blow away the mist that threatened to obscure her targets from her view. "That's enough! Step away from the digimon or I'll…" Zephyrmon's face suddenly snapped over to the two figures in front of Dracmon and her eyes took on a shocked expression to them. " _Agunimon?! Lobomon?!_ What the…?"

Zephyrmon exclamation of surprise was suddenly interrupted by a massive, green colored, reptilian foot with a large, curved claw slamming down on top of the figure that lacked an energy sword, brutally crushing the expressionless, demonic figure beneath its weight. The faceless wolf backed off a bit, raising its energy saber and crouching in a defensive position. Looking up Dracmon felt a wide smile growing on his face as he looked at his savior.

"Hello Dracmon," said DinoRexmon in a friendly, almost jovial tone, not even caring about the presence of Zephyrmon or the Argus program that stood a short ways off from him, or even the arrival of MarineAngemon and two humans. "Miss me?"

"Your timing is impeccable boss!"


	40. Chapter: 39/ Digital Survivors

Ryo held his D-Arc above him in the air, his eyes tracing over the gold ring that surrounded its screen and the engraved lines of digi-code that lay upon its surface. Aside from the blue color that adorned the digivice and its strap, the opposite of the white that normally came with a Tamer's D-Arc, it was virtually identical to the D-Arc that Takato Matsuki had, the resident Goggle-head of the Tamers. He wondered about it; mainly what it meant to him and his partner, Hopmon, who was presently sleeping on the corner of his bed, who had still yet to digivolve since his battle with Craniummon had ended. The battle that had seen a number of new thoughts come to mind, as well as the advancement of old worries. For some time now the Legendary Tamer had lived with the worry about the digital god, Milleniummon, and whether or not he would return. It always seemed like he would, despite everything that Ryo had done to defeat him in the past he refused to stay beaten.

_He had even commented on it himself,_ thought Ryo as he continued to look his digivice over. _He had described himself as being something like a part of me. That we were Yin and Yang and that nothing I could do would ever rid the digital world of him permanently. And I couldn't get rid of him permanently because that would be destroying myself too, and maybe even the digital world also because my destiny is so closely caught up in it. So far I've seen plenty of evidence that he's telling the truth. He's never left me alone in all the time that we've known and fought each other…_

For months now Ryo had been plagued with strange dreams and odd occurrences during battles in which he should have been harmed but had emerged unscathed. Not many had thought much of it, and had attributed it to his Mega forms powers and his own skills as a Tamer (Rika had chided him repeatedly for it, saying that it was his way of 'showing off'), and Ryo never said anything that contradicted this assumption, especially to Monodromon as he didn't want to alarm his reptilian partner. He had no proof. Only his suspicions, and nothing more had ever seemed to come out of them anyway. As time wore on however things began to change, culminating in events that had occurred after his battle with Lucemon in Shinjuku Park. He knew that he should have been badly hurt in that fight. Destroyed even. Gallantmon had gone down to the Rookie angel, and he himself knew from personal experience that was no easy task to accomplish. And yet he had survived where Gallantmon hadn't.

Impossible…right?

_It is unless you happen to have a digital god acting on your behalf,_ thought Ryo. _Almost ironic actually. Milleniummon had wanted to be my partner and in the end he got it. Now that he's asserting his personality more and intervening directly I can't help but wonder what his next move is. He's been awfully quite since our fight with Craniummon. He hasn't even bothered to let me know if Rika made it to Okinawa in time to save Takato and Guilmon…_

Ryo groaned mentally, so as to not disturb Hopmon from his rest and lowered his digivice onto his bed and sat up.

_Just what is his game this time? He's been toying with me ever since that fight with Lucemon. Giving me dreams, sending me hallucinations, and finally talking to me in person. He offered me a choice to help Takato and Rika…_

Ryo grimaced as he remembered that. Although he felt that he had done the right thing, he had no idea as to what the possible fallout was going to be from accepting Milleniummon's help… _willingly_ such as the case was. The dark digital god hadn't given much of an impression that he wasn't up to his old tricks again, and while he had to admit that lending him the power he needed to defeat Craniummon and transporting Sakuyamon to where she needed to be was enough for him to put his trust into him.

_Too much has gone on between us for me to ever really trust Milleniummon,_ thought Ryo bitterly as he looked outside of his bedroom window. _It doesn't matter if his actions were honorable or not, he's done far too many terrible things for me to think otherwise. I can't let bygones be bygones in this situation. He's tried to conquer or destroy the digital world too often!_

Ryo frowned and clenched his eyes shut in frustration.

_Just what_ _**is** _ _his angle in all this? How could he possibly benefit from this? Just so that he can be my partner? He already knows that I have one…and that's Monodromon!_

Of course, Ryo knew full well, that wasn't one hundred percent true. After all, whenever Monodromon digivolved to Cyberdramon, it was as though he became someone else in a way that went beyond just the usual personality changes that came with digivolution. He was more ruthless, aggressive, and far more difficult to control then in any other form. There were times where he didn't even acknowledge Ryo's existence and went his own way, a trait that all the Tamers had commented on and at least Takato could sympathize the most from his dealings with Guilmon when he digivolved, and Henry to some degree from his story about Gargomon (though, in less serious moments he often joked more about Terriermon's lack of control with his mouth). Ryo knew why his partner tended to be so much more difficult to control, and the reason was one and the same with his present dilemma.

Even when buried and seemingly out of the way, Milleniummon still had a way to haunt him.

_That was the reason why I went back to the digital world in the first place,_ thought Ryo. _Because Cyberdramon…or rather the Monodromon inside of him, needed my help in controlling the other side of him. He seemed to get better after we first biomerged to become Justimon but afterwards when we went back to the digital world before that business with Parasimon it seemed like his control was slipping again. I wonder if I'm going to have to go back again, just to keep him from losing control again. I need help on this. The Sovereigns? Maybe…but I don't know. They've never been able to contain Milleniummon. I need something else. But that's just the question isn't it? What can I find out there that can help me?_

Ryo sighed and leaned forward, holding his head in his hands as he thought over everything that he knew about the digital world, how he could possibly get there and what sort of powers he was going to need to contact. The political landscape of the digital world seemed to change so much so quickly. The Sovereigns, he had learned during the course of his travels, were not as on top of things as they thought they were.

_Dad's not going to like this,_ thought Ryo as he sat back up. A second later the blare of the alarm from his digivice broke him out of his train of thought.

_Great. One more thing that I have to deal with,_ thought Ryo in exasperation as he went to wake up Hopmon.

* * *

Henry had to admit that he was a bit uncertain as to what it was that Ms. Nakata, Noriko's mother, had wanted to talk about, and with the way things were right now with Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Terriermon going off to deal with the digimon that Ayaka and Miki had found yesterday he wasn't too sure if abandoning his duties as a Tamer to talk to the woman was the right thing to do. He was certain that she would have understood if he had shown up late, or had telephoned to let her know that something came up and that there stood a possibility that he might not be able to meet her today. He had gotten that impression of her upon first meeting her when looking into Noriko's disappearance. Aiko was a woman who was, if nothing else, very understanding. However, he had gotten the impression from her conversation with her over the phone last night that there was definitely something amiss, something that she wished to discuss with him and _only_ him, and that concerned him a bit. Though Aiko had sounded calm and collected there was something in the way that she spoke that indicated an underlying worry or perhaps a fear…one that had only recently been given reason to make its existence known to her.

And there was also the fact that he had given his word that he would meet her, as he had been reminded by Terriermon. Like it or not, he wasn't going to miss this meeting unless something of extreme circumstances called for his immediate attention. He had kept his word too, and he had heard Aiko out. Some of what she had to say disturbed him. She had asked him flat out, not bothering to go through any formalities beyond just a simple hello and how he was doing, if there was a chance that her daughter could have been affected by the digital world in some way _physically_ that went beyond just her present lack of memory. When he had pressed for details he had received some information that did not sit comfortably with him.

_"What kind of affects would you be talking about?"_ He had asked, confused as to why she was asking him this. Aiko took a moment to think before responding.

_"Is there a chance that a person could…I don't know…take on any qualities of a digimon just by being in the digital world?"_

Henry had been surprised to say the least. He had no idea what to expect from Aiko in regards to what her concerns were about her daughter, but he had to admit that that certainly wasn't one of them. Coming back to the present Henry frowned from where he was sitting before picking up the teapot that he had fixed up when he had met Ms. Nakata (as his mother had taken his two sisters, and brother to visit their father in the hospital shortly after he had gotten home), and poured himself a fresh cup of tea.

"I'm…not sure that I follow," answered Henry finally as he set the teapot back down on the table.

Aiko sighed and leaned forward on the kitchen table, massaging her forehead as she did so. Henry could see that she had clearly been under some strain for a while and was just now letting some of it show.

"I just need to know if there's a possibility that a human could pick up any traits from digimon just by being in the digital world. Looking like them…perhaps even acting like them."

Henry furrowed his brow, not at all sure what it was that Aiko was getting at, but decided to answer her as best as he could.

"Well, humans _do_ pick up some measure of data in their bodies when they're in the digital world, but the length of time spent determines how much is garnered. My father could explain it if he were here, but since he's not I'll do what I can. When we're in the digital world our bodies are converted into pure data, enabling us to interact with the environment to varying degrees and be affected by it in ways that would be different from what we're used to in the real world. The body of course continues its own natural processes even though most of it, such as eating, becomes unnecessary and over time as the body renews itself the original source material that had been organic when it came to the digital world is replaced with data instead. For most of us, the effects were barely noticeable as we weren't there long enough for them to really take hold so there's really nothing that could separate us from other real world organisms. One of my friends, Ryo Akiyama is a different story because he spent almost a full year in the digital world prior to the D-Reaper invasion. Because he had spent so much time there he had become a bit more _digital_ then the rest of us, and that enabled him to biomerge with his partner without any outside assistance like Takato, Rika, and I did. But even so, he's no more human then anyone else except when he's merged with his partner."

"I see," said Aiko simply as she thought over what she had seen two nights ago in her daughter's room. "But that still doesn't quite answer my question."

"Well, what exactly is it that you're looking for?" Asked Henry. "Without a partner Noriko can't merge with a digimon…unless…"

Aiko raised an eyebrow. "Unless?"

"Well, don't quote me on this, but there had been a time when Takato had merged with Guilmon when Takato lacked a digivice, which is usually what's required for that sort of thing. But then they're bond has always been stronger then most…" Henry drifted off and shook his head. He looked at Aiko. "Why are you asking me these things?"

Aiko chuckled lightly, but the tremor in her voice gave her nervousness away. Henry had to wonder what it was that had happened that made her like this and ask these kinds of questions.

"Back when my daughter had returned from the digital world, an agent from that government group, _Hypnos_ , had approached me, wanting to stay in touch in case anything was wrong with Noriko that the doctors weren't able to detect. I… _ignored_ him then, foolishly, because I wanted to keep Noriko out of the limelight and especially away from the government. Now however I have come to believe that something has indeed happened to her when she was in the digital world."

Henry cocked an eyebrow.

"Tell me something Henry," continued Aiko. "You say that you can merge with your partner digimon, correct?"

"Yes. Terriermon and I combine to digivolve to his Mega form, MegaGargomon." As an afterthought Henry added, "But we separate after the fighting's over."

Aiko raised an eyebrow, though she nodded, remembering the presence of Terriermon when they had first met. Even so, what Henry had said had brought a thought to her mind.

"What could happen if a human entered the real world without separating, while lacking the _resources_ that you described, from a digimon when they… _biomerged?"_

Both of Henry's eyebrows shot up at that question. He realized that he had never actually considered it before. Aiko nodded seeing that the question had taken a firm hold in the boy's mind.

"Henry…I need some help in getting in touch with Hypnos about my daughter…"

Before Henry could even make a reply his green trimmed digivice suddenly gave a cry of alarm from his waist.

* * *

"Oooog…did somebody get the number of that bus that hit me?" Groaned Terriermon as he came to in Ayaka's arms as the girl ran after Kenta and MarineAngemon.

"Not now," said Ayaka. "Just take it easy, okay? We're on the trail of…wha…?"

Ayaka was abruptly cut off as the earth shook beneath her feet. Skidding to a halt, Ayaka nearly slammed into Kenta from behind as he drew up short. Both children's eyes went wide with shock and amazement. In front of them were four figures, two of whom they were already familiar with, Dracmon and Zephyrmon. However, two more had recently joined the crowd, but between the two of them only one had all eyes drawn to it. And no wonder; the creature's sheer size easily dwarfed them, and it was certainly imposing to look at. Thick, green scales covered its reptilian body like the leaves of a palm tree, though with more of an emphasis on the armor of an Ankylosaur of which the digimon _Ankylomon_ was derived from. Long, vicious, curved talons sprouted from its two legs like the blades of a scimitar, and its two arms, while not as long were certainly no less dangerous looking. The impracticality of the larger foot claws appearance aside, Kenta did not doubt that they could be used with a high degree of deadliness. Digimon had a knack for using the improbable and making them lethal. Kenta raised his digivice and did a quick scan of the creature.

_DinoRexmon_

_Stage: Mega_

_Type: Data_

_Special Attacks: Ogre Flame, Splatter Hunting_

_This…is not good,_ thought Kenta. _That guy's_ huge! _And not only that he's a Mega_ and _a Data type! He's got type advantage over MarineAngemon and…take it easy Kenta. Deep breaths. He's larger, so he'll have a harder time hitting MarineAngemon. MarineAngemon's attacks might not be good offensively but I can change that with the cards that I have with me. Hopefully they'll be enough to hold this guy until the others get here…_

Kenta gulped and drew some cards from his pants pocket again.

_…If they get here…_

"Hello Dracmon?" Rumbled the massive, dinosaur like digimon with a voice that had all the rough texture of granite. "Miss me?"

"Your timing is impeccable boss!" Spoke Dracmon gleefully, causing both Kenta and Ayaka to start at that and look at each other uncertainly.

_They know each other?_ Ayaka mouthed to the dark haired boy.

"Aha! I knew it!" Shouted Terriermon as he began to pick up some energy now. "Coincidence my ears! That Dracmon's in cahoots with that guy!"

"Terriermon!" Hissed Ayaka as she pushed down on the rabbit-dogs head with her fist. "Pipe down, will ya? We don't want to get that thing's attention if he decides to cut loose!"

DinoRexmon smirked at the two humans before turning to face his most immediate targets. The faceless wolf pulled out a small, mechanical stick and ignited it. A white bar of energy hissed into existence, and quickly snapping them together to make a staff before lunging at the Mega level dinosaur. Snorting disdainfully the great reptile simply lunged one foot forward and impaled his attacker on one of his massive talons with little to no effort on his part, using the warrior's own forward momentum to be all the driving force that he really needed.

"Man's best friend," chided DinoRexmon sarcastically as the faceless wolf broke apart into shards of data, data that was quickly joined by the now breaking form of the wild, demon like warrior that had been crushed beneath his weight earlier. Without so much as a sound a flurry of snowballs shot out from the trees, impacting with DinoRexmon's armor with no effect. A second later a small, bear shaped figure leapt out of its hiding place and encased itself in a single, arrow like icicle, aiming its body directly towards DinoRexmon's eyes.

It didn't even get close.

_"Ogre Flame!"_

DinoRexmon reared back and spat a molten ball of fire at the incoming projectile, enveloping it with its intense heat and obliterating it almost instantly, its data joining the shards of its comrades that continued to rise in the air.

"Hmmph," said DinoRexmon. "That was… _disappointing._ I had hoped that Argus would put up a far better challenge then that. Hopefully the humans will improve upon it in the future…"

"Um…boss?"

"Yeah?"

"There are Tamers here…"

DinoRexmon was about to roll his eyes when suddenly a gale force wind slammed into him, raining down razor sharp, pink colored blades that scraped upon his armor but otherwise left him none the worse for wear.

"Dracmon?" DinoRexmon began. "You might want to go somewhere a bit more discreet so that Oni can get you out of here in one piece. Mommy and Daddy are about to have a chat."

"You got it Aniki!"

Upon seeing the devilish little masked Imp bounding away DinoRexmon turned to face his attacker, his reptilian eyes narrowing.

"You're awfully spry for a program," he growled.

"You killed Agunimon, Lobomon, and Kumamon! Show some respect!" The avian snapped at him angrily. DinoRexmon chuckled.

"You mean Agnis and Wolf? I merely sent them back to their maker…hold it!" DinoRexmon's eyes narrowed again as he looked Zephyrmon over. "You just spoke. And you have the stench of a digimon about you…"

"Don't know what you else were expecting," gritted Zephyrmon beneath her facemask. "But right now I don't care! I'm going to take you down! _Plasma Paws!"_

Crimson orbs materialized around her claws and feet, and Zephyrmon rushed at DinoRexmon. Tilting his head at what he perceived to be an unintelligent move given his level and raw attack power DinoRexmon raised one clawed hand and smacked the avian to the side with almost contemptuous ease, sending her crashing into a tree and snapping it in half upon impact. Groaning, Zephyrmon fought to get to her feet so that she could continue the fight.

"Now…" spoke DinoRexmon. "If I may be allowed to leave…"

"DIGI-MODIFY! KABUTERIMON ACTIVATE! SHELLMON ACTIVATE!"

_"Hydro Shocker!"_

Turning his eyes in surprise DinoRexmon had just enough time to see the dark haired Tamer he had sighted earlier slash two cards through the small object in his hand that his _companion_ had called a D-Arc before the MarineAngemon let loose a torrent of water, slamming into him at full force and knocking him off his feet. DinoRexmon felt his muscles freeze up as intense pain ripped through his body like a sharp electrical current.

_What the…?_ Thought DinoRexmon as the sting of electricity began to die down. _An electrical attack combined with a water attack?! How did that… of course. Oni told me that the Tamers could use a digimon card to grant their partners alternate attacks. This boy must have combined two separate attacks…water and electricity… to increase their potency. Impressive actually…but not good enough. Those two were both Champion level attacks. Hardly enough to take someone like me down…_

"Zephyrmon!" Called out the boy to the avian in a concerned voice. The use of this name caused DinoRexmon's eyes to widen considerably. "Can you still fight?"

_Wha…?_ Zephyrmon? _But…that can't be right! That's a digimon that I've only heard about in_ legend! _And it dwells in the lands of the Celestials! It can't possibly exist here! It shouldn't even exist at all! And that's supposed to be the Shutu subprogram! What's it doing as a…digimon?_

Shock registered in the digimon's mind as he recalled stories that he had heard about from his days as a Rookie, stories that had emerged from the world of the Angels about a group of warriors that had saved it from certain destruction. A Zephyrmon, as he recalled, had been one of those warriors…

Before he could continue that line of thought, DinoRexmon's ears picked up the sound of something soaring through the air…and it was aimed directly at him.

_No time for thinking. Time for moving!_

Dodging to the side DinoRexmon narrowly avoided a well-placed kick from a cybernetically armored, humanoid figure with a featureless facemask and a red scarf billowing behind him. Moving on a dime DinoRexmon lashed out with his tail, smashing it brutally into the side of his new attacker before he could even touch the ground and sending him careening towards the ground where he crashed next to Zephyrmon, her azure eyes wide with amazement and surprise.

_That must be the one called Justimon,_ thought DinoRexmon with a grin. _Interesting…_

"Ug…" groaned Justimon in a dual voice that caught Zephyrmon's attention. "Sorry to just drop in like this…"

"Uh…no problem…"

"Nice to see you here Ryo," called out Kenta. "But we can't stop to talk right now! We've got a digimon to take out!"

From within his data sphere, Ryo blinked in surprise at Kenta. There was something different about how he was speaking and acting. More…confidant sounding. And something else too…

_What? No fan mode? Now that's weird…_

Ryo grinned.

_But then again, never look a gift horse in the mouth. It looks like he has a plan too and that's not something that happens often. Let's see what he can do._

Rolling over to the side Justimon flipped up onto his feet.

"No problem Kenta," said Justimon in the same dual voice. "I'll distract him while you and MarineAngmeon take him out!"

"And Zephyrmon," said Kenta quickly, still focused on the battle in front of him. Gone was the Kenta of old who had taken a backseat to let the real movers and shakers fight the opponent. Now there was only a calm tactician with a cool, razor sharp mind.

_And a heart beating like a hammer in my chest,_ thought Kenta inanely, but as the thought had no solid reality in his mind it didn't distract him. Next to him, Ayaka and Terriermon were looking at him as though they had never seen him before.

"Zephyrmon!" Called out Kenta as he drew out another card from his pants pocket. "I need you to hit that overgrown dinosaur with your biggest Hurricane Gale!"

Zephyrmon quickly nodded. Even though she didn't know the boy, where she was, or anything about her current situation or her friends she did know that to hesitate at a time like this could spell disaster for all of them. Fight first, sort things out later. Zephyrmon leapt into the air while Justimon rushed DinoRexmon, firing his _Justice Burst_ attack. Kenta looked at the card that he held in his hand, studying its stats briefly. It was a SkullMeramon card. Ultimate level and a virus type to boot. From what he recalled Virus trumps Data, and SkullMeramon was one of the most intense heat sources in the game, capable of melting steel almost instantly.

_If Zephyrmon's air attack had caused Greymon's Nova Blast to become as powerful as it did when I first used it on her, imagine just how much more powerful this card would be…_

Kenta brought the card to his digivice as DinoRexmon slammed his clawed hand into Justimon, knocking him to the side. Above him, Zephyrmon crossed her arms across her chest and readied to slash them. DinoRexmon turned up towards the female, fire licking at his mouth…

Suddenly Zephyrmon gave a cry of pain as electricity sparked around her, interrupting her attack. DinoRexmon unleashed his fireball at her and it tore into her right wing just as soon as gravity began to lay claim over her lithe form. Shouting in pain Zephyrmon slammed into the ground before MarineAngemon could even catch her with a heart bubble. DinoRexmon stomped towards her, only to be caught off guard by Justimon as he leapt at him and delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to the reptile's skull. Not missing a beat despite the pain the attack had caused, DinoRexmon lashed out with his tail and sent Justimon flailing through the air and into the ground where he dug up a trench with the force of his impact. DinoRexmon relented in his attack, cocking his head to one side as though listening to a voice that only he could hear before retreating. A fog bloomed up around him, enveloping his retreating form before both faded from view, like phantom ghosts in the daylight.

With a groan, Justimon pulled himself out of his trench and looked around him, quickly finding Kenta, Ayaka, Terriermon, and MarineAngemon gathered around the prostrate form of Zephyrmon. Quickly separating from his partner, Cyberdramon, Ryo ran over to see what was going on.

"MarineAngemon?" Asked Kenta in a voice that sounded almost pleading. "Isn't there something that you can do?"

MarineAngemon shook his head sadly before giving a single _'puh'_ as an answer. Whatever it was that he said, it couldn't be good. Looking down at the winged humanoid digimon Ryo winced. He didn't need a translator to tell that for whatever reasons MarineAngemon's healing hearts weren't taking. Zephyrmon's body phased in and out of view as she breathed slowly, and shakily. Distantly Ryo heard the sound of Guardromon's engines as he, and Kazu too by the sounds of it, came flying on in. After about a minute Zephyrmon took one last shaky breath.

"Zoe?" The bird digimon whispered before breaking apart into shards of data and vanishing all together. Kenta watched the data as it floated in the air, and for the first time in his life, words failed him completely.

* * *

Riley finished typing the commands on her computer and looked down at Itokawa, her _present_ superior in matters of the Argus program.

"All programs, Agnis, Wolf, Chak, and Shutu successfully retrieved. All Wild One traces have vanished from the real world."

"Excellent," said Itokawa with a nod of his head. "Transfer the data to Amaya for storage. I'll have a look at it personally after I've spoken to the board."

"Yes… _sir,"_ grated Riley.


	41. Chapter: 40/ Homecoming

The sound of airplanes taking off into the air reached Takato and Rika's ears as they exited the airport and took a look around them.

_Home…home at last,_ thought Takato as a small smile grew on his face. _Well, not quite home but close enough. And not exactly the day that I'm supposed to come home either, but with everything that I've been told has been going on I can't sit this one out._

Taking a deep breath Takato looked over at his red haired companion.

"Well, here we are…"

Rika nodded and looked over to her left just in time to see Renamon materialize out of thin air with Guilmon and Impmon, the latter of whom was struggling a bit in the vulpine digimon's grasp. Takato looked at Renamon, once again impressed by how she was able to carry the heavyweight digimon that was his partner in addition to balancing Impmon and keeping them both out of sight while on the plane. Not that keeping them out of sight was that difficult a task since they were in the baggage area, except maybe in the case of the rambunctious Impmon, but it was rather surprising that she was able to get them both out of the plane and down here without attracting any attention. As strong as Renamon was and as skillful as she was he hadn't been all too sure that she would be able to get the oversized (and now larger then he had been in his previous incarnation), crimson colored reptile this far without dropping him conveniently on his head.

_I should probably have a bit more faith in Renamon,_ thought Takato as Guilmon took on a burst of speed towards him upon touching down on the ground. _After all, she's always doing something that surprises me…just like her partner does…_

"Hey boy," said Takato happily as Guilmon crashed into him. Takato, with his long experience from being tackled by digimon, whether playfully or otherwise, managed to keep his feet for once and instead only staggered backwards a couple paces before pulling his best friend into a hug. "Did you, Renamon, and Impmon have a good trip?"

"Yeah!" Exclaimed Guilmon happily as he nuzzled the brown haired boy with his snout. "Renamon kept telling me to stay still though and threatened to tie me up with clothes from all the other peoples suitcases if I didn't behave…"

"That's because you tried to _eat_ one of the suitcases," said Impmon as he crossed his arms and glowered at the reptile.

"She tied you up with your own bandana Impmon."

While Impmon sputtered and stammered out a response that consisted of vague threats and G rated insults Rika looked over at Renamon with a raised eyebrow, clearly expecting some kind of explanation as to what had happened. Renamon folded her arms over her chest and shook her head in disappointment.

"The little imp had tried to use his attack to provide some light down there…and keep Guilmon from eating a suitcase. I thought it would prove to be… _expedient_ to prevent any mishaps for the remainder of the flight."

Rika glanced over at Impmon, frowning slightly as he continued to shake his fists indignantly at Guilmon, who was presently looking up at Takato, his ears drooped and an expression on his face that asked the boy if this was normal behavior for Impmon. Takato was telling Guilmon not to take anything Impmon said to heart.

_Those three…_ the girl thought with a shake of her head.

"All right you guys, now that we're all together let's see what we can do about getting out of here. Seeing as how we haven't seen anyone since we got here…"

"RIKA!" Called out a familiar voice, causing the girl to whirl about in surprise just in time to see a blonde haired woman with a flowing dress rushing towards them at breakneck speed.

"Mom…" was all Rika had time to get out before Rumiko Nonaka came to a stop in front of her and got down on one knee to be more level with her as she pulled the red haired girl into a powerful hug.

"Oh Rika! You don't know how glad I am to see you back home and safe!"

Rika bit her lip against making a sarcastic reply to that and simply returned her mothers hug gratefully. She knew how much she had worried her mother, or at least had an idea based on how tightly she was hugging her. She had never entirely been comfortable with Rika's chosen lifestyle even though she had long accepted it, which was only natural given that, well, she _was_ her mother and even though she hadn't always found it easy to express things like this in the past she _did_ love her and care about the safety of her daughter. And Rika? It was very much the same on her side of the fence…

"Sorry for bugging out like that Mom," said Rika, her voice starting to sound throaty as she hugged her mother. "There just wasn't any time…"

Rumiko pulled away from Rika, a soft, grateful, but worried smile on her face as tears brimmed in her eyes. Reaching up Rumiko stroked the strands of her daughter's crimson colored hair, chuckling a little at seeing that it was not held up in its usual ponytail, as was her usual custom.

"I know. I know. Jeri and Calumon said as much when I saw them the night that you left. And believe me, I understand. All that matters now is that you and your friend are back home safe and sound. Now…let's get you and your friend home before it gets too late out and his parents start to worry too." Rumiko craned her head over to Takato. "Unless that is you already have a ride…"

Takato blinked.

"Um…well, I really don't know if my parents will be able to come because of the bakery, and I'm used to making the trip without them so…"

"He's coming Mom," overrode Rika with a sigh of exasperation before turning her own head over at the goggle-wearing boy. "Unless that is you feel like lugging that suitcase around all the way across town…"

"Well actually…"

"I was being rhetorical Gogglehead!"

* * *

Takato, Guilmon, and Impmon stepped out of Rumiko's company limo while their chauffeur pulled the boy's suitcase out of the back of trunk and set it on the sidewalk. Takato noticed that he was getting more then a few stares in his direction, more from the upper class vehicle that was in the area rather then the boy's strange looking companions though they too garnered their own looks. However, digimon were more of a usual sight around the Matsuki bakery, which had become a rather popular snack destination of late due to the bakery's 'Guilmon Bread', so the appearance of the limo in an area that tended more to be on the lower end of things economically was something of a surprise. For the first time Takato was struck by the differences from his world and that of Rika's. Even though he had recognized it in the past, he had never really thought about it, and Rika had certainly never brought it up whenever she had visited his home. But then, he wasn't the kind who cared about things like money, and in all likelihood, neither was Rika.

Takato turned around to face Rika, Renamon, and Rumiko and bowed politely to them.

"Thanks for the ride Ms. Nonaka," Takato began, only to be waved off by the blonde haired woman.

"It was no trouble Takato, and please. I thought that I told you at Rika's birthday party to just call me Rumiko. 'Ms. Nonaka' just makes me sound old."

"As if _that_ could ever happen," muttered Rika sarcastically, remembering all those times in the past when her mother had gone on about the fans that had raved about her 'youthful good looks'.

Takato blushed lightly in embarrassment before turning to Rika.

"Rika. Thanks for coming to help. It really means a lot to me…"

Takato paused, thinking over what he had just said, mentally kicking himself for a dope. He did mean what he said, every word of it, but how would Rika take it, after what's gone on between them and what was left unsaid? Would she take it to mean something more then what he actually meant? Or would she…?

"No problem," replied Rika, who had quickly picked up on his hesitation and the reasons behind it. "I'm just glad that I was able to get there in time. It's…no trouble, really. It's what friends do…"

Rika let her sentence drift off and she shifted uneasily, a light blush appearing on her cheeks as an awkward silence fell between them. For some reason, Rika's use of the word _friends_ had left the two of them unsure of just what to say next or how to part ways. Impmon looked at the two with a raised eyebrow, having no clue as to what it was that had just passed between them. Rumiko and Renamon however had a far better idea. Rumiko looked at the two children with a sad, but understanding expression on her face. These two had been through a lot together, many dangers and adventures and now they were about to go down one that was outside of their experience. They were still friends, but did _friendship_ properly describe their relationship now?

_It's up to them to figure out what they have now,_ thought Rumiko. _I just hope that whatever happens…whatever they decide that they don't lose the bond that tied them together in the first place. Their futures, I feel, depend on that aspect remaining intact. Call it woman's intuition, but that's just what I feel._

Rumiko glanced over at Renamon, who looked back with her azure eyes, and as though sensing her thoughts, nodded in acknowledgement. Rumiko gave a worried, but reassuring smile.

_And I'm sure that Renamon feels the same way._

* * *

Takato stayed where he was while Rika and her mother got back into the limo and drove off, escaping the crowd just as soon as the whispers of Rumiko's stage name 'Makino' began making their way through the crowds. Takato's face became sorrowful as he watched them go.

_Rika…_

"So…" began Impmon from next to him. "Care to explain what that was all about?"

"Huh?" Responded Takato, befuddled. "What was what about?"

"That bit that happened between you and Rika there. It's like you two were stepping around glass with each other. What's the matter? Something happen between you two before I got to Okinawa?"

_More like something happened before I got there,_ thought Takato as he bent down and picked up his suitcase.

"If it's all the same to you Impmon, I'd rather not talk about it right now."

Impmon scowled and folded his arms over his chest.

"Okay. Fine, if that's how you want it. Just remember not to shut your friends out too much when you're having trouble…"

"Don't worry," said Takato as he walked over to the side door in the alley next to his parent's bakery, took out his key and unlocked the door. "I already learned my lesson with that. I'm pretty sure that I don't need any reminders."

"Sometimes I wonder about that," said Impmon before turning to Guilmon as Takato pushed open the door. "Well, here you go Pineapple Head. Home, sweet home."

Guilmon cocked his head to one side and blinked his golden eyes.

"I live here?"

Impmon nodded. "Sure do my red compadre. With all you can eat too. It's actually not unlike living in a buffet table…"

"Impmon, my parents bakery is _not_ a buffet table."

"I wouldn't know it from the way that you leave food lying around untended. Especially with ol' garbage disposal here."

"Hey!"

"Ooooh…Takatomom…Impmon's still calling me names…"

"Ah, come on," said Impmon as he slapped the crimson reptile on the side with one gloved hand. "Laugh with me buddy! Seriously, you need to lighten up! Besides, you're home now! This is cause for celebration!"

"Impmon's right, Guilmon. Come on. Let's get you inside and get reacquainted with my parents…and something to eat too while we're at it."

Guilmon looked up at his partner and then back at the entranceway to the bakery that his two companions claimed was his home, sniffing the air with his nose. Something about it smelled… _familiar._

"Mmmnnn…Okay…"

Guilmon marched inside, following Takato with Impmon shortly afterwards, all three of them squeezing into the narrow hallway while Takato took a moment to take off his shoes before entering the bakery part of his home.

"Hey, Mom! Dad!" Called out Takato as he brushed aside the cloth that hung at the top of the doorway. "I'm ho…ome…"

Takato instantly froze into place as his eyes lighted on an all too familiar person manning the cash register of his parents bakery, instead of either his mother or his father as he had expected.

_Wha…? What's…what's she doing here? And why is she…_ Takato blinked as a pair of sparkling, soft, amber colored eyes turned towards him and locked with his own crimson ones. One hand, which had been about to hand some change over to an expectant customer with a bag of freshly baked bread hesitated in midair.

"J-Jeri?" Takato stammered out, feeling his heart beginning to speed up in response to seeing his friend here, wearing the same kind of work clothes that he and his parents did whenever they were working in the bakery.

"Oooh…" piped up Guilmon innocently, unaware of his partner's sudden predicament. "Is she your parents? She's really pretty."

Impmon looked over at Guilmon with an exasperated expression on his face before suddenly noticing the way that Jeri and Takato were both looking at each other and not saying anything. There was something awfully familiar about this situation…

_Oookay…what's going on here? First Rika and now Jeri. What is this…a soap opera? Sheesh!_

* * *

Henry hung up Ryo's cell phone and handed it back to the Legendary Tamer, who quickly pocketed it and turned his sky blue eyes to the half-Chinese Tamer, a motion that was done in time with the visor-wearing Tamer standing next to him.

"Well?" Asked Kazu.

"Yamaki wants us all to report down to Hypnos to give him a more detailed report about what happened here."

The two boys nodded and looked over to the tree that Kenta was presently sitting against. The blonde haired girl, Ayaka was sitting next to him, not saying anything but looked to be trying to find something to say. The boy had been unusually quiet ever since the bird digimon had been deleted, and had only given Ryo, Kazu, and Henry as soon as he had arrived, a quick run down of what had happened. After that he just walked off, telling his partner MarineAngemon that he needed some space and time to think before clamming up, losing himself in thought while he looked angrily at the spot where Zephyrmon had disappeared. It seemed so different from the way that they were used to Kenta acting that Kazu had commented that he had found it a little unnerving and, by way of an unintended pun, _disquieting._ MarineAngemon looked on worriedly from his place next to Guardromon but respected his Tamer's decision.

"So, are we heading off now?" Asked Ryo.

"Might as well. There's nothing more that we can do here," said Henry with a sense of resignation before turning to Kazu. "Are you going to come along, or do you need to head back to the bakery? You said that you were in the middle of working there when the digimon bio-emerged…"  
Kazu sighed. "Yeah…that's right. I left Jeri there on her own. Hopefully one of Takato's parents has gotten back by now…" Kazu hesitated a moment as he debated as to whether or not he should go back before finally shaking his head. "No. I may not have been there for the fight but after hearing what Kenta had to say I've got the feeling that I can't sit this one out for the bakery. It sounds pretty big, whatever's going on."

Kazu looked over at Kenta.

"Besides. Even though this may not sound very macho, I've got the feeling that Kenta's going to need a friend right now."

"Seems like he's already got one," said Terriermon from on top of Henry's head, pointing one ear over at Kenta's direction. As one the Tamers followed the ear and saw that Ayaka now had a hand on Kenta's shoulder and was saying something quietly to him. Whatever it was she was saying it looked as though it was having the affect of helping Kenta to calm down from what was bothering him. Ryo raised an eyebrow before a small, knowing smile appeared on his face.

"So it does, so it does…"

"Eh? What're you guys talking about?" Asked Kazu, one hand grabbing hold of his visor while he took a closer look at the two, as though doing so would reveal something about the scene that he had missed.

Terriermon giggled. "I think someone else here could use some glasses…"

Henry groaned at his partner's antics, already sensing that a 'Terriermon' moment was not too far away in the making, but before he could say anything Kazu beat him to the punch.

"Phht! In your dreams long ears! I still don't get what it is that you're getting at; I mean it's just Kenta and Ayaka over there talking and…oh."

One could almost hear the light bulb being switched on inside Kazu's head, and soon enough Terriermon mimed the action with one of his ears.

"Click-click!" Terriermon giggled. Henry groaned.

"Terriermon…"

* * *

"You okay?" Asked Ayaka as she placed a hand on Kenta's shoulder. Kenta, much to her surprise, didn't react to her touch, as he otherwise would have in the past. Kenta tended to be quirky, awkward, and shy almost to the extreme in ways that surpassed Jeri's friend, Takato, and wasn't often assertive unless he had someone backing him or someone to follow like Kazu as was normally the case. And for the most part, he still reacted that way towards things that had happened to him, but when the big dinosaur with claws, DinoRexmon, had shown up and deleted the Zephyrmon it was as though someone different had emerged.

She wasn't exactly privy to the adventures that the Tamers have had, though she often heard about them from Jeri and Kazu, the latter of whom tended to embellish on them (and his own role) quite a bit and often necessitated one of the other Tamers in his class to tell the real story, but she sensed that there were some stories that they didn't tell though she didn't have much of an idea why except that some at least had something to do with Jeri. She knew some things, like Jeri's loss of Leomon, but overall she never pressed. Now though, seeing Kenta as he was right now she had to wonder what it was that had gone on that the Tamers didn't talk about, if there was something more that had happened then just what she was told. She suspected that whatever it was that had made some stories like what Jeri experienced with Leomon a taboo subject, it was similar to what she had seen today that had brought out such a radical change in Kenta. There were very few things that she ever agreed upon with Kenta's friend, Kazu, but if there was anything that they did it was seeing Kenta acting in a way that was completely different from how they was used to seeing him act.

"No," answered Kenta finally. "Not really."

Kenta heaved a sigh, and all of a sudden the dark aura that had surrounded him seemed to fall away, revealing the Kenta that she had known since the first grade

"Care to talk about it?"

Kenta hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"I…I probably shouldn't be talking about this but…I used to not think too much about death. I guess I've always led something of a sheltered life when it came to stuff like that…or maybe I've grown up too much on the sort of cartoons where the main characters never got hurt too badly or died…even minor ones. When I found out that digimon were real I saw it pretty much the same way. One great, big adventure. Remember when Kazu and I first showed Guilmon to the class?"

Ayaka nodded. She remembered that day quite well. Playing with Guilmon and a grocery cart, fleeing from Guilmon's Kenta dubbed 'snot blaster', Guilmon sensing digimon and Impmon telling them about the fight that was raging down in the subway tunnels…she, like the rest of her classmates, had wanted to see the battle that Takato was about to descend to…

"Takato said about how it was for real when he went to join the fight that digimon that Henry and Rika were battling and that he wouldn't let any of us go with him," continued Kenta. "It didn't really click with me then what he meant, not even when we went to the digital world. Kazu and I still saw it as an adventure, and we were going there to get our partners. Nothing really went the way that we expected it would and things got kinda hairy for a while. I guess I only caught a glimmer of things then when Jeri…" Kenta paused, and Ayaka gave his shoulder a small, comforting squeeze.

"It's what happened to Jeri and Takato and their partners that's bothering you, huh?"

Kenta nodded reluctantly.

"Kazu told me once about how he felt useless helping Takato when he lost Guilmon. I couldn't do anything to help that digimon when it was dying from DinoRexmon's attack. I know that MarineAngemon did what he could but…it just didn't seem right watching that digimon die like that. It's not fair, and I wish that I could have done more…"

Ayaka squeezed his shoulder again before letting go and resting her hands on her knees.

"You know…I used to think that you were just another stupid boy…"

Kenta blinked and looked at the blonde haired, pigtailed girl, his expression changing from sad thoughtfulness to one of annoyance almost instantly. Ayaka continued speaking before he could say anything to interrupt her.

"…But I have to say you've got more layers to you then I thought you did. Now I don't know if there was a whole lot that you could have done given what I saw from that battle, but you did more then I thought that you would have."

Ayaka frowned, wondering if she was saying anything that could be construed as being helpful, but her mother had always told her to speak what was on her mind, so she pushed forward.

"And you know something? What you did wasn't half bad given what you had. I don't think that I would have done anything better if I was in the same situation."

Kenta just looked at Ayaka, one dark eyebrow raised in confusion as he tried to process what Ayaka was saying. Was she…complimenting him? Trying to make him feel better about not succeeding in helping that digimon? It seemed so impossible to contemplate as she had never done anything of the sort before and had viewed him and Kazu as slugs beneath rocks not even worthy of attention (having actually used that description on more then one occasion during the time that they've been in class together). But then he used to think that he never would be friends with Rika who had professed quite a bit of annoyance with his, and Kazu's person, and while they weren't exactly the closest they _were_ friends. So…maybe…

"Um…thanks…I guess…"

"Hey!" Called out Terriermon waving his ears at the two, snapping them both out of their conversation. "Come on Kenta! We've got to get going! We're heading off to Hypnos! You can bring your girlfriend if you want…!"

"Terriermon…" began Henry only to be interrupted by Ayaka as she exploded upwards; her face flushed a dark red color as she tore towards Terriermon's, and Henry's direction.

" _HIS_ GIRLFRIEND? I'LL HAVE YOUR EARS TIED IN A KNOT FOR THAT YOU WEENIE LITTLE RABBIT!"

Kenta sighed and rested his head on one hand as he watched Terriermon hop from one Tamer head to another in a desperate bid to escape Ayaka's clutches, vaguely reminded of some of Rika's performances whenever the long eared digimon pushed her buttons just a little too far, only without the success at the end.

_Girls are so weird,_ thought Kenta as he climbed to his feet.

* * *

In a sea of blue and floating numbers known to the guardians of the real world as a spatial warp lying between the real and digital worlds, data blurred and congregated together, attaining mass in the spatial warp before eventually taking on two shapes and gaining dimension to their figures. With a mighty roar DinoRexmon pushed himself into existence and slammed a foot down on nonexistent ground while next to him Dracmon simply walked forward, not bothering to announce his presence in any way that could be deemed dramatic and instead settled for keeping out of the way as best as he could. Both looked up to see a dark figure with white glowing eyes, a thin white colored scar that they both knew was its mouth, two strands of dark antennae twisting above its head while flapping two, hand-like wings that stretched from his back. Before the wings the creature flexed its arms and clawed hands before flapping its wings once more and coming to rest before them.

_Oni…_ thought Dracmon nervously as he came to a halt. As much as he knew this being was their ally, or at least he thought he was, and seemed amiable this being still scared him in ways that he never thought anything could. Not the Royal Knights had ever frightened him this bad. Not even D-Reaper. Perhaps because even though he knew that this being was digital in nature, it was the fact that it was neither a digimon nor a program that gave it a whole new dimension of fear. Digimon he could sympathize with whether they were good, bad, viral, data, or vaccine. Programs he sort of understood though they tended to be self-limiting in their specialized designs, but even they had some higher goals that he could recognize. This being…whatever it was, it was as enigmatic and alien as a digignome. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that this creature looked so different from the giggling fishlike denizens of the digital world he would have claimed they were the same creature.

DinoRexmon bared his teeth and snarled at their ally.

"What's wrong with you?" Asked the creature that Dracmon had known only as _Oni._

"You lied to us," growled DinoRexmon. "I saw that _Shutu program._ It's not a program at all, but a digimon!"

Oni cocked one head to the side.

"You're point?"

"You told us that Argus _wasn't_ a digimon. You said that the humans created it! When I fought it I saw different! You've been working with the humans almost from day one when they began designing Argus…you never said anything about digimon being transformed into battle drones for a program!"

"I did say that without me the humans would never have gotten as far as they did. Am I to be at fault for the means in which they attained the completion of their project? The Royal Knights were destroying us, and the X-Virus was destroying the world beneath our feet and our allies in the new world would have nothing to do with us. I saw an opportunity to speed things along and I took. It's called survival, DinoRexmon. Surely a digimon such as yourself can understand _that_ concept."

"What exactly is going on?" Asked Dracmon in confusion.

DinoRexmon growled angrily.

"This piece of data scum lied to us Dracmon. That's what happened…"

"You asked for help and I gave it to you…"

"But at the cost of our _brethren?_ Turning them into unwilling slaves to fight our enemies! I don't know what's worse; the fact that you turned digimon into unfeeling weapons or the fact that you did that to the _Ten Legendary Warriors_!"

Dracmon gasped in surprise and whirled about to face Oni, who was presently flexing his claws. The expression on his face however, remained unchanged. Dracmon suddenly felt all the more anxious.

"The Ten? Are you telling me that I fought… _the Ten?"_

"The names _Agunimon_ and _Lobomon_ were used rather freely by that bird that was supposed to be the Shutu program, the one that the Tamers called _Zephyrmon,_ as I recall," said DinoRexmon. "You were in the realm of the Celestials Dracmon, same as me. You heard the stories am I right?"

Dracmon just nodded his head dumbly, unable to find the words to describe what he was feeling. _The Ten! The Ten were being used as a program…a program that Oni here helped_ create?

DinoRexmon glared at the dark entity.

"I am going to go back there," DinoRexmon said darkly. "And I am going to find a way to set them free. If I knew what you intended to do to the Ten Warriors of Ophanimon I would have sooner fed our forces to the Royal Knights then let you do what I saw today."

DinoRexmon was just about to turn and head off into the warp of digital space when a black claw suddenly latched onto one of his arms. DinoRexmon wrenched his arm in an attempt to escape, but failed. His former companions grip was…surprisingly strong.

" _Let…go."_ DinoRexmon said in a dangerous voice. The dark, demonic entity known only as _Oni_ simply chuckled as he formed a dark sphere of energy in one hand.

"Can't let you do that," said Oni, and with that he threw the ark orb at DinoRexmon.

The last thing that Dracmon saw was dark electricity enveloping DinoRexmon before a tremendous explosion blew him away from the battle and sent him spinning in the air.

_Game over…_


	42. 41/The Darkness Rising Again…

It had seemed to be yet another 'normal' day for Noriko, at least from an academic point of view. Go to school, listen to the teacher prattle on for hours about some inane subject, take down notes, take a test, talk to friends…the list of activities that one does at school is pretty much endless but those mentioned were the ones that dominated her day today. 'Normal', yes, but it also held some interesting, new surprises for her, though if she were asked she wouldn't necessarily say that any of what happened was 'interesting' to say the least, but rather more embarrassing.

She had passed her first note to Henry.

No real reason was behind it so far as she knew except that she had been bored, and that she also wanted to see if he knew why her mother wanted to see his family. Her mother had been somewhat evasive she realized, from the answer that she had given that morning. _'Hasty with dismissing the aid of Hypnos'_ had been the only answer that she had given, and while it had been enough it still caught her curiosity, and further caught it when Henry's return reply told her that she was coming over to talk to _him_ specifically. Which…made sense to her she supposed, as Henry was a Tamer and everything. It only seemed natural that to talk to a government agency one should go to someone connected to them. Provided that is that there was a connection to begin with, but she wasn't privy to anything and everything that Henry did as a Tamer. They had only just recently become 'friends'. Sure, Henry had used the word for them, but that did not exactly mean that he would tell her everything. In fact, now that she thought about it, their 'friendship', such as it was, felt somewhat awkward and clumsy to her at times…

…And it wasn't helping that her friends kept giggling at her whenever she was talking to Henry, be it with words _or_ notes.

_If anything the notes made it even worse,_ growled Noriko mentally as she sat at her desk and scribbled away various answers for her math homework. _They didn't leave me alone after that…_ especially _Ayame. I know how she is. She's already got some plan turning around in her head like the cogs in a machine. She's going to try and do something stupid to set Henry and me up or something. She did that with Chiharu before she moved to a different district. Who was it again? One of those kids from Ms. Asagi's class… 'Jeremy' or something…or was it Kazu? Either way that was the only thing that Ayame did that Chiharu had stayed mad with her over even though they also stayed friends. You'd think that Ayame would have learned her lesson after that…_

Noriko sighed despondently.

_But then Ayame was always the most romantic one in the group. I just wish that she didn't take a mile every time it looked someone gave her an inch. Things would be a_ _**lot** _ _more comfortable that way…and I wouldn't be as embarrassed. At least Henry didn't notice. I'd hate to think what he'd think of the whole mess. I should probably have a talk with Ayame tomorrow. At least it'll be the weekend then and I won't have to baby sit Dai…_

Noriko sighed at having been drafted to look after her little brother for yet another afternoon. One of the disadvantages of being the older sister, and the eldest child, was that she had to look after Daisuke while her mother was at work, so unless she invited her friends over (something that she much rather preferred to do whenever Daisuke wasn't around to interfere) she didn't get to hang out with them much except at school or on the weekends.

Noriko paused in her writing and tapped her pencil against the paper, and dry swallowed.

_Maybe…maybe it's for the best anyway. I've had some weird things happening to me lately since I woke up in that hospital room. Those notes that I took…_

Noriko took a moment to glance over at her trash bin before licking her lips nervously and returning her gaze to her assignment.

_And then there was that time where I thought that I saw my eyes change color…right before Mom came into the bathroom to see me…_

Noriko frowned and almost as if by instinct, she looked at her hand.

_If something did happen to me in the digital world…am I safe to be around?_

Noriko sighed as she returned her attention to her homework, forcing herself to dismiss those strange and frightening thoughts. So far she hadn't done anything wrong, and aside from a couple incidents that she couldn't even be at all certain about she was still who she was.

_But there was the eye color…_

Noriko frowned and bit her lip. That was stupid. She couldn't be sure that her eyes had at all changed color since they had remained their usual red color when she looked again. It had to have been some trick of the light…right?

_…And there were those notes…_

That couldn't be anything either, could it? People with active imaginations could write nonsense when they weren't paying attention, and while she wasn't what you would typically call a 'dreamer' she did like to fantasize about things that didn't usually happen in the real world…well, before the digimon began to arrive anyway. And besides, she was also missing three weeks worth of memory or so. Anything could have happened in that amount of time, so maybe she was just tapping into a buried, subconscious memory…

Noriko groaned as she felt a slight, burning sensation on her chest. Rubbing the tender area slightly Noriko again tried to focus on her schoolwork, but the pain in her chest…it began to increase. Putting down her pencil shakily Noriko got up and pulled off her t-shirt so that she could see what was going on, hissing slightly as the cloth scraped over her inflamed chest. Her heart was beating a rapid pace, matching in time with a strange sense of urgency that was also inexplicably developing in her mind. For some reason she felt as though something was coming…

All of Noriko's thoughts stopped in her mind as her crimson gaze settled on her bare skin, and a white fear flared up with intensity. Eyes widening Noriko gasped at the red, pulsating hazard like symbol that seemed to be tattooed upon her skin. Raising her hands to touch it tentatively her eyes widened even further as she saw her skin starting to grow black. In her mind she heard something _snarl_ , and _claw_ at her; something that wanted… _out!_ The burning sensation continued to grow in intensity, spreading throughout her body, and it felt to her as though she were _changing_ in some way beyond just what she was seeing now. A scream began to build up within her throat as tears began to well up in her eyes.

_No, no, no, no, no, no…_ Noriko fell forward, covering herself with her blackening arms and repeating that word over and over as though it were a mantra that would protect her. This _couldn't_ be happening! It was all just a dream! A nightmare! She was slumped over her desk and sleeping! She was going to wake up at any moment and…

_This isn't a dream,_ spoke up an eerily calm voice from within the depths of Noriko's mind, a voice that was… _familiar,_ and reflexively Noriko's mouth, which had been opening to let loose her scream, clicked shut, accidental biting her own tongue in the process. Feeling as though she were drowning in a well of pitch-blackness, Noriko turned her gaze towards her bedroom window.

_The window…get moving…get moving_ now _before it's too late…_ The voice…whatever it was; _whoever_ it was, sounded like it was fading, but with it came a new surge of strength. Getting back to her feet Noriko, her own mind feeling as though it were fading as well, moved towards the window with as much control as she could muster. Her body felt… _awkward._ Difficult to control, as though there was something about it that made it… _not her own._ It actually wasn't all that different from moving an arm or a leg that had fallen asleep, but she didn't dare look down to see what was wrong lest she lose whatever willpower she had left to keep moving. Trembling Noriko slid her window open, ignoring the claw like appendages that were now replacing her hands…ignoring the fact that her vision and senses were becoming drastically altered in a way that she couldn't recognize…

The last thing that Noriko would remember clearly for a while was climbing out of her bedroom and leaping towards the streets below, not noticing the reptilian shadow that lay beneath her as she flew towards the ground.

* * *

Rika got out of the limo with her mother and headed for the gate of her home while her mother took a moment to say goodbye to her driver before joining her. Up above them on the top of the gate Renamon phased into view and hopped down into the yard and opened the door from the inside.

"You've been awfully quiet on the way home," commented Rumiko as they stepped into their yard, and Rika shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"So were you," Rika calmly rebutted. Rumiko chuckled lightly.

"Touché, but I wanted to save talking for when we got home. _You_ however went the entire distance without even so much as one complaint about the seats or the gaudiness of the limo as you normally would."

Again Rika shrugged.

"Had a lot on my mind."

Rumiko looked over at her red haired daughter with a sympathetic expression on her face.

"Care to share? It might help take a load off of your mind if you didn't have to think about it so much on your own."

Rika sighed as a frown appeared on her face. She remained silent however, but as she didn't say anything to show that she was opposed to the idea Rumiko felt that perhaps she should take the first step to get the ball rolling.

"I noticed that things are still pretty tense between you and Takato…"

"You would wouldn't you?" Rika replied somewhat harshly. "And thanks for reminding me about that on top of everything else that I have on my 'to-do' list."

Now it was Rumiko's turn to sigh. Although she knew that Rika didn't mean to show her irritation, and didn't like to show any frustration with her specifically (though there had been one exception during her birthday, but Rika had been too focused on Takato over the phone to direct any at her), her daughter's attitude could be trying at times even if it was warranted given the recent events that had occurred in the past few weeks. Motherhood she knew, wasn't easy, especially in her case as she was the mother of a digimon Tamer, but one thing that she had learned since she and Rika had gotten closer was that it was also moments like these that could be rewarding. All it took was a little patience and understanding on both of their parts.

Fortunately, that too was also one of the rewards of mother and daughter moments, and not just the happy memories.

"Trouble?"

Rika paused outside her bedroom door, her face softening a bit, but still maintaining her frown.

"Not really I guess," said Rika. "But I heard that Henry's dad had been hurt during a digimon attack on Hypnos and was put in the hospital."

Rumiko gave a light gasp at that. She had known, when Yamaki had called looking for Rika, that there had been some trouble down at Hypnos, but she hadn't known any of the details behind it, nor did she known anything about what had happened to Henry's father. But then, it wasn't as though she kept in regular contact with any of the Tamer's parents…

"Do you know how he's doing?"

"Impmon just said that Mr. Wong was doing fine before he got to Okinawa, but I'm wondering about how Henry's taking it. He makes it a habit to blame himself for things that are beyond his control. Plus he's been acting kind of strange ever since that battle with Lucemon…"

Rika growled slightly as she pushed open her bedroom's slide door and stepped inside.

"Stupid…"

"Now why do you say that?" Asked Rumiko, raising an eyebrow as Rika closed the door behind her. She could hear the sounds of clothes rustling as Rika began to change into her preferred outfit. "You're worried about a friend and you're saying _stupid?"_

"It just feels like things are a bit haywire right now Mom," grumbled Rika, her voice muffled from behind the closed door of her room. "Takato lost Guilmon, I kissed the numbskull and probably messed things up between him and Jeri, and I'm too busy dealing with _that_ fallout to notice anything else going on with my friends."

The door slid back open and a second later Rika stepped out, garbed in her traditional outfit of a pair of jeans, two belts, one strapped to her left leg and one to her waist holding her digivice and leather card holder, and her full heart t-shirt that had been given to her for good luck. Rumiko smiled upon seeing it, remembering the one that she now wore beneath her own dress whenever she went about her day. Rika's arms were currently behind her head, tying a small, green colored band around her hair to hold her hair back. For a moment this caught Rumiko's attention until Rika spoke up again.

"So yeah, I say stupid because that's how it feels right now. Things used to be a lot simpler before this. I didn't think about how things that I did affected others and from my perspective they didn't affect me either. I didn't have to worry about hurting people I care about…"

Rika's frown deepened as she gave the green band around her hair an extra hard tug before she was satisfied that it would stay in place.

"And the thing is, as _simple_ as that time was, I hate that simplicity _and_ that time too much to want to go back to it. To what I _was_ before Renamon; before she helped me remember what it was like to care about others and that my actions have consequences. I guess what I'm talking about more is that I wish that people didn't get hurt or anything like what happened to Henry's dad, to Takato and Guilmon, to Jeri and Leomon…"

Rika's face loosened up and took on a nostalgic look as she lowered her hands back down to her waist, gripping them into tight, frustrated fists.

"Stupid," she reiterated once again.

Rumiko crossed her arms and leaned against a support beam, wondering if there was anything she could do to help her daughter with her ordeals. Looking at it she had to admit that she didn't have much that came to her to help her. True she and Rika had grown closer of late, to the point where they could freely talk with each other about what was on their minds, but there were times that the differences between them would block them from communicating on the same level. In addition, Rika had gone through more growing up in the past year then she felt she herself did even though she was the older one of them. Rika's experiences as a Tamer went beyond her own, and she had already been something of a precocious child even before she met up with Renamon. Still, there were some things that were outside of her experience despite her development, some of which she was going through now with whatever her relationship with the Tamer Takato was at the moment. Her mother, Rika's grandmother might caution that she not interfere directly in Rika's affairs, and while inaction could sometimes yield some good results, it could also yield bad if something was left alone for too long.

What to do?

_Cannons to the back, and cannons to the front,_ thought Rumiko with a touch of drama.

"You know," began Rumiko. "There was a time when I was in school…older then you of course, but young enough where some of life's _experiences_ were starting to make themselves known in my life and in some of my friends as well."

Rika looked over at her mother with a dry expression on her face.

"Let me guess. Things became more complex between you and your friends?"

"Rather more of my friends, but you're on the right track. Some of them became involved quite strongly, and as a result things did become _complex_ between them, in more ways then they thought they would. When trouble arose they weren't sure how to deal with it in light of their relationship with each other and those around them. Things were such that they felt that no matter what they were going to end up hurting someone, and when they did nothing to keep from hurting someone they cared about…"

"They ended up causing just that, right?" Rika's expression didn't change. "As if I couldn't already guess that…"

Rumiko grimaced. "You could say that, yes."

Rika gave out a long sigh and her face softened considerably.

"Sorry Mom. I know that you're only trying to help, and I get what you're saying, believe me. It's just…I never thought that I'd be the one saying this since it's usually Henry's line but…I wish that there was another way."

Renamon phased into view down by the yard's pond.

"I'm sure that there are many who would wish the same thing, Rika. Sometimes however it's better to simply sear a wound to prevent infection."

"Lovely analogy Renamon…"

"It's actually not that bad of one," said Rumiko smiling at the vulpine digimon, "So long as you remember that those involved are your friends. No one expects you to save the world all the time you know, and sometimes you just have to trust that your friends can be strong on their own when it counts. You can't solve all of their problems, but you can be there for them when they need a helping hand up. Isn't that what you did for Takato?"

Rika nodded reluctantly as she thought back to when she had encountered Takato after his creation, BlackGuilmon entered the real world. He had needed a helping hand up then, and she had given it freely and without hesitation.

_Funny,_ thought Rika as she looked back over all the times that she had been with Takato since she had kissed him. _Before then I knew that he was able to stand up on his own two feet. Now…now it's like I'm afraid that he'll break at the slightest move, and I_ know _that he won't. He's done too many stupid things and survived them to have that happen._

Rika smiled mentally as she remembered times when Takato had proven himself strong as both a Tamer and a person, such as when he jumped out of Taomon's shield to save Guilmon while Zhuqiaomon tried to destroy him, or when he had first biomerged with Guilmon and fought Beelzemon. Or when he had apologized to Guilmon while a Devidramon, shortly before digivolving to Growlmon, was crushing him. Or when he had refused to let go of her when they were on Locomon despite the danger to himself.

But she realized that she couldn't quite let go of her worries either. While she considered her friends to all be strong in their own ways she still worried about how her actions would affect things between herself, Takato, and Jeri. Her friendship with Jeri seemed to have remained stable while her friendship with Takato appeared shaky at best. As for Takato and Jeri's friendship…she had no idea as to how things were between them, and that… _that_ was what worried her. And she would have to confront that worry sooner or later, and the sooner, the better.

"I've got to go," said Rika after a few minutes of thought. "I've got to head down to Hypnos and get an update, and I've also got to check up on the others and see how they're all doing…especially Henry."

"Of course," said Rumiko in a sad tone. She had hoped that Rika would have taken some time to relax after coming home, but she guessed that it couldn't be helped. Rika preferred to take care of things as soon as she could, which wasn't exactly a bad habit to have though it could make her difficult to keep up with at times.

"And Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Rumiko smiled. "Don't mention it. Oh! Before you go, I just remembered to tell you that your teacher stopped by to drop off the homework that you missed…"

Rika groaned and rolled her eyes. "Terrific…"

* * *

_"…And so far no explanation has been confirmed as to what has happened at this home, but eyewitness accounts indicate that the damage was caused by a digimon. Authorities within Hypnos still haven't made any public acknowledgement of this spectacle, but it is said that a statement will be read at six O'clock…"_

Yamaki turned off the television set and turned to the images of his superiors displayed via his projector.

"I warned you that this would happen if you allowed Itokawa to involve himself in Hypnos affairs again. The man's a loose cannon."  
One of the images on the projector screen lit up revealing a thin, wiry man wearing clothes similar to Yamaki, as well as sporting a pair of dark sunglasses on his face. Aside from the thinly cut, dark hair the man could almost be taken to be a clone of the Head of Hypnos.

_"People do make mistakes Yamaki, as you yourself are well aware of. As I recall, you've been through some pretty dark and trying times yourself. Let us not forget Juggernaut after all…"_

"And that was a mistake that I corrected," replied Yamaki tersely. "Itokawa however has not changed his ways since he was last here, and he has remained as reckless as ever. The news report that I just showed you is but one example. Unleashing Argus within the home of a civilian and getting into a battle with the Tamers as well. And while we're on the subject of Juggernaut, need _I_ remind you that he nearly destroyed Hypnos by ordering its reactivation while the Tamers were in the digital world?"

_"I must agree with Yamaki,"_ spoke up a feminine voice as one of the other images lit up; a brunette woman dressed in a smart, blue colored business suit. Her voice sounded highly irritated. _"We can hardly overlook this debacle. Releasing Argus within the confines of a civilian's home? The public will demand answers, and that something be done in response. They will not look kindly on Itokawa's actions…neither do I for that matter."_

_"But we don't have a complete report on what it was that had happened!"_ Exclaimed another voice, one that sounded almost flighty and panicky. A new image became highlighted, revealing a fat, balding man standing on a golf course, caught in mid swing with what looked to be a putter. _"For all we know Yamaki could be trying to make Itokawa look bad and get him suspended…"_

_"Yamaki may be many things,"_ said the female smoothly. _"But he has never gone down to lying except to the public."_

_"I must agree with my colleague,"_ said the wiry man. _"Yamaki has done what he can to maintain a cap on the digimon situation. Perhaps we were too hasty placing Itokawa in such a trusted position…"_

"My thoughts exactly," said Yamaki dryly.

_"Don't think that we're going to replace him just yet Yamaki,"_ said the wiry man. _"My other esteemed colleague is right in that we don't have a complete report on what has happened, so we can't withdraw him from his position right away until we have confirmation of his recklessness. In addition with Argus still as yet incomplete with its tests I'm reluctant to let someone with his talents go…_

_"And I'd rest easier knowing that the fate of the world was in the militaries hands and a capable Argus then a bunch of kids,"_ spoke up the golfer. Yamaki frowned beneath his sunglasses.

"The Tamers have proven themselves more then capable of handling any digital threats that cross over into the real world…"

_"We've gone over this before Yamaki,"_ said the brown haired woman irritably. _"We're well aware of the accomplishments of the Tamers, especially in light of the efficiency of the military and yourself to contain the digimon threat. But as we said then, we require some measure of insurance and good faith so as to not completely rely on them. What's that old saying? Never put all your eggs in one basket? We'll launch an investigation of Itokawa and his actions and we'll take your report into consideration, but for now Itokawa stays and will continue to supervise the tests of the Argus program. Is that understood?_

Yamaki grimaced as he held his lighter in one hand, flicking it open and closing it in frustration.

"Crystal. But don't expect me to just take this lying down…"

_"I don't expect anything less out of you Yamaki. Just send us your report after you've had your meeting with the Tamers and we'll take things from there."_

With that the projector clicked off and the window shades behind the blonde haired Head of Hypnos began to rise so as to allow light back into the room. Yamaki clicked his lighter open again as he turned and exited his office, anxious to hear what the Tamers had to say about their encounter with Argus.

* * *

Dracmon groaned as he lay on his back, surrounded by a field of rapidly fading mists. Blinking blearily beneath his black colored facemask the impish little digimon sat up, cringing at the soreness of his body, and at the headache that threatened to tear through his skull.

_Owww…that…rates pretty high on a scale of one to pain…_

Dracmon shuddered as he fell back and curled up into a fetal position, clutching at himself as he fought to calm down and find some measure of peace to his scattered and disorganized thoughts before he could even consider moving on. Glancing around with one green eye, Dracmon tried to get his bearings as he tried to recall what had happened to him and how it was that he had arrived back in the real world again.

_Let's see…the last thing that I remember was…arriving back in that weird digital space with DinoRexmon…Oni appeared and DinoRexmon was mad at him about something. Something to do with Argus…Argus and…Shutu…_

_"The Ten…"_

Dracmon's eyes flew open as he staggered to his feet, his body screaming at him to not do anything drastic, but the memories that now assaulted his battered brain told him that he couldn't afford to sit around and rest. Not with what had just happened earlier.

_DinoRexmon…he said something about the Argus program really being the Ten Legendary Warriors…the Shutu was actually the inheritor of the Wind Spirit, Zephyrmon! He was going to go back to the real world to deal with it…take it out for good! Can't say that I blame him either. We both grew up hearing the stories about the Ten Legendary Warriors when we were in the Celestial Kingdom of the West. If Argus really is the spirits of the Legendary Ten then we gotta let them loose! It's not right to involve them like this! I can't believe that Oni tried to stop DinoRexmon from going through with his plan! Why? Why would he…?_

Dracmon's thoughts were inexplicably cut off as a dark laughter reached his ears, though the mists of the digital field were now dispersed enough to give him a clear view of the surrounding area. So far, there was no one nearby from whom the laugh could have come from. Not that it mattered. Dracmon _knew_ who was laughing, so he wasn't at all too terribly surprised that he couldn't see the source.

_Oni…_

_"You want to know why I would do something like this?"_ Spoke up the voice from the shadows. _"You're so inquisitive as a Rookie, Dracmon. Wonder what happened to it when you were in your other forms. Oh wait. That's right. You digivolved. Shame. You probably would have realized what was happening sooner otherwise. Too focused on saving your own people that you didn't realize that you were all doing what I wanted you to do. But then, how could you? After all, my arrival was like…a wish come true, isn't that right? But I'm someone else's wish. There's no room for another with me…"_

Dracmon didn't even bother trying to talk to his former ally, or even demand what had happened to DinoRexmon. The answer to the latter seemed kind of obvious if Oni had tracked him all the way down here when he had last been seen tangling with said digimon. It rather surprised him actually. DinoRexmon had been renown for not losing in battle. He tended to win more often then not, and when he went up against a powerful foe it either ended in a draw or events forced them apart, to live and fight another day. DinoRexmon seemed to have lived a charmed life, which was one reason why so many had looked up to him.

_Guess his luck had to run out sooner or later,_ thought Dracmon bitterly as he leapt up into the air…

…Only to be obstructed by a wall of pure blackness. Dracmon slammed into it and fell backwards, grunting in pain and surprise.

"Your luck had to run out sooner or later too, Dracmon," said the dark wall as it began to form itself into an all too familiar figure with long, gangly limbs and hand like wings protruding from his back. But DinoRexmon's luck is holding better then you, but he'll still serve his purpose. Exodus will have been completed once he gets here, and after that nothing will stop the next stage."

"Lemme guess," said Dracmon as he wheezed from his spot on the ground. "War between the human and digital worlds? You know…that is such a villain thing to do…spilling your plan to helpless victims…"

"How ironic to hear that from one such as yourself," chuckled Oni as a sphere of dark lightning crackled to life within one hand. "A pity that you will never digivolve to the point where you can truly appreciate those words."

_"Pyro Grenade!"_

Oni looked up bewilderedly just in time to find a purple colored fireball flying in his direction at high speed. The fireball impacted into his body and threw him backwards and away from Dracmon, who looked over in confusion. Standing, crouched low to the ground was a black-scaled reptile with red stripes and a red hazard symbol emblazoned on its chest. A deep, dangerous growl was emanating from the back of its throat as it stalked forward, golden eyes glimmering like a predator that had found its prey. Oni quickly got to his feet and snorted derisively at the creature. He didn't know what it was save that it resembled one of the Tamer's digimon.

_What was it called? Guilmon? Well, this one's different from what I remember hearing about. Regardless, it means nothing to me. Dracmon on the other hand…_

Oni looked over to where he had left the tiny demon, and his white eyes widened considerably as he realized that with the _BlackGuilmon's_ distracting him, Dracmon had given him the slip!

_Oh, you have got to be kidding me…_

_"Pyro Grenade!"_

Slashing with his claws Oni ripped through another oncoming ball of fire before turning a baleful glare on the BlackGuilmon. It was already advancing towards him at a rapid pace, its claws now becoming coated with purple and blue fire.

_Hardly a threat._

Forming another sphere of black lightning Oni lashed out at BlackGuilmon, tossing it with extreme prejudice and taking some measure of satisfaction from watching the sphere detonate on BlackGuilmon, sending a spider web of deadly electricity tracing a path across the reptiles body and causing it to scream in pain as it flailed its arms about. Lunging Oni crashed into BlackGuilmon and sent him to the ground, only to be caught off guard by the creature as it smashed a claw into the side of his head and forcing Oni onto his back with itself on top. Growling BlackGuilmon opened its jaws and bit deeply into Oni's neck, causing the creature to scream in pain and surprise. With a sudden pulse of energy Oni blasted BlackGuilmon off of his body, sending the dark creature crashing to the ground just a few feet away from him. Pursing his white lips into one thin line, Oni got to his feet and readied another sphere of dark energy while data flowed freely from his injury.

_It's hardly enough that they destroy each other mercilessly, now they have to be treating me as though I were a meal? DinoRexmon can go on about how not all digimon are the vicious, destructive animals that they appear to be but I don't buy it! This…BlackGuilmon is an example of that! I can sense all the pain and despair that_ birthed _this creature! Similar to my own…to the pain that gave me form. The only difference is that this thing is mindless and with little to no purpose at all. The human world will thank me if I put this one down like any other animal that's gone rabid…_

Throwing his energy sphere at BlackGuilmon Oni stepped back and watched as the crackling lightning ball surged towards BlackGuilmon. Relentless, unstoppable…

Suddenly the red Hazard sign emblazoned on BlackGuilmon's chest flared to life and space around it seemed to warp and take on a red, murderous hue to it. The black sphere of lightning smashed into the crimson aura and dissolved effortlessly, leaving Oni aghast at this sudden and unexpected turn of events. Flapping his wings, Oni thought to take to the air and retreat before his injuries got the better of him…

And that was when BlackGuilmon did something that gave him pause.

The crimson aura that surrounded the dark reptile flickered, and then flared. As though it pained it in some manner BlackGuilmon let loose a horrific scream as its body suddenly began to phase in and out of view, distorting and suddenly Oni saw something that absolutely left him speechless. Within the confines of the aura, just barely visible and seemingly surrounding BlackGuilmon was the form of a human girl, clutching at her head and twisting in agony, as though what pain BlackGuilmon was feeling was her own. And there was something else as well. Oni couldn't quite make it out however, but it didn't matter anyway, because no sooner then he saw the strange apparition then did it wink out of existence along with the crimson aura. BlackGuilmon fell forward, its claws digging into the dirt and its body trembling.

Without warning eight, black and white colored, angelic wings tore themselves out of BlackGuilmon's back as its body began to take on a more humanoid figure, but still retaining some measure of its original reptilian form such as its tail. BlackGuilmon's screams took on a strange note to it, as though there were _three_ voices within screaming as one. Black hair sprouted from the top of the creature's head and flowed downward while blue colored tattoos crawled their way up its chest, surrounding the red Hazard symbol and flowing over its left arm where it ended off with a Blue colored Hazard on the back of the left claw. Red irises replaced the gold while blue replaced the whites.

Oni was astounded by what he was seeing. Extending his senses, his astonishment reached even greater levels.

_What the…? There are_ three _essences sharing that body! And what's more…one of them is_ human! _I was fighting a human in the form of a_ digimon! _I don't…_

Oni's thoughts were cut off as the crimson aura once more flared around the creature's body and for an instant Oni's eyes locked with that of the human who was trapped inside of the demonic body that stood before him. Tears flowed from the red and blue eyes, and Oni could feel the torrent of emotion that was overwhelming the human…the _child_ within.

_"Please…help me…"_ the girl within the monster whispered just before the Hazard symbol on her chest pulsed once more and sent a crimson colored shockwave careening towards Oni. Four screams united as one rent the air as everywhere in the city, computer screens glowed with a red, hazard symbol.

And within the depths of the digital world, a blue colored cloud took notice as it moved across the digital landscape.

_"Digital Hazard signature…detected!"_


	43. 42/ Under a Red Sky

"So…" began Impmon slowly as he observed his red colored, reptilian friend casually. "Remember anything now?"

Guilmon smacked his lips as he looked at the row of Guilmon bread, his golden eyes sparkling.

"Maybe I'd remember better if I had just one of those juicy bread rolls…"

Impmon rolled his eyes and groaned in exasperation.

"Don't you mean _'one more'_? I've already fed you three of those things…"

"And they taste really, really good…"

"I know. I've had some myself after you wouldn't stop pestering me about trying one out. I'm just glad that Takato never taught you how to use a phone; otherwise you _really_ wouldn't have left me alone. But that's beside the point Pineapple Head…and _don't_ go calling for Takato about me calling you that again! I'm not being mean!"

"But why do you keep calling me that anyway?" Asked Guilmon, cocking his head to one side quizzically. "My head doesn't look like a pineapple."

"You're right. Rika does when she has her hair up, but that's not something that I'd dare call her if I want to keep myself in one piece. The reason why I call you 'Pineapple Head' is…ah…forget it. That's drifting away from the point I was trying to make earlier. What I was going to say was that I've already fed you three pieces of Guilmon Bread, and getting glares from Jeri each and every time she's caught me sneaking one out, or from Takato every time he notices that a freshly baked one is missing from a cookie sheet, and you _still_ don't remember anything!"

Guilmon blinked at Impmon.

"But it seems like every time I eat one, I feel like I'm close to remembering something."

Impmon groaned mentally and massaged his forehead.

_I really wish Renamon were here. She's got a lot more patience then I do. But I said that I'd do my best to help Pineapple Head remember his past life, and that's precisely what I'm going to do, even if it kills me. Just…hopefully not literally._

"Yeah, well, given your eating habits I'm thinking that we'll need to change our strategy before you eat your Tamer out of house and home."

"How does eating bread mean 'eating my Tamer' and his home?"

Impmon groaned again, this time audibly and palmed his face.

"It's just an expression Pineapple Head. And it doesn't mean eating your Tamer or his home. It means…ahhh…never mind!"

A moment of silence fell between the two digimon, broken only when Takato came bustling into the kitchen and grabbed the remaining Guilmon Bread, and after eyeing Impmon and his wayward bread consuming friend over the number of Guilmon Bread that he found remaining, quickly went back to the front of the bakery to restock the bread shelves.

_Good thing that Jeri had Kazu stick some more of that stuff into the oven for baking before we got here,_ thought Impmon as he watched the brown haired Tamer leave the kitchen.

"Hey Impmon?"

"Yeah? What's up dough boy?"

"Why is Takatomom and…Jeri," Guilmon looked over at Impmon to make sure that he got the name right. Impmon nodded, signaling to Guilmon to continue. "Why is Takatomom and Jeri so quiet towards each other?"

"That, my lumpish friend, is what's called the million dollar question."

"Oh. What's that mean?"

"It means everyone's dying to know. Anything else?"

"No. Not really."

There was another brief lull of silence before Guilmon spoke up again, almost more to himself then to Impmon.

"Hmmm…he was like that around Rika too…"

Impmon raised an eyebrow at the large, red dino, a strange thought beginning to form in his mind, but then no sooner had it formed it was quickly dismissed.

_Does he mean…? …Nah. Couldn't be…_

* * *

Guilmon wasn't the only one to have noticed the uncomfortable silence that had developed between Takato and Jeri. They themselves were quite well aware of it, but as they both were stuck operating the bakery until Takato's parents got back home from their duties there was little they could do about talking to each other and relieving that tension until the stream of customers had died down a bit.

Takato took a deep, calming breath as he opened up the slide door to the display case and began to place the freshly baked Guilmon bread within, marveling at the fact that it had been Kazu of all people who had baked them. When Jeri had told him that she needed someone in the back to check on them while she dealt with the customers he had half expected to find the batch badly burned in spite of the rather obvious lack of smoke coming from the kitchen. Okay, so he had been a little bit unfair when he estimated Kazu's metal in the bakery, but this was _Kazu_ that he was thinking of. Kazu, who whether intentionally or not, drove their teacher Ms. Asagi up the wall. Kazu, who had a difficult time handling the tests and homework assignments that the teacher handed out…

_Though now that I think about it, he did start to change that after the battle with Lucemon…_

…And on occasion say or do something that he shouldn't, which translates back to his driving their teacher, like most other adults who had the unfortunate luck of meeting the Tamer, up the wall in search of aspirin.

Takato had to wonder…was he dreaming again?

_My dreams tend to be rather strange,_ thought Takato sarcastically. _But I don't think that I would ever have thought that Kazu, or Kenta for that matter, would end up working here. At least this explains what they meant by their 'taking care of things' here while I was down at Okinawa._

Takato breathed in the sweet, cinnamon aroma emanating from the Guilmon bread as he finished placing them inside the top rack of the display case, awed at how good they smelled, and again impressed that it was Kazu who had baked them. Takato chuckled lightly over the irony. After all, it _was_ Kazu who had first thought of the money winning bread design.

_Who would have thought that it would be Kazu who would end up inventing something that would become so successful? I really need to give him the benefit of the doubt more often._

"Takato?" Called up Jeri from the cash register. Takato turned towards her, feeling his body tense up slightly at the sound of her voice…and from other memories.

"Uh…yeah Jeri? What's up?"

Jeri pointed to the cash register.

"We're a little bit short of spare Yen for change, could you grab me some?"

"Sure. No problem."

Takato disappeared upstairs into the living quarter section of the house and promptly came back downstairs with a roll of Yen, which he handed to Jeri, who quickly broke it open and placed the coins into the cash register. Takato watched her as she did this. For a moment, Takato was struck by their situation, working side by side in his family's bakery, like his mother and father…

Takato's face became slightly downcast at the comparison and he quickly turned away, preparing to head back to the kitchen to see if there was anything else that needed taking care of. Jeri's voice, mingled with the clinking of coins, stopped him in his tracks.

"So, how was your time at Okinawa?"

Takato blinked and turned around, his crimson eyes falling on his friend. She wasn't as yet looking at him, focused as she was on sorting out the money, but there was something in her amber colored eyes that caught Takato's attention.

"It was…fine, I guess. A little bit relaxing…except for the part where the digimon bio-emerged but other then that it was… _fine…"_

"…I guess."

Jeri looked over at him as his voice drifted off and took a distant, melancholy, and uncertain tone to it. Seeing the way that she was looking at him Takato jerked himself back to attention and tried to cover all of his worries and frustrations that he had been feeling these past few weeks.

"Er…not that I didn't have any fun that is! Guilmon dug a lot of holes after he was born and…ah…I got sprayed with ink by an octopus while I was swimming yesterday…"

A small smile appeared on Jeri's face, and her gaze seemed to become… _calmer_ , and lighter in some fashion.

"I'm glad to hear that you had a good time…all things considered," said Jeri as she turned back to the cash register and closed it shut. Takato took a moment to see if there were any more customers around and raised an eyebrow. The place was strangely empty.

"We were all pretty concerned about you Takato," continued Jeri as she leaned backwards to work a crimp out of her back. "Kazu sometimes had to be persuaded to leave this bakery in your parents hands just to get out and do something different. Either that or it was a digimon rampaging in the streets. You should have seen Guardromon. He filled in for Guilmon with advertising."

Takato chuckled, imagining the massive android wearing an apron or an advertisement like Guilmon did whenever he was out selling Guilmon Bread. It seemed too ridiculous to even conjure in his imagination. Almost as ridiculous as Guilmon wearing a backpack like he had envisioned almost a year ago when he had thought Guilmon was scaring couples in the park.

"That must have been quite a sight," said Takato wistfully. Jeri nodded, still smiling softly at the boy.

"It was actually rather admirable on Kazu and Kenta's parts, them working at the bakery while you were away. Even though they burnt some of the bread on their first day they still made a go at it and learned." Jeri giggled lightly as she remembered some of her times working in the bakery with the two boys, though of late she had been sharing that time with Kazu more often due to his dedication to the task. And as frustrating as he could be with his blunt and goofy attitude, she could easily see how Takato, Kenta, and Kazu became friends in the first place. They were the sort of friends who would support each other through thick and thin, no matter how often they got on each other's nerves. Jeri took a moment to calm down before looking back at Takato and speaking again. "It just goes to show how much they care about you as a friend Takato. You mean a lot to all of your friends…"

Takato's thoughts paused as he listened carefully to what Jeri was saying. For some reason it felt as though a light had just gone on in his head.

_What is she getting at?_ Takato's brain whispered, too dazzled by the thought that had now sprung up in his mind to even organize itself properly.

"Jeri? Are you…?"

"You mean a lot to Kazu, to Kenta, to me, to Henry…" Jeri met Takato's eyes levelly, and deep within their amber depths Takato could see a mix of emotions that he couldn't quite accurately describe. Sympathy? Understanding? What?

"…And to Rika," the brown haired girl finished softly, and Takato felt as though his entire world froze right then and there. A memory flashed through Takato's mind of himself, sitting in his room with Rika next to him, holding him. Both of them staring into each other's eyes, eyes that were full of care and a deep, trusting friendship…red against violet… And then Rika was leaning towards him, her eyes closing shut…and then…

…Warmth.

Takato felt a sense of shame, as well as dread, well up within his heart and he clenched his eyes shut as he tried to get a hold of himself. All of a sudden, Takato had a feeling that Jeri already knew the particulars about what had happened between himself and Rika. There was just something in the way that she kept looking at him since he had arrived, the way that she acted around him…distant and uncertain, like he had been as soon as he saw her at the cash register. And…Takato thought back to when Rika, and later Impmon, had joined him at Okinawa. Didn't one of them mention something about Jeri spending the night at Rika's house shortly before Calumon had arrived there?

_And just how did Calumon get there so quickly?_ Thought Takato distractedly as he reopened his eyes to find that Jeri had taken some steps closer to him, gauging his reaction before reaching out and placing one hand on his arm, causing the boy to flush terribly from the contact, and the shame and fear that he felt from earlier, driven by the feelings that Rika's kiss had sparked in him to double in intensity, and to also be joined by intense confusion.

"She told me about how worried she was about you when you lost Guilmon," continued Jeri, her voice strangely quiet. Though to Takato she might as well have been firing cannons. Every word that she said hit Takato hard, even though he knew, just by the way that she was touching him and speaking to him, that they weren't meant to be that way. Her words were full of care and understanding…

…And somehow, that just made it all the more worse for him.

Feeling his heart hammering in his chest, Takato screwed up his courage, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Jeri? Why are you…?"

"Rika told me what happened between you and her," spoke Jeri abruptly, her hand falling away from his arm and moving over to rub her own. "She told me about how she cares about you and…" Jeri sniffed and then gave an odd, wry chuckle. "Oh listen to me. This…this isn't how I wanted to talk to you about… _that._ It's just, when I saw you come home, and the way you looked when you saw me…" Jeri again brought her eyes to meet Takato's. "You two didn't even talk about what happened between you, did you?"

Takato groaned and turned away, shifting his feet awkwardly.

_Come to think of it, this isn't how I wanted to open up this kind of conversation either,_ he thought as he took a deep, calming breath to steady himself. For some reason though, knowing that Jeri knew, and had brought it out into the open, and wasn't angry with him about what had happened (at least, that's how she sounded to him) made him feel slightly easier with speaking to her. But only slightly…

"Jeri…what happened between me and Rika…" Takato took a moment to accept the fact that Jeri had found out before he had even told her before speaking again. "No. No we didn't talk about it. We tried but…neither of us was really ready for it. I had been meaning to talk about it for a while now, but… I was afraid to. I really was."

Takato sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I didn't mean for it to happen Jeri. Well…I guess that's true because I wasn't really expecting that sort of thing from Rika. I mean, we've been kind of close friends for a while now, but…" Takato looked over at Jeri, his eyes confused and sad. "… _More_ then friends?" Takato shook his head in surprise. "I don't know. I never thought to look at her that way."

Jeri raised an eyebrow, and almost against her will, a playful, teasing smile that belied the tense scene that they were in, curved upwards on her face.

"Not even once?"

"Not even once," answered Takato, taking no notice of Jeri's bizarre smile, or the mischievous tone that she had.

_Not even when I had that dream about her,_ thought Takato, remembering the first moment he had ever saw Rika…outside of the real world that is. He still didn't even understand what that was all about, and somehow he doubted that he ever would.

Jeri's smile turned into a silent frown over her failed attempt to lighten the mood, even if the subject matter was hardly the kind that would do just that given what they were talking about now. With a contemplative look at Takato, Jeri once more drew close to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her next words were ones that Takato would never have expected from her.

"Have you ever thought about giving her a chance?"

Takato looked at Jeri bewilderedly, his eyes wide with surprise and his mind awhirl with confusion. Thoughts stumbled around in his head as though lost in the dark and tripping over things that had just been blown about by a powerful wind.

_Did she…? She couldn't have…! She…I…we…Rika…_

Takato blinked at the directionless motion that his were going in, and Jeri gave him a small smile, and a soft squeeze on his shoulder for emphasis. Takato opened his mouth to say something to her… _anything_ …something so that he could get some order to his thoughts again, and tell her how he really felt…about her and Rika…

Suddenly a sharp gust of wind rattled the window of the bakery, and both of them turned just in time to see the sky starting to turn a deep, blood red discoloration. Over by the doorway that led into the kitchen Takato heard a low, animal-like growl that Takato was all too familiar with.

"Guilmon?" Looking over his shoulder Takato found Guilmon crouching low to the ground, his eyes dilated and feral looking, and his mouth was drawn into a snarl. Impmon appeared next to him and looked towards the window.

"Something…doesn't feel quite right here," said Impmon narrowing his eyes at the red light outside. "Something feels _very_ wrong here."

The clicking and beeping of their digivices caught both of their attention and both Jeri and Takato reached down and pulled them out. Even though Jeri was no longer a Tamer, she still kept her digivice close by, but whether or not it was to remind her of Leomon and how close he was, even in death, Takato was never sure about. Dismissing such thoughts Takato looked down at the screen and frowned before his eyes widened again. On the screen was an all too familiar symbol to the both of them.

A glowing, crimson, Hazard symbol.

Takato looked up at Jeri and their eyes met once more. After giving him an affirming nod Takato took off his apron and raced towards the door, quickly checking to make sure that he had his cards with him before leaving. Impmon and Guilmon raced after him and Takato barely had time to throw open the door to let them outside. Pausing, Takato once more looked over at Jeri, the ghost of their unfinished conversation hanging between them.

"Jeri…"

"Takato…" Jeri interrupted. "Just…be careful out there. Please."

Takato's face became firm and he nodded, understanding her reasons for interrupting him, _reminding_ him of his duties as a Tamer to Shinjuku.

"I will." And with that Takato burst outside to join his two friends.

* * *

Jeri didn't waste time watching Takato race off. She knew that every moment that she had counted. She didn't know what was coming or what was going on, but she had an idea that it was bad and that Takato was going to need all the help that he could get. As she burst into the kitchen she quickly made her way towards the bakery's phone and began dialing the one number of the person that she knew would be available for this sort of thing. The one person that she trusted to help and protect Takato when he needed it.

* * *

Rika climbed off of Kyubimon as soon as they came to a stop in front of the main entrance to Hypnos, and after a quick devolution on Kyubimon's part back to Renamon, the two were just about to make their way inside when a familiar voice hailed her from down the street.

"Hey! Rika! Fancy meeting you here!"

_Kazu,_ groaned Rika mentally as she turned to face her friends as they strode towards her.

"Hey guys," said Rika as she placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head to one side. "What's up?"

"Just getting back from a rather bizarre fight with a Wild Digimon," replied Terriermon from on top of Henry's head. Rika frowned as she took note of the fact that Terriermon looked rather… _ruffled_ and worn. Rika surveyed the rest of the group. Ryo and Cyberdramon looked more or less the same, though there was a troubled look on his face that she had only seen once before during the battle with Matadormon, and it looked like it had been there for a while now. Henry bore a look that was much the same way, as did Kazu, even though he appeared to be as jovial as ever. And Kenta…he had a look on his face that she had seen on Takato a few times before, when he had seen the damage that the D-Reaper had done to the digital world.

_What's happened to us?_ Thought Rika exchanging a look with Renamon. _I don't think that any of us looked like this since D-Reaper. You'd think that we've been through a war or something._

_Maybe we have,_ spoke up Renamon's voice from the depths of the girl's mind via the telepathic link that they shared. _As you noted yourself, things have been 'haywire' of late._

"Care to fill me in then?" Asked Rika. "Because from the way that you all look I'm under the impression that it was pretty bad."

"Just a little distressing," said Terriermon. "And full of confusing, vague hints at something bigger. Though it was a little bit rough on all of us too…except for Kazu. He showed up late…"

"Hey!" Exclaimed Kazu indignantly while Henry frowned at his partner.

"Terriermon…"

"Look," interrupted a girl standing next to Kenta with blonde hair tied into pigtails. Rika turned her gaze over to her and raised an eyebrow, realizing that she hadn't noticed the girl standing there earlier. "We could either stand around trading insults and one liners or we could bring your friend up to speed. Long story short: a bunch of digimon went nuts at a friends house and Kenta fought them off!"

Rika looked at the girl for a moment, wondering who she was while she pondered on the girls words.

_She looks familiar. I think I might have seen her hanging out with Jeri before…after that fight with the snake Deva down in the subway tunnels._

"Glad at least someone has some sense here," said Rika before looking over at Kenta. "Is it true?"

"Um…I think Ayaka may be going overboard with my part in it because I was the only one on the job until Ryo showed up…"

"Don't you think that you're selling yourself short?" Asked Ayaka with a slight, angry edge to her voice as she turned her attention on the bespectacled boy. "You faced two mind controlled digimon or whatever they were, freed one of them and then took on that big, green, dinosaur guy with those bad excuses for ingrown toenails…"

"Technically they were claws…and they _weren't_ ingrown. Just large."

"Hey! Who's telling the story here? You or me?"

"Well who fought the battle Ayaka?" Asked Kazu trying to chip in for his friend. Ayaka snorted and turned a baleful glare at the boy.

"Certainly not you…"

"All right, that's enough you guys," interrupted Henry before looking back at Rika. "Anyway, seeing as how you're back Rika I take it Takato's here too?"

"He's at the bakery actually," said Rika. "But he's back. Guilmon and Impmon are with him right now. I'm just stopping by to let Yamaki know what's going on and to check up on you guys but I see that you took care of that part for me. Impmon says that you all have stories to tell…"

Henry shrugged his shoulders. "You'll no doubt hear about them sooner or later, but right now we have to see Yamaki too about our battle from earlier. You might want to hear this one too. It has something to do with that Argus program that Yamaki told you about after that business with Matadormon…"

Rika noticed a subtle change in Ryo's expression out of the corner of her eye when Henry said that, and briefly wondered again what it was that was up with him. However, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gust of wind that blew over the group of children. So intense was the wind that Rika staggered to maintain her balance while Terriermon was nearly blasted off of his Tamers head. Cyberdramon looked up at the sky and snarled.

"Ryo…the sky."

"What's up with the sk…?" Ryo's words were cut off as he looked up. Rika was just about to chide him about using his eyes rather then ask stupid questions before thinking to use her own advice and look up herself. The Digimon King and Queen's gaze was quickly joined by the rest of the group, and their eyes widened at the sight of the sky taking on a blood red color.

_What the…? What's up with the sky? I haven't seen it like this since Yamaki ripped open the sky with that stupid Juggernaut of his!_

"Rika!" Rika looked over and gasped upon finding that Renamon's paws were clenched tightly into fists, and her fur was standing on end, giving her an appearance that, if she didn't know her partner better, would have been comical. Rika felt a cold shiver trace its way up her spine at her partner's state. Rika hadn't seen her like this since the time they had faced the digimon Sovereign Zhuqiaomon.

"What's going on? Renamon!"

"Something's out there," Renamon said in a low voice. "Something… _powerful."_

Rika was just about to ask for clarification when all at once their digivices began blaring their usual warning signal, and after taking them out everyone looked at each other, perplexed at the strange, grouping of crimson triangles that were glowing ominously on their digivices screens.

"Someone mind telling me what the heck is up with our digivices?" Asked Kazu.

Henry looked up, his brow furrowed in concentration and thought as he looked out towards the city streets.

"This symbol…we've seen it on Guilmon…"

"The Hazard," said Rika. "We know that Henry! But we don't know what it is! You said that the digimon merchandise that this thing appears in doesn't say much about it, and that's saying a lot because I've only heard about this thing _once_ in all the time that I've played the card game." Rika chewed the inside of her mouth in agitation as she frowned at the ground. "Takato told me that the Hazard symbol that used to be on Guilmon wasn't on his original drawings when he first scanned Guilmon…"

Henry looked as though he had been shocked when he heard that.

"Wha…? When did he tell you that?"

"Yesterday, after Impmon gave us a few minutes with that fancy communicator of his."

"Are you sure that he was remembering it right?" Asked Terriermon. "You know how absent minded Takatomon can be sometimes…"

Henry's mind was awhirl now. At first he had been leaning towards Terriermon's assertion about Takato's drawing though he had never actually seen the original picture himself…

_No. That's not true. When we first met Shibumi in the digital world some digignomes messed around with Takato's digivice and activated a holographic image of what looked like the drawings that Takato used to create Guilmon. I didn't get a good look at it then but…I think that there wasn't a Hazard sign on him._

Henry frowned, not liking the implications that this entailed.

_Shibumi said that the digignomes used spare data to create Guilmon…but now that I think about it, where_ did _they get that data?_

"I'm pretty sure that he was telling the truth…" began Rika before the ring of her cell phone cut her off. Pulling it out of her pocket she flicked it open.

"Hello? Jeri? What's…" Rika frowned. "All right. I got it. Don't worry. I'll let you know how things go when we find him. Okay. Bye."

Rika closed her phone and quickly pocketed it.

"That was Jeri. She says that Gogglehead's gone off to investigate what's making the sky act up. We ought to go looking for him to make sure that he doesn't get into any trouble."

As one the children and digimon nodded.

"So where do we start looking?" Asked Kazu. Rika simply raised her digivice and frowned at the hazard symbol that glowed on the screen.

_Really wish this stupid thing would just go away…_

As if in response the blue ringed D-Arc clicked and beeped for a couple seconds, and then the Hazard symbol receded, and was replaced with the familiar halo circle as it hovered above her digivice, the compass function already beginning to scan the surrounding area before settling in an area that was decidedly in the direction of Takato's bakery.

"Very simple," said Rika with a smile growing on her face. "Just follow the arrow."

Ryo nodded and walked over to Cyberdramon, who helped him climb onto his shoulder before flexing his wings and taking to the air. Ryo looked outwards over the city as Rika and Henry quickly digivolved their partners to join him, a sense of uneasiness settling in his mind as the sky flared, as though it were on fire.

_"Now this is where things get interesting,"_ spoke up the all too familiar voice of Milleniummon within the Legendary Tamer's mind. On instinct Ryo gripped his gold rimmed digivice harder.


	44. 43/ The Storm Unleashed

In all the time that Yamaki had been in charge of Hypnos he had always been a man in control. This facet of his personality could trace itself all the way back to his childhood, a combined result of his upbringing and his own natural preference for order. Yet ever since the digital world was discovered and Hypnos was organized Yamaki felt as though the universe was striving to work against his views of the world and how it should be run. These days he felt more and more like he was less in control then he thought he was and that the universe was laughing at him behind his back at his futile efforts and self assertions that what he did actually mattered. This feeling of lack of control was often precipitated by what had been becoming a habit of his for the past year to arrive at the control room where his two network operators Riley and Tally worked and demand to know what precisely it was that was going on. Knowledge was power, and knowledge could be organized and quantified, but with the digital world something new and unexpected was always being let loose.

Such was the case now.

"What's going on?" Demanded Yamaki as he stepped into the darkened control room, his shade covered eyes already looking up towards his network operators. Somehow though he was certain that he could easily get an idea as to what was going on even without their help. After all, a red hazard symbol was glowing brightly on every computer screen in the facility, and if he remembered correctly from what the Tamers told him, that symbol was connected to one Tamer and his digimon; Takato Matsuki and Guilmon.

Still, a little clarification always helps, even if Yamaki was now starting to think of it as an exercise in futility.

"We're getting an abnormal spike in data patterns within the real world," replied Riley as she typed furiously, processing the raw data as quickly as it came in.

"Origin?"

"West Shinjuku district," answered Tally, her fingers mirroring the rapid pace of her partner. "But beyond that there's little that we can tell you at this moment. There's a flood of corrupted code infiltrating our systems from this data surge and it's threatening to overload them sir. We've had to shut down all unnecessary systems to compensate but it's only a temporary fix. This thing's spreading like wildfire! I can't isolate it!"

"Never mind isolating it for now! Just work on saving what systems you can before that thing gets to them! Riley! Get me a satellite feed of the source of the disturbance! I want to see what's going on out there!"

"Mind telling me what's going on?"

Turning towards the voice that spoke Yamaki grimaced when his eyes landed on the all-too familiar site of Itokawa as he entered the control room.

"A damaging line of code has been unleashed in the real world with severe repercussions on all of our systems if we don't figure out a way to contain it before it gets too far out of control."

Itokawa looked up at the screens, eying it curiously before looking back at Yamaki.

"That symbol…I've read about it before in some of your reports, and it's been mentioned in some of the new protocols and regulations in regards to the Tamers. It's associated with one Takato Matsuki, am I correct?"

Yamaki narrowed his eyes beneath his sunglasses. "What's your point?"

"The government has been keeping a close eye on your dealings with the Matsuki boy since the last recorded incident in which this symbol appeared and it was confirmed that he was responsible for its first appearance. You are quite aware of how much damage that he did to the network the first time, are you not?"

"Hold on. We don't even know if Takato even _is_ behind this incident…"

"His partner, Guilmon is the only one that we've seen to have used this symbol in the past. It was emblazoned on his body in all of his evolved forms. Rather surprised that you didn't make the connection sooner given how it was, quite literally, under your nose. Now, your mission statement is to prevent any and all threats to the real world from that of the digital. If we find that the Matsuki Tamer and his partner are behind this most recent incident, then shouldn't we take steps to ensure that Takato's partner is unable to continue…?"

A loud crack suddenly filled the air as Itokawa staggered backwards in surprise, pain lancing through his jaw and he gripped the railing leading up to the pedestal where Riley and Tally sat for support. Riley and Tally both gasped at the sound and turned to see what was going on. Yamaki was standing over Itokawa, one hand massaging his fist as he grimaced from the discomfort that throbbed in it, a result of the punch that he had landed on Itokawa's jaw. Yamaki glowered in thought as he looked at his reddening knuckles. He hadn't seen it coming, though he couldn't say that he was at all surprised by his actions. Itokawa had been pressing his buttons in all the wrong ways since arriving, but he had been able to hold back. But until the man thought to mention, even _think_ about implementing _dealing_ with Guilmon and Takato, a euphemism that he knew too well to stand for _destroy,_ a dull red haze had settled in his mind, blanketing his sense of control and the next thing he knew he had snapped.

"Let's get one thing straight between us Itokawa," said Yamaki in a smooth, monotone voice. "I don't care about your interpretation of Hypnos's mission statement. Takato Matsuki and his partner Guilmon have always shown themselves to be an important part of the Tamers, as well as to Hypnos operations even in his unofficial status as an employee. We don't have a full understanding of what's going on out there, and leaping to conclusions at this point can only make things take a turn for the worst.

"And besides," continued the blonde haired Head of Hypnos as he straightened out his suit and took a calming breath. "Takato has been through enough already. And I won't have someone like you interfering with his life, or his happiness. Now get out of here before I have you thrown out."

Itokawa regained his balance and glared at Yamaki venomously.

"You're going to regret this Yamaki. I'll see to it that you do."

"Save your threats for when this is over. Right now I have a job to take care of…for however long it's going to last."

Still glaring at Yamaki Itokawa made his way out of the main control room. Yamaki watched him go until the man had left before turning up to his two operators.

"Well? What are you looking at? We have jobs to do. Do them!"

"Yes sir!" Exclaimed both Riley and Tally a little more exuberantly then he would have expected from them. The sound of fingers typing filled the air for a minute before Riley looked back down at Yamaki, a small smile crossing her lips.

"Nice left sir."

Yamaki chuckled, feeling some sense of satisfaction flowing through him even though he knew that he was going to end up paying for his actions later.

_Oh well…_

"It's all in the fist," replied Yamaki.

Suddenly a new alarm began blaring. Cursing under his breath Yamaki looked up towards the screens reflexively, almost forgetting that they were covered with the still glowing Hazard symbol, which had already knocked out the majority of their sensors. Fortunately for them, that did not mean that they were one hundred percent blind. They had other means of tracking incoming data from the digital world.

"Report!"

"Incoming high level Wild type! I can't stop it!"

* * *

Takato narrowly ducked an incoming trash can as another gust of wind swept through the streets of Shinjuku, blowing all sorts of material that wasn't already anchored down around and sending some of the heavier objects smashing into windows. All around him people were ducking into stores, alleyways and apartment buildings to avoid the strange storm as it tore through the city. Nothing serious had happened as yet, but many people were familiar enough with the odd and oft dangerous occurrences that went on in Shinjuku to know that whatever was going on, this was most likely just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Especially since past experience with the sky suddenly and inexplicably transforming into a red fire or tearing open to reveal another world usually preceded an attack by rampaging digimon or digimons.

No one wanted to be around when the creampuff hit the fan.

"Sheesh!" Exclaimed Impmon from his place on top of Guilmon's back. "This is nuts! Stuff's flying around everywhere and this wind's getting worse by the minute! Either of you got an idea what's causing all this ruckus?"

"Not a clue Impmon," said Takato as he checked his digivice, frowning at the red hazard symbol that continued to glow on its screen. "None of this makes any sense. This thing looks like it's the hazard symbol that used to be on Guilmon before Mr. Mizuno reformatted him but there's nothing going on with either of us, and I don't know any other digimon that even _have_ that thing marked on them!"

"Why don't we start with what we do know about that symbol," said Impmon looking curiously at Takato. "Like why did you put it on Pineapple Head in the first place?"

Guilmon, at the moment, was not paying attention to either participant in the conversation, as he was too busy testing the air with his nose, and his feral eyes scanned the area around him, searching out the direction that his senses were telling him that he must go.

"That's just it, I didn't."

"What?"

"I _didn't_ put that hazard symbol on Guilmon when I first drew him! My original drawing, when it was scanned, didn't have it on him at all! I didn't think too much of it at first because I got so caught up with having a real digimon. And then the Devas showed up and started attacking the city that I didn't have time to think about it."

Takato repositioned his legs as another gust of wind blew over them, stronger then it had been last time. Takato could feel his balance starting to become less certain, and with the intensity of the wind he was starting to think that he should pull his Goggles down over his eyes to protect them from any more flying debris.

_One thing that I agree with Impmon on…this_ is _nuts! I've seen a lot of weird things but this takes the cake! If it weren't for the fact that there wasn't a hole in the sky above Hypnos I'd think that Yamaki had fired up Juggernaut again and it backfired! Right now, I've got no idea as to what's going on. The digivice makes it pretty clear that this has to do with the Digital Hazard…something that myself and none of the others really even know anything about! Even the card game barely references it. But it's definitely related to the digital world…_

_…Hey. Didn't that BlackGuilmon I created have the Hazard symbol on him? And…what about Lucemon? He had one too…I think. But BlackGuilmon was destroyed and Lucemon returned to the digital world after loading him. At least, that's what the others tell me. I wasn't awake for that part of the fight. But since those two digimon seem to be related to it, could this freak weather pattern have something to do with one of them? Did Lucemon decide to come back?_

A brief flash of fear surged through Takato's chest at the thought of Lucemon possibly returning to finish what he had started with Guilmon, but he quickly squashed it. Now was not the time for that sort of thing. He had a job to do and he was going to do it no matter what. All he had to do was do what it took to keep himself and his friends alive, not damage the city too much, and hope that things worked out for the best.

Simple, right?

Takato looked back at his gold rimmed digivice, hoping that it at least would provide him with some answers, but all that he received for his questions was the continued presence of the glowing, Digital Hazard. Definitely _not_ simple.

Guilmon sniffed the air once more and crouched, his growling increasing in intensity, causing both Takato and Impmon to look at him in concern when suddenly Takato's digivice once more gave a call of alarm, and an explosion rocked the area around them, kicking up yet another gust of wind and a cloud of all too familiar mist to disperse through the city streets.

"A digimon's bio-emerging!" Exclaimed Takato as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes and pulled out his digivice and three cards from his pocket.

"I can see that," said Impmon as he took a step forward. A second later the diminutive imp was surrounded in an aura of luminous light and his body grew until it towered over Takato, revealing the all too familiar form of Beelzemon in his Blast…

_Hang on there a second…_

Takato's eyes widened, as he looked Beelzemon over. The digimon looked more or less the same as he always did whenever he digivolved straight to his Blast Mode form. Great Birdlike wings arching from his gray leather jacket, his 'Death Slinger' cannon fixed to his right arm. Only in this time there were some slight differences. Beelzemon's eyes, which had always been green whenever he shifted to his Blast Mode, were now a calm, azure color. The metallic, rodent like tail that usually twisted behind him and could on occasion serve as an offensive weapon had disappeared entirely and an entirely new belt hung around the Demon Lord's waist with a secondary attachment slung upwards and over his shoulder, connecting to a elongated version of a weapon that Takato remembered all to well from once upon a time.

_Is that…Leomon's sword?_

Takato had no time to post the question to his friend as an unearthly roar cut through the city and a massive, but battered looking green scaled reptile with large talons emerging from its feet emerged from the dense digital field. Takato's mouth hung open at the creature's size but he quickly shook himself loose and looked over at his partner.

"Are you ready boy?"

Guilmon rose upwards, his eyes still dilated as he was still held within the intense grip of his feral instincts. But even so, a small part of him, his core, made itself known through the fog of his current animal mindset.

"Always _Takato!"_

Takato blinked in surprise, and then his mouth grew into a wide, open smile.

_He did it! He remembered to say my name right! He…oh never mind that for now! Rampaging digimon on my twelve!_

"Hold it right there, bub!" Called out Beelzemon, catching the dinosaur's attention. "I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but this is as far as you get! Now I'm required to let you know that if you try to escape or do anything violent, I can respond in kind. Not that I need the permission of course…"

"Stow it, Demon Lord," snorted the massive reptile as he lunged forward. "I've got no time for you."

"Oh great," muttered Beelzemon as he leapt up into the air and brought his cannon to bear. "You try to be considerate and look where it gets…AGGHH!"

Beelzemon cried out in pain as the curved portion of DinoRexmon's toe claw slammed into his midsection with ferocious force, forcing the air out of his lungs and catapulting him backwards into the air. The massive saurian watched Beelzemon go until he crashed into the street a few yards away and snorted disdainfully.

"Any other takers?" DinoRexmon asked in a fake tone of politeness as he turned to look over at Takato and Guilmon.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

"I thought as much…"

* * *

Itokawa slammed open the door of the room that had been designated _his_ office since arriving at Hypnos and shut it behind him with an equal amount of force before pausing a moment to attempt to calm down. Displays of frustration had done little to alleviate the anger that he had felt towards Yamaki. The nerve of the man! To actually _strike_ him! He'd have him fired for sure for that, no questions! The man had been warned about what would happen if he attempted to impede any further development of the Argus project, and this situation most definitely fit the required use of said program. After all, Takato Matsuki was a Tamer, and it was a sure bet that none of he others would do anything to harm him or his partner, even if they went out of control. He knew groups like that. Tightly nit together they were, and by all reports Matsuki was their leader, which gave the Tamers all the more reason to follow him and not stand up against him. And they were _children_ as well; children who acted as though they knew better then their elders what to do when it came to the digital world. If he had his way he'd do away with the Tamers as a group altogether and research better ways to contain and destroy digimon as they entered the real world. Grani and Yuggoth…such brilliant and promising programs that were eventually left to waste with unfulfilled potential.

_And that was what Argus was designed to be! To fulfill that potential! At least in its original format…_

Itokawa walked over to his laptop computer and turned it on, grimacing at the Hazard symbol that flared to life on the screen. He wasn't too concerned about it though. A quick look at some of his systems showed that the Hypnos Operators Riley and Tally had managed to impede its advance just enough to allow for normal operation. And that was all that he needed. A few minutes during which Riley and Tally would be too busy coping with the Hazard and the incoming Wild digimon and he'd finish what he had originally thought on doing.

_Hypnos is all about protecting the world from threats,_ thought Itokawa. _Clearly Yamaki has forgotten this little fact. Either that or he's grown soft. Regardless, I think that it's time that Hypnos lived up to its obligations…_

* * *

Riley pursed her lips together as she furiously typed away on her computer, trying to keep the Hypnos firewall up to speed with the Hazard code before it could completely infect their systems. So far, with Tally's help she was succeeding, but they both knew that they were simply running out of ways to stay ahead of the Hazard, and running out of time. Sooner or later, unless something happened to drastically alter the situation to their advantage, the Hazard was going to overwhelm their systems and all of Hypnos, and perhaps the city as well, was going to crash.

A blinking light on one of the screens caught Riley's attention, and upon seeing it she cursed under her breath.

_Oh no…no… You have_ got _to be kidding me! Not now!_

"SIR! Argus! It's being activated!"

"WHAT?!"

Yamaki dashed over to a nearby computer council, and after quickly confirming Riley's report began working to shut it down.

Unfortunately, he knew it was already too late. The Hazard was indirectly preventing him from gaining full access to the Argus program, and until he could shut it down, it was going to have free reign to do whatever it wanted. The situation was once again beyond his control.

* * *

Itokawa sat back in his desk, smiling, feeling rather pleased with himself. True, he didn't doubt that Yamaki would be more then just irritated with him once he caught wind of what he had done, but ultimately the board would decide his fate and they were every bit as aware as he was about the dangers that the Digital Hazard offered to the real and digital worlds, perhaps more so then others as they had a complete file on the subject from its first appearance on the net to its latest…at least before this incident. Glancing out the window behind him, Itokawa noted the flash of lightning that poured through the air, beating in time with the pulsating Hazard that was currently on his laptop computer screen.

Itokawa looked at his watch.

_Argus should be descending upon the central source of the Hazard soon. They should be able to take it out. I've set the program on a system rotation among all the subprograms for the 'ifs' and 'when' the individual models are defeated in battle. A pity that we never fully figured out how to properly control the secondary forms, especially Vritra, but as the old saying goes, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. The board understands that concept very well…_

* * *

Oni groaned as he tried to get back to his feet. Data was pouring from his injuries and he was beginning to feel extremely weak. This situation had come as a complete surprise to him, and it was swiftly spinning out of control. Oni looked at the mutated figure in front of him. It… _she…_ was screaming still in her strange, triple voices and clutching at her head, looking for all the world as though she were struggling for some sense of control or at least sanity.

_This is bad…this creature has the Digital Hazard as a part of her data code! I can't believe that I didn't realize this sooner…or even_ detect _it during my time here! I mean, I knew that the Guilmon had it but it was mostly buried and had only emerged once when he was in the digital world, and that was well before I underwent my…_ transformation. _Even afterwards there was no way that I could use it for my own purposes, as his Crimson Mode sealed it completely and his regular Mega Form, so far as I know, had no access to it. But this… This_ hybrid _…doesn't have the same cap on the Hazard as the other Guilmon does. It's flowing freely right now, probably more because of the instability of sharing one form between two entities…two entities that both have the Hazard? Interesting…_

_This changes everything. I won't even need Argus to suit my needs. If I can just spirit away this child…_

Oni grimaced and flexed his claws.

_I wish that she didn't have a human part to her though. Especially that of a child. It just makes the whole idea seem…distasteful and unpleasant. Children always seem to suffer so much from the things that come from the digital world. I'll have to find a way to keep this child safe and alive for when I execute my plan…but first…_

Oni stumbled and gasped, clutching at his wounds.

_But first I need to rest…and heal. I'm going to need to visit my_ benefactor _so that I can restore myself. I'll also need to think of how to best go about this too. This girl…is dangerous…unstable…_

As if to drive the point home, another wave began to buffet his body, and he could feel the intense power that lay behind it. And it wasn't even fully unleashed either, but more the first taste of a storm that was to come. The lightning before the thunder. The raindrops before the flood.

_Of course, she'll probably end up killing herself before I can make use of the Hazard. I've got to…_

Oni paused as he took note of the various forms beginning to materialize in the air around himself and the hybrid child.

_I recognize that code! That's Argus! The Ten are formatting right here! But…!_

Oni didn't have a chance to complete his thoughts as another wave of energy washed over him.

* * *

It felt as though she were in the middle of a hurricane. Pain seemed to explode in every fiber of her being, and voices shouted in her mind, feeling as though they were struggling for dominance in a war that was as old as time itself, uncaring for those that were trampled underfoot. Her skin felt like it was on fire, and images of angels, strange and frightening creatures that she had no name for, knights and a place of darkness flashed through her mind with such intensity and speed that it hurt just to keep track of them. Images of each of the Tamers, and of humans that she couldn't identify also flashed through her mind, intermingled with thoughts and feelings of pride, rage, anger and jealousy. None of it was hers but she felt as though she were drowning in them anyways. They swamped her, overwhelmed her just as relentlessly as did the voices that continuously shouted in her mind.

Something snapped in her and she soon found herself shouting at them too, begging, _demanding_ that they shut up and leave her some peace to sort herself out and try to understand what was happening to her. Alas, the voices, one roaring like a dragon and another with the voice of a human, or somewhere in between, did not even hear her, so caught up in their own private war with each other that anything outside of it might as well have been meaningless and beneath their notice.

Noriko Nakata, frustrated by her ignored attempts to be heard did the only thing that seemed sensible to her in such a situation. She lashed out.

* * *

_"What's going_ on here?!" Bellowed Itokawa as he surged out of his chair, surprised by the readings that he was getting via his present connection with the Hypnos network. He had been monitoring the progress of Argus as it began to realize in the real world when all of a sudden the Hazard code suddenly gave a burst of power and then everything was thrown out of proportion! Right now the Argus algorithms were trying to realign themselves, but their positioning and guidance protocols weren't responding as well as they should have been, and weren't coordinating at all with the initial coordinates that he had given them.

_If I'm reading this right…_ thought Itokawa as he clenched his hands together on the sides of his desk. _Argus could materialize anywhere in Shinjuku that it detects the presence of digimon. And with the Tamers out there…_

Itokawa looked over at his office window, feeling a sense of dread flowing through his heart and mind, clenching him tightly in its suffocating embrace. Glancing back at his computer, Itokawa's face paled. The combat protocols that he had initially set before activating Argus had been erased. There wasn't going to be any distinction between what targets Argus chose now, be they human or digimon.

_…Oh no…_

* * *

Rika regretted not finding the time to grab her sunglasses as she was now forced to cover her eyes as best as she could with one hand while still maintaining some measure of visibility and a sure grip on Kyubimon as they leapt from one rooftop to the next, following Cyberdramon and Rapidmon's lead as they sped through the city, keeping a sharp eye on what looked to be the source of the digital disturbance ahead of them. Behind her she could hear Kazu and Kenta talking as they rode on Guardromon's shoulders, trying to assure the blonde haired girl, Ayaka while she held on tightly to Guardromon from her place tucked between the android's arms, that she was essentially in good hands, though Kazu also derided her for even arguing to stay with them in the first place. Ayaka had been adamant in her decision to stay with the Tamers, and they really didn't have the time to convince her otherwise, and had simply told her to stay out of the way when they touched down at ground zero.

Rika lowered her hand just enough to double check on her digivice to make sure that the compass hadn't changed direction or anything while they've been traveling. It hadn't.

_Takato…you'd_ better _not be doing anything stupid out there or I'll live up to all of my promises about making the Devas look like cuddly little kitty cats when I get through with you!_

The sound of a digivice warning signal going off was all the forewarning that Rika had before Kyubimon suddenly twisted to the side. Grunting in surprise Rika held on tightly to her partner as they landed a short distance away from where they had been, narrowly avoiding the flash of lightning that smashed into the rooftop and blasted a hole in its surface. Her eyes widening in surprise Rika looked up in time a strange, gray armored humanoid with what looked like a beetle's horn sitting on a helmet flying towards her and Kyubimon at high speed. And out of the corner of her eye she also saw Cyberdramon getting tackled by a similarly colored being, only this one looked to be dragonic in appearance, and bore fiery wings. Explosions ripped through the air as Rika heard Rapidmon pronouncing his _Rapid Fire_ attack, but she didn't get the chance to see what his opponent was as her current one slammed into Kyubimon before she could get away, knocking her off of her partner and sending her skidding a good distance, tearing a hole in the knee area of her jeans and erasing a layer of skin in the process, causing the red haired girl to hiss as nerve endings flared in pain.

Rika just began to pick herself up from off the rooftop when she heard a footstep behind her. Looking over her shoulder Rika had just enough time to acknowledge yet another gray armored, warrior like being before it raised what looked like a short, mechanical device and a blade of light hummed to life and extended outwards.

The warrior rushed her a second later.


	45. 44/ Argus Descends

Aiko Nakata fiddled with the door lock to her apartment home, her keys jingling together as the bolt was thrown open and she pushed the door open. Casting a glance over her shoulder Aiko frowned as a siren call began to sound upon the air in time with the distant thud of an explosion. It seemed as though the battle was far enough where she wouldn't have to worry about it but certainly still some cause for concern. She could hear some of the other families next door making concerned noises or continuing to just simply go about their daily lives. Not for the first time did Aiko consider taking her family and moving to another area, and not for the first time was she surprised that there were people outside of herself who continued to live in Shinjuku despite the constant attacks that digimon made upon the city.

_I wonder if it's considered madness for someone, or even a group of people, to live in an area that is known to be dangerous. One would think that we would show more common sense when it comes to that sort of thing. We're like moths attracted to the flame. Of course, for some people it's not that easy. Some people are just tied to the land and are unable to leave._

Aiko chuckled as she stepped into her home and closed the door with a click behind her.

_Out of all the kinds of dangers we could possibly live with, it had to be digimon. Some people live near volcanoes. We used to be afraid of earthquakes. Now it's creatures that_ cause _earthquakes and live in an alternate plane of existence. If there's a lesson in there somewhere I think I must have missed it._

Aiko barely had just enough time to close the door when her son Daisuke, the youngest of her children, crashed into her and grabbed hold of her legs, laughing playfully as he hugged her closely to him.

"Hey Mom!"

"Hey yourself," chuckled Aiko as she untangled herself from the boy and bent down so that she could wrap her arms around him to pull him into a more complete hug. "Did you have a good day?"

"It was okay," said Daisuke. "The teacher gave me a lot of homework as usual and Digimon was a repeat again today." Daisuke's face turned into a pout as Aiko pulled away from him.

"Don't worry, Dai," she said reassuringly. "I'm sure that they'll start coming up with new episodes sooner or later. The producers just want to wait for things to calm down before trying to try it out again. You know how scared people are of digimon right now…"

Daisuke's pout increased, but otherwise said nothing more on the subject. Feeling that a change of subject was required Aiko spoke up again.

"So how's Noriko doing?"

Daisuke shrugged.

"Don't know. She was kinda weird today on the way home, like she was thinking about something. She didn't even say too much either. We left school, went home, and after she fixed me a snack she went into her room and hasn't come out since then."

"I see," said Aiko simply, eying the hallway that led to the bedrooms, thoughts from her brief and interrupted conversation with the digimon Tamer playing through her mind. "Well I'll have to go see what's up then."

Aiko got back up to her feet and began to walk towards her eldest child's bedroom, taking off her coat and tossing it on top of a nearby chair to hang up later.

"Are you finished with your homework?" Aiko called over her shoulder as she made her way towards Noriko's bedroom.

"No," sulked Daisuke, kicking lightly at the floor.

"Better go finish it up then," chided Aiko playfully before returning her thoughts to her daughter. Old thoughts and worries that had been becoming increasingly prevalent all day ever since she had witnessed that strange scene in her daughter's bedroom plagued her once more. Her conversation with Henry had been… _enlightening_ , but not all together satisfactory. Henry could only offer some theories to her questions, but without a clear idea as to why she was asking her questions to begin with (as she herself wasn't sure what she was looking for) there was little that he could do to help her.

_At least I got one thing out of it,_ thought Aiko, her hand covering a pocket on her blouse. _I got the number that I need to call Hypnos._

"Noriko?" Called Aiko as she rapped lightly on her daughter's door. "You in there, sweetie? It's Aiko."

No answer.

Frowning Aiko turned the doorknob and entered Noriko's room. The room was empty save for Noriko's belongings. Textbooks lay on her desk, open to random pages, though they did not match up to the notes that Noriko had written in her notebooks. A light breeze emanating from an open window had blown the pages over from their original assigned areas.

_Hmmm…_

Panning around the bedroom Aiko stepped out of the room and headed towards the bathroom, thinking that she had just stepped out for a break.

_But didn't Daisuke say that Noriko hasn't left her room since coming home?_

The thought hung there for a moment, and a frightening thought crept into her mind. Not willing to give into it Aiko continued on her path and stopped in front of the bathroom door, knocking on it as she did with Noriko's room.

"You in there, honey?"

"I'm out here, Mom!" Called out Daisuke, thinking that she was looking for him.

"I'm just checking to see if Noriko had gone to the bathroom," called back Aiko.

"She didn't," replied Daisuke. "She never left her room."

"I'm just checking anyway," replied Aiko, though for some reason she felt that Daisuke was right. Even when Noriko was rushing to the bathroom, she always took a moment to say see her if she was just getting home from work even if it was just for a quick 'hi'. Noriko considered herself to be very close to her family. And then there was the fact that Noriko had yet to answer her from the bathroom. Surely, if she had been able to hear, she would have answered…wouldn't she?

Aiko was reminded of horror stories that she had heard about similar situations, where parents had walked in on their children, finding them in a situation where they had killed themselves, had an accident, or something of that nature. She didn't think that Noriko had that kind of nature in her, mainly because she and her daughter had the kind of relationship where they normally shared things with each other and talked each other through their problems. She had been sure to do that ever since her father had died, as that had been something of a terrible time for her…for the both of them. It hadn't helped that she had been eight months pregnant with Daisuke at the time, and Noriko had been too young to fully come to grips with what had happened. They both needed each other, but more importantly Noriko needed something to anchor to for stability, and that meant a mother who didn't keep her out of things, that didn't talk to her when she needed an ear to listen to her while at the same time teach her to be independent.

For a brief, frightening moment while she stood outside of the bathroom door, Aiko was afraid that all of her efforts had been in vain, that something had stuck with her from those days from when her father died, and she was going to find her daughter dead on the bathroom floor.

_You won't know if you don't open that door,_ echoed a thought in Aiko's mind and gathering her resolve she pulled the door open.

Nothing.

Frowning, Aiko did a complete check of the apartment. The kitchen, the living room the closet, Noriko's bedroom again, even her and Daisuke's own rooms.

Nothing. Nothing. And nothing.

The fear began to creep back into her again, advancing ever so slowly as Aiko fought to keep it at bay. Daisuke was watching her, concern clearly written on his face, questions dancing in his eyes. Aiko had no answers for the boy, as she could not answer the one question that eluded her.

_Where is Noriko?_

The thud of explosions from the digimon battle echoed across the city, a silent answer to Aiko's question.

* * *

Rika quickly rolled to the side as the energy sword descended on her, narrowly missing her lithe form as it smashed into the concrete rooftop where she previously had been. Reacting on pure instinct Rika lashed out with one foot, smashing the steel toed shoe into the kneecap of her opponent with enough force to upset the gray colored warrior's balance and force it to go down to one knee. Quickly scrabbling back up to her feet Rika didn't hesitate a moment to keep up on her attacks on the warrior, by delivering another brutal kick across what she perceived to be the unprotected lower half of the warrior's featureless _face_. Kyubimon was otherwise occupied dealing with some sort of humanoid insect and was unable to reach her right away, and if she was any judge of battlefield tactics she would be in more danger just trying to find some breathing room then she would keeping the pressure on her opponent and keep it on the defensive rather then the offensive.

She might as well have been trying to kick a piece of furniture for all the good it did her. The _warrior_ did not even react to her attack, though its balance was now even more upset and it lurched to the side…but only slightly. Growling under her breath Rika noticed out of the corner of her eye that her opponent was using the force of its momentum given to it by her kick to bring about its other arm in one smooth motion, another energy blade flaring into existence. Cursing Rika, with reflexes engrained into her from all her days as a Tamer and some shared instinct via her bond with Renamon, ducked beneath the oncoming sword blow and threw herself to the side, rolling across the rooftop to avoid the next attack that she was sure was going to follow. The sound of an energy blade humming as it slashed through the air where she had stood only confirmed her suspicions.

_I'm at a disadvantage here!_ Rika's mind shouted as she got to her feet and assumed a defensive position, automatically going into the stance that Kai's grandfather had taught her during her stay at Okinawa. _With Kyubimon occupied all I have on me to fight with are just my D-Arc and my cards! And I'm not anywhere_ near _skilled enough in fighting to take this guy on in a one on one match! I hate to say it but I could really use some help here…_

_"Guardian Barrage!"_

Without warning, dual robotic missiles with whistles in their mouth flew through the air towards the sword-bearing warrior that Rika was facing down with. As though seeing it at the last minute, despite its lack of eyes, the gray warrior leapt backwards, dodging the missiles as they shrieked by and detonated harmlessly in the air. Rika looked up to see Kazu hopping off of Guardromon, followed quickly Kenta and Ayaka.

_Wow…for once I'm actually glad to see Kazu,_ thought Rika with a dazed sense of sarcasm as she backed off a bit. Guardromon's engines kicked in at full force and he flew towards the warrior, an angry look crossing his cybernetic eyes as he raised his massive fists.

"That was uncalled for!" Exclaimed the noble android angrily while behind him Kazu drew a card from his deck box.

"Yeah! And that's no way to treat a lady either! Not that Rika's a lady but you get the idea…"

Rika's eyes narrowed dangerously at the visor-wearing boy.

"And just what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Ahhh…never mind," replied Kazu as the card he drew took on a familiar blue sheen to its surface and he raised it to his digivice. "But if you're actually offended feel free to hit me when this fight is over."

"Just so long as you don't knock him onto me again," muttered Kenta in the background, his voice low enough so as to go unnoticed while Kazu slashed his blue card through his digivice's card slot.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

M-A-T-R-I-X D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"GUARDROMON! MATRIX DIGIVOLVE TOOO…ANDROMON!"

The gray colored warrior fell back again as it quickly found itself being assaulted by a larger, faster, and more flexible android then what had been flying at it a second earlier. One of Andromon's hands was spinning rapidly, electricity crackling around around the spiral-shaped blade that it had become as Andromon raised his hand and slashed downwards. Lightning sparked and the gray warrior, scarf flapping in the breeze, leapt backwards again, trying to buy some distance and a moment to formulate a way to take control of the battle. Rika watched the warrior's movements with a critical eye.

_That thing's moving like it's picking and choosing its moves. It's definitely smart, but…what is this thing?_

Rika raised her digivice and the familiar halo circle materialized obediently to her unspoken request. Rika frowned, not liking the results that she was getting.

No Data

_That's not good,_ thought Rika, lowering her digivice.

"Kenta. Move up with MarineAngemon and see about using his heart bubbles to restrain that guy before he can counterattack."

"Already ahead of you Rika," said Kenta as MarineAngemon flapped his tiny wings and flew past Rika, his pink face set in a frown as he zeroed in on the sword-wielding warrior…

…Only to be knocked aside by a sudden and unexpected gale force wind that rained pink colored blades down on him.

"MarineAngemon!" Cried out Kenta frantically as he immediately began digging through his pockets for a card that he could use to help his partner. Taken off guard by the attack and disoriented by the winds that furiously battered his tiny form MarineAngemon was utterly helpless against the familiar bird like humanoid that they had faced before, once again returned to the gray, featureless figure that it had first appeared in. The bird warrior rushed in, paws surrounded by dark orbs and smashed them into MarineAngemon, knocking him away once more before the little fairy digimon could even think to form a barrier against the oncoming attack.

One would almost think that it was focusing on him particularly.

Taking a quick glance around Rika took stock of the situation. It wasn't good. Henry and Rapidmon were being double teamed by what looked like two more gray colored warriors, one of them looking almost lion like in appearance and armed with a lance and a transparent shield, jabbing at Rapidmon and firing a heavy energy beam from what looked to be a cannon in its chest. Rapidmon ducked and dodged as best as he could while trying to keep Henry out of danger, something that was turning out to be difficult with the other, metallic gray warrior with shields strapped to his arms attempting to outflank him. Turning one arm cannon to face this particular opponent Rapidmon fired off a missile. The shield bearer raised one arm and took the missile head on, and to Rika's surprise actually _absorbed_ the missile and firing it back out through its other shield towards Rapidmon, who's eyes were now bulging in their mechanical sockets at this unexpected turn of events.

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Shouted Henry as he slashed a card through his green trimmed digivice. "WARGREYMON'S BRAVE SHIELD ACTIVATE!"

Rika averted her gaze from the bright explosion that had kicked up from the explosion and she looked over to see Cyberdramon straining from his place on his back, still combating the fire winged gray monstrosity. Ryo was already getting up to his feet, his normally perfect hair surprisingly disheveled looking and his face grimy. Had they not been in a combat situation Rika would have surely commented on his untidiness, as it was so unlike his normal, unruffled appearance…

A shadow looming over her broke Rika out of her thoughts.

"Everybody! Scatter!" Shouted Rika as she dove to the side. Kazu, Kenta, and Ayaka didn't even think twice, having seen the shadow coming towards them as well and a stout figure drove what looked like a rather large hammer into the rooftop where they had been, sending debris flying every which way and causing the foundation of the building to shudder in protest as the shockwave from the impact reverberated throughout its structure.

_Blast. This isn't doing us any good. If we keep fighting up here this building's going to end up being destroyed and anyone in it is going to get killed! We've got to take the battle to a more stable area. But we can't exactly do that if we keep getting thrown on the defense!_

Rika once more quickly looked out over the field, gauging the battles that were raging. Her eyes settled on Kyubimon and Andromon.

_That warrior looks like he's holding up really well against Andromon, and that Bugmon's giving Kyubimon trouble with those electrical attacks…_

"Andromon!" She called out. "Back off and use your Gatling attack on that guy! Then change opponents with Kyubimon!"

"Hey! That's my partner you're ordering arou…"

" _Now_ is _really_ not a good time Kazu!" Rika snapped as she readied her digivice. Seeing the fierce look in Rika's eyes Kazu quickly nodded, berating himself for his knee-jerk reaction before calling out to his partner.

"You heard her! Go!"

Andromon responded fluidly. Quickly changing tactics the android leapt backwards, his chest plate flipping open to reveal a twin pair of shark-like missiles that soon fired and surged towards the sword wielder. Reacting on reflex the swordsmen sliced at the missiles with its two swords, causing both missiles to detonate, sending shrapnel flying into its body and fire to scorch its armor. Continuing to follow Rika's orders to the letter Andromon flipped backwards and reoriented his body so that he would be able to take the fight directly to the beetle armored warrior that was currently sparring with Kyubimon.

Andromon's movement was picture perfect as it sent one foot crashing into the beetle warrior's featureless face, sending it flying into the rooftop with ferocious force.

With a grin growing on her face Rika was just about to turn and compliment Kazu for his partner's speed and timing when she saw the same, stout figure from earlier flying towards her, hammer raised above its squat, featureless head…

_"Dragon Wheel!"_

A flaming blue dragon surged forwards from just over Rika's head, smashing into the hammer fighter, interrupting its attack and causing it to fall backwards like a stone that had just been dumped into a lake.

"Nice one," commented Rika as Kyubimon came up beside her, looking somewhat the worse for wear.

"Are you all right?" Asked Kyubimon.

"Shouldn't I be asking _you_ that? You don't look so good…"

"I'll be fine," said Kyubimon flatly. "But we might want to do something soon before we get sidetracked again."

With a nod of her head Kyubimon indicated Rika's first sparring partner, who was stalking towards Kazu and Kenta, who were currently rendered helpless and without the watchful eye of their partners by the fighting. Gripping her digivice tightly, Rika gave her partner an affirming nod and raised it above her head.

_"Biomerge Activate!"_

A blue burst of energy surged outwards as Rika pulled her digivice close to her chest, washing over her like a tidal wave, freeing her hair from the green ribbon that held it tied back and causing it to flow upwards as though blown by a powerful wind. Lines of data flowed around herself and Renamon, connecting them once more on the deepest of levels, their powers combining as one as their bodies began to merge. Words came involuntarily to Renamon's mouth as she felt herself fuse with the essence of her partner.

"RENAMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…"

Renamon's body warped and changed, as though distorted by water. Moonlight shimmered over her as a black body suit formed over her body, becoming more humanoid in appearance and long, silver hair flowed down her back before being tied off and separated to appear as foxtails. Four fox spirits of water, thunder, wind, and fire flew towards her, enwrapping themselves around her and forming bronze body armor, purple gloves and boots, and a fox shaped facemask. A long, bronze vajra staff appeared in her right hand, completing the transformation and she slashed it around her body as the two, now joined as one, shouted their name.

"…SAKUYAMON!"

Time seemed to crawl to a standstill as a golden aura surrounded Sakuyamon's body, and from within her data sphere Rika began to speak in a strong, melodious tone as the rings around her rotated in time with her words, processing her desire and will so that it could be transformed into action.

_"Fires of battle, passion of heart…friendships greatest strength…"_

Sakuyamon slashed her staff in an arch as she continued to speak, waves of violet energy surging outwards, causing the air around her to burn with a pink light, blanketing everything and everyone fighting on the rooftop and causing all battle to cease as all combatants turned to look up at her.

_"…No force can stand,"_ Sakuyamon finished, and as though her words were a trigger, the pink light contracted until only orbs hovered in front of each of the dark, gray colored warriors before detonating a second later, blasting their targets with a flurry of amethyst shards and sending the dark figures flying in every direction while simultaneously causing the forms of the metallic, shield bearer, the insect humanoid, the bird warrior, and the smaller, hammer wielder to shatter from the strength of the blasts and dissipate into shards of data that floated into the air harmlessly.

A wide grin bloomed to life on Ryo's face.

"Just when I think that I've got you figured out Rika," the boy said simply. Sakuyamon smirked at him.

"When you're dealing with me you ought to learn to expect the unexpected."

"Sounds like a rule that you should consider for our new friends," commented Henry as he pointed up into the air. "Look!"

Following Henry's direction all the Tamers and their digimon moved their gazes up just in time to see the forms of the sword bearer, the dragon, and the lion shift forms. The dragon took on a more humanoid appearance on the upper half of its body, with its featureless face taking on the look more of a wild man with horns and gaining human hands and digits while the rest of its body remained more or less unchanged. The swordsmen's body shifted to become smaller, falling onto all fours and becoming more _lupine_ like, with edged, blade wings that reminded Kazu a little bit of MetalGarurumon. The lion man also shared this transformation, as though like a twin only it was larger and lacking any blade wings. It more then made up for that with a much more imposing figure, and regal bearing, and from within her data sphere Rika could sense the power that was behind this form.

"They digivolved?!" Spouted Rapidmon incredulously. "But how? I thought Yamaki said that these guys were simply programs!"

"Did you forget my fight with the Zephyrmon already?" Asked Kenta from behind Sakuyamon. Sakuyamon frowned beneath her facemask.

"Hold on! What's all this now?"

"Fight now! Talk later!" Snarled Cyberdramon as he flexed his fingers and looked over his shoulder at Ryo. "I think that it's time for Justimon to join the fight!"

Ryo blinked at his partner's suggestion, surprised by how much more rational it sounded as the Ultimate level Vaccine usually disdained help in battle even if he counted Ryo as an exception.

_Cyberdramon must be picking up on something about this guy if he feels that he has to biomerge to take this guy on. Best get to it then._

And with that, Ryo nodded in agreement and raised his gold trimmed digivice, pointing it at his partner.

 "BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" He shouted, and a bright light cascaded over his body, enveloping Cyberdramon in its intensity.

* * *

_"Double Edge Sigma!"_

_"Splatter Hunting!"_

A long ultra dense digital claw smashed into a blade of razor sharp steel. Forcing the claw to the side WarGrowlmon pushed forward, bringing one of his armored, clawed gauntlets up in an attempt to smash it into DinoRexmon's face. DinoRexmon however took a step back and jabbed his other claw into WarGrowlmon's side, just underneath the chest armor, forcing the Viral Ultimate to decide between backing off from his attack or become impaled. Snarling and wincing in pain, WarGrowlmon redirected the course of his attack against the claw, aiming to chop it in two…

_We'll have none of that,_ thought DinoRexmon sardonically as he reared backwards and breathed a fearsome ball of fire into WarGrowlmon's face before pulling his foot back and then lunging forward. WarGrowlmon, caught off guard toppled backwards, his clawed hands grabbing hold of DinoRexmon's head, preventing the green-scaled reptile from sinking its teeth into his throat.

_"Atomic…Megalo BLASTER!"_

DinoRexmon howled in pain as twin blasts of crimson energy suddenly erupted from WarGrowlmon's chest, smashing into him and throwing him off of his opponent. DinoRexmon crashed onto the streets behind him, smashing a parked car in the process. Raising his head DinoRexmon looked to see the twin energy blasts rocketing into the sky like a volcanic geyser. Looking down at his smoking chest DinoRexmon winced, seeing the blackened scales that decorated the area of his body just below his neck.

_That…hurt. This digimon is much stronger then I would have expected for what looks to be an Ultimate. Either that or Oni took a lot more out of me then I thought when we fought earlier._

DinoRexmon narrowed his eyes, taking note of WarGrowlmon starting to get back to his feet, chest cannons glowing ominously while a deep, guttural growl emanated deep within his throat.

_The irony here is almost sickening. This digimon…he smells of the X-Antibody, yet I've never seen a digimon of this species before. I'd almost think that Oni is behind this creature's creation if it weren't for the fact that I know better. Oni may have pulled the wool over all of our eyes when it came to Argus but at least he provided an accurate, and detailed report of the Tamers and their partners. A pity that this one is partnered with a human. I would have offered him a place in Exodus…_

_"What would stop you from doing such a thing?"_ Whispered the memory of his old friend and companion, DinoTigermon. DinoRexmon smiled at the recollection of his now dead comrade.

_He was always the 'straight arrow' of our group. Always looking for a more logical and peaceful way of dealing with things while the rest of us simply wanted to act. I wonder…he had always been suspicious of Oni. There was something about him that rubbed DinoTigermon's instincts the wrong way. I should have listened to his concerns then. Funny how one thinks of these things in retrospect now. Perhaps I should try to reason with them…warn them about what happened…about what's most likely coming._

DinoRexmon gritted his teeth and hissed, impatience coursing through him. Patience was not a part of his nature, and it had amazed him that Oni had gotten him to sit still for the Argus testings. And he had a feeling that speed was going to be of the utmost importance after what had happened to him. Talking took too much time in his opinion, and actions always spoke louder then words. If he could get past this resistance and get to the source of the Argus program and destroy it, then it wouldn't matter what happened after that. The digimon and their Tamers could delete him or imprison him for all he cared, but he _had_ to get by this worlds defenders as quickly as he could. Without Argus, Oni's _real_ plan, whatever it was, would be ended.

It may not be what DinoTigermon would have wanted, but it was necessary if he was to make restitution for his blindness in being duped by Oni in the first place. He caused the mess; he'd fix it himself.

With that thought firmly fixed in his mind, DinoRexmon rushed towards WarGrowlmon.

* * *

Takato felt his arms tremble as he pushed outwards against an invisible force as it pressed downwards on him, and he grunted as he strove to maintain his balance and keep his strength flowing to WarGrowlmon. WarGrowlmon was presently locked in a contest of power with DinoRexmon.

_I need to use a card to help out Guilmon!_ Thought Takato fiercely in his mind. _But if I lose my concentration on my link with Guilmon he loses whatever edge he has over this digimon! The guy's a Mega and I can't even biomerge to help out! Beelzemon's out…_

_"Double Impact!"_

_Scratch that…Beelzemon's back in!_

Takato breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the shotgun shells that Beelzemon fired from his Berejena shotguns impact with DinoRexmon's skull. The blasts ricochet off of DinoRexmon's protective scales, doing little damage but the force of their impact knocked the massive reptile off balance, and with an effort, Takato pushed his body forward, mimicking WarGrowlmon's movements as they both joined themselves body and soul to defeat their opponent. With a mighty roar, WarGrowlmon pushed DinoRexmon off of his body and powered up the cannons on his chest once more.

_"Atomic Megalo Blaster!"_

Twin blasts of crimson energy once more erupted from WarGrowlmon's chest, slamming into DinoRexmon with searing heat and driving him backwards, digging up a long trench in the streets until WarGrowlmon finally relented.

WarGrowlmon bellowed loudly on the air as he felt the exhilaration of the battle and his connection through his Tamer flow through him. The strength that he felt coming to him from his Tamer! It was…beyond anything that he remembered feeling since he had hatched, and yet…at the same time it felt… _familiar._ And what was more, it felt like it was something that he had done before, and for quite some time too but he couldn't quite recall…

* * *

_A tiger's tail, transformed into three separate sticks attached by a chain, smashed into his arms as he protected himself with them. He could feel the close connection to his Tamer as though he were right there with him, lending him his strength, sharing it with him as surely as it were his own. Without hesitation, without so much as a pause to consider the feeling, but simply…accepting it as a part of him…_

* * *

_A massive, purple colored horse, roaring with frustration as he, WarGrowlmon, once again connected to Takato, slashed at him with his Radiation Blade attack. The horse…a Deva called_ Indramon, _was howling at him to surrender, to give up and accept his fate…to accept the_ Digimon Sovereign _as his ultimate ruler and to abandon his Tamer, Takato, and the rest of the humans to their fate._

* * *

_He was trapped beneath the Fusion Ball attack that had been fired at him by an extremely large pig…another Deva, and it had been ferociously powerful. His friends, Taomon and Rapidmon were struggling to continue the fight without him, and he had been helpless…_

_…Until Takato stepped forward into the streets…into danger, giving a roar of his own, firing up his fighting spirit and before he knew it, the Fusion Ball prison had been rent as though it had been made of wet tissue paper. With this newfound strength, he leveled his gaze on the giant pig and began to stomp towards him. A supreme confidence filled him as Takato's spirit lent him what seemed to be an endless source of strength. This digimon was_ not _going to defeat him or his friends…no enemy would_ ever _defeat them…_ ever! _No one was going to come between him and Takato no matter what…_

* * *

…When that was. But in the end, did it matter? The other digimon and their Tamers…even Takatomom himself seemed to think that it was important, and while he could sympathize, wanting to know all those people and places that he now had a feeling he was supposed to know only to have it dancing just beyond his reach, he felt that the here and now was more important. He was here, in the now, and he had Takato by his side with all of his friends supporting him…

…What more could he need at the moment?

* * *

"Did anyone tell you that you tend to scream a lot when Pineapple Head is at the Ultimate or Mega level?" Asked Beelzemon as he eyed Takato with an amused look while the boy leaned forward with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily…and happily.

"Well…what can I say?" Asked Takato as he chuckled lightly from Beelzemon's observation, still trying to catch his breath. "This job kinda requires you to really throw yourself into it. I guess you could say that it's…a scream."

"I can hardly argue with that," grunted Beelzemon in agreement. "Now what's the plan with this guy now? I'm willing to bet that even from that attack he's not finished…"

"How _right_ you are Demon Lord!" Cried DinoRexmon as he reared up and leapt out of the cloud of dust and smoke that had been kicked up by their battle, coming to a landing in front of WarGrowlmon, who got into a defensive stance, raising his arm blades and growling.

"Well," began Takato in response to Beelzemon's question. "I guess we just keep fighting him until he either gives up or until we destroy him." Takato grimaced and reached for a card from his pants pocket, not liking the idea of destroying a digimon, but it was plainly obvious that he couldn't afford to pull his punches with this one. After all, it wasn't pulling its punches with him.

Beelzemon nodded in agreement and raised Death Slinger, taking aim at DinoRexmon's right eye.

"Don't worry. I'll try to keep this as clean as I can…"

Beelzemon was just about to pull the trigger when he caught sight of some movement out of the corner of his eye. Glancing quickly to see what it was, all three of Beelzemon's eyes widened in surprise and without warning he shoved Takato to the side, the boy narrowly avoiding getting crushed by what looked like a massive tentacle. Beelzemon on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Crying out in pain from having his arm trapped beneath the weight Beelzemon brought his free hand around, the one armed with his Death Slinger cannon to fire at whatever creature it was that had just shown up and attacked him.

_Sheesh,_ thought Beelzemon as he began to squeeze the trigger on his cannon, taking note of the large, octopus like creature with a humanoid figure with female contours at the center of its body. _If that thing had any more detail I imagine that it would be one ugly looking broad…_

Beelzemon frowned as the jaws of his cannon separated and began to crackle with violet electricity.

_I didn't even sense this thing coming…_

Beelzemon's eyes twitched as they caught sight of some movement yet again, this time coming right above him.

_Uh oh…shoot now, think later!_

_"Corona Blaster!"_

Beelzemon pulled the trigger and blasted the nightmarish octopus off of him, relieving his arm of the weight that threatened to crush the weaponless appendage. Rolling to the side Beelzemon dodged a massive axe as it smashed into the ground, imbedding itself deeply into the pavement with bone crushing force. Sensing that it was going to be important for this fight, Beelzemon reached over his shoulder and drew his new sword, sparks flashing as it left its sheath. His three blue eyes connected onto a tall, muscular figure that looked as though it resembled a Gorillamon, only lacking an energy cannon, with a snout and two horns protruding from its head, plus axes.

Beelzemon took a moment to note that the creature had features on its face.

"All right bub. You want to fight? Then let's…"

Ripping its axe from the ground, the creature charged towards Beelzemon, needing no more prompt at all from the ex-Demon Lord.

* * *

Takato skidded on the broken ground, freshly scraped hands and knees singing their songs of pain. Fighting through the pain Takato scrabbled to his feet just in time to see Beelzemon duck underneath an axe that was aimed at his head before counterattacking with an attempted attack to his adversary's eyes. Takato looked down frantically for his digivice and the card that he had drawn to help WarGrowlmon when all of a sudden his body cringed as more pain ripped through his midsection, in time with WarGrowlmon's cries. Clutching at his ribs, Takato looked up, expecting to see DinoRexmon attacking his partner.

What he didn't expect to see was a fist attached to what looked like a string or a cable flying right at him.

Pain exploded in Takato's face as he felt the world around him lurch and his sense of gravity and balance became unhinged.


	46. 45/ Bonds

"What…just… _happened_ there?" Spat Yamaki, feeling his anger once more take a hold of him as he watched the Tamer's battle seesaw back and forth via the satellite imagery that they had accessed. At present he only had a view of the main group of Tamers, as that had been where the majority of the Argus program had been concentrated on when a sudden disruption in its core programming made it go wild. As yet he hadn't gotten around to checking up on where the rest of the program had wound up, but he had Tally working on that. Not that he was sure that it mattered from an academic point of view. Wherever they were he had an idea that they were causing just as much havoc as the ones that he had been able to account for already.

"It looks like Argus… _digivolved,"_ answered Riley as she read the readings that were being displayed on one of the computer screens that she and Tally had been able to restore back to normal. "Based on the data that I'm picking up, I'd say that the subprograms one and two have somehow merged together for the Agnis and Vritra, while the other remaining level ones have shifted directly into the level two."

Riley frowned as she lifted her visor and looked down at Yamaki from her seat.

"I don't understand. When you first showed me the documentation of the Argus file we both saw that each level one had a corresponding subprogram that was similar and more powerful, but there were just too many differences in their code for us to even write such an algorithm even though it was proposed. What just happened here…Argus shouldn't even be able to do something like that. That kind of ability should still be months down the road of design and field testing…"

Yamaki nodded, remembering how he had commented on how advanced Argus was in comparison to Grani when he first saw the program's file.

_I remember Dolphin mentioning how he had used the original digimon core programming to get the Arc to work, and even though he had been sure that the Arc wouldn't operate like a digimon that was precisely what it did. Are we seeing the same thing here with Argus? Is it evolving like the digimon? Strange…how were the designers of this program able to pull something like this off without any of the information from the Monster Makers. I should have a 'talk' with Itokawa as soon as this is all over…_

Yamaki immediately began to frown as he thought of the man that not too long ago he had assaulted. A dark thought entered his mind about Argus's rather _timely_ arrival in the real world. He didn't doubt that Argus's current scuffle with the Tamers was by accident. Initial scans indicated that they were going to realize at the point of origin of the digital disturbance that was causing the Hazard symbol to infect their systems right before they wound up where they were. _Directed_ before being _misdirected_ was a proper way of putting it in fact, and Itokawa _had_ been focused on sending Argus to the Hazard's source…what he had deemed to be Takato Matsuki regardless of any other possibilities…

_"You're going to regret this Yamaki. I'll see to it that you do."_

_Would he actually go that far? Would he go behind my back? If he has a separate connection to Argus…_

Yamaki took out his cell phone and began dialing a number.

"This is Yamaki. Get me security," Yamaki said gruffly once he heard the receiver on the other line pick up.

* * *

Jeri stepped away from the entranceway to the Matsuki bakery, having just turned the 'open' sign to 'closed'. Takato's parents were in the kitchen after having 'double timed' it home after seeing the strange storm whip up. She could hear Mei Matsuki silently sobbing in the background while Takahiro was trying to calm her. Needless to say when they had gotten home, Jeri had given them the news that Takato had returned, but had left to fight a Wild digimon, and Mei wasn't reacting to it very well, fearful that Takato and the newly returned Guilmon would meet again with some undesired fate just like they had the first time when Lucemon had breached the barrier's between the worlds, looking for Guilmon. Jeri couldn't blame them. After all, they _were_ his parents, and they both loved Takato very much. She did too…love him that is though she hadn't told him about her feelings for him yet (especially now that Rika had recently shown herself as harboring possible feelings for the boy), and she was every bit as worried about Takato as his parents were. There were times that she wished that Takato didn't have to go out there, risking life and limb to defend the city but she understood that it was what he had been chosen to do. What he had been _born_ to do, and seeing what his experiences had made him, someone who was stronger and more confident in himself and willing to take on anything to protect what he held dear, she wouldn't… _couldn't_ wish that he give it all up just to be safe.

And she knew that given the same choice and the same position, Jeri wouldn't wish that sort of thing on herself either. She cherished the memory of her now long dead partner to want to lose something like that. Her memories of Leomon, were among the most important things to her and she wouldn't trade them for anything, good or bad; happy or painful.

Jeri held up one of her hands to her chest in a loose fist as she looked outside, her eyes filled with worry as they gazed up at the crimson sky. Somewhere out there, in the depths of the city, Takato and the others were out there…fighting…

_And I'm right here,_ thought Jeri as she turned her eyes away from the blood red sky and rubbed the outer pocket of her olive green dress, caressing the orange trimmed digivice that lay tucked away within. Her face was a portrait of regret.

_Oh Leomon…I wish that you were here to help me right now; help me think things through. So much has gone on since you left us…so much has changed. But that's the way destiny works doesn't it? You had your path, and I had mine. We just crossed paths for a brief time and then you had to move on…_

Jeri gave a light sigh as she reached into her pocket and touched her digivice, feeling a sense of helplessness about her situation. It wasn't a feeling that she enjoyed at all, but then, who would? Rika certainly didn't and she strove to ensure that she would never be in a situation where she would be just that. It was one of the qualities that Jeri admired most about her.

_But between the two of us, only she can really protect those that she cares about while I…can't._

Jeri placed her hand inside her dresses pocket and placed it over her digivice, rubbing it gently as though she were seeking comfort, or at least assurance from the last vestiges of her bond with Leomon in her uncertainty.

_I just don't know what to do right now,_ thought Jeri. _People should be able to protect the ones that they care about. I couldn't protect Takato from Lucemon when he first arrived in the real world. I couldn't protect him during their second battle either. I couldn't even reach him when he was lost in his grief over Guilmon. Leomon…you once told me that everyone has their own destiny, but right now I don't know what that destiny is. Takato and the others…their destiny is to protect the real and digital worlds, and for a while I shared that destiny. Only now destiny seems to have taken a different course._

Jeri frowned and closed her amber eyes, looking deep inside of herself. She wondered what it was that she was trying to ask herself, what it was that she was _truly_ looking for. Looking over her thoughts, she wondered if she was jealous of her friends for having the ability to protect those that they cared about. She wondered if she was resentful towards Rika's feelings towards Takato, her strong will, and her ability to do what she couldn't, to fight alongside and to protect Takato and the rest from whatever dangers came their way. She knew that she had told Rika that she was glad that she cared that much about him but did she…?

No.

No she didn't. She didn't resent Rika for the things that she could do, or for her caring as she did for Takato even if the red headed Tamer wasn't quite sure what her feelings were for him. In her own way Jeri cared for the well being for each of her friends and their happiness. She knew that if Rika found her feelings for Takato to be genuine and wanted to pursue a relationship with him then she wouldn't stand in her way. Things had to be sorted out first before anything else could happen though.

But that wasn't what Jeri was trying to settle in her heart and mind right now. It wasn't the conflict that she and Rika appeared to be in because of the feelings that they both had for Takato that ultimately bothered her though that too had its own role in her inner turmoil. It was more that she felt that as though she were lacking direction, a path to take in her life. Her partner was dead, and she had moved past that, and in so doing she had moved past the grief that she held in her heart from the death of her birthmother, as well as accepting her stepmother's place in her family's life. She was whole, happy for herself and each of her friends…

…But what _was_ her place in things now?

Jeri's hand continued to caress her digivice, as though it would provide an answer to her predicament. She was a Tamer still because she still had the one thing that named her as such, and that was her digivice. No one, none of her friends or even her family claimed that she was anything less in spite of no longer having a partner. There were times of course where she worried if that was the case, but whenever she did she would remember how during the last battle with D-Reaper her digivice had activated for the first time since Leomon's death, actually _damaging_ the core of the Mother Reaper. It was then that she realized that the only thing that could truly make her not be a Tamer anymore was her belief in herself as one. The spirit of her partner was always with her, wherever she went, just as his strength now lay in Impmon, aiding him when he needed such help badly enough…

Jeri jerked in place suddenly as she felt something that she could only call a _shock_ course through her body, and for the briefest of moments she felt as though she was beside Takato and the rest of her friends. She felt their struggles, their pains… _everything_ in one single instant of synchronization…and then it was gone. Jeri had barely enough time to truly feel what the others felt, barely enough time to recognize it for what it was before the feeling was gone. She knew that she had felt this feeling once before, though never to such a high degree of intensity. Her first recollection of such an occurrence had back in the digital world when both she and Guilmon had heard Takato crying out during his and Henry's battle with Beelzemon, and then later when Guilmon had first been deleted. It also hadn't bee all that long ago that she had dreamt that Takato had been in trouble during his stay at Okinawa. She didn't know what they meant, or if Takato, Rika, or any of the others ever experienced anything similar, but she did know that when she felt them they usually occurred during a moment of the utmost importance and stress.

Again, Jeri was reminded of her inability to help her friends in their moment of need.

_But they should be able to handle whatever's going on…right? They've overcome so many other obstacles before so why not this one too?_

Somehow though, Jeri felt as though this was different.

She had to try _something._

Her grip on her digivice firming, Jeri began to pull the artifact of the digital world from her dresses pocket, determined to do whatever she could even if she had to wish upon a star to do it! Rika wouldn't sit around and hope for the best. She would get out there and do whatever was in her power to help out, and she knew that if Takato were here he'd do the exact same thing…

Jeri blinked as she pulled out her digivice, feeling something else dislodge from her pocket and fall to the floor a second later. Turning Jeri found a digimon card lying on the ground by her foot, its backing facing her. Bending down with a sense of curiosity Jeri reached out and picked it up. Turning it over in her hand Jeri's eyes scanned the name of the card before recollection suddenly dawned on her.

_Milleniummon… This is the card that I got from Ryo. I had forgotten that I had it on me. A keepsake because he felt that he had misused it. He looked like he was a little bit afraid of it too, though I don't know why. He seemed so brave when I first met him…_

Jeri turned the card over and light from outside reflected off of it, catching on its surface just enough to obscure the card for a moment, and then when she turned it back, the familiar sheen of blue and a yellow, pixel dinosaur image replaced the digimon card. Jeri's eyes widened in surprise. It was a _blue card!_ Was this…a sign? She remembered Takato, Henry, and Rika's stories about how they first received their digivices, and she had seen her friends use the blue cards to advance their digimon to a higher level. In each story that she had heard about these cards, and every time she had seen them good things always seemed to come about. Takato and Henry had mentioned that such cards were gifts of a sort from the digignomes that inhabited the digital world.

_Takato thought of them as wishmakers,_ thought Jeri as a small smile began to grow on her face. _Maybe this means that I can make a wish._

Jeri raised the card to her digivice, about to slash a card through the scanner slot in the side for the first time in months when she hesitated. She remembered the look of fear that Ryo had given her when she asked if he would mind if she held onto his Milleniummon card rather then let him throw it away, and what he had told her about the digimon that was depicted on the card itself…

" _He's supposed to be some kind of dark god of the digital world. Extremely powerful, able to warp time and space, create alternate dimensions, that sort of thing. He's supposed to have even more powerful, alternate forms to go along with him like Moon Milleniummon and Zeed Milleniummon but that is supposed to be his most recognizable form. Not exactly the nicest of digimon and definitely not one you'd ever want to meet in a dark alley."_

Jeri frowned, her hand hesitating just outside of the rim of the card slot. The blue card in her hands shown with reflected light. Taking a low, deep breath, Jeri closed her eyes and extended her senses. Once more she felt as though she were connected to her friends, though it was much more difficult to get an idea as to what they were feeling then before, almost as though she was only getting background noise from a distance rather then feeling as if she were right in the thick of things as she had earlier. She could still feel what they felt though, and she didn't like what she was feeling. Panic, pain, anger and frustration…the very emotions that would get a quick reaction from her.

_Is this the right thing to do?_

Jeri wondered if there was something that she was missing here. She remembered the expression on Ryo's face, and the look in his eyes when she had asked to hold onto the Milleniummon card for him. Those eyes especially…they told a thousand unspoken stories without him even saying a single word. Ryo never let any of the Tamers in much, a quality that he shared with Rika though he had the tendency to joke more as though nothing in the world could touch him, radically different when placed in comparison to Rika's calm and cool professional personality. It was strange. In that respect Rika and Ryo were like opposite sides of the same coin even though they were so much alike. Like Yin and Yang. The sun and the moon.

But that did not help her with her current decision.

A memory came to her. It was a time during Takato's troubles, when her father had brought her home after one of her nightly stays at his house. They had been talking about Takato at the time and she had admitted to having concerns about not being able to do enough to help Takato in spite of her own, similar experiences with dealing with loss. Her father had taken a moment to think as they sat in the restaurant area of their home before pouring Jeri a glass of milk and passing it to her.

_"When I was uncertain about what to do when I was raising you on my own…and even after I remarried…I would weigh the options that I had in front of me against each other and consider the consequences of my actions. Sometimes though events require a split second decision and you're left with no time to think, only react. During times like that I learned to trust my instincts. They haven't served me the best a lot of the time, and I hold myself at fault for that partly because I thought too much with my head or too much with my heart, but after that time when you were…captured by that monster I found myself listening to what was inside me more, and more fully with my heart as well as my head._

_"So far it hasn't let me down since then. I'm not saying that it will work for everybody, but when you ask yourself the right questions, and you look deep enough inside yourself, you'll find that you may already know what the answer is to what you're looking for."_

Jeri listened to the memory of her conversation with her father, and she looked within herself, feeling the bonds that she had with her friends flow through her. Once more she asked her question…

…And she slashed the azure colored card through her digivice.

A blinding, white light burst forth from the digivice a second later, cascading throughout the bakery and enveloping the brown haired girl in its intensity.

* * *

Rika felt a sharp pain flare in her chest and her eyes widened within her blue data sphere. She wondered just what it was that had caused such a reaction in her when Henry's cry cut into her attention.

"SAKUYAMON! LOOK OUT!"

Her head snapping up the shaman priestess leapt to the side to dodge the incoming attack from the gray colored, four-legged wolf as it came at her. One of the wolf's blade wings cut into her right leg as it passed by, causing Sakuyamon to wince beneath her fox shaped facemask.

_"Okay…we'll have enough of that,"_ spoke Rika irritably as she slashed her staff to one side, sending a wave of violet energy cascading outwards, smashing into the gray wolf and sending it careening across the roof, its armored body rebounding once upon impact before rolling off the ledge, its claws scrabbling, and failing to find any purchase to keep itself from going over. Alas, gravity was a harsh mistress that demanded that its law be obeyed with the utmost obedience. What goes up must come down, and the wolf soon found himself doing just that. The ground beneath him was all to eager to say 'hello', and it smashed into the streets below with tremendous force, kicking up asphalt and dust from the force of its impact. Rika grimaced as she leapt up to the ledge to check up on her opponent. The wolf was twitching in rather sizable crater, but presently it showed no other signs of movement.

_"The cities going to be thrilled when they find out that they have to close off_ another _street for maintenance,"_ muttered Rika sarcastically as her grimace darkened at the destruction that had been caused from the battle so far. _"What is this? The fifth time in about a month that they've had to do roadwork? I can already hear the city council talking about raising taxes on the news tonight…"  
"Maybe so," _spoke up Renamon from the darkness surrounding Rika's sphere of data. _"But they should know that there are more important things to worry about other then how much money is spent to repair damage."_

Rika shrugged her shoulders.

_"Yeah, but they don't. Let's just work on keeping the damage to a minimum. It doesn't look like that guy's going to be going anywhere for a while but we should probably check just to make sure and take it out before it can be a problem later o…"_

Rika found herself cut off as yet another sharp pain tore through her chest, and outwardly Sakuyamon's form staggered in surprise. Within her blue sphere of data Rika gritted her teeth, her eyelids clenched tightly together as the pain rolled through her body, accompanied by a strange sense of… _connection…_

_…Takato…?_

_"Rika! Are you all right?!"_

Rika took a moment to gather her thoughts before replying to her partner.

_"Yeah…yeah. I'm fine. It's just…for a moment it was like I felt Takato was here or something. Whatever it is it's gone now…_

"Rika…are you sure that you're all right? This isn't the first time that you've experienced something like this…"

"I said I'm fine! Right now we've got other things to worry about like stopping these digital reje…

"Rika! Behind us!"

"Wha…?"

Spinning on a dime, Sakuyamon had just enough time to see the gray, lion creature lunging towards her while the opponents that it had been fighting earlier, Rapidmon and Andromon, were desperately trying to recover from its attack so that they could help her. Alas, none of they nor she had the time to do anything…

_"Justice Kick!"_

The gray lion was smashed to the side as Justimon drove his foot into the beasts face with stone crushing force. However, the beast was apparently made of sterner stuff then that material, as it was back on its feet and crouched low to the ground within seconds, its eyeless gaze resting on the two of them as a strange object on its back clicked up and down like a loading mechanism. A second later it fired off a powerful blast of dark energy at Sakuyamon, which she deftly dodged with little effort while she returned the favor by sending four fox spirits of fire, wind, water, and thunder at it, their claws slashing at the beasts gray colored armor.

Yet it, like all of its other companions, refused to make a noise in response to the punishment that it was receiving.

"It certainly seems like it's targeting you Sakuyamon," said Justimon as the fox priestess came to a landing next to him. "Awfully protective of its friend isn't it?"

"Hard to tell," said Sakuyamon gruffly. "This is the first time that I've fought…whatever these things are. You on the other hand don't seem at all bothered by this."

Justimon chuckled in Ryo's voice.

"I guess I have a pretty high threshold for the bizarre, but yeah I sort of did face these things earlier though Kenta did more of that before I got there. A digimon that breached called these things 'Argus' I think."

"Isn't that the program that Yamaki was telling me about before I went to Okina…?"

Suddenly Rika felt Renamon's instincts blaring an alarm through her mind and instinctively she dodged to the side while Justimon did likewise, both of them just missing getting struck by a barrage of gray colored fireballs that had been fired in rapid succession by the flying dragon-man that Justimon had been fighting earlier. The creature had so far shown an intense liking towards facing the Legendary Tamer and continued to focus on him, practically ignoring Sakuyamon while Justimon flipped backwards, dodging the continued attacks.

"That tears it!" Exclaimed Rika from within her sphere of data. "I'm getting pretty sick and tired of my friends getting smacked around! _Spirit Strike!"_

Once more four foxes of fire, thunder, water, and wind surged outwards, flying towards the dragon man as he flew in towards Justimon and grabbed hold of him by the throat with the strange, claw like guns affixed to its forearms. The foxes clawed at the Dragon-man's face and wrapped themselves around the Dragon-Man's arms, their energy tearing into the creature's data and shredding it. Soon enough, the arm that the dragon man had used to hold onto Justimon disintegrated. Taking advantage of this, Justimon flipped backwards once more, not to escape, but this time to deliver an earthshaking Justice Kick to the Dragon-Man's jaw, sending the hybrid flying backwards where it crashed into the rooftop.

"Thanks for the save, Sakuyamon," said Justimon as he raised his cybernetic arm in salute. Now what say we take this guy out for sure this time?"

"NO!"

Sakuyamon turned her gaze over to the source of the shout, and arched her eyebrows beneath her facemask as she lighted on Kenta, who was just now picking up a battered MarineAngemon from off the ground. The little fairy was wheezing, and looked to be in bad shape from the surprise attack that he had received at the hands…or rather claws of the harpy-like being from earlier.

"What do you mean no?"

"Please Sakuyamon," pleaded Kenta. "Don't destroy them. Earlier when MarineAngemon fought them one of them…I don't know exactly what happened or how to explain it, but they're digimon!"

"What?!"

"Ryo…back me up here. You saw that Zephyrmon and you heard my story…"

Before Justimon could even say anything, another midnight black colored blast burst forth from the lion, and the Legendary Tamer was forced to leap into the air to dodge the attack. Not deterred the lion leapt up towards the heroic warrior, its body enveloped in a dark flame as it surged towards Justimon. Justimon hung suspended in the air as he watched his opponent come right at him…

…And then vanished into thin air.

Rika blinked her eyes within her azure sphere of data.

Wha…?

The lion sailed through where Justimon had been, and the Legendary Tamer reappeared a second later a few feet away from his original location before coming to a landing on the rooftop turned war zone, his cybernetic arm swiftly transforming into his Voltage Blade. The lion landed and began to stalk towards Justimon, its body tensing as it readied itself to leap once more.

_"Amethyst Wind!"_

_"Gatling Attack!"_

A torrent of purple crystal shards followed by a twin pair of fish-like missiles crashed into the lion, rending its armor and forcing it to lose what balance it had. The beast took on a wounded appearance now as fragments of its armor fell to the ground as it collapsed, data leaking from its body. The creature looked helpless now…

Sakuyamon turned her attention to Justimon, her eyes narrowing in curiosity beneath her facemask as she regarded him carefully.

"Nice trick there with the disappearing act, Justimon," the shaman priestess said. "I didn't know that was part of your regular abilities."

Justimon turned to face Sakuyamon, his armored mask obscuring his face, making it impossible for her to tell what was going on in his mind at the moment.

"Let's just call it a gift from an old acquaintance of mine from when I was in the digital world."

"That's a story you're going to have to tell me sometime…"

"Oh?" Asked Justimon in what Sakuyamon took at first to be a surprised tone before she took note of the underlying playfulness that was normally apparent in the Legendary Tamer whenever the two of them talked. "Why only you then? Trying to get me alone Pumkin?"

Sakuyamon gritted her teeth angrily as she felt white-hot anger flare up inside of her. She could almost hear Ryo's smirk as it curved on his face.

"You know…up until you said that, I felt like I didn't have to just tolerate you…"

"Take it easy already," chuckled Justimon as he waved one hand in a placating gesture towards. "What's got you so riled up all of a sudden Wildcat? You know that I don't mean it like that…"

"Sometimes it's hard to tell with you," muttered Rika as she glared at her fellow Tamer. "And I've already got enough on my plate without you adding to it unintentionally."

Justimon tilted his head to one side in a questioning manner that caused Rika to imagine Ryo raising one eyebrow at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Forget it," said Rika as she remembered a certain situation left unfinished between her and Takato. At the memory, a pain developed in her chest once more, only this one was of an entirely different order from the unexplainable pain that she had experienced earlier. "You wouldn't understand."

In his data sphere Ryo's gaze softened at the tone that the Digimon Queen spoke in and he took a step towards the shaman, all but forgetting that they had just been waging a battle and that there was still danger about. As things stood, none of them noticed the data that was starting to coalesce around the amputated dragon-warrior, as it lay on the ground, immobile.

"I might understand better then you think Rika…"

"Sheesh," broke in a familiar, high pitched, sarcastic voice. "For a simple joke these two sure are acting awfully dramatic…

"Rapidmon…" began Henry in a warning tone to his green armored, mechanical partner.

"Can it Rabbitmon!" Grated Sakuyamon before turning her attention back to Justimon. "Look, let's just focus on what's in front of us. Kenta. You said that these guys are actually digimon righ…?"

In what was fast becoming a day of interruptions a bright flash of light cut into Rika's question and everyone tensed immediately, preparing themselves for whatever it was that was happening. In all of their minds one suspicion stood out, as they were all familiar with this light and what it signified.

Digivolution.

The light died down swiftly, and everyone got a clear view of the newly formed beast that stood before them, transformed and glorying in its newly found power.

It was tall, garbed in armor alternating hues of gray and black similar to all of the other Argus digimon, and was heavily built with shoulder guards and gauntlets giving it a muscular appearance. Its armor was ornately designed, giving it a look of high rank bordering almost on royalty were it not for the warrior-like appearance and the massive sword slung behind its back. The helmet that it wore reminded the Tamers of a WarGreymon even though the design was slightly different and the rest of the body looked nothing at all like the famed Mega digimon from the show and card game.

It became quite clear to the Tamers and digimon gathered there that this being, whatever it was, digimon or otherwise, had evolved from the Dragon-man that Justimon and Sakuyamon had defeated earlier.

Justimon flexed his fingers, his eyes darting from the entity to his friends. A sharp gust of wind blew over him and the Legendary Tamer took note of the sky once more pulsing red, reminding him of the original mission that they had set out for before being interrupted.

"Sakuyamon," began Justimon carefully. "I know that you're not going to like this, but I think now would be a good time to remind you about the Hazard disturbance that's out there still…"

"You're not telling me to take off again like you did during D-Reaper…"

Justimon grinned as he looked at the shaman out of the corner of his eye.

"Why? Not eager to rescue your knight in shining armor again?"

Lightning flared in the sky and thunder crashed in time with the death glare that Sakuyamon fixed on Justimon at that moment.

Weird timing, chuckled Ryo nervously in his mind.

"Look Sakuyamon. There's only one of him right now, and Takato's still out there somewhere. Kazu and Kenta can stay back here to lend a hand in case this guy is too much for me to handle. Kenta's going to need someone to lend him a Seed of Health card though…"

The dark warrior reached over its back and the sound of a very large sword being unsheathed filled the air. The storm almost seemed to quiet down, as though anticipating the battle that was about to take place. Seeing this, Justimon rushed forward, his cybernetic arm once more morphing into his Voltage Blade. With one smooth movement, Justimon jumped upwards, dodging the massive sword as the dark warrior slashed at him, cleaving nothing but air.

_"Justice Kick!"_ Shouted Ryo and Cyberdramon together as they brought their foot across the dark warrior's helm with enough force to send it reeling.

"Andromon? Kazu?" Asked Justimon as he rebounded from the force of his attack.

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Shouted Kazu as he slid a card through his D-Arc. "SPEED ACTIVATE!"

Rushing forward Andromon slammed into the dark warrior, his greatly increased forward momentum amplifying the blow and pushing their adversary off the rest of the way and sending it hurtling towards the streets below. Within his dark blue data sphere Justimon turned and smirked at Henry, Rapidmon, and Sakuyamon.

"See? We've got this guy covered. Now you guys go lend a hand to Takato if he's in trouble and investigate that Hazard disturbance. We'll handle this."

"Okay," answered Rapidmon as he picked up Henry with his rocket launchers. "But like I told you before, try not to get killed while we're gone."

"It's like déjà vu all of a sudden," muttered Henry before focusing on Ryo and calling out to him. "We'll be back as soon as we can! Just hang in there!"

Justimon tipped the half-Chinese Tamer a casual salute before leaping off the building alongside Andromon. Knowing that speed was of the essence, Sakuyamon pushed herself into the air, and was swiftly joined by Rapidmon and his Tamer as they both flew off, following the signal on Henry's digivice.


	47. 46/ The Meeting of Souls

_Jeri Katou felt as though she were floating in the middle of a void, though she couldn't see what was actually going on around her. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying on her part, as her eyes were open but it didn't feel to her that she was actually 'seeing' anything, but rather more perceived that she wasn't seeing the world around her. It was as though a veil had been pulled over her eyes and she was left with only the sensations of her body to tell her that anything was happening to her. Weightlessness was the first thing that she noticed…and there was also a strange sense of emptiness as well. An emptiness and a silence that felt as though it went on forever all around her. A light gust of wind that was not too cold or too warm, but rather somewhere in between, blew over her like a fresh spring breeze. Jeri breathed it in gratefully though it didn't enliven her or offer any relief from the fears that plagued her. The hair on the back of her neck began to stand up on end, and Jeri felt as though she weren't alone._

_"H-Hello? Is someone out there?"_

_Jeri honestly wasn't expecting a voice to answer her. She wasn't sure which would have comforted her more either, having someone answer or not._

_"Hello Ms. Katou," spoke a calm, slightly deep voice from out of the nothingness around her. "I didn't expect to see you here…or anyone for that matter. You honor me with your presence though. How may I welcome you?"_

_"H-How do you know my name?"_

_"I get around. It's as simple as that. In many ways, I've always been here, just…detached. Lacking a physical body that you can call your own has that kind of affect on you."_

_"Who…who are you?"_

_"Me? I thought you knew. After all, you slashed my card. But then you probably weren't expecting something like this when you scanned it. If you were Ryo instead you wouldn't be as surprised…"_

_Jeri blinked in surprise._

_"Ryo? What…? He knows you? I don't understand…"_

_The voice from the emptiness chuckled wryly, without humor and with all the dryness of desert sand._

_"Ryo and I go way back. Before he was even a Tamer actually. It's no surprise to me that he doesn't like to talk about those days. It wasn't a very pleasant time for him, and I was the cause for that. But you didn't come here to talk about the Legendary Tamer did you?"_

_Jeri blinked again, feeling as though she had just dived into water that was deeper then she had thought that it had been. Gathering her courage, Jeri pressed onwards._

_"I… My friends are in danger. I 'felt' them, and what I felt wasn't good…"_

_Jeri hesitated, feeling a strange sensation in her brain. For some reason she felt as though the being that was speaking to her, whatever it was, was nodding in agreement._

_"Yes. They are in danger right now. I can sense it through Ryo, and from the distortions caused by the Digital Hazard…"_

_"The…Digital Hazard?"_

_"That would take too much time to explain right now, given the current situation. For now, it's enough to say that things are getting nasty. It's rather ironic though that the Digignomes of the digital world would unleash something like that when creating Guilmon. Makes me wonder what they were thinking during the 'creative process'…"_

_"My apologies. The Tamers are in danger and I'm rambling. That's what happens when you're imprisoned in someone else's mind and are forced to take a backseat to actively doing things in the world. You start talking to yourself and lose track of things, same as now. Anyway, the Tamers are in trouble. You sensed that yourself without even being there?"_

_Jeri found herself unable to find words to say so in the end she simply nodded. This whole situation was far too strange…and far beyond anything that she had expected or experienced. Jeri frowned._

_'What was it that I was expecting anyway?' Wondered Jeri to herself._

_The voice continued speaking._

_"Impressive. You're connection with them must be strong indeed for you to sense that sort of thing. It tends to happen with people who become closely connected and care about each other deeply. You're a very special girl Ms. Katou. You hold the key to connecting all the Tamers together."_

_Jeri shook her head in negation._

_"I don't…oh, never mind. The others…they need help and I…I can't do anything…"_

_"You devalue yourself Ms. Katou. The Tamer's speak most highly of you even though you don't have a partner or the ability to help them in battle. What was it that Rika told you? You help others in your own way? You're_ strong _in your own way? She was right you know. Will you lend me your strength Ms. Katou, so that I may aid your friends?"_

_Jeri lowered her eyes, uncertainty building within her._

_"I don't know…" she said, a memory from her visit to Ryo's house not too long ago making itself known in her mind. Briefly she recalled the card that she had just slashed through her digivice._

_'Milleniummon…Dark God…_

_"Ryo and I go way back. Before he was even a Tamer actually. It's no surprise to me that he doesn't like to talk about those days. It wasn't a very pleasant time for him, and I was the cause for that. But you didn't come here to talk about the Legendary Tamer did you?"…_

_Jeri gripped her hands into fists, and she felt her left hand grasping something tightly…her digivice. Images of her friends out there…fighting. She could feel sensations making their way into her heart as she looked at each and everyone of their faces, reading the emotional weather that they had…the ones that they kept concealed when they weren't carrying their duties. Jeri felt a fire surge in her heart suddenly…a determination coupled with compassion._

_Once more it seemed so unfair that her friends were out there fighting and she wasn't able to do anything to help them. She wanted to return the favor…_

_A bright light burst across Jeri's vision as her digivice lit up, seemingly boundless amounts of energy surging from her heart, into her arm, and transmitted into her digivice…illuminating the darkness around her…_

_Jeri felt as though she were floating…_

* * *

Takato gasped as he landed hard on the ground, the wind getting knocked from his body and causing white lights to sparkle across his vision. Distantly Takato saw a shadow looming over him and gathering whatever strength he had in him at that moment Takato rolled to the side. Distantly he heard something smashing into the ground behind him like a powerful blow. Gasping harshly as he struggled to his feet, Takato forced oxygen into his lungs and brought his eyes up to his attacker. It was a strange, creature. Tall and covered with dark armor though the contours of its body gave him the impression that it was squat. Truth be told he thought that the creature looked rather ridiculous though this was offset by the dark armor and lack of visible eyes through what was decidedly an opening in the helmet area.

For some reason Takato was more reminded of a kind of gang enforcer that he had seen on TV.

_This is insane!_ Takato shouted in his mind angrily. _I'm standing here, being attacked by…whatever this thing is, and I can't even defend myself! I can't merge with Guilmon, Beelzemon's busy…_

Takato ducked as his opponent swung its right arm at him and let fly with a cable-wired fist. The attack sailed over Takato's head and he took a step backwards…

…Only to get struck again when the humanoid being pulled its empty wrist back sharply and whipped its fish line fist back. Takato once again landed hard on the ground, pain exploding in his face once more, this time both sides singing their songs of pain. Takato felt something warm flowing from his nose as he bit his lower lip to keep from crying out. Pushing himself backwards Takato once more avoided another blow, and was stopped from any further retreating as a searing pain shot through the left side of his ribcage. WarGrowlmon's enraged cry beat upon the air as DinoRexmon slashed into him with his oversized claws and Takato felt his anger and frustration starting to rise with that of his partner and at their situation.

_I feel so…_ useless _here! I'm out in the open and I can't help anyone! I mean, all that I have on me is just my digivice, and that's only good if WarGrowlmon wasn't occupied! I'd try to biomerge again if I weren't already occupied…_

_…What I need is a miracle!_

Unfortunately for Takato, miracles must have been in short supply at the moment because he soon found himself dodging yet another attack and remaining in his current predicament.

_Okay…looks like I can't wish my way out of this one. I need to think of what I can do with what I have on me. Henry told me once that a time would come that one, if not all of us were going to be in a situation like this and we would have to rely on whatever we have on us to survive, like what happened when we were separated from the others in the digital world and had to fight that Divermon. Okay…let's see…I have myself…_

An image came to Takato's mind of trying to go one on one with his present opponent. Somehow, the way that armor looked and the way he felt from getting punched by the creature, Takato didn't have any confidence in doing well without Guilmon helping him out.

_…I have my digivice. Mr. Mizuno always said that he wasn't sure about everything that these things can do, and we've seen them do some things that weren't shown in the TV show…besides card slashing that is. I mean, Suzie used hers to fly, and Ryo created a whip with his to control Cyberdramon whenever he got wild and out of control. I wonder if I can do anything like that…_

Raising his gold trimmed D-Arc, Takato tried to find that level of focus that he always found whenever he merged with Guilmon or summoned a Blue Card. The _belief_ that he needed whenever he wanted to help his friends. With a powerful battle cry, Takato thrust his digivice outwards towards the humanoid entity.

The D-Arc clicked and beeped, but otherwise did nothing.

_Man I really wish that these things came with instruction manuals…_

Takato suddenly gave a surprised, and pained cry as his opponent let loose on him again, this time slapping at the hand that held the digivice. Takato's hand immediately went numb from the force of the blow and he was forced to drop the digivice to the ground.

_Okay, now I'm_ really _in trouble,_ thought Takato as he staggered backwards, fighting to keep his frustration down so that he could keep a clear head. _I need to think here! I can't fight this guy head on and I doubt that I'd be able to challenge this guy to a Digimon card game so that pretty much leaves me with…_

Takato spied the octopus like creature that Beelzemon was presently tangling with, while the axe bearing, gorilla creature was busy trying to recover from a vicious sword wound that Beelzemon had inflicted upon its torso earlier. The octopus seemed rather wild with its attacks, lashing out carelessly in its attempt to get at the Demon Lord as he hacked and slashed at its tentacles, pausing occasionally to fire with his Death Slinger cannon whenever he got some distance. The two seemed oblivious to everything else around them, and at least once the octopus flattened its companion with its powerful tentacles as it raged. This particular action caught Takato's attention, and an idea began to form in his mind.

_It's crazy…and stupid, but if it works and I survive so that I can get back and help WarGrowlmon, I'll debate the smartness behind this move later._

Takato dodged to the side once more, evading another flying fist as he began to move his way towards Beelzemon's direction, while simultaneously tripping over a piece of rubble that had been kicked up from attacks being unleashed.

_This would be a lot easier if I didn't trip over everything every five seconds,_ growled Takato as he began to pick himself up from off the ground. Seeing the rather large piece of rubble that he had tripped over, a broken piece of pavement with a piece of sharp metal sticking out of it, Takato looked over to the raging octopus creature and then back at the rubble.

_You know…I really don't like the idea of getting too close to that thing. Hopefully this will get that things attention…_

Quickly grabbing hold of the chunk of pavement, Takato nearly lost his balance from the weight, a move that surprisingly had the good luck of helping him miss getting struck once more by a wired fist. Taking a deep breath, Takato spun so as to add momentum to his throw and then let fly, grunting as the chunk of pavement left his hands and flew through the air. Takato watched it go for a moment, his heart sinking as he realized that it was too heavy to fully make the distance. It was already starting to fall short…

Suddenly the octopus like creature raised its arms and tentacles and then began to rotate rapidly, giving it the appearance of a drill as it lifted itself up into the air. The added length from its already large, outstretched, and now high speed spinning tentacles caught hold of the sharp piece of metal that was sticking out of the piece of pavement, and then sent it flying at a rapid pace in Takato's direction. Takato's eyes widened as he froze in place.

_Aw n…Ooof!_

Takato grunted as he felt something hard impacting into his side, knocking him down just in time to miss getting his head crushed by the flying projectile. As he hit the ground, Takato heard the sound of something getting smacked, and getting up as quickly as he could Takato looked to see what had happened. Sticking from his opponents visor space on the end of the piece of metal that poked out of the piece of its side was the piece of rubble that Takato had lobbed at the octopus. The humanoid fighter took a moment to retract its currently detached foot so that it could take a step forward, before pausing…

…And then stumbling forwards, falling to the ground heavily, and finally becoming still.

Takato blinked bewilderedly.

_Well…I did ask for a miracle. I just didn't think that it would be so gruesome._

Takato blinked, watching his fallen enemy, unsure as to whether or not it was actually defeated until the dissolution of its body finally convinced him that it wasn't just playing possum. Breathing a sigh of relief Takato watched the shards of data float aimlessly through the air for a couple seconds before WarGrowlmon's cry snapped him back to reality. Frantically Takato searched for his digivice, but realizing that he didn't have the time to find it he turned back to his partner. WarGrowlmon was currently locked claw to claw with DinoRexmon, and the dinosaur digimon appeared to be quite content with this test of strength. WarGrowlmon was breathing heavily, his armor was rent in multiple locations and the front portion of one of his arm blades had been snapped completely off. His expression hardening Takato reached outward with his mind, feeling the familiar link that he always shared with his partner whenever he was at the Ultimate level, feeling his strength, and his pain.

Takato closed his hands and took a step forwards. One of them, stiff from the blow that it had received from his earlier opponent protested against the movement. It already was developing a rather nasty and angry looking bruise. Takato could only begin to imagine how the rest of him looked but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind and ignored the pain. Merging his mind in sync with that of his partner and raising his hands in imitation of WarGrowlmon's titanic struggle Takato took a deep breath and let loose a fierce battle cry that echoed throughout the battlefield.

* * *

"How nice of you to join us, Itokawa," said Yamaki in a tone that only hinted at dry sarcasm. "I take it that you know why I've had you brought here in this fashion?"

Itokawa shrugged off the hard grips of his 'escorts', scowling at them before turning to the blonde haired head of Hypnos. For the briefest of moments, Itokawa was reminded of a time when he had been hauled before the principal of his school. Those days of childhood of course were long behind him, but the similarities were awfully similar. Straightening his back and composing his face, Itokawa met Yamaki's shade covered gaze directly.

"I had my orders Yamaki. And that was to oversee Argus's tests and the protection of this city from _all_ digital threats."

"I'll have you know that you weren't acting under any orders this time, Itokawa," said Yamaki smoothly. "You and I both know it, so let's drop the pretense shall we? You acted without authorization and under your own volition. As far as the testing of Argus goes you do have authority, but when it comes to confronting actual problems associated with the digital world of this magnitude, _that_ falls under my jurisdiction, not yours."

Itokawa grimaced.

"And you also know what sort of dangers the Hazard represents and yet you continue to allow the Matsuki Tamer to run rampant with that code inside his partner…"

"This has _nothing_ to do with Takato Matsuki. This disturbance, though Hazard related, has a focal point located in an area _other than_ Takato Matsuki's present location."

"What do you mean _located in an area other than_ _Takato Matsuki's present location?"_

Yamaki bid Itokawa to follow him to a row of screens

"Riley, can you give me a visual again or is the Hazard still corrupting the file?"

"I'm bringing it up now, sir."

"Good. Now Itokawa, I want you to look closely." Yamaki pressed a button on a control panel and one of the screens changed to show a map of Shinjuku. Three brightly lit spots were flashing; one was red, and the other two gold. Though they were close to each other, they appeared to be operating separately, and one of them, the red one, was erratic in its flashing.

"The red image is the source of the Hazard, while the gold is Takato Matsuki's present location with that of his partner Guilmon…or rather _WarGrowlmon_ as he is currently digivolved and fighting off a Wild Digimon. Riley found them using the Satellites while trying to track down your little _program_ when it had been activated. For the moment, we'll dispense with Argus and focus on the Hazard and its _apparent_ relation to Takato…"

"What are you saying here, Yamaki?" Demanded Itokawa hotly. "Are you saying that this Hazard is being caused by something _else?"_

Yamaki turned to look at Itokawa, his expression neutral.

"What I'm saying is this. We don't know for sure what exactly the source is for the Hazard disruption in this world. For some reason whenever we focus our satellites on it we lose the signal. However, we don't have that problem with Takato or any of the other Tamers at this moment, and given Takato's current location and predicament it's safe to assume that they are not the cause of the problem this time. You decided otherwise without bothering to investigate and as a result the Tamers are now fighting off you and your colleagues _program._ One of them has just now brutalized Takato. I wonder how the board is going to react when they find out that Argus has actually assaulted not only a Tamer who has helped save this city, but also an unarmed child?"

Itokawa looked at the screen hard, his face looking for all the world as though it had been chiseled from stone. Gripping his hands into fists, Itokawa felt a deep shame beginning to rise in him at the thought of what he had allowed to occur. Still, he had something to say.

"Yamaki…while I may have misjudged events too quickly, I cannot be held at fault for what happened to Takato Matsuki or any of the Tamers regarding Argus. I had originally activated Argus to emerge on the _source_ of the Digital Hazard, where it is presently located. A spike in the Hazard while Argus was realizing on the sources location caused a malfunction in its realization and combat protocols. In short, Argus went haywire."

"I'll detail someone to analyze the data files later to collaborate your story. But as for Argus…"

Itokawa raised one hand to his temples and massaged them. His voice was strained as he spoke.

"I've tried shutting it down before you sent your men after me. Something…is not working right with Argus. When I tried to deactivate the program the system locked me out. I couldn't access it anymore. It's like it became a completely different system."

"Could it be because that's what it is now?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Hazard has been interfering with our ability to do detective work Itokawa, but we managed to scan your subprograms when we saw them perform _abnormally_ from their present designs. As of now, one of the subprograms is already two levels ahead of what it originally was, at a stage that wasn't projected to be achieved for at least another two years of research and design."

_"What?"_ Itokawa's eyes snapped up to Yamaki, wide with surprise.

"The program is evolving Itokawa. Just like a digimon would. There are some… _differences_ of course, but the signs are still there. We are reading the same Catalyst algorithm within their code that is present in all other digimon."

"I don't…I don't understand."

"I think that you do…"

"I _don't,_ Yamaki!" Itokawa exclaimed, glaring angrily at the Head of Hypnos. "All right! I knew that there were some things about Argus that were different from what the projected design was supposed to be like, but there was no mention of anything like this at all and I checked the file out quite thoroughly when I first heard about it! I'm sorry, but there's little more that I can tell you! This… _evolution_ of Argus…this is _very_ new to me!"

"How surprising Itokawa, given that you were the one who spearheaded this incarnation of Argus. I had someone send me a file on you before I contacted the board. You've been very active with the program from day one. It comes to me as no surprise, but to believe that you had no idea that _this_ would even happen…"

"I'm not lying to you Yamaki…"

"But you haven't given me a reason to trust you so I have only your word on that. You have already gone behind my back in regards to dealing with the Digital Hazard. While the current attack on the Tamers can be called 'unintentional' you still set out with the intention of doing harm to one of them in particular, and with a program that hasn't been completely field tested, has run _'wild'_ , and rendered itself uncontrollable to yourself and Hypnos. That alone will certainly draw quite a bit of attention from the board, and our government as well. Your actions from earlier today regarding the incident at a civilian home have already placed you under investigation…"

"Mitsuo Yamaki," interrupted Itokawa, his voice taking a serrated edge tone to it now. "My actions during my _brief_ tenure as the overseer of the development of the Argus Program…I will not defend those. But as for my knowledge of the doings of the developers of Argus I assure you that I don't know any more then you do. However, I am loathe to believe anything that you say about Argus _evolving_ without some kind of evidence!"

Yamaki, in response to this, simply indicated the row of screens once again and typed in some commands. Itokawa frowned at the images that were now being displayed on the computer screen. It looked to be multiple digimon fighting each other. Some he easily recognized as the Tamers digimon, but there was one that he didn't recognize at all, although it looked… _familiar._

"The _Emperor_ has arisen," said Yamaki flatly while Itokawa stared intently at the image.

* * *

Ayaka was frightened.

Actually _frightened_ was more of an understatement. Out and out _terrified_ was actually a better way of putting it. She had begun to question the intelligence behind her demanding that she tag along with the other Tamers…heck, she had to wonder just what her reasons for joining their group on one of their _adventures_. So far she had nearly been killed once today, had seen a digimon get killed, and witnessed sides to two of her fellow classmates, Kazu and Kenta that she had never previously seen before and wasn't at all sure if she liked. And now, here she was, once again in the middle of a battle, attacks flying every which way that it astounded her that none of them had been seriously hurt…

"Oh this is just terrific," grumbled Kazu as he sorted through his cards and winced upon seeing one in particular. "My Seed of Health card's been bent!"

_Oh…right. Except for MarineAngemon…_

"Do you think that will change anything?" Asked Kenta.

"Got me," replied Kazu. "I've never scanned a busted card before. I wonder if the data's been damaged."

Ayaka only half listened to the conversation between the two boys as she watched the battle between Justimon, Andromon, and the dark warrior continue back and forth unabated. So far the warrior was proving to be an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, particularly when it had leveled a fearsome energy attack from its sword, utilizing it like a crossbow. There was one long trench dug through the streets as a result of its attack being unleashed. Andromon and Justimon had both barely evaded that attack, and had both settled on a combination strategy where they switched back and forth between one of them fighting in close quarters to prevent that attack from being used with any real effectiveness again while simultaneously having the other attack from a distance with hit and run assaults.

The dark warrior so far had managed to shrug off each and every one of their attacks thanks to its strong and powerful armor. In spite of Justimon and Andromon's strength, it didn't look like they were going to be able to take their opponent down anytime in the near future.

"Come to think of it, I don't think that I've seen any of the other guys scan a busted card either…"

The sound of something scrabbling caught Ayaka's attention. Looking over her shoulder she saw the black and gray lion trying to get back to its feet. Fear lancing through her mind Ayaka turned on the two boys with an angry look that, if looks were able, would have made a tree spontaneously combust just from its sheer intensity.

"Will you two decide on doing _something_ already?! In about two minutes we're going to be _cat food!"_

Kazu turned to the girl and raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? What're you talking abo…oh."

Spinning around suddenly Kazu quickly reached into his pocket before suddenly realizing that his partner was otherwise occupied with a completely different battle and was unable to help them.

_Aw man…we left ourselves wide open for this one didn't we? Definitely not our best move by a long shot. Andromon's down there, we're up here…_

"Pih!" Said MarineAngemon as he pulled himself out of Kenta's arms and interposed himself between the lion and the children.

"Are you sure about this buddy?" Asked Kenta worriedly.

"Dude," began Kazu. "It's not like he really has a choice in the matter. Sakuyamon and Rapidmon took off and Andromon and Justimon are a bit busy right now. Suddenly slashing that Seed of Health card doesn't sound like such a bad idea."

Kenta gulped upon seeing the dark energy that was beginning to build up in the lion's mouth. Suddenly slashing the card didn't seem like such a bad idea either.

Not even hesitating, Kenta grabbed the card out of Kazu's hand and slashed it through his digivice.

* * *

_"Lightning Blade!"_

His hand spinning rapidly, Andromon slashed his arm in a high, arching strike that sent a boomerang shaped energy blade surging towards the dark warrior before leaping backwards and combining the assault with another round of his _Gatling Attack_ technique. The warrior easily deflected the _Lightning Blade_ with his one swipe from his massive sword, but had no time to deal with the missiles as they slammed into his abdomen. Not that the strike mattered much as the warrior's armor absorbed the force of the explosion with little to no effort. Andromon ground his teeth together as he raised his arms and settled into a combat stance. It didn't seem to matter what any of them did this entity kept taking their attacks and coming at them about as strong as before, while they were both starting to tire from the battle.

_This isn't good,_ thought Andromon to himself as he rushed forwards, ducking underneath a sword slash before leaping upwards and delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to the warrior's head sending him crashing to the ground as the force of the blow was aided by the shift in the warrior's weight distribution from its earlier attack. _We're giving it all we've got, but we haven't yet found a crack in this guy's armor. You'd think that this guy was indestructible or something…_

Sensors in Andromon's body suddenly activated, and the android hesitated as he quickly analyzed the information that they fed him.

_Oh no! Kazu, Kenta, and Ayaka! They're in trou…"_

Andromon didn't get a chance to complete his thought as the dark warrior slammed the flat of its blade into the side of his face and sending him careening into a parked car, mashing its interior along with its exterior and sending shards of shattered glass flying in every direction.

Justimon, who had been trying to recover earlier from a rather nasty sword blow that had nearly ripped his facemask off, gave a cry as he fired multiple blue energy bolts at the dark warrior, the blasts ricocheting off of its armor as it began to stomp towards the fallen Andromon. Seeing that his _Justice Burst_ attack was having no visible effect he changed tactics. His cybernetic hand enlarging to massive proportions, Justimon prepared to slam it down into the pavement so that he could execute his _Thunder Clap_ technique and hopefully cause some damage to the warrior as well as upset its balance.

A sharp, whining sound that Ryo associated with jetfighters was all the warning that he had.

Justimon gave a cry of pain as he was blindsided by a familiar, gray wolf as it impacted into his back and sent him flying into the streets on the other side of his original intended target. Groaning, Justimon staggered to his feet, maintaining his _Thunder Clap_ arm as the gray wolf once more began to surge towards him. Raising his enlarged arm, Justimon caught the wolf with said appendage, and using its increased strength and size to his advantage he slammed the wolf into the ground before triggering his special attack at point blank range.

_"Thunder Clap!"_

Shockwaves tore through the wolf as it struggled in his grasp, and a second later loose fragments of data particles, all that remained of the lupine digimon, floated through the air. Not even bothering to see where the data went Justimon spun on a dime and leapt at the dark warrior, slamming into the small of its back just as it raised its oversized sword above its head.

Above them, up on the rooftop where the fight began, an explosion rang out, and a heart shaped bubble containing three screaming children and one pink fairy was abruptly blown into the air.

* * *

Crimson lightning flashed through the sky as the air beat with a dreadful wind that constantly crashed into Rapidmon and Sakuyamon as they flew through the air.

"This is _crazy!"_ Exclaimed Sakuyamon angrily. "Just what the heck is up with this weather?! I've never seen anything like this! It's like everything in nature has just been thrown out of balance!"

"It's the Hazard," said Henry, struggling to stay calm as the wind whipped around him. "It must be interacting with Earth's electromagnetic field and the barrier between the real and digital worlds. That might be why this storm is so unnatural!"

"Why don't we just stick to what's in front of us instead of theorizing about what's causing this storm and _'get to a safer area'?!"_ Shouted Rapidmon irritably. "All this lightning is going to be drawn to my body before too long and I'm going to be one big superconductor!"

"Then why don't you two just biomerge already?"

Henry shook his head.

"We'd only be an even bigger target, and a much more inviting one compared to all of these buildings around us. Even with the armor we'd only be doing ourselves more harm then good. And besides, we do need to find a place to settle down so that we can clear our heads and get our bearings. This storm just keeps messing with us and the Hazard is interfering with my digivice again! I can't find Takato's signal right now!"

Sakuyamon's lips became one thin line before she finally nodded and glanced over at the cropping of trees that stood below them.

"All right. We're at the edge of the park right now. Let's head there."

"Don't you know that you're not supposed to stand beneath a tree during a lightning storm…Yow!"

Rapidmon dodged to the side as a red colored lightning bolt narrowly missed the green android digimon.

"Rapidmon…"

"Never mind! The park's fine!"

The three friends quickly made their way out of the worst of the unnatural storm and set themselves down on one of the paths, keeping a healthy distance away from the trees around them.

_At least now we're out of the wind,_ thought Henry as he shook his head and looked over at Sakuyamon, who as of yet refused to relinquish her Mega form, unlike Rapidmon who quickly did so in order to lower the chances of getting struck by lightning.

"You guys okay?"

"Just dandy Henry," said Terriermon as he finally settled down in his Rookie form, looking nonplused over the fact that his fur had been mussed up despite the fact that he had originally been out in his armored Ultimate form just a second earlier.

"We're fine," said Sakuyamon. "But I know that I'd feel better knowing how Takato and the others are doing right now. It doesn't feel right just leaving them like that…"

"I know what you mean Sakuyamon, but Kazu and Kenta can take care of themselves, and they have Ryo with them in case things become too much for them. Takato though…we don't know anything about what's going on with him right now, especially with this storm going the way that it is."

"Yeah. Takato could have been hit in the face by a flying bread bun or something. Or brained by a croissant…"

"SHUT IT, TERRIERMON!"

Terriermon gaped at the tone that Sakuyamon had used with him. Though at times both Rika and Renamon had shown some measure of irritation with him whenever he cracked a bad joke, especially when the joke was done in very bad taste and during an inappropriate situation (as was the case right now), but never had he heard them use such an angry, and loud, tone with him before. Threats of intended violence, slightly raised voices, and death glares had normally been enough to get their point across. But this…they _really_ sounded royally angry with him for his casual use of jokes when neither of them knew what was going on with their goggle-wearing friend at the moment.

_Maybe they just wanted to make themselves heard over the wind,_ thought Terriermon quietly.

"Sheesh! Take it easy there you two, you know I'm only kidding…"

The aura around Sakuyamon almost seemed to take on a dangerous sense to it that felt like something was barely being restrained at the moment, and that whatever control the biomerged shaman digimon had was hair fine and liable to snap at any moment.

"This isn't exactly a good time to be making jokes, Terriermon," berated Henry as he raised his digivice and frowned at the hazard symbol that pulsated on the screen like an angry, infected injury. It didn't look like it was about to change anytime soon. "Rika, do you have an idea where it was that your digivice was pointing?"

"Just that it was pointing in the direction of Takato's place," said Sakuyamon in Rika's voice as she turned around and began to head off down the path. "And that's where we should be heading right now."

Henry frowned as his digivice finally cleared its screen of the pulsating Hazard symbol and the compass function activated.

"Well, that's not what my digivice is saying," said Henry as he fell into step next to her, Terriermon quickly leaping up onto his shoulder to join them. "In fact, the signal that I'm getting seems to be somewhere close to where Noriko bio-emerged the night that she came back from the digital world."

"That's not where Takato is," said Sakuyamon in a stern voice as she continued to walk. Henry looked up at Sakuyamon and raised an eyebrow.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Yeah? Did he call you using one of Yamaki's satellites and give you step-by-step directions or something? What's the deal?"

"No! I just…oh, forget it! I just know that he's not there, okay?"

Henry looked at the shaman digimon as he kept pace with her. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something seemed rather strange about her just now. Agitated, or at least more so then usual, though he believed that it was perfectly understandable given the circumstances. He certainly felt a little bit ragged around the edges himself from the battle with Argus, mainly because of the limitations that his Mega form put on him when it came to dealing with those kinds of enemies and how closely packed the fighting was. There were times that he disliked MegaGargomon's gargantuan size, even though it was powerful.

"Sakuyamon…" began Henry, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "…That… _doesn't_ make a whole lot of sense."

"Good. Glad I'm not the only one who things so."

Henry raised an eyebrow while Terriermon tried her with the question that had only just arisen in the boy's mind.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Didn't I just get done telling you two to forget about it?" Snapped Sakuyamon. "All I know is, Takato's out there right now, _not_ where your digivice is pointing, and he's in trouble. And _don't_ ask me how I know again!"

There followed a brief moment of silence during which the only sound that could be heard was that of the wind howling through the tree branches.

"So…" began Terriermon slowly, "…How do you know?"

Henry glowered at his long eared partner.

"Terriermon…"

"What? Henry! She's not making any more sense that this wacky storm right now! She's talking about knowing where Takato is and she's not even sure _why!"_

"And I do wish that you wouldn't talk about me as if I wasn't here," grated Sakuyamon in Rika's voice.

"He does have a point though. You're going on what looks to me a leap of faith that you know where Takato is. In fact, you seem pretty certain of it, and you're willing to overlook the fact that we know where there's trouble right now and that we have to deal with it…"

"I know that Henry," said Sakuyamon in a low voice. There was a sound in it that Henry didn't like. Nothing harsh in it, but rather… _sad,_ and resigned It was as if the Mega level shaman was caught between two opposing forces. Her desire to find and protect Takato against what she knew to be the right thing, the _sensible_ thing. Looking up, Henry found that Sakuyamon's face was stone hard and expressionless, but he could feel the conflict within her.

Before Henry could even comment on it, his digivice began to start beeping at the exact same moment that Sakuyamon froze in place and looked up at the sky and Terriermon tensed up on Henry's shoulder. Looking down at his digivice, Henry realized what it was that it was picking up and why his two friends reacted the way that they did.

_A Wild digimon…Of all the times!_

"Looks like you're in luck Rika," said Terriermon as he peered over Henry's shoulder and at the shaman priestess. "I sense a digimon. And it's a big one too."

"Great. Just great…"

"This just seems to be a day for this sort of thing isn't it?" Said Henry sarcastically. "Tell you what. Since you're already biomerged and you can get there faster without attracting lightning you head off and check out the digimon and help Takato while you're at it. I'll check out the main disturbance and see what I can do to handle it."

Sakuyamon gripped her staff and looked at Henry, debating with herself as to whether or not this was the wisest course of action, splitting up and dealing with these two events alone.

_Fork in the path. Which way to go. I don't like the idea of leaving Henry on his own to deal with whatever it is that's going on, but someone has to, and if Takato and Guilmon are in trouble and on their own…Rrrrgh! I don't_ believe _this! Why can't anything be just plain_ simple?

"All right, fine," Sakuyamon answered, though she did not sound particularly happy with the decision. "I'll try to be back as quick as I can, so don't _either_ of you do anything stupid while I'm gone. Not that I don't have any faith in you Henry, it's more a certain long eared bunny rabbit that you have for a partner…"

"That's funny," said Terriermon as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I was sort of thinking the same thing, only in the reverse."

Henry rolled his eyes and sighed. "Don't worry about us. If things go bad we'll pull back and regroup at Hypnos. At least that way we can run into the others and let them know what's going on. You just go and check out that wild digimon and lend Takato a hand, okay? Then we can all deal with this thing together."

Sakuyamon nodded reluctantly before taking off into the sky.

Henry watched the shaman go for a couple seconds before looking down at his digivice once more.

"That…was weird," stated Terriermon bluntly.

"Not now Terriermon. We've got business to take care of."

"But we could have lent Sakuyamon a hand and then we wouldn't have separated like this!"

"And whatever this Hazard is doing could have gotten worse in that amount of time. Besides, Rapidmon and MegaGargomon's metal forms would have slowed us down. We can move more easily this way. Now I've got the source pinpointed on my digivice. It's not much further from where we are now."

"Do I even need to point out that this is precisely what Sakuyamon called _'a stupid thing'_?"

Henry smiled at his partner.

"You mean as opposed to all the other _'stupid things'_ that we've done already?"

"Touché."

* * *

Henry and Terriermon raced through the park paths, unnerved at the emptiness that surrounded them on all sides. The storm had quickly done its job of clearing the area of nearly all human presence. Now only the unintelligent, the extremely insane, or a mixture of both bothered to venture outside and brave the elements.

_I wonder what category we'd fall under exactly. Terriermon's insane and I'm hardly showing myself to be any better by being out here._

A mental image of his father, lying in his hospital bed came to mind and Henry steeled his resolve and pressed onward.

_I've got to figure out if there's a way to stop this! There_ has _to be a way! There has to…_

Henry burst into a clearing where a children's playground stood, the same one where he and the other Tamers would hang out while waiting for school to begin, and looked down at his digivice. This looked to be the place. The signal was definitely emanating from around here. But so far it looked to be no different from any other place that he had seen so far. He had expected to see something… _more._

A soft whimper caught Henry's attention.

_Wha…?_

"Henry," whispered Terriermon as his ears rose in alarm, one of them pointing in the direction of a familiar concrete dinosaur. "Over there."

Henry followed Terriermon's ear and his eyes narrowed as he spied a dark figure lying on the ground beneath the stone dinosaur's legs.

* * *

"No…please…no…"

The sound of wind chimes echoed hauntingly in the breeze, intermingled with the sounds of quiet sobbing and pleas to a higher power for succor that never came. To anyone that happened by, the sound of wind chimes went unheard; did not even exist in fact. The only sounds that were very much real were the cries of pain emanating from the figure that lay on the ground, curled in a fetal position, claws clutching at its dark hair as though it were a lifeline, black tail twitching in anxiety and black and white feathered wings rustling as they curled around their owner protectively like a cocoon.

For the girl who existed within the shell of the inhuman creature that now lay trembling on the ground, the sound of wind chimes, much like everything else that was happening to her, had a reality to it that could not be ignored. The wind chimes were peaceful in their design, offering a measure of solace and calm reflection, but not in Noriko Nakata's case. Although she never really knew why, wind chimes always carried a sound that both frightened her and left her feeling sad. To her, it was always as if she were hearing the sound of quiet crying in an empty room whenever she heard a chime.

Noriko had long retreated from the shouting voices that continued to haunt her, delving deep within herself in an effort to find some peace, but it seemed that no matter where she went there was always something representing her inner turmoil that followed her into her dreams. Always something, no matter what it was or how simple, found a way to intrude upon her mind.

Just like now, as she sat on the porch of her families apartment, listening to the wind chimes as they blew in the wind. She had never told her mother about her dislike for them, or how they affected her. She always thought of it as a silly thing to get upset about, and in the end she had learned to tolerate them. Right now however, she wished that she could stop them. Make them silence themselves here and now, if not forever…

Suddenly the sounds of the chimes clanging together, and Noriko blinked in surprise. Looking up, Noriko's crimson colored eyes widened as she saw an all too familiar, blonde haired, twelve winged child-like angel hovering by the wind chimes, his right hand holding them lightly to still their silence.

"Lucemon?" Noriko whispered.

The angel offered the girl a soft smile, but the smile did not touch his blue colored eyes.

"Sorry. Feel better now? I know how much you hate these things…"

Noriko blinked.

"How did you…?"

Lucemon shrugged.

"I just happen to know what's on your mind right now because…well, I'm sharing it at the moment, just like you're sharing mine."

"I don't…I don't understand…"

Lucemon sighed. Noriko noted that he sounded exhausted, as though he had just been through a tremendous battle. A memory flashed through her mind. A memory of Lucemon in a different form, half angelic, half demonic, lying on the ground somewhere…somewhere that was _dark…_ and he looked as though he was dying.

Noriko clutched at the sides of her head and groaned in pain. Gazing upon her with sad eyes, Lucemon floated over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. The angelic digimon seemed to be at a loss for words to say to her, to comfort her.

"Noriko…you need to get control over yourself," he said, more harshly then he had intended, and Noriko flinched away from him, her red eyes glaring at him venomously.

"Be quiet! Stay away from me!" The girl hissed at him, tears in her eyes. Noriko winced as pain once more assaulted her temples and she again gripped her head with her hands. Lucemon looked upon her with a sorrowful expression on his face.

"I never thought that…a link…a bond with a human could be like this," Lucemon whispered, more to himself then to the girl in front of her.

"I told you," said Noriko through clenched teeth. The pain was really starting to get worse. It felt as though her head was just about ready to split down the middle. "Get… _away from me!_ You…" Noriko bit her lip as the pain rocketed to new heights, preventing her from saying everything that she wanted to say. All the things that she had witnessed when she saw him brutally slay the dark knight digimon and battle the Tamers, acting as though everything he did was without their consequences, regardless of the lives he took and the people he hurt. It wasn't that he didn't care, as she was sure that he did given the conversations that she remembered having with him during his brief stay at her home, but more that everything was beneath his notice, and beneath his own ideas of what was right and wrong.

Noriko had grown up with a pretty strong sense of right and wrong, and that caring about others was one of the most important things that she could conceive of. She didn't much like the idea of someone taking a life, though she recognized that there were times where such an act was necessary. Lucemon however had passed judgement on someone without really even trying to understand the reasons behind the events that occurred in his world. True, she didn't understand them all that much herself, having only received a brief explanation of it from Henry all those weeks ago, but from what she had understood it seemed more like a perfectly understandable reaction. And Lucemon…

_He didn't even give them a chance! He went and he killed someone who didn't even mean to cause any trouble! He…he…_

A growl came to Noriko's lips as a dark aura flared around her body. Lucemon's eyes widened and he pulled her tight against him.

"Noriko! Don't do it! Don't let him get to you! Control yourse…!"

* * *

"RAAAAGGGHHH!"

Letting loose a fierce, bloodcurdling cry, the figure beneath the concrete dinosaur burst with a bright, crimson light and blasted the dinosaur to pieces, shattering it and sending it all flying every which way. Henry prepared to dodge the oncoming projectiles that he found the air suddenly filled with, but he knew that there was no time. It had all been too sudden…

Henry blinked in surprise when he found his body hitting the ground off to the side, completely unharmed. Looking over his shoulder, the half-Chinese Tamer's eyes widened as he saw the fragments beginning to disperse into broken fragments of digital data. Henry exchanged a glance with Terriermon, both of them making sure that they were okay and that they weren't just dreaming before getting back to their feet.

"Whoa…" began Terriermon breathlessly, clearly awed by what he had just been made witness to. "That was some…whoa…"

"Yeah," said Henry as he looked around the playground and over to the figure that was now on its feet. His eyes narrowed.

_What is that thing?_

The creature, whatever it was, looked vaguely humanoid with female contours, but more like a bizarre mixture between a dragon and an angel. The dragon elements were highly emphasized by the black scales that decorated the creature's body, along with the claws and tail, but they were offset by the white and black angel wings and the humanoid appearance of the overall body, slender and sleek, giving Henry the impression that if it was human it would have been a girl around his age. Dark hair flowed down from the creature's head, ending just barely above its shoulders and…

Henry's eyes widened as the creature turned around. The face…he _knew_ that face! Distorted as it was by whatever events had changed it into what he was seeing now, he still recognized it! It and the girl that it belonged to, who was now standing in front of him, transformed.

"No…no way…this is impossible…"

As if to drive the reality of what he was seeing the creature… _girl_ …flinched away upon seeing him, before speaking. Her voice sounded strange. It contained the familiar tones that Henry was normally used to but it also contained a harsh, guttural growl and a smooth, male, monotone voice. It was as though there were three voices speaking as one, much like he and Terriermon did when they were biomerged.

"Henry…" the girl/creature said softly, and fearfully as it/she began to back up.

"Henry. Is that…?"

"Noriko?" Called out Henry, completely and utterly confused beyond all belief. His mind felt as though it had a torrential storm blowing through with almost the same strength as that of the one that was only just now beginning to die down. And it was vanishing. Golden sunlight shone down upon the park around them, and clear, blue sky was beginning to make its appearance once more. The wind became as a gentle breeze.

" _Is there a chance that a person could…I don't know…take on any qualities of a digimon just by being in the digital world?"_ Whispered Henry's memory of his conversation with Aiko Nakata from earlier that day.

The dragon/angel/human hybrid suddenly fell forward, gasping harshly as she clutched one hand to her chest. Its/her form began to shift dramatically then, the tail, wings, and claws receding back into her body, and her skin began to reassert itself over the black scales. Henry burst forward and ran over as Noriko's lithe form came to rest upon the ground of the playground, Terriermon bouncing behind him.

The only sounds that could be heard now was Henry shouting Noriko's name over the soft thumps of the distant digimon battles as they continued to rage off in the distance.

* * *

Sakuyamon had to say that she was more then surprised upon finding that the weather had suddenly, and eerily calmed down so soon after leaving Henry. The coincidence was rather odd, but barring turning around to see what was going on she wouldn't be able to come up with any real explanation as to what was going on except that somehow, some way, Henry had managed to put an end to the threat of the Hazard. Right now she couldn't afford to head back. If Henry had managed to end it or it had ended before he even got there then all for the better. Right now she had something that needed to be focused on.

As Sakuyamon began to approach the site where she sensed the wild digimon her enhanced senses began to make out figures battling it out in the streets. Was it…? Yes! Though obscured by the light of the sun as it peaked out from behind the now dying red clouds, she easily recognized the form of WarGrowlmon as he fought with an unknown, green scaled, dinosaur-like digimon.

Feeling a sense of concern growing in her heart, Sakuyamon urged more speed from her power as she flew towards the battleground.

* * *

"I have to say," grunted DinoRexmon as his claws grappled firmly with WarGrowlmon's. "I'm impressed. You've put up a far better fight then most Ultimate's that I've encountered."

WarGrowlmon just growled as he pushed against DinoRexmon, his massive feet cracking the ground beneath him.

"Strong, silent type huh? Or are you too exhausted to even speak now? No matter, you've fought well, but now the time has come to end this battle. It's a pity that we met as enemies, especially seeing as how you have the smell of an X digimon about you. If our situations were different we might have been friends…perhaps even comrades. Too bad it was not meant to be."

DinoRexmon pushed against WarGrowlmon, nearly forcing the crimson cyborg to his knees. WarGrowlmon remained firm though and pushed back just as hard, causing DinoRexmon to grunt with surprise.

"Still…so surprising that you're…this strong. I wonder what you would have been like as a _Mega_. That would truly make this a test of skill and power…"

"…Not…interested in a… _contest!"_ Huffed WarGrowlmon. "I'm just trying…to protect…Takatomom's city!"

DinoRexmon could barely restrain laughter as he fought against WarGrowlmon's strength, digging into the streets beneath him and forcing the Ultimate back.

"And I'm…trying to protect something too…something that's just as important to me… as your _human_ is! The only difference is…that some lives must be sacrificed… to maintain the greater good. I have a mission to complete here…and you're in the way. I'll finish my mission…one way…or the other. Even if I have to destroy you to _do it!_ I have too much resting on my success to play… _favorites!"_

WarGrowlmon glared into DinoRexmon's eyes, seeing the truth behind his statement. He meant it. For whatever reasons he had for coming to the real world, he had deemed them important enough to destroy and kill if that was what it took to see success.

"Ever think about… _talking_ …first?"

"Too much…at stake…and no…time…"

As though the words had been a trigger, DinoRexmon tightened his grip on WarGrowlmon's claws, crushing them brutally between his talons. This time, WarGrowlmon went down to his knees with a cry of pain.

_Takato…help me…_

A fearsome cry erupted from the streets behind WarGrowlmon. DinoRexmon looked over his opponent to see that it was the human that had first enabled WarGrowlmon's digivolution. So far all he was doing was just standing there, looking as though he was in the same position as WarGrowlmon, struggling to fight him despite being in a completely separate place and body. It was almost comical to see actually…

DinoRexmon's eyes widened as WarGrowlmon suddenly clamped his claws down on his own and surged back upwards to his feet with a hell-raising roar.

_Wha…? Where did he get such strength all of a sudden?_

DinoRexmon had no time to ponder on the mystery as WarGrowlmon stared him straight in the eyes.

"Takatomom and I suggest that you _make time!"_

And with that WarGrowlmon began pushing more forcefully against DinoRexmon. Fear flashing through his mind for the first time that he might _actually_ end up losing this fight, and to an Ultimate no less, DinoRexmon began to maneuver his long foot claws so that he could execute his _Splatter Hunting_ attack…

He never got the chance.

With a new roar, even louder then the first WarGrowlmon's jet engines that were fixed to his back flared to life, and he pushed himself upwards. A split second later WarGrowlmon cut his engines off and then brought his heavy feet smashing down on top of DinoRexmon's foot claws, shattering them at the base and reducing them to data particles. Crying out from the pain that tore through his body DinoRexmon had no strength left in him to resist WarGrowlmon as he threw him to the ground with a resounding crash.

* * *

Takato stood there, hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. His vision swam in his eyes and he felt his body shuddering terribly all over. He felt as though he were about to topple at any moment, when a black gloved, demonic hand grabbed a firm, but gentle hold of his right arm to keep him from doing just that.

"Take it easy there Takato," said Beelzemon with a weary smile on his face. Looking up at the former Demon Lord, Takato offered him a tired smile of his own.

"Beelzemon…" Takato panted, trying to catch his breath. "You're…okay still…"

Beelzemon smirked.

"It's going to take a whole lot more then what those two black and gray rejects can dish out to take me down. You didn't do so bad yourself. You and your partner just took down a Mega."

"He's not…finished yet…"

"He might as well be," said Beelzemon. "He's in pretty bad shape and WarGrowlmon just took out his primary weapons. He doesn't look like he can keep fi…"

_"Ogre Flame!"_

Takato cringed in pain as WarGrowlmon stepped backwards, attempting to ward off the searing heat with the remains of his gauntlets.

"I stand corrected," grumbled Beelzemon as he hefted his sword, the weapon already taking on a flickering, orange, flame-like aura around its edges. "All right, let's see how this guy does when he's got the _two_ of us to worry about…"

"Make that _three!"_

All four combatants looked up at the voice that had called out just in time to see a familiar fox shaman flying towards them, silhouetted against the light of the sun in such a way that she appeared almost like a fiery angel arriving from the heavens. Takato watched her approach, dumbfounded for a moment before a wide grin began to grow on his face.

"Sakuyamon!"

"That's me," said Sakuyamon as she came to rest next to Takato. "Now what say we…"

Sakuyamon's words were halted as she looked down at Takato, taking in the condition that her friend and fellow Tamer was in. Bruises marked his face and right hand while a small trickle of blood made its way down from his nose, and he was holding himself in a way that suggested that his side pained him in some way. Souvenirs from his battles…

Sakuyamon let a gloved hand drift over to Takato's face, her black-gloved fingers brushing up against a dark bruise, and though it was light, the contact was still enough to make him wince.

"Beelzemon…what… _happened?"_

"A digimon caught him on his own while WarGrowlmon and I were…occupied. It's destroyed now."

Sakuyamon turned her attention back to Takato, her lips pressed into one thin line that bordered somewhere between anger and concern as she cupped Takato's face gently with one hand.

_This…this is what I felt earlier…but…why? Why did I feel his pain as if it were my own?_

"Sakuyamon?" Asked Takato as he brought up one hand and placed it on her own. From within her data sphere, Rika felt her arm freeze up at the contact, and a strange sensation flowed through her arm and she pulled away quickly.

_"It's this form,"_ spoke Renamon in realization from the darkness surrounding Rika's sphere of data. _"That's why we felt what Takato felt. When we biomerge we become more attuned to the emotions of others around us, especially those that we're close to, and we derive strength from that attunement."_

_"That's stupid…we kept getting distracted out there because of that!"_

_"That may be because of the instability of your and Takato's emotions for each other. If there's anything you should know is that for everything there is a price, and a second edge to every blade."_

Rika didn't have time to reply to her partner, as she soon found herself coming back to reality.

"…Bine our attacks I think we can beat this guy," she heard Beelzemon saying.

"What was that?" Asked Sakuyamon. Beelzemon frowned at the shaman.

"I just said that I think that if we combine our attacks we can beat that digimon. He's pretty tough one on one, even when he's been weakened…"

"Got it," said Sakuyamon with a nod of her head as she looked over at Takato, not even doubting that he'd want to join in despite his own exhaustion and injuries. "Is Dino Boy up for it?"

Takato looked over at Sakuyamon, the expression on his face almost impossible to read until a smile appeared on his face. Sakuyamon smiled upon seeing it. It was the smile that she had seen a number of times whenever Takato let himself get into the action and came out of it victorious; the smile that she remembered seeing when he saw her and Ryo making their way back to the arc. Flexing his injured hand Takato nodded. WarGrowlmon let loose a roar of acknowledgement a second later.

"All right then," said Beelzemon as he leapt into the air and flapped his black wings, an orange aura flickering around his body. He was quickly joined by Sakuyamon and they both flew over to WarGrowlmon, coming to a halt next to his massive shoulders.

"Say _Uncle!"_ Said WarGrowlmon with a growl as he began to power up his cannons. DinoRexmon snorted. He may not have known the word 'uncle' but given the context that it was given in he could easily understand a term that basically meant 'surrender'.

_It's a little too late for me anyhow,_ thought DinoRexmon in resignation. _Oni took quite a bit out of me in our fight, and WarGrowlmon brought me down the rest of the way. But my sacrifice won't be in vain. There's still another out there who will be able to carry on the fight for me. I shall let this be my 'gift' to him…"_

"Forget it," growled DinoRexmon as he pulled himself upwards, flames already licking at his mouth as he prepared to fire another _Ogre Flame_ attack.

"Okay then. You asked for it," said Sakuyamon as she slashed her staff to the side, waves of violet energy beginning to form on the air while the orange aura around Beelzemon began to build and strengthen. Sakuyamon wondered briefly about this difference in the Demon Lord's attack before transferring all of her focus into her attack. It was time to strike…

Suddenly a wave of green and gold energy spilled out from the sky in one great flash, impacting with all three digimon and blasting them away. There was a sound of DinoRexmon screaming and then…darkness.

* * *

Ryo Akiyama pulled himself off the ground with a groan, glancing around him. Kazu, Kenta, Ayaka, MarineAngemon, and Guardromon were all sprawled on the ground, unconscious or in various stages of waking up with the exception only of Guardromon, as he had finally been taken out during the sudden reemergence of the black and gray lion and had been forced to dedigivolve or else be deleted. Getting caught between an ebony blast while attempting to block a massive sword from taking your head clean off tended to have that affect on people, and Guardromon was lucky to have gotten away just by reverse digivolving. After that it was down to him and Monodromon as Justimon and MarineAngemon to fight against their opponents when out of the blue, quite literally in fact as the sky had undergone an unexpected transformation from red to the familiar color that they were all accustomed to, a green and gold wave of energy washed over them like a tidal wave, impacting with the force of a cement truck breaking one hundred. MarineAngemon had managed to hold off most of the blast by throwing up a heart shield, but the force had been too much for the little fairy…for _all_ of them in fact and soon enough the shield popped, and the next thing that Ryo knew he was waking up in the middle of the street with the others.

A nearby groan caught Ryo's attention and the Legendary Tamer smiled upon seeing Monodromon, still alive and all right.

_There's one worry down,_ thought Ryo as he rolled to the side slowly and pushed himself to his knees. _But what happened to the guys that we were fighting?_

Ryo took another glance around him before bringing out his gold trimmed D-Arc and activated the scanning program. After about a minute of scrutinizing the compass function Ryo frowned.

If he was reading this right, he could not find a single trace of the beings that they had been fighting.

* * *

Jeri awoke on one of Takato's parent's futons, her eyes blinking blearily upon seeing Mei Matsuki standing over her, a worried expression on her face. Upon seeing that the girl had opened her eyes and was now stretching one hand to her face to rub them Mei turned towards the bedroom doorway.

"She's awake!" Mei called out, and distantly Jeri heard the sound of Takato's father calling back that he was giving directions to a doctor and that they would be on their way to the bakery soon.

_Wha…? What happened?_ Jeri wondered. _Did I faint? The last thing that I remember… was slashing that blue card, and then…that light…_

Had Jeri the strength she felt that she would have bolted up upon remembering those two things, demanding what had happened and whether or not Takato and the others were all right. As it was though, her body refused to respond beyond little more then with a hard struggle to get up into a sitting position and a mumbled, barely audible whisper.

"Shhh…" hushed Mei as she pushed Jeri back down on the bed. "It's okay. My husband and I found you lying on the floor so we took you up here and called a doctor as soon as we could. You wait here and try to rest, okay? I'll get you something to drink."

Jeri, unable to say or do anything else other then give a slight nod watched as Mei got up and exited the room. Her eyes half shutting as a feeling of exhaustion settled over her Jeri glanced instinctively to her right, and her soft, amber eyes fell upon her orange trimmed digivice and the card that lay nearby. As Jeri began to drift off to sleep once more she frowned upon seeing the card. There was something different about it from what she remembered, as she was certain that she hadn't brought any other cards with her. If only she could get a closer look at the card…or at least get a name to see what it was…whether or not it was the same one that she remembered slashing through her digivice. She didn't know why, but it felt to her that it was important to know this.

Her eyes scanned the name as they began to close shut.

_SolMilleniummon…_

With that name now firmly fixed in her mind, Jeri fell into a deep, but troubled sleep.


	48. 47/ Fire to Ashes

Zhuqiaomon looked out over the crimson, burning sky that hung over the land of the Sovereigns, his fiery gaze betraying nothing as his gaze settled on the horizon.

A bright column of light burst up from off in the distance, aiming towards the sky, and its occurrence was swiftly followed by the sound of thunder.

_So…it has come here too I see. The levels continue to crumble, and all that was built on top of them are going as well. I had thought that Yggdrasil had left the upper plains to their respective rulers and powers. Clearly he has changed his mind. The new X digimon were correct after all. Project Arc will proceed to its final faze and wipe this world out of existence, and make way for the new._

A deep-rooted anger flared in Zhuqiaomon's mind as he flexed his wings, most of it aimed at the being that he had called 'master' since the very beginning of his existence…an entity that was also quite enigmatic and mysterious even to the Digimon Sovereign. But what were they to do? They had forsworn loyalty to Yggdrasil from the very moment of their inception, and for them obedience was engrained into their code on a very deep level. Yggdrasil was the only being that Zhuqiaomon ever held reverence for. Not even Huanglongmon, the leader of the Sovereigns and guardian of the digital world's center, had ever garnered any degree of reverence, much less respect from the Viral phoenix, though that may have something to do with the natural enmity that Virus and Data type digimon had towards each other.

But the other members of the Sovereigns, the proclaimed 'Holy Beasts' of the digital world were beside the point. What _was,_ was the fact that this sign, just one of many that Zhuqiaomon had witnessed since the defeat of the D-Reaper, the sign that always heralded the approach of the X-Virus, felt to him as one of betrayal. Back when the Royal Knights had approached each and every one of the leaders of the digital world… The Sovereigns, the Seer Council, the Olympus Twelve, the Three Celestials, LordHolyAngemon himself, and so many others…they had all been promised that only the original digital world, the lowest level, would be dissolved and a new world constructed for all the others to revolve around. Their own worlds and domains would be unaffected and would continue to exist.

And yet…

_And yet…_

_The Hazard corrupts,_ thought Zhuqiaomon, remembering the incident that had started it all. The Digital Hazard. Such a strange phenomenon, a part of the digital world for as long as it had been in existence, and could be likened in many ways to the kinds of storms that the real world had been rumored to possess. A natural occurrence to be sure, and in some cases no more or less dangerous then the average lightning bolt or tsunami, except the only difference is that tsunami's and lightning bolts don't cause digimon to be _altered_ , or the surrounding environment to have their code rewritten in its entirety. And while no one could be certain, there were previously recorded periods of the Hazard's appearance that almost suggested a method to its madness, hinting at an intelligence that is believed by the world at large, and by even those beings who are high in status, to wonder if there is actually an intelligence behind it.

The appearance of digimon marked with the Hazard, containing its power…digimon like _Megidramon_ , the most dangerous digimon to ever appear in modern times…almost seemed to suggest as much. That is, if destruction of the digital world was the Hazard's ultimate goal.

_The first time it was sealed away it was believed that the Hazard problem was dealt with entirely. Now we know that is not the case. The Hazard is every bit as much of the digital world as a blade of grass or a tree. Naturally occurring. What was sealed so long ago was merely a concentration of such power. Not the totality. And that power had been unleashed again. And that was why Project Arc had been started. The constant recurrence of the Hazard, the dangers that it represents whenever its code concentrates around itself in large amounts…Yggdrasil wanted a world that would be free of such dangers. Project Arc had been in the design stages for so long now, and now that it has come to fruition, our lord and master has turned his back upon us and seeks to wipe the entire slate clean. While the Hazard had been stopped before it could fully run amok…_

_…I can't help but wonder. Could the damage that it caused been restricted to only the digital world? The Hazard's effects are far and reaching, and though I would never have thought this in the past, is it possible that Yggdrasil have been 'tainted' in some manner?_

_All records indicate that the Hazard corrupts, damages, and destroys data. Even we Sovereigns recognize that Yggdrasil is composed of the same material that we are. He is of the digital world just as much as he_ is _the digital world and its progenitor. Damage to it…can also be damage to himself._

Zhuqiaomon growled to himself, thinking of what the other Sovereigns view of the situation was. They hadn't spoken about it openly to each other since they had first been informed of Project Arc, and had each settled to tending their respective worlds and quadrants. Now however… _now_ Zhuqiaomon felt that was an oversight that needed correcting.

The sound of thunder crashed upon the air once more, along with yet another column of light. Scowling, Zhuqiaomon glared at the light, noting that it was making its way closer to the fortresses of the Sovereigns. Not a good sign.

_I shall deal with this intrusion into my realm personally,_ thought Zhuqiaomon as he spread his wings and took flight into the air, the crimson aura that surrounded his body flaring brightly. Flapping his great wings, Zhuqiaomon soared through the sky, approaching the source of the light. He narrowed his eyes as he took note of the devastation that was just now beginning to enter his view. The ground surged upwards like a mountain, though it certainly wasn't as large by any means, but appeared to be more bubble shaped then spire, and a massive crack appeared at the top, giving it the appearance of a volcano…or an eyehole.

As if to complete the appearance of the latter, the whole _mountain_ heaved upwards, and then downwards like it had just taken a deep breath. Rocks tumbled everywhere, and with them, a blue mist flowed from crevices that had been opened from the stresses made upon the once unyielding stone.

_Interesting. It looks as though something is trying to get through from one of the lower levels. That's not how I've seen the X-Virus operate so far and certainly not what I've been told would occur when the X-Virus entered a level of the digital world. I wonder…_

Before Zhuqiaomon could even complete his thought, the ground suddenly surged upwards once more and exploded outwards, sending a torrent of stone and rock flying straight at Zhuqiaomon, who swiftly formed a barrier of searing flames that destroyed the barrage before it could even touch him.

_What is going_ on?! Shouted Zhuqiaomon in his mind, his crimson aura dying back a bit as he beat down the flames. A fine blue mist began to blanket the surrounding landscape as the sound of shattering rock continued to resound throughout the land. Zhuqiaomon looked down at the mist and extended his senses. He did not like what he felt.

_Something's coming,_ thought Zhuqiaomon as he beat his wings and began to rise up in the air, buying himself some distance. He knew with certainty now that whatever it was that was coming, it was most decidedly _not_ the X-Virus…

_Unless it has evolved,_ whispered a part of Zhuqiaomon's mind, recalling the trouble that had been caused during the events of the D-Reaper war. But no, that wasn't it. He was certain that he would know if that were the case. Yggdrasil always left a mark on his work, a mark that was easily discernable to those who were within his service and his trust and could never be copied. He knew Yggdrasil's code well, as did all of the Sovereigns and Royal Knights, as it was a part of their own digital makeup as well. There was simply no mistaking it. Whatever this… _blue cloud_ was, it lacked that identifying code that made the X-Virus stand out. So what did that make this then?

While Zhuqiaomon pondered this a stream of blue tentacles shot out from beneath the cover of the azure fog and faster then the fiery phoenix could react, enwrapped themselves around his body and began to drag him towards the mists. Grunting against the sudden attack the flames around his body began to grow and pulsate.

"So, you would match yourself against a _Sovereign_ would you? Very well. You seal your own demise! _Phoenix Fire!"_

A helix shaped blaze of fire roared forth between the space of Zhuqiaomon and his as yet unidentified adversary, connecting the two like a chain before the mists exploded into smoke and fire. The tentacles that held onto the phoenix digimon disintegrated almost immediately, freeing the Mega digimon and enabling him to rise into the air once more.

"Let that be a lesson to all who would dare challenge the Soverei…"

Zhuqiaomon was cut off when a blast of pure blue, laser-like energy burst forth from the smoke that billowed up into the sky, connecting with Zhuqiaomon's right wing. Roaring with pain, the firebird's wings lost their sense of motion for a brief moment. That moment was all it took for gravity to take hold of him and begin to bring him falling towards the earth at a breakneck pace.

Once more blue tentacles streamed out from the black smoke as it began to dissipate, and grabbed hold of Zhuqiaomon. The Viral Sovereign quickly regained his senses at the contact and began to struggle against their grip, but the wire-like tentacles held fast like powerful cables. Seeing this, Zhuqiaomon's aura once more began to grow bright as he prepared to unleash his attack. As though sensing the Sovereign's plan of attack, blue electricity coursed up the wires like sinister serpents, hissing as they made their way towards their intended target. The phoenix digimon could only watch as the electricity crossed the distance between them within the blink of an eye, and the next thing that he knew his world exploded into pain.

_"Aurora Force!"_

Suddenly Zhuqiaomon felt the grip that the wires had on him slacken as a blast of pure energy impacted with the blue mist that was now beginning to reassert itself. Taking advantage of the change in situation Zhuqiaomon fired up the engine on his back and flapped his wings. Fire blazed in front of him in time to the fury that was beating within his breast, and a second later he let loose another attack to add to the one that was just now responsible for his salvation.

_"Phoenix Fire!"_

_"Lightning Whip!"_

Once more the helix shaped flames surged outwards, impacting with the blue cloud with tremendous force, aided by the combined electrified chain as a massive, blue glowing dragon-like serpent came abreast to the fiery Sovereign, kicking up more smoke and flame as the thunder of the two attacks striking their target resounded throughout the realm of the Sovereigns.

"Are you all right, Zhuqiaomon?" Asked the blue, worm-like dragon. Zhuqiaomon winced as he looked over at his injured wing. It pained him terribly but so far the injury appeared to be minor.

"I am fine for now, Azulongmon," answered the phoenix digimon. "I thank you for your assistance."

"The others are on their way now. We sensed that there was something amiss when you left your realm unattended."

"You didn't detect this entity?" Asked Zhuqiaomon, astonishment blazing a metaphorical path through his mind.

"No. None of us sensed this in particular, and that worries me. I would wonder if this is some surviving aspect of the D-Reaper if it weren't for the fact that we had destroyed all of its vestiges after the war had ended."

Zhuqiaomon snorted.

"Enough talk I say. We must destroy this being _immediately!_ It has come here and dared assault my being! Such an affront must not go unpunished! _Phoenix Fire!"_

Enshrouding himself once more in his crimson aura, Zhuqiaomon blasted a helix-chain shaped blaze of fire at the blue cloud. In response hundreds of azure wires burst forth from their mists and interwove themselves together, forming a shield that quickly repelled the burning heat. Once the fire had died down, the wires reassembled themselves, this time transforming themselves into a cannon, and launched a much more powerful blast of blue energy that impacted into Zhuqiaomon's body with deadly accuracy, this time knocking him out of the sky before Azulongmon could even react. Zhuqiaomon crashed into the ground below, digging up a trench from the force of his impact. Azulongmon looked upon his comrade and fellow Sovereign in horror as he saw the great bird's form begin to blur, becoming unstable. The tips of his wings began to disintegrate into shards of data.

The blue cloud began to move towards the fallen Sovereign, disassembling its cannon and reaching towards him with its many wires. The data that was breaking off of Zhuqiaomon's body began to flow towards the stretching tentacles, and they glowed upon the contact with the particles.

"NO!"

Azulongmon spun in the sky and wrapped himself into a tight ring, pooling his energy in the center of the ring and unleashing it in one tremendous blast, destroying the wires before they could make contact with Zhuqiaomon's body. Swiftly uncoiling himself Azulongmon lashed out with one of his chains, wrapping it around his fallen comrade and hauling his unresponsive form up into the air, out of harms reach. Below him and off in the direction of the Sovereign Towers that made up their abode, the glowing forms of a white tiger and a two headed turtle made their way towards the scene of the battle. Azulongmon glared at the strange, blue mists as more tentacles emerged, waving in the air for a moment before quickly becoming still. A tense moment passed during which Azulongmon prepared himself to pull back so that he could deliver Zhuqiaomon to safety until the cloud spoke.

_Data scan and absorption complete. Necessary data acquired for bio-emergence. Returning to lower level for construction of appropriate algorithms and defensive measures to counteract Digital Hazard upon arrival._

And with that, the cloud withdrew its wires and began to pull itself back into the hole that it had created, leaving Azulongmon astounded over what he had just heard and witnessed.

Baihumon leapt the final distance towards the murky cloud, not wanting to lose it just yet. Giving a triumphant roar as he closed in, his claws began to glow with a white light and the ring of digi-cores wrapped around his body increased in their intensity in response to his gathering of power. Sensing this a blue wire once again snapped out from the blue depths and slammed into Baihumon, knocking him to the side as though it were swatting at an insect. As the white tiger crashed into the ground, the area around the cloud began to glow and then detonated with the force of a volcano, blasting the land around it with its deadliness, causing Azulongmon to pull back with his charge so as to avoid further injury to him.

When the dust finished settling, there was no sign of the mysterious fog or of any of the wires. All that remained was a massive crater.

* * *

Amaya Abe turned off the light to her living room as she stepped into her apartment's bedroom, a sigh of exhaustion escaping her lips as she padded on over to her bed.

_What a day,_ the blonde haired woman thought as she drew back the covers to her bed. _That Itokawa guy really messed things up today, never mind the fact that the whole day was just one big mess. In fact, I think today just_ defined _mess. One Tamer has been hospitalized if I understand the rumors correctly. Argus has vacated our files completely…_

Amaya raised one hand and massaged her head in annoyance.

_That was one big headache right there, especially since it didn't leave me much that I could use to collaborate Itokawa's story about the Hazard messing up his stupid program to begin with. And that Hazard symbol…Rrrrgh! That on it's own was bad enough without that idiot government agent adding to things! What the hell was he thinking when he let that thing loose?!_

_Yeah…like I'm going to get an answer by talking to myself…or thinking…whatever._

Amaya sighed again as she pulled the covers up to her chest and settled down.

_Today was just…one of those days. Too much going on all at once, and not a single one of it was helpful to alleviating any of the other problems that came up._

_Getting to work is going to be problematic with the number of streets that have been closed down for repairs. I really should have taken up on Izumi's offer of moving in with her. It's closer to work and I'm alone here anyway…_

Amaya's mind hung on that thought for a moment, her eyes turning to rest on the portrait that she kept by her bed. A picture of her son, and only child.

_It's been almost a year,_ thought Amaya as she reached over and picked it up from off of her nightstand. _Almost a year since he died during the D-Reaper incident. Killed in the crossfire while I was trying to get him out of the city once I saw that things were about to get nasty. I still remember it as though it were yesterday. I had called my parents in Edogawa, asking them to take him in for me while I continued my work at Hypnos during the crisis. And then the fighting broke out and I couldn't wait for them. I tried to get him out and then…_

* * *

_…Blood stained her hands as she held the limp form to her chest in a tight grasp, her spirit willing what had just happened to not be true while her screams were drowned out by the constant sounds of explosions and weapons fire…her tears the rain of her pain…the thunder of her storm…_

* * *

Amaya closed her eyes hard. Finding herself gripping the sides of the picture frame with a death grasp, Amaya loosened her grip and smoothed the surface before replacing it back on the nightstand.

_That was a long time ago,_ she reminded herself, but even then she knew that it was a lie. One year did not change things or how she felt. Her son was dead and now she was alone in the apartment that they both shared for the past eight years. Sometimes she was amazed that she had gone on the way that she did, carrying on as though nothing had ever happened. She had her time to grieve, but truth be told, she knew that it hadn't been long enough. She still felt the pain of having lost her son, and now drowning herself in her work was all the escape that she could find from the knowledge. But…there were times…long stretches it felt like, where she could go without feeling that pain, without even remembering that her son was no longer a part of her life.

She wondered if she was still in some sort of denial over what had happened. She hadn't talked to her parents about it since the funeral, and she hadn't even stepped a foot into her son's room since three weeks after he had died. She hadn't even bothered to see a psychiatrist to help her come to grips with it. It had seemed so sudden actually. One day she had woken up and she felt…as though she were _refreshed._ Like someone had just snapped their fingers and her pain, however brief the change of pace was, had vanished and she could continue on with living another day.

Amaya wondered about that as she reached towards the light switch to her nightstands lamp. Clicking it off her thoughts turned away from the subject as she bedded herself down to go to sleep. Closing her blue eyes, Amaya felt herself drift. Drifting towards the world of dreams…

* * *

_A memory…it was a memory of pain. She was in the park, her expression sullen as she walked over to the swing sets that had once upon a time been the favorite ride of her child._

_"Mama…" whispered the faint ghosts of her memories, causing Amaya to tighten her fists as she stared at the swing sets. Her expression became one of raw anger as she came to a stop in front of the swings, their chains creaking gently in the slight breeze that blew at them, causing them to appear as though to nod at Amaya, acknowledging her presence._

_"Look at me Mama…"_

_"Stop it," whispered Amaya Abe as she pulled her fists to her ears, trying to blot out the sound. Useless. The sound was coming from her memories, and thus could not be blocked by the normal motions of silencing ones surroundings._

_"Higher Mama…higher…"_

_The chains creaked again. As if the sound had been a trigger Amaya let loose a shrill, blood curdling scream and she grabbed hold of the swings chains, shaking them brutally in her hands as her screams transformed into shouts._

_"STOP IT DAMN IT! JUST STOP IT! STOP IT! PLEASE JUST_ STOP IT!"

_Amaya felt her strength leave her body, and her shakes became less intense. Her legs loosened and she found herself sliding forward, coming to rest upon the ground. The only sounds that could be heard now was that of the squeaking of the swings chains and of the woman's quiet sobbing._

_"Please…just…s-s-stop…let…let…let it…end…please…no more…no more… Oh Taisuke…"_

_"…Why…why did it happen? Why did it have to be him? My child…my son…my world…"_

_Amaya turned her tear-ridden gaze up at the starry night sky. Once she had looked upon it with a sense of wonder. Now it was as if the darkness held bottomless wells of mystery and terror. Invisible points of a whole different world crisscrossed her vision and she was one of a small handful that had originally been aware of it almost a year ago. A world that had produced a monster that had taken her only joy in the world. A star twinkled in the night sky and a thought came to her. What was it that she had heard when she had visited her cousin in America? That nursery rhyme…how did it go?_

_'Oh yes. Starlight, star bright… First star I see tonight. I wish I may…I wish I might…'_

_A glowing, fish like creature with long, wing-like arms and a single antenna on its head flew across the sky as the woman finished her silent wish…_

* * *

White tears flowed down Oni's midnight colored face as he pulled his hands back from the resting face of Amaya Abe, vanishing into sparkling data particles.

_I still remember that night well,_ thought the demonic looking creature as he took a step back, flexing his black, hand-like wings. _Her pain…it was so real back then. So dark…one could drown in it if they were too close to it. I did my best to take it away from her, and it has been my sustenance…my_ power _during these many months while I searched for a way to help her, and to keep something like that from ever happening again._

Oni looked down at the resting figure in front of him, the woman making a light sigh as she shifted in her sleep. A ghostly smile crossed Oni's face at the sight.

_I'm not what I used to be…I've abandoned that when I took her pain and made it a part of myself. My own kind abandoned me when they saw what I did to myself, and if they knew what I planned to do they would surely try to stop me. I've lost much, and I plan to take more away from myself before this is all over…and yet…_

_…Somehow, to see her smile again, and to know that no parent would ever lose their child to the digital world again, that makes it all worth it._

His smile still on his face, Oni faded into the shadows…and disappeared.

* * *

_"Well, that was interesting…X digimon fighting amongst each other now? That's one for the history books."_

_"Really my dear. Somehow I feel that it's not quite ready for an entry. After all, they would need an actual insurrection amongst their ranks for that to come to pass. Those two did not appear to even know each other."_

_"I suppose that it's possible. After all we haven't seen a digimon like that WarGrowlmon before. Are we certain that he is of the same evolution as that of our dear comrade in arms?"_

_"I can't be certain. Gallantmon is presently incommunicado. Same for Omnimon at the moment. They must be busy in Yggdrasil's world…"_

_"We could easily have lent them a hand by now if we had just attacked when we had an opening…"_

_"Oh? The humans and their partners took us all by surprise before, remember? We still aren't at full strength yet even with all the healing that we've done. We needed to see what kinds of things these Tamers are capable of so that we can prepare ourselves adequately for the next engagement. Besides, now_ they _are the ones who are tired, which will give us the advantage then."_

_"And even if the WarGrowlmon isn't a part of the X digimon rebellion, and knows no part of their plan for this world, there is still another of their kind who is here. One who will be most likely to give us what we need."_

_"Correct."_

_"Then why don't we take him now and be done with it?"_

_"We are not yet fully healed my dear…remember? You especially after your encounter with that Beelzemon. Interesting that they've sided with a Demon Lord…and that one even fights by their side."_

_"A mere curiosity…no more. Very well. We'll do things your way for now."_

_"That is all that I ask for. Rest and observe my dear. And learn about your enemies. Knowledge is power after all."_

_"Of course. Are we not the living embodiments of that universal truth?"_

_"Until the morrow then…"_


	49. 48/ The Awakening: Part 1

The sound of soft humming filled Takato's ears as he rested, and he shifted his body around to get into a more comfortable position. As soon as he did so, a soft sigh escaped his lips and he continued to listen to the humming sound. It had a gentle quality to it that reminded Takato of the lullabies that his mother had once used to sing him to sleep (and truth be told, still did whenever she thought that she could get away with it, though she always claimed that it was for Guilmon's benefit). The sound didn't sound like his mother however, but it was still nonetheless familiar, like he had heard it, and the tone somewhere before. He couldn't quite place it, but then given how it was making him feel at the moment why worry about it? It did have the effect of making him feel relaxed and at peace with himself. All of his troubles and his pains were far away and none of them could touch him.

A hand lightly placed itself on his arm and rubbed it lovingly while another hand placed itself on the side of Takato's face and began caressing it in the same manner, causing the boy to wince reflexively as though there was something about his face that should have felt tender to any kind of contact. Oddly enough there was none of that and Takato quickly relaxed once again, continuing to drift in the world of sleep. The humming continued, moving in time to the gentle caresses on his arm and face, and distantly Takato began to wonder who it was that was there with him.

_Jeri?_ He wondered, thinking of the first name that came to mind as he looked through his memories for who it could be but as yet received no confirmation. Curiosity finally overtaking him Takato cracked his eyes open. His vision still blurry, and the world of sleep and dreams still holding him tightly in its grasp, another visage came into view; that of a red haired, violet eyed girl that for these past few weeks had a reason to be on his mind.

"Rika?"

The female visage, still blurred, screwed up her face in a confused expression (or at least what he fancied to be confused given with how good his vision was at the moment) and spoke in a voice that was most decidedly _not_ that of the fiery female that he had come to know during the past year, and was much more mature then that of his friend, or _any_ of his friends for that matter.

"Rika?"

Takato's sight of the world snapped into view all at once at the voice and Rika's appearance was replaced by that of his mother, who was presently staring at him with a look of slight confusion and surprise.

"Ah! Mom!" Exclaimed Takato as he bolted upwards in bed, missing the irritated squeak of MarineAngemon from next to the brown haired woman.

"Dude," chided another familiar voice from down by the window, and Takato followed it over to a brown haired boy wearing a black t-shirt with a cross emblazoned on its front and a visor-hat on his head, holding back his long, and slightly messy hair. "I can't believe that you just thought that it was Rika who was mothering you just now. That's just gross. Seriously, whatever gave you that idea? You must have been hit pretty hard on the head if _that_ mental image came to mind when you were coming to. You should be glad that Jeri's not here yet to have heard you. You'd be in _deep_ trouble then…"

"Kazu," interrupted Kenta. "Can't you give him a moment to just wake up already?"

"All right, all right chumley. Sheesh. I'm just making editorial comments. I mean, I haven't seen the guy in a while and the first thing he does when he wakes up is confuse his mom for Rika…"

Takato felt his face heat up slightly at Kazu's comments while his mother fixed him with an amused expression, causing his grip on his blankets to tighten in response. Looking down at them, Takato furrowed his brow as he realized something.

_This isn't my bed._

"Um…what's going on here?"

"We were all knocked unconscious by some weird green blast from the sky," answered Kazu looking back at his friend and a small smile appeared on his face. "Took just about everybody out. Ryo and Renamon were the first ones to recover, which reminds me by the way…"

Placing one hand behind him Kazu took out a familiar gold trimmed digivice and walked over to Takato and handed it to the brown haired boy, who took it with an eyebrow raised.

"Renamon said that you must have dropped this during the fight. She found it lying in the streets when she woke up. She also wanted me to tell you to 'keep track of your things better in the future'." Kazu gave the boy a lopsided grin. "Gotta admit, she almost sounded like your mom when she told me that…"

"How are you feeling Takato?" Asked Mei, interrupting the boy as she felt that the conversation needed a change of pace before it completely and utterly descended into the bizarre trapping that was Kazu Shioda's mind. Takato placed a hand on his face in response, massaging the skin around the area as memories of yesterday's battle began to flow through his mind. It was still a little sore, but it was almost entirely background, barely noticeable unless he exerted enough pressure on the areas where he remembered getting hit.

"I'm…I feel fine," Takato answered finally, sounding somewhat surprised by the revelation. A familiar, pink fairy settled in front of Takato's field of vision, startling the brown haired boy as it giggled and blew a blue, healing heart at him.

"Mwah!" MarineAngemon laughed and began spinning circles in the air.

"Yeah," began Kenta as he walked over to Takato's bed and chuckled lightly at his partner's antics. "You have MarineAngemon to thank for that. He's been by your side for most of the night healing you up after he found out about your condition. You looked like someone went at you with a sledgehammer…" Kenta's words trailed off as he remembered that Takato's mother was in the same room and he blanched upon seeing the woman glaring at him.

"Ah! Um…sorry…"

Takato looked over at his mother worriedly as he felt her grip on his arm strengthen and he put on a smile for her, hoping to calm her down before she began worrying about him again.

"Hey. Don't worry about me Mom. I made it out all right, didn't I? And Kenta's partner was looking after me so…"

"Takato," interrupted Mei Matsuki in a tone that would brook no further argument from the boy. She paused for a moment to glance over at Kazu and Kenta, who were currently playing audience to the little family spectacle. With a sigh Mei closed her eyes before speaking again. "We'll discuss this later when we get home Takato. Right now _you_ need to get some rest. MarineAngemon may have healed you but I still want to make sure that you're one hundred percent okay before your father and I take you home. And believe me mister, we _will_ discuss this in detail when we get home."

Takato sighed mentally. Once his mother spoke like that there was very little that he could do to get around whatever she wanted, much less get out of it.

"Thanks you guys," said Takato as he turned to Kenta and MarineAngemon, giving them a smile to sooth their sympathetic glances.

"Heh, no problem," chuckled Kenta as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand, his action being imitated by MarineAngemon with one little pink colored wing. Mei watched the two, one eyebrow cocked in slight amusement at the way that Kenta and MarineAngemon looked with their mirroring of each other. With a slight shake of her head Mei smiled at the dark haired, bespectacled boy.

"We are _all_ grateful for your partner's help with my boy," said Mei as she tousled Takato's hair with one hand. "If you want you may take the day off from the bakery."

Kenta's eyes widened at that while Takato looked over at his friend with a raised eyebrow for a moment.

_Oh, wait. That's right,_ thought Takato, remembering his conversation with Jeri prior to leaving the bakery. _Kazu and Kenta are working at the bakery now._

"Um…hey! Thanks!"

"Hey!" Cried Kazu indignantly as he put his hands on his hips and huffed irritably. "I helped out too you know with all the 'saving the world' stuff yesterday…"

"And you also left Jeri alone at the bakery and didn't tell anyone that there was bread cooking in the oven when you left."

"Aw c'mon! There was danger out there! The sky was turning red and digimon were prowling about! The whole world was probably going to end if I didn't do something! Normally I would put my trust in Ryo but this was some pretty major league stuff! I couldn't let him handle it all on his own even if I think that he can totally rock the field by himself."

Takato looked back and forth between Kazu and his mother, his mouth twitching slightly at one corner as he noticed the devilish glint that the elder Matsuki had in her eyes, something that Kazu remained ignorant of while he ranted. Takato breathed a sigh of relief in his mind, feeling his sense of increasing alarm abate somewhat. He knew that his mother was normally understanding when it came to the Tamer's and their duties. Even though she had been less then merciful towards Takato on the few occasions that he had an incident similar to Kazu's, he knew that he could rest easy knowing that his mother wouldn't be too harsh on his friend given the circumstances. Still, that didn't preclude her having a little bit of fun at Kazu's expense to make up for the inconvenience of the burnt bread.

Takato frowned as he looked around him, wondering where his father and Guilmon were. Neither one of them were presently in the room with him and the others.

"Uh…guys?" Began Takato, but was pretty much overrun by his mother as she started in on Kazu's excuses.

"Don't _'c'mon'_ me, mister! The fate of the world notwithstanding, that bread that you burnt yesterday was hard to make. And seeing as how the world just happened to survive after all I think a little just compensation is required here."

Takato looked over at Kenta and MarineAngemon, who were watching the scene unfold with amused smiles on their faces. Seeing as how his mother was too busy having her way with Kazu he opened his mouth to ask Kenta if he knew where Guilmon and his father was, only to be interrupted, again, by the sound of a familiar, hearty laugh as

Takahiro stepped into the room, holding two cans of soda that he got from the vending machine.

_Well that's one question down,_ thought Takato in bemusement.

"You know Mei," said Takahiro as he handed one of the cans to his wife, a devilish grin on his face, having overheard part of the conversation before entering. "I've been thinking about what sort of chores we could have Kazu do to make up for burning that bread." Takahiro turned to his son and his smile transformed from one of mischief to that of relief. "Hey, kiddo! Glad to see that you're up and about now. You're looking pretty good now."

Takato gave his father a lopsided grin.

"Yeah. Thanks to MarineAngemon I'm feeling a lot better then I was…uh…yesterday?"

There was a round of nods from all over the room.

"I have to say you gave us quite the scare when we heard about the condition that you were in. The doctors kept telling us not to worry and everything…well, they had to keep telling Mei that…"

Takahiro ducked just in time to avoid getting smacked in the head with a box of tissues that were sitting on the table next to Takato's bed.

"Keep talking mister," said Mei with pretend exasperation as she folded her arms beneath her breasts and sat back in her chair. "Or I'll be sure to have you on the same clock as Kazu before the day's done. I'm already thinking that we're going to need to add another week to Kazu after _this_ little debacle…"

Kazu's mouth hung open in complete and utter shock for a moment before snapping shut with an audible click before he fixed the two Matsuki's with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Hold on. You guys are just messing with my head aren't you?"

"Well…only a little bit."

"Aw nuts…" groaned Kazu as his shoulder's sagged in defeat. Takato exchanged a glance with Kenta and MarineAngemon, the latter of whom was once again giggling with glee. The little, pink colored digimon was, if nothing else, about as full of happiness as Calumon or Guilmon whenever they got their mitts on food.

"Looks like you're in for an interesting time, Takato," said Kenta, chuckling lightly while Kazu waited to hear his doom for the burnt bread.

"Seems that way," replied Takato as he rubbed the back of his head disconcertedly.

_Though all things considered, 'interesting' is probably not the best way to describe it…_

* * *

Yamaki fought the urge to pull out his lighter and flick it open as he went over recent events in his memory once again and looked back at the two people who were presently sitting in front of him. An urge to sigh in exasperation came up in addition to it but he fought that down too.

_Really could have done without this complication,_ thought Yamaki as he settled his focus on the dark haired woman who sat next to the Tamer, Henry Wong and his digimon partner Terriermon, who was presently sitting in Henry's lap. The woman's name was Aiko Nakata; mother of the one Noriko Nakata that Henry had informed him yesterday as being in a 'unique' situation. Though they weren't the words Henry had used to describe the girl and her predicament, they fit the situation well enough if one wanted to be subtle about it and keep it under a low profile. 'Unique' didn't even begin to describe what was going on with the Nakata child, and he wanted to keep it out of the public sphere, specifically out of the sight of the board and the government, as much as possible.

Somehow though, he had a feeling that things weren't going to be anywhere near simple enough to allow him that sort of luxury. Call it pessimism, but Yamaki's experience with the digital world and its inhabitants had more then given him reason to expect the worst out of any situation even when he hoped for the best. When it came to digimon, Murphy's Law of 'if something can go wrong, it will' tended to be _most_ prevalent.

_At least Ms. Nakata is taking things better then I expected after filling her in about her daughter's status,_ thought Yamaki giving the woman an approving look at her composure. She looked tired, no doubt having spent the entire night losing sleep over her daughter, and worried in more ways then one but she held onto a state of serene calmness that would have struck Yamaki as being unnatural for someone who hadn't previously been involved with digimon if it weren't for the fact that Henry had told him that she and her family had cared for a digimon at one point prior to Noriko's disappearance. Apparently she took such events pretty easily without dissolving into hysteria as a fair portion of the population did whenever encountering such creatures. He could respect that.

At the very least, she was far less in disarray then Hypnos was at the moment.

"Ms. Nakata," spoke up Yamaki after about a minute of silence. "Henry says that during your conversation at his home yesterday you had mentioned something along the lines that seemed to indicate that you suspected that there was something going on with your daughter. May I ask what it was that led to question the nature of your daughter's well-being?"

Aiko gave the man a look that suggested mild distaste, as though she were wondering if he was really asking 'what made her think that her daughter was no longer human', but she schooled her features into contemplative neutrality within the blink of an eye. Yamaki quickly found his respect for her go up another notch.

"There were… _instances_ in which Noriko acted out of sorts," said Aiko, "Or asked if there was something wrong with her…outside of her memory that is. I recall her asking me once if there was something wrong with her eyes…"

Yamaki made a mental note to have the doctors give him a report of any abnormal readings concerning Noriko's eyes during her brief stay at the hospital after she had returned to the real world.

"Did she mention why?"

Aiko shook her head.

"No. She didn't. I never saw anything so I believe that she dismissed it. After that anything else could be attributed to the stress of having been to the digital world and not remembering anything about it. She wasn't comforted by that knowledge, or rather _lack_ of it I can tell you that much. As for what brought my thinking around that I had been too hasty in turning down your agents…" Aiko met Yamaki's gaze firmly at that point, and Yamaki nodded in assent, telling her that they had indeed gone to the hospital under his orders. "…There was an incident a couple nights ago. There had been a digimon battle going on near Hypnos's location if I recall correctly. I had been going through my children's rooms, making sure that they were all all right and resting soundly. I found Noriko up when I checked up on her and…"

Aiko shook her head.

"I tried to tell myself that it was just the lighting. It was dark in her room, but after hearing Henry's story now I can't discount it." Aiko turned to Henry with a calm gaze. "She had pure black skin isn't that correct? And claws?"

"Actually, she had black scales," said Henry, looking as though he were uncomfortable with adding that tidbit of information, but he didn't want to hold any information back from the woman. She had been most explicit prior to their meeting with Yamaki that he tell her everything and not hold anything back out of respect for her feelings as a parent, because as a parent she needed to know as much as she could if she could find a way to help her daughter. "But yeah. That's what she had. Plus a set of wings."

Aiko frowned. So far she had only heard that Henry had found Noriko, and that for some unexplainable reason appeared to have been joined with a digimon. She hadn't been given a description until now.

"I see. Wings you say?"

Henry nodded, and swallowed slightly.

"Well," spoke up Terriermon from his spot in Henry's lap, crossing his arms together, "I wouldn't say ' _a set'._ More like _four_ sort of looked like the kind of wings that you'd see with birds, only bigger and colored black and white. If it weren't for the fact that she looked a little bit like a dragon, I'd say that Noriko looked a little bit like an angel."

Both Henry and Aiko frowned at that, and Aiko's hands tightened around the corners of her black laurel patterned dress before she turned to Yamaki, her eyes hardening.

"I want to see my daughter," Aiko said firmly. Yamaki shook his head.

"I'm afraid that's not possible right now. It's for your own safety Ms. Nakata. Until we get a better understanding of what's going on with her and if she is at all a danger to those that are around her…"

"I have lived with her since her return to the real world Yamaki," interrupted Aiko sternly. "Her _brother_ has been left in her charge alone. I am quite certain that _I_ will be safe in her presence."

"Would that we all shared such sentiment Ms. Nakata, given recent events. I am sorry if that offends you, but I'm looking at the situation simply as it is. Your daughter has become more then what she was born as during her time in the digital world, and we need to know what it is that happened to her and how she got to be like this so that we can ascertain how what can be done to return her to normal, if that is at all possible."

Aiko sighed and looked down briefly before glancing back up, her face set in a glare.

"I…suppose that I can understand your position Mr. Yamaki. You have a duty to ensure the safety of the city after all, but I would still like to see my daughter."

"I never said that you wouldn't be allowed to see her indefinitely. For the moment, she seems to be in control of herself, albeit disoriented and exhausted. I can't say that she's very talkative right now based on the report that I received this morning. For now it's best that she get some rest while we do what we can for her. As soon as she is able to, you'll be allowed to see her."

"And when will that be?"

"I make no promises Ms. Nakata, but rest assured that you will be able to see your daughter. If you so desire you can wait here and I'll see if I can let you see her later on today."

Aiko looked into Yamaki's face and listened to his voice for any sign of falsehood before finally giving the man a small smile, the tension in her frame fading back a bit.

"Thank you Yamaki," said Aiko with a slight inclination of her head. Yamaki nodded back and turned to Henry.

"Could you show Ms. Nakata to the mess hall? I'll call ahead and let the chef know that you're on way there and he'll have something ready for her to eat when she gets there." Yamaki glanced at Aiko. "Is that all right with you?"

Aiko nodded, and with that Aiko and Henry got up, the latter of the two picking up Terriermon and placing the long eared digimon on his head, and together the two left Yamaki's office, closing the door on the man as he picked up the phone on his desk and began dialing numbers.

* * *

"Tell me something Henry," said Aiko as Henry closed the door with a click.

"Yeah?" Asked the half-Chinese Tamer as he looked over at Aiko.

"That man…Yamaki. Can he be trusted?"

"About as far as you can throw him I'm sure," said Terriermon with dry sarcasm. Henry raised an eyebrow at his partner, wondering if the long eared digimon's wit had decreased of late.

"Terriermon…"

"Sorry Henry, but a certain incident where he sent us back to the digital world to defeat D-Reaper and not saying anything kind of springs to mind."

"Terriermon…you're _really_ not helping here, and you know that there wasn't any other choice about that anyway!"

"I get what you're saying Henry," said Terriermon before looking up at Aiko and smiling. "Don't mind me. I just live to make Henry's life difficult. Mostly because I can, but about Yamaki…yeah, I can vouch for his trustworthiness. He comes off as your typical, dark, undercover agent and he really is all that…"

"Terriermon…"

"… _But_ he does try to do what he thinks is best. If he says that he'll help and that he'll let you see Noriko later then that's precisely what he means to do, even if he has to sneak you in wherever they've got her hold up with a covert ops team. Heck, he might even do it himself."

Henry blinked.

"Terriermon…that is probably the best light that you've ever put Yamaki's character in…even if it is a little sarcastic and lacks tact."

"What? You want me to be more like you Henry and worry about every little thing that I say or do? I don't think so. Who wants to have all that high blood pressure? Besides you that is…"

"Terriermon!"

"And we're back at that again. You need a new way to get my attention and scold me Henry."

"This from the one whose answer to everything is 'momentai'…"

"Hey! Momentai _is_ the answer to all of life's problems, big or small!"

Henry groaned.

"Anyway," said Henry, opting to change the subject as he and Aiko began walking towards the nearest elevator. "He is right though. Yamaki can sometimes be a little abrasive when it comes to other people but you really can trust him."

"Perhaps," said Aiko as they came to a stop and she pressed the elevator call button. "But it's been my experience that agents cannot always be trusted."

Henry raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that? If you don't mind my asking…"

Aiko shook her head.

"Not at all Henry. I suppose that it's the least that I can do since you've been so helpful to me lately. I'm sorry for involving you with this…"

Henry shrugged.

"It comes with the job."

"Even if it can be pretty heavy on the stress and death defying," said Terriermon. "But we're used to it."

"Nnnngh…Terriermon…"

"Oh. So it's a groan preceding my name this time. I can hardly give you any points for originality there, but at least I can give you an 'A' for effort."

The elevator door opened up with a 'ding' and the two walked inside. Aiko took a moment to wait for the elevator doors to close before speaking again.

"The reason why I have difficulty trusting your friend Yamaki," said Aiko as the doors finished sliding shut and the elevator jerked as the cables began to pull them upwards, "comes from an incident that my family experienced quite a few years ago. My husband was an investigative reporter you see. It was something of a passion of his and he pursued his job quite a bit. He believed that it was his duty to report what he found."

"So…what happened?"

"He dug a little too deeply," said Aiko with a sense of finality to her words. Henry looked at Aiko, pondering her words and wondering about them. A silent tension filled the elevator car as it continued with its ascent to their destination.

* * *

Yamaki placed the phone back down on its receiver and looked over at his laptop screen. Opening up a file Yamaki leaned back and analyzed the information that the file displayed. It was the most recent report on the Argus program.

_File not found._

Yamaki shifted one leg over the other and finally flicked open his lighter and closed it a second later, his gaze becoming contemplative as the old habit continued on its course a second time in an almost absent minded fashion. As it had been stated, the inclusion of the Nakata girl to his increasingly long list of troubles had been problematic. The appearance of the Digital Hazard, coincidentally emanating from the very same child, had wrecked havoc with his systems. Just about everything was damaged now and all of Hypnos was working overtime trying to get everything back to operational capacity, making them woefully understaffed for giving the required help that it would normally take to help the Nakata family.

_As if things hadn't been bad enough when the Juggernaut system had been damaged by the escape of that Sangloupmon,_ thought Yamaki as he clicked his lighter shut once again. _But now we're practically blind. That last blast of digital energy at the end especially hurt us, and while it did destroy that Wild One it did…something to Argus. Took it right out of our systems and then…_

Yamaki frowned at that and he flicked his lighter open and shut with even more force then was necessary. The more that he thought about it, the more that it looked as though whatever that blast of energy was that had destroyed the high level Wild One and knocked out the Tamers had an intelligence behind it. Stripping Hypnos of all the files that were on Argus and physically capturing all of their data and forms…it was too much of a coincidence, just one in a string of many, like the one where no one could contact Shibumi. Hopefully that would be rectified by Tally soon, as that was now her top assignment. He still didn't like what the lack of communication with the infamous Gorou _Shibumi_ Mizuno meant. Was it connected with Argus's disappearance from the Hypnos network and everything else that surrounded that program? And if so, what was the ultimate intention?

_Shibumi is one of a select few who are the utmost authority on digimon, and Shibumi knows more about digimon then even his colleagues the other Monster Makers. Sometimes it seemed as though he knew things that went far deeper then anything that the Monster Makers ever envisioned when they first set out to create digimon, and even things beyond that. He has personal experience with the digital world as well and knows quite a bit about it. And Argus…_

_…We still don't know much about Argus. I used to think that it was a program, but now it seems as though it's much more then that. To have the program vanish…_ stolen _by the way it looks, creates a whole new realm of possibilities._

Yamaki clicked on a button and called up a new file.

_At least Itokawa was kind enough to give me a list of names of anyone and everyone who had worked on Argus. I'll have to see what I can dig up from there now…_

* * *

_So…here we are,_ thought Oni as he emerged from the shadows from a nearby alleyway and looked out over the battered and half-destroyed streets. The sound of machines from the construction crews and survey teams that had arrived there that morning beat loudly on the air, but Oni ignored them.

_If the information that I got from Amaya when I 'visited' her last night is correct, there is quite a bit going on here that should be taken into account, especially in light of the recent failure of project Exodus._

Oni ground his teeth together as he thought of his now defunct plan and he flexed his claws irritably.

_A shame…blast! I put a lot of time and effort into that project. Getting the X digimon to see my way of things, setting things up for Argus so that Exodus would trigger a war between the real and digital worlds…Argus was meant to be the chess piece that would annihilate the digital world. The being that would have eventually arisen from that program…Susanoomon…he would have been powerful enough to destroy the whole of the digital world and allow me to fulfill Amaya's wish. I am not used to things going awry in such a manner, especially with how Argus vanished._

Oni frowned and stepped further into the shadows as a pair of humans wearing construction uniforms and hats passed by the alley in which he was hiding. Oni watched them go cautiously before returning to his thoughts as soon as they were out of sight.

_That burst of energy that Hypnos recorded…that was what captured the elements of the Argus program and destroyed DinoRexmon. It's like nothing I've ever seen or heard of except perhaps the Digital Hazard. With Argus gone I'm going to need to refocus my goals. There may be a new contender out there and I will need to be prepared if I'm to finish my task successfully, and this new force may be a hindrance to me. There's that child who bears the Hazard now as well. I must say that I wasn't expecting that, or that she'd still be alive after using it just the one time. It's certainly quite the opportunity as a replacement for the now missing Argus program. Better by far, but I must find a way to harvest it without harming the child…_

Oni frowned as a thought occurred to him.

_Odd that whatever force it was that captured Argus didn't deign to do the same to the child. If it was able to spirit away Argus with such ease then the Hazard should have been relatively simple. If there actually_ was _intelligence behind it, then it should have seen the opportunity. Perhaps that's a testament to the Hazard's corrupting influence. Perhaps there are even some powers that fear such a force no matter what it offers. Reason for myself to be cautious if nothing else. Of course, I'm already beyond help as it is._

Oni looked down at his claws and flexed them slowly, frowning darkly.

_Argus is gone…wherever it is and whoever has it now has taken it beyond my control. The Hazard, with all of its potential will serve as an excellent substitute as well as a deterrent should whatever force it was that took Argus make itself known._

_…Hmmm…I wonder…the timing of Argus's disappearance with that of its evolutions… Could it be possible that the Ten awoke and that burst of energy was their combining? Seems impossible. I made sure that they could never break free of their bonds when I found them and put them to use. But then again, the digital world is full of impossibilities, isn't it? I and my kind, or at least what I used to be, are living proof of that. Digimon too for that matter. At any rate, I must act. The loss of Argus is a void that must be filled, and if some power has taken it for its own personal use I must act quickly to counteract it! The Hazard that dwells within that child has everything that I need. I just hope that I can make this as painless as possible._

_Ready or not child…_ Noriko Nakata _ **…**_ _here I come. Your destiny awakens._


	50. 49/ The Awakening: Part 2

Guilmon stood at the edge of the stone hut, his golden eyes sparkling with curiosity as he sniffed the air before stepping inside. Behind him, the crimson dinosaur was watched by the azure and emerald gazes of Renamon and Impmon. The vulpine digimon's face betrayed no reaction, though her eyes held a look that, though difficult to discern without looking closely, appeared expectant, even hopeful. An expression that was shared to a more visible extent by Impmon as he stood next to her, arms crossed over the red bandana as he followed Guilmon's movements.

The concrete hut had seen many changes in the past year, and not all of them were to its benefit. In fact, most of them were due to the fact that it had been the abode of the red reptile who was now standing inside sniffing the air, namely the gigantic hole that appeared to have been dug in its center, first to 'make more room' (as Takato had said once when commenting on it), and then to get to the digital portal that had appeared there after the pig Deva Vikaralamon had been destroyed. After the digimon had been made to return to the digital world a new portal appeared in that very same spot, and Yamaki promptly walled up the concrete hut to prevent any digimon from bio-emerging through that portal, and the cold, blonde haired head of Hypnos had thought the problem solved after that.

In a bizarre twist of events that even Renamon at times claimed to have a difficult time believing the concrete wall had done little to prevent the partner digimon from returning, helped mainly because of the fact that Terriermon had retained the code of the Juggernaut in his ear that had been downloaded into him prior to the defeat of the D-Reaper, and also because Guilmon was a natural digger and there had yet to be the rock found that couldn't resist his claws once he got going.

From the way Renamon heard it from the Tamers not too long after their return to the real world, Yamaki couldn't seem to decide whether or not he should be irked that it was those two digimon that had used his own program against him and gotten around all his barriers or relieved that the digimon had returned just in time to thwart an out of control digimon rampage. From how things were now it seemed as though Yamaki had decided upon the latter, even though Terriermon still liked to bring that time up whenever Yamaki discussed a program that was deemed to be 'perfect'.

_"Every program has a bug in it,"_ Renamon could easily hear the long eared digimon quipping even though he wasn't there, _"Especially when you factor me into things."_

_"Terriermon…"_

_I think I've been around that long eared annoyance for too long now,_ thought Renamon sardonically as she watched Guilmon sniff around the hole that he had dug all those months ago on the return trip to the real world.

Guilmon sniffed the ground once more before looking up at his two friends.

"I used to live here didn't I?"

Renamon nodded. "Do you remember anything?"

"Mnnn…I remember a lot of bread…"

"Well that doesn't surprise me," scoffed Impmon. "You almost always had bread in one form or another on your mind even when I first met you…"

"That was because I was eating bread then," mumbled Guilmon as he scratched around at the ground with his claws. Impmon chuckled.

"Yeah…hey! Wait a minute! You actually remember that?"

"I remember that you were awfully hungry," said Guilmon as he brought up a claw to his chin and scratched it thoughtfully. "At least I think so."

Renamon raised an eyebrow and she took a step forward. Her expression remained unchanged but her eyes flashed briefly at this revelation.

"Really? What else do you remember about your first meeting with Impmon?"

"Um…" Guilmon tapped his claw on his chin once more and… Guilmon paused. "More…more…more…"

Renamon turned to look over at Impmon, her blue eyes narrowing slightly at the little hobgoblin, who at first looked just as perplexed as she did before his eyes widened in surprise and recognition. A small smile appeared on Renamon's face as she caught the change of expression.

"Care to explain what he means by that, Impmon?" Renamon asked in a tone that held an odd, teasing inquisitiveness to it that made the diminutive Demon Lord tense up and blush lightly.

"Uh…well…I actually don't have a clue," replied Impmon nervously as he loosened his bandana's grip around his neck as though it were chafing him somehow before scowling at the red dino that he regularly referred to as 'Pineapple Head'. Guilmon pretended not to notice as he unrolled a random rock and made a low, sorrowful groan.

"Mnnn…I could have sworn that there would be a bread tree here…"

Again, queue the inquisitive look from Renamon as she looked over at Impmon.

"You never planted a bread tree you Pineapple Head!" Exclaimed Impmon as he shook his gloved fists in the air. "You're just remembering the time that you took my words out of context! I was being sarcastic when I mentioned that to you?"

" _This_ is certainly turning into quite the learning experience," said Renamon with a hint of amusement in her voice. Impmon growled and folded his arms over his chest once more.

"Knock it off Foxy-mon. With his memory things aren't as clear-cut as you think they would be."

"I wouldn't think so either," mentioned Guilmon as he idly knocked a loose pebble aside, still searching for his mythical bread tree. "I never won a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. I always picked paper."

Queue another strange glance between Renamon and Impmon.

"Don't look at me. I wasn't around for that one."

Renamon shook her head at what she was perceived to be an ever-increasing comedy of errors in their attempts to job Guilmon's memory. Impmon had told her about his attempts to help him remember by feeding him his favorite meal, the so-called 'Guilmon Bread' that he had touted about so much during his previous life, but as that hadn't helped the bread eating dino much Renamon had suggested that they try sight-seeing. Exposure to familiar places, scents, and people would trigger something, and so far they seemed to be getting somewhere. At least, that was what she hoped. Going to the Matsuki bakery, as Impmon had pointed out, had done nothing to trigger any memories. At least coming here, to Guilmon's old den, a place that had always been something of a home to Guilmon, had gotten something out of the crimson dino.

But what else could they do to help Guilmon remember? What other places could they go that Guilmon would find familiar? There certainly was a long list. Hypnos, Takato's school, the tunnels that had contained that strange digital field that had captured Guilmon at one point, the place in the park where she and Guilmon first met and fought, the garage where Terriermon had digivolved in…

_Would any of them do? Perhaps it would be best if he were able to immerse himself in activities that he was accustomed to before being deleted. Outside of eating food and playing games what did Guilmon like to do?_

Renamon was beginning to realize just how little she actually knew about the eccentricities of the former hazard bearing digimon that she called her friend. On the occasions that she had observed him Guilmon tended to eat, sleep, chatter on about nonsensical things, get overexcited about the prospect of food, and play with children and that seemed to be it. But was there anything else about the reptile? Was there anything more that she could use to help him? All of Guilmon's subtleties (if you could call them that) and aspects of his personality were things that separated them from each other despite their unity as partner digimon and comrades in arms. Playing was not something that she did normally, being a warrior and a fighter, and while Guilmon was 'decent' as a fighter in all of his forms it wasn't something that he pursued to the same degree as she herself did. This difference could be likened to Rika's preference for the digimon card game and Henry's preference for working with computers. Henry couldn't necessarily discuss his interest in computers with Rika to a degree that would be enjoyable to both parties as Rika had a low interest in that particular area of technology (having labeled computers as 'boring' once to her grandmother). The gap of knowledge and interest in that area separated them despite their friendship, and it easily applied to her relationship with Guilmon.

_Looks like this is going to be a learning experience for me as well,_ thought Renamon, feeling a sense of challenge from the situation and an eagerness to meet it. _Still, at least he remembered his first meeting with Impmon just by coming here. Let's see where things go from here._

* * *

Dracmon balanced on a nearby tree branch that sat at the edge of the human park, scowling behind his facemask. An expression that was also, oddly enough, mirrored by the two painted on eyes that covered said garment. The sound of drills echoed upon the air as the demonic Rookie looked over the devastated city street. The humans were attempting to make repairs in the aftermath of the digimon battles and were doing so with a speed and efficiency that came from long practice of having to deal digimon rampages. No one complained or slacked off so far as Dracmon could see, but Dracmon wasn't looking for anything of that sort. As his eyes pivoted over the broken streets he caught sight of a sparkle of emerald and gold data floating on the air and the demon's scowl softened and became downcast.

_DinoRexmon,_ thought Dracmon forlornly as he looked down and kicked at the bark of the tree branch with his clawed feet. _So…now you're gone too. That's all of us now isn't it? Except for me of course, and Oni…our so-called_ benefactor _has it in for me. He tried to kill me the last time I saw him, and would have if it weren't for that black reptile showing up when it did. If he survived what happened yesterday he'll probably try to track me down and keep me from interfering with whatever it is that he has planned. As if I could do anything. I'm just a Rookie! There's not really a whole lot that I can do except vandalize a few buildings and cause mischief. If I were evolved it'd be a different story but I'm not! And I have my encounters with the Tamers to thank for that…encounters all designed to give the Argus program the support that it needed to become completed and activated._

Dracmon clutched the sides of his head and let out a loud, screeching sound of frustration that drew a few raised eyebrows from the humans in the streets below, looking for the source of the sound. Dracmon didn't care. They couldn't see him at the moment and he was much too upset over the loss of his last leader and the betrayal of Oni to even think about such things.

_We've been played. Oni knew how desperate we were and he used us…_

Dracmon walked over to the main trunk of the tree and placed one hand on it, using it as a support as he leaned forwards and took a calming breath.

_…But…why would he use us?_

Dracmon frowned and focused on that thought.

_Why would he use us? I've seen him in action, and he recently took on DinoRexmon and walked away from that with little trouble and DinoRexmon's a MEGA! One of the most powerful that I've known! Clearly he's got enough power on his own. I know that for some digimon there is always that want for more, but Oni doesn't absorb data and he doesn't digivolve. He's not even a digimon per se but some kind of…what is he exactly? A digignome? A mutant version or something? Aside from DinoTigermon in our group we never really asked what he was and where he came from. He said his goals were 'peace' but that can be taken in so many different ways. We were just too glad that we were getting help from a power that was needed to help fight off the Royal Knights. Our goals coincided and that was all that the council needed, with the exception of the X-Antibody digimon like WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon who went to Yggdrasil's new world. They didn't like Oni or his plan. DinoRexmon really should have listened to them._

_But that still doesn't answer my question. Why? Again, he's clearly got power, and he says that he wants 'peace' though that seems arbitrary at the moment. Let's recap for a minute here. The subprograms that attacked me, the ones that DinoRexmon fought, especially the Shutu one, DinoRexmon indicated that they were derived from the Ten Legendary Warriors. I've heard about them same as he has when we lived in the Celestial Kingdom prior to our receiving the X-Antibody and their descriptions fit pretty close to what I saw yesterday. Almost identical in fact. The names that were tossed around by that bird lady too when she saw the Agnis and Wolf programs…Agunimon and Lobomon. She definitely recognized them and I'm pretty sure that those were the names of the successors of the Ten Legendary Warriors during Cherubimon's Rebellion so…maybe…_

Dracmon frowned and folded his arms across his chest.

_The Ten were described as having pretty amazing powers when they were all combined, but there's precious little information about their ultimate unified form. Before the X-Antibody and project Arc business started up I had been studying that particular chapter in school. Supposedly they were powerful enough to remake the entire digital world._

_Could that be what Oni is trying to do? Was he trying to reconstitute that final form to do just that? If the final form were powerful enough to rebuild the digital world of the Celestial Kingdom, it would be powerful enough to destroy it too. And if he wasn't able to control those powers of the Legendary Ten…then…_

Dracmon's eyes widened beneath his facemask as realization struck him.

_That must be why he needed Hypnos! So that they could be converted into programs that he could manipulate and use to do his bidding! And everything else…Exodus…the attacks that he had us run against the real world…all that was just so that Argus's construction would be assured!_

Anger flared in the demon's heart and he looked up at the sky, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

_I may be just a Rookie, but I can't let something like this continue! DinoRexmon's sacrifice won't be in vain! I have to find a way to stop Oni! And as much as I hate to do it, it means that I have to find the Tamers and let them know what's_ really _going on! Hopefully they won't try to kill me on sight, but for the sake of the digital world I'll take that risk! Oni…whatever it is that you're planning…it ends_ here!

_…But first I have to actually find the Tamers…_

His brow furrowing Dracmon took a look around to make sure that no one was watching and then leapt out of his hiding place as though he were shot from a cannon and towards the nearest rooftop, preparing to begin his search for the protectors of the human world.

And behind him, green and gold data sparkled upon the air, coalescing together as it hovered upon the air. The data turned towards the direction of Dracmon's retreating form and then began to flow through the air after him, its disparate form fading out of view as it did so.

* * *

Jeri finished tying on the green ribbon around her hair, forming the small pigtail that had become one of her trademarks, and stepped back a bit, looking at herself in the mirror and looking herself over to make sure that she hadn't missed anything. The last thing that she needed right now was her parent's stopping her from going out due to a missed smudge on her face. She had a hard enough time convincing her parents that she was well enough to head outside after her fainting spell from yesterday at the Matsuki bakery, and her father would use any excuse to try and keep her at home just in case. At least her stepmother had been supportive of her in her desire to head out today, though no less concerned about her stepdaughter's well being then her husband.

_And I can't let anything stop me from going out today,_ thought Jeri as she placed one hand on her dress's outer pocket, feeling the card that lay snugly within. _There's too much that I need to do today. Too many questions that I need answered._

"Can I look now?" Spoke up a childish voice from behind Jeri, causing the girl to gasp in surprise and whirl around. For a moment, Jeri stood there, stock-still and eyes wide before she saw the familiar form of Calumon sitting in an open cupboard, his tiny hands held over his closed eyes and his ears bent forward for extra insurance. Huffing in irritation Jeri put her hands on her hips and assumed the intimidating stance that she had been picking up from Rika ever since the two of them had formed their friendship and scowled.

"Calumon…how many times have I told you? When I'm in the bathroom you're supposed to wait outside? And how did you get in here anyway? I put you out here before I came in _and_ I locked the door!"

"Sorry Jeri," said Calumon in a sorrowful tone, obviously upset that he had disobeyed Jeri. "But you looked so sad and I thought that you might want someone to be with you."

Jeri relented and walked over to the creampuff loving digimon who was still taking great pains to ensure that he didn't see anything that he was supposed to. A small smile grew on her face as she came to a stop in front of the open cupboard and reached out and picked up Calumon into her hands.

"Well…I guess I should be the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have been angry with you, but you should know by now that this place is a pretty private area. And please, don't ask any more questions as to why humans are so private about that kind of thing. We just are. And you still haven't answered my question as to how you got in here in the first place."

"I squeezed in," answered Calumon, still did not making any effort to open his eyes.

Raising an eyebrow Jeri looked over at the closed door. It still looked as normal as ever in spite of Calumon's claims. Right down to the one centimeter opening at the bottom of the door that would have provided the most likely access into the room based on Calumon's claim, as there was no window for the tiny digimon to have opened.

_I should probably just leave it at that…though I'm starting to see why Tally wondered how Calumon had gotten into Hypnos without anyone seeing him._

"Okay…well, just don't do it again please," said Jeri as she pulled Calumon to her chest and opened the bathroom door and stepped outside, signaling to Calumon that it was safe for him to look now.

"All right," said Calumon as he opened up his eyes slowly. "So what are you going to do today?"

"I have a few things to take care of, so I'm going to be heading out."

"Are you going to see Takato?"

Jeri didn't answer Calumon right away, her mind pausing on the boy that had for the past year held a most special place in her heart. Yesterday she had heard about Takato getting hurt during the battle against the Wild digimon that he had gone out to fight against. Based on what she had heard from Kazu, the other Tamers had been delayed in giving him the help that he needed due to getting blindsided by a large attack group consisting of a Hypnos program that had apparently run out of control. The news certainly indicated as much when she saw it later, given the amount of damage that had been wrecked this time around, which was enough to warrant certain areas of the city being closed down except to local traffic. She had been assured that Kenta's partner, MarineAngemon was looking in on Takato and that he was going to be okay so that was something. She knew that she wanted to see him too just so that she could set her own mind at ease but…

Jeri again caressed her dress's pocket, touching the card within. _Ryo's_ card.

Jeri sighed, not liking the decision that she was making.

"Not…right away Calumon. I have something that I have to take care of first."

That caught Calumon's attention.

"Oh. But you'll be seeing Takato later on though…right? You know how happy he gets when he sees you."

Jeri didn't give Calumon an answer as she made her way downstairs and towards the kitchen. Remembering the number that Kazu had given her Jeri went over to the phone and pulled it off the hook. Taking a deep breath to steady herself Jeri began dialing.

* * *

Rika walked through the streets of Shinjuku, not really paying much attention to the world around her as she listened to the beat of the music on her headphones, losing herself in the rhythm of the song that played as though in a way it would help her think recent events through and focus her thoughts while, oddly enough, simultaneously using it as a distraction from just that very thing. It was a habit of hers that she liked to use whenever she needed to get out of the house and think and it was often that it did the job. However, such was not the case for today.

" _You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_I want to see you now, so please tell me how you feel_

_You came into my lonely heart so suddenly_

_You gently wrapped up the place that hurt_

_I've never felt this relaxed_

_I want to put that warmth in my pocket so I can walk around with it…_

_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_When I'm sad I watch the growing orange glow_

_The sunset whispers to me that it would surely, surely be all right_ _I want to see you now, so please tell me how you feel…"_

_Really should have grabbed something different before leaving the house,_ thought Rika with a slight bit of irritation as she hit the 'skip' button on her Walkman and came to a crosswalk.

_Just great,_ thought Rika while she waited for the crossing light to turn green. _Renamon's off with Impmon trying to help out Guilmon, Henry's down at Hypnos with that Nakata woman…still can't believe that weird storm was caused by her kid_ and _that she's part digimon too. That Noriko girl that Henry told me about keeps doing something that surprises me every time I turn around. First she bio-emerges on her own and then it turns out that she's the cause of that weird Hazard storm from yesterday. I don't know about any of the others but it seems like weirdness has been abound this past week. Next thing I know Calumon will give me sage advice and Terriermon will actually go the day without making one joke or even saying 'momentai'._

Rika sighed in irritation as she frowned at the crossing light. Traffic continued to pour on by without letup and there didn't seem to be any sign that it was going to change anytime soon. Fortunes from destroyed city streets courtesy of a recent digimon rampage. Folding her arms across her chest Rika continued with her thinking.

_Wonder how Gogglehead's doing right now. Kenta had MarineAngemon stay with him so that he could heal him so odds are he's probably doing a whole lot better then he was yesterday. He really had the tar pounded out of him that was for sure. I suppose that I could see him but…oh for goodness sake! Why am I acting so stupid about this? We're supposed to be friends! I shouldn't be avoiding him like this! I've been dragging my feet all across the city ever since I woke up this morning and I haven't even bothered to head down to the hospital or even his parent's bakery to see how things are with him._

Rika shifted the position of her arms, glaring at the crossing light.

_As if I didn't already know the_ why _that is…_

Rika gasped in surprise when she felt her headphones being pulled off of her head, and her glare deepening Rika whirled about, hands clenching into fists as she prepared to…

"Oh," said Rika, her glare lessening as she recognized the perpetrator of the prank. "It's you."

Ryo Akiyama grinned as he handed back Rika's headphones.

"Nice to see you too Wildcat, though a simple 'hi' would have been more then enough."

Rika smirked as she shut off her Walkman and hung her headphones around her neck.

"Sorry. That's just my 'special' greeting to you. What's up?"

"I was heading down to the hospital to check in on Takato since I haven't seen him all week. I have to say that catching you here was an unexpected bonus. You going to see him also?"

Rika frowned and turned her head to look at the traffic. It was _still_ going without so much as a hint of slowing down or pausing.

"I'll be getting around to that sometime today," replied Rika grouchily. Ryo chuckled.

"I take it that Renamon's not around? Usually stuff like this wouldn't faze you."

"She's busy with helping Impmon with Guilmon's memory. Besides, I can always call her if I really need her. She knows what to listen for."

"Well, if this traffic is any indication I'd say that you definitely need her, or at least a better mode of transportation."

"I could say the same as you," quipped Rika with a knowing grin on her face. "But somehow I'm willing to bet that you at least came prepared to fight off all the traffic."

"Considering that Cyberdramon recently digivolved yeah, that's easily accomplished," said Ryo giving Rika a knowing smile of his own. "Want to hitch a ride?"

Rika's smile vanished and her face became serious, causing Ryo to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

_Something's up._

"Hey, even if you're not going to the hospital to see Takato right now I can still give you a lift to wherever it was that you were headed. It's no big deal."

"Hmmm?" Now it was Rika's turn to raise an eyebrow at the Legendary Tamer. "It's not that Ryo, it's just…I wanted to do some thinking before I saw Takato today."

"I see," said Ryo cocking his head to one side. "Anything in particular?"

"It's kind of personal, Ryo," said Rika in a flat, but not harsh tone. "But…thanks for the offer."

Ryo looked at Rika, wondering what it was that was bothering her and if he should try to press it. He usually didn't, as he felt that he had no right to intrude on the personal lives of his fellow Tamers, mainly because he was more of the outsider of the group due to his disappearances to the digital world and the distance that lay between them. Even with Rika, whom he was closer to then he was with the other Tamers, there was a distance that separated them due to his own activities as a Tamer. There were plenty of times where he wished that it wasn't so, and this was one of them. He wanted to be a friend that the others could depend on, but events always found a way to mess that up with him.

_It was like that back in my first home too,_ thought Ryo. _Every time I start to connect with someone something happens. The only ones that I've been able to stick by are Monodromon and Milleniummon, and out of the two of them Milleniummon has tried to kill me, and Monodromon…he has a part of Milleniummon inside of him that manifests whenever he's in his Ultimate form._

Ryo sighed mentally.

_And now I've got this new problem with Milleniummon starting up, so it doesn't look like I'll be able to do anything different from what I've done in the past._

_…I wonder where Milleniummon's been. He's been awfully quiet since yesterday._

Pushing the thought out of his mind, Ryo prepared to resume his conversation with Rika when his cell phone rang. Ignoring Rika looking at him and pulling the annoying machine out of his pocket Ryo took a look at it to see who was calling before noticing that he didn't recognize the number. Flipping it open Ryo spoke.

"Um…hello?"

_"Ryo?"_

The brown haired Tamer blinked in surprise.

"Jeri?"

Rika raised an eyebrow at Ryo again.

_"Um…hi,"_ continued Jeri uncertainly over the phone. _"I tried calling your house earlier and I got your father, so he gave me the number to your cell phone. I…I hope that's not a problem…"_

"I don't see why it should be, though I have to admit that this is something of a surprise. Is everything okay?"

_"Actually…I…"_ Jeri's voice hesitated. _"…I don't know. But I do need to talk to you about something. I'd rather do it in person if you don't mind."_

Ryo frowned.

"Sure. I'm heading down to the hospital to see Takato right now. Are you there now or on your way?"

_"I'm…I'm not there yet. I'm still at my home so it'll be a while before I get there."_

"If you want I can come down to your place on Cyberdramon and give you a lift…"

_"That…would be fine. Thank you."_

"No problem." A pause, during which Ryo's frown deepened. "Jeri. _Is_ everything all right over there?"

_"I…I'd rather discuss it when you get here. It's not easy over the phone. It's…it's about that card you gave me."_

Ryo felt his blood run cold all of a sudden.

_Milleniummon…_

"Okay. I understand. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Ryo hung up his phone, a serious expression on his face.

_I should have known that something was up. I can't believe that I forgot that I had given that card to Jeri. I_ never _should have done that. I'd hate to think that I had gone and dragged Jeri into my troubles after everything that she's already been through._

"Is everything all right with Jeri?" Asked Rika, concern apparent in her voice. Ryo looked over at Rika, and for once Rika saw something in his expression that she couldn't properly identify. Something that was so completely alien to the normally outgoing, _'nothing-can-upset-me'_ attitude that she was normally used to seeing on him. It was as if a cloud had passed over the sun and darkened the city.

"Don't know right now. Presumably I'll find out when I get to her place." Ryo then added, "And by the sounds of it she wants it to be just me and her."

Rika frowned. "I see. Well, you let me know if there's anything that I should know about, got it? Otherwise, if I find out that Jeri was in trouble or something I'm going to take it out on your hide for not telling us."

Ryo forced a grin onto his face and hoped that it looked natural.

"Don't worry Rika. I know how much she means to you and the others. If there's something going on that looks bad and concerns her, I'll be sure to let you know."

"I'll hold you to that," said Rika with a grave expression. "Be sure to let Jeri know that I said 'hi'."

"I'll do that," said Ryo as he pulled out his digivice to call for his partner. "By the way, you never did tell me if you wanted a lift to the hospital."

Rika glanced back at the traffic to see that it had finally ground to a halt. The crosswalk light turned green.

"Does _that_ answer your question?"

Ryo nodded.

"All right. Take care of yourself out there, and I'll see you at the hospital."

Rika gave a wave over her shoulder as she began to cross the street.

_Maybe…_ the red haired girl thought in her mind.

* * *

Noriko Nakata opened her crimson eyes to a dark, gray colored sky as a cool wind blew over her. Feeling something hard rubbing against her back the dark haired girl looked over her shoulder and was surprised to see that she was leaning against a jungle gym. Further inspection of her surroundings revealed that she was in one of the playgrounds within Shinjuku Park.

_Why am I out here?_ Noriko wondered with a raised eyebrow. _It looks like it's about to storm any moment. I usually don't go outside when I see weather like this and…_ Noriko frowned. _Wasn't I just at home? Talking to…Lucemon? I thought he was gone though. Come to think of it, I don't remember how I got here or what happened after I told Lucemon to stay away from me._

Noriko scowled and hugged herself as another cool wind blew over her. Drawing her knees up to her arms Noriko glanced around, feeling a strange sensation that she was being watched.

_Great. Now I'm imagining things. My mind's been playing a lot of tricks on me lately. I can't remember three weeks, I can't remember how I got here from home, and now I'm being paranoid. Anything else my imagination wants to try next? Like…turning me into a dragon or something?_

For some reason Noriko winced as she felt a burning sensation cross across her chest when she thought that. It wasn't harsh, nor was it lasting and was gone almost as soon as it had started but it did make itself known to the young girl. Noriko shivered.

_That…was weird. Wonder if I'm coming down with something. Well, whatever it is it can only get worse if I stay out here. I'd better see about getting home. I wonder if Daisuke is out here. He'd be the only reason that I'd be out here if Mom weren't around to take him out or say no. He's crazy enough to want to go even with the threat of a storm and annoying enough where I wouldn't be able to say no for very long. Mom's right. I need thicker skin._

"Daisuke?" Called out Noriko as she climbed to her feet. "You out there? Come on! It's time to go home! The weather's starting to take a turn for the worst! Daisuke!"

No response greeted her. The only sound was the sound of creaking chains from the swings blowing in the breeze.

_Weird. No one's around,_ thought Noriko as she glanced around the playground. _There's almost always somebody around here; some little kid that wants to play here so long as there isn't a single raindrop to ruin their fun._

Noriko frowned.

_I…don't see Daisuke around here anywhere. Maybe…maybe he is still home…or out with Mom and I'm just here by myself. But…why? Well…never mind. I'll just take a quick look around the area to make sure that Daisuke's not just hiding out in some bushes and then get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps!_

Making her way through the playground Noriko began looking through every nook and cranny that she could think of, all the while calling out for her little brother. She checked the surrounding bushes and the dinosaur hut to make extra sure…heck, even under the slide but her search availed her nothing! Just as she was finally deciding that Daisuke wasn't around and that she was alone in the playground the sound of soft sobbing reached her ears. Panning around Noriko looked over and saw a small child sitting on the swings, crying to himself, his breath hiccupping every now and then as he attempted to choke down his sobs and failed.

"There you are," said Noriko as she breathed a sigh of relief and ran over to the child. "I was just starting to worry about yo…"

_Wait a minute,_ thought Noriko as she approached the young child. _That's not Daisuke._

The child that was decidedly much younger then she was, mostly due to the fact that the little boy was just that, little. Certainly smaller then she was though about the same size as her own little brother if not an inch taller (though with him sitting on the swings it was rather difficult to tell). The boy had light, chestnut colored hair that fell over his eyes and a black, short-sleeved hoodie over gray khaki shorts and sneakers of gray on white. The child would have looked almost gothic in appearance if it weren't for the fact that his skin didn't have a warm, slightly tanned complexion to go with his hair, which looked as though someone actually had made an attempt to comb it but the elements refused to make it look tidy and neat and instead opted to ensure that it appeared wild and untamed.

The sounds of the child's crying pulled at Noriko's heartstrings and she bent down, balancing herself on her haunches so that she could get a better look at him. Reaching up with one hand Noriko brushed aside some of the boy's shaggy hair and looked at his face with her crimson colored eyes. For a moment, Noriko was struck by a wave of nostalgia but she pushed it aside.

"Hey," Noriko said softly as the boy's sniffling quieted at her contact. "You okay? Are you lost or something?"

The boy looked up at Noriko with a tear-ridden face, and Noriko calmly noted that his eyes were the same, ruddy color as her own. Noriko smiled at him comfortingly. The boy looked down as though ashamed about something before speaking in a heavy, choking voice.

"I want…I want to go home. But I don't know how…"

Noriko furrowed her brow in thought.

"Well, can you tell me where you live? Maybe I can help you get home."

_Hopefully before this storm breaks._

The boy shook his head forcefully. "I don't know how to get there. I don't even know where I am. M-my brother…h-he…"

The boy seemed unable to continue speaking and Noriko pursed her lips together. She had once seen something like this happen before; a little kid who had been the victim of a cruel prank by an older sibling. It wasn't the sort of thing that she enjoyed seeing. For that matter, neither did any of her friends. She remembered how Ayame once assaulted an older boy, a high school student, for pulling such a stunt. She had been sure to get her point across on that account.

"Tell you what," said Noriko as she held out her hand. "Why don't I take you down to my place and we'll see about fixing you some tea and trying to find your folks. How's that sound?"

After about a second's hesitation the little boy nodded and took Noriko's hand. Smiling, Noriko stood up and began to lead the child away from the playground and down in the direction of her home.

"By the way," Noriko began. "I'm Noriko. What's your name?"

Again the boy hesitated and his lips became one thin line as his brow furrowed in concentration.

"T-Ta-Takato," the boy finally stuttered out, sounding as though he were unused to the name but just as content to call it his own. Noriko's smile grew wider and she gave the boy's hand a comforting squeeze.

"Well Takato, it's nice to meet you."


	51. 50/ The Awakening: Part 3

Rob McCoy, who was known as 'Dolphin' to his friends, frowned at the computer screen in front of him as it continually fed him information. Strain was apparent on his face as the number of lines and creases in his skin had increased dramatically from the first day that he had been summoned to Hypnos nearly a year ago. Things had been pretty stressful then, particularly with the invasion of the D-Reaper but after that had ended there had been some quiet time to rest and recuperate. However, the experience had affected him quite a bit; perhaps more then he was willing to admit. Teaching, which had been his profession prior to his summons by the Japanese government, just hadn't been the same ever since he had slipped back into his 'Monster Maker' shoes and discovered that there was actually an entire digital world out there on the Internet. Restlessness stole over him and he soon found himself looking back into all the old digital world information and notes that he had made during his stay in Shinjuku. And when he heard that the Tamer's digimon were back he couldn't resist. Hypnos didn't even need to give him a call to return. There were times though if he wondered if it was worth it. His wife had some difficulty accepting being in a foreign country and having to adapt to it, and still did even now and sometimes he felt as though it was putting a strain upon their marriage.

But whenever he had such thoughts he would look at the picture of his blonde haired, blue-eyed granddaughter, Alice McCoy and he would reassure himself that he was doing the right thing. He felt this more and more ever since the Tamers told their story about their biomerging in the real world. The Tamer's had claimed to have seen Alice, his granddaughter, and that she had guided a digimon representative of the Sovereign and gave them the power to biomerge with their digimon. It was strange…impossible even but in some way it made sense. After all, it was his experiment that had left the girl catatonic, so…maybe…

"Excuse me," spoke up a feminine voice from behind Rob, causing the man to jump, albeit unnoticeably, at being taken by surprise like that. Turning the red haired man came across the now familiar figure of Amaya Abe as she stood behind him, holding some files in her hands. "Sorry to disturb you, but I have the information that you requested."

"Thanks," said Rob, giving the blonde haired woman a nod as he took the files and began rifling through them. Looking over on the metallic bed that had held Impmon there earlier in the week Amaya's face softened and she stepped over to the sleeping form of Noriko Nakata. Noriko gave a small groan as she rested upon the table, trying to shift so as to get into a more comfortable position but unable to do so as she was presently bound to the table by straps. One of the security measures requested by Yamaki, the other of which was one of Hypnos's many agents who was presently standing at attention at the doorway, a cold, ominous statue in the room.

"So this is the girl that's been the talk of the building?" Asked Amaya. Rob turned to her.

"Yup. Noriko Nakata, daughter of Aiko Nakata and Takayama Nakata if I'm not mistaken."

"Takayama…isn't he that news reporter who was found dead while investigating a government official?"

Rob shrugged.

"I didn't get all the details. All I know is she's pretty special right now."

"I see," said Amaya slowly. "Has she always been asleep like this?"

"Ever since she came in here," said Rob as he got up from his seat and walked over to join Amaya by the young girl. Noriko was currently garbed in a hospital-like gown, and her hair was splayed out upon the table's surface. Wires were connected all over her body, feeding information into the computers as they analyzed her and her closed eyes twitched every now and then as she murmured to herself inaudibly. Her appearance gave her a strange sense of fragility. Rob frowned as he remembered a similar scene with Alice from the number of times that he had stood by her bed, hoping that she would come too. "She's definitely not a light sleeper, but at least we know that she's still in there."

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"It's too soon to tell at this moment, but from the looks of what I've got so far," Rob indicated the computers behind them, "She's got quite a bit of data resembling a digimon in her. It's all a big mess right now and I can't really make heads or tails of it but since you asked that's what I'm going with. Right now I'm trying to figure out her individual data…the _human_ data but so far I'm getting more data resembling a digimon then human. And that worries me. It makes me wonder how long she's been like this."

"Could she have become like this when she was in the digital world? That's what I heard while I was gathering the files and I remembered that she disappeared for a while…"

"Like I said before, it's too soon to tell. There's a lot about this that we don't know and don't understand. Given what I've been told about her, like the gaps in her memory, it's possible but that doesn't explain how she ended up like this or if there's any correlation between the two. If it wasn't for the fact that Hypnos is dealing with all of its technical problems this would be going a lot faster."

Rob ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Are Hypnos's difficulties giving you much trouble?" Asked Amaya fixing the man with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…I don't want to complain. I am getting around it, but with the servers still damaged everything's been slowed down. Most of the Monster Makers have been reassigned to so that Hypnos can be brought back up to norm as quickly as possible so being a little shorthanded also lends its difficulties." Rob frowned. "Sorry for telling you about that. We've all got things that we have to worry about…"

Amaya chuckled.

"I understand Mr. McCoy. I've been a little under the weather myself lately. Everyone's asking for information and I've been run ragged all day today. My only comfort is that once we get our systems back up and running things will peter down and the old work load will seem relaxing compared to what we're doing now."

Rob chuckled.

"Interesting way of looking at it," said Rob.

"I think so," replied Amaya with a smile. "Well, I'd better get back to work. Hope things go well for you."

"You too," said Rob as he went back to his computer. Amaya paused before leaving the room and cast a look at Noriko as she continued to murmur in her sleep in an almost distracted fashion.

_Poor child,_ thought Amaya as she turned and left the room.

* * *

"So why don't you tell me what it's like where you're from?" Asked Noriko, looking down at the little boy as she led him through the park. The boy, who's name was 'Takato' ( _isn't there a Tamer with that name?_ Flickered a thought through her mind) didn't say anything, but instead continued to stare ahead miserably as he forced his shorter legs to keep pace with Noriko. Noriko looked at him sympathetically.

_Can't say that I blame him for not wanting to talk,_ thought Noriko. _His older brother left him alone in the park, and it's not like the weather is being very hospitable either. I swear, there's something about all this that feels ominous. Even the shadows look like they're holding their breath…waiting for something to happen. It's weird._

"You want to tell me anything about your family?" Asked Noriko, attempting to engage the boy in conversation again. The boy bit his lip and shook his head.

"No," Takato mumbled. "Don't want to talk. I just want to go home."

"Well, to do that you kind of need to talk," said Noriko, giving the boy the comforting smile that she saw other people, including her mother, use when addressing such a young child. "Come to think of it, I don't even know your last name, and that's going to be important if I'm going to go looking for your family in the phone book."

"P-Phone…book?"

Noriko raised an eyebrow at the confusion that she heard in Takato's voice.

"Yeah. You know, a book that has the numbers of other people so that you can contact them. You want to get in touch with your parents don't you?"

"I don't have any parents," muttered Takato. "Just me, and my brothers."

"Oh," responded Noriko sadly. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that." All of a sudden Noriko found herself disliking whichever brother had abandoned the little kid all the more.

_Some boys…can be_ _**so** _ _irresponsible…_

"Well, couldn't you still tell me the names of your brothers and your last names so that I can…"

Noriko felt a sharp pain flare through her skull and she stumbled a bit, catching herself at the last moment so that she didn't fall. Bringing one hand up to her forehead Noriko bit her lower lip to keep from crying out. She felt Takato's hand tighten on her own as he looked at her in worry.

"N-Noriko? Are you okay?"

Noriko let out a reassuring chuckle as she turned to Takato and put on her brave face so that he wouldn't worry.

"Yeah. Of course I am silly. I just…have these headaches every now and then. No biggie."

_Flashes of desert…an abandoned temple, offering shelter from the sandstorm… bright, blinding light as a digivice fell into her hands…growling…and then a searing pain in her chest as a fireball slammed into her…_

"No worries at all," Noriko reaffirmed as she forced the strange images out of her mind and brightened her smile. The boy looked at her inquisitively before nodding. Together the two resumed their walk.

"You know," began Takato, "It's funny that you say that you have headaches like that. I get those too sometimes, and when I do I sometimes see other people. Places…"

Noriko looked down at Takato in concern. A pang of nerves made itself known within the girl's heart and in an attempt to ignore it she looked on ahead, trying to gauge how much distance was left before they reached her apartment complex. For some reason it seemed much farther then it should have been.

"Oh?"

Takato nodded.

"Once I even saw someone who looked like you…only her eyes were a different color."

Noriko felt a cold chill that wasn't caused by the wind crawl its way up her spine and she shuddered involuntarily. Feeling this Noriko was amazed that she was able to continue moving as though nothing had ever happened.

"That's… _interesting_ …Taka-chan," said Noriko, looking down at the boy with a smile that belied how she was really feeling inside. "But you still need to tell me about your siblings."

The boy who she had affectionately named _Taka-chan_ took on a somber expression as he tightened his grip on her hand. A gust of wind blew over the two and Noriko shivered again. Once more pain seized her head and she tightened her grip reflexively on Takato's hand in response, earning a surprised squawk from him. She didn't hear him though, as she was too busy being assaulted by the rush of strange images that invaded her mind.

* * *

_Noriko groaned as she felt a slight, burning sensation on her chest. Rubbing the tender area slightly Noriko again tried to focus on her schoolwork, but the pain in her chest…it began to increase. Putting down her pencil shakily Noriko got up and pulled off her t-shirt so that she could see what was going on, hissing slightly as the cloth scraped over her inflamed chest. Her heart was beating a rapid pace, matching in time with a strange sense of urgency that was also inexplicably developing in her mind. For some reason she felt as though something was coming…_

_All of Noriko's thoughts stopped in her mind as her crimson gaze settled on her bare skin, and a white fear flared up with intensity. Eyes widening Noriko gasped at the red, pulsating hazard like symbol that seemed to be tattooed upon her skin. Raising her hands to touch it tentatively her eyes widened even further as she saw her skin starting to grow black. In her mind she heard something snarl, and claw at her; something that wanted…out! The burning sensation continued to grow in intensity, spreading throughout her body, and it felt to her as though she were changing in some way beyond just what she was seeing now. A scream began to build up within her throat as tears began to well up in her eyes._

_No, no, no, no, no, no… Noriko fell forward, covering herself with her blackening arms and repeating that word over and over as though it were a mantra that would protect her. This couldn't be happening! It was all just a dream! A nightmare! She was slumped over her desk and sleeping! She was going to wake up at any moment and…_

_This isn't a dream, spoke up an eerily calm voice from within the depths of Noriko's mind, a voice that was…familiar, and reflexively Noriko's mouth, which had_ _been opening to let loose_ _her scream, clicked shut, accidental biting her own tongue in the process. Feeling as though she were drowning in a well of pitch-blackness, Noriko turned her gaze towards her bedroom window._

_'The window…get moving…get moving_ now _before it's too late…' The voice…whatever it was; whoever it was, sounded like it was fading, but with it came a new surge of strength. Getting back to her feet Noriko, her own mind feeling as though it were fading as well, moved towards the window with as much control as she could muster. Her body felt…awkward. Difficult to control, as though there was something about it that made it…not her own. It actually wasn't all that different from moving an arm or a leg that had fallen asleep, but she didn't dare look down to see what was wrong lest she lose whatever willpower she had left to keep moving. Trembling Noriko slid her window open, ignoring the claw like appendages that were now replacing her hands…ignoring the fact that her vision and senses were becoming drastically altered in a way that she couldn't recognize…_

_The last thing that Noriko would remember clearly for a while was climbing out of her bedroom and leaping towards the streets below, not noticing the reptilian shadow that lay beneath her as she flew towards the ground._

* * *

_Ruins of the dinosaur hut that she had crawled too sailed in every direction, breaking apart into miniscule pieces of shattered information as they were transformed into data and broken apart by the strange, beating heat that washed over her. Every part of her mind, body, and senses felt as though they had been supercharged to inhuman levels, and certainly what she was seeing about her own body indicated that something was anything_ _ **but**_ _human to her. Black claws made up her hands, and she could feel…_ things _…moving about on her back and at her rear like appendages that had minds of their own, but were still wholly connected to her, reflecting how she was feeling with just their movement alone._

_If it weren't for the fact that she was feeling extremely frightened by what she was seeing, feeling…_ experiencing _…not to mention exhausted, she would have found the motions of a reptilian tail and eight angelic wings strange, but not all together uncomfortable._

_Hearing a sound behind her Noriko turned and her blue and red eyes widened in horror as she saw a familiar human boy with a long eared digimon standing in front of him, their mouths agape and eyes just as large as hers._

_'Henry…' whispered the single, lone voice of Noriko Nakata in her mind, echoing quietly within her soul. It was strangely silent and still inside of her all of a sudden…_

_"No," choked out Henry Wong in an immensely surprised and shocked tone that struck Noriko to the deepest depths of Noriko's heart, causing the now inhuman girl to flinch at it. "No way…this is impossible…"_

_"Henry…" Noriko vocalized his name this time, and she registered the fact that her voice was heavily distorted, sounding as though it were speaking in stereo with two others. But to her tired, confused mind she could not quite figure out what they were or even what it was that had happened to her._

" _Henry. Is that…?" Began the long eared digimon only to be interrupted by his half Chinese Tamer._

" _Noriko?" Called out Henry, sounding completely and utterly confused beyond all belief. Noriko didn't quite hear him. Her mind felt as though it were spinning out of control. Fatigue gripped her limbs forcefully and the added exertions of trying to figure out just what was going on with her, why her body looked so different all of a sudden, why her voice sounded so strange, and why it felt as though she wasn't alone in her own head were taking their toll on her. That and whatever it was that she had let loose earlier when she… Noriko frowned as she felt her eyelids droop. What was it that she did, she wondered. It felt as though she had let loose some kind of storm, but she couldn't really tell. Besides, she was feeling so tired right now…so…tired…_

* * *

"Noriko?" Asked Takato in a worried tone as the pain in her head began to subside. "Are you all right? Are you having another one of your headaches again?"

"Of course she is," spoke up a cold, angelic voice from behind the two, and quickly forgetting her momentary pain Noriko leapt to her feet and spun around, her crimson eyes focusing on the familiar form of the child-like Lucemon that she and her family had cared for three weeks ago, his arms folded across his chest as he observed the child with a hard stare. "What did you think she was doing? She certainly wasn't playing, that's for sure."

The child took a cautious step backwards, fear plainly evident in his eyes, but he emitted a deep, animal like growl from the back of his throat that made Noriko look at him in concern. Lucemon scoffed at it.

"Don't lose yourself over me little one," chastised Lucemon as he took a step towards the pair. "It doesn't become you, whatever your past is. Not after you finally decided to reveal yourself to us after so long of hiding as the dragon."

Noriko interposed herself between Lucemon and Takato, her hands clenching into fists as she stared the angelic digimon down.

"What're you doing here? I thought I told you to leave me alone!"

Lucemon narrowed his eyes at the girl.

"Unfortunately I can't abide by your wishes Noriko. All of us in some way are responsible for that. I doubt that I could even if I had a choice. We have the digital world to thank for that."

"What do you mean?" Demanded Noriko heatedly before remembering that she had Takato with her, and that as long as Lucemon was around he stood a chance of being in danger. Somehow, on some instinctive level that went beyond her own memories of Lucemon's relentless attacks on the Tamers, she knew that was the case. "Never mind. Just get out of here. I don't care what your reasons are for saying that you can't go but I want you _gone!"_

"How… _unlike_ you Noriko. You're usually more considerate and more open minded. But again, I can't leave. That's our bond…the same one that bound me to your _young friend_ there in order to protect you."

"Whatever your game is I'm not buying it!"

Lucemon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"It's not a game Noriko. This is survival. Now…why don't we talk? After all, it would be far better if you just stopped running and faced the truth."

_"NO!"_ Screamed Noriko. Grabbing Takato's hand Noriko turned and began running, only to halt in surprise when she found Lucemon standing in front of her almost immediately.

"Huh? Wha…?" Turning her head over her shoulder revealed no sign of Lucemon where he had first stood. It was as though he had moved incredibly fast. Turning to glare back at Lucemon, Noriko began to back up slowly, making sure that Takato stayed close to her at all times.

_Why's he still growling?_ She wondered distantly while Lucemon regarded the child impassively before refocusing her attention back on Noriko.

"You don't remember how you got here," Lucemon said, making it sound as though he were stating a fact rather then a question. Noriko glowered.

"So what if I don't?"

"Your memory has a lot of holes as well." Again, not a question. Simply a statement.

"What's your point?"

The sound of wind chimes caught her attention. Looking over at a nearby tree branch Noriko raised an eyebrow as she found one such item swaying lightly in the cool breeze, the individual pieces clanging against each other with a hallow, melancholy sound.

_Those weren't there before…_

"You never did like wind chimes," said Lucemon in a calm voice. "Not for a long time. They make you sad. You don't know the reason why, but they do. And they should. Your earliest memory of hearing them and associating them with sadness was when you were five years old. The day that your father died."

Noriko found her voice caught in her throat all of a sudden.

"It took you a while to get over your father's loss," continued Lucemon. "That much I've gleaned from your memories but when you did you were as normal as anyone else. Happy, occasionally sarcastic and teasing, and you had a strong sense of morality and propriety that set you apart from your friends. Ayame knows what happened to you, but she doesn't bring it up out of respect for your feelings. Hisa is 'blissfully' unaware, and neither of you have seen fit to inform her of your loss. By the same token she has never asked about your family. But that's not the point here and they aren't important to the here and now. What is is that you don't remember why you dislike wind chimes, but the reasons thereof are quite apparent, and that reason applies to your lack of memories."

Lucemon looked at Takato with a baleful gaze.

"After all, who wants to remember painful memories?"

* * *

_A searing heat slammed into her body, knocking her to the ground. Pain erupted throughout her body. A gasp escaped her mouth as her mind tried to grasp what was going on. The pain was everywhere. Her nerves were practically singing it! She felt something in her body let go and suddenly the pain began to feel…distant. She felt as though she was falling away from the world around her…things were starting to become faint._

_As the world began to darken in her eyes she felt her energy drain away from her…_

_The last thing that she heard was Lucemon's cry of rage._

* * *

Noriko groaned and backed up again from the angel.

"Shut up," hissed Noriko through clenched teeth. "What do you know about me? Better yet _how_ do you know that about me? I don't like to talk about that with _anyone!"_

"I know because I'm a part of you now Noriko. Because of what your little friend there did to you…and because of what the digivice did to him and I after you were… _loaded._ "

Noriko blinked and then scowled.

"You're not making any sense."

"Remember what you saw when I defeated ChaosGallantmon, the dark knight, three weeks ago? How his data became a part of me? You've seen it happen in the digital world too, but you probably don't remember any of it all that well. Memories that strenuous you tend to suppress when they become too much for you to handle. You don't do it often, but in that case you had a little help. Isn't that right, _BlackGuilmon?_ "

Noriko looked to her right in confusion and then jumped back in surprise, letting go of the claw that she found herself holding on to, barely suppressing a scream. Where Takato had been was now a tall, black colored dinosaur with gold colored eyes, blood red stripe-like markings adorning his body, and a red hazard symbol emblazoned on his white chest. The creature was currently glaring at Lucemon, a low growl coming from deep within his throat.

Lucemon frowned.

"Hmmph. And here I was beginning to prefer you in your true form."

* * *

Ayaka walked up the steps that led to her friend Miki's house and knocked lightly on the door. While she waited for the girl or one of her relatives to answer she calmly looked around her and rocked back slightly on her heels, surveying the front yard.

_The trench is still there,_ thought Ayaka with a grimace as she saw where the so-called Zephyrmon had crash-landed following MarineAngemon's attack on her. _Of course, why wouldn't it be? It only happened yesterday after all, and with all the damage that the city took on somehow I don't think that any construction company is going to be able to pull off any miracles. Especially given the paycheck that Miki's family lives with. At least there's that City Repair bill that's being talked about on the news. My Dad says that if it passes stuff like this won't worry people as much. I hope that it passes soon…_

Ayaka frowned.

_I wonder how the Tamers are able to keep doing what it is that they do? I never really thought about it until I was with them in the middle of the action, but it's certainly not what I thought it was. People can get hurt, property is damaged…I can't even begin to count the number of times I was almost killed, never mind what Takato and Jeri have gone through. It just doesn't make much sense. Why would anyone want to go through something like that?_

Ayaka was interrupted from her musings by the door opening up in front of her. Snapping to attention, metaphorically speaking that is, Ayaka smiled as she greeted her dark haired friend.

"Hey Miki."

"Ayaka! Hi!"

_Someone's awfully excited,_ Ayaka noted as she tilted her head to one side in puzzlement but she quickly shrugged it off.

"So, how're you doing after what happened yesterday?" Asked Ayaka, to which Miki suddenly dissolved into a fit of laughter, causing Ayaka's puzzlement to return three fold.

_O…kay… On a scale of one to ten this rates pretty creepy. This isn't the type of attitude that I would have expected from someone who just had a bunch of digimon pick a fight on her front lawn and damage some of her families property…namely the yard and a window…not too mention that there was ice and snow getting thrown around in the house last I checked._

"Um…you okay?"

"Hm?" Miki suddenly turned a bit red when she realized how she must have seemed to her pigtailed friend. "Oh! Yeah. I was just thinking about…well, a lot of things! But I guess I just find it a bit odd that you're asking me how I was doing when you were the one who was there with the Tamers during their battles. I mean, I should be the one asking you that."

Again, Ayaka tilted her head to one side.

"It wasn't exactly what I'd call a grocery run," said Ayaka in a deadpan tone.

"I'll bet. So how is everyone else?"

Ayaka folded her arms across her chest and frowned in an introspective manner.

"I guess that depends. Last I saw most of the others were fine outside of a few cuts and bruises. Takato wound up in the hospital though…"

"What?!" Gasped Miki, astonishment clearly written on her face as she clasped her hands over her mouth in horror. "He's not…is he?"

Ayaka shook her head and gave her friend a comforting smile.

"No, he's not. Kenta's partner, MarineAngemon spent the night with him. Apparently he's as good at healing people as he is with digimon. The others are checking up on him now, and I'm going to do the same later. I'm willing to bet that we'll be seeing him in class next week without a mark."

"Well that's a relief," breathed Miki. "You know, I think I'll join you when you look in on him." Miki giggled in a mischievous manner. "I'll bet Jeri's all worried about him."

Ayaka grinned. " _That_ I don't doubt one bit."

A brief silence hung on the air for a moment before Miki spoke again.

"So…uh…what happened to Beanie after he…um…ran off?"

For a moment Ayaka couldn't decide whether or not she should roll her eyes or feel bad for her friend. For the past week Miki had nursed a pretty hard crush on the partner digimon known as Beelzemon after seeing him arrive on school grounds for the first time to talk to Jeri. It could easily be said that his 'bad boy' appearance made quite an impression on her and ever since she was almost singly focused on becoming a Digimon Tamer. Admittedly Ayaka knew that even with the near death experiences that she recently had she found the idea of becoming one rather alluring, but her desire was tempered back by those same 'near death experiences' that she went through yesterday, leaving her with some doubts and questions as to what she wanted and her reasons for wanting to become a Tamer. Miki hadn't gone through that sort of thing, at least not in the same way or for as long a duration, and her reasons for wanting to be a Tamer was now out of an incurable infatuation with getting a partner that looked like Beelzemon or at least was a close approximation of him; a reason why she had latched onto 'Beanie' (as she had taken to calling the little demonic digimon as soon as she had him settled at her home) so quickly upon sighting him, all but claiming him as her own. In it's own way, Miki's attitude could be annoying and downright ridiculous, but given how attached she had become to 'Beanie' and how the digimon turned out to be a part of what sounded like one massive conspiracy, Ayaka worried as to what would happen if she told her the truth.

_Miki would be crushed,_ thought Ayaka desolately.

"Um…well…"

"Yes?"

"…He…uh… _Beanie…"_ Ayaka's right eye twitched slightly at the ridiculous sounding name. _I can't believe I just said that._

"…He… _got away…_ but…um…we don't know where he is right now."

_There. That's about half the truth…_

"Oh," said Miki, her gaze lowering a little. "I see."

Another brief silence passed between the two friends before Miki stepped out onto the front stoop and closed the door behind her. Ayaka tilted her head to one side, her pigtails brushing against her shoulders as she did so. She looked at her friend with a curious gaze. Miki looked as though she were contemplating something hard.

_What's going through her mind right now?_

Ayaka didn't have to wait very long to find out.

"You know…with everything that's been happening since we last saw the Tamers…and I'm sure you know more about what's been going on then I do right now…they'll probably be too busy to capture Beanie. He's probably out there somewhere, all alone, and hungry…"

Ayaka had to repress a groan.

_Oh you have got to be kidding me…_

Ayaka had a sudden, and distinct feeling that the day was going to be _very_ interesting.


	52. 51/Past Histories

Itokawa sat at the park bench, calmly sipping a drink from a white, Styrofoam cup while he watched an array of pigeons as they filed around in front of him like unobservant or uncaring soldiers looking after their leader.

_What a joke,_ thought Itokawa with a grimace as he thought of that mental image, his grip tightening reflexively on his drink in a rather eerie imitation of Yamaki and his nervous habit with his lighter. Itokawa glumly noted that mental image as well, contemplating on the subtle irony that lay within it but not wanting to focus on it or even admit to it. There was just too much that lay between the two men for him to even _want_ to think about their similarities.

Out of the corner of his eye Itokawa saw someone sit down next to him and clear their throat.

"You're late," said Itokawa in a flat tone.

"Sorry," said a masculine voice with a wry chuckle. "Traffic's been something of a pain around here. But I'm sure that you know all about that. How're you dealing with your suspension by the way?"

"Shut it," growled Itokawa. "I didn't call you here to talk about me and my problems."

"But they're related aren't they? Oh well. A shame really. I wanted to catch up on old times. It's been a while since we last saw each other on a regular basis. You don't come to the lab anymore, and my friends are starting to wonder if you've forgotten all about us."

Itokawa _hmmphed_ lightly.

"Be sure to let them know that I haven't _forgotten_ about them. You are right however. My problem is related to the reason why I called you here today, but discussing my troubles isn't what I had in mind. How _did_ you know about that anyway? It only happened yesterday."

Another wry chuckle from the man who sat next to him. A piece of bread suddenly flew onto the park grounds in front of the two men and the pigeons jumped at it almost immediately, savagely attacking it and tearing it apart with excited fervor. Instantly Itokawa felt the urge to laugh at the scene. It was rather difficult to imagine such tame birds being so predatory over a piece of bread, but there he had it right in front of him. He found it almost odd, and he briefly wondered what the world was coming to.

_Next it'll be killer rabbits. Of course, considering that there are digimon running around that probably wouldn't be all that far out of realm of possibility._

"I want to know about Argus."

Another chuckle from the man next to him, and Itokawa turned to look at his companion. The man was fairly tall, taller then Itokawa anyway by a good two inches, and he was thin and wiry. Black rimmed glasses sat on his pale face, and his blonde hair was neatly combed. In fact, everything about the man could be defined as _neat_ , right down to the casual business suit that he wore. In some ways that quality of _neatness_ disturbed Itokawa, and he was certain that if Yamaki were there even _he_ , as anal-retentive as he was about that sort of thing, would also find the man somewhat disquieting. Maybe it was just something about how the man spoke, or carried himself. There was a smoothness to him that bordered on the sublime, but fell just short of it enough because it was more like he saw the world as a joke and didn't care if anyone saw it.

Daigo Kuroda was something of an unusual man, and was primarily responsible for the work that went into the Argus program. They had met at a board meeting when Itokawa had been proposing that the government begin research into defensive programs against the digital world so that they would not have to rely so heavily on the Tamers to save the planet. In fact, it was Daigo Kuroda who had brought up Argus in the first place, and had won the support of the board and assigned Itokawa to be oversee its construction and completion. They had worked together for quite a while now, and could almost be called 'friends', and they certainly had a degree of trust and respect for each other that culminated into an understanding between the two men. Somehow though Itokawa felt that Daigo saw him more in the 'disposable ally' sort of way if not as something of an acquaintance that he had to associate with; another thing that disturbed him every now and then. It had been rather apparent when they had first met, though of late that had declined considerably as they both got to know each other.

"Word gets around," replied Daigo simply. "But what can I tell you about Argus that you don't already know? You were there from the moment it was conceived. What else is there?"

"There have been some new _developments_ with Argus of late," said Itokawa simply.

"Oh? Do tell…"

"It has clashed with the Tamers."

Another chuckle.

"Every system has its bug. I suspect that big storm from yesterday didn't help things much."

"No…it didn't. But it's what happened during that clash that disturbs me. The account of one Kenta Kitagawa, a Tamer, especially gives me reason to feel that way. You see, apparently one of his partner's attacks did something to your _Shutu_ subprogram. It gained sentience, and what's more, its reactions seem to indicate that it has always been that way. Kenta was even able to scan it with his Arc device, and it was clearly labeled as a digimon of a most exotic kind. A _Zephyrmon_ with a classification, type, and level that is unfamiliar to what we've seen so far."

"Kenta is just a child. Perhaps he misread it."

Itokawa's eyes narrowed as he stared at his companion. The man looked unruffled by what he had just been told and he lazily tossed another piece of bread over to the pigeons, which once again jumped at it and tore it apart with the same display of ferocity that they had shown earlier.

"Don't play games with me Kuroda. I've seen satellite feeds of your program in action. They've _evolved_ when they had their second encounter with the Tamers…"

"My, my. So it appears that I underestimated myself and my colleagues."

"Kuroda," growled Itokawa heatedly. "Give me a straight answer before Hypnos gets around to forcing it out of you, because they're already looking into it. There's something about Argus that is _not_ man-made…"

"Digimon were man-made," said Daigo simply as he tossed down another piece of bread for the pigeons to devour. "So was the Catalyst algorithm that enables their digivolution. _Grani_ was man-made and it still evolved."

_"Kuroda…_ you know what I mean. Yamaki brought it up with me yesterday, and he pointed out quite a few things that I didn't bother paying any attention to before back when the project was still going through its design stages. Namely how you and your team were able to produce a fully functional program in less time then it took for those college kid _Monster Makers_ to create the original digimon, and you were _lacking_ , and let me emphasize the word _lacking_ here, the information necessary to help guide and in creating such advanced AI programs. The original digimon were primitive when they were first created…completely unlike what you made and they had to evolve on their own after the funding for the original project dried up. No one on this planet understands Artificial Intelligence the same way that the Monster Makers do, not even Johnnie Beckenstein and he knows them _personally_ in addition to being one of the greatest authorities in that field! You're too new to this Kuroda. A _prodigy_ you may be, but not even you can construct a digimon or a digimon type being from scratch without anything to go back on."

Daigo closed his eyes and smirked.

"You've got it all figured out, don't you?"

"Kuroda. Just tell me the truth about Argus."

"The truth." Daigo held back a laugh. "You can't handle the truth."

Itokawa narrowed his eyes at the man dangerously. Daigo rolled his eyes.

"Oh… _come_ on! Where's your sense of humor?"

"Back at Hypnos with the rest of the mystery it seems."

"I see that's the case. Nice shiner by the way."

"That's a blow to the eye, not the jaw. And you're avoiding the question."

"Fine then. All right. The truth. The truth is…you're right. We _were_ lacking the resources and the information that we needed to properly construct Argus. Hypnos was being _difficult_ and wouldn't cooperate. You know about Yamaki's reluctance about creating programs like that even if they are sensible. We weren't funded all that well either, but that's beside the point. We labored pretty hard to try and build a working prototype but the algorithms just wouldn't hold together. They kept disintegrating and dispersing into data particles, and we could never figure out how to get them to bio-emerge into the real world. Even though we had an uplink that monitored the digital world and the beings that kept crossing back and forth we were only able to get the most rudimentary data at best and that didn't tell us a whole lot about digimon anatomy or about their ability to enter the real world. _False proteins_. That made about as much sense as dirt because we couldn't understand if they were simply fooling Mother Nature by mimicking the particles or incorporating them into their structure as they realized, bonding with them and having them influence their overall structure to ground them in reality.

"Either way, we weren't able to make them stick together in the digital world, and we couldn't get them to come here either. But then, just when we were starting to lose all hope about successfully completing Argus by its projected due date, something happened."

Itokawa raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Something… _interesting_ to say the least. Definitely a turning point though. You see, our own link to the digital world revealed something just at the edge of our scanners, floating in that spatial warp between the two worlds. In fact, it was a _lot_ of something's. Scanners indicated that they were digimon, but not quite. It was as though they were missing something integral. Don't know what exactly, but Chuu once likened the strange readings that they were giving off as something akin to _'digital ghosts'_. Either way, they had what we needed, and for whatever reasons they were…rather easy to get a hold of. The absence of specific data that's common in other digimon indicated a type of dependency on another form or entity, so in the end we wound up constructing a base set of algorithms to provide the template for a body and stuck them to it. To ensure that we could keep them under control we added a little command code. There were some difficulties at first with the attachment. Little buggers were rather choosy and almost got away, but they quieted down soon enough. So long story short, our wish was granted, and Argus came into being. Just like you wanted."

Daigo turned to Itokawa with a smug look on his face.

"So there you have it. _That's_ the truth behind Argus. Satisfied?"

Itokawa frowned. "You gave that away awfully easily."

"You asked. Besides, I have no reason to hide the truth. The board wanted a program; I gave it to them. Does it matter how I do it? I think not."

"Since when do the ends justify the means?"

"Since when do you care about digimon? Come off of your high horse Itokawa. You're hardly an innocent person in that area…"

"I'm not talking about the morality of what you did to a digimon," spat Itokawa harshly. "Yamaki can more then take care of that. What I'm talking about is that you used something that was potentially hazardous without regard or even looking into it to make sure that it was safe, or that we wouldn't be causing trouble over something like this!"

"You read this as if it's all politics. The digital world isn't the same place…"

"Isn't it?" Itokawa's eyes narrowed again as he looked at the scientist. "I'm starting to think that you've been in your lab for too long. Last I checked, digimon were fully capable of independent thought and decision-making. Who's to say that they aren't able to form political bodies that we may have to deal with? This could _easily_ lead to a war because of this. What if all of the digimon attacks that have occurred in the past month and a half are happening because of that?"

Daigo just turned his head away, but the man did not look at all concerned with Itokawa's ranting.

"I suppose that it's possible," said Daigo simply. "But you're grasping at straws. It wasn't all that long ago that digimon were preparing to declare war on the real world, correct? All thanks to a little cleanup program that infiltrated their world and mutated. Completely unintentional, but that little incident alone was enough to convince digimon to come here and cause havoc. Obviously they viewed us as a threat then. Perhaps someone there still does. I have the distinctive feeling that, whether we want it or not, war is coming. You yourself have mentioned that in such a case we must be as prepared as possible. Yamaki used digimon against themselves when he constructed Juggernaut…"

"You're rationalizing your decisions, Kuroda," grated Itokawa.

_"Because I was on a timetable!"_ Exclaimed Daigo fiercely, for once losing his fine sense of control. "You think that I want our world destroyed? I'll be honest with you. I could care less about that children's television program in the sky! This is nuts! Those things come down here and enact a Godzilla movie _in our hometown!_ Our cities are reduced to battle zones! Tamers or no Tamers, I had a job to do, with little time to do it and I did what I felt was needed to produce something viable! Had Hypnos been more forthcoming with its information I wouldn't have gone down that road but…they… _weren't!_ So, there I was, at my computer with something that I could easily use to solve oh-so many problems. Opportunity knocked and I answered! What more do you want? An apology?"

"I'm not asking for an apology," said Itokawa. "I just wanted an explanation. And it's one that you're going to have to give to Yamaki as well."

Daigo grimaced and tossed the remainder of his bread, oddly, to Itokawa's mind as he finally noticed what type it was, a loaf shaped like an all too familiar crimson reptile. The pigeons quickly swarmed around it to finish it off.

_Weird,_ thought Itokawa.

"Fine," said Daigo, his anger simmering down a bit, but it still kept a firm hold on him. "Might as well get it over with then. You do realize that this could affectively end my career at Hypnos, right? I'll be relegated to some backwater assignment that no one would touch with a ten foot pole."

Itokawa raised an eyebrow as Daigo got to his feet.

"And yet you're already accepting it. That's what I don't get about you Kuroda. You're blunt and too the point when someone corners you, and when something like this threatens you, you head off and meet it personally even when you know that it'll cause trouble for you."

Kuroda smirked.

"I don't always intend to be bound by Hypnos though. There's a wide world out there Itokawa. With the right connections and credentials I can set myself up anywhere. I hear that the U.S. of A. is looking for some good programmers after the Monster Makers vacated over to Japan. That kind of makes me less expendable in a place like that, don't you think?"

Itokawa just frowned at his colleague as he got up off the park bench and set off towards Hypnos with his companion in tow.

* * *

Jeri sat on the rooftop of her family's home just outside of her bedroom window, staring out at the horizon, her knees pulled up to her chest, and her pink, purse-like bag with a cute animal face sown onto the surface slung over her shoulder. Next to her Calumon bounded around on the rooftop's tiles, conducting aerial flips in the air and giggling with joy as he continued in his selfless attempts to cheer Jeri up. She chuckled in all the right places when she watched him in the beginning, not out of a desire to be polite, but because they were actually rather silly and it was hard to hold down a smile once the little creampuff of a digimon got going. Eventually however Jeri's attention turned away as she waited for her 'ride' to show up (something that her parents had both commented on due to the oddity of her waiting on the rooftop for it) and her thoughts turned towards other matters. Absently, the puppet loving girl massaged her right hand, and Jeri frowned at it for a moment, wondering why she felt as though something was missing before she remembered.

_Oh. Right. The sock puppet. I used to carry it around a lot, even after the digimon returned to the digital world. I used to use it whenever I got nervous around people or upset. I gave it to my stepbrother as a Christmas present after the digimon came back._

Jeri chuckled lightly at herself.

_Old habits die hard it seems…_

A dark shadow fell over Jeri and Calumon and the two of them raised their heads to see the all too familiar form of Cyberdramon with an equally familiar boy wearing a red sweatshirt and gray pants sitting astride the Ultimate dragon's shoulder. Ryo Akiyama waved a hand and smiled at her.

"You know, I had intended to go in through the front door to get a hold of you…"

Jeri smiled back.

"Guess I'm too used to having digimon in my life to think to do the everyday sort of thing anymore."

Ryo nodded his head, giving a light chuckle in amusement as he climbed down from his perch on Cyberdramon's shoulder and was soon standing on the rooftop to the Katou household. His cerulean eyes cast about towards the horizon and his face softened.

"Nice view."

Jeri's smile widened and she returned his nod.

"Yeah. I like to come out here every now and then. More so ever since I met Leomon before he…died. This was where he first stayed when he and I became partners."

Ryo looked back at Jeri, his expression becoming unreadable for a moment, causing Jeri to wonder if she had made the older Tamer uncomfortable by bringing up that particular aspect about her past. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing that any of the others liked to bring up around her. Especially Takato, and most especially Impmon. And honestly, she couldn't blame them.

Ryo took a seat beside Jeri, his calm, blue eyes gazing out towards the horizon while Cyberdramon took this as an indication to fly upwards just enough to stay out of sight while still maintaining a watch on the two Tamers.

"You must think about him a lot, huh?" Asked Ryo. "About Leomon."

Jeri set her gaze on the brown haired boy, surprised that he would continue that chain of conversation, but she soon nodded in response to his question.

"There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about him. About his courage, his strength, what he had to share with me, and how he helped me at the end when you guys came to rescue me during the final battle with D-Reaper."

Jeri looked over at Calumon and smiled at the creampuff as he began floating higher in the air, seeking to engage Cyberdramon in a game of Tag. The gruff cybernetic dragon, already sensing the In-Training's intentions growled at him but otherwise restrained himself from doing anything more. Not that it deterred Calumon in any way, much to Cyberdramon's chagrin.

_Of course, Calumon had a lot of help in that too. He helped remind me that even though Leomon could no longer be there with me physically, he would always be there with me in spirit._

Jeri's expression became firm as she remembered that wasn't the reason why she had called Ryo here. Apparently so did Ryo as he spoke before she could even say anything to get the topic of conversation back on course.

"So, which would you like to do first? Do you want me to give you a lift down to the hospital to see Takato, or do you want to talk to me about the card that I gave you?"

Jeri's hands clenched on her dress, and for a brief moment she weighed the two decisions against each other for what had to be the umpteenth time since waking up this morning before relaxing her hold on her dress and placing one hand over her pocket, feeling the card that lay within.

_Rika will be there,_ thought Jeri with quiet certainty as she caressed the edges of the card through her dress's pocket. _She can take care of things now…_

Reaching into her dress's pocket Jeri pulled out the card that Ryo had given her, looking it over just as she had done so many other times before as though by doing so she were reassuring herself of its reality. Finally, after a few seconds she handed it over to Ryo, who took the card with an arched eyebrow and looked at it. For a second, he furrowed his eyebrows together in an uncertain fashion, an emotion that seemed almost alien to his face from the previous times that she had associated with him, before his eyes widened in surprise before he looked over at Jeri, his mouth opening and closing for a few seconds as he tried to speak. So shocked was he that it took him a few seconds to actually say something.

"How…?" Ryo couldn't even finish his sentence, so caught off guard by what he was seeing in front of him, held in his hand. It felt as though a bolt of lightning had just been let loose within his brain, and he soon gave up trying to speak all together. Words just failed him.

And he had good reason to, if the card that he was holding in his hand was any indication.

"I was…kind of hoping that you could tell me that," said Jeri as she looked the older Tamer in the eyes.

Ryo's frown darkened as he returned his gaze back to the card. What he was seeing, if he was reading it right, was basically an impossibility, plain and simple as that. The card's description text depicted an extremely strong Mega class digimon that would have made even the Legendary Tamer look upon it in awe had he been in the frame of mind to do so, with high stat points that surpassed most Megas that he had seen in the game, and the special abilities to knock out an opponent's option cards and digimon card affects. Powerful indeed, though a little chancy with its expense, but if he was any judge, the high win-ratio that was depicted on the card more then made up for it. But they were not the sort of things that he was at all interested in at this moment or even all together focused on. That honor went to the picture that was on the card.

The digimon that was being depicted was humanoid in appearance, roughly approximating the appearance of a knight or a Samurai only with less emphasis on armor, which was predominantly gold, most likely composed of the mythic metal Chrome Digizoid, with red, flame-like patterns adorning the boots (which appeared to be more like single-toed spikes reminiscent of the Dynasmon card that Ryo had seen), gauntlets (to which affixed to the gauntlets were circular, arch shaped blades with a spike protruding off of them), and simply designed shoulder guards. Built well enough to offer protection, but not so much so as to restrict the arms movements. Four angelic wings protruded from the warrior's back, glowing with a most intense light that, had it not been just a picture on a card, Ryo was sure that he would have been blinded. A familiar visor-like mask, similar, though not quite the same as the one that he himself wore when he was merged with Cyberdramon sat on the warrior's face, appearing more like the crown of a king only with a single, curved knife-like blade arching upwards over its armored skull, obscuring its eyes from the world. Rings of data surrounded the warrior's body and arms, appearing as different colors, the ones along the arms being more along the lines of the red-blue-green spectrum and the ones surrounding the body proper were plain white. All resembled what looked to Ryo a type of fractal code that he had seen around the form of ZeedMilleniummon. The pictures most prominent feature by far though was a star like insignia emblazoned on the figures chest armor, which was colored blue, differentiating it from the rest of the armor on the figure.

Ryo's eyes flickered up to the name and winced.

_SolMilleniummon._

Ryo glanced down at the card's description text.

_Reborn from the fires of his defeat, this digital god has broken the chains that once held him. Uniting his body with the universe, he seeks his ultimate purpose…_

"Jeri," began Ryo slowly, resisting the urge to shred the card to pieces. The Legendary Tamer took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself before he continued speaking. He realized that his hands were all of a sudden trembling, albeit lightly. "I want you to explain what happened and just how it was you got this card."

Jeri lowered her eyes.

"I'm not sure how I can explain it really. I mean Takato had left the bakery when that symbol appeared on his digivice, and I called Rika afterwards to make sure that he would have help out there. I remember thinking about how much I wanted to help you all, but I…I wasn't able to."

Jeri moved one hand to hold her right arm as she looked down at her shoes.

"After a while I began to feel…as if I was feeling what you were all feeling when you were out there fighting."

Ryo looked at Jeri and frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Jeri turned her amber eyes up at Ryo and the Legendary Tamer's face softened at the girl.

"Jeri…please. Just tell me. I'm not going to be mad at you or anything, but this is kind of important."

For the first time since seeing him, Jeri frowned at the older Tamer.

"Why?"

"Wha…?"

"Why is this card so important, Ryo? Why this particular digimon? Yesterday, before the storm ended I heard a voice speaking to me…"

Ryo blinked in shock at that. Jeri continued as though she hadn't noticed.

"…And it told me that you two," Jeri indicated Cyberdramon, who had finally been convinced to play a game of Rock, Paper, and Scissors with Calumon. Cyberdramon, for some bizarre reason stubbornly insisted on alternating between Rock and Scissors, and even more odd was losing to the little creampuff digimon, "Have some kind of history with the digimon on the card that you gave me, and that there's a link between the three of you."

Jeri let the conversation hang for a moment, during which Ryo looked away from the brown haired girl and down at the card, frowning at it, his expression practically trying to _will_ it out of existence all on its own. Jeri's expression softened as she resumed the conversation.

"Ryo…what happened to you when you were in the digital world? Why don't you ever tell us what you did for that year that you were stuck there? Kazu's asked about it. I know he has, because every now and then he'll bring it up when we're in class and hope that you let it slip to Takato or one of the others."

Jeri looked Ryo in the eyes with her warm, amber eyes.

"Don't you trust us at all?"

When Jeri said that, Ryo was reminded of another time that he had placed his trust in someone. Ironically enough it had been during a tournament, a beginning to yet another crazy adventure that wound up revolving around the digimon that shared its name with that of the one depicted on the card. It had turned out that it wasn't just a simple 'contest' as he had been lead to believe, but rather a training exercise so that he could be prepared…'used'…to combat Milleniummon because it was deemed that only he could defeat the dark digital god.

He hadn't liked the deception that had been done in the name of defeating their mutual enemy, and to have it come not only from the digimon Sovereign but from someone that he had _respected_ as well, another human who's partner digimon had been shared with him for a brief time during his first battle against the digital god.

_After Tai…I had a hard time ever trusting anyone again…well, with the exception of Ken. He was the only human that I ever did trust but other then him, I don't think there was anyone. Even with the Tamers I'm always a little bit hesitant with handing out my trust except when it comes to battle. Outside of that though…_

Jeri turned away from Ryo, her eyes downcast, and all of a sudden Ryo felt the urge to speak. To say something… _anything._ He wasn't used to being in this sort of situation. Jeri had essentially called his friendship, such as it was, with her and the others into question and here he was, failing her, _all_ of them in that regard.

Jeri spoke.

"You know…there was a time when I used to not tell anyone about my problems either, like how I felt when my mother died."

Ryo blinked.

_Her mother died? But…I thought that…_

Ryo frowned.

_Here's something else that I end up missing out on because I don't connect with the Tamers the way that they try to connect with me._

"I used to bury my emotions. Keep them close to me so that no one else would get hurt by them. I always kept a smile on, but I never let my stepmother get close to me even though she wanted to be my friend. I didn't want someone to replace my birth mother, and because of that I shut out someone who could have helped me get through the pain that I felt from my mother's loss. When I was captured by D-Reaper it used all of the emotions that I kept to myself to help it grow stronger, and in the end I wound up hurting my friends when I wanted to keep them safe."

Jeri turned to look at Ryo once again and her eyes met his. Ryo could easily read the message that was in her eyes, as well as in her words.

_Don't let the same thing happen to you. We're here for you._

_Funny,_ thought Ryo as he looked back down at the _SolMilleniummon_ card in his hand, his eyes narrowing as he took in the rather impressive warrior that was printed on its surface. _I was always alone in the past. Even when Ken was with me we wound up getting separated at one point and it took us a while to hook back up. I always had to rely on just myself and whoever was my digimon partner at the time to keep going. The Digidestined could always draw strength from each other but not me. I guess that was because I was a bit more special in some way compared to them. Azulongmon and ENIAC hinted as much every time they kept calling me back to the digital world to deal with Milleniummon. That was because of our bond and our destiny…whatever it was._

Maybe it is time that I started trusting someone again. After everything that I've had to go through during all my years as a Digidestined and then as a Tamer, it would be nice to trust someone again. And somehow I get the feeling that Jeri would be that kind of person. She always seems to have everyone else's best intentions at heart.

"I…" Ryo paused and Jeri turned to look at him expectantly. "All right. There was a reason why I was upset over using the Milleniummon card on Cyberdramon earlier this week. And not just for reasons that had to do with the sheer amount of power that the card gave him. I had some pretty bad experiences with Milleniummon long before I met you guys…long before I ever faced Rika at that tournament in fact. Milleniummon was an immensely powerful digimon, but he didn't seem to be much more then just another average virus with delusions of grandeur. You know, the typical 'I'm going to rule the universe' kind. Of course, that was his ultimate goal, there was no disputing that, but he paid me a special amount of attention during our on and off clashes. I guess you could say that he became obsessive. He knew that there was something more between him and me outside of the fact that I kept fighting him. Looking back on it, I guess I should have caught on quicker, but then again," Ryo forced a chuckle, "One doesn't expect their greatest enemy to be their partner."

Jeri's eyes widened in surprise before transforming into a look of confusion.

"Wha…? I…I don't understand…"

Ryo leaned forward to get in a more comfortable and furrowed his eyebrows in recollection of days long gone by.

"Neither did I for the longest time. At first I was convinced that he was trying to play with my head. He did enough of that when we first clashed, but as time wore on it started to look like there was a connection. The Sovereigns fought him and weren't able to stop him. No digimon could stand up to him, but for some reason every time I got involved things were different. Milleniummon," Ryo raised the _SolMilleniummon_ card to eye level and stared at it, "Milleniummon described us as being like Yin and Yang. Our destinies were tied together and that he couldn't die so long as I existed.

"In fact, I think the biggest proof of that was that he digivolved whenever he was beaten. It's always like that with partner digimon. Our own resident Gogglehead has pulled that feat off quite a few times if I'm not mistaken."

Jeri felt more then a little confused, and bewildered over the fact that Ryo had just now claimed that a digimon that he had described as an evil entity was his partner. Did that mean that…Cyberdramon? He did have something of a temper, and Ryo admitted having difficulty in controlling the Ultimate level cyborg, occasionally having to resort to whipping him with an energy whip created by his digivice in order to rein him in, but the digimon hardly seemed to be of the type that Ryo had described. And…Jeri frowned as she thought over Ryo's words.

_I can't be one hundred percent sure, but if he had to fight this Milleniummon…I wonder…it sounds as if he's had more then one partner before._

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell us though…why you didn't tell me when this first came up and I went down to your home to check up on you?"

Ryo took a couple seconds to gather his thoughts before replying to the brown haired girl.

"It's not easy for me to trust other people, Jeri. I'm sorry, but it's not. I've only known a couple people that were human that I knew that I could count on to watch my back and to be honest with me at the same time…or at least I thought I did. I've been deceived before. Because I'm so affective against Milleniummon I was once treated as little better then a tool for defeating him, and that was _by_ people that I thought that I could trust; people who had the best of intentions at heart, but apparently didn't see any reason to tell me the truth until I was already committed to them."

"Ryo…" said Jeri softly as she heard a slight tone of bitterness bleed into Ryo's voice as he spoke. The sound was so unlike the normally warm, sunny attitude that he always wore, even in battle, that Jeri began to wonder if this was actually the Ryo Akiyama that she had known since her adventures in the digital world. The same one that Kazu and Kenta idolized over whenever they saw him.

Reaching over, Jeri placed a comforting hand on the Legendary Tamer's shoulder and Ryo looked at her with a surprised expression on his face.

"It looks like we have a lot to talk about," said Jeri. Ryo met her gaze for a moment before turning away and looking back at the horizon, his eyes appearing thoughtful. Jeri gave the brown haired teenager's shoulder a soft squeeze.

"You know that you aren't alone Ryo. Not anymore. Whatever's going on, we'll be there to help you. You've known us long enough to know that."

Ryo was silent for a couple seconds more. A light breeze blew over the two, playing with Ryo's hair for a bit, causing the boy to give a wry chuckle as he shook his head.

"How do you do it, Jeri?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"Get people to open up to you. I'm usually not one for talking about my past. I don't even talk about it much with my dad even though I'm sure that we could both benefit from hashing it out. It's just something of a taboo subject in my house. You don't seem to have any trouble with getting people to just talk about what's on their mind. I don't think even Rika's able to hold anything back from you when you ask if she's got something on her mind."

Jeri fiddled with the edge of her dress, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable with the praise that she was receiving from the Legendary Tamer.

"I…um…I…I don't know. I…ah…I just ask about these things and…um…"

Ryo smiled gently at the befuddled girl. It was actually rather amusing in an oddly cute way to see her become flustered over something so simple. It was a strange and surprisingly pleasant change of pace from the oft-hazardous reactions that Rika always gave him whenever he teased her too much. He could easily see why it was that Takato had fallen for her so hard, and why it was that she made such easy friends with just about everyone she met. She was just that sort of person.

_Takato is a lucky guy. Those two are really going to be something else when they get older._

"Well, whatever it is you've got, it's really something special you know that?"

Now Jeri seemed to be at a loss for words as she felt her face begin to turn cherry red, so in a desperate bid to shake off her blush she tried to bring the discussion back on track.

"Um…L-let me tell you how I got that card…"

Behind them, Cyberdramon growled angrily as his rock lost to Calumon's paper.

* * *

Yamaki set the phone down on its hook and frowned as he turned his gaze over the massive amounts of files that were scattered around his computer.

_Dead end,_ the blonde haired head of Hypnos thought with a grimace, _At least for the time being. Most of the core designers for Argus were reassigned after the project's completion and it was handed over to Hypnos and are presently unreachable; same thing for those that were kept as hangers-on and advisors. Not insurmountable but still an inconvenience that I could do without. I'll have to detail one of my agents to look into it more fully once things calm down a bit and I can afford to detach someone from their tasks._

Yamaki looked over various reports that he was receiving on his laptop, relayed to him by Riley and Tally as they coordinated the repairs to the Hypnos network in addition to their own assignments. They were making slow progress due to the sheer amount of files that had been damaged and fragmented from the Hazard algorithm that had infiltrated their systems. Fortunately they had managed to prevent it from being far worse then it could have been. Hopefully the digital world would behave until Hypnos was operating back at full capacity.

_Murphy's Law,_ thought Yamaki grimly. _If something can go wrong, it usually will, and lately it seems as though that law is making up for lost time. These past few weeks, this week in particular we've been having nothing but trouble. Parasimon, the loss of Guilmon, the increasing attacks from strange new digimon that the Tamer's report doesn't match standard digimon profiles, Argus…Argus especially has been a pain and now it's gone. I can only imagine how the board is going to react to that if and when they find out. I've managed to keep a lid on just what has happened thanks to the damage that the Hazard did to the network but I don't imagine that I'll be able to keep that up for very long. And then there's the problems involving Takato's apparent inability to biomerge with his partner, Shibumi being out of contact, and the Nakata child…_

Yamaki clicked his lighter open. So much to do, so little time to do it in…

A light knock rapped on Yamaki's door, catching the man's attention. Looking up the blonde haired Head of Hypnos saw Riley Ootori standing in the doorway. The woman smiled at him and waved a dossier at him.

"The latest progress reports sir."

Yamaki nodded and indicated for her to come in, which she did, closing the door behind her as she did so.

"You should have E-mailed this to me," said Yamaki as he took the dossier and began flipping through it. Riley shrugged

"Hypnos systems are still in rough shape. Amaya's getting complaints about how some information that she's been sending by way of computer haven't been making it to their destinations so we're all footing it today until that's fixed. And before you ask Daisy's working on it. She says that she'll have it back up within a couple hours."

Yamaki nodded in acknowledgement.

"I see that the digimon detection equipment is back online."

"Yes sir. However we don't have the Yuggoth application back online. Daisy and Curly are still trying to track Argus but so far they aren't having any luck with that."

"Somehow I get the feeling that they won't find it," said Yamaki, earning him an arched eyebrow from the red haired woman. Yamaki waved her off. "Don't mind me, I'm just thinking aloud."

"I've seen the data just like you have sir. I find it hard to believe that the entire program turns up missing from our servers. And out of _all_ the programs that we have…"

"A program that may be more then it appeared to be when it was pitched to our superiors," reminded Yamaki. "That is, if the Tamer's stories are true, and I have no reason to believe otherwise at this moment, especially after what we saw yesterday. And don't forget that someone's been preventing us from getting in contact with Shibumi. I find that especially reason enough to warrant suspicion about the loss of Argus. Has Tally made any progress on that so far?"

"Not so much I'm sorry to say," said Riley. "The interference from the damage of the Hazard is causing her some difficulties. However she's getting around it so she believes that she should expect something more to report soon."

"Good. Any word on the Nakata girl?"

"Nothing to report so far," said Riley with a shrug. "Mr. McCoy is just running some scans right now, but he's experiencing the same problems that everyone else is."

"I see." Yamaki frowned. "Any updates on Takato's condition so far?"

Riley nodded.

"Checked on that before I came here. The latest doctor's report says that he is now fully recovered from his injuries. He's going to be looked over a little bit longer just to make sure but he'll be discharged from the hospital sometime before the afternoon."

"Excellent. I want to see him brought up to speed about recent events as quickly as possible."

"Takato has some of the Tamers with him as visitors."

"Even so. I'm sure a meeting is in order so that we can be certain that everyone's on the same page. But back to Shibumi…has there been any progress on contacting him by other means?"

"His cell phone is currently off for some reason. I haven't received any information regarding the hotel that he's been staying at."

"See what you can find out as soon as you can. In the meantime…"

A knock on the door caught their attention and interrupting their conversation. Looking over at it, Yamaki raised an eyebrow when he saw the downstairs secretary open the door and poke her head in.

"Sorry to disturb you like this sir," the woman said quietly, "But I had some trouble contacting you over the phone earlier…"

Yamaki and Riley exchanged a glance.

_Hazard…_ they both thought at the same time.

"Anyway," continued the secretary. "There are two men here looking for you by the names of Kisho Itokawa and Daigo Kuroda. They say that it's important…"

Yamaki and Riley exchanged another glance, both of them raising eyebrows this time.

_I thought that I made it perfectly clear that Itokawa wasn't supposed to step foot in this facility without permission aga…hold on. Isn't Daigo Kuroda one of the core programmers of the Argus project?_

_Well, well, well Itokawa. Someone's been busy in their spare time…_


	53. 52/ The Die is Cast

Takato blinked his eyes blearily as the doctor removed his penlight and stepped away from him.

"Well Takato," said the doctor as he fished out his writing board and scribbled down a few notes based on his checkup of the Tamer. "My compliments to your physician. You are in perfect health."

"Pihpih!" Exclaimed MarineAngemon happily, flapping his tiny, angelic wings to indicate his glee at the compliment.

"He says _thanks_ ," said Kenta as he smiled and rubbed the back of his head. The man smiled at the pair and nodded.

"Well, you did do a good job…uh…pink…fairy, thing…"

"MarineAngemon," corrected Kenta, while said digimon giggled.

"…MarineAngemon. A very good job indeed. Given what I've seen I'm rather envious of your abilities. I imagine that such skills are quite useful in a line of work such as yours if I'm not mistaken, what with you being Tamers and all. Tell me something young man, have you ever considered looking into the field of medicine to compliment your partner's abilities?"

Kenta hesitated and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh…actually, I haven't really given it a thought before…"

Kenta was interrupted by the sound of the doctor's pager beeping. Sighing in exasperation the doctor took it off of his waste and looked at it, grimacing.

"Sorry," he said, giving Kenta an apologetic look. "But it looks like I'm going to have to cut this short. Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki; Tamers." The doctor bowed respectfully to each of them before turning and exiting the room. Silence hung in the room for a second before being broken by the sound of Takato readjusting himself in his hospital bed and chuckling lightly.

"You know Kenta, he does kind of have a point about the doctor idea…"

"Yeah," laughed Kazu as he wrapped a friendly arm around his friends shoulder in a camaraderie fashion and poked at his face pointedly with one finger, his grin growing to an exaggerated size. "All those times that you've had to patch things up when we were younger…"

Kenta eyed Kazu with a neutral expression.

"I wouldn't call covering a scrape with a Band-Aid back in third grade the equivalent of surgery…"

"Even so," said Kazu, not phased by his friend's words. "Sometimes I get the feeling that you have the right kind of touch for that sort of thing."

"Except that you're forgetting one thing. Because I have MarineAngemon there's really not much of a need for me to learn that kind of stuff."

"So? Renamon knows martial arts, but that's not stopping Rika from going out to learn that sort of thing on her own. C'mon chumley! You ought to know that there are some things that we're going to have to handle on our own and we need to know something so that we're not caught with our pants down at the wrong moment. Take me for example. I used to only know how to heat food using a microwave but I couldn't make it from scratch. Now I know how to make bread, so I won't starve if the power goes out or anything."

"But…wouldn't you still need electricity to use the stove in the first place?"

"Depends on whether or not it runs on electricity or gas…er…I think…"

_Typical Kazu,_ thought Takato with a shake of his head and a bemused smile on his face, one that was shared by his parents. Still, Kazu did have a point there. About being self-reliant that is. That was certainly a lesson that he could take away from his battle from yesterday when he had been caught on his own fighting that… _what did Kazu and Kenta call it? Argo? No,_ _ **Argus.**_ Either way, he had been pretty much helpless in that fight, which resulted in him getting smacked around quite a bit. Ultimately he had been saved by quick thinking and damn fool luck. While he was sure that some people would consider the martial arts or any other form of basic hand-to-hand combat training as something of a wasted effort when it came to digimon unless the user was also a digimon (or biomerged with one), a certain memory of Henry defeating a Divermon, an Ultimate level digimon, almost single handedly and in the digimon's own watery element to boot, came to mind.

And after yesterday, Takato could see quite a lot of pros and cons of being able to defend himself adequately, especially if he wasn't able to biomerge with his partner.

Takato frowned at the thought of his loss of that particular ability. That was something that he hadn't expected to occur from Guilmon's rebirth. But then, there was quite a bit about Guilmon's resurrection that was unexpected. The dino's loss of memory, his change of appearance…the list went on and on it seemed. It was definitely something that bore looking into as soon as he was able to, that much was certain. If he was to continue functioning as a fully affective member of the team he had to find out what it was that had changed Guilmon so much and if there was any way that he could return him to normal.

Takato was interrupted from his thoughts as his parents got up from their seats and told him that they were going to see about getting him discharged now and that they would be back as soon as they could. Nodding Takato watched them leave before returning his attention back to his two friends and fellow Tamers. The two boys took the opportunity to walk over from their position by the door and take the recently vacated seats. Pulling up one of the chairs Kazu turned it around so that he could rest his arms on its back-now-turned-front and he leaned forward and smirked at the brown haired boy good-naturedly.

"Great to have you back buddy," Kazu said with an air of contentment around him.

"It's good to be back," replied Takato as he returned the smirk with a smile.

"You're looking a lot better then you were when we last saw you," said Kenta. "I mean, aside from yesterday that is…"

"I believe what my chronologically challenged friend is referring to is when we saw you _last week_ when you were going to board the plane to Okinawa. How is your cousin by the way?"

"He's good. Fishing as always, but always willing to lend a listening ear. He helped me out quite a lot when I was there."

"From what you've told us about him it sure sounds that way," laughed Kazu. "Man I almost wish that I could meet the guy. He sounds pretty cool. Maybe some day when you go over there again I'll bus on over using Air Guardromon or something. Well, when his engines decide to move faster then the speed of slow…"

The three friends shared a good laugh with each other for a couple minutes before they settled down and the mood took on a bit more of a serious atmosphere.

"So what do you think about that stuff with that girl that Henry found in the park?" Asked Kazu. Takato tilted his head to one side in confusion.

"Huh? Girl?"

"Kazu, he doesn't know about her. He was unconscious for most of the time, and we didn't bring it up while his parents were here."

"Oh. Right," said Kazu as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Um…a little confused here…"

"Uh…well," Kazu coughed to clear his throat. "This is what we heard after we regained consciousness. Yamaki was holding a meeting and he insisted on our attending it after we got a clean bill of health. That storm from yesterday, the…what was it that Henry called it?"

"The _Hazard Storm,"_ answered Kenta. Kazu bobbed his head up and down in acknowledgement before returning his attention to Takato.

"Yeah, the Hazard Storm. Turns out it was caused by a girl that Henry knows."

If Takato hadn't already been confused earlier he certainly was now.

"Say wha…?"

"Kenta? You want to take it from here?"

The bespectacled boy leaned forward in his chair as he took over the conversation.

"You'd have to talk to Henry about it since he was there personally when he witnessed the whole thing, but from what I remember from the meeting last night the girl that he said caused the storm was the girl that was reported missing after that fight with Lucemon…"

"Pihpihpuh!" Piped in MarineAngemon from his spot next to Kenta. The dark haired boy nodded.

"Right. Her name's Noriko Nakata."

Takato blinked.

"I remember that name."

"Duh!" Exclaimed Kazu. "Her name was plastered all over town. She only came back earlier this week. Henry found her wondering out of a digital field…"

"Whaaaa…?"

Kazu rolled his eyes.

"Chumley…if you keep doing that, this story isn't going to get explained. The leading theory is that she got sucked into the digital world when Lucemon made his getaway after he clobbered us. She came back with some holes in her memory…amnesia or something."

"She's missing something like three weeks I think," supplied Kenta.

"Something like that, yeah."

"But…" Takato shook his head, trying to clear it of the cobwebs of confusion that he felt building up in his head as he followed Kazu and Kenta's story. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask, but Kazu was right. The story couldn't be told if he kept interrupting. But still, some questions begged to be asked. "What does her going to the digital world have to do with her being the cause of that storm from yesterday? Did she become a Tamer while she was there?"

"Henry didn't find a digivice on her," said Kazu with a shake of his head. "And before you ask if she had a digimon with her let us at least finish, because this is where it gets weird. Henry said that when he found the Noriko girl she was…um…not human."

Takato furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.

"You mean she…biomerged, right?"

Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon shook their heads in one, identical, uniform motion.

"Well," corrected Kenta. "Actually, we're not sure. Terriermon said something about how she spoke in the same way that you guys do when you biomerge with your partners but she didn't separate into a human and a digimon like you guys do. Instead she just became human, but before that Henry said that she looked like a mix between an angel and a black dragon. And she had a Hazard sign on her chest too."

Kazu paused for a moment, looking as though he were considering something, and then shook his head as though just by doing that he would shake off the thought as well. Takato, for his part, took no notice and neither did Kenta.

"Angel?" Asked Takato, his face becoming serious. "Dragon?"

"Yeah. And she had a Hazard symbol on her too. In fact, come to think of it, she said that before she returned to her human form the dragon part of her was colored _black."_

Takato is not what one would call an impulsive boy. _Passionate,_ yes but he nearly always had a sense of how his actions affected others, leading him to be somewhat reserved with how he picked and chose his words when talking to certain people, and it was the rare occasion that he _rushed forward,_ figuratively speaking (as this was not the case when it came to battle), and out and out told someone what was on his mind. Henry had commented on it once, telling him that though he was right to always keep his friends feelings in mind he was more of a true friend when he didn't keep things bottled in all the time out of fear of hurting a friendship. Rika had commented on his _propriety_ , though not in the same way as Henry had, and merely stating her annoyance with him acting like he was stepping around broken glass when it came to her in particular and people in general. Needless to say, this did not stop Takato from apologizing to either of them. Typical Matsuki. Again though, Takato has been described as passionate. Reserved at times except when it came to battle (and most situations that involved digimon, with or without violence) or when he had his back hair up, but not impulsive in his actions, and as such it was rare that he ever leapt into things too quickly.

However, when he heard Kazu give a description of Noriko's _'other form'_ , the black dragon and the _Hazard,_ something in his mind clicked and soon enough Takato found himself springing out of his bed and looked around frantically for his clothes, his mind already moving at the mental equivalent of warp speed.

"Dude!" Exclaimed Kazu in surprise. "What're you doing? Are you okay?"

"He's back," spoke Takato in a low voice as he spotted his clothes folded up neatly on a chair by his room's window. Kazu and Kenta exchanged a glance.

" _Who's_ back?"

"B…" Takato paused and frowned as he began to look over his thoughts more fully. The thought that he had about what Kazu and Kenta had just told him…it couldn't be true…could it? But the description that he had been given seemed to be too close to what he had on his mind for him to just let it go.

"Hellooo! Earth to Chumley! Wake up dude! What's going on in your brain?"

"Kazu," began Takato carefully. "Where's this girl being held? I need to see her!"

"Wow! Isn't this like déjà vu all over again buddy? Just how many girls do you need to see already?"

"I'm serious Kazu! Where… _is_ she?"

"What's this all about?" Asked Kenta, worry starting to bleed through into his voice. Takato frowned as he picked up his clothes.

"Just an idea, but…call me crazy but what you guys just told me about that girl, it reminds me of BlackGuilmon."

"What?" Exclaimed Kazu in surprise. "Are you serious? Listen Chumley, that lizard was blown to smithereens and loaded by Lucemon. We all saw it…well, except for you but everyone else did. No digimon comes back from that!"

Takato closed his eyes, and called up a mental image based on Kazu's description. His mind working furiously Takato spoke.

"You said that she had…black skin and the Hazard symbol on her, right?"

"That's right."

"What else was there?"

Kenta and MarineAngemon exchanged a glance, their minds already starting to catch onto what Takato was getting at.

"Angel wings," answered Kenta.

"I think we already established that earlier when we…" Kazu stopped and blinked. "…Oh. Yeah. _Angel wings."_

There was a brief silence between the three friends before Kazu finally exploded.

"That's _crazy!_ Are you saying that Noriko chick that Henry found in the park somehow got mixed with Lucemon and BlackGuilmon?!"

"I'm not saying anything," answered Takato. "But there's just something about this that doesn't sit right in my head."

"It does kind of add up," said Kenta. "At least as far as Henry's description goes. Think about it. Angel wings, dragon-like body, hazard symbol…"

"I don't buy it though! How could Noriko combine with two digimon at once? Better yet, what would she be doing sharing the body of two digimon? And how would BlackGuilmon still be around like that when we clearly saw him get vaporized _and_ loaded? It doesn't make sense!"

"Well, she did disappear around the same time that Lucemon went back to the digital world," said Kenta. "Something must have happened when she was there that got her messed up like that. I mean Takato can biomerge with Guilmon…"

Takato bit the inside of his cheek against reminding Kenta that he had been unable to biomerge with his partner so far, as that would only serve to complicate their present topic of conversation.

"Okay," said Kazu. "I'll concede that it's well within the realm of weirdness for us, and I have to say that of all the weird things that we've seen so far this one certainly rates a ten out of ten. So what are we going to do about it?"

"Like I said," answered Takato as he picked up his clothes and pushed past his friends, heading towards his rooms lavatory so that he could change. "We have to find her, and I'm sure that Yamaki's going to want to hear about this too. He might need it."

"No sweat!" Said Kazu, his face beaming triumphantly as he brought his fists up in front of him. "Kenta and I can take care of that!"

"Eh?" Takato halted in front of the bathroom door and turned to look at his visor-wearing friend, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"What? Did you forget that your folks haven't signed you out of the hospital yet? Not to mention that they mentioned something about 'having a talk with you' once you got home. Not to mention the fact that you've only just recovered from yesterday's fight."

"Oh…right." Takato frowned. "But…I can't just leave this…"

"Takato," began Kazu. "You're _not_ leaving anything really. C'mon! You just got home yesterday and your folks have hardly had any time to spend with you outside of the inside of a hospital room. Not exactly what I'd call a 'welcome home' party if you ask me…"  
"But I'm a _Tamer_. I can't ignore something like this if it's important."

"Well…yeah," conceded Kazu. "But don't you think you ought to take it easy today?"

Takato sighed.

"I've been taking it easy for the past week. I can't get anything done if I keep _taking it easy_ from everything that gets thrown my way." Takato's face took on a sorrowful expression as he continued. "And I've already procrastinated enough as it is."

With that said, Takato pulled open the door to his room's lavatory and stepped inside, shutting it behind him with a dull click. Kazu and Kenta exchanged looks.

"He is right you know," said Kenta. Kazu scowled and he placed his hands on his hips indignantly.

"Yeah…I know. It's just…he's already been through a lot. It just doesn't seem right to have him constantly go out there. I wish that he'd just really rest up for once and get whatever's bothering him out of his system. You know how weird he's been acting even _after_ Shibumi gave him Guilmon's digi-egg. He's got something on his mind. And now with this business where he thinks that girl Henry found is combined with Lucemon and BlackGuilmon…that's like living a nightmare all over again. I'd rather that he didn't have to go through that."

"I get what you're saying Kazu, but for some people facing what they fear is important to them. Sure, Takato's a little unsteady at times but I've never seen him back down from a challenge, and when he knows that he has us behind him and supporting him then he knows that he doesn't have anything to worry about. Remember what Tai said in the TV show? 'A man must face himself before he faces his enemies'."

"Dude, I can't believe that you just quoted a line from the show and applied it to this situation."

"Funny Kazu. I kind of remember you doing that too when you showed that little kid how to ride a bicycle a couple years ago…"

"Do I have to bring up the story about you not being able to do one Pull-Up in Gym class again?"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!"

MarineAngemon just looked at the two kids with a curious gaze.

* * *

Guilmon sniffed the ground near the chain link fence and raised his head to look at Renamon and Impmon as they stood, or in Impmon's case lounging on a branch, over by a nearby tree, watching him.

Renamon focused on the crimson dinosaur, her black and azure colored eyes locking with the gold and white hued ones of Guilmon, conveying a silent, unspoken message between them before it was broken and Guilmon went back to sniffing the ground.

"Well?" Asked Impmon. "Remember anything?"

Guilmon didn't answer right away, but instead walked up to the fence and looked it over carefully, tracing the interlinked, metal wires with his eyes before reaching out with his claws to touch them. As he did so, he felt something emerge in his mind. Something that felt… _hazy…_

* * *

_Guilmon was following his Tamer through the lush brush of the park, eventually coming out into an open area marked off by a fence. Takatomon was in the process of thinking of where the best place would be for Guilmon to hide out until school was over and they were able to play together. His main reasoning for this particular area of the human city was because not too many people showed up there, making it just right for an easily visible digimon to go romping around. Not that it offered foolproof invisibility from the public eye of course, as the goggle-wearing Tamer was just now lamenting._

_"Nah. This feels too much out in the open. Where can we hide you? Hmmm…ahhh…"_

_Guilmon wished that he could help his Tamer find a place that he could stay in (though truth be told he wasn't at all sure why he had to stay hidden despite his encounter with the Principal. Not that he didn't enjoy a good game of hide and go seek and dressing up in a box), but he just wasn't all that familiar with the human city. He could easily find his way around by following Takatomon's scent with his nose (as he firmly believed that wherever Takatomon was had to be the 'right direction') but when it came to finding things other then Takatomon, if it wasn't food he wouldn't know where to look. Oh well. He was certain that he could trust Takatomon to find him a nice place where he could…_

_Guilmon's senses suddenly kicked into high gear as he felt danger in his immediate vicinity, and approaching_ fast! _Turning with a harsh growl Guilmon had just enough time to register a furry, fox-like form speeding towards him before he felt his back impacting with the fence behind him._

* * *

Guilmon gave a startled yelp as he landed on the ground on his back, a victim of an ill-placed foot claw due to his own surprise.

"Owww…" whined the crimson dinosaur as he rubbed the top of his head even though it hadn't born the brunt of the impact. A lithe, purple-gloved paw placed itself on his shoulder and Guilmon turned to look up into the concerned eyes of Renamon as she knelt next to him.

"Are you all right?"

Guilmon's face took on a hurt expression and he looked back at the fence.

"Renamon…why did you kick me?"

"What're you talking about?" Demanded Impmon rather loudly as he hopped down from his spot in the tree and began walking over to the pair. "All you did was jump backwards and fall down on your…"

"Impmon," said the vulpine digimon in a tone that stated simply, just by using his name, that he was to stop talking and let her speak to Guilmon. Shutting his mouth Impmon did as he was bid and watched the scene between the two unfold.

"What did you see, Guilmon?"

"I was walking through the park with Takatomo…" Guilmon paused, and cocked his head to one side in confusion. "Taka-toe…mon?"

Guilmon blinked, and a small smile appeared on Renamon's face as she remembered the old nickname that Guilmon had called his Tamer once upon a time. He rarely did so in the days prior to his death, and only during periods of extreme stress but otherwise had outgrown the habit. It seemed as though he was going to outgrow his referring to Takato as his 'mother' now as well.

_Although that might take some doing,_ thought Renamon in bemusement as she remembered the time when she and Rika met the two in an alleyway down near Rika's house. She had made fun of Takato then, saying that he would make a better mother then a Tamer with the way that he _babied_ his digimon. While he had turned out to be a rather fine Tamer in the end, the idea that he would still make a good _mother_ , or rather a _father_ due to the boy's gender, was something that she still believed quite well only without the sense of derision and contempt that she had felt then.

"I was walking through the park with Takato…mon," Guilmon shook his head before forcing himself to continue, "And he was trying to find me a place to hide during the day while he was at school. We were passing through here," Guilmon indicated the path with one claw, "And then you… _kicked_ me into the fence."

Guilmon looked up into Renamon's eyes with a face that was gripped with hurt and betrayal, pleading with the vixen to explain how she could have done such a thing when she said that they were friends. Renamon fixed her gaze on Guilmon's as she spoke.

"Things were very different in those days, Guilmon," said Renamon, and though her voice was gentle, she did not sugarcoat her words. They did after all, concern her past relationship with the red dino, and she saw no reason to hold anything back from him. "Back then I did not think twice about deleting other digimon and absorbing their data in order to grow stronger. My partner, Rika was of the same mind then and merely wished that I became stronger. We both saw each other and the rest of the world as a means to an end, you and others like you were merely competition to being the strongest, and things like friendship held no meaning in that belief. As time went on we began to see things differently, and eventually we realized that we were wrong."

While listening to this story, Impmon lowered his eyes down to the ground, remembering his own acts while he had been in the service of the digimon Sovereign Zhuqiaomon. They bore a striking similarity to Renamon's tale.

_Only between the two of us she was smart and got away from that before it could really harm her and others while I…I just fell and I kept right on falling after that._

Impmon gripped his red-gloved fist tightly, glowering at it as he noted an orange aura flickering around it. Another reminder of what he had done to the Tamers and had taken from them, all for the sake of power.

_But I'm still here to make up for that,_ affirmed Impmon as he raised his gaze back to the crimson dino and the yellow fox. _And I'm not going to let my past stop me from doing all I can to help out my friends._

Impmon felt a sharp tingle in the back of his head all of a sudden, and he realized that Guilmon and Renamon had stopped talking and were looking around them as though they sensed something nearby and were trying to find its source. Joining their search Impmon's green eyes sought the sky, followed by Guilmon and Renamon until all three of them, drawn like a moth to the proverbial flame, focused squarely on a nondescript fog floating in the air.

And it was coming towards them.

_This doesn't look good,_ thought Impmon darkly as he got into a defensive stance.

* * *

"You know Miki," began Ayaka as they made their way through the park. "Maybe we should just forget about the whole thing…"

The dark haired girl turned a curious look on Ayaka.

"Why's that? Are you tired?"

"No! It's not that I'm tired it's just…" Ayaka took a deep breath to steady herself. "Look. We've been combing the park for a while now and we haven't found a single sign of that digimon…"

"Beanie," Miki corrected. Ayaka merely rolled her eyes.

"Oh, would you listen to yourself?" Ayaka asked, a little irritation starting to make itself known in her voice. "You're acting as though you and that little guy are already destined for each other and you don't even have one of those digivice things that the _real_ , and let me emphasize the word _real_ here, Tamers have. I mean seriously, you don't even know anything about this guy!"

"Beanie," Miki said again, causing Ayaka to growl in frustration.

"Will you stop it with the _pet name_ already?! He's his own digimon for crying out loud, and you practically kidnapped him in the hopes that he would become your partner! To be frank, I don't know what your whole obsession is with that little squirt and why you even want to be a Tamer in the first place!"

Miki arched an eyebrow at her blonde haired friend.

"Hey. You okay? You weren't like this before when we first started learning about the game from Henry earlier this week. In fact, I thought that you wanted to be a Tamer too."

Ayaka growled and folded her arms across her chest.

"That was _before_ I was in the middle of one of their fights."

"I was in one with you guys yesterday too, remember?"

"Except that you weren't there for the _whole_ _thing_ , Miki. I was. Heck, I was almost killed by one yesterday in case you haven't forgotten, and it didn't happen just once but _twice_ unless I miraculously ducked beneath an energy blast when I wasn't looking…or you count that stupid hammer wielding dwarf…"

Miki expression just scrunched up in even more confusion.

_"Hammer wielding dwarf?"_

Ayaka continued as though she hadn't even heard the question.

"Anyway, this stuff is _very_ serious! This digimon Taming thing…it's not all fun and games. I should have hit on it sooner when we heard about what happened to Takato and Guilmon but it just didn't click with me right away until I was actually out there and in the thick of it! Sometimes…hearing you go on about… _Beanie!_ Grrr…sometimes I don't think that you really quite get what you're thinking about getting into! People will get hurt in this stuff!"

Miki stared at her friend with a hurt expression and she turned her face away, instantly causing Ayaka to regret her words.

"Look," began Ayaka as she placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry okay. I'm just stressed because of the fight from yesterday and hearing about what happened to Takato. But I do think that you need to rethink why you want to be a Tamer and everything. Kazu and Kenta can go on about how fun it is being a Tamer and everything, but even they know that it comes with a pretty heavy price. I got that much yesterday when I saw them in action. They take their job seriously, and they know that one mistake or one cocky move and they could end up losing their partner or having someone accidentally getting hurt…maybe even killed. I wouldn't want to see you having to learn something like that the hard way."

Miki held one of her arms protectively, rubbing it in an uncertain fashion as she continued to plod along, her eyes no longer scanning the trees and brush for any sign of the Rookie digimon that she had labeled ' _Beanie_ ' during the brief time that she had kept him at her house. Deep down inside she knew that Ayaka was right, but…

_But…_

"You know, when I first saw Beelzemon the first thing that I thought was just how cool he looked." Miki giggled half-heartedly as she recalled the day that the winged Demon Lord had appeared at the schoolyard looking for Jeri. "He looked like he was such a 'bad boy', but he spoke so respectfully to Jeri that it was rather sweet to see. He kind of reminded me of some 'avenging angel', only with a sad, dark look about him. Kind of like some one of those heroes that you read about in stories, you know? There was something in him that called to me, but…he already had a partner."

_"Partners,"_ corrected Ayaka, stressing the plural form of the word. "Henry said that he had two."

"Right," said Miki nodding. "Anyway, I just remembered thinking that if I ever got a partner, him, or someone like him would be one that I wanted. I…guess that I've always enjoyed the idea of getting swept off my feet by someone like that." Miki came to a halt and frowned at the ground. "Maybe it is just a silly crush…"

Ayaka bit her lower lip, and at that moment contemplated telling Miki that she was better off without _Beanie_ because of what she saw yesterday when that big dinosaur showed up. But before she could even open up her mouth to say anything, her eyes spied a figure flitting through the tree line, leaping from branch to branch like a darting shadow.

"Miki," whispered Ayaka as she grabbed hold of the girl's arm and pointed in the direction that she saw the figure in. "Look there."

Miki's eyes looked up and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment before widening suddenly in surprise. A second later Miki burst forth, breaking free from her friends grip as their earlier conversation completely flew out the window.

_"BEANIE!"_ Miki shouted at the top of her lungs. Ayaka gaped at her friend before breaking into pursuit a second later.

"Oh good grief…MIKI!"

* * *

Dracmon felt his frustration growing with every second that went by in which he did not find one of the Tamers. During his time with the Exodus, when Oni had been _helping_ them he had been briefed on them and shown images so that he could recognize them on sight upon entering the real world. Having fought them a couple times their image was now burned into his memory to the point where it would take a complete and total reconfiguration to make him forget what they looked like. Despite this, and his digimon senses, he was having trouble locating a single one of them.

_Well, it is a big city,_ thought Dracmon irritably, but he felt as though that was more of an excuse then anything else. These were _Tamers_ he was talking about. They had _digimon_! He should be able to find them easily even in a city of this size and population. Seriously. How hard was it to pick out a kid who was hauling around a digimon even in a largely populated city like this? And if failing that, how hard was it to find a digimon? Now _those_ creatures stood out like a sore thumb…

_"BEANIE!"_

_Wha…?_ Startled, Dracmon lost his footing the second that he landed on another tree branch. Gravity quickly taking hold of his tiny form the demonic little digimon spun his arms in an effort to stabilize himself. Alas, gravity proved to be much too strong for him and soon enough he fell forward and hit the ground with a resounding thud.

_Owww…that…hurt…_

"Oh good grief," Dracmon distantly heard another voice mutter. This voice, and the other one, sounded strangely familiar to him. "MIKI!"

Dracmon's eyes snapped open beneath his facemask as he struggled to suck air into his digital lungs. That name! Not the Miki one, though that too carried its own weight with him, but the _other_ one. _Beanie._

_Oh you have_ got _to be kidding me…_

Feeling a new surge of strength Dracmon struggled to regain his feet so that he could get out of there, his instincts for survival overriding all other thoughts. Fear, a surprising emotion for one such as him to feel, flashed through his mind at the thought of becoming a victim to yet another one of the girl's possessive, and bone-crushing hugs. Lurching to his feet as quickly as he could, Dracmon almost collapsed again as black spots darkened his vision from lack of oxygen.

"A-Are you all right?" Spoke up a timid voice from behind the demonic little digimon, and Dracmon flinched as he felt a soft hand place itself gently on his back. Looking over his shoulder Dracmon was surprised to find himself looking into the dark eyes of the girl who had 'brutalized' him prior to his incident with Argus and Oni.

_Oookay…not that I'm complaining but…where's the glomp? Shouldn't she be holding me in a death grasp by now?_

During the short time in which Dracmon had lived in Miki's home he had come to learn a few things about her, namely her excitement when it came to all things digimon (a surprise since her room was actually quite Spartan when it came to that subject, and indeed was covered wall to wall with all manner of things _not-digimon_ and more along the lines of _cute_ , complete with stuffed rabbits and fluffy toy kitties) and him in particular. Something of a most unhealthy combination in his opinion, and if it weren't for the fact that he had believed that it would be a good place to start if he were to infiltrate the Tamers he would have been out of there long before Argus came hunting for his head. The way that she eyed him with amazement, a dreamy _hope_ , nigh _possessiveness_ , not to mention her excessively chatty nature when it came to his person were reasons aplenty in which Dracmon felt that it would be best to avoid the girl as much as conceivably possible during his stay in the real world and in her dwelling, especially since he had to put up with her naming him _Beanie_ of all things. Her having to go to school certainly brought that much needed relief (until he learned that he was allergic to the poofy feline that she referred to as _Fluffy)_. Not fun, and after Oni had brought him back to that warp between the worlds he had thought that he was well-rid of her and very much glad for it.

Fate however, he was coming to learn, could be such a cruel mistress. All things considered though, when he thought back to his first encounters with this child, he was very much surprised to see her not trying to squeeze him to death or eyeing him like a belonging. It was kind of strange, but it was not an unwelcome experience.

"Uh…yeah," coughed Dracmon uncertainly as air finally entered his lungs without a struggle. "Yeah. I'm…fine."

Miki smiled at the tiny demon.

"That's good. I've been worried about you ever since what happened yesterday. You didn't come back, and Ayaka," Miki indicated the blonde haired, pig-tailed girl in the red and orange striped t-shirt who was regarding Dracmon with narrowed, suspicious eyes, "Said that you managed to get away, so I thought that we might go looking for you."

"Correction. _You_ were looking for him. _I_ was just tagging along and trying to talk to you about…"

"Ayaka!" Miki snapped. "Can't you see that Beanie's hurt?"

"He's a _digimon!_ I seriously doubt that little fall from a low-lying tree branch is really going to do anything more then shake him up a bit, so would you stop treating him like a baby already? If what we heard from Terriermon is any indication, this guy used to be at the _Ultimate_ level when he came here. He's probably got more years on us then the other way around."

"But he's a Rookie…"

"I really don't think that you're quite getting it Miki. Anyway, the guy's nothing but trouble…"

"But if he was wouldn't he have done something to hurt us by now?" Miki turned to Dracmon and smiled at him once again. Ayaka _had_ to roll her eyes at this one.

_Great. The fate of the world is probably at stake because this little guy's caught up in some kind of weird conspiracy and all Miki can do is make eyes at him. Jeri warned me that there were going to be days like this when I told her about Miki's 'find'._

Ayaka took note of the fact that the little demon was looking more then a little uncomfortable over the way Miki was eyeing him. Yup. It was only a matter of time before she went into full _crush_ gear, both the figurative, romantic term and the literal, physical act. Ayaka couldn't decide whether or not she should feel sorry for _Beanie_ , for being handed such a fate.

_You reap what you sow I guess,_ thought Ayaka sardonically, tilting her head to one side as she considered Dracmon.

"Now then…what are we going to do with you?" Asked Ayaka as she bent down to be more eyelevel with Dracmon, resting her weight on the balls of her feet. Dracmon tensed up, uncertain as to what the girl was thinking until he had a thought. Or rather, a memory from when he had seen her yesterday.

_She was with that Tamer of the MarineAngemon. That means…that she_ knows _the Tamers! Well if this isn't the strangest bit of luck I've ever had! It's almost like killing two birds with one stone…only the stone's actually a boomerang that clobbers me upside the head as I throw it. Either way, this might work out better then I hoped it would!_

"I need to see the Tamers!" Dracmon broke in abruptly, causing both girls to blink at him in surprise.

"Excuse me?" Asked Ayaka bluntly while Miki responded with a 'huh?'

"The Tamers," rasped Dracmon, starting to feel a tad bit more irritated then he had been when Miki discovered him. "I… _need…_ to… _see them!_ It's a matter of extreme importance!"

Ayaka scoffed.

"Yeah right. How do we know that this isn't some kind of trick?"

"Ayaka!" Exclaimed Miki incredulously. "You don't even know this digimon…!"

"Neither do you," said Dracmon bluntly as he got to his feet. Miki looked at him in surprise. "Ayaka knows a little bit more about me then you do I'll warrant. She kept following me after yesterday so she at least knows that I showed up here working for somebody, and it was that somebody who saved me from deletion yesterday."

"Huh-wha…?" Surprised by this, Miki whirled to look at Ayaka. Ayaka, to her credit, didn't even flinch as her gaze met Miki's. Sensing that he had accidentally stirred some trouble in the waters between them Dracmon was swift to keep talking before anything bubbled to the surface.

"Look. I _need_ to see the Tamers. There's a lot that they have to know about what's going on. About…uh…Argus…" Dracmon scowled. He wasn't even all that sure if these two, being non-Tamers, would even know about that particular program. Humans, like digimon had the habit of keeping certain things hidden from others who were not on a 'need-to-know' basis. His curiosity was rewarded when both girls just looked at him blankly.

"Oh for the love of…I just need to see the Tamers! I don't care what emergency safety steps you think needs to be taken but I need to have a word with them! A lot of things went down yesterday and they need to be told about them before things get out of contro…!"

Dracmon's ranting screeched to a halt when he felt something pull _forcefully_ on his senses at about the same time that the two girls looked over Dracmon and at something directly behind him. Risking a glance over his shoulder Dracmon's eyes widened underneath his facemask as he saw a fog-like cloud that had apparently appeared out of thin air making its way towards them. His heartbeat quickened its pulse as he an intense force assaulted his senses with all the power of a cement truck. Whatever it was that was in that cloud, it was _big_ , and more importantly powerful. It was also an imprint that his senses recognized all too well, having memorized it from countless, bloody engagements in the digital world prior to his coming here.'

"GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"

Reacting on pure instinct, Dracmon launched himself into the air and threw himself towards the digital field at the precise moment that it touched down on the earth and detonated. His body slicing through the fog like a bullet, Dracmon summoned his energies to deliver his most powerful attack, hoping to buy the two girls the time that they needed to get out of here, even though he would recognize after the fact, that it was really hopeless act of self-sacrifice. Nonetheless, Dracmon was moving on instinct, and thus had no time to think about such things. Which was why a second later he found himself trapped within the grasp of a black colored gauntlet and staring into the gaunt eyes that lay within a skull-shaped, metallic helmet.

"Well, well, well," said Craniummon coldly as he brought the squirming Dracmon to eye level. "We've been looking all over for you."

_Aw…nuts!_


	54. 53/ The Die Rolls

Lightning crackled across the sky as the great, serpentine dragon known as Azulongmon tore across the sky, his eyes fixed with worry and anxiety as he flew. Checking the mountains that were fast approaching Azulongmon picked up his pace and thunder boomed.

_I have to hurry,_ thought Azulongmon, urging every bit of speed that he could muster to reach his destination as quickly as possible. _The fate of the whole digital world might depend on it._

Things had been quite eventful ever since the sudden appearance of the strange blue cloud that had attacked and incapacitated his fellow Sovereign Zhuqiaomon. It was fortunate indeed that the three Celestials had arrived as quickly as they did after he had sent a summoning to them, as the fire bird's condition was such that Azulongmon and his allies feared that he would be deleted without the proper intervention. Their abilities with healing were adequate due to their sheer amount of power and knowledge of data manipulation, but when it came to that specific art none surpassed the skill of the three Celestials. Secure in the knowledge that Zhuqiaomon would be all right in their hands, as his condition was beginning to stabilize prior to Azulongmon's hasty exodus beyond the lands of the Sovereigns, the mighty Sovereign now sought to find answers to questions that had been on his mind ever since the encounter from yesterday.

And there was only one group that he believed to be able to provide him with what he sought.

Azulongmon cleared the mountains now and dove towards a valley that lay just within its shadow, surrounded by a fine layer of mist. Coming to a halt just above it Azulongmon waited, peering into it with his four eyes as though trying to see what lay within until finally, as though by some unspoken command or communication the mist slowly parted and dissipated into thin air, revealing a sizeable Shinto temple with great towers and massive walls, giving it the appearance more of a fortress then a place of worship. A small figure, at least when compared to Azulongmon, rose into the air and came to a halt in front of the guardian of the Eastern Quadrant of the digital world. It was a tall woman with a pale face that was half obscured by a blue colored, fox shaped face mask. Blue body armor covered the woman's upper torso and shoulders over a black, skin tight jump suit, and she wore blue colored gloves and high heeled boots. A silver vajra staff was held loosely in one hand while black, silver tipped hair tied off into two separate pony tails to resemble fox tails flowed down her back. Azulongmon instantly recognized the digimon as a Kuzuhamon.

"Greetings Lord Azulonmon," spoke the Kuzuhamon courteously, inclining her head slightly as a show of respect to the great and powerful dragon. "How may I be of service to you?"

"I must see your mistress immediately," boomed Azulongmon, his voice echoing across the landscape, though its sound did not at all disturb the floating shaman digimon in front of him. "I apologize for the abruptness of my arrival and demand but recent developments have come to my attention, and given what they entail I am certain that they will require that of your people as well."

The Kuzuhamon bowed her head again and turned to head back to the temple.

"If you would be so kind as to follow me then," the raven haired woman said and together the two of them flew towards the inner courtyard that lay within the center of the Shinto temple. The sound of a Gong reverberated throughout the courtyard as they approached, signaling to all of the temple's occupants that they had visitors. As Azulongmon neared he took note of the multitude of fox-like digimon that were now appearing in the courtyard and on the rooftops as if out of nowhere, all of which appeared to belong to the Renamon evolution line, everything from Rookie to Ultimate, although he knew that they were not the totality of this mysterious group of the digital world. There were still some members that he knew quite well who were absent, but the Sovereign knew that that would change soon enough. Bringing his eyes to bear on the front steps of a particularly large area of the temple, he knew that he was not disappointed. A group of seven Mega level shaman digimon, four Sakuyamon of varying appearance and color and three Kuzuhamon. But amongst these seven that made up the renowned _Seer Council_ , it was the one who stood at the center of the group that held his attention.

She stood tall, arms folded across her chest. Her appearance was markedly different from that of the traditional Sakuyamon's and Kuzuhamon's who stood by her side like mirror images of each other, lacking the bronze or blue colored battle armor, gloves, and black body suit that made up their outfits, and instead was garbed in a loose fitting white kimono with a red dress belted on around her waist. The familiar fox shaped face mask covered her face as it did those of her comrades, and in one hand she held not a vajra staff as they did but rather something that resembled a short handled mop or duster. On the whole she did not look nearly as impressive or as threatening as the battle ready Kuzuhamon and Sakuyamon that flanked her but Azulongmon knew full well that appearances could be deceiving. She was a digimon of deep, and mysterious power that reached beyond even that of the Sovereigns in some respects, and it was said that she had a connection with a higher power much in the same way that Seraphimon did, enabling her to see things that others could not, be it the future, the past, the present, or the departed. As a result this digimon went by many titles. 'The Shrine Maiden' and 'the Diviner' to name a couple, but she herself merely went by the name that she had digivolved with. Sakuyamon.

"Greetings Lord Azulongmon," spoke the shaman woman while her companions inclined their heads respectfully. "To what do we owe this visit?"

Azulongmon coiled himself in the sky as he met the shaman's gaze.

"I bring news of a new and impending danger to the digital world."

The lady of the temple simply tilted her head to one side.

"Such is life," the woman said, her tone not saying anything as to whether or not she deemed this to be of any importance, but rather that it was to be expected. "Yet I sense that there is more to this then just another digimon causing damage to the digital world."

"You sense correctly then," replied Azulongmon with a nod. "Yesterday an unknown entity breached the barriers of the Sovereign lands and assaulted one of my brethren, nearly deleting him in the process and absorbing a fraction of his data before retreating. I have reason to believe that it is heading towards the human world now and I am preparing a task force to find it and stop it before it can do so but I fear that we may not be enough. The being is fearsomely powerful, and yet we know nothing about it. Nothing that we have recorded can explain what sort of power this being is and where it could have come from, so I have come here, seeking your aid. Your sight sees far Sakuyamon of the Seer Council, if you would…"

Sakuyamon waved a dismissive hand at the dragon.

"So long as you dispense with the formalities old friend," the shaman said, a small smile finally curving on her strong face. "You know how I hate it when you do that. It makes me feel old."

Azulongmon chuckled warmly, and a tension that had been hanging upon the air suddenly evaporated like the fog barrier had done upon his arrival.

"My apologies."

"None is necessary, said the shaman as she took a step forward and began to float in the air. Rising upwards so that she was more eyelevel with the Sovereign, Sakuyamon turned to look towards the mountaintop.

"Come with me," she said, gesturing with her odd scepter and together the two of them flew off towards the mountain peak, leaving behind the temple and its occupants to return to their daily business.

* * *

Sakuyamon touched the surface of the mountain spring with one finger, sending out ripples along it while above her Azulongmon watched, not saying a single word so as to not break the shaman's concentration. The ripples continued to move across the water, and a light played upon them that resembled moonshine.

"Excellent," whispered Sakuyamon and she touched the surface of the water again, sending out more ripples. As the watery tremors moved, violet colored rings formed where they passed; creating an intricate, circular design with Japanese characters written in between each ring. A gust of wind blew across the water, creating more ripples which added to the design that was forming. Seeing this Sakuyamon raised her wand to block out the sunlight that shone down on the water and two, crisscrossing triangles appeared in the center of the mandala, completing it. The vajra mandala glowed, looking as though it were waiting for its purpose to be fulfilled.

Sakuyamon took a step back, looking into the symbol that she had designed, frowning beneath her facemask.

"The entity that you seek is older then you know."

"Is it the Chaos returned?"

"No. That creature is no more. You Sovereigns saw to that if I recall correctly."

Azulongmon breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Continue."

A ripple advanced slowly from the center of the design.

"It is not man-made," said Sakuyamon, "Though it shares similar qualities with the programs that first appeared in the digital world…the many that arrived before the Great Sleep following the Time of the Chasm."

The water rippled again, and an image appeared on the surface of the water, faintly obscuring the vajra mandala symbol. An image of the digital world, breaking and shattering appeared to the two Megas, settling on an image of a blue, fog-like cloud moving across the primitive digital world, azure tentacles reaching out towards something. Azulongmon shivered involuntarily. Although he hadn't existed during the time that was known as the Chasm and was now largely forgotten by existing digimon, those in the highest levels of power knew of it well. It was a dark period for the digital world before the darkness as it was recognized now even rose. Existence hung on a thread in those days and many beings and programs of power walked abroad, barely noticing the digimon and digignomes that they deleted in their wake. D-Reaper existed during that time, as did many others, but of all of them only the D-Reaper was remembered for the threat that it had posed to all existence. Most, Azulongmon included, believed that the Chaos had simply destroyed or absorbed the others as it had so many other digimon and digignomes before. Now however it seemed that he had erred.

"What does it want?" Asked Azulongmon.

"It is not about what it wants," answered Sakuyamon, her frown increasing in intensity beneath her mask. "But rather what it was made to do, to keep something… _in._ To contain it. It is…a seal."

Now it was Azulongmon's turn to frown.

"A seal for what?"

The image on the water shifted to a familiar, red, glowing Hazard symbol, pulsating like a heartbeat. Now _this_ was something that almost all digimon were aware of; a natural occurrence in the digital world that was often more dangerous then not and quite disruptive to the balance of the digital world. Digimon who were marked by the symbol of the Digital Hazard often conveyed great amounts of power even at an early level. The Rookie level Lucemon was one such being, and one of only two digimon that he knew of that could access the potential of the Hazard consciously and easily. Others often were unable to use it, and if they did were only able to access it unconsciously. It was fortunate that the data signature of the Digital Hazard rarely occurred, and when it did it was never in any significant amount that would be truly harmful to the digital world.

Well, with the exception of _one_ known incident, and it had happened on the very doorstep of the Sovereigns home.

The Hazard symbol on the water's surface began to warp and transform as data began to coalesce about it. Black flames wreathed about it like dark serpents, licking hungrily about it as they fed upon its power, _engorged_ upon its strength. Bladed claws of a dark, misshapen form began to materialize as the blue fog descended upon it. A dragonic head raised upwards and howled angrily, though no sound could be heard coming from its throat. Blue tentacles enwrapped themselves around the beast's throat and clamped its mouth shut as the fog rose to cover its face. One, piercing, blood red eye glared out of a socket before it disappeared from view. A second later the image disappeared and the vajra seal vanished with it, revealing no more to the two Mega level guardians of the digital world.

"Something was broken when it should not have been," spoke Sakuyamon calmly. "The Seal goes to reclaim its charge. Its journey has been long, and events have set it back but now it knows where to look. Now it knows where to go, and it will stop at nothing to take back what it imprisoned. The Hazard comes in many forms and appears in many places, but there is only one that it searches for. Only… _one."_

Sakuyamon looked up at Azulongmon.

"We must assemble the Seer Council as quickly as possible."

* * *

Impmon and Renamon weren't at all surprised when the fog that was approaching them settled down on the ground and detonated with the force of a small bomb, and neither was Guilmon to some extent though it certainly did startle him as due to his lack of coherent memories of his past life he was no longer as familiar with the event of a digimon bio-emerging as he normally would have been. In either case, the three digimon prepared themselves for a possible confrontation with whatever digimon had arrived in the real world. Renamon calmly noted that Impmon had now digivolved to Beelzemon, and that he now sported a long bladed sword resembling the one that Leomon had born before being deleted but decided not to comment on this occurrence at the moment. She had seen it yesterday but had otherwise been too distracted to ask anything about it at the time, and after that had been too focused on Guilmon's plight to think about it. Pushing the thought out of the way for a moment Renamon reached out with her mind and made contact with that of her partner. She could sense Rika's anxiety and her movement as she raced through the city to get to the scene but she was still too far away. Renamon briefly considered grabbing Guilmon and getting out of the way until they met up with their Tamers but she felt that she needed to see what precisely the opposition was that they were up against. If it was a low enough level Beelzemon would be all that was needed. If not…

_Let's just see what we can before deciding on anything,_ thought Renamon as she interposed herself between the now growling Guilmon and the fog. She eyed the crimson reptile warily, hoping that he didn't do anything unwise until they knew for sure what they were dealing with. They had already lost Guilmon once. She did not desire to lose him a second time.

Extending her senses Renamon peered into the fog barrier and felt her fur prickle as it began to stand on end. The vulpine digimon narrowed her eyes. There was something _familiar_ about what she was sensing…

"Well, well, well," laughed a deep, feminine voice from within the fog barrier. "Fate is indeed kind to us."

Beelzemon's eyes widened in shock and recognition at the voice.

"Wha…no way!"

As if Beelzemon's voice had been a trigger the fog blew away, revealing two, tall, and heavily armored figures. One, pink colored, thin and slender with a female grace to it finished spinning where it stood, yellow ribbons slicing through the air before becoming still while the other Renamon was all too familiar with. Standing tall, decked with white, glimmering armor with gold trim, blue wings, and blue colored gauntlets with jewels imbedded in its palms. This one was called _Dynasmon_ if she remembered Takato's analysis correctly.

_I thought he was destroyed,_ thought Renamon as she raised her fists and assumed a battle stance, watching both digimon warily while still keeping herself between them and Guilmon.

The pink armored, knight digimon turned its avian-like helm towards Beelzemon, and though no expression was visible Renamon could have sworn that she was smiling.

"Hello Demon Lord. Miss me?"

"Like a boil," growled Beelzemon as he reached over his shoulder and drew his sword, the blade making a whispering hiss as it left its sheath. "This time I'll make sure that I've lanced you."

"Oh you," laughed the female knight as if at the worlds funniest joke. "And here I thought the only lancers were knights. Last I checked, Demon Lords did not fit the bill."

"Not that I know what that is but I am _not_ a Demon Lord!" Growled Beelzemon.

"Enough of this!" Bellowed Dynasmon. "Crusadermon. Since you're the one who has a debt to settle with him, then have at him as you wish. _I_ on the other hand shall deal with the main purpose behind our mission. We have two X digimon to find and capture, and one of them is within our gra…"

_"Double Impact!"_

Moving with a speed that was almost impossible to see, Beelzemon's hand became a blur as it whipped out his double barrel berenjena shotgun from his left leg and blasted Dynasmon in the head. The Royal Knight's head whipped backwards as the bullets impacted his face full force and sent him staggering. Beelzemon had just enough time to look over at Renamon, his blue eyes sending her a silent message to get out of dodge just before the pink armored knight, identified as Crusadermon slammed into him and sent him flying backwards with a pained cry. Crusadermon turned towards Renamon and Guilmon and as she had with Beelzemon a second ago, sped towards the pair and kicked Renamon away before she even had time to react.

"Do yourself a favor foxy," Crusadermon said, her voice mocking. "Stay out of this."

_"Pyro…"_

Guilmon was caught by surprise as Crusadermon contemptuously slapped his face to the side, sending his crimson fireball rocketing away from his intended target and narrowly missing Beelzemon as he staggered back to his feet. Not missing a beat Crusadermon grabbed Guilmon by the neck and at the exact same moment that Beelzemon trained his shotgun on her. Crusadermon placed the red dinosaur in front of her body, using the hapless Rookie as a shield against Beelzemon's gun. The Demon Lord grimaced as he realized that there was no way he was going to be able to blast the knight without harming Guilmon in the process. From what he remembered of his last battle with this particular digimon she was fast enough to avoid his attacks, and if that was the case she would be fast enough to block them.

"Now, now," said Crusadermon, her voice all but teasing Beelzemon as she kept a firm hold on Guilmon. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to your little friend here, would you? I've been watching you for some time oh 'Lord of Gluttony'. Even in your Rookie form the stench of a Demon Lord is easily noticeable. You are correct however that you are different from others of your brethren; I've seen that much of you from how you've interacted with this digimon. But just to make sure let's have a little test, shall we? If you don't want this digimon to be hurt, all you need to do is drop your weapon and let us do what we came here to do. It's as plain as that. Because if you don't…"

Crusadermon gave a squeeze around Guilmon's neck for emphasis on her point, and the lizard chocked audibly as he struggled to free himself from Crusadermon's vice-like grasp.

"What's this about?" Demanded Beelzemon. "Why don't you tell us just who exactly you are and what it is…"

" _No_ talk! Drop your weapon _now_ or I'll be having another digimon becoming a part of my data."

Beelzemon clenched his eyes shut.

_Damn it!_ Cursed Beelzemon, realizing that the situation was out of his hands at the moment. They were caught off guard without any Tamers as backup and now they were in a hostage situation against two immensely powerful digimon. His mind raced to find a way out of this that would end without Guilmon being killed, but after seeing Crusadermon's grip tighten Beelzemon relaxed his pull on the trigger Beelzemon and the shotgun clattered loudly as it hit the ground. Crusadermon nodded.

"Excellent. Good boy. Now, move away, but still where we can see you. We won't be but a moment. Dynasmon! Are you…"

_"Diamond Storm!"_

Crusadermon's head snapped upwards just in time to see a flurry of crystal shards flying towards her from the Renamon that she had thrown into the tree scant seconds ago. Surely, this digimon, whom she had noted to be just as close to the digimon that she was currently holding as the Demon Lord wouldn't risk the welfare of her comrade? Never mind the fact that as a Rookie and a data type it was virtually worthless against her.

_Unless she knows that he won't be harmed by her attack,_ thought Crusadermon. In a flash of realization, the pink knight realized that the vulpine's attack was but a distraction. Spinning rapidly, Crusadermon lashed out with her armor's ribbons and slashed at the diamonds as they came at her, shattering them into data particles before coming about to see that Beelzemon had not only retrieved his shotgun but had already fired at her. The bullets crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye…

…And impacted against Dynasmon's azure wing just as soon as it rose up in front of her like a shield.

_"Dragon Thrower!"_

Spinning on a dime Dynasmon brought his arms to bear on Renamon and Beelzemon and fired twin energy blasts repeatedly from the jewels on his palms. The first blast knocked Beelzemon's shotgun out of his hand while the next one caught the Demon Lord full in the chest, and was followed by another and still another before his feet even left the ground. Howling in pain Beelzemon took another two blasts before finally impacting the ground and becoming still. Renamon for her part faired far better then her Mega level comrade, easily evading the first attacks that Dynasmon launched at her by utilizing her shadow shifting abilities. However, Dynasmon either was faster then she had given him credit for or had far better senses as he had already corrected his aim and fired at the exact spot that she would reappear in, catching her by surprise and knocking her to the ground. Groaning in pain, Renamon struggled to regain her footing. Dynasmon approached the vixen and came to a halt in front of her before grabbing a hold of her and lifting her up. Renamon grappled with his arm, but the armor that protected it was too strong. She was… _helpless._

"You fight well for one at such a low level," said Dynasmon. "And I must commend you for standing by your comrades even when the battle is already lost. So allow me to grant you a gift, so that when we meet again, you will truly be able to give me a worthy battle. I give you, the gift…of _life!"_

With that said, Dynasmon turned and threw Renamon with all the strength that he could muster, sending the kitsune flying through the air as though she were a ragdoll. Dynasmon watched for a moment as the vulpine digimon's form disappeared over the tree line and towards the depths of the city before turning back towards Crusadermon and her prize.

"You should have deleted her," said Crusadermon scornfully. "You said that she was the one who damaged your eye. That's hardly the treatment befitting someone who would dare attack a Royal Knight."

"Her reasons are her own, and are noble ones as well," answered Dynasmon gruffly as he walked over to his partner and grabbed hold of the crimson dinosaur, taking him out of Crusadermon's hands. "She has honor in her, and will defend her allies to the death if need be. I have seen proof of that already, and one with a spirit like hers should not be snuffed out so readily or without regard. If I am to destroy her it shall be on equal terms and it will be by my merit or hers that will determine which of us stays alive."

" _Honor,_ " scoffed Crusadermon. "I cannot relate to that. You have left an enemy alive, allowing them to come back later when they are strong enough to become a threat. Better to destroy your enemies when they are unable to fight back. Much more sensible that way. Oh well. To each his own I suppose."

The sound of Beelzemon groaning caught both of their attention. Turning they saw the black winged Demon Lord climbing back to his feet, one hand holding his chest carefully where he had been shot while the other brought his sword to bear. Blue eyes flashed in tune with the light reflecting off of his sword and an orange aura began to flicker around his body.

"Do you have any objections to my destroying _him_ then? After all, his spirit is much like that of the Renamon that you so callously tossed away and he is injured. Would that make things _unequal_ between us?"

Dynasmon snorted.

"Demon Lords are notorious for leading their enemies into a false sense of security, and that one has many layers. Don't destroy him unless you absolutely have to…and _don't_ just destroy him because I gave you that much permission."

"Oooh…oh well, I don't mind an extended work out." Crusadermon's shield closed around her fist as she got into a battle stance. "After all, it'll give me time to humiliate this digimon for what he did to me before. Have at thee! **"** And with that, Crusadermon sped towards Beelzemon.

Dynasmon turned away from the resumed battle and towards Guilmon who was still struggling to get out of the Royal Knight's grip. His mouth began to glow as he prepared to fire off another _Pyro Sphere_ at Dynasmon but a firm grasp around his mouth put an end to that.

"Just relax," Dynasmon said as his eyes began to glow. "It will all be over soon. _Initiating memory scan."_

Guilmon's struggles intensified for a moment as he felt something grab at his mind and then he was still. His last thoughts at that moment were of his partner before the world vanished around him.

* * *

Renamon tumbled through the air, but not without control. Having quickly reoriented herself the vulpine now took hold of the situation and was now struggling to slow her speed and alter her descent so that she would land somewhere as easily, and as safely as she could so that she wouldn't be put out of action. As a digimon she could still take quite a fair amount of abuse, having fallen off of the top of the Hypnos Towers and survived (even _after_ getting struck by the tail of the Tiger Deva Mihiramon) but she still would take damage that could easily prevent her from rejoining the fight, especially if Dynasmonmon's throwing arm left anything to consider. Twisting and angling her body Renamon winced. She still had enough forward momentum to keep her airborne, but it was now starting to bleed away, and not only that there was nothing but the hard stone and concrete of the city around her. She had left the vicinity of the park now.

_I had better do something_ fast _before I become, as Terriermon would put it, 'street pizza'! That building there especially is coming up awfully fast! If I can…just…_

Renamon suddenly gasped as she felt a flood of energy suddenly rush through her form and a blinding white light burst from her body before coalescing around her back. Six, white, angelic wings burst from her back a moment later and Renamon, not even taking a moment to wonder at the transformation, as she had already guessed as to what had happened, quickly flapped them and twisted out of the way of the building's path, her foot paw scraping along the side of it. Allowing a small smile of relief to grace her lips Renamon looked down at the streets and quickly spied Rika standing in the crowd. She quickly flew down to join her, startling many a bystander as she touched down and the wings vanished from her back.

"Good thing I drew that Angemon card when I did," smirked Rika, her mouth twitching into a relieved smile that matched Renamon's earlier one. Renamon nodded her thanks.

"We have a problem," said Renamon.

"I kind of gathered that with the way that you were hurtling through the air. What the heck happened up there? Are you all right?"

"I'm…fine. But Dynasmon's back and he's brought an ally…a Crusadermon that Beelzemon had fought the night that we left for Okinawa. Beelzemon was out of commission when Dynasmon decided to get rid of me and now they both have Guilmon. For some reason they're interested in him."

Rika's eyes took on a fire to them as she gripped her digivice hard. Something in that look caused Renamon to almost become worried for their opponents. _Almost,_ but that only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades.

"Then let's see about taking the fight back to them then. Are you up for it?"

"Always."

Rika raised her digivice to the sky and called out the activation command for biomerging with Renamon. The two were surrounded by a bright, azure light that merged the two together, and within seconds the tall, proud form of Sakuyamon leapt into the air, her path of flight aiming straight towards the park.


	55. 54/ Merging: Part 1

"Eh?"

Ryo snapped to attention the second that he heard his digivice go off, signaling the bio-emergence of a digimon. Reaching down to his waist the Legendary Tamer pulled out his D-Arc and activated the compass function.

_Two signals,_ thought Ryo with a frown. _High class one's at that. Looks like I'd better get out there…_

"Ryo," spoke up Jeri from next to him as the boy began to stand up, her gaze focused on his gold trimmed digivice now.

"I'm sorry Jeri," cut in Ryo, giving her an apologetic look. "But Cyberdramon and I have to go."

Jeri looked like she was about to say something in response to that, but then stopped and nodded.

"All right. Just…be careful out there."

Ryo gave the brown haired girl a winning smile.

"Hey, no problem. This is me that we're talking abou…"

Ryo suddenly found his own words stopped up when Jeri fixed him with a look of annoyance mixed with concern. Getting the idea that she did not want to hear bravado, but rather just an acknowledgement that he would be fine Ryo's smile softened and he handed the puppet-loving Tamer the SolMilleniummon card that she had given him to look at. Jeri looked at him in surprise.

"Wha…?"

"I'll be fine out there. You have my word on that."

"But your card…"

Ryo chuckled, but the sound belied how he was really feeling inside. Nonetheless, he pressed on.

"You seem to have done okay with it so far, and you did get us out of that jam yesterday against Argus. I don't think that there's any set of hands that I think that card could be safer in. Besides, maybe, just maybe this way I'll have a little bit more motivation to stay in one piece."

"Uh…uhm…" unsure of what to say in response to that Jeri simply pulled the SolMilleniummon card close to her chest protectively and nodded at Ryo. Returning the gesture the Legendary Tamer looked up at Cyberdramon, who had now left the rooftop of the Katou family residence and was hovering in the air and waiting for Ryo's orders. Leaping up and catching hold of his partner's arm Ryo quickly waved at Jeri before giving his partner the signal to get going. Jeri watched them speed away for a moment before looking down at the card that she held in her hands, her face set in a worried expression.

* * *

Cyberdramon and Ryo flew in silence for a few minutes before the cybernetic dragon's gravelly voice spoke up.

"Are you sure that it's a wise idea to leave that card in her hands?"

Ryo glowered. "Not really. You know Milleniummon just as well as I do, if not better so you have better reasons then me to ask that question. His change of appearance on that card worries me, and Jeri's story worries me even more especially since it sounds like she actually _talked_ to Milleniummon. Based on what she told me it almost sounds like Milleniummon's trying to help out and that sounds about as likely as MaloMyotismon not trying to conquer the world or something."

"Milleniummon never does anything unless he feels that he can benefit from it," growled Cyberdramon, flexing his claws unconsciously. "You shouldn't have left that card with her. It has already proven itself to be a link for him to communicate with her and with her digivice he has already proven that he can affect the world."

Ryo nodded. "He may already have a physical form too but…I don't know. Something right now just tells me that it's best to leave it in her hands. She already knows that Milleniummon's an evil digimon so that should deter her from doing anything more with it…"

"And yet you already told her that when you first gave her the card."

"She didn't know the full story then…"

"She still doesn't Ryo. When you first gave her the card she knew that Milleniummon was a dark god of the digital world and yet she still slashed it anyway. She knows more now then she did then but still not everything. And with the card's change who's to say that she won't look at it differently? Who's to say that she still won't slash the card again should the need arise and Milleniummon communicates with her?"

"Even so," said Ryo. "I still get the feeling that she'll be all right with it. I've always trusted my instincts before, so why not now?"

"Instincts," Cyberdramon growled. "For people like you, they have the habit of getting you into trouble."

"But they still get the job done don't they?"

Cyberdramon simply growled and flapped his wings extra hard out of frustration. Looking back down at his digivice Ryo checked the direction that they were heading in against that of his digivice before looking up at the sky. His eyes caught sight of some movement and he pointed it out to Cyberdramon, who quickly loaded the information to Ryo's digivice.

"Sakuyamon," said Ryo a second later. "Looks like Rika and Renamon have that part of the park covered. We'll take care of the closer signal and then join her as quickly as we can."

Cyberdramon just growled in satisfaction and pumped his wings even harder as he flew to the site of the nearest disturbance.

* * *

"Well, well, well," said Craniummon coldly as he brought the squirming Dracmon to eye level. "We've been looking all over for you."

_Aw…nuts!_ Thought Dracmon as he squirmed in the Royal Knight's grasp. _I really stepped in it this time! Why didn't I think?! Why, oh_ why _didn't I…?"_

"BEANIE!" Cried out Miki as she lunged forward, only to be grabbed by Ayaka and pulled back.

" _Miki!_ What are you doing?! You can't go out there! It's too dangerous!"

"But…Beanie! He's in trouble! I've got to help him! I've got to…"

"Miki! _Listen_ to me! This isn't helping! That thing is _too_ dangerous! If you go out there you'll get…"

"I KNOW!" Shrieked Miki as she burst free from her friends grip, surprising the blonde haired, pig-tailed girl, but she quickly regained herself and grabbed the dark haired girl again, trying desperately to hold her back. Craniummon eyed the situation and chuckled.

"Interesting," commented Craniummon as he looked down at Dracmon, who was still struggling in the Royal Knights hold over his tiny body. "So…you've established an attachment to one of these humans, have you? Seems to be quite the common thing to happen to digimon who come here. A pity that you won't survive long enough to enjoy the fruits of that bond. After I've scanned your memory that is and discovered the purpose as to why you X digimon are so interested in this world."

"Ever think of just asking?" Choked Dracmon as Craniummon armored fingers pressed tightly around his body.

"As if I could trust you to do that," said the Royal Knight disdainfully. "Or did you forget that you are at war with Yggdrasil's Chosen?"

"Things have become rather… _complicated_ of late," replied Dracmon as a plan began to form in his mind.

"Hmmph. All the more reason to scan your memories then…"

"You let Beanie _go!"_ Screamed Miki as she once again broke free of Ayaka's grasp, only to be grabbed and pulled back again. Craniummon watched the scene with a touch of amusement, amazed at the fierce loyalty that the dark haired girl had towards the Rookie X digimon. Perhaps that was something to look into as well.

_The mission comes first however,_ thought Craniummon as he pulled Dracmon up to eye level and his crimson eyes began to glow. Dracmon's body stiffened as their eyes met and then began to relax as his mind became an open book to the Royal Knight. Images began to form in Craniummon's mind as he began to…

_"Desolation Claw!"_

Craniummon grunted in surprise and lost his hold on Dracmon as he felt a powerful force beam slam into his back. Turning angrily the Royal Knight sighted the familiar form of a Cyberdramon as he flew towards the battlefield, a boy wearing a maroon colored sweatshirt jumping off of his shoulder as soon as they were low enough to the ground. The boy, undoubtedly a Tamer if the digivice in his hand was any indication, felt somehow _familiar_ to him.

_Ah. Of course. Justimon is the Mega form of Cyberdramon. I've faced these two before. The Legendary Tamer and his partner. I should have known that we would meet up again. Regardless, I have a mission to fulfill. I cannot allow them to get in my way._

"Legendary Tamer," spoke Craniummon, summoning a massive, double-bladed spear and a large shield.

"Craniummon," responded Ryo as he began to draw cards from his pockets, not in the least bit surprised that the knight digimon knew who he was. In the digital world he was as easily recognizable figure as he was in the real world.

"When last we met, you had grievously injured me and shattered my shield."

"And I thought that you were dead."

Craniummon chuckled. "One such as I does not die easily Tamer. I got better, and this time I'm ready for you."

Ryo raised an eyebrow in mock surprise. "Is that so? Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that line before."

"I wouldn't be surprised. You _are_ the Legendary Tamer after all. Everyone knows of your battle against the dark digimon _Milleniummon_. The Sovereigns, and later my lord Yggdrasil were the ones who drafted you for that task…"

Ryo, ignoring the curious looks that he was now getting from the two girls Ayaka and Miki looked at Craniummon at the mention of the name _Yggdrasil._

_There's that name again. I still don't know what it means. He claims that I've met whatever this Yggdrasil is but I don't remember anyone by that name. The only ones that I know who got me mixed up with Milleniummon were the Sovereigns and…ENIAC…_

"…And now you are here," continued Craniummon. "You are a long way from the home you once knew. This isn't your fight, and this isn't your world. Join me, and I shall return you from whence you came."

Ryo suddenly broke into laughter, and Craniummon cocked his head in confusion.

"Sorry," said Ryo after a couple seconds, surprising himself by realizing that he didn't care if Jeri's two friends overheard him or not at the moment. "But I'm going to have to decline your offer. This world may not be my original home, but it's still home to me all the same. There are people here who depend on me and I'm not going to let them down just because you toss me an opportunity to leave. So what say that we skip all the idle chatter and get down to business? From what I remember you're not interested in listening to reason from me and I can't let you rampage through the city unchecked. So I'm going to have to disappoint you."

"Very well," said Craniummon as he hefted his spear. "If that is your final decision…"

Craniummon offered Ryo and Cyberdramon a quick salute with his weapon and then charged at them, the double-bladed weapon rotating rapidly in his hand. Ryo quickly slashed a card through his digivice and sparks flashed with azure light.

_"End Waltz!"_

"DIGI-MODIFY! GOLIATH ACTIVATE!"

* * *

Dracmon hit the ground with a gasp as the air was suddenly forced from his lungs. Looking up the diminutive, demonic digimon felt as though all of his senses had come to a halt and take leave of…well, their _senses_ as he saw a Cyberdramon suddenly enlarge to frightening proportions to counter the attack from Craniummon. Undaunted, the Royal Knight stormed the powered up Ultimate and tore at the Vaccine dragon's wrist with his spinning, double-bladed spear the second that he tried to grab at him before leaping upwards and smashing his shield into Cyberdramon's face. Howling, Cyberdramon backhanded Craniummon and sent him flying through the park and leapt forward, trees swaying from the wind that had been kicked up by the maneuver and went after the Royal Knight. Slashing his hands through the air, the large Cyberdramon gathered energy in between his claws and launched it in the direction that Craniummon had fallen. A cry of _God Breath_ pierced the air at the precise moment of impact, causing Dracmon to wince.

_Idiot's causing unnecessary damage to the area,_ thought Dracmon as he rolled onto his stomach and blinked back the spots that threatened to overwhelm his vision. _But I can understand not holding back on this guy. Craniummon's pretty tough for a Royal Knight, and if what I hear is true his success ratio is double that of any of the others. I wouldn't want to be going toe to toe with him unless I had a lot of power, a lot of backup, and a really, really,_ really _big gun handy. Like a Giga Cannon for instance. Now_ that's _the sort of thing that I feel would make a dent in a Royal Knight's armor. No question about it._

Dracmon gasped suddenly as he felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around him tightly and pull him up from off the ground, pulling him against a body that was already getting up and rushing as far away from the battlefield as it could get with whatever speed that it could muster. And judging from the gray colored dress that billowed around the legs that were pumping for all they were worth, Dracmon could easily guess who it was that had snagged him…again.

"Miki!" Called out Ayaka. "Let's get out of here!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Shouted the dark haired girl over the sound of an explosion and another call of _Digi-Modify_. "Just one question; _where_ are we going to go?"

"I figure that the government building that the Tamers and I went to before that freaky storm started up is as good a place as any. I remember the Tamers mentioning something about a government agency that deals with digimon being set up there. Don't know if it's safe or not but it should do…"

"No," wheezed Dracmon as he struggled in Miki's grasp, causing the girl to draw up short in confusion.

"Wha…? What do you mea…?"

"Miki! Don't stop now! We've got to keep moving!"

"Not with me you're not," growled Dracmon as he burst loose from Miki's hold on him and landed on the ground. This time both girls looked at him in surprise. This surprise increased ten fold when Dracmon turned around and leapt into a tree branch and began to head back in the direction of the fight.

"What are you doing?!" Yelled Ayaka angrily as she burst in pursuit of the little digimon. "We were trying to get you out of here! Don't you see that there's a digimon fight going on over there?"

"That's precisely it," shot back Dracmon as he came to a halt in a low lying tree branch. "There's a fight going on here that can be _easily_ solved if those two can just put a halt to things and _listen_ to what I have to say. That Royal Knight is here because of me…because of a plan that was put into operation before I even got here but was supposed to help along. By rights I'm supposed to be dead, and from what I've learned recently it would be better if I _was_ dead but seeing as how I'm not I've got to do what I can to put a halt to this before things get even further out of hand."

Miki approached the tree, her hands clasped together in front of her as she looked up at Dracmon pleadingly.

"B-but…Beanie…"

" _Don't_ call me _Beanie!"_ Ranted Dracmon, ignoring Miki's surprised, and hurt gasp. "That's not my name, and I'm not just some pet like that stupid fuzz ball that you had in your house when you took me there! I've got a job to do and you've been keeping me from doing it ever since I got here! I don't even know what is going through your head half the time that even makes you _think_ that we're partners or something but let's get one thing straight between us! We're… _not!_ I never asked for your help and furthermore I don't want it! _Especially_ not with the way that you've been treating me since you first saw m…"

Dracmon was suddenly cut off as the earth lurched violently. Ayaka and Miki stumbled on the ground while Dracmon, whose balance was a bit more precarious then that of the two girls, fell forward. Seeing this, Miki jumped forward in spite of the trembling ground and caught hold of the little Rookie, holding him close to her as they both landed hard against the ground and waited for the ground to stop moving. Instinctively Dracmon clutched onto the girl closer, and when the earth finally ceased, for the time being, the two pulled back and gazed into each others eyes. For the first time Dracmon saw nothing of the possessive fire that had been most prominent in her eyes when they had first met, but instead a protectiveness and a deep rooted concern for his well being. It was a sudden and sharp change of pace and he wondered what could possibly have brought it on.

Miki pulled herself up into a sitting position and lifted Dracmon so that she was looking fully into the painted on eyes of his face mask.

"I…" Miki bit her lower lip and her eyes welled up with tears but she pressed on. "Look. I was wrong to act the way that I did to you. I admit that when I saw you it…wasn't in a way that I should have. I saw another digimon before and all I could think about was how cool he looked and I wanted a digimon like that. When you showed up you looked so much like him that…" Miki choked back a sob and let Dracmon down and balled up her hands into fists on the hem of her dress. "It was wrong, I know it! Ayaka was right. It was all just some stupid crush, and I didn't know what I was getting into but I couldn't just let go of how I felt. I just…I just want to help!"

Neither she nor Dracmon noticed the green and gold particles that were starting to seep out of the ground around them.

"Um…" began Dracmon uncertainly. "…I…uh…appreciate the gesture and everything, and…uh…" Dracmon looked over his shoulder as another explosion ripped through the park. Thankfully it was still a fair distance away although it was cause for worry. "…And I guess I'm sorry for yelling at you like that earlier…even though I don't think that…well, never mind. It's just…you can't help me. You're a human. You're not even a Tamer. _I_ have a better chance of surviving then you do right now…"

"I know," said Miki, her voice low and sorrowful. "But can you blame me for wanting to try? I remember how yesterday, when you were attacked at my house…I couldn't do anything and I had to depend on someone else to get you out of trouble. I wanted to be a Tamer and I…couldn't do anything. I…c-c-couldn't…d-do…a-a-any…"

Miki's voice began to crack now as she finally began to realize her helplessness in the situation and how just in over her head she had been to begin with. She had heard the stories of the Tamers adventures about the hardships that they had to endure, and Ayaka had told her about how terrifying it had been just being in the center of one of those battles, but it hadn't quite clicked with her as to what it was like. She knew that her desire to claim Dracmon as her own partner was motivated by selfishness and she wanted badly to make up for it, but the realization that she wasn't going to get that second chance was utterly disheartening. The world swam in her vision as tears began to spill forth from her eyes and she struggled to speak again.

"J-just…go. D-do what y-you ha-ve to…do…"

For an instant, Dracmon felt a great deal of pity well up in his heart towards the girl who had been his temporary keeper and an all-around creepy girl. He saw that she was seeing the reality of her situation and of the world for the first time in her life and it wasn't doing her any favors. He suspected that she would be able to move on, but right now she was hurting and seeing it happen was pulling at his heart strings. He had seen similar occurrences during his time with the X-digimon rebellion…seeing others come to grips as their world literally came apart around them. Though this girl wasn't experiencing the same thing or even to the same degree, he hated seeing someone in pain all the same even though he had dealt it out all the same to human and digimon alike. The digital world knew no mercy and to survive one had to be just as merciless. But to see this sort of thing coming from a human child, a creature that was so much like others he had known at the Rookie stage…

Dracmon reached out and touched the girl's hand with one of his own and suddenly a great flurry of green and gold particles burst up from the ground around them, startling them both before their bodies were enveloped in a bright, shining tower of light. As Dracmon felt something merge with his essence and his data began to alter he heard a voice speaking to him in his mind.

" _My last gift to you Dracmon…for services rendered. Undo what's been done and find happiness for yourself…"_

_DinoRexmon…_ whispered Dracmon in his mind and a second later, words emerged from his lips involuntarily, mixing with Miki's surprised scream, though whether of delight or pain he couldn't tell. Though if what he was feeling was any indication, he believed that it was the former rather then the latter.

_Show time._

"DRACMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…"

* * *

Ryo grunted in pain from within his data sphere as he and Cyberdramon, having biomerged to their Mega form of Justimon as soon as the effects of their Goliath card wore off, slammed to the ground hard. The fight was _definitely_ not going well, and this was quickly noticed by the both of them. Not that there was anything different about this particular engagement when compared to the last one. Craniummon had been pretty tough to take on then too, but this time it felt as though he were having a particularly rough time of it.

_I have a feeling that his lack of armor damage from when we last fought has something to do with that,_ thought Ryo sardonically.

A shadow fell over him and Justimon rolled to the right, narrowly missing getting skewered by Craniummon's _Claiomh Solais_ spear. Quickly enlarging his cybernetic arm Justimon lashed out and slammed it against the spear blade, sending seismic vibrations tearing through the weapon and shattering its lower half. Ryo didn't get a chance to congratulate himself over the maneuver as Craniummon, nonplussed over the damage that Justimon had just dealt, swung down the upper half and smashed the flat of the blade into Justimon's back, sending him careening forward and skidding into the streets at the edge of the park. Not missing a beat Craniummon charged forward and, now using the remaining portion of his spear as a sword, slashed downwards towards the Legendary Tamer as his forward momentum on the road came to a halt. The blade tore through concrete and pavement, easily slicing through steel pipes and underground powerlines without any trouble…

Only Ryo wasn't there.

Craniummon growled at this sudden and unexpected change of events and was just about to take a look around to see where his opponent had disappeared to when suddenly a powerful blow crashed into his helm and sent him careening to the side and back into the area of the park, snapping trees and sending splinters of wood everywhere. Ryo winced at this as he morphed his cybernetic arm into his _Voltage Blade_ and ran forward, leaping up into the air and slashing downwards, sending a boomerang shaped energy blade surging towards his adversary.

_"God Breath!"_ Boomed Craniummon as he brought his shield to bear once again and blocked the attack. The blade bounced off the shield and was sent flying into a nearby building. Justimon didn't have time to wonder if anyone inside had been hurt or killed, as he soon became the main focus of a defensive shield turned into an offensive, bludgeoning weapon that sent him hurtling away from the park and the knight and crashing back into the city streets.

_Gotta keep this fight away from the city,_ thought Justimon, too dazed to figure out whether it was the Tamer half or the digimon half who was doing the thinking. Staggering back to his feet, Justimon shook off the blow as best he could while Craniummon emerged from the park's forest. Raising his cybernetic arm Justimon began to fire a series of blue energy blasts.

_"Justice Burst!"_

Craniummon advanced, parrying the blasts with his shield and spear-turned-sword, and Justimon began to maneuver to the side, aiming towards the vicinity of the park, hoping that Craniummon would follow him and stay away from the city. Craniummon however, seemed to have gotten the idea of Justimon's intentions and began to charge towards him at a speed that belied his size and once again smashed the flat of his blade into him, sending him crashing back into the streets for the umpteenth time.

" _Ouch,"_ groaned Ryo as he got back up to his feet and dusted himself off. " _This guy keeps outmaneuvering me. It's not helping that he's practically three times my size and built like a tank. Just how tough is his armor and shield anyway? I've been hitting both pretty hard and I haven't seen so much as a dent or even a scratch on him. The only thing that I've been able to do anything serious to was his weapon and he's still got enough of that remaining to show me his batting average with. I need a new tactic."_

" _I can fly as Cyberdramon,_ growled Ryo's partner. _If you use high speed cards and strength and power modifiers I can keep him off balance with hit and run attacks."_

" _That'll take too long though. The only time you did anything effective at the Ultimate level to this guy was when I used the Goliath card on you, and that's used up now."_

" _Do you have a better idea?"_

" _Not particularly. There's really not a whole lot of choice is there? I can't use any Mega class cards on you without causing danger to the city or frying the park and that's just about the only thing that'll even touch him right now. Last time we took this guy out was because Milleniummon gave us a power boost and…hang on a second."_

_"End Waltz!"_

Justimon barely dodged Craniummon's oncoming attack. Flipping through the air the Legendary Tamer reoriented himself quickly and fired off a quick burst from his cybernetic arm, one of them actually nailing Craniummon in the eye and causing him to roar in pain. Taking advantage of this Justimon increased the size of his arm once again and slammed it into the ground.

_"Thunder Clap!"_

Shockwaves tore through the city street and slammed into Craniummon full force, upsetting his now precarious balance. Raising his arm once again Justimon slammed it back down, repeating the assault but this time Craniummon jumped into the air, avoiding the attack and throwing his shield like a Frisbee at Justimon. Ryo grunted in pain as the object slammed into his chest full force and knocked him backwards. Landing heavily on his back Ryo had just enough time to register Craniummon landing in front of him, blade held high and ready to deliver the coupe de grace…

_"Dark Blast!"_

Craniummon lurched to one side as a dark energy blast suddenly collided with him. Seizing advantage of this Justimon slammed his foot into Craniummon's ankle and flipped backwards, avoiding getting crushed by the massive knight as he crashed to the ground. Looking over to where the attack had come from Justimon's gaze fell on the shape of humanoid figure with pale skin flying towards them, black, bat-like wings outstretched. Midnight hair blew in front of the face of what was decidedly a very beautiful woman and a purple robe covering a black, skin-tight body suit billowed around her as she flew. A dark smirk drew up on her violet lips as she landed next to the Legendary Tamer and all of a sudden Justimon got the strangest desire to straighten out his posture.

"So…" began the woman in a sensual tone that echoed of dual voices speaking as one. "Ryo right?"

"Uh…yeah. That's me."

_Okay. How did she know who I am? And just who_ _**is** _ _this digimon anyway? She looks sort of familiar…_

The woman indicated the knight with a nod of her head as she placed one, human looking hand on her cocked, left hip. Craniummon was just now starting to get back to his feet, shaking his head slightly as though dazed by the unexpected attack.

"I'm a little new at this," continued the woman in that same tone of voice, or rather _voices_ , as before. "But…um…" the woman frowned and looked a little uncertain now, a look that Ryo could have sworn did not look at all natural on her face. "…I take it that you could use a little…uh…help?"

Feeling on the whole that this was a rather bizarre moment Justimon turned to look at Craniummon before answering. He was now standing and had set himself in a battle stance.

"Yeah. I could do with a little help right now," Justimon admitted. "Just one thing. Who are you?"

The woman flashed Justimon a childish grin and Ryo fought the urge to cringe at it. It just didn't look at all natural compared to the way that she looked and had acted when she first came down to earth.

"Me? I'm Miki. Jeri's friend. I…ah…biomerged with Dracmon and now we're…um…" The woman glanced downwards as though she were looking inwards. "…Dracmon? What did you say that we were again?"

The woman's voice, which had just a second ago been that of an exuberant young girl shifted, becoming rather masculine in tone, but still childish nonetheless spoke up now, and Ryo became even more boggled at the whole thing. Still, his surprise rose to new levels as the voice spoke their Mega form's name.

"Lilithmon."

_Oh boy…_

* * *

"Hah…huh…ah…" Noriko backed away from BlackGuilmon, surprise and fear clearly evident on her face as the black dinosaur crouched low to the ground and growled viciously at the child-like, angelic digimon who continued to stare impassively at it, unmoved by the dragon's displays of aggression.

"So, back to this form again are we? Tell me something. Why do you choose to take this form? It's not even the 'real you'. The boy was more real then this 'thing' that you are now."

Ignoring Lucemon's words, BlackGuilmon began to stalk towards Lucemon, who continued to display no sign of worry at the dark digital dragon.

"It's funny," Lucemon continued, raising his voice now so as to be sure that Noriko could now hear him. "I used to not understand why it was that so many people were upset and angered that I had destroyed the creature after which you had been modeled. After all, it was the incarnation of the Digital Hazard…the greatest collection of that particular data to ever take the form of a digimon known. Dormant data, yes, but with the potential to awaken and become something terrible…something that could destroy my home. My mistress, Ophanimon…I couldn't understand why she didn't want me to leave and find the creature that had nearly ruined the digital world. I thought that I had been doing a great service by ridding the digital world of one of the most dangerous beings in existence before it had a chance to rise again as the D-Reaper had. I had a better understanding after my last battle with the Tamers; how one of them was willing to lay down the sword of vengeance to prevent more bloodshed and violence. Not an easy decision to make even when they knew how much it cost them. They had lost a friend, and another had been injured… _twice_ because of me. Others had something of an effect on me, Noriko's mother for example. She had trusted me…to an extent. Believing that I had an important mission to fulfill, and I suppose that I let her down in that regard, having deprived this world of an important protector. Yet, even then, I didn't completely grasp what it was that I had taken away until I merged with _you."_

BlackGuilmon paused in his advance, and Noriko blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Asked Noriko tentatively, ceasing to move backwards now.

"It took me a while to figure it out," responded Lucemon. "Emotions…not something that I'm all together used to dealing with, especially that of others. At first I was preoccupied with fighting you and keeping Noriko safe…keeping her from being fully absorbed by you…"

Again Noriko blinked, and at that moment a memory flashed through her mind. A memory of a searing, white hot pain across her chest as something struck her. In a place that was dark…and a feeling of weakening, intense pain that followed after that and then…something that she could only describe as _lifting_ , and then… _home._

Noriko rubbed the top of her shirt disconcertedly and grimaced. The memory, she didn't know what it was or where it came from, but there had been no pain with its coming, a strange occurrence she felt given everything else that she had happen to her whenever she had some memory or vision surfacing in her mind. It felt right, and honest. No fear came with it, but something about it made her wonder…

_Did I…_ die? _Was I killed in the digital world? What…what happened to me when I was there?_

Lucemon continued.

"But then I saw you, in your true form. The child. You weren't what I thought you were. You weren't the monster that would have destroyed the digital world at just a whim. What I saw…what I _felt…_ you were just a child. A part of the Tamer that I had hurt. No…you _were_ the hurt, and you wanted to lash out. Your actions ceased to be important to me when I saw your inner-self. You are the physical manifestation of everything that was hurting in that Tamer that I had attacked. Pain personified, and because of that I have a far greater understanding of what it was that I had taken away."

BlackGuilmon straightened up and looked into Lucemon's blue colored eyes with his gold ones. Noriko looked back and forth between the two and then froze on BlackGuilmon when she saw tears beginning to form in the reptiles eyes.

"I…" BlackGuilmon began and then dropped his head down, his wing-like ears lilting like a dying flower. "…I just want to go home."

"Back to your Tamer," said Lucemon, his tone softening now. BlackGuilmon nodded.

"Before you saw him as a way to gain power. I see that in your memories. You didn't care about him, though you knew that there was a link between the two of you. So why…?"

Lucemon paused and closed his eyes. "Ahhh…I see. The greater part of your essence has awakened because of your merging with Noriko's essence. You have a better understanding of things now. You are still limited by what you are though…what you have become and your own physical presence here in the outside world. You cannot go home."

BlackGuilmon looked down at the ground and began to shiver now as tears rained down upon the ground. Her gaze softening Noriko walked over to the dinosaur and placed a comforting hand on his back. Looking over at Lucemon Noriko spoke.

"You know…I kind of expected you to do something else."

Lucemon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "You and your mother crammed a lot of 'non-violence' philosophy down my throat during my stay at your home. And as I said, I'm coming to understand Ophanimon's view of things. I don't want to make the same mistake twice…or rather _thrice_ in this case."

"I see." Noriko swallowed inaudibly and bit her lip before speaking again, nervous about what she had on her mind. "Lucemon? Earlier you said something about ' _protecting me'_. What…" Noriko swallowed again. "What did you mean by that?"

Lucemon sighed.

"It's the main reason why we're like this, and why BlackGuilmon won't be able to rejoin his first partner. You see, he…"

"No."

Noriko and Lucemon turned to look at BlackGuilmon. His body was shaking even worse then before now. _Trembling_ , only with an emotion not only that of sadness, but also of rage as well. Throwing his head up, tears splashed through the air, landing on Noriko as BlackGuilmon glared angrily at Lucemon.

" _I want to go_ home!"

Black light suddenly burst forth from BlackGuilmon's body, engulfing him and Noriko, and a howl of anger and despair filled the air, mixing with Noriko's cry of fear as she tried to jerk away but found herself unable to do so. The black light spread as Lucemon rushed forward to save the girl, and soon he too was enveloped in the darkness's all-embracing touch.


	56. 55/ Merging: Part 2

"Not bad," said Aiko as she lowered her chopsticks back down to her plate. "Not bad at all."

"I told you," said Terriermon with a grin that looked rather sloppy from the sheer amount of food that he had been stuffing himself with since they had sat down with their meals. "Didn't I tell her Henry?"

"Yeah, you did," said Henry with an embarrassed smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head anxiously, "In between several mouthfuls. I'm surprised that you even thought to come up for air. Ever hear of a thing called _restraint?_ "

"Is it the same thing as that 'tact' thing that you're always trying to teach me Henry? Because if it is I should probably let you know that I never remember any of that stuff anyway…except for your highly educational lessons in sarcasm."

Henry sighed.

"Which I'm starting to think that I should start weaning you off of. You know Suzie's starting to take after you."

"If so, it'll do her some good. That way, she won't be as tense as you are all the time. So why don't you Momentai and enjoy the food already?"

"Yes Henry," said Aiko with a small, teasing smile. "Momentai."

Terriermon blinked.

"You know Chinese?"

"No," smirked Aiko, "At least, not since college. I've lost most of it since then, seeing as how my occupation doesn't call for it a whole lot. But even so, I recognize a word that means 'relax' no matter what language it's spoken in, although I must admit that the context that it's used in tends to help out a lot in that regard."

Aiko took a sip from her plastic cup and set it down with a satisfied sound.

"You know Henry; I've noticed that we haven't had much in the way of time to just talk to each other. Usually when I see you we're talking about my daughter and…" Aiko's expression darkened slightly and she sighed. "Henry…do you think that she'll be all right?"

Henry hesitated before giving a nod.

"She's got Hypnos looking after her. She's in the best of hands."

"That's not quite the same as giving an answer though Henry," said Aiko. "I can believe you when you tell me that Yamaki will do everything within his power to help my daughter, and the same goes for the rest of his staff, but that doesn't tell me what _you_ think her chances are. You're a Tamer. You know something about these things and you strike me as a very intelligent boy for your age. What is your opinion on Noriko's condition? Your _honest_ opinion."

Now it was Henry's turn to sigh as he looked down at his food and, rather childishly for him, poked at it with his chopsticks.

"I…don't think that I can even begin to make an estimation Ms. Nakata. Physically she seems to be fine, but the way I found her, plus what you've told me and Yamaki about the sort of things that you've been noting since she's returned home…there's a lot to consider, and even less that I feel that I can tell you since I don't know what it is that's wrong with her…"

"You mean besides the fact that she looks like she's been merged with a digimon?" Asked Terriermon, his words slightly distorted by the muffin that he had crammed into his mouth.

"That's just the thing Terriermon. It _looks_ like she's been combined with a digimon…one associated with the Hazard at any rate…"

Aiko raised an eyebrow at that but chose not to interrupt the boy at the moment. One question at a time here. One question at a time…

"…But we don't know if that's the case."

"What else could it be?" Asked Terriermon with a swallow. "I admit that she doesn't look like your regular biomerged digimon, especially since she doesn't look like she has a partner, but I'm out of ideas as to what else it could be." Terriermon tapped his chin thoughtfully with one tiny paw. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Asked Aiko, leaning forward.

"Well, remember when we were having that conversation about what happens when digimon and humans biomerge."

"Yes. Henry mentioned something about there being a possibility that Noriko might have formed a bond with a digimon while she was in the digital world…"

"…And you also asked me what would happen if a digimon and a human biomerged and then entered the real world without building up on the resources it would take to safely combine their forms in the real world," said Henry, catching onto what Terriermon was getting at. "I forgot about that after all the excitement that's been going on lately but now that it's been brought up…it _is_ possible…"

"And we know that the digimon's associated with the Hazard," mentioned Terriermon. "So that narrows down the number of digimon that we have to go through."

"I...don't think that I know what it is that you're talking about with this _hazard_ talk," said Aiko, tilting her head to one side in confusion.

"To be honest," said Henry. "We're not to sure ourselves. It's basically a symbol that looks like, well, a _hazard_ symbol. What it is we don't know exactly. The only source that even mentions it is the digimon card game and the information that it gives is vague at best. All we know for certain is that it has appeared on two digimon, Guilmon and Lucemon…excluding their evolution lines of course…"

"Three Henry."

"Eh?" Henry cocked an eyebrow at his partner.

"Three digimon Henry. Did you forget the BlackGuilmon that Takato accidently created? Come to think of it, Noriko did sort of resemble him when we saw her…"

The sound of Henry's digivice ringing in alarm broke into the conversation a second later.

* * *

Three digivices rang in alarm the second that Takato got out of the bathroom, fully clothed, and as one Kazu, Kenta, and the aforementioned Goggle-wearing Tamer all pulled out their D-Arcs and activated the analyzer programs to see what was going on, which was, predictably a digimon bio-emerging (as their digivices alarms rarely, if ever, went off over anything else). Between these three, Kazu and Kenta didn't get much beyond just a general direction of where the bio-emergence point was coming from, but Takato on the other hand…the halo circle that materialized above his D-Arc's screen, gave him a view of an all too familiar, white armored digimon face with two horns arching forwards, staring him full on in the face.

"Wha…?! _Dynasmon?!"_

Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon all looked at Takato with raised eyebrows before going over to where Takato stood and looked over his shoulder and at the image that hovered above Takato's digivice.

"Huh? Dynasmon? You've seen this dude already?"

"Rika and I faced him when we were at Okinawa," spoke Takato quickly as he began digging through his pockets for his cards. "He tried to destroy Guilmon but I thought that we…"

"Hold on!" Exclaimed Kazu in surprise. "He tried to destroy Guilmon?!"

"Yeah, he…"

"Then what the heck are we waiting here for, Chumley? Let's hit the road already! Come on!"

Not even waiting for his two friends to give a response Kazu threw open the door to Takato's hospital room and immediately tore through the hallway, nearly knocking over a nurse in the process. He was quickly followed by Takato and Kenta who rapidly matched the boy's pace, with Takato taking a second to offer a quick apology to the nurse that his brash friend had nearly knocked over in his rush. The three Tamers and one digimon continued to rush down the hallway and towards the nearest stairwell, ignoring the elevator doors even as they pulled open with a ding, not trusting it to move quickly enough for their already hyped up nerves. As Kazu threw open the door to the stairwell and disappeared down it, the sound of Takato's mother calling from the elevator echoed through the hallway, almost bringing the remaining two Tamers screeching to a halt, but only for a second.

"Takato!"

"Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Can't talk right now! Guilmon's in trouble! I'll meet you back at the bakery! BYYYEEE!"

"Hey!" Cried Kenta as he just barely caught the door and pursued his two friends. "Come on you guys! Wait for me!"

"Danger waits on no Tamer!" Kazu's voice could be distinctly heard echoing from down the stairwell as the thunder of feet beat their way downwards.

Takahiro and Mei Matsuki just stared at the door as it thudded to a close, its motion slow and in stark contrast to the flurry of motion that they had just been made witness too before exchanging glances.

"You know," began Takahiro after a couple seconds. "They really should have waited. The elevator would have had them down in the lobby in no time."

"TAKAHIRO!" Exclaimed Mei furiously as she fixed her husband with a fearsome glare, causing the man to almost take an unconscious step backwards.

"What?" Asked Takahiro innocently as he blinked in confusion at his wife.

* * *

_Gotta move! Gotta move! Gotta move!_

That thought repeated itself through Takato's mind as he and his friends raced down the stairs with the fine consistency of a jack hammer. In fact, _jack hammer_ was probably the best way to describe the way that he felt right now because for some reason it seemed to him that the area around his head was being _squeezed_ , as if by a giant's fist. Silently he wondered if the feeling was something residual from the injuries that he had gotten in the battle from yesterday but a quick mental check reminded him that this sensation was relatively new, and hadn't at all been apparent when he had first woken up, unless it was that the stress had somehow gotten to him or something. Or maybe it was something… _deeper._

Quickly checking his digivice as he came to a landing Takato frowned as he saw just the same image as before, except with the only major difference being that Dynasmon's eyes were now closed and his body was glowing slightly. Otherwise the digimon's position, and seemingly that of Guilmon, as the digivice would only allow him to see the viewpoint of just his partner digimon, remained unchanged. A strange curiosity Takato felt and a somewhat welcome one as it meant that he still had time to get there but the distance from here to the park…

"ARRRGH!" Takato cried out in frustration as he resumed his already hard pace, ignoring the looks that Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon were giving him.

"Takato! Are you…?" began Kenta worriedly.

"We've got to keep moving!" Overrode Takato as he pushed past Kazu. "Is Guardromon at the main entrance?"

"Yeah," Kazu nodded as the four friends continued to pound down the stairs before finally coming to the entrance to the main lobby. Kazu lamented in his mind that it was a good thing that Takato hadn't been placed too far away from the ground, otherwise they still would be trying to reach the first floor.

_Maybe it would have been better if I had called Guardromon and had him fly on up. Probably would have been a lot faster that way. Well, kinda late now…_

The three Tamers plus one digimon quickly burst into the lobby and raced towards the exit, ignoring the surprised looks that staff and orderlies were giving them as they ran, or in MarineAngemon's case flew. The sound of an elevator dinging as it opened from near the stairwell that they had emerged from caught their ears but they paid no attention to it…at least not until Mei Matsuki's voice shouting for them, or rather Takato, to stop broke through the air.

"TAKATO!"

_Aw nuts…_

"Mei…" began Takahiro as he emerged from the elevator with his wife and placed a hand on her shoulder. Takato looked back at his parents as they exchanged a look between themselves before looking back over to him. For a brief instant it felt as if everything was hanging by a thread to the young Tamer. His desire to obey his parents and keep them from worrying about him warred with the far greater desire to protect his partner from any and all danger (a feeling he knew that shared a great many similarities with what his parents felt whenever he went out to fight digimon). The scale tipped and just as soon as Takato was about to break away and continue on towards the park regardless of whatever his parents had to say on the matter his mother spoke in a tremulous voice.

"B-be careful out there."

"No sweat!" Said Kazu as he walked up next to Takato and swung an arm around his friends shoulder, much to Takato's surprise. "We'll have him back before lunch…well, certainly back before dinner at any rate and in one piece."

"Don't worry Mr. And Mrs. Matsuki," said Kenta as he took his own place next to Takato and copied Kazu's gesture, causing Takato to look at his two friends in awe. "He'll be fine. We'll _all_ be fine."

_Kazu…Kenta…_

"I don't doubt it for a second," said Takahiro with a chuckle and a confident smile on his face. "Just make sure that you kids are all home before dark, okay? Now go get 'em. And good luck out there."

Takato gave an affirming nod of his head along with his three friends and soon enough they had resumed their earlier, rapid pace as they sped towards the looming figure of Guardromon who was presently standing guard in front of the hospital (and, unknown to the three Tamers for the moment, being ticketed for illegal parking). Takahiro and Mei just watched them go, holding onto each other for support, knowing that all that was left for them to do now was to wait and hope that the children who were the cities self-appointed guardians would make it out of their latest battle all right.

* * *

_"Corona Blaster!"_

Purple colored energy blasts tore through the air above the trees of Shinjuku Park as Beelzemon leveled his Death Slinger cannon on the pink colored blur that sped towards him. Laughing without a seeming care in the world the pink blur slowed just enough to materialize as a feminine shaped, armored knight with yellow ribbons arching off of its armor. Extending one of the yellow ribbons into an open hand like a blade the knight, continuing to laugh in what was decidedly a female tone slashed at each of the energy blasts as they came at her, disrupting them and breaking them apart into shards of data with an ease that was almost uncanny.

"Oh _please,_ tell me that's not the best that you can do…"

"I haven't even begun," growled Beelzemon as he continued to fire away with his cannon while he readied his recently acquired sword in the other. Crusadermon merely dodged the next volley of energy blasts and scoffed at him.

"You know, I've heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…"

Crusadermon suddenly became a blur again and in the next moment, Beelzemon heard a sickeningly familiar voice whispering in his ear from behind him while armored hands grasped a hold of his shoulders.

"What led you to believe that you could expect anything different when you were fighting me?"

"Wha…?"

_"Fist of Athena!"_

Beelzemon cried out in pain as Crusadermon landed a heavy blow at the base of his spine, sending him flying, not under his own power this time, through the air and towards the ground. Not losing a beat Crusadermon surged ahead, lashing out with her sword-like, yellow ribbon, slashing and tearing at the Demon Lords vulnerable body before Beelzemon's plummet brought him in full contact with the ground, kicking up dust and dirt into the air with his impact. Landing several feet away from Shinjuku's most recently made crater Crusadermon pretended to dust her armor off before turning around just in time to see the ex-Demon Lord haul his body off the ground, his weight almost entirely supported by his sword now.

"Tell me something Beelzemon," said Crusadermon as she placed a hand on her hip. "Why do you continue to fight? Especially for a digimon that by rights should mean nothing to you. It's of a far lower order then you or I, and I can sense the touch of the Southern lands on you. 'Survival of the fittest' is usually the name of the game from where you have come from and at one time or another it's where some of the darkest of digimon have arisen before the advent of the Dark Area and their banishment to that place."

"Why don't you tell me something first," spat Beelzemon harshly as he pulled the point of his sword off the ground and aimed it at Crusadermon. "Why do you fight?"

"Explain," said Crusadermon, her tone giving Beelzemon the impression that they might as well be holding a discussion over tea and not trying to beat the living daylights out of each other.

"I can tell a lot about other digimon," said Beelzemon slowly. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about the things that I've done and how I got to where I am today and for the most part I'm not at all pleased with the things that I did. Given the choice I'd much rather take it all back. Heck, there've been plenty of times where I've wished that Renamon didn't save me from Indramon's foot when he had me beat. It would have saved her and the rest of my friends a whole mess of trouble later, but the only thing that comforts me is that if it weren't me it would have been someone else, someone who cared even less about what they did to my friends and wouldn't have walked away in the end, or joined their side when they needed help. I look at you and I see a lot of my old self in you. You were ready to destroy and load the partner to one of my friends the last time we fought without any hesitation. They were beneath you. Yet sometimes I get the feeling that you're supposed to stand for something else, something that's supposed to be _good_ in the digital world. I dunno if it's just me or because you sorta resemble the Mega form of the red Pineapple Head that your compadre is interrogating back there…"

Beelzemon gritted his teeth as he remembered that Guilmon was still in the clutches of the white armored digimon.

"…But I just get that feeling that what you do is not what you're supposed to be representing. So why are you fighting?"

No sound could be heard from the pink armored knight for a couple seconds until finally Crusadermon burst out laughing.

"Oh…now _this_ is something else. _Rich_ you could say. A Demon Lord with a _conscience!_ A Demon Lord with a sense of _Honor!_ Morals even! This is almost too good to be true! Still, if you must know I fight because that is what I am bid to do by my lord and master Yggdrasil. There is no room for honor or compassion in that mission, nor do I even care for such sentiments. There is only Lord Yggdrasil's will and to follow it one must remain _indifferent_ to the _sacrifices_ of others for the greater good, especially in this disordered world. My comrades in arms among the Royal Knights are all too often troubled by their emotions to be true servants of Yggdrasil but they are employed nonetheless and they serve their purpose. A pity for you that Gallantmon isn't here. I'm sure that given ample motivation he would sympathize with your plight. Alas…"

Before Beelzemon could even begin to question Crusadermon about her use of the name _Gallantmon_ she was on him once again, slashing at him with her ribbon turned sword. This time, blocking deftly with the sword of Leomon, Beelzemon forced his thoughts to the back of his mind in order to focus on the here and now.

* * *

_Eyes opening in the fading sunlight, as off in the distance the sound of waves beating upon the shore reverberated upon the air. Looking up a feeling of excitement flashed through the little creature's body as its gaze settled upon the wide, tearful, red colored eyes of a young boy wearing a strange, yellow object on his head. It was these objects that especially got its excitement going, as for some reason that it could not even begin to define seemed familiar to it…just as familiar as the boy who wore them…and was presently holding the little creature carefully in his hands._

" _Mon!" The little, red colored, bat-winged ball as it quivered in the remains of the egg-shell that surrounded it._

"No," growled Dynasmon as he watched the recently downloaded images fly across his mind's eye. "That's not all there is to this. I can sense it in you… _Guilmon,_ and your memories more then speak for you _._ You're older then what you remember. Indeed, even your comrades have mentioned this to you."

Guilmon growled from within the Royal Knight's grasp. Having been temporarily released from Dynasmon's Memory Scan he began to struggle and squirm once more.

"Let… _GO!"_

"Ah, ah, ah," scolded Dynasmon as he tightened his grip on the reptiles neck once more. "I'm not through with you yet. Now let's see…your _Tamer_ , and your friends had mentioned you as being… _dead_ prior to what you are now…yes. Reconfiguration usually runs that risk, especially when data has been fragmented over a given length of time. In the real world, digimon that are destroyed and not loaded are unable to recreate their physical form unless they have outside assistance or a high degree of control over their digital makeup in particular and data manipulation in general. The problem becomes aggravated when the digimon's digi-core itself is destroyed or rendered inert. But even so, information is rarely irretrievably lost when a digimon is destroyed in the real world, and I sense that you were not wholly reconfigured. Whatever information and memory you lack _should_ still exist within you. I will simply have to probe deeper. _Reinitializing Memory Scan…level two sub protocols activated. Imbedding seeker connection…"_

_"Spirit Strike!"_

So engrossed was he in his task that Dynasmon didn't even react to the sound of the attack being pronounced until it slammed into his back full force. Crying out with surprise, the white armored Royal Knight staggered, dropping Guilmon to the ground, where he landed with a groan, his body still glowing from the scan. Turning, Dynasmon gave a venomous glare at the approaching Sakuyamon as she came to a landing and twirled her bronze, vajra staff about in the air, her lips set in a thin line as she returned it with equal ferocity beneath her fox mask.

"You again," the shaman priestess said darkly as her gloves took on a harsh, violet sheen to them that reflected the sun's light.

"Me. Again," said Dynasmon as he eyed the red colored dinosaur that lay beneath him. "I can see that you're doing much better since our first encounter. I hardly expected you so soon despite our last meeting. Luck of the throw perhaps?"

"What do you want?"

"Want? What I came here for in the first place. Information and the destruction of the X-Antibody digimon that would oppose my lord Yggdrasil. This digimon may not know anything about their plans for your world but I still need to know for certain, so if you would excuse me…"

Dynasmon reached down towards Guilmon, who was just now starting to crawl away only to have his armored hand struck away by a snarling, red colored, fox spirit. Sparks showered the air and Dynasmon glowered at Sakuyamon.

"You're _not_ touching him!" The shaman grated.

"Who says that you'll even have a choice? One way or another I'll get what I need from him, and if you persist to stand in my way I can only guarantee you that one way will go violently. You could barely keep up with me when I was weakened, do you think that you can face me when I'm at the peak of my powers?"

Sakuyamon and Dynasmon stared at each other, and after a moment one of Dynasmon's eyes blurred slightly. Smirking, Sakuyamon got into a battle stance.

"Doesn't look like everything's working at its peak."

Dynasmon chuckled lightly.

"Yes. I have you to thank for that, don't I? Now, what's it going to be?"

Sakuyamon shifted her vajra staff from her left hand to her right.

"You're _not_ going to touch Guilmon if I have anything to say about it."

"Ah. One of those _'Over your dead body'_ types of deals is it? Hmmph." Dynasmon raised his gauntlets and proceeded to crack his knuckles. "A pity. You have a strong spirit. I admire that. But strength or no strength, I will complete my mission and find out why the X-Digimon are so interested in this world."

"You know, somehow I'm willing to bet that this could all be solved if you'd just tell us what is going o…"

_"Dragon Thrower!"_

Sakuyamon grimaced as she threw up a barrier of Sakura petals, blocking the attack with ease.

_The least he could do is try listening first…_

* * *

"Report!" Demanded Yamaki as he stepped into the Hypnos control room, alarms blaring all around him. Above him, Riley and Tally typed furiously on their control panels as they processed the information that was being fed to them.

"Three, high level wild types have bio-emerged into the real world," responded Riley. "Our land based connections are still down so we can't get an accurate reading as to what's going on, but based on the chatter that's going back and forth with law enforcement it's safe to say that two, if not all three, have already been engaged by the Tamers. Justimon and Beelzemon have already been confirmed as to being sighted in fighting with two digimon and Sakuyamon has been seen heading towards the area of the bio-emergence zone as well."

Yamaki grimaced as he rushed over to his personal control panel, instinctively flicking a lighter that wasn't even in his hand at the moment (though given how things were going that was certain to be changed) and looked down at the information that his two operators were gathering.

_This isn't good,_ thought Yamaki darkly as he analyzed the information. _We're being attacked again and this time we're being hit when we're at our weakest. Most of the major defensive systems are down and Argus has gone missing at a time that it actually would have been beneficial for a change. So far we have only three Tamers, or at least their digimon in Beelzemon's case, confirmed as to being involved in combating with the intruders, but with them being forced to fight on two, possibly three separate fronts I have a hard time believing that this is going to be an easy job for them. These signals seem to indicate that the Wild Ones are at an extremely high level, possibly on even par, if not greater then the Tamers themselves. They'll need as much help as they can get if they expect to tackle this threat._

"Tally," began Yamaki as his fingers became as a blur across his keyboard. "See if you can connect with one of our orbital satellites. I have a package that I'd like to deliver…"

"On it…hold on!"

"What's the matter?" Exclaimed Yamaki, feeling his frustration starting to rise at this sudden delay.

Tally typed furiously on her keyboard, looking as though she were double checking something.

"I can't be sure sir, but our internal sensors…they're picking up an abnormal energy reading coming from inside of Hypnos! It looks as though it's coming from the location where Dolphin and the Nakata child are."

Yamaki's eyes narrowed dangerously as he gripped his fist tightly.

"Change of plans. But first I need you to get patch me into a satellite…and quickly!"

* * *

Henry with Terriermon attached to his usual location on his Tamer's shoulder, raced down the hallways of Hypnos, aiming towards the elevator that he and Aiko had used earlier to reach the Hypnos mess hall.

"Is it just me," began Terriermon sardonically. "Or does it seem like something dramatic like this always happens whenever we're talking to Noriko's mom?"

"Since you're the one noticing why don't you tell me?" Asked Henry a little irritably as he hit the call button for the elevator.

"Hey. Momentai Henry. I was just making an observation. I seem to recall this happening the last time we were making headway with brainstorming about that Noriko girl."

"It didn't happen the first time we met her did it?"

"The first time we had a conversation with her was the night that Noriko came back to the real world."

Henry blinked as the elevator doors opened with a ding.

"Oh. Hm. Just out of curiosity, why are you noticing that?"

"No particular reason," said Terriermon as they stepped into the elevator. "Like I said. I'm just making an observation based on the situation that just came up. So what's the plan?"

"We're heading to the roof for starters," answered Henry as he hit the elevator button and pulled out his green trimmed digivice. "If what I'm picking up here is any indication we're going to need to biomerge for this fight."

"That bad?"

"It looks that way," said Henry with a slight nod of his head as the elevator jerked and began to ascend towards the rooftop. A second later Henry sighed, frowned, and clenched his digivice in his hand.

"Hey Henry…are you okay? You seem kind of tense. Well, not that that's anything unusual with you but I mean you look more tense then usual."

"I just…I'm just getting tired of having to do this Terriermon. We go out there and we fight, but what good does it do us?"

"You mean besides keeping the city safe?"

"That's not what I mean. I…" Henry made a groaning noise similar to what Rika would make whenever she got annoyed and then, as if to complete the image of imitation, folded his arms across his chest and frowned at the elevator doors. A brief silence fell during which Henry attempted to gather his thoughts. Terriermon looked at his partner with a curios expression on his face.

_This is starting to sound a little bit familiar,_ thought the long eared digimon as he ruffled one of his ears. _I remember this kind of talk back when we were just starting out as partners. Especially after I digivolved in that parking garage and practically blew the place apart and nearly hurt Rika in the proce…hold everything!_

Terriermon furrowed his brow in thought as he tapped one hand on his chin and then looked back at his partner.

"You're thinking about that time that you nearly killed Rika and Renamon to get at Lucemon aren't you?"

Henry's eyes widened in surprise.

"Ah! I…" Henry paused and quickly took a moment to calm himself. "How could you tell?"

"Hen-ry! We're partners remember? That word usually means something, like how we know each other inside and out? That's helped by the fact that we've shared each others minds and bodies before. You've been upset about that for weeks now even if you don't always show it."

"It's not the easiest thing to forget," said Henry, his eyes narrowing in contemplation. "How do you think that it makes me feel, knowing that I came that close to hurting, even _killing_ two of my closest friends just to get at an enemy, and not only that, abuse our partnership in the process…"

Terriermon rolled his eyes and hopped up on top of his partners head.

"Henry. We've been through this before. I forgave you; Rika and Renamon forgave you…heck, between the three of us Rika was the most understanding of where you were coming from. You know how angry she was about what happened to Takato and Guilmon after the first time we fought Lucemon. We're not holding anything against you."

"I know that Terriermon, but…I'm more worried about myself; about whether or not I'll be able to keep the same kind of control that I used to be able to or if I'll become something…else. I remember what Takato used to tell me about how himself was the last thing that he ever expected to have to worry about controlling whenever it came to Guilmon and his digivolving and we all saw the result of that when Guilmon became Megidramon. I didn't control myself and I attacked a friend…"

"Technically she just stuck herself in the way to block the attack…"

"I know that Terriermon! I…" Henry took a deep, calming breath. "Look. I know what you're getting at, but right now I can't help but think about all the weaponry that we're carrying every time we biomerge and just how destructive it is. How… _easy_ it is to pull that trigger…"

Terriermon lowered his eyes. He really didn't know what to say to that. He had felt something similar once when he had fought Sangloupmon back at Hypnos the night that Henry's father had been hurt, so he could easily understand the kind of rage that could overtake someone in the heat of the moment, but his actions hadn't come within a hairs breath of removing anyone from existence, aside from Sangloupmon that is but he had gotten away. He knew that emotion had scared him though, in much the same way that Henry was upset over his own actions from their battle with Lucemon. He had talked to Henry's teacher, Chou Sensei, about it, and he still thought about that conversation every now and then, which sadly, wasn't often due to everything that had been going on of late, but he believed that there was something of value that could be used to help his partner. It was more of a matter of how to express it though.

_What was it that the teach said? "_ _Emotions can be a source of great strength, but they can also be a source of great danger if one allows themself to become consumed by them._ _" Right now it's like Henry's letting himself get consumed by all his worries about what he might and might not do in a fight if the right 'trigger' comes along. If he's not careful he'll start second guessing himself. So far he's done okay, but we haven't biomerged in a while. He trusts me to know when and when not to shoot but what happens when he's at the controls? Will he still be okay? Henry…_

_"…Terriermon…"_

Terriermon blinked.

"You say something Henry?"

"Say what?"

"Uh…never mind I guess. I must be so used to you saying my name that I guess that…"

_"…Ome in Terriermon…"_

"Okay," said Terriermon as he raised his ears in surprise. "Now I _know_ that I heard that! Either I'm going crazy or…"

"Terriermon, what are you talking about?"

"Shhh!" Terriermon raised one hand to his mouth to hush his Tamer as he narrowed his eyes in concentration.

_"…Do you read…"_

"Yamaki?"

"Terriermon, are you feeling okay? Yamaki's not here."

"I used to think that you were smart," muttered Terriermon sarcastically.

_"…Boost the signal Tally…Terriermon. Do you read me?"_

"It _is_ Yamaki! He's pulling the same trick that he's done before! He's beaming a transmission into me! Yeah! I read you loud and clear head honcho! What's up?"

"He's probably going to have to lower the signal if you keep that up," said Henry sarcastically, causing Terriermon to glower at his human partner. Henry chuckled at how it their roles had reversed themselves.

"Hen-ry…" began Terriermon, but before he could continue Yamaki's voice cut into the conversation.

_"Terriermon. Are you and Henry still in Hypnos right now?"_

"Yup! We're currently on our way up to the roof so that we can head off to the battle. Was that what you were calling to tell us about?"

_"I almost wish that it was. Unfortunately it looks as though our newest problem is closer to home."_

"Uh oh…"

"What's going on?" Asked Henry.

"Yamaki's saying something about how we've got trouble… _here_ , and at Hypnos."

_"It gets better,"_ said Yamaki's voice from over the other end of the transmission. _"We've traced an abnormal energy reading to where we've placed Noriko Nakata…"_

"Uh oh," Terriermon reiterated, his tone deflating almost instantly.

_This really isn't starting to sound good,_ thought Henry.

* * *

Black mists began to dissipate as Oni stepped over the inert forms of Rob McCoy and the guard that had been with him, the digital being's black, hand-like wings flexing themselves as he made his way over towards where the resting form of Noriko Nakata lay.

_That was rather easy,_ thought Oni. _All the events that have been happening this past week have badly weakened Hypnos to the point where I have little to no trouble moving about, though whether or not I can do so undetected remains to be seen. Even if I am detected, there's very little that can be done to stop me at this point. Noriko's here, defenseless and out in the open…most convenient and not at all what I expected considering what she's capable of. Perhaps the humans don't quite realize what she can do just yet. Oh well. Not that it matters anyway. In a short amount of time I will have the Digital Hazard and hence have the means to fulfill my quest._

Oni came to a halt next to the sleeping girl and he looked her over carefully, half suspecting a trap of some kind. Not that he was particularly worried as he could easily slip out of most traps, unless that is Noriko inadvertently triggered the Digital Hazard or something along the lines of that but just looking at the way her chest rose and fell in slow, even breaths the dark, digital life form that had at one point in its existence been a digignome doubted that anything of that nature would be occurring anytime in the near future. Noriko had exhausted herself when they first met. Even with the benefit of sharing her body with two digimon it was doubtful that she would be able to call up the energy reserves to pull off something like what she had done yesterday again, especially with how it looked as though her mind was in conflict with the other two essences that she shared her existence with.

_Strange,_ thought Oni as his vision shifted and took in the girl's data pattern. _From what I'm seeing her essence is greatly entangled with one of the digimon that she's merged with…the dark reptile by the looks of it. It's not at all dissimilar to how a loaded digimon's data appears except for the fact that Noriko's data is more...assertive for some reason. Loaded digimon just become integrated into the data patterns of the loader but it appears that in this case something else is preventing Noriko from being fully assimilated. Something…ah. I see now. I see an Arc's digital profile in there, mixed with the other digimon that's been thrown into the mix. The partner half by the looks of things, and it's all mixed up with the Digital Hazard right at the center. It doesn't look that I'll be able to remove the Hazard without separating the three first…or at least separate the child from the merge. It's not unlike untangling a knot just to unravel a single thread. That's good at least. I had meant to separate the girl first. Now though the question remains, how do I do tha…?_

Oni's eyes widened suddenly as the data patterns suddenly began shifting and Noriko's body twitched, eliciting a groan from the girl's lips as they did so.

_What is…_ this? _What's going on here? The patterns…their starting to disintegrate and merge together! I don't…_

Noriko's eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing cold, gold colored irises that were so filled with the bitter, edged wind of anger that even Oni froze to look upon it. Crimson flames licked at Noriko's mouth as her body began to warp and transform.

_"Pyro Grenade,"_ the girl whispered in a voice that was not her own.

_Shit._


	57. 56/ Merging: Part 3

Ayaka stared, wide eyed from her spot over in the brush at the edge of the park as she watched the battle continue to unfold in front of her; more specifically her gaze was drawn to the dark haired, pale skinned woman wearing a long, purple colored robe that was standing next to a cybernetic warrior wearing a red, billowing scarf that gave him a rather heroic appearance about him. The woman, who had just scant minutes ago identified herself as _Lilithmon_ had appeared almost immediately following a blinding light that had surrounded her friend Miki and the digimon that she, for some bizarre reason, insisted on calling _Beanie_. Ayaka had guessed what it was that had happened, as she had heard about it often enough from the Tamers that she and Miki had taken to hanging out with these past few months (even if a fair number of them were exaggerated versions of the actual events from a certain visor wearing Tamer with a large, rust colored robot), and she had seen something of it back during the D-Reaper invasion when the four primary Tamers had been caught on the television screens worldwide…

_What was it that they called it?_ Wondered Ayaka in a slightly dazed fashion as she watched her friend turned digimon swiftly dodge an incoming attack. _Oh yeah…biomerging…_

Ayaka wasn't at all sure if she liked what she was seeing. For the past few days Miki had something of an obsession going on for becoming a Tamer (it having to do with her seeing Beelzemon for the first time and becoming rather smitten with his 'bad boy' appearance) and it had only been recently that she had begun to wonder about it, primarily due to the conversation that Ayaka had had with her regarding the prospect of being a Tamer and the dangers involved therein. 'Not all fun and games' was how Ayaka could best sum up her view of the job even if there were a number of positives that she was sure that any of the Tamers could list off (and she knew that they could, even Jeri). Having been on the frontlines of a fight between the Tamers and digimon (or rather in that particular case, another program gone rogue) Ayaka could easily say that she didn't think that being a Tamer was all that it was cracked up to be. True, she still thought that it would be nice to have a digimon partner, but she had to ask herself just what her reasons would be for that sort of thing to become realized. Was it because the idea of being a Tamer would give her prestige and a partner? She had wondered about that particular possibility before she had been involved in the Tamers fight as she felt that there was need to have a little discretion (especially since Miki certainly seemed to show none whatsoever) and every now and then it made her sit up and think as to whether or not that was the sort of attitude to have to even be worthy of being a Tamer.

Now she was even less sure about the whole idea, and what made the whole thing even worse in her mind was that one of her closest friends was caught up in the whole thing now, more so then she had been before and was, if her becoming transformed into a digimon was any indication, well on the road to becoming a Tamer.

_What's going to happen to her after this?_ Wondered Ayaka from where she stood, her expression a portrait of confusion. _What's going to happen to any of us after this? Are there going to be more fights? Will she become involved in them? What…is…going to happen now?_

* * *

As if in tune with the young girl's question, the massive, black colored knight lashed out with the remains of his spear, nearly connecting with Lilithmon as she laughed coyly at his efforts.

"Now, now," laughed Lilithmon in Miki's voice as she dodged Craniummon's attack with graceful ease, not in the least bit hampered by the long, flowing robe that surrounded her lithe form. "That's no way to treat a lady."

"Miki," growled Dracmon as Lilithmon's tone shifted to a more masculine one, indicating a change of speakers. "You really need to stop it with the joking and take this fight a lot more seriously. This guy's a _Royal Knight_! You can't take him lightly!"

"Given how big he is I kind of agree with you," giggled Lilithmon in Miki's voice. "But I just can't help it! I just feel so…so _great!_ This is awesome! I mean, you…me…we're _Mega!"_

"I'm well aware of that," said Dracmon as Lilithmon's voice shifted in octave and owner again. "But if you keep acting the way that you are that good feeling that you have is going to change quite drastically…"

"Will you two _please_ stop arguing and get with the program?" Demanded Justimon, starting to sound more then a little bit irritated with Miki and Dracmon's constant bickering. "Miki! Dracmon's right. You need to focus here! This guy's tough! You can't afford to be overconfident and getting lost in being a digimon for the first time. We…"

Justimon looked over at the oncoming Craniummon and sighed.

"Hang on a second," the vaccine warrior said as he raised his cybernetic arm and increased its size before slamming it into the ground. _"Thunder Clap!"_

Shockwaves tore through the city streets, surging towards the armored knight digimon. Leaping over the oncoming attack Craniummon brought the remaining portion of his spear over his head and aimed it at Justimon's armored face. Quickly bringing up his still enlarged arm the Legendary Tamer blocked the attack, gritting his teeth beneath his facemask as pain tore through the appendage. Unimpressed by Justimon's successful defense the rest of Craniummon's bodyweight bore down on the Legendary Tamer and upon making contact with the ground the Royal Knight's right leg snapped outward, catching his opponent off guard as his clawed feet made contact with his chest and sent him flying backwards.

"I gotcha!" Called out Lilithmon as she leapt up into the air, arms outstretched. Grunting in surprise at the Legendary Tamer's momentum Lilithmon was just barely able to deliver him safely to the ground.

"You know," began Lilithmon, smirking as she leaned forward and whispered into Justimon's earpiece, causing Ryo to blush insanely red from within his data sphere. "We really need to stop meeting like this…people might start to talk."

_"I'm starting to think that you're letting this form get to you,"_ grumbled Dracmon from the darkness that surrounded Miki's gray colored digital sphere. Miki's smirk merely grew.

_"Oh?"_

_"Duh! Lilithmon is a Demoness of Lust after all. Be careful when you're like this, or else you might end up doing something that you'll only regret later. I'm curious as to why we even digivolved into this form in the first place. It's not even my true Mega form!"_

_"So? I kind of like it. It's got style…"_

_"Phhht! Well of course_ you _would. How do you think_ _ **I**_ _feel about the whole thing? And just how the heck do you females even get around with these things on your…?"_

_"Oopsies! Incoming Royal Knight at 12:00!"_

_"End Waltz!"_

Justimon and Lilithmon leapt to opposite sides, narrowly avoiding getting struck by Craniummon's blade as it smashed into the concrete. Sniffing out of irritation Lilithmon turned upon landing and glared at the Royal Knight.

"All right. We'll have enough of that! _Phantom Pain!"_

Leaning backwards for a brief moment Lilithmon gulped down air and then quickly leaned forwards, a black mist spewing from her mouth and striking Craniummon in the eyes, causing the Royal Knight to cry out in pain and stagger backwards, dropping his weapon in the process as his hands flew up to his face. Her own dark eyes widening in surprise Lilithmon clapped her hands over her mouth, interrupting her attack and she found herself mimicking Craniummon's unsteady gait as her face became a portrait of horror and disgust.

_"Ah…ah…uh…B-B-Beanie? What…ah…uh…"_

_"That was our_ Phantom Pain _attack. We fire a black cloud of mist at our enemy that curses them. Nothing too special although in Craniummon's case he's not going to be too happy about it. Hey. You okay?"_

_"I-I think that I'm going to be sick…"_

_"What? No! Not here! And most_ definitely _not now! Quick! Let me take over! Sheesh! I warned you about this form! You can't take it lightly!"_

_"Justice Kick!"_

Justimon struck the now distracted Craniummon's armored head with a powerful blow, cracking the metal and knocking the knight backwards. Using the force of the blow to rebound away from his opponent Justimon reoriented himself, twisting his body in mid air so as to redirect the course of his flight path over to where Lilithmon was currently standing, looking for all the world as if she were retching and trying to keep her lunch down. Justimon winced as he landed.

"You okay Lilithmon?"

"Miki's currently dealing with some abdominal issues," grunted the female Demon with Dracmon's masculine voice. "I don't think she quite knew what she was getting into when we biomerged…come to think of it I don't think I did either. I'll be all right momentarily though. Don't worry about us."

"Uh…okay," said Ryo, shaking his head from within his data sphere before returning to the matter at hand. "Craniummon's starting to get back up. Whatever it was that you two did to him didn't last long. If you don't think that either of you will be ready in time to fight him…"

"Hmmmph. We're fine," grumbled Lilithmon, still speaking with Dracmon's voice as she drew herself back up to her full height. "Now before you guys start fighting again let me try reasoning with Craniummon first."

"I don't think that's going to work," said Justimon. "We've already tried that…"

"Except that you weren't the target were you?"

From within his data sphere Ryo raised an eyebrow.  
"What do you mean?"

Lilithmon waved a dismissive hand at the Legendary Tamer.

"Never mind that for now. The important thing is that Craniummon will have an idea of what it is that I'm talking about as I'm the target that he's looking for. Just try to follow along, don't interfere unless I say so, and don't ask too many questions until this is all over." Lilithmon tilted her head to one side, her brow furrowed thoughtfully before she finally added. "Provided that is he doesn't decide to just continue fighting just for the sake of it."

Not even waiting for Justimon to make a response to that Lilithmon flapped her wings and took off into the air, bringing herself to eye level with Craniummon as he lowered his armored gauntlets from his face, rage quite apparent in his face even though it was hidden behind his skull shaped helm.

_Oh yeah…he's angry all right,_ thought Dracmon to himself from within Lilithmon's form as she approached the dark armored Royal Knight.

"Craniummon," began the female Demon Lord, speaking in two voices as one now as Miki had finally recovered. "To continue this battle would serve no further purpose. I am prepared to offer you terms in exchange for your leaving this world…or at least have a truce between us."

"A _truce?_ " Scoffed Craniummon as the ground rumbled beneath his feet as he shifted them. "With a _Demon Lord?"_

Lilithmon folded her arms beneath her breasts and scowled at the Royal Knight.

"I should point out that I am most definitely _not_ the same Lilithmon that you and your compatriots are reputed to have banished to the Dark Area. I merely share her form thanks to the child that I have become one with. Now, as I recall, you wanted information from me. If you still so desire I will allow myself to have my memories scanned in order to satiate your mission's requirements…with _your promise_ as a Royal Knight that you will not continue with your attacks upon this world and that you will not harm the human child that I carry within me."

That caught Craniummon's attention and his crimson eyes locked with the dark irises that belonged to Lilithmon.

_"Dracmon? Are you sure about this?"_

_"Royal Knights are very strict about their codes of honor. If they swear to something, whether it's fealty to a lord or in this case a promise to not conduct any further harm or damage they will follow through with it even if it leads to their deletion. It's one of the reasons why they were so well respected in my world until more recent times when Yggdrasil unleashed his X-Virus and created my kind. There is such a thing as being_ too _dependable."_

_"Oh. Um…when this is over, could you explain to me all that stuff that you just mentioned?"_

_"Don't worry Miki. I have a feeling that I'm going to be doing a lot of explaining to a lot of people. Seems as though I'm going to be staying here for a while after all…"_

_"This…scanning thing. Will it hurt?"_

_"It didn't for me. I think that it would be the same for you as well._

While the two continued their mental conversation Craniummon reached out with one hand and held it close to Lilithmon's form. The black, metallic gauntlet took on a rainbow like glow to it that extended itself and enveloped Lilithmon. The dark haired, Mega level woman closed her eyes slowly and she let go a relaxed breath of air as Craniummon formed a connection between them.

_"Initiating Memory Scan…"_

* * *

_"Dragon Thrower!"_

Twin beams of scarlet energy shot forth from Dynasmon's hands, streaking towards the golden armored shaman priestess, and she quickly leapt into the air, dodging the attack and slashing one gloved hand through the air as she mouthed a few, quick incantations, unleashing a flurry of fox spirits at the offending Royal Knight. Not in the least bit concerned by the attack Dynasmon fired again with the jewels on his palms, destroying the fox spirits as they came at him and continuing with his relentless assault. Sakuyamon ducked and wove in between the blasts with practiced ease, but despite the speed that she put into her motions a blast of energy caught her right shoulder guard, punching a hole clean through at the top and grazing the unprotected arm underneath. Gritting her teeth to keep herself from crying out Sakuyamon did a mid-air back flip and slashed her staff through the air, sending out a wave of violet energy that dispersed the next torrent of lasers that flew towards her. As she came to a landing an all too familiar crimson reptile darted ahead of her, red flames licking at his mouth and a second later Guilmon fired off a blast that rocketed towards Dynasmon's face. Snorting in disgust at the Rookie's attempt to join in on the fight Dynasmon caught the oncoming sphere of fire in one hand like a catcher in a baseball game and swiftly snuffed it out by clenching his hand into a fist. Flapping his wings Dynasmon responded in kind to Guilmon's assault by rapidly flying in for an up close assault and abruptly backhanded Guilmon across the face, sending him flying backwards with a cry, where he was quickly caught in one outstretched arm belonging to Sakuyamon.

_"Amethyst Wind!"_ Shouted Sakuyamon as she slashed her staff downwards, sending a flurry of crystal shards raining down on Dynasmon's body, forcing the Royal Knight to raise his arms and wrap his wings around him protectively, paying special attention to his eyes as he glared the shaman venomously.

_"Looks like someone learned from our last battle,"_ said Rika grimly from within her data sphere.

_"As have we,"_ commented Renamon as they moved back with Guilmon held firmly in one arm to get to what could be deemed a 'safe distance' away from the white armored knight. _"I've noticed that he hasn't unleashed his most powerful attack yet."_

Rika frowned at Dynasmon, her mind racing in time with that of Renamon's as they focused on the battle.

_"So? Not all digimon do that right off the bat during a fight. And from what I remember even injured this guy was tough enough on his own where he wouldn't need to do something like that to win."_

_"True, but if his mission is important, and he has claimed as much every time that we've fought, he_ should _be trying to end this encounter as quickly as possible in order to get at Guilmon, who hasn't left the battlefield since we showed up…"_

Rika's frown deepened.

_"Hmmph. Thanks for reminding me about that. We've got to get him out of here. He's not safe as long as this guy's nearby."_

_"I know Rika; however I'm starting to think that Guilmon's very presence is what's keeping the battle from ending too quickly…"_

_"What? Renamon! Are you…"_

_"Dragon Thrower!"_ Dynasmon's attack cut into the conversation, interrupting the two partners inward conversation with each other.

"Hah!" Sakuyamon ducked beneath an oncoming energy blast and rolled to the side, batting aside another shot with her vajra staff as she did so. Guilmon squawked in surprise at the motions and squirmed uncomfortably in the woman's grasp as she got back to her feet and leapt up into the air, taking flight so that they could have more maneuverability and take advantage of their speed.

"Sorry about this Guilmon," apologized Sakuyamon in her dual voices of Rika and Renamon as they soared through the air. "But this is your own fault you know. You shouldn't have stuck around."

"But I wanted to help," groaned Guilmon.

"As much appreciated as that help is, without Takato you're only getting in the way," scolded Sakuyamon, this time in Rika's voice. Sakuyamon's fingers tightened reflexively against Guilmon's body as she saw a clear path in Shinjuku Park's tree line and flew towards it for a landing.

_"Blast it! Where is that Gogglehead anyway? A fight like this is practically the only thing that he's never late for. For that matter where's everyone_ else? _I can't keep an eye out on Dino-boy forever, not with that Royal Pain coming after him and wrecking havoc just to get at him. I feel like I'm having to pull my punches here."_

_"The funny thing is, I'm sure Dynasmon feels the same way,"_ spoke Renamon's voice from the darkness surrounding Rika's data sphere, as they set down on the park's path and placed Guilmon on the ground carefully.

_"What do you mean, Renamon?"_ Asked Rika as she glanced around them to make sure that there were no pedestrians who were liable to get caught in the crossfire that was sure to follow. Her senses were already telling her that Dynasmon was on his way and in all likelihood he was going to come in firing.

_"It's what I was trying to say earlier before we were interrupted. Dynasmon hasn't unleashed his most powerful attack yet. You and I both know that he's capable of ending this fight quickly, yet he hasn't. Can you guess as to why this is?"_

Sakuyamon turned look down at Guilmon.

_"But…I thought that he wanted to destroy Guilmon for…what was it he said before? For being an X? Whatever that means…"_

_"From what I remember Dynasmon said that he needs Guilmon for something. Clearly his priorities have changed, albeit most likely slightly as the possibility still exists that he'll try to destroy Guilmon after he has gotten what he's wanted. Whatever it is that he needs, it must be sufficiently important enough if Dynasmon is not risking using his most powerful attack to defeat us when Guilmon is around…"_

_"Which means that like it or not we can't risk Guilmon going off to a safer location because the second he does Dynasmon whips out the big guns, lays waste to the area and us,"_ Rika gritted her teeth in frustration, _"And he still gets Guilmon anyway. Just great."_

_"But at least this way, we buy time for the others to get here."_

_"Still doesn't mean that I have to like using Guilmon like this. Well, he wanted to help then that's just what he's going to do. I just hope that he doesn't do anything stupid until the others get here."_

The sound of wings flapping alerted Sakuyamon to Dynasmon's approach.

"Guilmon," said Sakuyamon. "I need you to stay close by, but try to keep out of the way and _out_ of trouble. You're no match for Dynasmon in your current form, and if you get mixed up in this you're only going to end up getting punched around."

Guilmon looked at Sakuyamon with his head tilted to one side before nodding reluctantly.

"Um…why do you want me to stay close? I can go get the others and be right back in no time…"

"Because as long as you're around this guy is holding back because if he goes all out he runs the risk of hurting you and for some reason he doesn't want to do that. Look! Just stay close, okay? And let me reiterate that you stay out of the way."

Guilmon frowned but again nodded slowly.

"Okay…I just have one question."

"And that is?"

"How close do you want me to be?"

"Preferably wherever you have a good chance of not being hurt," said Sakuyamon in Renamon's voice with a touch of impatience as Dynasmon suddenly came into view above them and touched down on the ground.

"Not quite the merry chase that I was expecting," said Dynasmon in mock disappointment. Sakuyamon merely growled at the knight while Guilmon took a couple steps away from his shaman friend, unsure as to how far away qualified as being 'safe' in the fight that he was sure would come. Dynasmon took a step forwards and in response Sakuyamon spun her vajra staff around and then slashed it outwards as her body took on a golden aura.

_"Spirit Strike!"_

Four foxes of fire, water, wind, and lightning flew through the air, impacting with Dynasmon's armor with a shower of sparks. Dynasmon merely grunted from the blow but otherwise brushed the four foxes aside almost contemptuously. Raising his arms the jewels imbedded in his palms glowed and fired twin energy beams at the shaman priestess, who deftly dodged the attack and swung a bronze vajra staff in a wide arch, sending out a surge of violet energy at the white armored knight, crashing into his body and enwrapping around him, transforming into an ever tightening ring. His eyes widening in surprise Dynasmon struggled with the rings, only to be caught off guard as Sakuyamon rushed in and smashed one gloved fist into Dynasmon's right eye, sending him staggering backwards. Not wasting a single moment Sakuyamon smashed her boot into the back of Dynasmon's leg, upsetting his already tenuous balance. Gravity quickly laid claim over the Royal Knight and brought him crashing to the ground.

Roaring with unrestrained fury Dynasmon strained against the imprisoning ring and shattered it. Quickly regaining his feet Dynasmon fixed Sakuyamon with a gaze that burned with a blazing fire, but a strange mirth danced within those flames. Sakuyamon returned the gaze with equal intensity, only lacking in the humor that her opponent seemed to find in the situation.

"Not bad," said Dynasmon, his calm voice belying what Sakuyamon was seeing in his eyes.

"I thought you were here to fight, not give appraisals," grated the shaman priestess.

"Battle deserves its own _appraisals,_ " responded Dynasmon simply. "But you are quite right of course. I came here to gather information and eliminate any X-digimon who happen to reside in this world…"

"And just _what_ is it that makes you think that Guilmon has anything to do with what these _X-digimon_ are? That doesn't make any sense!"

"He has the code in him," said Dynasmon coolly as his eyes narrowed. "All digimon that bear the X-Antibody within them have gone against Lord Yggdrasil's will. They are not amongst those that were chosen to live in the new world that is coming. They are a stain upon it…an antithesis to the world that my lord created anew…"

"Okay. Someone's going to have to rewind and start back at the beginning or something because I have no idea what it is that you're talking about. I don't get anything about what it is you're prattling on about. All I know is Guilmon came out this way just a few days ago…"

"That is not my concern shaman," said Dynasmon as he raised an arm and pointed it at Sakuyamon, the red jewel in the center of his palm beginning to glow. "And it certainly shouldn't be yours at this moment. _Dragon Thrower!"_

_"Oh for goodness sake,"_ growled Rika from within her azure data sphere. _"Crystal Sphere!"_

Crimson energy tore at the sphere of energy that Sakuyamon had hastily thrown up against Dynasmon's attack, dissipating the energy before radiating outwards and smashing into Dynasmon while simultaneously engulfing Guilmon within its protective embrace. The Royal Knight slammed his armored fists into the sphere, but try as he might he quickly lost ground to the expanding barrier.

"Now let's get one thing straight between us," said Sakuyamon as the knight fought against the barrier, her tone carrying with it the weight of boulders. "Guilmon has never been a threat to you. I doubt that he even knew that you existed until now and I _certainly_ know that whoever or whatever this _Yggdrasil_ boss of yours is, Guilmon has no interest in him either. I don't understand why you're so interested in him though. You say things like _X-Antibody_ as if I'm supposed to understand what that means and you don't even say a single thing about what it is and why you think it's so important. All I see is you trying to destroy a friend of mine because of some orders given to you by what sounds like the kind of digimon that I've spent a _year_ walking over, and I _will not_ stand for it! Do you hear me?! I… _won't!"_

Giving a fearsome battle cry Sakuyamon's body burst with a golden aura that reached out and connected with the barrier. Blue and gold flames flared to life upon the shield and Dynasmon cried out in pain as the heat seared his hands through his gauntlets. Flapping his wings Dynasmon pulled away from the enraged shaman's shield and rose into the air.

_Such passion,_ thought Dynasmon as he quickly inspected his hands and winced to find the metal had taken on a dull, blackened color around the jewels. _Her spirit is…quite strong. Stronger then I had anticipated. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised seeing as how she maimed me in our first encounter despite having been beaten down so badly, but still…I don't believe that I had expected it to be_ this _strong. I wonder what it is that's giving her such strength._

_Bah! I have no time to waste on such frivolous thoughts. I must dispose of this shaman as quickly as possible and deal with the X-Digimon that she's protecting. The sooner that this ends the faster that I'll be able to help my master put an end to the X interest in this world and the threat that they pose to my masters new order._

_"DNA Disintegrator!"_ Shouted Dynasmon as he threw up his gauntlets again, the jewels glowing and firing two, twisting, helix shaped energy blasts colored red and blue. The blasts slammed into the shield with tremendous force, greater then the _Dragon Thrower_ attack that he had been using prior. Sakuyamon in response simply dug in stubbornly and the fire surrounding the barrier intensified.

_Takato…Guilmon…I promised Jeri that I'd keep an eye on them…that I'd keep them_ safe _and as long as Renamon and I are breathing we will not break that promise! Not now…not_ ever!

Sakuyamon slashed her staff through the air once more as the golden aura that surrounded her body grew even brighter, matching the intensity of the shield that surrounded her and Guilmon.

" _White burns blue as the fire grows,  
forging chains unbreakable._

_The spirit soars."_

The fire that blazed brightly upon Sakuyamon's shield began to warp and alter, taking upon the appearance that it was _melting_ off the barrier before rising up into the air receding upon itself and becoming thinner, more elongated. Streams of fire burst outwards, transforming into nine, burning, fox-like tails and four legs. The flames became more streamlined, resembling a fox's body. A head formed and looked up at Dynasmon, matching Sakuyamon's own motion.

Dynasmon gazed back, clearly surprised by this sudden and unexpected development. Uncertainty made its way into the Royal Knight's heart for the first time since this fight began.

The sound of the rings on Sakuyamon's staff jingling echoed upon the air, and to Dynasmon it sounded as loud as cannon fire.

_"Spirit Strike,"_ Sakuyamon intoned in a low voice and the burning, nine tailed fox coiled itself and launched towards Dynasmon. No longer taking any precautions about his mission upon seeing this Dynasmon reared backwards as a blue aura rapidly collected around his body.

_"Breath of Wyvern!"_

The explosion that followed rocked the park.

* * *

"Ho-ly…cow."

Kazu was stunned. Awed even. There was no getting around that. No other way to describe it really and the two boys who sat to his immediate left and right (on Guardromon's shoulders respectively) certainly shared those emotions and his sentiments. And why shouldn't they? They had just now seen a giant flaming dragon collide with a fiery, nine-tailed kitsune and set off a tremendous explosion that came within inches of knocking the three Tamers off of Guardromon as they flew towards the source, guided by Takato's digivice as they were initially following Guilmon's signal.

"GUILMON! SAKUYAMON!" Shouted Takato loudly as he reflexively pushed himself upwards and, much to his immediate shock an instant later, off of Guardromon's shoulder, causing Kazu and Kenta to panic and nearly jump after him in response if not for the timely catch provided by the robot that was currently serving as their mode of transportation.

"Jeez Chumley!" Exclaimed Kazu. "What are you trying to do? Kill yourself or give us a heart attack? You were just seconds and feet away from becoming street pizza on us!"

"S-Sorry guys," choked out Takato as he raised his digivice and looked at the holographic projection that he was getting via Guilmon's visual perspective before breathing a sigh of relief. "Guilmon's still okay…and so is Sakuyamon…uh…I think."

"You think?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to tell. There's a lot of smoke around where Guilmon is so I can't really tell. I think that she's still standing though so that's a good sign."

Kazu nodded, looking somewhat relieved but still quite worried as wind blew around him from Guardromon's velocity.

"Man…that was some attack that Rika and Renamon whipped up. I certainly wasn't expecting her to pull something like that out of her hat."

"How'd she do that anyway?" Asked Kenta. "I thought digimon had a fixed set of attacks."

"Duh! She's a shaman, Kenta! Remember Wizardmon from the TV show? Or even Myotismon? Okay, he wasn't a wizard but he definitely used magic. Digimon like that must be able to alter or shape their techniques, though I imagine that it would take quite a bit of experience to pull off, and Rika's got a _lot_ of experience with her Mega form. I think I remember her talking to Henry about it once, back when she started getting into haiku. Something about how she noticed her powers changing and getting amplified whenever she used them in battle. Anyway…Guardromon! Would you hurry it up already? Get a move on! You're moving slower then my grandmother!"

"Your grandmother isn't carrying three Tamers at a high distance above the city," Guardromon reminded. Kazu _hmmphed_ and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ahhh…put the pedal to the metal, we'll be fine! We've got MarineAngemon here after all to catch us if things get rowdy. Besides! We've got to hurry! Who knows what kind of trouble Rika, Renamon, and Guilmon are in right now while we're flying at the speed of slow!"

"Somehow Kazu," began Takato from within Guardromon's grasp, "I don't think that his engines are going to run any faster on your nagging him."

"Thank you Sir Takato," said Guardromon. "But I shall do my utmost to get us to the battle as quickly as I can. Hold onto your hats!"

Kenta looked over at his partner worriedly.

"I think you'd better form a shield around us buddy…"

"Pih?"

Before Kenta could even reply to MarineAngemon's question the boy jerked as Guardromon's engines took on a new burst of speed.

* * *

Oni's body shattered the door behind him as a crimson fireball slammed into his body with the force of a sledgehammer. Shouting in pain and surprise, Oni's body regained his feet as he stood up and crouched downwards as ahead of him, the black colored reptile with the red colored Hazard symbol, wearing the tattered remains of a hospital gown stood up on the scanning bed, tearing off wires from its body and growling, the pupils in its gold colored eyes narrowed to slits.

_Oh this is not good,_ thought Oni. _One of the personalities…one of the digimon inhabiting that body is awake and appears to have successfully assimilated the data of the child that resides within him. I can still see it in this creature's data patterns but…I don't know. I'm not in the least bit certain how I can approach this, especially now that it's active and ready to fight. No doubt this disturbance has set off all sorts of alarms…_

As if on cue, alarms immediately began blaring throughout Hypnos, causing Oni to curse under his breath. The creature jumped down from the scanning table and began to approach Oni, raising its claws as it did so. Oni _hmmphed_.

_Still, it's just a Rookie. Nowhere even close to the league that DinoRexmon was in when he and I fought. Easy prey. It won't take much to take this thing down and…_

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE BUSTER!" Shouted a voice from down the hall. Flapping his hand like wings in surprise Oni leapt away from the door, ensuring that the dark reptile would not attack him while he turned to face the intruder. Oni's eyes widened as he came face to face with a dark haired boy with what appeared to be a heavily tanned complexion, gray colored eyes, and an orange vest over a black t-shirt. Sitting on his shoulder was a long eared, white and green furred digimon.

_A Tamer…Henry and Terriermon. Wonderful…_

_"Pyro Grenade!"_ Shouted the dark reptile from within the scanning room and a red fireball tore through the wall, causing Oni to leap back in surprise and Henry and Terriermon to look on in shock at the voice.

"Wha…? Terriermon! Is that…?"

A black scaled, reptilian figure that Oni had of late been becoming too often acquainted with leapt out of the recently made hole in the wall and looked around him, flexing its claws and growling.

"…BlackGuilmon!" Terriermon finished. " _Here?!_ This…Henry! What was it that we were talking about earlier?"

Henry just stared wide eyed in amazement and shock, as if he were trying to convince himself of the reality of the situation that he was seeing.

_Between a rock and a hard place,_ thought Oni in dry amusement. _Just…wonderful. I can't allow this to get out of hand. I have to capture that BlackGuilmon and get out of here…NOW!_

Black electricity began to sparkle around Oni's hand, transforming into a sphere and he hurled it at the Tamer and his partner. The two snapped out of their daze the instant that they saw the attack coming towards them and threw themselves to the side, narrowly avoiding getting struck by the attack. At the same time Oni surged forward, taking advantage of BlackGuilmon's curious focus on the pair and slammed into him, wrestling the reptile to the ground and…

Oni blinked.

_Wha…? Its eyes! They've changed colo…!"_

_"Rock Crusher!"_

Purple flames surrounded BlackGuilmon's right claw and it smashed it into Oni's face, gouging three slash marks into him and causing him to scream in pain and immediately tear himself away from the obsidian reptile. With fury filled eyes that flickered back and forth between gold and red irises BlackGuilmon launched himself at Oni, who deftly raised a shield of dark energy to protect himself from further attacks while white data spilled forth from his ravaged face. Hissing in pain and anger Oni, clutching at his injuries heard the sound of running feet pounding down the hallway…no doubt Hypnos security on its way to check out the crisis…

"DIGI-MODIFY! DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

_Oh yeah…and there's still the Tamer to worry about…_

"TERRIERMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…GARGOMON!"

Bursting free from an emerald colored data sphere a large, long eared, green furred digimon wearing denim jeans, an ammunition belt, and a pair of Gatling guns in place of his hands landed on the debris ridden floor, his dark eyes set in a fierce expression as he took aim at both BlackGuilmon and Oni. Despite the determined stance that he took Oni could tell that he was uncertain as to what course of action to take. And he was sure as to the reasons why.

_They know…or at least they suspect that the child resides within that creature. If it was just me they wouldn't have any compunctions about fighting but with BlackGuilmon here, an unknown x factor in the equation they dare not go all out…especially in this building of all places. One of those little qualities about humans that I admire so much…unwilling to possibly harm an innocent even though to do otherwise would risk so much else. You don't often see that kind of restraint in the digital world._

Guards began to appear at either end of the hallway now, guns drawn and ready to fire. Oni's eyes narrowed at the position that he found himself in.

_I can't continue this without someone getting hurt…and I can't just leave BlackGuilmon free to roam about. Grrr…things have just become a whole lot more…complicated. If I can just get that creature out of the building…_

BlackGuilmon looked back and forth between the two ends of the hallway, eyes continuing to flash back and forth between red and gold before finally settling on gold. As if the change was a signal BlackGuilmon bent down and immediately began tearing through the floor with his claws. Seeing this Gargomon rushed forward, the mechanical hand like appendages at the tips of his guns snapping open as he decided to go for a less dangerous approach and try to stop the digimon from getting away.

"Oh no you don't!"

"Oh no _you_ don't!"

"Wha…?"

Black lightning suddenly slammed into Gargomon, striking him dead center in the solar plexus and hurling him backwards. The one second of distraction was all that BlackGuilmon needed as the floor beneath him finally caved and he went crashing down into the offices below, eliciting a large number of surprised screams from the people below. Smirking Oni's eyes met those of Henry Wong's.

"Catch her if you can," said Oni as he faded from sight like a specter on the wind.

* * *

BlackGuilmon tore through the lab, unmindful of the scientists and technicians who scrambled to get out of his way. Rapidly approaching the nearest door BlackGuilmon sniffed the air and broke it down with one giant leap, revealing yet another hallway. Ignoring the flutter of papers that exploded into the air thanks to yet another startled employee BlackGuilmon sniffed the air once more and raced down the hall. A group of windows at the end of the hallway came into view. His eyes narrowing to slits once more BlackGuilmon opened his mouth and a crimson light glowed at the back of his throat.

_"Pyro Grenade!"_

Glass shattered and a gust of wind blew around BlackGuilmon's body as he raced towards the opening. Freedom was just a few feet away…freedom and… _home._

At the last second BlackGuilmon pushed down on his heels…and he jumped.


	58. 57/ Merging: Part 4

_Numbers floated aimlessly in the warped area of space that lay between the real world and the shadow world that composed the human communication network known as the Internet. Peace and tranquility lay in the air as electricity popped, sparked, and clicked in this space between the worlds…_

_A peace and tranquility that, like all things that exist be it in the real or digital world, was destined to end._

_Space warped and tore as a shrieking sound ripped through the air. Were any living entities around they would have gotten the impression that existence itself was about to fold its cards and call it quits, and with the shards of data that were even now sent flying in every direction they would have found this as more evidence to their theory and they would have deemed it smart to vacate the premises as swiftly as possible. However, as it was now becoming quite clear, there was nowhere that one could go that was safe. Data tore and was shredded in all directions, stretching for miles around and continued to do so as a fine blue mist began to rise, filling in the empty spaces that were suddenly forming. The warp began to grow increasingly chaotic as blue tentacles began to emerge from the mist and suddenly rush towards the blue sphere that hung in the sky above them. Onwards and onwards the tentacles surged, with more and more of them appearing each and every second until at last they made contact with the blue sphere that was their target. Blue lightning flashed across the sphere as the mists began to settle over and envelop it._

_On the other side of the dimensional barrier, the computers of Hypnos, and indeed those of the whole city of Shinjuku, were not happy…_

* * *

It was going from bad to worse.

There was simply no other way to describe it, unless that is one took into account the 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' analogy, however at this point in time no one anywhere in Hypnos was thinking that. Actually, their thoughts worked more around trying to save what they could before their computers crashed and when it looked like they would be unable to their thoughts were joined by that most colorful of languages known as cursing. And they would be well within their rights to do so considering the year's worth of information that was threatened with deletion.

Yamaki gritted his teeth as his hands became as a blur upon his control council, mimicking the furious pace that his operators Riley and Tally made as they, like just about everyone else in Hypnos scrambled to maintain their systems while everything around them seemed to crumble. Alarms blared throughout the building as technicians and security agents raced through the hallways, each of them heading towards their own set of disasters, one being technological and the other being _born_ from that very same technology and was, that is if Yamaki had understood the increasing number of reports that he had been receiving prior to the Hypnos network coming into danger of collapsing entirely.

Life was full of ironies it seemed.

_Wild digimon biomerging all week, getting progressively stronger each time; Argus being taken out of my hands and then running out of the hands and control of the person that they were placed in; the Hazard storm damaging Hypnos and it's turning out to be connected to a twelve year old child who had only just recently returned from the digital world; a digimon attack is_

_going on_ inside _of Hypnos; and now…_ now _it looks as though a massive amount of data is about to enter the real world all at once! Not even D-Reaper was able to successfully merge into the real world like this…not this suddenly and not all at once. If we don't find a way to stop it and_ soon _we could be facing city-wide damage!_

Yamaki glowered beneath his sunglasses. For the first time since his years at the university he was reminded of all the classical stories about the Christian Hell, where situations and incidents simply became progressively worse beyond all hope of coping or adapting to them until all sanity fled the mind and all that was left was an ever-spiraling madness. Yamaki could easily understand that aspect. He had, after all, had something of personal experience with madness back during the Deva attacks. Everything had been turning against him then too with the programs that he had deemed perfect and flawless in their idealized ability to protect the real world from the digital world being used by his very _enemies._ The final irony came from the out-of-control D-Reaper program, using the weakness between the worlds that he had inadvertently created to bio-emerge. That perhaps, was the best example only he hadn't nearly lost his mind then as he had come within inches of doing before D-Reaper's arrival.

_It had been ad then but at least we had the chance to fall back and regroup. With the rate that this thing is coming…whatever it is, we're not going to get that chance. It's coming and it doesn't look like there's anything that we can do to stop it. Blast! This is all happening too soon! We're still at too low a point after that storm from yesterday! There's just no way that we can handle this! The Tamers…_

Yamaki was interrupted from his thoughts as the floor suddenly shook beneath him. Startled, the blonde haired head of Hypnos gripped his control panel in an effort to keep himself from falling before looking over at his two operators.

"Report!"

"We're picking up massive, disturbances coming from underneath the city. Data spikes are increasing exponentially with each disturbance!"

"Primary tracer activated," said Tally. "Locating point of origin…" Tally frowned. "I don't…sir! The tracer…it's been _absorbed!_ I can't get a fix on the target anymore!"

"Transfer the last recorded data! I need to see what it is that we're going to be up against!"

"Transferring data now sir!"

On Yamaki's view screen a picture lit up, showing a bright red, pulsating symbol that caused the government agent to frown darkly at it. The digital image that Yamaki was looking at resembled what looked to be a cylinder with two domes situated on opposite ends, though not quite at the tips of the cylinder, giving Yamaki the impression that he was looking at a reactor core. Dull red and deep black diamond shaped symbols blinked on and off around the central symbol like a star. There was something strangely familiar about it…

_The zone!_ Yamaki's mind blazed in realization as a memory flared to life in his mind. _Now I remember! This is the same digital anomaly that appeared a year ago in the tunnels! But…I thought that it had been deleted when I activated Yuggoth!_

Yamaki glanced up at the primary tracking screens.

"Riley! Is the Yuggoth program active?"

"Negative sir. It had been taken offline due to some difficulties with its safety protocols…"

"Reactivate it!"

"But sir! The safeguards…!"

"Reactivate Yuggoth _now_! We've got to stop this thing before it bio-emerges! Apply!"

"Yes sir!"

Riley's hands sped across her control panel as she brought up the Yuggoth application. Although she was reluctant to activate Yuggoth, or even consider it, especially since it was now so close to breaching that Yuggoth's affects would be felt even in the real world, she knew full well that whatever damage Yuggoth could cause it would pale in comparison to the kind of damage that a bio-emerging digimon or mutated program would wreck if it had so much as a chance of realizing. Minutes began to count down to seconds as her fingers played their technological dance upon her control panel, accessing the Hypnos network, relaying commands back and forth. God the system was being so slow today! Riley's tension increased in time with the data spikes that were threatening to spill over into the real world. It was almost here now. Any second it was going to realize, and that second was going to spell the difference between success and failure.

_That Hazard storm really messed things up yesterday that's for sure,_ thought Riley distractedly.

"Yuggoth is now activated," announced Riley triumphantly. "Tracking digital anomaly…!"

"It's breaching!" Tally shouted suddenly. "The anomaly's breaching! I can't stop it…!"

Riley's eyes widened beneath her visor as she looked down at her readings. Yuggoth was now flying towards the digital anomaly. A pixilated field extended itself from the anomaly at the precise moment that Yuggoth came into range.

_Contact._

The floor beneath them suddenly lurched violently as tremors rocked the entire city.

* * *

_"Fist of Athena!"_

Beelzemon ducked underneath Crusadermon's oncoming shield garbed fist and slammed his left shoulder into the female knight's stomach. Although the maneuver didn't accomplish much so far as dealing damage went, it did catch her off guard just enough for the Demon Lord to push forward and grab her by the ankle. Spinning about as though he were a dancer, Beelzemon repositioned his body so that Crusadermon was placed at the farthest point away from him and using his grip on her ankle as leverage, promptly felled a tree using the knight's face. Screaming in pure rage this time Crusadermon dug her fingers into the tree's shattered stump and broke free of his grasp before pushing outwards and driving the previously captured appendage straight into Beelzemon's stomach. Spinning her body rapidly, all the while not losing contact with Beelzemon's stomach Crusadermon promptly smashed her other foot into Beelzemon's face, eliciting a cry from the winged warrior's lips. Not losing her rhythm Crusadermon spun again, this time landing a powerful blow on the back of Beelzemon's skull and sending him tumbling towards the ground. Beelzemon attempted to role with the blow but it seemed that Crusadermon wasn't finished with him yet as she once more spun in the air and brought a high, arching kick down on the base of his back.

_Ouch,_ was all Beelzemon had time to think as he tasted dirt. With a groan Beelzemon fought to get back to his feet, a move that was aided by Crusadermon's reorienting herself, but even with that delay Beelzemon barely had time to recover because as soon as he was on his feet one of the ribbons on Crusadermon's armor became rigid. Taking it into her hand like a sword the female knight rushed towards him, stabbing and slashing. Snarling, Beelzemon stepped into the attack this time and lashed out with his claws. Violet energy clashed with the razor sharp yellow ribbon and Crusadermon flipped over the Demon Lord. As she landed Beelzemon spun and kicked at her but once again she proved to fast for him. Leaping up into the air Crusadermon cracked another kick across Beelzemon's face and then slashed downwards with her ribbon weapon. Leather tore and data flew through the air as the ribbons razor edge bit into the vulnerable flesh beneath.

Crying out in pain Beelzemon staggered backwards, one hand going to his chest to stop the flow of digital blood while the other balled up into a fist. Rage burned in his mind as his three, azure eyes came to rest on Crusadermon who was standing in front of him, her body language indicating smugness and deep satisfaction over their battle. An image of Guilmon, helpless against Crusadermon's partner _Dynasmon_ flashed in his minds eye and an orange aura flickered into existence around his fist.

_This is nuts!_ Beelzemon howled mentally. _I don't have time for this!_ Guilmon _doesn't have time for this! I should be helping him out and instead I'm here tangling with this crazy girl-mon! I've got to end this fight as quickly as I can! Who knows what that other guy's been doing to Pineapple Head since I've been occupied!_

Beelzemon growled angrily as Crusadermon surged towards him once again.

"Don't move," the woman chuckled as she suddenly vanished from his sight. Feeling a sense of déjà vu Beelzemon instinctively spun around, the aura that had been glowing around his fist transforming into fire as he did so. "It'll all be over soon."

_Yeah. One way or another, this is going to end soon. I can't afford to be tied down right now,_ Beelzemon thought as, just as he expected, Crusadermon rematerialized precisely in the direction that he had turned. Her shield-covered fist was raised high into the air. Time seemed to hang by a thread as the sun glinted off of the shield's surface just a second before it began to descend.

For once Beelzemon was faster then she was.

Orange flames licked around his fist as he shoved it into Crusadermon's armored face. His mouth moved and his world narrowed and shrunk until all that remained was the burning fist as it placed itself right at the edge of Crusadermon's face. Metal touched metal as words began to emerge from his lips, and though he could no longer hear himself speaking he knew just what precisely was being said, and at the same time, on some level that went far deeper then instinct, he knew that he wasn't the only one who was speaking them. A familiar feeling surged through his body…a feeling that he could almost describe as a _presence_ pushed forward, running along his arm and meeting at the junction where his fist connected with Crusadermon's helm.

_"Fist…of… THE BEAST KING!"_

With a powerful roar echoing from his lungs Beelzemon smashed his fist into Crusadermon, and a flaming, snarling, lion face slammed into the stunned and surprised Royal Knight, shoving her backwards and forcing her to impact the ground with tremendous force. Smoke and debris was kicked up into the air as the knight's body dug a trench through the ground. Beelzemon waited for the dust to settle, his hand reaching up over his shoulders towards the sword sheath by reflex before remembering that he had lost the weapon that was supposed to have been there sometime in the middle of the battle. Snorting Beelzemon quickly cast his eyes about, looking for the weapon before Crusadermon's coughing and sputtering brought his attention back to focus.

"Im…pressive…" Crusadermon gasped as she staggered to her feet. Her body armor, once brilliant and flawless was now torn, rent, and dulled with stains and the hammer blows that had been rained upon her body from the battle. "I must say…it's been a while since…I had a decent… challenge…"

"Is that _all_ you're looking for?" Spat Beelzemon angrily.

"It is what…defines my existence," replied Crusadermon, regaining something of her composure. "You're fellow Demon Lords had their lives marked by the same…desire; to be strong…to hold strength over others, and to use it. I desired such strength years ago, and one day I was approached by a vassal of Yggdrasil, and he made me an offer; strength for service. I sense that you were offered the same choice once. The touch of the Sovereign is strong about you…funny how I never noticed it during our last encounter. Regardless of where you gained your power, I would have thought that you would be of the same mind as I."

Beelzemon closed two of his three, blue colored eyes in recollection as he remembered that time in the digital world when he had served the phoenix digimon, Zhuqiaomon. He remembered the humiliation that he had felt when Indramon had pounded on him; the feeling of betrayal when Chatsuramon showed him the vision of his two Tamers who had seemingly forgotten about him in his absence; the blinding rage that he had felt when he fought the Tamers. He wanted so badly to erase his past then and ensure that no one would ever look down on him again that he took it out on the children and their partners. Now…now he had power, both from the Sovereign and his partners, but he was now forever haunted by Jeri's horrified scream as he drove his claws through Leomon's stomach.

Beelzemon's claws drew up into fists as he reopened his eyes.

"Once…a long time ago I would have agreed. But that times over. Done with. The digimon you're thinking of is dead."

"Oh? Since when do tigers change their stripes?"

Beelzemon _hmmphed_ and he raised his right arm instinctively _._

"I don't think anyone's beyond changing, for good or bad. All it takes is just one incident that either gets them to look at the world in a whole new way or to lose sight of what's important to them. I lost sight of it for a while, but I got it back. And I intend to never lose it again even if I have to die to do it!"

The sound of metal humming on the air reached both their ears and before either of them knew it Beelzemon snatched the long sword that he had been fighting with earlier out of the air as it flew towards him. Glancing at the weapon with a satisfied and contemplative look Beelzemon pointed it at Crusadermon as she dropped into a fighting stance.

"Now…I have a friend to rescue, and _this time_ you're not going to stop me."

Crusadermon chuckled.

"While your loyalty to your friend is admirable I must say that it's your weakness. Had you not been so concerned about him you might have been able to fight fully without being distracted. _I_ on the other hand do not share such sentiments. My fellow Royal Knights may be my allies…my _comrades in arms,_ yes, but they are nothing more then that. Should they be destroyed in battle I would avenge them… _after_ taking their data to do so."

Beelzemon grimaced.

"Disgusting."

"Power's power no matter what form it comes in. Serving Yggdrasil grants me that strength, and the right to wage battle as I see fit. Revenge offers me the same avenues. Why shouldn't I exploit the advantages that it gives me?"

Beelzemon no longer knew what to say in response to the Royal Knight. To hear such indifference from the knight…it was an affront that he felt was just too much for him to bear. Those words sounded like the very kind that he had been saying back when he had served Zhuqiaomon, and he hated hearing them no matter who they came from. A fire awoke within him and he found his feet moving of their own accord as he rushed towards the pink colored Royal Knight. Deep inside of him he felt as though a voice…a voice that held deep wisdom and had been with him for a while now…was trying to council him to pull back and listen to the better half of his own reasoning. Alas, the rage that now consumed him left the Demon Lord with no room to listen to that other side of himself. Leomon's sword swung high above him as orange flames began to burn around his body. Crusadermon fell back, apparently astonished, but he paid her reaction no mind. All he knew was the desire to run her through…

And then the ground beneath them exploded in a cloud of blue mists and a flurry of azure tentacles.

* * *

Sakuyamon panted heavily as she felt a bone-deep weariness settle over her after unleashing her last attack on Dynasmon. It had certainly been something else that much was for certain and extremely energy taxing to boot. Had she been a little less worn out and certain that the fight was over she would have wondered just how she had been able to create such a drastic change in one of her classic attacks but as things stood she was too exhausted to focus on it and simply accepted it for what it was. If it took out Dynasmon, all for the better then but she highly doubted that was the case. Dynasmon had so far proven to be highly resilient to her attacks even when injured, with the only real weak points being the area of his eyes (which he had taken greater precautions to protect after their last bout), so Sakuyamon, even with the amount of power that she had poured into her last attack, didn't hold out much hope that the Royal Knight had been vanguished.

Battles, she had learned from hard experience, were hardly _ever_ that easy.

Soon enough she was proven right.

With a great gust of wind the smoke that obscured Dynasmon blew apart, revealing him for all the world to see. The knight's body remained relatively unscathed, though burnt and soiled from the backwash of fire from not only Sakuyamon's attack but his own as well. Not a good combination, but regardless he still looked more then able to fight while she herself was now starting to feel as though she were at the end of her rope.

_"Blast it,"_ gritted Rika from within her data sphere as she hefted her vajra staff. _"We hit that guy with nearly everything we had and he's_ still _standing! What exactly is it going to take to wipe the smirk off of his face?"_

_"I don't know Rika,"_ answered Renamon from the darkness, _"But perhaps this would be a good time for Guilmon to withdraw and try to find help. We may not be able to hold Dynasmon off for much longer in our weakened condition."_

_"I'll have to agree with you on that one,"_ said Rika in resignation. _"We're just going to have to do what we can to make sure that this guy doesn't follow Dino-boy. Are you up for it Renamon?"_

_"Do you even need to ask?"_ Asked the Kitsune, and though they were joined as one being Rika felt certain that had she been able to see the vixen she would have noted her blue eyes sparkling with determination and even humor at her partner's question. Rika almost felt like chuckling. If there was person in the universe that had more determination then she did, Rika would have laid odds on it being Renamon.

_"All right then. Let's get this over with."_

"You fought well my dear," said Dynasmon as he floated down to the ground, his arms held before him as the jewels on his palms began to glow. "But now this battle ends."

"I beg to differ," shot Sakuyamon as she crouched down and again raised her staff. "I said it before and I'll say it again. As long as I'm still standing you're not going to touch Guilmon _ever_ again."

Dynasmon's eyes narrowed.

"Really? We'll see about that. _Dragon Thrower!"_

Twin beams of scarlet light flashed from Dynasmon's hands and rocketed towards Sakuyamon. Quickly gathering her remaining strength Sakuyamon slashed her staff through the air and deflected the beams. Dynasmon, strangely enough, almost looked _pleased_ by her performance.

"Guilmon…get out of here."

"Huh? But…"

"I said _get_ _out of here!_ I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to hold him off so you have to get as far away from this creep in case I…"

Sakuyamon hesitated, and for a second Guilmon wondered if she didn't want to finish her sentence because of what it would mean; admitting the possibility of _defeat._ Though his memory was at present, undependable and hazy at best (though it certainly was coming back, bit by bit, ever since he had gotten to Shinjuku), what he _did_ remember at this moment was a feeling of familiarity that told him that this woman, or the two halves that composed the shaman digimon known as Sakuyamon, had a high degree of pride in her abilities, her strength, and her independence. Admitting weakness or limitations of any kind was not something that she was prone to do and happened very, very rarely. However, when Guilmon looked at her he noted that her attention seemed to be diverted elsewhere. Following her line of sight the crimson reptile's golden eyes widened in surprise and he realized that her reasons for hesitation were of a completely different order, and had he not been so caught up in the same sight Guilmon would have wondered whether or not she would have repeated the same action with or without the new occurrence.

But as stated, the attention that Guilmon would have had to pay to that particular detail would be necessary for the thought to form. As this was lacking, his thoughts shifted to the present.

_Takatomon?_

"LOOK OUT BELOW!"

CRASH!

Before Dynasmon could even react, the Royal Knight suddenly found himself crushed beneath the extreme weight of the rust colored robot known as Guardromon as he cut off his engines and let gravity take its course. With speed born from a thoughtful slash of a Modify card courtesy of his partner Kazu Shioda, Guardromon immediately jumped off of the fallen form of Dynasmon and spun around with a quick fire from his engines. Twin missiles popped up from housings built within his forearms and with a shout of _Guardian Barrage_ followed by the shrill blow on the whistles held within their rather comical mouths the two explosive weapons flew out of their moorings and slammed into Dynasmon just as he was getting back to his feet, detonating with ferocious force.

"Oh yeah!" Exclaimed Kazu proudly as he, Kenta, and Takato hopped off of Guardromon's head and shoulders. "Never saw it coming! Who's the man? I am! And who rocks better then Guardromon?"

"Nobody!" Exclaimed Guardromon as his engines roared back to life and he rocketed forward, massive fists raised as he prepared to do battle with the Royal Knight.

"That's right," smirked Kazu as he drew a blue card from his pocket. Sparks flew as the visor wearing Tamer swiftly slashed it through his D-Arc, causing a sphere of data to materialize around Guardromon in mid-flight.

M-A-T-R-I-X D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"GUARDROMON! MATRIX DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

In the span of milliseconds data peeled off of Guardromon's body, revealing layers of code moving beneath his armor. The code began to accelerate as energy surged within it, causing Guardromon's body to lengthen and grow, becoming thinner and favoring a more streamlined appearance over his earlier, bulky form. The rust red armor that had been the androids trademark was replaced by shining, silver steel over what looked like organic body parts. A skull-shaped mask materialized over his pale face, completing the transformation.

"…ANDROMON!"

Bursting from his sphere the newly re-christened Andromon continued onwards towards Dynasmon and brutally smashed the knight across the face with one, armored fist. Not letting up on the attack, and still assisted by the speed card that Kazu had slashed earlier Andromon continued to rain attacks on Dynasmon's armored head.

Sakuyamon looked at her fellow Tamers, somewhat dumbfounded by the way that they had chosen to make their entrance. Highly unorthodox to be sure, but then, it _was_ Kazu's digimon and it got results. Within her data sphere Rika felt that perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised over Guardromon landing on Dynasmon. After all, these three were somewhat renowned for not being at all graceful and mostly went about winging it and seeing how things turned out. Takato and Guilmon, for example, had broken through the roof of the subway tunnels and landed smack on top of the snake Deva Sandiramon before crashing in front of her. And out of all the 'heroic entrances' that she had seen that one still took first place for 'last minute surprises'.

_Only this bunch,_ thought Rika with a small, good-natured smirk growing on her face as she looked the trio over before her gaze settled on Takato, who was also looking back at her with a concerned look on his face as he approached her.

"Sakuyamon! Guilmon! Are you two all ri…?"

"TAKATOMON!"

As though launched from a springboard Guilmon leapt into the air, crying gleefully before coming down hard on the goggle-wearing Tamer, knocking him down as well as knocking the air out of his lungs as he was crushed to the ground. So happy was Guilmon in seeing Takato that he immediately began slathering Takato's face with his long, reptilian tongue, all the while ignoring the boy's protests and exclamations.

"GUILMON! Hey! Come on! Cut it out! This _really_ isn't the time for this kind of thing! Guilmon…!"

Rolling her eyes beneath her fox mask Sakuyamon quickly strode over to the pair and pulled the dinosaur off of his partner and fixed him with a look that, though concealed, made it quite clear to Guilmon that his antics were ill-timed. Guilmon, sensing Sakuyamon's annoyance drooped his ears like a puppy about to be scolded.

"Guilmon…"

"Ohhh…but…I…Takatomon…help…"

Getting to his feet with a groan Takato couldn't help but resist a chuckle as he placed a hand on Guilmon's head and offered Rika a placating look.

"Hey, it's okay boy. I know that you're glad to see me and…" Takato paused and raised an eyebrow. "Hold on. _Takatomon?"_

"Long story short," began Sakuyamon in Renamon's voice, "Impmon and I have been helping Guilmon with his memories. But we'll have to talk about this sometime _after_ this battle is over. It looks like Dynasmon has finally recovered and is starting to give Andromon some trouble."

Turning, the three friends saw Dynasmon land a particularly brutal blow on Andromon's armored face, sending him reeling backwards before a kick to the stomach threw him into a nearby tree, smashing it at the base with a resounding crash.

"Hey you guys!" Shouted Kazu as he frantically searched his deck for a modify card that would help Andromon in his hour of need. "You growing roots or something? Come on! As much as I think Andromon can wipe the floor with this guy, a little help would be kind of cool right about now!"

"Right," said Takato with a firm nod as he brought out his D-Arc and a card from his pants pocket. "Kenta. Have MarineAngemon heal up Sakuyamon while Kazu and I keep Dynasmon busy…"

"Way ahead of you buddy," said Kenta pointing over towards Sakuyamon's direction. Following it Takato saw the little pink, pixie floating over Sakuyamon's shoulder with a smile on his face, getting ready to offer the shaman priestess his assistance.

"Be with you in a second," said Sakuyamon to Takato. Takato was just about to nod his affirmation when suddenly the ground lurched beneath their feet causing everyone to stumble as they attempted to keep to their feet. Giving a shout of surprise Takato fell backwards as his balance abandoned him completely and into Sakuyamon's awaiting arms as they shot out to catch him. As the earth quieted Takato looked up at Sakuyamon's face.

"Um…" Takato felt his face warm up slightly as Sakuyamon looked down at him. "…Thanks."

A mild look of irritation crossed the shaman's features as she took note of of Takato's apparent discomfort with the situation and was just about to right his balance when the sound of MarineAngemon pronouncing _Kahuna Waves_ caught their attention. As they looked on a series of blue and pink hearts complete with a strange, melodic music floated between the two of them and began to heal Sakuyamon's battered form. Takato's eyes went bug wide as his face took on a whole new degree of red. At the same time a light blush began to form on Sakuyamon's face against her will and she glowered beneath her facemask.

_"This…is starting to become ridiculous,"_ Rika grumbled from within her data sphere as she felt waves of intense heat flow through her body.

"Ah…uh…" Takato stammered, not in the least bit sure how he was supposed to handle this before finally deciding that the best course of action was to focus on the more immediate matter at hand, that being Dynasmon and whatever it was that had caused the earthquake. Quickly pulling out of Sakuyamon's grasp, Takato was quite thankful that none of the others had noticed what had just happened between them, or if they did didn't think too much of it. Bringing his attention back to the field Takato quickly surveyed the field, taking note that Kazu, Kenta, and Andromon were getting back to their feet while Dynasmon was simply staring off in a seemingly random direction, his eyes narrowed dangerously in a way that Takato had come to associate with any digimon that detected a breach between the worlds. And of course, the fact that Guilmon was next to him growling and crouched low to the ground in a predatory fashion also helped him draw that conclusion. Once more following the direction of another Takato's eyes widened as they sighted a massive blue cloud beginning to form in the vicinity of the park.

And what was more…it was spreading at a rapid rate.

"What is _that?"_ Asked Takato to no one in particular.

"You mean besides a digital field, Takato?" Asked Sakuyamon with a dry, and forced sarcastic edge to her voice.

"I can see that, but it looks…different somehow. I don't know what it is but…" Takato narrowed his eyes as he looked closer. "…The color. It's… _blue._ "

Sakuyamon shifted her grip on her staff as she pursed her mouth in one thin line.

_"He's right,"_ said Renamon from the darkness surrounding Rika's data sphere. _"The color is different from what we've seen from digital fields."_

_"Do you think that might change anything?"_

_"I don't know, but I imagine that with the way that Dynasmon keeps glaring at it I would surmise that would be the case."_

As if to answer the group's musings a series of blue tentacles shot out from within the depths of the fog and began to coalesce together, becoming as a single entity of wires and cables. Seeing this Dynasmon's eyes shot wide open and with a fierce flap of his wings he burst into the air, completely ignoring his opponents to focus on the new target.

"CRUSADERMON!" The white armored Royal Knight's words resounded upon the air as he began to power up the gems on his palms. The Tamers all exchanged glances before, on some unspoken agreement, they shot off in pursuit.


	59. 58/ Merging: Part 5

America. Land of the free. Or at least that was what it said on the license plate of the car that brought him here. For Gorou 'Shibumi' Mizuno he really didn't think much of it. Being a tourist was not something that interested him at this moment, though he had certainly had his fair share of exploring the city that is New York during the past couple of weeks that he had been staying there. A strange place by all accounts that he had heard, though having lived in the city of Shinjuku during his formative years as a college student and some brief stints here and there he supposed that he no longer noticed the difference. Overall he preferred the countryside to the cramped compactness of a city, something that he had been noted by his friends and fellow Monster Makers as being contradictory to his interests in technology but that was just how he was. Technology was a useful tool and was always interesting to explore and develop, and he certainly believed that it should be developed to its utmost extent, but he was also of the opinion that humans were meant to live in open spaces like the country side and not mashed together elbow to elbow or on top of each other with large, towering buildings. Human evolution certainly seemed to indicate that humans were better suited towards the openness of a field or plain and besides, enclosed spaces involving a lot of people tended to breed disease.

Or maybe it was just him. After all, people like Janyu 'Tao' Wong never had any trouble living in an apartment building in a place like Shinjuku. He imagined that if it weren't for the crime that New York City was known for Janyu would be equally comfortable living here as he was back home.

_Given enough time I probably would get used to it myself. True, I have an apartment but every now and then I just feel the need to go somewhere that's open, and there aren't too many places in Shinjuku that are like that. Outside of its park that is._

Thinking of Shinjuku however reminded Shibumi of a problem that he had recently taken notice of and had been weighing heavily on his mind ever since. The lack of communication with Hypnos. Things had been quite silent between him and the Japanese government agency for quite a while now, longer then it should have been. On occasion when nothing was required from him, especially now that he was in charge of jumpstarting and developing the American version of Hypnos and giving information to the other industrialized nations of the world that Japan 'trusted' with such data and technology, Hypnos would remain silent and refrain from contacting him unless under the most dire of circumstances. And Shibumi had been quite frank with his friends, as well as Yamaki, that if there was anything that was needed from him they should contact him. While he had been intensely busy with his new project as well as one on the side and hadn't been too diligent in checking his E-Mail he had taken note of a couple instances where he felt that he should have been informed about what was going on at Hypnos. The first of which being the side project that he had been working on and had sent to Yamaki upon its completion, and the second involving various BBC reports on digimon attacks in Shinjuku. And then of course there was that strange, _Hazard Storm_ that had been recorded by U.S. satellites…

All in all, things were apparently becoming _very_ interesting in Shinjuku, which left him to wonder why he hadn't been recalled or anything. He could understand it if it involved just the battles. Some, if the news reports were correct, had gotten awfully close to the government building that housed Hypnos, so a few scrambled communication circuits and uplinks were bound to be expected. But to hear nothing from Yamaki or even _Tao_ about the side project that he had sent them, especially seeing as how he had sent it earlier that week, the day _after_ Takato had left for his trip to Okinawa in fact and certainly well before the digimon attacks began to kick into full swing. No questions were asked, no messages were sent in regards to the information that he had given them, which was something that Shibumi felt was an oddity. After all, the packet of information had to do with Guilmon, the very digimon that Yamaki had been focusing a large majority of his efforts on for the past few weeks (outside of the Argus project that is) and Shibumi couldn't really blame him. Takato and Guilmon had made quite an impact on the man, and for Shibumi they were quite important to the group known as Tamers to the rest of the world. Guilmon especially was rather important, not least of all because of his uniqueness in the digital world and the events that went into his creation, something that still sparked his interest to no end. Bringing Guilmon back to life had been his top priority following the news that they had all received about the crimson reptile's death at the hands of Lucemon and for days after he had gathered his data via a modification to Juggernauts core programming he had labored over a way to do that.

If anyone had asked, he probably would have admitted that he had bitten off more then he could chew at the time. Reviving a digimon was a lot harder then it seemed. Guilmon's digi-core had lost a lot of energy by the time he had been able to reconstitute it and it had been heavily scrambled. The unscrambling part was difficult to get around and he hadn't fully gotten around that by the time he had been able to get Guilmon's digi-egg to realize in the real world, but a modification to the data that prompted growth, healing, and regeneration of damaged data he felt would get around that given enough time and exposure to familiar elements. And then of course there was the digi-core itself. With that he at first thought that all he needed to do was recharge it with sufficient energy where its digital nature would be able to take over and Guilmon would be 'alive' again. No such luck. He had fed the egg's digi-core power on a daily basis but none of it stuck. It was almost as if some integral part of Guilmon's data was missing. Hope to solve Guilmon's dilemma before Takato left on his trip continued to dissipate as time wore down on him until…a miracle happened? Shibumi didn't doubt it given the perfect timing, and given his own experiences with the digital world he felt that he had no reason to doubt it, and for lack of a better term that was what he stuck with.

Whatever you would call it, the strange piece of data that Shibumi had found floating between the worlds while performing a scan of the digital world's uppermost layer just about solved all of his problems in one fell swoop. Something about the way that data interacted with other data, supercharging it and modifying it, increasing the bonds between information made the decision to incorporate it into Guilmon's data code all the easier to make and soon enough he had a realized digi-egg belonging to one Guilmon with a fully functional, but still repairing digi-core ready and waiting for Takato to take with him on his trip to Okinawa. Shibumi didn't know what that data was or what it was called, but he felt grateful that he had stumbled upon it and had been able to use it to help Takato.

There were of course, as with any good program a few glitches. Adapting it to Guilmon's matrix seemed to cause a few _hiccups_ in Guilmon's data that Shibumi didn't like though they were quite minor in appearance. Nothing major, as stated, but it appeared that the new program wasn't fully integrating as much of Guilmon's data as it should and suppressing some aspects of the dinosaur; either that or Guilmon's body was rejecting it causing Shibumi to wonder if it could be likened to a digital version of 'organ rejection'. As a result Shibumi's new labors, in addition to his newest assignment for the United Nations, was to correct the integration problem and reestablish working normalcy for Guilmon in his partnership with Takato. He had completed it in short order, it being extremely easy to accomplish in comparison to reconstructing Guilmon and reviving him, and this effort was facilitated by the familiarity that he now had with Guilmon's physical and code structure and as soon as he was done he sent it off to Yamaki with a tag on it explaining what it was for, hoped that it would help, and that if there were any questions or problems that they should contact him.

As stated…he had received no word from Hypnos all week since then.

During work he had asked any of those currently in contact with Hypnos if they had heard any word from them only to receive no satisfying answer. Outside of work he had looked into the matter but as yet couldn't find anything inherently wrong with his account. Everything was working as it should have been and he hadn't received any messages that told him that there was a glitch in the 'send message' system. Of course, you couldn't rely on technology to _always_ give you an accurate answer depending on how widespread any possible damage to a system was but still he was certain that after a week someone would have noticed and the problem, if there was one, would have been corrected. He didn't think that Yamaki would take this long to study the program that he had sent even with everything else that was being heaped up on his plate. The man always found time for some bit of work (Janyu and Riley had described Yamaki as being something of a workaholic) and never liked to stay still for very long, especially where the digital world was concerned. As Janyu liked to quote from the man following their earliest introduction to the Head of Hypnos 'every second that he wasted was a second closer to world chaos'. That seemed to sum up Yamaki's view of things quite well and Shibumi had come to expect this of him during the past year that he had worked for him.

So why the silence? Especially now that digimon trouble in Shinjuku was apparently getting worse and worse?

The question certainly begged. Fortunately, the enigmatic Shibumi had his own ways of getting information that he needed…as well as sending it.

They had, after all, helped him while his mind had been trapped in the digital world, and had served as his eyes and ears back home, and as package deliverers of sorts for when one was needed.

Typing busily away at his computer, Shibumi called up a satellite image of Shinjuku that displayed various readouts based on what was being reported in the news and some piggybacked detection programs from Hypnos. As Shibumi's eyes scanned the information that was now on his computer screen his eyes widened in surprise. As though sensing Shibumi's emotions two shadows appeared behind the man with lights flickering at their tops, awaiting the man's orders.

Reaching over to his back that lay next to him Shibumi pulled out an orange colored card.

"It's time," Shibumi said to the shadows behind him.

* * *

"All set Henry! Hop on! We're goin' after her!"

Snapping out of his thoughts and confusion of the past few minutes Henry looked up at Gargomon, and quickly pushed aside the memories and questions that he had concerning the strange, demonic entity that they had encountered, before nodding and rushing over to his partner. Placing his hands on his partner's shoulders, and with some help from Gargomon's hand like structures in the center of his gun barrels Henry climbed aboard his partner.

"Better let Yamaki know what's going on," said Henry after situating himself, looking over to the gathered guards. With a nod from their part in response Henry and Gargomon disappeared down the hole in the floor that BlackGuilmon had made. Landing on the ground below them the pair quickly surveyed the situation around them. Frightened and startled technicians and scientists looked every which way with wide eyes. More then a few cried out in surprise as Gargomon landed in front of them.

"Ten words or less!" Cried out Gargomon as he looked at the scientists while Henry climbed off of his shoulders. "Big, black dino came through here; where'd he go?"

Without a sound a number of fingers pointed in the direction of a shattered door.

_Wow. Zero words,_ thought Gargomon sarcastically. _That saves a whole lot of time._

"Thanks," replied Gargomon to the scientists silent response to his question and with that said both he and his Tamer swiftly ran towards the broken door and upon exiting it they looked both ways, their eyes falling on the form of a startled blonde haired woman, Amaya Abe as she stared down the hallway to their immediate right with eyes wide open, her body trembling quite visibly. Taking that as good a sign as any Gargomon and Henry rushed past her, eliciting yet another scream of surprise from the poor woman.

"Sorry!" Called Henry over his shoulder while Gargomon offered her his usual 'Momentai'. Their feet pounded upon the ground while Gargomon extended his senses to try and track their quarry.

"Anything?" Panted Henry in between breaths as the two barreled down the hallway in their bid to find the dark scaled digimon that they had believed dead.

_"Pyro Grenade!"_

The sound of glass shattering caught their attention and in response they picked up their pace.

"Does _that_ answer your question?" Asked Gargomon as he pointed his guns ahead of them at a row of windows that was finally starting to enter their sight. "Look!"

Henry did indeed look, and he did not like what he saw suggested; a broken window that led outside and was also high above the ground. Gripping his green trimmed D-Arc tightly Henry quickly guessed as to what had happened and increased his pace. Easily picking up on the boy's thoughts Gargomon did likewise and rushed on ahead, jumping towards the window and knocking aside any remaining glass with his guns so as to allow for a clean path for Henry to follow. Casting one last look over his shoulder Gargomon leapt outwards into the air while Henry did likewise without so much as a second thought. Henry quickly grabbed hold of his partner's body as they fell towards the ground and the gun-totting dog-bunny flapped his long ears, catching the air currents and slowing them down so that they could reach the ground safely. Casting his eyes about Henry quickly caught sight of an all too familiar dark, reptilian figure speeding towards the ground at break-neck velocity. Before Henry could even say anything a sphere of dark energy materialized around BlackGuilmon as he prepared to digivolve.

The ground was coming up awfully fast for BlackGuilmon as gravity took hold over his form upon his rather hasty exit from the Hypnos building. While BlackGuilmon's knowledge of the effects of gravity was barely sufficient to cover the 'what goes up must come down' principle he did understand on an instinctive level that when one impacts the ground at a high enough altitude and velocity, the sure result that would occur would most likely be extreme pain and/or deletion, especially for a Rookie level digimon such as himself. However, for some reason this didn't concern him so much as it normally would have. Perhaps this had something to do with the all-to familiar power that he felt flowing through his digital veins. Oh yes, he was _quite_ familiar with this feeling, having experienced it a few times in the past prior to his _resurrection._ It felt a little bit different, perhaps due to the fact that he was merged with a different human this time around in addition to having another digimon active and alive inside of him, but it was still the same power nonetheless. And because of that he knew full well that he was going to survive. He knew that the force of gravity held no harm for him in this case. Not so long as he possessed this power…the power to return to where he belonged. The power to return to the Tamer that was _his_ from the very beginning. The Tamer who had created him. He could sense him. It wasn't all that hard. After all, they had shared a body and a link once. While the link was almost completely gone, shredded from his own death and subsequent merging with Lucemon and later Noriko enough of it remained where he could tell where the Tamer known as Takato Matsuki lay.

And until he met him and was able to fully rejoin with him, he would make due with what power and abilities he had on him at the moment. Reaching into his center of being and feeling the now all-to familiar data that belonged to the girl that resided within his body BlackGuilmon tapped it, _pulling_ on her code. He felt a rush of pain flood his body at the prompt for the power that he wanted and the code resisted him, but BlackGuilmon persisted. Snarling in anger the black dino pulled even harder. The pain intensified to even greater degrees and for an instant BlackGuilmon could have sworn that he heard a voice that was not his own crying out in agony within his mind. He ignored it though as his body faded and warped. He pushed even harder, riding through the pain until finally, like a well of molten fire, power in untold quantities burst through his body and flared across his vision. Snarling once more words involuntarily emerged from BlackGuilmon's mouth as his body was surrounded by a dark colored data sphere.

"BLACKGUILMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…BLACKGROWLMON!"

Bursting free from his data sphere BlackGrowlmon slammed onto the ground, grunting slightly as pain roared through his feet. Focusing his mind the shadowy dragon ignored the pain and pushed forward, intent on finding his former Tamer and reestablishing his bond with him, but before he could get more then a few yards BlackGrowlmon's gold eyes shifted to take on a crimson color, causing him to come to a halt and grab the sides of his head as a sharp pain tore through his skull.

_"Help…me…"_

"Shut… _up!"_ BlackGrowlmon hissed as his eyes returned to their normal, gold color. "This is _my_ body, not yours! I say what goes!"

_"Please…help me…"_

"STOP!"

BlackGrowlmon's head snapped up in surprise at the voice and he swiftly turned around, arm blades flicking outwards as he got into a battle stance. His golden eyes narrowed as they came to sight on two figures that appeared _very_ familiar to him; a dark haired boy wearing an orange vest and dark clothing climbing off of a long eared creature with gun barrels for hands, denim jeans, and green fur. Sniffing the air, BlackGrowlmon caught their scent and a second later a memory came to him that quickly placed a name to the face.

_Henry Wong…a Tamer…_

Before BlackGrowlmon could even react, his view of the world became strangely stunted, _dimmed_ somehow, and he felt as though he no longer had control over his body. Indeed, the fact that a scared, female voice was emerging from his mouth in place of his own, speaking Henry's name, indicated as much.

"H-Henry?" BlackGrowlmon whispered in a voice that was not his own as he retracted his arm blades back into their original positions at his elbows.

"Oh man," whispered Terriermon, his voice in awe at what he and Henry were hearing. "She's in there. She really is in there."

Ignoring his partner for the time being Henry took a step towards the mammoth dinosaur.

"Noriko. Is that you?"

"Ah! Y-Yeah. It's me…" BlackGrowlmon/Noriko glanced down at his/her body and her now crimson eyes widened in confusion. "…I…think…"

Fear flashed in BlackGrowlmon's eyes and she looked back over to Henry.

"Henry! Wha…what… _ **is…**_ this?! What's going on here?! I'm…I…this body! I…!"

BlackGrowlmon closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath, making a visible effort to keep herself from panicking completely. Sensing this Henry called out to the frightened girl that was trapped inside of the massive digimon, grateful to know that her consciousness still existed as it meant that despite whatever she was going through there was still some hope that she could be helped.

"Noriko! I don't know how, but from what we've seen so far it looks like you were merged with a digimon, the one that you look like now, at some point when you were trapped in the digital world. Hypnos was trying to help you when you broke free and…uh…digivolved!"

BlackGrowlmon/Noriko, refusing to open her eyes in what Henry took to be a vain hope that her appearance was all just some crazy dream, frowned.

"But…I don't…remember even being in the digital world," she said, though from the tone in her voice it was quite clear that if she had ever doubted the story that she had been told about her disappearance that doubt was rapidly cleaning house now as the evidence pressed down on her. Being in the form of a digimon had a way of driving certain realities home to a person after all. "I couldn't even tell you how this happened."

Henry's eyes softened as he took another step towards the girl turned digimon while Gargomon followed cautiously, keeping his Gatling guns trained on BlackGrowlmon in the event that she suddenly turned violent. Henry could tell though, without even having to look at him that the thought of firing knowing that Noriko was now trapped inside of BlackGrowlmon did not in the least bit appeal to him. Henry could easily sympathize.

"I know, but it's all going to be okay. All we have to do is get you to reverse digivolve and go back to your human form and then we'll take you back to Hypnos so that we can help you get back to normal."

BlackGrowlmon opened up his/her crimson eyes and looked at Henry as he continued to approach. The expression on his/her reptilian face still read intense confusion and even fear, but this was slowly being replaced by a look of trust and the digital hybrid gradually began to relax…

Only to tense back up a second later as gold irises overrode red. Rearing backwards, orange and red flames licked at the dragon's mouth before rocketing out. The blast went wide though as red once again, although for a brief instant, reasserted itself over the gold eyes. The ball of fire tore through the streets behind Henry and Gargomon while the latter shielded the former from debris as it rained around them. The obsidian dragon clutched hold of its head, lashing its tail about and roaring angrily as it fought for control over its body. With one mighty roar that echoed of two voices screaming as one, united in pain, black and blue flames materialized around BlackGrowlmon's body.

"NORIKO!" Shouted Henry as he tried to run forward only to be held back by Gargomon as he grabbed him with his mechanical hands.

BlackGrowlmon's roaring finally stopped as his golden gaze settled on Henry and all of a sudden time seemed to stop for the both of them. Blazing rage and anger peered back at the half-Chinese Tamer as the flames that surrounded the jet dragon died down a bit.

"This is _my_ body," hissed BlackGrowlmon as a blue flame licked its way up his back. "I will not lose it to some child that I loaded, nor will I lose it to that angel that guards her! I _will_ be whole again. I will have my Tamer again and nothing is going to stop me from that! Nothing!"

Henry and Gargomon's eyes widened in shock at the use of the word 'loaded'.

_No…it can't be,_ thought Henry, his thoughts a chaotic jumble of desperation and confusion. In the time span of one breath and one heartbeat memories of the dark haired, crimson eyed girl flooded his mind. He remembered how she had helped him, or at least tried to when he was struggling to come to grips with Takato's loss, offering a listening ear for him for him. He remembered the way her eyes looked at him in sympathy as she heard what he had to say, not once interrupting him or speaking until he was done talking. Just being…there, and supportive. They really didn't know each other, and given how she had disappeared into the digital world shortly after Lucemon returned there they didn't get much of a chance to know each other much further, and in many ways because of that he felt bad for not approaching her mother sooner to check in on her and offer help. He had been too caught up in his personal issues to even think of it until it was almost too late and now…now, here she was, trapped in the body of a digimon that was supposed to be dead. The how's and whys escaped him completely but he all he knew after she returned and he became increasingly aware of her issues was that he had to do something to help her…to _save_ her.

Henry's mind paused on the memory of Noriko's crimson eyes, the ones that had sparkled with warmth and a little bit of unsure humor from when they had talked upon her return to class, and lit up when he had offered her his friendship and his support in helping her deal with her recent troubles. And that was a promise that he had fully intended to live up to.

_Live_ though. _Life._

_Loaded._

_Dead._

The sound of Noriko's laughter from when they had left class together, alive and full of life echoed within his ears.

_It can't be…_

One second, one moment, many thoughts and images, all were suspended in that one moment in time, and as Henry released his breath that moment was gone. All that was left now was him, Gargomon, and BlackGrowlmon outside of Hypnos. BlackGrowlmon was sniffing the air, already turning away from the pair while Gargomon looked at Henry worriedly. BlackGrowlmon's movement caught Henry's attention and snapped him out of his daze.

_It isn't,_ Henry affirmed to himself as he drew one hand into a fist and clutched his digivice tightly in the other. _Noriko's still in there. I talked to her, so there's still hope. Whatever it is that she's going through…however she ended up like this I'm going to free her. I'm not going to let her down._

Henry's digivice clicked and beeped before its screen finally lit up, showing a rotating ring similar to the halo circle projection that came with the digimon analyzer and compass functions. The ring rotated once as triangles on its ends lined up with each other and a light burst forth from the digivice's screen, enveloping both Henry and Gargomon in its intensity, melding them together as their data became one.

"TERRIERMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…"

BlackGrowlmon whirled in surprise as he saw the white light burning behind him. Shielding his eyes BlackGrowlmon tried to look into the light to see what was going on, though at this point he had a fairly good idea as to what it was that was happening. It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out that much was certain. Having experienced biomerging once himself he knew full well what to expect.

He wasn't disappointed.

"…MEGAGARGOMON!"

The blazing light finally died down, revealing a massive, green armored android that immediately reminded BlackGrowlmon of a fortress. Two missiles with smiley faces sat on top of its shoulders next to its decidedly dog-like face, and a pair of Gatling gun like cannons encircled its huge fists, reminiscent of the digimon's Champion form's primary means of combat.

And that, BlackGrowlmon knew from bitter experience, was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

"Stop right there!" Shouted MegaGargomon in Henry and Terriermon's voices as they took a step towards the jet black dragon, the earth shaking beneath their feet as they did so.

* * *

Images by the hundreds…no, _thousands_ assaulted Craniummon's mind as he searched through Lilithmon's memories, gathering and organizing the information as it came to him for future reference. Battles by the score with various forces of the Royal Knights figured most prominently though there were others as well. Other battles fought, meetings made, plans laid down…on and on. The images seemed endless however finite Craniummon knew that they were. For anyone else, they certainly would have been confused by the jumble of images but Craniummon was well versed in the process of information gathering via memory/data scan. All the Royal Knights were. Yggdrasil gave his Royal Knights the abilities that they needed to carry out their mission both in power and intelligence gathering and he left out very little. Yggdrasil prized efficiency in service quite highly amongst all of his servants, a trait that Craniummon shared in common with his lord and master.

_Interesting,_ thought Craniummon as he focused on one image in particular. The memory that contained a complete gathering of the X-Digimon just before their kind began to spread into Yggdrasil's new world. _This… 'Oni' is quite unique. Never before have I seen a creature like him. The X digimon that splintered off from DinoRexmon and DinoTigermon's group were correct to not trust him. Even though this is just a memory I can tell that there is something about him that feels like a wrong that has been committed in the natural order of the digital world. The others should be made aware of this being's existence and what sort of ramifications it could have on Lord Yggdrasil's new world order. And if Dracmon's last remembered encounter with the creature means anything, Oni certainly means to cause more then just a little bit of trouble. This…Argus program…it doesn't look like much at first sight, but DinoRexmon's acknowledgement as it being the imprisoned spirits of the Ten Legendary Warriors is more then enough to worry about. Their combined form of Susanoomon after all has the ability to remake the digital world…or destroy it._

_A shame that these X-digimon were taken in so easily with Exodus's promise of sanctuary and aid. I actually feel pity for them. After all, they like all other digimon merely want to survive. Their goals aren't too different from Yggdrasil's it would seem. What's that saying that humans are so fond of quoting? 'The road to Hell is paved with good intentions?' It almost makes me wonder what the road to Heaven is made from. Regardless; I am finished here. It is time to live up to my end of the bargain._

With that Craniummon cut off his connection with Lilithmon and the rainbow like aura that surrounded the robe garbed woman winked out of existence. Unsupported by the anti-gravity effects of the aura and all but unconscious from having been caught up in the link and buried in memories for so long a time Lilithmon began to fall towards the ground. Fortunately for her Craniummon caught her before she could fall to far and getting down to one knee the Royal Knight kneeled and leaned over to Justimon as he approached. Carefully, the Legendary Tamer pulled the Mega level demon mistress into his arms, eyeing Craniummon warily. Lilithmon groaned tiredly but as of yet did not say or do anything else as her head rested against Justimon's cybernetic shoulder.

"Okay…now what?" Asked Justimon, his tone suspicious of the Royal Knight but Craniummon took no notice of it.

"Transaction complete," replied Craniummon flatly. "We go our separate ways now. As much as it irks me to leave this X digimon live I have gotten what I needed, and so long as he and the human child are joined together, both in body as well as in the spirit that you Tamers have with your partners, I cannot harm him. That is my oath after all, and as a Royal Knight I must uphold that. Having gotten what I needed, I now know that the digimon that my companions seek is no longer an integral part of our mission, if he ever was to begin with and has no involvement with your friend." Craniummon indicated the half sleeping woman that Justimon held cradled in his arms before looking over towards the horizon.

"I see that they are otherwise occupied at the moment…"

No sooner then the words left Craniummon's mouth that the ground suddenly trembled beneath their feet, causing the two digimon to stumble in surprise and a half conscious Lilithmon to loop one hand around the back of Justimon's neck to ensure that she wouldn't fall from Justimon's grasp. Both Mega's turned their heads instinctively as something tugged at their senses. Craniummon frowned beneath his helm as he caught sight of a fine, blue mist beginning to spread throughout the vicinity of the park. Turning towards the sight of the disturbance Craniummon began walking and then, before Justimon's gaze, vanished from view. Justimon gazed at the now empty space where the Royal Knight had been for a few moments before turning to Lilithmon, whom he still held carefully in his arms. The female, Mega level Demon Lord was looking up at the Legendary Tamer with dark, half-lidded eyes as a small, tired, but mischievous smile crossed her face. Somehow, the way that she was looking at him was once again making Ryo uncomfortable.

"Um…" began Justimon with a sense of uncertainty that felt extremely alien to him. "…You okay?"

Lilithmon chuckled and pressed against Justimon's chest, chuckling lightly as she gently caressed the back of Justimon's neck.

"You know…" said the voluptuous female in a playful tone. "We _really_ have to stop meeting like this…"

Ryo grimaced within his data sphere as he felt his body tingle and heat up at his fellow Tamer's touch.

_"Somehow I'm picking up some poetic irony here…"_

From the darkness surrounding his data sphere Ryo heard Cyberdramon cough.

* * *

"Anyone got an idea as to what it is that thing is up there?" Asked Kenta as he, Kazu, Takato, Guilmon, Andromon, MarineAngemon, and Sakuyamon raced, or in MarineAngemon and Sakuyamon's case, flew, through the park as they approached the blue cloud and the tangle of wires that had appeared from it.

"You mean besides the fact that it's tall and gruesome?" Asked Kazu with dry sarcasm.

"Well…yeah. I mean it doesn't hurt to try and put a name to whatever that thing is. If we could at least identify it we might be able to find a way to beat it if it becomes dangerous."

"Our digivices didn't do anything when we scanned it Chumley."

"Kenta does have a point though," said Takato as he kept pace with Guilmon. "We really could do with at least an idea as to what it is…"

"Except that we don't Gogglehead," rasped Sakuyamon in Rika's voice. "We can't afford to be playing guessing games with this thing when we don't have the luxury of doing that right now!"

Takato frowned as they began to approach the edge of the blue colored digital field.

"I know Rika but we also can't just charge blindly into this! That thing, whatever it is, isn't a digimon or if it is we certainly don't recognize it. We need a better idea of what it can do and if it even is a threat at all before attacking it!"

"I got that much already," said Sakuyamon somewhat heatedly. "I'm not advocating that we just go at it like we've normally done with rampaging Wild digimon, I'm just saying that for lack of anything definite, we can't worry about what it is until the situation's been stabilized. As for figuring out what it can do…what're you thinking? Ariel reconnaissance? That Dynasmon guy looked like he was more then ready to go and tangle with that D-Reaper rip off so I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to get quite the demonstration of its fighting techniques."

Takato looked up at the fog that now obscured the strange entity that had entered the real world and knitted his eyebrows together into a frown. He could just barely make out something moving around inside of it. Something _big._

_It_ did _sort of resemble D-Reaper when I saw it didn't it? I didn't exactly get that good of a look at it before it was covered in that blue fog but what I did see sort of reminded me of that cable Reaper that Ryo, Rika, and Henry fought during the last battle. Is that what it is? Yamaki told us that there D-Reaper had been rendered harmless…forced to evolve all the way back to its most basic form, but what if it retained that ability to evolve just like digimon? What if it changed into something else?_

Takato shuddered at the thought but quickly repressed it.

_Rika's right though. We can't waste time on what-if's at the moment. We need to figure out just how bad the situation is._

"Okay," said Takato as he drew a card from his pants pocket. "Reconnaissance it is, though somehow I doubt that that'll last real long."

Kazu grinned.

"Given that just about everything that comes through from the digital world is dangerous I can agree with you on that."

Takato nodded as the group came to a stop at the wall of blue fog in front of them. Sakuyamon landed next to him while the others drew up behind him. Focusing on the modify card that he had in his hand Takato quickly morphed it into a Blue Card. Next to him Sakuyamon placed a hand on his shoulder and turned to Kazu and Kenta.

"All right then. I'll take to the air now and see what's what while you guys follow behind. If this thing turns violent I'll provide defense and fire while you guys do support. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Okay then," said Takato as he raised the blue card to his digivice. "Let's do it! DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

* * *

A second later found Sakuyamon flying through the air with WarGrowlmon and MarineAngemon flying behind her while Andromon, bereft of the lasting flight capabilities that his Champion form provided was presently staying behind to guard Takato, Kazu, and Kenta while they kept an eye on the situation via their digivices. Looking out through her facemask Rika could see Dynasmon's form flying towards the envelope of blue fog.

_"Judging from the speed that he's going he seems to be pretty serious about this,"_ said Renamon from the darkness surrounding Rika's data sphere.

_"His partner Crusadermon must be in some sort of trouble,"_ said Rika. _"I can't imagine a guy like him just up and abandoning a fight unless he had a really good reason for it."_

_"No, I suppose not. And if what we saw was any indication he has_ very _good reasons. But now that makes me worried as well. I have reason to believe that Beelzemon was fighting Crusadermon at the time that we arrived to do battle with Dynasmon. If they were still in the middle of their battle when this entity arrived…"_

_"Ground zero, huh?"_ Rika pursed her lips together. _"Not good. Here's hoping that Beelzemon had enough sense to get out of there while the getting was good."_

_"Well, this_ _**is** _ _Beelzemon that we're talking about…"_

Suddenly the blue fog blew apart, causing Sakuyamon, WarGrowlmon, and MarineAngemon to almost draw up short in response. Revealed now, fully for all the world to see was a twisted series of blue cables and wires, spiraling upwards in one smooth form that made Rika think of a mountain or a spire due to its sheer height, which easily matched that of the Hypnos building. The entities body rippled as the wires and cables continued to move over each other like metallic snakes, and still more were dancing in the air like cobras, lashing out like a tidal wave, each individual _tentacle_ moving in perfect harmony with the rest, causing its resemblance to the Cable D-Reaper to become even greater. A shiver ran down Sakuyamon's back at the memory of the fearsome enemy that had been the only thing that she ever admitted being scared witless by.

While Sakuyamon looked the entity over her eyes were drawn down to the roving cables that slashed and wove their way through the air. Focusing on them Sakuyamon found two familiar figures trapped within their embrace.

"BEELZEMON!" Shouted Sakuyamon as she suddenly found a new burst of speed.

* * *

Beelzemon and Crusadermon struggled against the wires that held firm against them and strung themselves around their limbs. Giving a great and powerful yell Beelzemon strained and tore his sword arm free from one group of cables, only to shout in anger and surprise as more rose up to entangle themselves around the free appendage.

_This is like D-Reaper all over again,_ thought Beelzemon, remembering the time that he had been held prisoner in the D-Reaper's cornel sphere as he hacked and slashed at the wires with his sword, its razor sharp edge easily cutting through them with all the efficiency of a weed whacker. But no matter how much he slashed and tore the wires came on, unmindful of the weapon that cut at them and soon enough began to overwhelm him.

_"Spiral Masquerade!"_ To his right Crusadermon was having a much easier time fending off the wires as her means of cutting was far less dependent on having her arms mobile to be effective. Yellow ribbons cut and tore with equal ease as Beelzemon's sword and she pushed upwards with her feet to try and escape but the ever entangling wires continued to ensnare her. Her attacks, while normally sufficient enough to defeat most opponents were not designed to take on something like this. She just didn't have enough damaging range to take care of enough of the wires to be able to escape. Her _Fist of Athena_ was only useful if she had something solid enough and with sufficient mass to make contact with. The wires bent far too easily for a blunt attack to do anything. Her _Spiral Masquerade_ at least was capable of doing damage (to say nothing of her _Scarlet Tempest_ as that was little more then a way to confuse an enemy and dampen their ability to see) but there were far more wires moving on her then she could possibly cut down quickly enough, and for every three she destroyed seven more quickly took their place. It was rapidly becoming a losing battle…

_"DNA Disintegrator!"_

To Crusadermon's surprise, and joy, two beams of scarlet and azure light twisted into a helix tore into another oncoming group of cable wires, tearing through them with ease and detonating a fearsome explosion that caused the rest to back off. Powerful hands grabbed hold of Crusadermon and tore her free from the remaining cables that held her by the legs with one pull.

"D-Dynasmon?!"

"Don't fret Crusadermon," said the Royal Knight calmly. "You are free now…"

"That's nice," called out Beelzemon as he hacked at another wire as it rushed at him, "But what about those of us who _aren't_ free?!"

_"Amethyst Mandala!"_

As another mass of wires surged towards Beelzemon, violet energy slammed into it and disintegrated on contact. Beelzemon looked on, stupefied.

"WELL?!" Shouted the dual voices of Renamon and Rika as she approached the scene of battle. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! AN INVITATION?! GET OUT OF THERE!"

"You were saying?" Asked Dynasmon, chuckling wryly. Growling, Beelzemon simply slashed at the remaining wires that held him and one flap of his black wings later the Demon Lord was free from his bonds. Switching the hands that held his sword Beelzemon swiftly raised his right arm and formed his Death Slinger cannon, firing blasts of purple energy from the weapons jaw like apparatus at the front to force the wires back while he continued to beat his wings on the air, determined to buy himself some distance from the cable-wire entity. As though the action were a signal to some unspoken agreement Dynasmon raised his arms and quickly joined in on the attack, firing blasts from the jewels on his palms in rapid succession while Crusadermon took care of any that escaped the initial bursts and drew to close to them. At the same time Sakuyamon threw her four elemental pipe foxes at the wires, twisting them every which way so that they became entangled and would have a much harder time maneuvering out of the path of the more destructive attacks. It was becoming a battle of desperation as the wires continued to come at them at a relentless pace, and with the ever increasing numbers it was becoming extremely difficult for the four once enemies now allies to be able to keep up with, even with their retreating.

"More are coming up from above you!" Sakuyamon shouted to Dynasmon reflexively and the Royal Knight adjusted his aim accordingly. However the movement also pulled his attention away from the tentacles that were charging towards him from the front. The cables looped themselves together, transforming themselves into a battering ram and smashed into the white armored Royal Knight, sending him careening towards the depths of the park. Giving a fierce battle cry Crusadermon slammed her shield arm against the battering ram, but her attack did little against it and instead cables unloosed themselves to grab hold of her. Slashing at them continuously with her armor's yellow ribbons Crusadermon fought to free herself to little avail. The imprisoning cables just kept on coming, and, as if to show their annoyance with the Royal Knight's insistence on continuing her resistance against them, azure electricity flowed through them and stabbed into Crusadermon's form, loosing a sharp cry of pain and rage from her mouth.

_"Beast King Sword!"_ Shouted Beelzemon as he crashed on top of the cable made battering ram, hacking deep into the cables that held Crusadermon fast, freeing her. Grabbing hold of the female knight's limp the black winged Demon Lord jumped into the air in an attempt to escape, and while he was able to get a good distance away from the entity a series of cable wires reared upwards like snakes about to strike and unleashed a hail storm of blue energy blasts, three of them nailing the Demon Lord in the back. Beelzemon screamed in pain as he and Crusadermon plummeted towards the ground, his body becoming unstable before disappearing into the thick tangle of trees below.

"BEELZEMON!" Shouted Sakuyamon as she ducked and wove in between blue energy blasts before finally running into a wall of cables. The cable wires were quick to try wrapping themselves around her, but a quick chant of _Crystal Sphere_ kept them at bay and shredded them upon her barrier's expansion. The shield did double duty as well as they warded off the flurry of blue lasers that were aimed at her, but a quick look at visible instability in her barrier's ability to hold itself together showed the shaman priestess that her defense was temporary at best.

_Sink or swim,_ thought Rika.

Leaping upwards the sorceress woman exited her barrier, dodging the next series of blasts before one finally got lucky and caught her full on in her shoulder guard. Gasping from the surprise of the blow Sakuyamon twisted in the air, dodging another series of shots while she inspected the damage. Sakuyamon's eyes widened beneath her facemask as she saw her shoulder guard look as though it were _melting_. Data began to flow into the air as the shoulder guard became unstable. Without even thinking about it Sakuyamon tore off the disintegrating piece of armor and threw it aside just in time to see another shot charge right at her, aiming for her face.

And then an obstruction appeared in front of her.

"RRRRRAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" WarGrowlmon howled as he slashed his arm blades in front of him, using them as a shield as he powered up the cannons on his chest and shot twin blasts of crimson energy at the cable creature.

Needless to say this _really got the cable creature's attention._

Perhaps that was not quite the best way to put it. Up until that point, with the exception of the free wires that moved about and made their attacks, the overall form of the entity did not so much as move upon its arrival, and indeed seemed quite indifferent and about as unmovable as a piece of concrete or a bench. Upon WarGrowlmon's attack however this changed and the top of the spire like figure bent downwards as if to focus on WarGrowlmon. A voice suddenly boomed upon the air as it sighted on the massive cybernetic dinosaur.

_"Hazard Shell data pattern detected. Initiating preparation protocols for capture and scanning of Hazard Shell for comparison to imprint of Digital Hazard algorithm."_

_Wha…?_

_"Kahuna Waves!"_

Flying in front of WarGrowlmon MarineAngemon unleashed a torrent of pink colored purple hearts in rapid succession. As soon as they came into contact with the cable entity that was now striving towards them they burst and unleashed a red mist upon its body. However the cable creature refused to be beaten down by the burning aura that now enveloped it and lashed out with a tentacle, smacking the little pink fairy to the side. Seeing this and now getting the distinct impression that the cable creature wanted WarGrowlmon for some reason Sakuyamon leapt over WarGrowlmon's shoulder, already beginning to slash her staff in a wide arc around her body.

_"Amethyst Manda…!"_

Sakuyamon never got a chance to finish as a blue laser surged towards her and slammed into her stomach, abruptly ending her attack and putting a halt to her flight path. Gravity swiftly took hold of Sakuyamon's body as pain lanced through her and she soon found herself crashing towards the ground. WarGrowlmon gave a loud, bloodcurdling battle cry and charged his engines.

_"Double Edge Sigma!"_ The cyborg dinosaur shouted as the blades took on a crimson glow to them and he slashed at the oncoming cables that attempted to entrap him. Alas, WarGrowlmon's body was far too massive and much to slow to keep up with the sheer amount of wires as they flung themselves at him. His eyes dilating, WarGrowlmon roared in anger as electricity tore through the cables as they attempted to silence his protests but it only made him strive to fight all the harder. But despite this, WarGrowlmon knew on some instinctive level that it was not enough. He just didn't have enough power.

_Takatomon…help me…_

As if in response to the dinosaur's silent plea, a blindingly golden light shot forth from the depths of the park and collided with WarGrowlmon's body, and the cyborg's eyes shot open wide as a rush of power coursed through his system. The power increased exponentially with each passing second until the glow completely enveloped WarGrowlmon and words came involuntarily to his lips.

B-I-O-M-E-R-G-E D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"GUILMON! BIOMERGE TOOO...!"


	60. 59/ Knight Fall: Black Wings

"Just what do you mean," began Itokawa in a slow, cool voice as he glowered at the young receptionist that was now sitting down at the front desk from her 'brief' trip upstairs, "That Yamaki _won't see us?"_

The receptionist, who could be called a _child_ to most of the people working at Hypnos due to her youth and the fact that she was freshly out of college, simply folded her arms beneath her breasts and scowled at the older man, not in the least bit impressed with the cool, angry tone that Itokawa had taken upon her reporting to him the bad news. Something of an oddity, Itokawa thought. After all, most new employees, and especially young ones, tended to be afraid of angering and upsetting their superiors or someone who was at least of higher rank then they were regardless of whether or not they worked in the same building or department. It would take but a word to ruin a future and most beginners kept this firmly in mind until they were entrenched enough and experienced enough where they would become invaluable to the system.

Not this young woman however.

Then again, if Itokawa was aware that this woman had the fortune of meeting up with a demonic digimon named Beelzemon earlier in the week (who just so happened to walk up to her desk and ring the bell as politely as you please), he probably wouldn't have been surprised. Meetings of that nature had the habit of making a person somewhat numb to intimidation. Once you face a digimon (whether in battle or in conversation) things like that tended to lose their affect to surprise and scare you. But then again, it was probably inherent in her nature. She had, after recovering from her panic attack from the meeting, decided to stick around under the pretence that she had found a _very_ interesting job.

It was unfortunate for Itokawa that the young woman had decided to do so, because now she had dug her heels in and was determined to live up to her boss's command to 'not let Itokawa in until things were stabilized'.

Itokawa looked down at the name plate that sat on the woman's desk. The kanji read _Endo, Taeko._

_I'll have to remember that name…_

" _Precisely_ what I mean," the receptionist named Taeko said in her best authoritative tone, emphasizing the word 'precisely' to get her point across. "Mr. Yamaki's busy right now and he can't afford to be distracted at this point. However you are free to stick around until such a time that he is ready to see you. I'm not going to complain about that seeing as how you _do_ work here and since you're _so_ well known around here…" Itokawa scowled at the emphasis Taeko put on that word. What was more, he could already feel Kuroda's gaze settling on him. It was all too easy to picture an amused expression appearing on the man's face. "…I don't think any of the guards are going to throw you out on the street for loitering. Either way, I can't have you roaming around unsupervised. As we're presently understaffed at the moment no one's available to give you the grand tour and make sure that you don't go where you're not supposed to go."

Kuroda stepped forward now. "Ah, but you see my dear, my friend and I have valuable information regarding a project of Hypnos…"

"I don't doubt it," cut in Taeko. "But according to Mr. Yamaki we're experiencing some problems right now and Yamaki wants no, and I repeat, _no disturbances_ until it's been handled. Otherwise he'd be here. And just for the record, _sir,_ you haven't been cleared with H.S. yet. That means that until you are, or until Mr. Yamaki says otherwise, you are considered a security risk."

Daigo Kuroda turned to Itokawa with a raised eyebrow.

"Quite the snappy secretary isn't she?"

"Receptionist," Taeko remarked irritably as she turned back to her computer.

Itokawa grumbled beneath his breath as he stepped away from the desk and began to dig through his coat pocket for his cell phone, leaving Kuroda to try and smooth over the young lady with his 'charm'.

_Probably wasn't a good idea to say that she was 'inefficient' when I first came here and had to go through her,_ Itokawa lamented as he began dialing Yamaki's number. _Although she seemed amiable enough when I first came in. I wonder if Yamaki gave her permission to act this way just to spite me._

After a few moments Itokawa decided that couldn't have been the case. The man rarely held grudges even when his buttons were pushed the wrong way and was a firm believer in impartiality. Business came first before anything else no matter what.

Even so, that didn't stop Itokawa's bruise from throbbing whenever he thought about the blonde haired Head of Hypnos.

_Still, whatever's going on must be pretty bad if Yamaki feels that he can't deal with it and me at the same time. I wonder what it could be…_

As if in response to Itokawa's musings a massive shockwave rocked the ground beneath him, sending the man tumbling to the floor and his cell phone to scatter away uselessly from him. The lights flickered all around him as people shouted in surprise and fear.

_Wha…? Earth quake? What's going on…?_

Sirens sounded throughout the lobby and Itokawa immediately got to his feet, knowing full well what it was that they signified.

_Digimon attack. And it's a bad one too. They wouldn't have bothered to sound those alarms if it was anything small and easy to take care of. Crap. No wonder why Yamaki didn't want to be distracted…_

Itokawa snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a strong hand grasp his arm and pulled him up off the floor. Itokawa could just barely make out Kuroda's face in the lights as they constantly flickered on and off.

"Come on," Kuroda said as he half pulled, half dragged his companion towards a nearby, and most importantly unguarded, stairwell. "Let's make like bandits while the mistress of the schedule book is distracted.

Itokawa didn't need any more encouragement to get his feet moving again.

* * *

Tree's broke and shattered all around Ayaka as she ran through the park, trying desperately to avoid flying projectiles as they flew about her, both physical and energy based, while simultaneously looking for her friends and a safe place to get out of the way of the fighting. The last of these was no easy task by any stretch of the imagination as the whole park had essentially become unsafe just by the presence of multiple Mega level digimon in the area. Every where Ayaka turned there was an explosion occurring that forced her to step back and try and go another way, and when she did there was another blast that stopped her dead in her tracks. In fact, from Ayaka's perspective, it was starting to seem as though she was being made to stay in one place.

Case in point coming in approximately three to five seconds.

_Maybe if I go this way…_ began Ayaka as she started to turn away from yet another ground shaking, fiery explosion, her body muscles as tense as a steel wire from the stress and panic that ran a rhythmic cord through her body. She had just finished turning around when her amber colored eyes caught site of two new incoming projectiles racing towards her at a breakneck speed, causing the girl to swear for the first time in her life and her bowels to come within inches of letting go entirely before instinct overrode her shock and she dove to the side, narrowly avoiding getting mashed in the tangled mess of limbs that was Beelzemon and Crusadermon as they came crashing to the ground.

_Oh shit!_ Exclaimed the blonde haired, pig-tailed girl in her mind as she rolled on the ground, feeling her hands stinging slightly in pain as they skidded on the beaten park path. As soon as she came to a stop Ayaka curled up into a shuddering ball, the thought continuing to hammer itself into her mind over and over as shock began to take hold over her body. _Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit…_

The sound of yet another explosion, followed by a scream of pain caused Ayaka to tense up again. The sounds, however frightening and hard for the girl to accept did have the affect of forcing back the shock and reigniting the child's survival instincts. Ayaka swiftly uncurled from her ball and forced herself to get moving, and not only that to _keep_ moving. Distantly Ayaka heard the sound of something striking the ground where she had been but she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to see what had happened. A wise choice indeed it seemed, as she felt the sharp heat of blue laser brushing by her right cheek. All it would have taken was a couple more centimeters and she would have had a hole in her fa…

_Stop it!_ Thought Ayaka fiercely to herself as a roar suddenly cut through the air, interrupting the hailstorm of lasers that the girl had found herself caught in. _Don't even think about it! Just keep moving and find a place to hide!_

Ayaka winced as a cramp seized up in her stomach just below the left side of her ribcage and as quickly as she could Ayaka dove behind a tree with a particularly thick trunk, hoping that it would provide some measure of protection if and when the laser show started up again. Her back making a light thump as it hit the bark of the tree Ayaka breathed in and out in harsh gasps as she waited, her ears straining for the slightest of sounds. Of that she heard plenty as the sound of _Atomic Megalo Blaster_ resounded like thunder and another explosion rocked the park.

_This…this is what they deal with on a regular basis?_ Wondered Ayaka as exhaustion settled heavily on her mind, threatening to shut her down. _How could Miki and I have ever thought that we had what it took to be Tamers…?_

The image of her dark haired friend being enveloped in a blinding flash of light and morphing into a tall, female humanoid entered Ayaka's mind and she leaned her head backwards, tears stinging her eyes.

_Better question…how could_ _**I** _ _have thought that I had what it took to be a Tamer? I'm not supposed to be here! I'm…I'm scared out of my mind and…I'm just being in the way! The others are out there doing what they can because that's what they're able to and I…don't have any way to help!_

A solitary laser shot out from off to Ayaka's right and impacted with a tree in front of her. Ayaka winced, but her breathing was gradually returning to normal thanks to the metaphorical _rabbit hole_ that she had found safety in. Ayaka wanted to wish that this was all just a bad dream, but at she knew that wasn't the case she would settle for getting out of the park in one piece. It hadn't been too long ago (little more then a few days ago but already it felt like a lifetime) that she and Miki had begun to take an interest in being Tamers, or at least learning the ropes for the job. Why she couldn't quite rightly remember, although in Miki's case it was plainly obvious with the way she had been looking dreamily at Beelzemon. As for herself perhaps it was more of a fad type of way to look at it. Some of her classmates had gotten something that was extremely cool and, dare I say, _unique_ and it gave them an experience that they said was beyond anything that a normal person could ever experience in their lifetime. The Tamers certainly talked a lot about their experiences, or at least Kazu, and to a lesser extent Kenta, did (often exaggerating their role and battle prowess in the process). The others usually when asked but they tended to try and keep things to themselves (though they had talked more about their adventures during the period when their partners had returned to the digital world, perhaps because they wanted to remind themselves that it had all been true). And what was more Ayaka enjoyed playing with the cute digimon, especially MarineAngemon.

Perhaps it was something like that. To have something that was akin to a pet that she could coo over, play with, and show off to her friends like the real Tamers did. She hadn't given it much thought before and she wondered if she had been fooling herself on it. Miki was more driven then she had been, and much more obvious about her intentions while Ayaka was more reserved and more cautious. The caution was warranted, especially since she knew that being a Tamer carried certain responsibilities that entailed getting in danger quite a lot (something that came home rather hard when she heard that Takato lost Guilmon in battle). Her talk with Kenta after that incident at Miki's house and even before then had opened up her eyes quite a bit, and the fighting that she had found herself in, the one with Argus and especially the one that she found herself in now, went a long way towards driving home what she hadn't fully considered when she and Miki talked about training to become Tamers.

What were her motivations for becoming a Tamer?

Looking back on it now, it was becoming increasingly clear to Ayaka that having a digimon partner was not the same as having a cat or a dog. The emotional involvement was more…much, _much_ more then she had ever considered even in spite of her own caution.

Was it even worth it? Was the fear that she felt, and what her family would undoubtedly feel as well, be worth being a Tamer? Even if it was for just a second?

A loud groan caught Ayaka's attention, snapping her out of her thoughts. Swinging her head towards the direction that she had heard the sound in Ayaka saw an injured Beelzemon stagger out from a clump of bushes, pushing off a piece of a tree that had fallen on him from his crash. The demonic digimon stood there for a few seconds before falling down towards his knees, his body phasing in and out of stability before a light glow enveloped him. Data particles floated up towards the sky as the demon lord regressed back to Impmon, coughing and gasping as he struggled to control himself.

"Impmon!" Shouted Ayaka as she struggled to her feet and rushed over to the diminutive Rookie, completely forgetting that there was a battle around her. Impmon looked up in surprise at the girl, wondering who she was.

"Uh…who…?"

"My name's Ayaka. I'm Jeri's friend from school." Ayaka took a moment to swallow, as if by doing so she could bury the sense of panic that she was feeling building up in her chest. "Uhm…do you need help?"

Impmon winced and clenched his teeth in pain as his body briefly became pixilated for a moment before stabilizing again.

"I'll…be fine in a minute. But I don't know about the Royal Knight that I was trying to rescue a few minutes ago."

Ayaka blinked her amber eyes as she looked over towards the destroyed clump of brush that Impmon had emerged from.

"Uh... _Royal Knight?"_

Briefly Ayaka recalled something that was pink and yellow colored flying at her along with Beelzemon when gravity was calling them back down to Earth.

"Yeah…Crusadermon. She got electrocuted by that thing that we were fighting. Not that I care or anything but this whole thing is one big convoluted mess and she's a part of it. Besides," Impmon knuckled his back and Ayaka heard a distinct 'popping' sound coming from it, "If what I just went through is any indication we could probably use all the help that we can get. Odds are she's out of it. She was as limp as a rag doll when I rescued her…"

" _Who's_ a rag doll?" Slurred a harsh, female voice from within the brush, and with it came the sound of something struggling to get back up, only to apparently fail as nothing emerged except for the sound of something falling loudly. Curiosity overwhelming her good sense Ayaka took a cautious step forwards and peered into the brush. There, before her eyes lay the prostrate form of a pink armored digimon that resembled a knight, with yellow ribbons arching off her body. Burns covered every inch of her plated armor and smoke rose from it as well. The digimon's body was shuddering and her breath was coming out with rasping gasps. An arm that was surrounded by a bright yellow shield became transparent and pixilated for a moment.

"Um…you don't look so good."

"Thank you for the observation, _human,"_ groaned the pink armored digimon that Impmon had identified as Crusadermon as she shakily tried to get back up, only fall back down as her arms became transparent again. "Uh!"

"Hey!" Exclaimed Ayaka as she jumped into the brush and grabbed hold of Crusadermon's wrist (which under normal circumstances would have caused the Royal Knight to send her flying in response, human or not). "You shouldn't be moving when you're hurt like this!"

"Doesn't…matter right now," rasped Crusadermon as she roughly pulled her arm away from the girl. "There is an enemy out there…and I mean to…defeat it…"

"Do I even need to point out that you just got your butt handed to you?" Shot Impmon as he limped into the brush after Ayaka. "And that you can barely walk right now, let alone fight?"

Crusadermon was just about to surge to her feet and suggest that loading the Imp's data would change all that when a spark of blue electricity traced its way through her body, causing her to scream and fall back down again. Gasping Ayaka looked over at Impmon with a scared expression before returning her gaze to Crusadermon. The knight's body writhed on the ground for a moment before becoming still. Quiet groans escaped from Crusadermon's non-visible lips as her data began to destabilize. All of a sudden Ayaka was reminded of all the close brushes with death that she had experienced in the past couple of days, and thinking about how it looked as though while she had escaped, this _Crusadermon_ wasn't going to have the same kind of luck. She was going to die before her very eyes and there was nothing that she could do about it…

_To be able to stop something like this…_ Ayaka thought distantly to herself as she gazed at the dying digimon with wide eyes, thinking once again of the duties that the Tamers had to perform every day of their lives. _Is it worth it?_

Before Ayaka knew it she found herself closing her eyes and whispering a quick and quiet prayer to whatever gods would listen to her to spare this digimon from the fate that sought to claim her. A second later her prayer was answered in a way that she hadn't expected.

A bright glow appeared in front of Ayaka's face. Opening her amber colored eyes the blonde haired girl saw the familiar shape of the Tamer's D-Arc materializing in front of her, radiating warmth that felt strangely like the familiarity that came with coming home after a long trip away. Reaching for it instinctively, Ayaka was surprised by the solid feel that the digivice had as the glow died down and the D-Arc fell into her hands. The digivice was slightly different from that of the others that she had seen. Instead of being plain white with a colored ring surrounding the screen this digivice was pink colored with a yellow ring, and was accompanied, as with the other Tamers, with a dark violet strap at the top. That same sense of instinct continuing to move through her Ayaka pointed her digivice at the fading form of Crusadermon and a beam of light shot out from it, connecting with the Royal Knight and causing her to buck her hips and gasp in surprise as a torrent of energy surged through her digital makeup. As her eyes widened beneath her helmet her armor began to restructure itself. Burn marks vanished and cracks repaired themselves. The ribbons, which had just a few moments ago been limp like a lilting flower, sprang back up to attention.

After what was little more then a couple seconds (though it felt longer to the three gathered there) the light died down and Crusadermon raised her hands, flexing them experimentally while Impmon and Ayaka looked on in shock and amazement.

Two more seconds passed in which Impmon, after looking briefly at Ayaka, finally broke the silence and choked out the only words that could give definition to what he had just seen.

"I don't…this is…you…you've just became a Tamer to… _Crusadermon?!"_

Crusadermon looked over at Impmon and tilted her head to the side in surprise.

"What?!"

* * *

Takato looked down at the halo image that hovered above the screen of his digivice as he saw his partner pushing his engines to their limit to get to the battle as quickly as possible. He saw the familiar figures of Sakuyamon and Beelzemon darting in and out from the strange, blue mass of wires that constantly struck out at them, and with them were two knight-like figures fighting alongside them. One of them at least, a white armored figure with demonic wings, was equally as familiar to him as his two friends. He had good reason to recognize the digital warrior. It had after all tried to delete Guilmon and Sakuyamon back at Okinawa.

_Dynasmon…_

He didn't know how it was that Dynasmon had survived their last encounter with each other, or even if this was the same Dynasmon that he and Sakuyamon had faced before. If it was, then the question of survival was again at issue as he quite plainly recalled the digimon disintegrating into data particles after being blasted by WarGrowlmon following his fight with Sakuyamon. Of course, it wouldn't have been the first time that he and the others had been fooled into thinking that a digimon had been killed when they actually hadn't been. The horse Deva, Indramon had once vanished after Yamaki activated Juggernaut (when reporting on the matter later Yamaki said that by all accounts it looked as though Indramon had self destructed), and then there was Vajramon who at first had been thought destroyed by Rapidmon until he reemerged and confronted Renamon. Suffice to say that if this was the same Dynasmon that he had fought back on Okinawa Takato wouldn't be too surprised by this. For the time being he disregarded it and focused on lending what aid he could to WarGrowlmon as he sped towards the battle.

Funny now that he thought about it. WarGrowlmon, or rather Guilmon as he best knew his partner, in spite of lacking memories from his previous life and recognizing next to no one that had fought by his side and been friends with him, was still willing to throw himself into battles that he didn't, or couldn't from Takato's perspective, understand or even have a reason to be a part of. He had lost all of his ties and connections, and was going on more blind faith that those who said that they were his friends _were_ what they said they were and offered himself, his safety, _everything_ that he was to their defense…and all without question and asking for little in return except for answers to the past that he had been told was missing.

It was so easy to forget in situations like this that Guilmon was no longer what he had been, even with Renamon's report that he was remembering _some_ of his past now (though how much beyond just 'Takatomon' remained to be seen). As such Takato couldn't help but feel that, even though Guilmon had died, he was taking his reptilian friend for granted. An oddity considering everything that had happened between them in the past few weeks but a part of him felt that there was something to that line of thinking. He had never once asked Guilmon if he wanted to participate in the battles that defined the life of a Tamer and digimon partner…hadn't he?

_But then, when Guilmon was Gigimon, he said that he wanted to come with me when I went off to investigate the digital field when that DinoTigermon and Dynasmon arrived…_

That was neither here nor there however, and while those thoughts were undoubtedly important in the future, Takato quickly realized that he was going to need all of his attention if he was going to help WarGrowlmon in this fight.

"Dude," said Kazu, looking over Takato's shoulder, "That is one messed up Wild One. What the heck is that?"

"I don't know," replied Takato. "My digivice still isn't giving me any information."

"Same here," said Kenta, looking up from his own digivice now. "Certainly supports the possibility that thing isn't even a digimon, doesn't it?"

"I'll say," nodded Kazu. "That thing looks more and more like what we saw from D-Reaper, only blue instead of red."

Takato frowned, not liking what that possibility entailed. Their battles with D-Reaper had been bad enough when they first tangled with it in their Ultimate forms, and even when they received the ability to biomerge in the real world it still hadn't been any easier and they had _six_ Megas to work with. Whatever that thing was that Beelzemon and Sakuyamon were fighting looked to be just as powerful, and even with the additions of two high class Megas to back them up it didn't look like things were going to be any easier. And it wasn't helping that Henry and Terriermon as MegaGargomon, or Ryo and Cyberdramon as Justimon, hadn't shown up yet (no doubt being occupied with one of the other bio-emergence signals). And then there was himself…

Takato looked down fiercely at his gold trimmed digivice, feeling bitter that he hadn't been able biomerge with his partner. He hated being on the sidelines, watching while his best friends went toe to toe with an immensely powerful foe. True, he was helping WarGrowlmon by lending him his energy and slashing cards as the situation warranted but that wasn't the same as being there in the thick of it. His instincts cried out for him to be out there, to be fighting alongside WarGrowlmon, Beelzemon, and Sakuyamon but here he was, helpless to fully effect the outcome of the battle, and if he tried to go out there he would only get in the way.

_I can't just sit here while my friends are out there fighting!_ Screamed Takato in his mind, but memories from yesterday's battle flashed through his mind. Clenching one hand into a tight fist Takato resisted the urge to cry out in indignation at the hand that fate had dealt him. He just wanted to help so badly…

_I want to be depended on. Is that just too much to ask for?_

Takato received no answers to his questions as he continued to watch the holographic projection above his digivice's screen. As he looked on he saw Beelzemon shoot forward towards a mass of cables that had been transformed into what looked to be a battering ram, slashing at it. A second later Beelzemon was pulling upwards with a limp body, and then was struck by three successive blasts in the back upon his retreat.

"Beelzemon!" Shouted Takato in time with Kenta and Kazu. The battle didn't end there however. No sooner then Beelzemon go down Sakuyamon was nearly trapped by a wall of cables. She easily dispersed them with a shield and continued to evade the furious storm of blue lasers, but from the sheer number that was now focused on her the three Tamers had the idea that she wouldn't be able to last much longer. As one, Kenta and Takato both pulled out cards from their pockets and slashed them through their digivices. Sparks flew as their effects began to take hold in the data of their partners.

"DIGI-MODIFY! SPEED ACTIVATE!"

Returning to their camera view of the scene through their digivices, they saw WarGrowlmon and MarineAngemon were now accelerating their pace exponentially. Takato crossed his fingers as WarGrowlmon barreled on ahead, taxing his engines to their limits.

Suddenly Sakuyamon was struck in the shoulder, interrupting her flight path just long enough for the next barrage of lasers to zero in on her. It looked like they were all out of time…

_No. No. NO!_

"RRRRAAAGGGHHH!"

Letting loose a powerful roar akin to that of his partner, Takato felt his body pushing itself forward. His eyes no longer saw the image granted to him from the D-Arc, but instead saw what his partner saw within his own mind. He felt every tense muscle, the strain of the engines on WarGrowlmon's back as they pushed rocketed forward. Air sang as the blades on the cybernetic dino's arms surged forward, and within the next moment WarGrowlmon was there, deflecting the laser blasts as he used his arm blades as a shield.

"I'll never get over how he does stuff like that every time Guilmon digivolves to Ultimate," grinned Kazu as he observed Takato's actions.

"Well it doesn't look like that cable thing is liking it," said Kenta as he looked at his digivice worriedly. "It's starting to focus on WarGrowlmon now."

Kazu looked over Kenta's shoulder while Takato busied himself with keeping in tune with his link with WarGrowlmon.

"It doesn't look like MarineAngemon's attacks are doing a whole lot…"

"I can see that," snapped Kenta as he frantically dug through his pants pocket for another card. "I need to change the playing field…give MarineAngemon a new attribute. Maybe MetalSeadra… Ah!" Kenta's eyes widened in shock as he saw a blue tentacle flying straight for MarineAngemon, and suddenly the pink fairies perspective on the digivice became one big tumbling mess of blue sky and trees.

"MarineAngemon!" Kenta cried out as he gripped the sides of his digivice. "Are you okay?! Speak to me!"

_"Pihpuh…puh…"_ spoke up a pained voice from Kenta's digivice.

Takato's eyes became firm.

"Okay. So it's just me and WarGrowlmon nooOOOAAAHHH!"

Takato cringed as he suddenly felt lines of cable wrapping themselves around WarGrowlmon's body and sent volts of electricity coursing through the cybernetic dinosaur. He felt his body spasm as he fell forward, catching himself on his hands and knees as he pulled himself back mentally to try and get a hold of himself long enough to help his partner out.

"Takato!" Called out Kazu as he raced over to Takato's form as he now struggled to get back up to his feet. "You okay Chumley? What's going on?!"

Takato clenched his eyes shut as he rode out the torrent of pain that was coursing through both his and WarGrowlmon's body. He could feel his partner struggling against the wires, but it wasn't enough. More and more of them were wrapping themselves around his body, struggling to hold him still while they attacked him. They were winning too. As hard as WarGrowlmon strove against his bonds they were easily pinning him down.

" _Hazard Shell data pattern detected. Initiating preparation protocols for capture and scanning of Hazard Shell for comparison to imprint of Digital Hazard algorithm."_

_What was that?_ Wondered Takato as he stood back up, breathing heavily as his heart pounded in his chest. _Never mind. I've got to figure out a way to free WarGrowlmon! But how? I don't think I have any remotely useful cards that could help in a situation like this! Rrrrgh...if only we could biomerge!_

Takato, Kenta, and Kazu's digivices suddenly gave _another_ cry of alarm as a field of fog burst forth from the ground in front of them. Takato and Kazu jerked back in surprise as the mist cascaded over them.

"Wha…?" Started Kazu in surprise. " _Another_ one?! What is this, a convention? Or is there a fair or something going on that we don't know about! Andromon! Front and center!"

"At once!" Said Andromon as he jumped in front of the three boys protectively and assumed a combat stance. "All right knave! Whoever you are, as a representative of Hypnos and the Tamers I, Andromon the Just, demand that you cease and desist immediately from all aggressive actions and surrender yourself peacefully."

"Yeah! Or we'll blow you to kingdom come!"

"Nice way of putting it Kazu. Couldn't go for a little bit more tact?"

"Phhht! Why bother? I want to make sure that they know what I'm talking about before we get down and rumble! Less time wasted that way."

_"Regardless,"_ spoke up a voice from the depths of the digital field, _"We are not here to fight."_

"Huh?"

The three Tamers returned their attention ahead of them just in time to see two human males approaching them. Takato narrowed his eyes as he looked them over. They both seemed normal enough. Average even with their plain builds and clean shaven faces; even their clothes were plain with little or nothing to speak of as far as style went. The only defining features that they had were the yellow jackets, light brown hair, and the baseball caps that they both wore on their heads just low enough to obscure their faces. Something about them though, the way that they walked, the way that they spoke, was off. Not _human_ in the sense that Takato and his friends understood the definition. Their voices were too flat, and lacking in emotion. All together they were an odd duo, and the fact that they emerged from a digital field only served to exasperate that observation. And what was more, the yellow jackets that they wore tickled Takato's memory for some reason but for the time being he dismissed the feeling of déjà vu.

"Who are you?" Demanded Takato, anxiety continuing to fill his mind as he thought of WarGrowlmon. Through the link that they shared he could feel the cables squeezing on his friend's body tightly.

_"Who we are is not important,"_ said the two figures speaking as one, and Takato raised an eyebrow as something in their voices now caught his attention. They sounded… _familiar._ But before Takato could even begin to analyze the how and why of that the two _humans_ continued speaking. _"We are here on behalf of a friend of yours, Shibumi, who is aware of your difficulties with biomerging with your partner."_

"Wha…? Shibumi?! Mr. Mizuno?!"

The duo nodded and one of them raised a hand. Held within its fingers was an orange colored card with a design insignia that Takato recognized as belonging to the blue and red cards that he had slashed through his digivice on previous occasions.

_No way…_

_"Correct,"_ continued the two humans, still speaking in stereo with each other, their lips and words perfectly in sync with the other. _"He apologizes for his tardiness in sending this algorithm. It has only been recently that he has come to discern that something is amiss in his communications with Hypnos, and so he sent us to deliver this card to you."_

Letting go of the orange card the two men took a step back, watching it hover in the air. The card took on an orange aura to it and floated on over to Takato, who took it carefully in his hands. The two men turned to go.

"Wait! Just who are you?"

The two men looked briefly over their shoulder, and for the first time since meeting them smiles drew on their faces as they lost themselves in the dense fog. As Takato and his friends watched their forms began to alter, becoming ghostly like in appearance until they began to blend in with the fog around them. Small fires lit at the top of their heads as lights glowed within their forms and a second later they were gone. The fog retreated.

"Dude," began Kazu, breaking the silence, looking up from his digivice. "Those two were Mokumon. Fresh level, Data type. I didn't know that they could shape shift."

Takato was about to make a reply before a renewed jolt of pain shot through his body. And accompanying it was a thought from his partner, floating through the boy's mind.

_Takatomon…help me…_

_Hang in there boy. I'm coming._

His eyes burning with resolve Takato held up the card to his gold trimmed digivice. For an instant doubt took hold in his mind as to whether or not the card was genuine and came from the Monster Maker that he had grown to trust since they had first allied with each other. It _was_ possible. Mr. Mizuno was perhaps the most enigmatic out of all the Monster Makers and he did recall seeing two Mokumon when he, Henry, and Terriermon met Shibumi at that strange, underwater library…

Either way, Takato had no time to contemplate the legitimacy of the card. He had to help his partner… _now!_ And lacking a better idea and even a wish to change things for the better Takato realized that he was out of options.

He would just have to put his trust in this one card and hope for the best, just like he had done countless times in the past.

Sparks flashed as the card was scanned through the reader of his D-Arc, and a second later Takato felt a great surge of familiar energy flow through his body as his body was transformed into data.

* * *

Kazu and Kenta shielded their eyes as a blinding flash of light obscured Takato from their vision for a moment, and when they were finally able to look again their eyes widened in surprise as they saw that the spot where Takato had stood was now empty.

"Where'd he go?!" Exclaimed Kazu as he rushed over to the spot where his friend had once stood. "YO! CHUMLEY! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Kenta shook his head in amazement as he looked at the spot where Takato had previously been before the beeping of his digivice caught his attention. Raising it he heard the chipper _'Pih's'_ and _'Puh's'_ of MarineAngemon as he spoke rapidly and excitedly through their communication system.

"Huh? Who! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! MarineAngemon! Slow down! I can barely understand what it is you're saying!"

"There's a first," grumbed Kazu distractedly as he continued to look frantically around for their friend and fellow Tamer. "Now would you mind putting the guy on hold so that you can help me look for Chumley already?"

Kenta ignored Kazu as over the digivice MarineAngemon forced himself to speak much more slowly so that his partner could understand him better. Kenta's eyes widened a second later as realization dawned on him. This was helped especially by the fact that MarineAngemon's perspective had shifted up towards the sky over where the blue, cable being was situated.

"Kazu…I think that you need to see this…"

* * *

_"Exhaust Flame!"_

A burning torrent of crimson fire rocketed forth from BlackGrowlmon's mouth and slammed into MegaGargomon's body. The massive, robotic, fortress-like digimon easily shrugged off the flames and took an earth-shaking step forward. In his emerald data sphere Henry locked eyes with BlackGrowlmon as he attempted to race away. Raising one arm MegaGargomon fired off a stream of green lasers in front of the black reptile, cutting off his retreat. In response the obsidian dragon crouched and glared at him with cold, venomous eyes and hissed. Henry winced slightly, wishing that things didn't have to come to this but realizing that there was little choice in the matter if he was to attempt to rescue Noriko, who was trapped inside the body of the demonic dragon standing in front of him. Digivolving to Mega could be taken as overkill to anyone else that was not aware of the situation but from his point of view it was the best choice possible. To begin with MegaGargomon was at the Mega level, and was significantly more powerful then the lower two forms of Gargomon and Rapidmon which he would normally have used against a digimon of the Champion level in which he could be certain that he had the luxury of going all out on an opponent. While slower and having significantly less elbow room to move about BlackGrowlmon was also hampered by that same handicap (though he certainly was nowhere near the size of MegaGargomon), and lacking the ability to fly forced the dark dragon to fight in a battle with severe limitations.

In addition, MegaGargomon was of the Vaccine type while BlackGrowlmon was a Virus. Previous battle experience had taught Henry that while type advantage did little more then provide an edge in battle it made a whopper of a difference when the battle was also fought with differences of levels involved. Other Virus and especially Data type digimon (as they were most susceptible to Virus based attributes) would have been affected by BlackGrowlmon's fireball even at the Mega level should it make contact with them even if it was minute. MegaGargomon, with his thick plating composed of Vaccine based data was heavily resistant to Viral attacks, and with BlackGrowlmon two levels below him the _Exhaust Flame_ attack had next to no effect against him, and with the option of fighting a ranged battle gone (which if Henry felt he could afford that option, BlackGrowlmon would have lost anyway), BlackGrowlmon was reduced to either running or fighting in close quarters.

Running was out of the question, as Henry had made that quite clear with his warning shots (though in truth, Henry was bluffing more then he was serious as he was unwilling to cause BlackGrowlmon any harm for fear of hurting the girl who was trapped inside). Fighting in close quarters was equally suicidal as MegaGargomon would either pulverize him or render him helpless and immobile with little effort.

Which was precisely what Henry was banking on. Not wanting to hurt Noriko in a fight with BlackGrowlmon he had biomerged with Terriermon and digivolved to their highest level in order to use their combined strength in such a way where they wouldn't have to go 'all out', but rather wear down BlackGrowlmon and stop him from moving until he could figure out just what to do with him and get him to revert back to his 'human' form of Noriko. Easy right? They had both type and level advantage, greater strength and firepower, and far better defenses to cope with anything that BlackGrowlmon could throw at them. No big deal, right?

At least it wasn't from Henry and Terriermon's point of view as they made their way towards BlackGrowlmon; however the black dragon held the opposite point of view of the two partners as he glared at the armored Mega, flexing his claws as a deep growl rumbled from within his throat. Looking as though the dark dinosaur was weighing his options he reared backwards and fired another _Exhaust Flame_ attack at MegaGargomon and then began tearing into the road with his claws, attempting to dig a way of escape. Concrete and asphalt flew through the air as a crater was made within seconds of his claws touching down to the streets…

It didn't last long.

Firing up the engines on his back MegaGargomon flew forward, brushing by the fireball without even noticing that its connecting to his body and quickly billowed into BlackGrowlmon's body, knocking him out and away from the hole that he had been digging and grabbing hold of him tightly with his arms. The dragon thrashed and squirmed but it quickly became apparent that MegaGargomon had the upper hand in this fight.

_"Heh, heh,"_ chuckled Terriermon from the darkness surrounding Henry's green colored data sphere, _"That was probably the easiest fight we've ever been in. Takatomon in Crimson Mode eat your heart out!"_

_"Terriermon…would you_ please _stay focused on the fight? The last thing that we need is this guy breaking free while you're patting yourself on the back."_

_"Momentai Henry! You had this all figured out, didn't ya? This guy's attacks won't make a dent in our armor so long as we're two levels above him. Heck, if I remember correctly he couldn't even come close to scratching us when he was Ultimate. The only reason that he did so well in our last fight was because we were holding back a lot on account of Takato."_

_"We still have to Terriermon. There's a lot about this that we don't understand, and remember, Noriko's still inside BlackGrowlmon. And you also brought up an interesting point about Takato. Takato_ did _create BlackGuilmon in the first place. Could it be possible that they still share some kind of link like they did before?"_

_"If they do, they do and we'll deal with that problem when we get to it, but somehow I doubt that it'll make a difference in this scenario. BlackGrowlmon's helpless!"_

_"Well…"_

It was just then that black and blue flames burst forth from BlackGrowlmon's body as he let loose a scream that sounded like a mixture between his own, animalistic howls and Noriko's voice. The flames seared MegaGargomon's hands through his armor, forcing him to abruptly let go of the dark dragon. Staggering backwards Henry quickly inspected his hands before looking back up at BlackGrowlmon. He was _wreathed_ in flames now. It moved upwards like a living entity and surrounded him like a shroud. And through it all his strange, duo screams continued to resound upon the air.

_"Henry? Any idea what's going on?"_

_"Somehow I don't think that I even want to know. But whatever it is, we've got to stop it from happening."_

_"Okay. Just one question, any idea on how we do that without hurting Noriko?"_

Henry clenched his teeth as his mind raced.

_"No time to think things through. We'll just make it up as we go along. It's just…going to be tricky."_

_"I swear I'm starting to rub off on you. When was the last time you did things on the fly like this?"_

_"Not now Terriermon."_

His feet crashing upon the streets, MegaGargomon charged towards the sheet of fire as flame like wings burst forth.

* * *

_Darkness. It surrounded her on every side, like a bubble; a black womb that offered no comfort for the young girl who was trapped within its embrace. She wanted to get out…to escape it but everywhere she turned there was only a bubble keeping her in, and all around her was a trackless void accompanied by shimmering lines of symbols rotating around her. And what was more there was the feeling of some presence…watching her from that darkness. And with it, there was much anger._

_"Please," Noriko Nakata called out as tears began to build up in her eyes. There was a feeling building up inside of her; a feeling that was cold and hollow. It made her think of desolate places where nothing ever grew, gray skies stretched in every direction over a featureless landscape, and a whispering wind scoured over it, biting at exposed flesh like a starved, spiteful animal. "Please…let me go…"_

_There followed a brief period of silence that was firmly broken by a harsh "No." being spoken. The voice that said the denial was that of a young boy, one that she remembered meeting in some distant corner of her mind…a boy who was lost and felt abandoned. And yet, there was a strange level of maturity, coupled with a deep rooted anger that drowned out all the youthfulness of that voice._

_"…I just want to go home…" Noriko whispered, hitching back a sob that threatened to erupt from her heart. Feelings of loneliness, abandonment, and anger, some of it her own, some of it…not, flowed through her. She could feel it distorting her, moving within her like a freezing icicle. She wanted to shiver, she wanted to cry out in pain and horror and scream that it was all just a dream, but for the moment she refused to let go. A part of her held out the thin hope that she would find a way out, even if it seemed hopeless at the moment._

_"So do I," said the voice from the darkness. "But only one of us can have what we want. I don't know why you're still here, able to speak in my mind when you should be dead…"_

_"Shut up!" Grated Noriko angrily as she clenched her hands into fists. Around her, the lines of code began to accelerate in response. "I am_ not _dead! I'm alive! I'm a living human bei…!"_

"You _shut up!" Shouted the voice with equal anger, revealing something of a childish temper beneath the mature tone. "This is_ my _body! Mine! As in_ not yours! _I loaded you! I know I did, but for some reason you just won't leave me alone! You and that stupid angel of yours! I don't know why you're in my head but right now I don't care! All I want is to be with my Tamer again and become_ one _with him as we were before! You don't even enter the equation!"_

_"But…what about my family?" Noriko choked out. "My friends?"_

_This had the surprising effect of silencing the voice, as though it were caught off guard. A feeling of sorrow, and a sense of recognition pervaded Noriko's heart and she had the idea that she had touched on something that was disturbingly similar to her situation. Although why that was Noriko couldn't even begin to fathom…_

_"It doesn't matter," said the voice finally with a touch of regret and resignation coloring the bitter tone that it had. "Only one of us can have what we want, and that one is me. And to get back to my Tamer I'll do anything…"_

_Electricity crackled around the black sphere that surrounded Noriko and a feeling that something was being drained out of her flooded her body. Noriko tried to cry out in protest but she no longer felt the strength to perform even that task. Her eyelids began to grow heavy as the feeling increased in intensity. Bright sparks began to descend in front of her and blur her vision as the world began to disappear around her…_

_'Descend?' Thought Noriko as her breathing began to slow. A new voice spoke up from the darkness surrounding her…little more then a whisper._

_"Noriko…he's using your energy, what little of it you have left, to digivolve. I'm giving mine to you…so that you can survive the process…"_

_Noriko felt herself nodding softly as she pulled away from the world. She recognized the second voice but was too tired to place a name to it. Nonetheless, she was able to offer a silent 'thanks' to its owner._

* * *

The fire blew aside as a dark blue gauntlet caught MegaGargomon's incoming, outstretched arm with a vise like grip. His eyes widening in surprise Henry barely had enough time to register that his arm had been thrown to the side as a dark, midnight blue blur rushed forward. Henry's vision of the world rocked as a powerful blow was landed across his face and he began to tumble backwards, hitting the street beneath him with a crash.

_"What…was_ that? _That punch…I don't think that I've ever felt anything_ like _that before…"_

_"You're telling me Henry! Tell you the truth…if it weren't for the fact that we weigh so much as MegaGargomon I'm reasonably sure that we would have wound up like Impmon when Indramon smacked him out of the ballpark! That…_ really _ **…**_ _hurt!"_

Reaching up absently as the armored, mechanical war machine got back to his feet MegaGargomon felt along the area of his face where he had been punched. He found a sizeable dent running just to the right of his nose. Pain flashed through the boy's face like lightning at the contact, both literally and metaphorically.

_Okay…that's not good…_

Taking his hand off of his injury MegaGargomon looked over to the figure that had landed him such a hit, and within his data sphere Henry's mouth dropped open in shock.

_No way…no…way…_

Blue tinted plates with black highlights covered the warrior's shoulders, legs, arms and body, appearing as royalty and giving the impression of power at its utmost peak. Sunlight touched off the black, Chrome Digizoid metal but did not reflect off of it as though the armor itself was dark enough to absorb its rays and prevent it from escaping. Black wings fluttered in the air, swaying like cobras readying to strike and a dark, ink like aura surrounded them. Cold, gold colored eyes peered out from behind the dark blue facemask as the knight-like figure hefted a long, dark blue, double bladed spear in its right hand. Resting proudly on a highly pronounced chest plate, emblazoned for all to see was a dark blue sphere with the crest of the Digital Hazard.

Henry Wong and Terriermon easily recognized the form that stood before them. It was difficult not to as its image had been burned into his mind and that of all their friends when they first saw it wipe out an army of Parasimon nearly a month ago.

_"Is that…Gallantmon's Crimson Mode?"_ Stammered Henry in surprise as he quickly pulled himself all the way back to his feet and got into a battle stance. All of a sudden Henry felt _very_ scared. If he was any judge of digimon, this one bearing such a similarity to the being that had recently destroyed an army of Parasimon, all Mega level, with just one attack, there stood a good chance that this one bore all the same capabilities.

A certain digimon episode involving a BlackWarGreymon gave him that much of an idea as to how close evil twins could be in power to their counterparts.

_ChaosGallantmon…he digivolved…to ChaosGallantmon…using Noriko's essence. Only, he went even further then just Mega. He's…_

_"It sure looks like Gallantmon's Crimson Mode,"_ said Terriermon. _"I've got the feeling that thing isn't a Crimson Mode at all. I mean, besides the obvious fact that it's not red…"_

" _Terriermon…"_

Heedless of their mental conversation ChaosGallantmon raised his spear and pointed it at MegaGargomon. Henry and Terriermon could _both_ swear that the air suddenly got a whole lot colder around them. It was as though they were staring down Death itself. Terriermon gulped.

_"Um...Momentai?"_

ChaosGallantmon, brandishing his spear, surged forward like the specter of a vengeful spirit.


	61. 60: Knight Rise: Shining Armor

Jeri Katou looked out over the city that had been her home for these past twelve and a half years, her amber eyes taking in its horizon, presently obscured by the blue colored fog that had quite suddenly appeared sometime after Ryo's departure to deal with a Wild One. Her hand absently caressed a card with the image of a warrior emblazoned upon its surface with the name _SolMilleniummon_ sitting above it. The card remained unchanged since Ryo had left it once more in her care. No blue sheen obscured its details and no compulsion to slash it through her orange trimmed digivice accompanied it. No voices spoke to her either and for the moment she did not feel any sense of connection to her friends as she had before when she first slashed the card. That did not of course lessen the worry that she felt building in her heart by any means. If nothing else, the silence that she was experiencing merely agitated her worries.

She didn't understand why it was that she had sensed the things that she had…why she had felt what her friends were feeling. And she knew that this strange phenomenon wasn't just limited to sensing the emotions of her friends either. There was that dream that she had about Takato and Guilmon being attacked at Okinawa in spite of the distance that lay between them. What that had been about she didn't know any more then what the 'empathic connections' she was picking up now. She reasoned however, that if Henry or even Takato were there they could easily explain it as involving something along the lines of how close she felt to her friends. She knew that in times past she had felt connected to the others, particularly Takato even when they weren't around, and she, like Guilmon (who was perhaps closest to Takato out of everyone that the boy knew), had heard Takato's calls for help on the Sovereign level of the digital world. She hadn't thought much about it then, merely brushing it off as something that had come through the data stream that was approaching their group as they trudged through the desert (after all, Guilmon had heard it, though she did find it odd that none of the others did), and having lost herself in the pain of Leomon's death shortly thereafter she didn't have a whole lot of time to think upon it further and it was soon forgotten.

But now that she did remember it, courtesy of her dream and the newly related connections that she had been feeling of late, she wondered about it, why those things were happening, and what they meant.

"Wow…that sure is a pretty looking rain storm over there," said Calumon in an awed voice as he hopped down next to Jeri, causing the brown haired girl to blink in surprise, startled from her thoughts, and look down at the little creampuff of a digimon with an expression of mild confusion.

"Calumon…that's _not_ a rainstorm. That's a digital field."

"Really? It sure seems different from the others that we've seen before."

_He does have a point there,_ thought Jeri as she cast her gaze back to the blue fog that had settled over the horizon. A muffled _thump_ could be heard emanating from within its azure depths, a sure sign that there was fighting going on in there. _I wonder if that means anything…_

Jeri and Calumon sat on the roof a little bit longer in silence, watching as the blue cloud _convulsed_ for a moment as an indistinguishable figure came into the range of their sight. Calumon looked over at Jeri with big, wide, green colored eyes, his face a portrait of worry.

"Takato's going to be there Jeri…"

Jeri nodded in acknowledgement, and she bit her lower lip, unconsciously clutching at the card that she held all the more tightly.

"I know."

Calumon's ears drooped down to his feet as he turned back to the blue fog. Jeri reached over and gently placed her hand on top of his head, caressing it for a moment before pulling the little In-Training into a hug.

"He'll be okay. They _all_ will be okay," assured Jeri before she placed Ryo's card back in her skirt's pocket and began to turn around so that she could get back into her room. "Let's go Calumon. I think we'd better tell me family about this. Things are probably going to get a little crazy out there."

The sound of a fire siren piercing the air only emphasized this point for the brown haired girl. Downstairs she heard the sounds of rushing feet, most likely one of her parents coming up the stairs to gather their children so that they could get to a safe place to ride out the attack. Jeri winced as she crawled through the open window to her and her step-brother's room and dusted off her dress. Her father had been getting increasingly worried about the affects of the attacks on all of their lives and their safety of late. This latest one wouldn't give him much optimism.

Casting a glance over her shoulder, Jeri's amber eyes softened while she continued to hold onto Calumon tightly.

_Be careful out there you guys,_ the brown haired girl thought before turning to face her father as he burst into the room.

* * *

Sakuyamon fell through the trees of the park, branches snapping as her body impacted with them with the force of her rapid decent. Pain lanced through her body from the smoking burn on the surface of her now exposed stomach, but at the moment she paid it no mind as she fought to stabilize herself. A quick look up towards WarGrowlmon, who was now being grabbed by bright blue tentacles and being electrocuted, gave her quite a bit of motivation to push out the pain so that she could fly again and be able to rejoin the fight. Alas, despite her best efforts gravity, that most constant of laws, combined with the searing pain that tore through her best defenses proved to be a far more capable opponent then the blue entity that had just shot her out of the sky, and the shaman digimon crashed the rest of the way to the ground. A cloud of dust and smoke burst into the air as her body impacted, and within her blue colored data sphere Rika allowed herself the luxury of the smallest of groans before struggling to push herself out of the crater that she had made.

_"Okay…I'll be the first to admit that this rates pretty high on the pain scale,"_ grunted Rika as she pulled her trembling body out and used her staff to push herself back up to her feet. _"But I can't let it get to me. Dino Boy's in serious trouble out there, and judging by how that one shot felt I get the distinct impression that he's not going to fare any better at the Ultimate level…"_

Sakuyamon took a deep breath and readied herself to get back into the air when pain once again lanced through her abdomen, causing the shaman priestess to collapse back to the ground. Breathing heavily, Sakuyamon fought through the pain and gritted her teeth. As she watched, one gloved hand became transparent and blurred out of view.

_That's not good…_

_"Rika…"_ began Renamon from the darkness surrounding the red haired girl's data sphere. Rika's face took on a worried expression as she noted the harsh, gasping sounds that were barely being held back in the vulpine's voice.

_"Renamon! Are you all right?"_

_"I…don't think so…Rika. I'm rapidly…losing the energy that I need to sustain our Mega form. Something…feels…wrong…I can't seem to use our powers on the injury that we just took. It's…resisting our magic somehow..."_

Sakuyamon pressed a gloved hand to her stomach, and for the first time Rika noted the feel of data particles escaping through the gaps between her fingers as they floated away from her body.

_"Ah…huh…okay…this is_ really _bad. Just what did that thing hit us with anyway? I…AAAGGGHHH!"_ Pain once more shot through Sakuyamon's body as her entire body trembled and began to blur. Realizing that they had little choice in the matter Rika let go of her connection with Renamon, hoping that by reverting her partner back to her Rookie form the damaged data would be released and what was left would be reassembled and remain whole. It had happened before when her partner had sustained damage and reverse digivolved. Injuries of course remained until the digimon had proper time to heal themselves (although digivolving often took care of that problem barring excessive damage beyond evolutions ability to restore data), but usually the injury was lessened. With this hope held firmly in her heart light cascaded over Sakuyamon and separated into the two bodies of Rika Nonaka and Renamon. Rika pushed herself off the grass covered ground, blinking back the fiery hair that fell over her eyes and looked over at her partner worriedly. The vixen was now getting into a sitting position and inspecting herself. There was a rather nasty looking burn mark marring the white area in the center of Renamon's stomach, and the fur where the laser had hit was blackened and falling away, revealing red and angry looking skin underneath.

Rika noted that she herself felt some slight pain on her own stomach as well, but that seemed unimportant when compared to the wellbeing of her partner digimon.

"Renamon…?"

The vulpine digimon breathed a sigh of relief as she brushed away the dead fur.

"I'm fine now Rika. Whatever it was that had forced us to de-evolve seems to have halted its course."

Rika raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"You're sure about that."

"My data patterns have stabilized themselves, though I could do with some rest once this is over. Now are you all right?"

Rika frowned and placed a hand over her belly. Some slight pain flared up over the friction caused by her cotton T-shirt on the skin, but it didn't feel particularly bad. Certainly no worse then an average rash. Raising her shirt just enough to expose some midriff Rika took a look down and nodded when all she saw was red, irritated skin.

"Looks like we both got out of that lucky," lamented Rika as she lowered her shirt back down again. "It certainly felt a lot worse when we were biomerged. Either way, I'd like Hypnos to have a look at you when this fight's over. I'm not taking any chances after _that_ little demonstration."

"I can full heartedly agree," said Renamon as she cast her blue gaze up towards the broken, tree filled sky. "Now that we've finished that what do you propose we do about helping WarGrowlmon?"

Following her friend's gaze, Rika's mind was already moving ahead to try and find a solution when a flash of light cut across her vision, aiming towards the field of battle. No explosion could be heard, strangely enough, and for a moment the red haired Tamer was confused as to what it could have been until a familiar shout rang across the air, causing the girl's violet eyes to widen in surprise.

"GUILMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…!"

* * *

_In an endless expanse of darkness filled with a grid-like pattern of glowing red lines Takato opened his eyes, his hand keeping a firm grasp on his digivice as it clicked and beeped. All around him he could feel the familiar presence of his best friend, Guilmon, as the crimson lines flowed over his body, as if scanning him and processing the information that lay buried within his body._

_'So…here I am again,' thought Takato._

_"Again?" Spoke up Guilmon's childish voice from the darkness._

_"Guilmon? You…can hear me?"_

_"Of course I can silly. Why shouldn't I? Was I supposed to be covering my ears?"_

_"No! Of course not, it's just…well, the last time that I was here, in this place when me and Henry and Rika were biomerging in the real world for the first time things were different. I was pretty much alone here until we became Gallantmon again."_

_"Oh." Guilmon sounded a little confused. Takato had to chuckle at that but it didn't take long for him to sober up and for his expression to become firm again and reflective._

_"You know, it's almost ironic, being here again, like this. The last time that I was here…wherever here is… you, me, and the others were getting ready to fight the D-Reaper. I remember thinking about how much things have changed for me; how I used to look at the 'grand adventure' that I had embarked on, and about how becoming a digimon for the first time felt. I first thought that I was just imagining things, and then afterwards when I realized that we actually did become one I felt amazed by being like that. Our minds melded as one…I don't think that I ever felt safer or closer then during those moments. And that feeling was so powerful that I was certain that nothing was going to keep us apart, no matter what the universe threw at us. You were a part of me and I was a part of you."_

_"…And then, you died, and a part of me felt like it died with you."_

_Guilmon patiently waited for the boy to continue._

_"I think something changed in me when Lucemon destroyed you. Sure, Shibumi was able to bring you back, but before that…I used to have dreams that you had come back, only you weren't there when I woke up, and there was always something in me that felt like it was missing. For the first time I actually felt like giving up. You were gone and there didn't seem to be a way to bring you back. I became desperate, and I did some pretty stupid stuff…the kinds of things that I didn't think that I'd ever do."_

_Takato's expression became sorrowful and downcast as he stared off into the darkness surrounding him. Memories floated into his mind from that dark period when he was trying to recover from the shock of Guilmon's death. The re-scanning of Guilmon's drawings, the creation of BlackGuilmon, and finally when he biomerged with BlackGuilmon to become ChaosGallantmon and fought his friends. Granted, he hadn't been in control of himself then, buried as he was in the overwhelming torrent of emotions that had made up the dark, Mega level knight but he hadn't been able to pull himself back at any of the crucial moments. In the end, his friends had to pull him out of his darkness. He had failed them…_

_For some reason the whispering sound of a Sakura tree's branches swaying in the wind reached Takato's ears, and with it came the ghost of a memory that had been weighing most heavily on Takato's mind these past few weeks._

_"Gogglehead," came the annoyed voice of Rika, speaking from the memory. "Shut up and stop feeling sorry for yourself already, will ya?"_

_'Rika…' thought Takato, remembering how she had been the one that had at the last pulled him back from the brink. And he knew that she was right. He was feeling sorry for himself, and that it didn't do him any good to be that way._

_But there were some things that he had to get off of his chest first._

_"I had made a promise to you before Guilmon…that nothing was ever going to keep us apart. That we would always be together, and for a while, it felt like it had been broken. We had been separated before but at least we were able to find each other again. You're dying changed that. I didn't think that I could rely on anything the same way. I couldn't make things right, and every time I tried it was as if things kept getting worse. And now…now I'm…afraid." Takato took a moment to swallow at the admission of fear before continuing. "I want to fight with you Guilmon, like we used to, but a part of me feels that it won't be like that again. And that no matter what we do one of us is going to end up losing the other and that there isn't going to be a wish that can bring things back the way that they used to. I fight because I know that if I don't I lose everything all over again, but I keep thinking that I'm always on the edge and about to lose; that I won't be able to protect the people that I care about no matter how hard I try."_

_Takato closed his eyes and took a deep breath, contenting himself with the silence that surrounded him, and the steady warmth that pulsed in his hand as his digivice continued to click and beep away._

_Guilmon finally spoke._

_"Takato? I may not remember everything about what happened to me. The things that you, Kai, Renamon, and Impmon told me about, but I do know that whenever I'm near you or whenever we're fighting together I always feel more then what I am. That I can do more and that I can trust you to do all those things by my side. I don't know how or why I feel that I know that, except for what you and the others have told me about my not having any memories, but that feeling feels right to me. We haven't lost so far because we've had each other, and we've had our friends helping us, and so long as we continue to have that then…maybe…you don't have to be afraid anymore. Because we're all there to help each other. Do you understand what I mean Takato?"_

_A small smile bloomed to life after a few seconds of thought._

_"Yeah. Yeah, I understand."_

_"Good. Because I think that when we have those things, feeling afraid is like skating on sausages. Kind of silly…"_

_Takato's eyes brimmed with tears as a joyful laugh erupted from his throat._

_"It…sure…is…silly, isn't it…Guilmon?" Asked Takato, his words tattering as he forced them through his laughs. Once more he heard the sound of Sakura trees blowing in the wind and an all-too familiar memory traced its way through his mind once more…_

" _Just remember… we'll always be there for you…"_

_"All right," said Takato, his voice becoming firm once again and he tightened his grip on his digivice. "We have a battle to win. Are you ready?"_

_"Are you?" Asked Guilmon, his tone inquisitive, and oddly mature sounding in the way that he had voiced his question. Takato nodded in response to it._

_"Yeah. It's time that I quit hiding from myself and my friends. They were there for me…now it's my turn to be there for them. THE KNIGHT SHALL RISE AGAIN! BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"_

* * *

"GUILMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…GALLANTMON!"

Lightning crackled around his body as the light that had enveloped him began to die down, revealing his form for all to see. He was significantly smaller then his previous form of WarGrowlmon. Smaller even then his Champion level form of Growlmon, but as MarineAngemon proved to his friends on a regular basis size was of no importance when strength was measured in the courage held within a heart, and within this heart beat a courage that had for too long slumbered. And now, it was awoken.

His body was different from what it had been before; sleeker, and with sharp angles aligned over his armor in such a way that the new, warrior digimon appeared almost like a living weapon in his own right. Blue, glowing crystals studded his breast plate, waist, knee joints, ankles, shield, and helm, the last of which was situated just above the red colored visor that held the visage of a dragon, with long wings stretching behind him. Gold colored foot blades adorned his boots as he floated in the air, his flight fully supported by the blue crystals that he wore around his ankles. A crimson cape billowed around him as he hefted his shield arm, now free of the azure wires that had held fast to him earlier. Looking around him with gold colored eyes, the knight like warrior shifted his other arm, revealing a peculiar apparatus affixed to his wrist that began as a hand guard of sorts and ended in a short claw. Electricity sparkled at the area in the center of the three 'claws' in response to the warrior's gaze and a second later a large, blade like, energy lance flared to life, its color akin to that of the crystals that he wore about his armor.

Looking away from his choice of weapon Gallantmon turned towards the cables that surrounded him. They wavered in the air, as though uncertain by this sudden change as well as in the alteration of its quarries size. Time seemed to pause and take a breath as Gallantmon's perspective hovered on this moment…

The moment passed swiftly.

_"Lightning Joust!"_

Slashing his lance around in a wide arc, lightning surged through the air as his lance expanded exponentially, severing scores of wires in one fell swoop and freeing himself from his 'prison' within seconds. As cables dropped down towards the ground, no longer supported by their owner Gallantmon took a moment to kick at the air with his bladed feet and send himself surging upwards, climbing for distance as he charged up his shield this time and took aim at the mass of blue cables. Energy swirled and collected in the central crystal of the gold rimmed shield and a second later found the Royal Knight firing a tremendous blast of raw power at the entity.

_"Shield of the Just!"_

White energy slammed into the wire made creature, and a howl split the air as fire erupted all along it. Tentacles flailed about in seeming random directions as the main body convulsed and swelled. New tentacles erupted from beneath the old, casting off the old ones like a second layer of skin and the top of the entity swiveled downwards, and while no visible eye could be seen Gallantmon was quite certain that it was focusing all of its attention on him.

_"X-Antibody identified,"_ a voice boomed from within the creature's body. _"Counter measures activated."_

_Uh oh…_

Once more cables shot out, blue electricity crackling across them as they swung outwards, over as well as under the Royal Knight at an arc, rather then straight out, seeking to cut off Gallantmon's escape and then close in on him from all corners. Seeing this, the white and red armored knight again slashed outward with his energy lance…

…Only to have the attack repulsed off of a force field.

_Okay…major_ uh oh _this time…_

Executing a back flip in mid air Gallantmon flew towards the only exit that he had remaining at his rear, and it was now rapidly closing. The cables were forming a closely nit egg shaped prison around him. Raising his energy lance again Gallantmon fired repeatedly, attempting to slow down the endless stream of wires or at least widen the opening that he had but no matter what he did the same force field continued to flare up under his assault, protecting the wires and leaving them untouched by his attacks. Gallantmon pushed more speed out of his form and narrowed his golden eyes beneath his helm. It didn't look as though he was going to get out in time.

* * *

"He's back," breathed Rika as she shielded her eyes from the sunlight that beat down on her and Renamon as they watched the battle play before them from their place on a tree branch.

"I see that his form has altered again," commented Renamon.

Rika nodded.

"Whatever it was that Shibumi did to bring back Guilmon it certainly did a whole lot more then just revive him and give him amnesia, didn't it? Can't really complain about the results though; if I didn't know any better I'd say that this new look is stronger then his old one."

Renamon folded her arms over her chest as Gallantmon unleashed his _Shield of the Just_ attack, as though giving concrete reality to Rika's observations.

"I wonder how he was able to biomerge this time when all of his previous attempts at it have failed."

Rika shrugged, but a small smile played at the corners of her mouth as she did so.

"How has he been able to pull off half the stuff that he's done in the past? You'd think that we'd be used to him pulling off a miracle when he's tripping over himself by now. We'll get the story out of him later when this is all over, but right now I'm a little bit more worried about how Gallantmon's 'modifications' are going to affect Takato now that he's biomerged with Dino Boy. We don't really know a whole lot about what's going on with Guilmon since Hypnos has been out of commission so much lately."

"Yes," said Renamon, frowning, "there is that. However I believe that we have more immediate concerns. Gallantmon looks like he's in trouble."

Rika followed her partner's line of sight and her violet eyes narrowed dangerously as she saw streams of wires surrounding the armored knight and enclosing themselves around him like a fist. Flashes of light could still be seen as he continued to fight, but for some reason the ease of which he had torn through the wires earlier had vanished, as though the enemy had become immune to his assaults.

Rika had a suspicion that there was a strong case for that theory. After all, she had heard the cable entity mention something about detecting the _'Hazard Shell'_ right before she had been shot out of the sky, and of all the things that she could think of aside from a certain girl lying on a scanning table back at Hypnos, Takato and Guilmon were the only ones in the real world that she knew of personally who were closely associated with the Digital Hazard.

"Do you think that you're up to biomerging?" Asked Rika as she pulled out her blue trimmed D-Arc and looked at her partner, her mind torn between not wanting to risk her partner's safety after what they had just been through and the safety of two of their friends.

"If you believe that you're up for it, then I am as well," was Renamon's response as she nodded her head. The two shared a look into each other's eyes for a moment before Rika raised

her D-Arc, preparing to call out the activation words for their merging. A sharp gust of wind and a massive shadow falling over them interrupted her though, nearly knocking Rika off the tree branch at the same time.

"Hey! Wha…?"

"Rika! Look!"

Scowling at the red strands of hair that threatened to blot out her vision Rika brushed them aside and looked as she had been directed. A massive, dark armored, knight-like warrior bearing an overly large shield and a wide bladed sword, with a skull like face mask affixed to its helm flew over them, its course taking it on a direct path towards the battle ahead of them. Rika raised her digivice and scanned the digimon.

Craniummon

Stage: Mega

Type: Vaccine

Special Attacks: End Waltz, God Breath

"Another Royal Knight," said Rika as she eyed the Mega level digimon suspiciously. Gathering her resolve Rika once more exchanged a glance with her vulpine partner and raised her digivice.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

A wave of energy once more cascaded over Rika and Renamon's bodies, melding them together as one as Rika's essence shifted her kitsune partner through her Champion and Ultimate levels before finally reassuming the shaman form of Sakuyamon. Rika smiled in triumph from within her data sphere as she felt the transformation complete itself successfully.

_"Everything feels normal…except I feel more then just a little tired after that. But at least we're no longer feeling any pain in this form. What about you Renamon?"_

_"I feel…able to participate, but I do not suggest that we exert too much of our energy in this battle. In fact, I believe that it would be prudent that we end this as quickly as possible."_

_"I can definitely agree with you there but that's easier said then done. We'll just have to see how things play out once we join in."_

_"Then let's go."_

 

And with that said, the shaman digimon took off into the air.

* * *

Wires descended on Gallantmon from all sides, grabbing at his limbs and sending jolts of electricity through his body. Gallantmon tore them off almost as soon as they touched him, having discovered during his struggles that although his energy based attacks were themselves useless the shields couldn't prevent the cables from stretching and tearing, and even in some cases from simply being cut by the blades on his boots or the sharp edges of his armor. However, despite this knowledge Takato knew that sooner or later he would reach a point where he would no longer have enough elbow room to keep moving around. Tangles of wires surrounded him like a jungle, and now with his only exit completely cut off and the walls surrounding him closing in it was just a matter of time before whatever this thing was claimed him

_Can't let that happen,_ thought Takato fiercely as he kicked away another blue tentacle and searched his prison for a weak point that he could attack and be able to escape through. There didn't seem to be one that he could get to.

_Again, not good,_ thought Gallantmon as he moved away from another rush of cable wires and placed his back against the wall, attempting to narrow down the number of fronts that he would have to fight on so that his attention wasn't split too much. However, Takato forgot one thing about his prison. It was entirely composed of the same cables that sought to entrap him, and soon enough they reached out and grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms to the walls as he struggled to use what slack he could find to free himself.

_Awww…nuts._

_"End Waltz!"_

With a powerful battle cry resounding upon the air a sword blade tore through the wall that lay directly above Gallantmon, severing a good many of the cables that held fast to the Royal Knight's form. Reaching through the hole that had been made a strong hand laid hold of Gallantmon's left arm and forcefully pulled him out, snapping more cables as he passed back into the real world, filled with all of its fresh air. As Takato reoriented himself in mid air he cast his now golden eyes over the brave soul that had just rescued him, and he found himself mildly surprised when his gaze met the crimson ones of a dark knight with a skull shaped face and two tufts of purple hair tied off at the sides. The dark colored warrior likewise looked him over and seemed to scoff with disapproval.

"An X digimon as a Royal Knight," the warrior said simply. "Oh, the irony…"

"Um…hello?"

"His name's _Craniummon_ Gogglehead," came the voice of Sakuyamon as she flew over to the pair of warriors. Gallantmon took a moment to note that her breathing sounded a little ragged. "And he's one of those _Royal Knights_ that have been giving us so much grief lately."

"Things change," spoke the now labeled Craniummon tonelessly, so intent was his focus on Gallantmon that he didn't even bother to look at the woman. "In more ways then one it seems."

A loud cry that echoed of a thousand voices screaming as one broke into the conversation and the three Megas looked back just in time to see Gallantmon's former prison disassemble itself into the individual cables that had originally composed it and immediately begin lashing out towards them. Craniummon slashed his sword again, segmenting the wires as they approached. Gallantmon did likewise, slashing a long beam of azure electricity around him in a wide arc, but as it had been before a shield flared up wherever his attacks struck. A wire broke past his attack with ease and pushed towards him…

…Only to meet the _Crystal Sphere_ that Sakuyamon hastily threw up around the three of them.

"That thing's immune to your attacks Takato," breathed Sakuyamon heavily as she clearly strained under the effort of maintaining her shield. "You might want to take a back seat here and get out while the getting's good. We'll hold this thing off…"

_"What?!"_ Exclaimed Takato from within his orange colored data sphere. _"You want me to just leave?! Rika…!"_

"That thing is targeting _you_!" Overrode Sakuyamon, her voice becoming increasingly edgy now. "Or did you not notice that by now? And for whatever reason you can't seem to hurt it right now...!"

A blast of blue energy tore through Sakuyamon's shield barrier, interrupting their argument. This was quickly followed up by a barrage of azure lasers that shattered Sakuyamon's shield to pieces and flew towards the now unprotected digimon.

_"SAKUYAMON!"_

Reacting on pure instinct Gallantmon swiftly leapt forward and superimposed himself between his friend and the next grouping of blasts. Within his data sphere Takato winced and gritted his teeth as the lasers slammed home into his armored body before he could get a chance to bring his shield to bear.

_"GALLANTMON!"_

Her eyes widening Sakuyamon felt as though something had just reverberated through her body as the blasts impacted into Gallantmon. In response the code that surrounded Rika's data sphere trembled, threatening to tear loose, but the fiery haired girl clamped down on it through sheer force of will. Oddly enough, Sakuyamon hadn't even felt a single bit of pain as she had on the previous occasion that she had experienced Takato's pain. It was an occurrence that she was still surprised at in spite of Renamon's earlier reasoning behind it, but now that she _had_ felt what he felt, and realized that there had been no pain, she couldn't help but wonder…why?

_"I know that those knuckleheads have a lot of armor covering their body and everything, but those lasers easily ate through my shoulder guard like acid and it was made from the same metal that makes up Gogglehead's Royal hide. So what gives?"_

Rika glanced over the areas where Gallantmon had taken some hits as he finally managed to bring his shield to bear against the oncoming blasts of energy. There were burn marks marking where they had impacted, and more then enough holes in his cape that much was certain, but for whatever reason they didn't go beyond that. There was no degradation of data as there had been with her. Looking over at Craniummon revealed a different picture from her friend. The warrior held his shield up in front of him, and while it was definitely defending him from the blue colored mess of cable wires it was also dissolving at a steady rate. There were even some spots on his armor where he hadn't been so lucky and were now showing the same kind of wear and tear as the shield with bits and pieces breaking off and dissolving into their composite particles.

_"Didn't Dynasmon call Guilmon an 'X-digimon'?"_ Asked Rika.

_"I believe that he did. I wonder if that has anything to do with why Gallantmon is so resistant to something that has shown itself capable of beating down multiple Royal Knights and ourselves included. Some type of immunity perhaps…"_

_"So… let me get this straight. Both of these guys are basically immune to each other."_

_"With one more so then the other it seems if the damage on Gallantmon's armor is any indication."_

Rika grunted as she felt something sting in her left hand as the lasers continued to pelt Gallantmon's shield.

_"All right. This stupid connection thing is starting to get on my nerves here. Takato and I are practically becoming our own worst enemies because of this!"_

_"…To say nothing of how you two have been acting around each other before you discovered it,"_ commented Renamon in an offhand manner, causing the red haired girl to flush lightly in her data sphere and scowl angrily at the darkness surrounding her.  
 _She is right about that,_ thought Rika, but she knew that now was not the time to be thinking about what had happened between them. In fact, this was the _worst_ time to think about it.

_"All right,"_ growled Rika as she grasped more firmly onto her bronze vajra staff. _"This feeling…whatever it is can annoy me all it wants for now. But so long as it's there we might as well see if we can't get some use out of it. I feel what Takato feels when he's fighting and we're in this form, right? Who's to say that this thing can't work both ways?"_

_"What are you getting at Rika?"_

_"What I'm getting at even though this thing is immune to Takato's attacks because he's an 'X-digimon' it hasn't shown itself to be immune to regular digimon attacks. We're a little under the weather right now, but if this link_ does _happen to work both ways…"_

_"Ah. I see now."_

"Takato," spoke up Sakuyamon as the laser attacks began to dampen down.

"Yeah?" The Royal Knight looked over his shoulder, locking his golden eyes on his friend's face.

"Do you trust me?"

Gallantmon blinked in surprise, taken off guard by Rika's question, and perhaps even pondering why she would feel that she _needed_ to ask that question.

"Of course I do."

Sakuyamon did not at all seem pleased by his quick, simple answer.

"That's not what I mean Gogglehead. Do you _trust me?"_

Takato blinked from within his data sphere. There were a thousand different meanings to the way Sakuyamon had phrased her question, and to Takato only one came up like a signal flag being flapped up and down.

_What is she trying to say here? She can't be thinking about…_ that _at a time like this…could she?_

Takato, in a moment of pure inspiration realized that by asking that very question was calling into question the sort of trust that he had just admitted to having towards the girl.

Just how far did he trust Rika Nonaka?

Admittedly, from the start of their acquaintanceship he could say that he considered her a loose cannon and could count on her to go her own way whenever it suited her (an unusual way to trust someone but that was just how things were in those days), and it was only later when they had become accustomed to fighting side by side that they began to lay down the foundations of trust that would eventually bring them up to where they stood in the here and now where they could, and have, risked each others lives for each other and helped each other, both on the field of battle and outside of it without even having to ask the other person for it. One such memory involved her savagely attacking a piece of the D-Reaper as it strove to bring him down into its mass, abandoning the calm, controlled, and graceful mask that she always wore in battle and dispensed with using special attacks and magic, utilizing her staff in much the same manner as a baseball bat, and all despite his own pleas that she save herself before D-Reaper tried to get her as well, and the incident would repeat itself months later in the reverse on top of the runaway Locomon on her birthday when she had nearly fallen off to her death. When she had demanded that he let her go…if he hadn't been angry with her before for attacking Guilmon during their first meeting he was positively furious then that she would even ask such a thing. And of course who could forget all those times where she had visited him and comforted him in the time following Guilmon's death?

Their friendship, rocky as it was now and had been when they first met, did not leave Takato with any sense that he shouldn't trust Rika. If nothing else, knowing that she cared for him as much as she did only confirmed that his trust was safe with her.

"What do you have in mind?" Asked Gallantmon finally.

Rika didn't answer in words, but instead closed her eyes as the lines of code that surrounded her data began to accelerate their pace around her. Dimly a part of her realized what it was she was doing…and what it could possibly mean and how it affected both her, Takato, and Jeri, and for an instant she could feel a spark of hatred for herself no matter how well intentioned her actions were right now. The knowledge that Jeri would have told her not to worry about it (and most likely would have encouraged it) did not make her feel any better about herself or her actions.

_"Just trust in yourself Rika,"_ said Renamon from the darkness that surrounded Rika. _"Everything will fall into place afterwards. We all choose our own destinies, one way or the other, and no one can alter that choice."_

Rika nodded as a light began to glow in the center of her being, manifesting as a silver aura around Sakuyamon's body and flow outwards towards Gallantmon.

All this Craniummon saw.

_Interesting,_ thought the dark armored knight. _It appears that they're pooling their powers together to make up for what the other lacks. The Sakuyamon is a bit inexperienced in it though. She'll need more time to facilitate the connection._

Looking back at the cable monster Craniummon saw that time was not their best friend at the moment. The cable creature was already stretching its tentacles towards them, having sensed that their defense had slackened now.

_A pity that my shield is gone now,_ thought Craniummon as he flexed his fingers in the area of space where his famed shield, Avalon, had once been. Gone thanks to the lasers that had been amplified by the X-Virus that was contained in them. Oh yes, he recognized Yggdrasil's code in there _very_ easily. As his shield had been created by the same master one could say that he had almost intimate knowledge of that type of data. Though how this being had acquired the X-Virus and added it to its own structure was something of a mystery.

_Regardless, something must be done to stall this creature until they can fully formulate their plan of action. And last I checked I didn't see any other volunteers…_

Craniummon was suddenly interrupted from his train of thought as a bright pink _bullet_ suddenly shot out from the depths of the park, screaming and howling in rage at the top of its lungs before slamming full force into the perceived _head_ of the cable creature. His eyes widening in surprise Craniummon focused on the new interloper where his surprise reached a crescendo that he didn't believe would ever be topped. There, grappling with the cable creature's _head_ was Crusadermon, howling like a banshee as she slammed her Pile Bunker shield into their opponent at an incredible rate of speed, looking as though she was mad at the whole world for some reason and the cable creature served as a convenient focus to vent her frustrations on until she had her rage worked out of her system.

Although Craniummon always knew Crusadermon to be a somewhat unstable member of the Royal Knights, he had never before recalled her being quite _this_ volatile even towards opponents that had humiliated her. In fact, control tended to be one of her vises and she rarely lost that.

As interesting as the scene was Craniummon quickly saw that despite the surprise and speed at which she had launched her attack, Crusadermon was going to end up dead in short order. He was going to have to intervene…

_"Justice Burst!"_

_"Dark Blast!"_

_Actually it looks as though the proverbial cavalry has already arrived,_ thought Craniummon as a series of blue bolts intermingled with a single sphere of darkness crashed into the wires that were already stretching to capture Crusadermon as she continued to hammer away relentlessly and recklessly. Her shrill screams continued to rise in octave as she leveled her _Fist of Athena_ attack over and over again while simultaneously slashed with the yellow ribbons on her armor. Craniummon had to admit that he was awestruck by the sight. Never before had he seen his fellow Royal Knight so distraught.

Justimon leapt into view this time and with a deep crouch he leapt upwards, clearing yards of air with an impressive ease until he reached the summit of the cable creature, and with a shout of _Justice Kick_ he slammed his foot home, and sent the creature reeling backwards. Not even bothering to take a breather Justimon flipped in the air and morphed his cybernetic arm into his familiar Voltage Blade and sent a wide, crescent shaped energy slash flying towards the creature, cutting a swath in its body and all but splitting it in half. The creature held fast though, and energy surged across its body as data began to nit itself back together.

"HEY!" Called out Sakuyamon to the creature in a commanding tone. Almost instinctively all eyes, including the cable creature, turned up to where the shaman digimon was hovering. She stood next to Gallantmon, and Craniummon noted that her appearance, while still surrounded by the same silver aura as earlier, had changed during the time that he had been distracted. Her battle gear had vanished, and was replaced by a white colored kimono with a long red dress belted to her waist. Her vajra staff had become less ornate, simply appearing as a wooden stick with a series of rectangular and triangular objects attached to it, giving it the appearance of a crude mop of sorts. Craniummon smiled beneath his mask as he recognized the form. True, the Sakuyamon's new appearance did not look at all impressive, but as the old saying goes, appearances could be deceiving. And he knew that better then any of his fellow Royal Knights.

Sakuyamon indicated the glowing Royal Knight next to her, and as though a silent confirmation had passed between them Gallantmon raised his energy lance and sighted it on the cable creature. Electricity crackled at its tip and a fox shaped face took form, bared its fangs and snarled.

One second later Craniummon's vision of the world became as a white sun burning in all its intensity.


	62. 61: A Warrior's Fall

"What's the status on the anomaly?!" Demanded Yamaki as he clenched his lighter tightly in one hand. "Is it gone?"

"We're unable to fully tell, sir," answered Riley as she scanned the network. "There was a definite breach prior to contact with Yuggoth, but many of our real world bound detection systems have been knocked out by the seismic disturbance. However I'm definitely picking up some heavy chatter on the network itself. I'm having difficulty pinpointing anything definite as of yet due to the sheer amount…"

"I'm filtering it out now Riley," said Tally, her fingers became as blurs upon her keyboard as she spoke. "There. How's that?"

"Better," nodded Riley. The red haired woman paused for a moment and frowned beneath her visor before turning to Yamaki.

"It's not looking good sir. There's quite a bit of damage being reported throughout the city, a good number of it having to do with power and network connections, and there are an increasing number of sightings of digimon fighting in the area of the park and…something about a… _blue cloud."_

The room suddenly shook violently as the sound of an explosion reverberated throughout building.

"And before any of us forget, there _is_ the fight going on right on our doorstep between Henry and that dark Gallantmon," commented Talley. "And with all the damage that our systems have been taking there's not a whole lot that we can do to back him up or even protect ourselves."

Yamaki's expression darkened as he glanced up from his control panel and at one of the screens that was presently showing a visual of the closest battle. The gargantuan, emerald colored fortress digimon known as MegaGargomon was still squaring off with an azure colored version of Gallantmon's Crimson Mode. MegaGargomon was doing his best to hold the digimon off but for some reason he hadn't resorted to utilizing any of his special attacks during the entire fight, and it was quite clear that this lack of offensiveness was costing him. How it was that the fight had managed to last this long was still something to wonder about given the Gallantmon's power levels, but then it was quite possible that MegaGargomon's strong defense, battle experience, and type advantage were giving him an edge in the battle. The new Gallantmon's moves, though powerful seemed to lack any finesse to them to give them any true affectiveness.

_Of course, with the amount of damage that Henry and Terriermon's Mega form have taken it's hard to tell the difference,_ thought Yamaki noting the multiple rends, tears, and burn marks that now dominated his body. _He's much too big and slow to be able to avoid any of those attacks. Surely there must be something that we can do but most of our systems are down. Unless…_

The sound of the main door to the control room sliding open caught the Head of Hypnos's attention, interrupting his train of thought.

"Well now, I can see that this mess was _so_ worth having the secretary try to keep us from getting up here," spoke up a voice in a dry, sarcastic tone. "Especially when it looks like you could use all the help that you can get. Oh well, it's only the fate of the world that's at stake…"

"Kuroda…"

"Itokawa," said Yamaki, recognizing the second speaker, the one that had just identified the first speaker as _Kuroda._ "I thought that Ms. Endo had made it quite plain that you weren't supposed to come up here until the crisis was resolved."

"Yes, well, about that," began the man named Kuroda but Yamaki cut him off as he turned around.

"I wasn't talking to you, Mr. Kuroda," Yamaki said, straining to keep his tone as civil as possible under the present circumstances. "I was speaking to Itokawa."

Itokawa took a step forward.

"Look Yamaki. There's nothing that I can say that will get either of us in the other's good graces, so let's be honest here and break down the situation. You're currently hard pressed with all of Hypnos's systems going haywire in the present situation and you're having difficulty keeping up with it, am I correct? You need every hand available to get around this…"

"And you have already proven yourself untrustworthy in that regard," said Yamaki, keeping his voice even. "You have gone behind my back and activated Argus, which then proceeded to _attack_ the Tamers and even physically assaulted one of them when they were defenseless, all the while during a time when you were supposed to have not only left Hypnos grounds but also when the Hazard Storm was causing multiple systems to malfunction and corrupt. What makes you think that I'll trust you now? Just because you found the man behind Argus to begin with?" Yamaki indicated Kuroda with a nod of his head.

Itokawa gritted his teeth but held back his own frustration. He couldn't fault Yamaki not trusting him. Heck, if any of his own subordinates had done what he had done he would have fired them and made sure that they wouldn't have been able to worm their way back into their position (something that he noted with some sense of irony, was what he was doing right now). But still, the way things were present, he knew that Yamaki couldn't afford to turn down any help. And so did Yamaki, but there was still the issue of trust that had to be dealt with, and quickly.

"If I may be so bold as to chip in my two Yen," interceded Kuroda tactfully, "I'd like to point out that we're running out of already rather dubious time as it is. From the looks of things the giant Mecha is going to end up losing pretty badly against that dark knight without proper and swift intervention. Itokawa doesn't have to touch a single control panel if you want but if you want speed then you might want to think about giving me access to what I need to help out."

Yamaki looked over at Kuroda, weighing his options in addition to quickly speeding through what he knew about the man, which wasn't much. He had been in the process of investigating the researcher's and designers who were behind Argus but he had been unable to gather much information on them due to recent activities distracting him. What he _did_ know for certain was that he was a fairly new name in program development and anti-digimon software, but due to his attitude (from what he had heard about him on the occasions when his name had been bantered around during a board meeting) he often had trouble moving in high circles until people began to become desperate enough to call for some serious action to be taken. He gathered that Kuroda was good at what he did given his position as head of the design bureau of Argus and the fact that his name was plastered on just about every document pertaining to the program, which also lent some credibility to his reputation, such as it was. But beyond that, Yamaki knew very little. Could he afford to take a chance with this unknown in his midst at a time like this?

A quick glance up at the monitor showing MegaGargomon's battle with the dark Gallantmon quickly made up his mind.

* * *

MegaGargomon barely moved out of range of ChaosGallantmon's black, double bladed spear as it clove through the air, the metal practically _singing_ as it moved. MegaGargomon didn't have time to appreciate the sound (if he had _wanted_ to) as the dark knight moved on him in rapid succession and landed a brutal blow upon his face, adding yet another dent to his already battered face. Reacting on reflex Henry cut upwards with his fist and his exterior body of MegaGargomon followed suit, landing a nigh equally powerful blow on ChaosGallantmon's body. Having no room to dodge the attack ChaosGallantmon flew backwards through the air, but was quickly able to stabilize himself with a quick flap of his midnight black wings. The dark knight raised his spear and looked at MegaGargomon as he got into a defensive stance beneath him, raising his fists to lock on target.

They had been fighting like this for a while now, though as to how long was anyone's guess at this point. Just suffice to say that it had been long enough for the two to cause some damage to each other, though to be fair MegaGargomon bore the greater brunt of ChaosGallantmon's attacks then vice versa. Henry had used every restraining move that he had been taught but the problem was that those moves were not built for the overwhelming strength of MegaGargomon's form, which relied on brute force and crushing an opponent in close quarter combat. While this was ideal for holding down an opponent it meant virtually nothing to ChaosGallantmon in his present form, which was already powerful in its own right and growing stronger as the fight dragged on, surprisingly enough. The matter wasn't helped by Henry's reluctance to cause any serious harm to the dark knight for fear of hurting the girl who was trapped inside. And it was something that Terriermon was becoming slightly annoyed with.

_"Henry,"_ panted Terriermon's voice from the darkness surrounding Henry's data sphere. _"I realize that you don't want to hurt Noriko, but if we don't take off the kid gloves and stop playing footsy with her we're going to lose pretty badly here."_

Henry shook his head.

_"I realize that Terriermon but we can't. That's a person in there…just a frightened kid! I don't…"_

_"…Want to hurt her. I know. That's what you said earlier, and I understand how you feel about it, but we still have to fight her anyway. As she is right now she's dangerous and ever since she digivolved she's stopped listening to reason! Not like she's been giving us much of a chance_ to _reason with her…"_

Henry gripped his hands into fists and clenched his teeth.

_"If only there were some way that we could reach her. She managed to get herself in control earlier. There_ has _to be some way!"_

_"I'm with you there buddy, but the way thing's are going right now I don't see that happening any time soon."  
"Terriermon! She's _in there! _Even though she's been loaded she was able to reassert her personality. She can do it again!"_

_"Henry…if she was able to regain control, I think she would have done so by now. Ol' BlackGuilmon's digivolved to a pretty high level, using_ her _energy, and he's presently in the driver's seat. Hate to break it to you bud, but we've got to fight her."_

An image flashed through Henry's mind of Sakuyamon interposing herself between his attack and Lucemon Chaos Mode, and a moment later it was joined by Noriko's hurt, lost, and exhausted expression from when he had first discovered her during the Hazard Storm from yesterday. That was all it took for Henry's spirit to rise in protest against what Terriermon was suggesting to him.

_"No!"_

_"Henry! She's going to kill us if we don't start fighting her seriously!"_

_"I'm not going to hurt her!"_

_"HENRY…!"_

A surge of energy just barely missed MegaGargomon's head, jerking the both of them back to the fight at hand. Reflexively MegaGargomon's weapons sighted on ChaosGallantmon.

_"Mega Bara…!"_ Began the fortress Mega only to halt in mid sentence as something clicked in Henry's mind and he hesitated.

_"Henry!"_ Shouted Terriermon, sensing his partner's pause. _"We've got to fight! Henry! HENRY!"_

_"Black Perdition!"_ Shouted ChaosGallantmon's voice as the dark knight flew forward and slammed into MegaGargomon's midsection, bypassing his defense with almost ridiculous ease as he tore a swath across the armor that protected biomerged Mega, tearing through the armor but not quite breaching it enough to damage any vital areas. Henry grunted in his data sphere, grateful that MegaGargomon's armor was as thick as it was, or he would most certainly have felt that more then he did now. If nothing else though, the attack snapped Henry back to the present and his mind began to move again to find a way to disable his opponent without hurting him. Seeing that ChaosGallantmon's spear was now a respectable distance and direction away from his abdomen Henry moved quickly to wrap his arms around the chaos knight and pull him close to his body, trapping him and pinning his arms, robbing him of the full use of his spear.

_"Noriko!"_ Called out Henry as he struggled to reach the girl trapped inside the fallen knight and keep him still at the same time. _"You've got to stop this! Please! I…"_

Henry's grip was broken suddenly as ChaosGallantmon burst free from his prison, bringing up an armored knee into the damaged area and pushing backwards. Despite MegaGargomon's size and strength ChaosGallantmon threw aside the arms that had held him, and with one flap of his mighty wings he pulled back just enough to meet MegaGargomon's gaze. A crimson, burning gaze met MegaGargomon's emerald as a dark aura flickered around his body. Henry could have sworn that the creature was smirking at him.

_"Pitch Dark,"_ ChaosGallantmon whispered and the dark aura exploded outwards, engulfing MegaGargomon and throwing him to the ground. Henry and Terriermon both struggled to not scream as the burning energy cascaded over them. Pain erupted from every inch of their body as the energy licked at them like hungry flames on wood.

_One chance,_ thought Henry desperately as he felt his fusion with Terriermon begin to slip and weaken. _"Power Pummel!"_

Turbines turned at a rapid pace within MegaGargomon's wrist cannons as he thrust his fists at the darkness surrounding him, blasting a powerful burst of air at the darkness surrounding him and dispersing it. Metal groaned as MegaGargomon, panting heavily despite the fact that he was a machine, sat up and scanned the area around him.

A flash of blue light was his one and only warning.

_"Black Perdition!"_

A seering blast of blue energy hit MegaGargomon full in the chest, causing the massive Mega to fall back down to the ground with a shout of pain.

_"Henry!"_ Shouted Terriermon and pushing his consciousness forward the long eared digimon lashed out with one arm, firing a round of green lasers from the cannons fixed to his wrists. ChaosGallantmon deftly leapt into the air to dodge them. In his data sphere Henry felt his frustration rush forward as his and Terriermon's Mega form began to get back to their feet.

_"Terriermon! I told you…!"_

_"Henry! What is_ with _you all of a sudden?! I'm trying to protect us here and you're not letting_ either _of us fight here! I told you, she's going to kill us if we don't do something! ChaosGallantmon's not pulling his punches here and neither should we! Besides, with all that armor that she's got on right now hurting Noriko is the_ last _thing that we need to worry about!"_

_"Noriko…"_ Henry winced as he struggled to get their Mega form into a strong position, pain flaring up from his stomach with each movement. That injury was really starting to get to him and that was not a good sign. He wasn't sure how he or Terriermon were going to look once they reverse digivolved. _"Terriermon…I can't…I don't want to hurt her…"_

Terriermon groaned in frustration.

_"Henry? We've been through this before, and I don't mean about what I've been saying just a few minutes ago. I mean back in the early days of our partnership when you didn't want to fight. A little girl almost got hurt by a Musyamon and Takato was thinking that he was on top of the world just a few minutes before with that Hyper Wings combo. I don't like this any more then you do but still…"_

_"And what if I forget that she's in there?"_

There was a brief moment of silence from Terriermon as he digested his partner's question before speaking again.

_"You're kidding me. After all this time you're still upset because you shot at Rika and Renamon?"_

_"I lost control there Terriermon! I nearly hurt our friends…could have killed them, and here we are facing another friend who's trapped in the body of an overwhelmingly powerful digimon! We're so used to using lethal force against rogue digimon that we barely even think about it once they start causing chaos and destruction, and the stronger they are the more force that we use to take them down! And this time…this time Noriko's in there…"_

_"And we're not doing her any good by holding back. Come on Henry, you told me that you needed a reason to fight, and that sometimes there just isn't any choice…"_

_"There's always a choice…"_

_"Fine. Then what are you going to choose? We take the gloves off and we stop this guy right here, and hope that we can rescue Noriko in the process? Or do we let him just walk all over us, keep Noriko for good, and then run rampant over the rest of the city and our friends? If you want to rescue Noriko you've got to do some pretty hard stuff to do it!"_

Henry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, centering himself as he had been taught by his teacher. He knew that Terriermon was right. He had been down this road before…more then once in fact. The first time it had been with a neighborhood kid, a kid that he had hurt pretty bad in a scuffle. Since then he felt that he had to hold back and keep himself in check so that he wouldn't hurt anyone, and when Terriermon first became a part of his life he had felt the same sense of losing control all over again, first with using Terriermon, however unknowingly in a game to fight and destroy things to accomplish seemingly meaningless goals just so that Terriermon could gain the energy to digivolve. And the situation only became exacerbated when Terriermon digivolved during one of Takato and Guilmon's two fights with Rika and Renamon last year, practically going insane and blasting everything that moved…nearly killed Rika then too. For a time Henry refused to let Terriermon digivolve and tried to solve fights as best as he could without resorting to violence, most, if not all of which failed and caused Henry to question what it meant to be a Tamer and why fighting was such an integral part of that job description. And then when Musyamon endangered an innocent life he had made a decision to fight.

After that he had felt more in control of himself. More confident in the things that he did.

So what was the problem now?

The truth was he had become afraid of his Mega form after he nearly killed Rika and Renamon in the fight with Lucemon. He hadn't really thought about it before but MegaGargomon _really_ carried a lot of weapons. More then enough to level a fair number of city blocks and still have ammunition to spare, and they were all so very destructive. Especially the big ones that sat on his shoulders. It struck him as rather odd that he should have a form like this; a giant, moving, war machine. It never occurred to him that MegaGargomon, despite being a Vaccine and a protector type digimon, was practically in direct contrast to his own views towards violence even if he believed that violence was sometimes a necessity. Now that the thought _was_ there he had become all too aware of how destructive he was when he was in this form. Death and destruction on a giant's feet. Sure he had been able to fight and blot such thoughts out before, but in every one of those cases he hadn't been biomerged. Not even in the fight with the strange Triceramon from before. He had claimed then that the area that they were fighting in wasn't ideal for MegaGargomon, but was that the truth? He knew that he at times worried about his Mega form but how far did it extend? Pretty far from his point of view, especially since it was causing him to hold back so much more then he would have otherwise. D-Reaper agents and Parasimon was one thing. Beings that had come to cause chaos on a massive scale that the time for talking was done before it even got a chance to make itself known. ChaosGallantmon though had Noriko trapped inside of him, _using_ her as a power source to fuel his Mega form. He felt angry at that… _very_ angry but with it was also the fear of hurting her the way that he had hurt Rika. It felt too close to what he had experienced weeks ago, and as a result he didn't feel that he could trust himself.

_But then…Noriko's counting on us. She's done what she can. Terriermon's right, if she could she'd help us but it looks like she can't right now. I told her that I'd like to be friends with her, and right now I'm not being that. I told Takato once that sometimes you need to tell your friends what they need to hear even if they don't want to hear it. The same thing applies here. I don't want to hurt Noriko…_

Henry felt his heart clench at the thought.

_…But it looks like the only way that I can help her right now is to do exactly what I'm afraid of doing._

It was so easy to say it. Doing it though…Henry felt that was going to take more courage then he had ever thought would be needed. Or maybe he was just going about it the wrong way. Fighting Noriko just felt intensely wrong to him even if she wasn't the one in control of her body anymore…if that was still even _her_ body or had been to begin with. It felt just as wrong as it had been to not fight her. Both felt like a violation of their friendship and it was hard to tell which way was worse.

What could he do?

A memory came to him of Rika confronting ChaosGallantmon, not as Sakuyamon but as herself to reach Takato…

The sound of air singing as a sword blade descended upon him brought Henry back to reality and he reached up with both hands and caught the weapon deftly between his palms. Henry blinked in surprise but quickly brought himself back into the fight, throwing the sword blade away from him while simultaneously grabbing at ChaosGallantmon's wrists and bringing

him in for a head butt. Size and mass triumphed over the dark knight as the force of the blow threw ChaosGallantmon back, but he quickly righted himself with his wings. ChaosGallantmon regarded MegaGargomon with a cool gaze as he shifted his spear in one hand to the other and MegaGargomon regarded him back.

_If I can just reach her…_

"Noriko! If you're in there you've got to…!"

"Be silent!" Shouted ChaosGallantmon as he raised his spear up over his head. Space began to warp and blacken as dark energy began to coalesce around its blades. "The child is _dead!_ Do you hear me! _DEAD!_ I will not…!"

"Shut… _UP!"_ Henry shouted back as for a brief moment he felt anger flare up inside of him, startling even Terriermon. "She's not dead! She's inside of you and she wants out! Give her… _back!_ "

_"Black Perdition!"_

MegaGargomon tried to dodge the oncoming blue blast of energy, but his size and slow speed again proved to be a huge disadvantage in the battle field that he and ChaosGallantmon had chosen to fight in, and once again the giant war machine was thrown down to the ground with tremendous force. Cars that had not already been crushed and those that already had been lurched violently in the air. Alarms sounded upon the air and for a moment Henry was amazed that any of them not only still worked but were only activating _now_ in spite of all the damage and destruction that had been going on ever since the fight started.

_"Henry…"_ began Terriermon, sounding as though he were reaching the end of his rope.

_"Terriermon…"_

_"What?"_

_"…Never mind…let's just do this."_

Henry groaned as he pushed MegaGargomon's arms on the street and began to force their combined body back up. He didn't get a chance to accomplish that as ChaosGallantmon came in and swiftly kicked him back down. Henry felt pain flare in his skull as metal bent inwards and a second later his body met pavement again.

_Ow…_

Opening his eyes MegaGargomon saw ChaosGallantmon towering over him, spear raised and ready to strike.

"It's over," said ChaosGallantmon in a hard tone. "This fight is done. Stay down."

MegaGargomon's response was to raise one of his arms towards the offending knight. A second later the arm crashed back down to the ground with ChaosGallantmon's spear imbedded in it just above the wrist area where the cannons were attached, pinning the limb to the ground. Henry felt a scream dislodge itself from his throat, beating in time with Terriermon's as a burning sensation ripped up towards his shoulder.

_"Stay…down!"_ ChaosGallantmon reiterated, unmindful of his opponents pain. "Why do you continue to fight? You've lost! It's _over!"_

_"It's_ not _over!"_ Grated Henry as he fought to block out the pain that was threatening to overwhelm his defenses. _"Noriko…"_

"…Is _dead."_

_"No…she's_ …not!" MegaGargomon surged upwards. Concrete tore beneath him as he pushed his injured arm against the weapon that held the limb down until it ripped free. Catching the dark knight by surprise MegaGargomon grabbed hold of him with his uninjured hand.

"She's _not_ dead! Just because you said that you loaded her back in the digital world does not make her dead! If she were she wouldn't be asserting herself…she wouldn't have returned home in her _human_ form. As long as she shows the slightest sign of still being in you then she's still alive. I'm not going to give up on her!"

"How… _touching_ ," said ChaosGallantmon dryly as his wings began to darken. With a powerful roar ChaosGallantmon broke free from MegaGargomon's grasp and swiftly flew forward and belted him again across the face, adding another dent to the number that already dotted him. Two more hammer blows followed in succession and MegaGargomon once more fell back to earth. Floating down towards the goliath's wrist, the knight of chaos grabbed hold of the spear that was still imbedded in his wrist and with a twist he wrenched it free, unmindful of MegaGargomon's cry of pain.

"We all have hopes Henry Wong," said ChaosGallantmon as he beat his powerful wings and took to the air, rising above MegaGargomon as he lay on the ground, his armor a broken mess of tears, dents, and burnt metal. He was still struggling to move…still struggling to get back to his feet, but his movements were slow, _dazed._ ChaosGallantmon continued.

"We all have hopes; each and every one of us. You desire to rescue the girl who has become your friend. I desire to be reunited with my Tamer, just as it was his desire to bring back his partner when he created me. Not all of us get what we want though. Whether or not you believe that's fair isn't important to me. What's done is done, and Noriko has given me the means to reclaim what is rightfully mine."

MegaGargomon finally rose to his feet. Metal shrieked in protest but so far responded to his commands and refused to snap. A good sign, Henry felt as he sighted on ChaosGallantmon. Terriermon's words from earlier about choices came to him as he rolled through his magazines. Well…it was time to make one. He was coming to the end of his tether here.

"Whatever it takes," said Henry, ignoring the dark knight's words. His breathing was heavy, labored. Pain moved through his body like a sharp electrical current with each motion that he made, centered mainly on his stomach and his right arm. "I'm going to get Noriko out of you. I'm going to bring her home."

ChaosGallantmon chuckled, and, oddly enough to Henry's dazed mind, nodded respectfully to him as if he had expected no less.

"It's so easy to see what it was she saw in you," ChaosGallantmon said, laughing ruefully as he looked at the emerald goliath below him. "A pity that fate has decreed that nothing will bloom from this rose. _Black Requiem!"_

Raising his spear above his head once more ChaosGallantmon hurled it down towards MegaGargomon with all the strength that he could muster, the weapon transforming into a single, dark bolt of raw, crackling power that absorbed all light as it surged through the air. Time slowed down from Henry's perspective as he gave the command to fire.

_"Gargo Missiles!"_

The twin, giant missiles that were sitting on his shoulders roared to life and rocketed out of their casings. The yellow faces emblazoned on the fronts of the two missiles suddenly turned their mouths up into smiles, soaring on towards their intended target.

They never made it.

The twin missiles burst into shards of data the second they entered within the range of ChaosGallantmon's spear. The weapon continued downwards as if it hadn't even encountered the two missiles and smashed into the ground where MegaGargomon stood, sending waves of energy in all directions. The world darkened as the light of the sun was obscured by the black energy that washed over that area of the city…

* * *

ChaosGallantmon stood over the inert forms of Henry Wong and Terriermon, gazing at them in contemplation. They both lay so still on the ground that if it weren't for the slight breathing from both of them that they could have been mistaken for being dead. ChaosGallantmon wouldn't have been surprised if that had been the case given the amount of power that he had put into his last attack, especially if it had struck the Tamer head on, as it had been his intention to do. For some reason though his attack had missed and MegaGargomon had only been caught in part of the attack. Still at point-blank range mind you, but he hadn't received the fatal blow that was meant to finish him and this battle in one, swift, decisive blow. Curious. It was as though something…or _someone_ had reached out and deflected his aim at the last minute so as to ensure that Henry and his partner would survive.

For a moment, while ChaosGallantmon stared down at Henry and his long eared partner his gold colored irises, having lost the crimson glow from earlier, took on a warm, reddish tint to them and one hand twitched, as though longing to reach out towards the boy who lay below.

_Henry…_

With a growl ChaosGallantmon clenched his hand closed and spun around on his heels, his eyes returning to their original golden color. The Tamer and his partner were now out of commission and were no longer able to do anything that would further impede his quest to reclaim his own Tamer. Soon all would be as it was again…as it had been, and as it should be. He would be… _whole._

Resisting the urge to look back at the fallen and defeated Tamer ChaosGallantmon leapt into the air. Sensing where his target was the dark knight flew on wings of midnight.


	63. 62: Clash of Arms

"Damn it," whispered Kuroda beneath his breath as his hands flew over the control panel, glancing up at the view screen to see ChaosGallantmon fly off after having defeated MegaGargomon in single combat.

_Wasn't fast enough…_

Kuroda glanced up at Yamaki, but the man wasn't paying him any attention at the moment, as he was busy ordering recovery teams to be put together to retrieve the young Tamer and his partner from the danger zone, which was fine by him. He didn't need the man berating him for not living up to his promise of rendering quick assistance to the Tamers. Besides, as far as he was concerned this battle was still on, and it certainly looked that way to everyone else as well. A rather redundant observation given that ChaosGallantmon was still out there and aiming towards the larger group of Tamers and digimon now but it was an observation that gave the man some comfort. For all the bluff, bluster, and occasionally witty, sarcastic remarks that he levied on those that he worked with (and had on more then one occasion nearly cost him his job due to saying the wrong thing to a superior) Daigo Kuroda was actually somewhat insecure about his position in the grand scheme of things (a fact that many in his department, along with close friends, would have been surprised to learn). He had his reasons for this. He had started off with so much potential, graduating college with a high degree of skills in computer programming, much of which contributed to his being selected by the government for involvement in the Hypnos program several years after the digital world was first discovered. Thrilled with the prospect of researching the new layer of _reality_ he had accepted. The sky seemed to be the limit for him, and ironically it was, though not by any means the 'infinite' proportion by which the saying tended to imply.

The digital world had turned out to be far more complex then he had anticipated, and he struggled to understand and grasp some of the basic concepts behind its existence and the transformation of digital matter to 'reality' based matter (technological and logistic snags that would continue to hound him during the development of Argus), and then of course there was the _immensity_ of it all which went above and beyond all sense. The pretentious attitude that many of Hypnos's employees and staff, particularly that of the Board, held also had a way of stonewalling his advancement of his knowledge of the digital world as well, and when the digimon element came to a threshold, spawning dangerous creatures that biomerged and threatened the city he found himself quite helpless to keep up with events. Well, not _entirely_ helpless but for the first time he had felt out of his element, and seeing digimon and rogue programs wrecking havoc in the city…the _world_ violated what sense of order he had left about the inner workings of the universe.

Of course, he was nothing short of adaptable. Seeing the invasions of the Devas, the D-Reaper, the rise of the Digimon Tamers, and the return of the Monster Makers into the field of Artificial Intelligence Kuroda got the idea that events were going to be shifting down towards a _very_ interesting road, and that it would be best to prepare for that. Tamers, he supposed, were all very well and good even though he wasn't too overly fond of the concept (it smacked too much of anime shows and old Godzilla movies for his tastes) but more was needed. And that was what he had envisioned with Argus; a system that could supplement the Tamers and add to their abilities to confront digital threats and defend the real world from such dangers and could, as a fallback plan, defend _against_ the Tamers in case they turned rogue. The concept wasn't too far away from the older system of a Samurai cast and that of commoners that could be drafted to supplement the less numerous but far more skillful defenders of the land, only the Samurai were replaced with Tamers and commoners with a program, and with Argus as a backup for the possibility of rogue Tamers it was a nice check-and-balance system that protected everyone's interests and prevented others from seizing too much power and decide how things went in the world no matter how well-intentioned they were. And it had been that particular idea that had caught the eyes of the board, which was why they gave the okay for it.

But there was a slight snag, which therein was also one of the reasons for his insecurity. Argus's design _wasn't_ his, and now it was missing.

Kuroda could easily blame it on any number of things, and even Yamaki, with a little bit of researching would wholeheartedly agree that he was a victim of circumstances. Yamaki was, after all somewhat to blame for how things went. In spite of Kuroda's own research into the digital world how digimon _worked_ and were created was still very much a mystery to him. He had arrived onto the scene to late to grasp it when the real trouble started and Yamaki, having had his change of heart about being confrontational with the digital life forms refused to hand over any information about them to anyone who was in the business of constructing weapons to oppose them (an unusual turnabout for someone who had seen digimon as a menace and tried to use their own data against them) and then there was the lack of proper funding, as much of the government's taxes went to repairing any and all damages that had been wrought by digimon and D-Reaper. Of course, for a while the project itself had teetered off when digimon had returned to the digital world and assurances were made that they wouldn't be able to come back so that was understandable.

Except that people tended to forget that the digital world rarely leaves things in peace for very long.

But that was neither here nor there at this moment. However, his current string of failures and half-successes, that being Argus and now his attempts at aiding MegaGargomon, did bring something of a focus on his performance for winding up the current situation and to do so in a way that would at least put him in some favorable light for when it was all over. Failure always left a bad, metaphorical stench that he just could not stand, and always worked harder to correct. Selfish, yes, but at least it served a function and if it worked, it worked. Who was he to argue?

_The least Yamaki could have done was make it easier to access Juggernaut and bring it on line. Sure, it had been damaged when a digimon tried to break out but its programming isn't entirely dependent on the Juggernaut core._

_Of course, that stupid 'Hazard Storm' had to go and make things all the more difficult when it came to substituting the Juggernaut Core with the Hypnos network. I have to rewrite whole areas of code here just to get others to cooperate, and in a 'half hazard' fashion as well in order to speed things up. Under 'normal' circumstances I'd need longer…_ much _longer…to be able to get all the algorithms working in tandem with each other, and do it_ safely _because of the possible damage that Juggernaut may cause to the real world upon activation. At least the main programming of Juggernaut is more or less intact. Yamaki had it well protected but there are still some bits and pieces that were affected by the Hazard Storm. Hopefully the affected parts won't make too much of a difference, because if it does we could be screwed._

Kuroda glanced up at the monitors and winced.

_Not like we're already in trouble as it is._

Glancing back down to his keyboard Kuroda forced his mind to calm down and focus. He knew from personal experience that as long as he remained tense he would only make the situation that much harder to solve, and in conjunction, that much more problematic and dangerous. Feeling his body begin to relax and loosen up Kuroda returned his attention to his keyboard and continued to type away in rapid succession, all the while mindful of the minutes that were ticking away and burning down to nothing like a candle.

_Gotta move,_ Kuroda thought distractedly.

* * *

The cable creature's body wavered as Gallantmon's fox-shaped energy blast slammed into it full force, its shields virtually useless as the attack that the Royal Knight had used was not in any way utilizing the X-Antibody that had influenced Gallantmon's present form and powers, as it had been expecting. Seeing this moment of weakness, the digimon that now surrounded it took advantage of it and began laying in a barrage of attacks to keep it off balance and prevent it from mounting a counter-offensive. Sakuyamon, after breaking past Gallantmon, slashed her new _wand_ and released a wave of violet energy that surged towards the creature, breaking upon its form like the waves of an ocean. Simultaneously Sakuyamon traced intricate symbols in the air with her free hand, and her body once more flared with a silver aura that transferred over to her comrade, Gallantmon and he transferred it to his energy blade once more and let loose another snarling, fox shaped blast of raw lightning. From down on the ground below them Justimon let loose a _Justice Burst_ attack and Lilithmon again fired _Dark Blast_ to accompany it. Dynasmon, who was just now recovering from the cable creature's earlier _battering ram_ blow, rose up into the air, the jewels on his palms glowing. Raising his hands, Dynasmon sighted on the creature, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

_"DNA Disintegrator!"_

Red and blue lasers erupted from his hands, twisting around each other in the shape of a helix before impacting with the cable creature's body with tremendous force, burning away wires like straw before the flames. The cable creature's defenses were withering rapidly as it found itself unable to rally against its opponents, so taken off guard by the strength and power that lay behind Gallantmon's combined assault with the shaman priestess, and with Crusadermon latched up at the top of its body, pounding relentlessly with her Pile Bunker shield and screaming like an enraged lunatic it was proving excessively difficult to bring into focus the proper algorithms to pull off such a feat. In a last ditch effort to dislodge the annoying gnat of a Royal Knight while building up a defense the blue, cable creature raised the wires that lay beneath it, arching them upwards like the heads of a cobra and forming a sort of cocoon shaped armor. Digital field energy coalesced around each of the cables and began to fuse together, creating a shield around its main body. Meanwhile, the raised 'cobra' wires were not silent or unmoving. Blue electricity surged up the length of their bodies and soon began spitting out cerulean laser blasts, forcing each of the Megas to scatter lest they be caught up in the storm that they suddenly found themselves in.

_We're losing our edge here,_ thought Rika from within her data sphere as she flew through the air, dodging the blasts of energy as they came at her. _We have to get rid of those 'sentries' so that we can land one, good attack on this thing that can finish it off…or at least take it down a few notches._

_"I know,"_ spoke up Takato's voice from the darkness surrounding the girl, causing her to blink in surprise and look over to where Gallantmon was currently hovering. _"We almost had it just a few seconds ago…"_

_"Takato?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Did you just respond to something that I was just now thinking?"_

From the distance that Sakuyamon was from the armored, white knight, Sakuyamon could see Gallantmon blink his golden eyes and then turn to face her, lowering his shield as he did so.

_"Uh…was I?"_

Before Sakuyamon could respond a sapphire laser surged past Gallantmon's lowered shield and impacted with the side of his helm, eliciting a cry of surprise and pain from him. The attack, as sudden and as sharp as it had been, had not been enough fortunately to cause any serious damage due to Gallantmon's apparent resistance to the cable creature's attacks, and he snapped back to attention, raising his shield once more to ward off any further blasts while at the same time dodging to his right to evade another series of shots.

_"Okay…goose egg moment…"_

_"You okay?"_

_"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just learning the hard way to not let that happen again…again."_

Rika rolled her eyes, but was unable to stop a small smile from tugging at the corners of her mouth.

_"Stupid Gogglehead."_

Rika smirked as she ducked and wove between lasers, feeling a strange sense of vibrant energy swirling about in her center of being. It hadn't taken her long to take notice of her and Renamon's _transformation_ , and while she wasn't all that suitably impressed with its appearance (and somewhat livid over the long, crimson skirt that had materialized on her from the change) the sense of power that she was feeling more then made up for it. In a lot of ways it reminded her of Taomon's appearance. It didn't look as though it would have been able to hold up in a fight, lacking the armor that most Ultimate level digimon had for protection and with a paintbrush for her primary weapon no less, and yet she had proven herself strong enough to go toe to toe with some of the strongest digimon out there. This new form, she knew, was no different from the others; graceful and masking powers that few could dream of. She felt as though she could do more then what she knew the form was capable of, and that all her increasing experience with magic and the new combinations that she had been making during these past few months were all leading up to what she was now.

And on another level, she knew that was only part of the story. Takato's response to her unspoken thoughts seemed to drive that point home. And then there was the fact that the transformation had occurred after she had created the magic link between herself and Gallantmon so as to boost and aid his attacks against the cable creature…

Also, the pain that she normally felt coming from Gallantmon whenever she was biomerged with Renamon was… _different_. She could almost say that it was gone as she no longer felt affected by it to the same degree, but that wasn't quite it either. It was as though whatever had been initially going on between her and Takato that had caused the strange 'imbalance' between them, as Renamon had put it not to long ago, had been made as tranquil as a still surface of a pond or lake, and was only disturbed by ripples. Worry had been replaced by something else…something that felt _unique_ and at the same time special. In some ways it reminded her of what she felt towards Renamon, and in others it reminded her of the kiss that she shared with Takato all those weeks ago. A warm glow that burned within her, and a shared sense of connection with someone on a level that was deeper then just mere friendship. While she still felt a sense of worry about what this feeling meant and what impact it would have on the future, for the time being, it didn't feel important. Only the now was all that mattered.

And if what she was sensing was any indication, she wasn't the only one feeling this.

The sound of thunder echoing upon the air caught Sakuyamon's attention as the cable creature suddenly lurched violently to one side as an explosion detonated from within its cable cocoon, abruptly cutting off the storm of laser blasts that filled the air. Crusadermon's enraged howling could be heard over the roar and Gallantmon and Sakuyamon exchanged glances, once again wondering what it was that had caused the pink armored Royal Knight to enter into such a state before shrugging as one. From their perspective, whatever it was that was the resulting catalyst for Crusadermon's attitude, so long as it got the job done and swung the battle in their favor they weren't going to complain until it became a problem for them.

The cable creature let loose a sharp, keening sound that gave Sakuyamon the impression that it was screaming in pain, and a sudden surge of electricity raced up its body, focusing within the lotus like cocoon that surrounded it. A second later Crusadermon could be seen rocketing through the air, propelled by a jolt of blue lightning.

_"Looks like Crusadermon finally succeeded in making enough of a nuisance of herself,"_ said Rika sardonically. _"At any rate, she's given us the opportunity that we need to mount a new attack."_

_"Any ideas?"_ Asked Renamon from the darkness surrounding the girl's data sphere.

_"We need to get around that thing's defense for starters. Gogglehead's lance got quite the upgrade when he biomerged with Dino Boy…"_

_"True, but his own attacks are useless against this entity. We may be substituting his attacks with our power, but he doesn't have the experience that's necessary to use it in the same way that we do. He's fighting more like a cannon then as a surgeon's scalpel, and while being a cannon isn't bad in this situation, it's not what we need right now."_

_"And we don't have the time to teach him the ins and outs of using our power that way."_

_"Precisely."_

_"So let's see then…our own powers are enhanced and if what we've been experiencing prior to our 'mode change' is any indication our attacks are also much more malleable, though we don't exactly have an idea as to_ how _malleable. Heck of a time to start exploring the possibilities when we don't know what the results could be."_

_"As if that's ever stopped you before,"_ chuckled Renamon. Rika's smirk transformed into a grin at that.

_"Got that right. Okay…let's see here…"_

Sakuyamon closed her eyes beneath her fox shaped facemask, and her body reassumed the silver aura that had earlier shrouded her lithe form. As though sensing the shaman's gathering of energy the cable creature, which was just now beginning to recover from Crusadermon's assault, brought its tentacles up to focus on her.

* * *

Gallantmon grunted as his shield repelled yet another laser barrage and he raised his lance and took aim at the cable creature, looking for some weak point that he could exploit so that they could have another edge in battle but so far there didn't seem to be anything that he could attempt except fire some more and hope that something worked. They were experiencing some moderate success against the entity but both Tamer and digimon that made up Gallantmon's combined form knew that it was only a temporary stall, even with Sakuyamon's new Mode Change backing them and substituting his own practically useless attacks. Experience had proven that the entity was quite powerful and quick to adjust to new situations, and even now it was already rallying for what was most decidedly a counter-attack…

Gallantmon's golden eyes twitched as he felt something, some deep instinct, jerk inside of him suddenly and he looked over at where Sakuyamon had positioned herself. It was so strange. He couldn't quite understand what precisely it was that Sakuyamon had done to him so that he could use her powers in replacement of his own but whatever it was it had simultaneously granted him some kind of extra-sensory perception as to where she was, what her thoughts were, and what she was feeling at any given moment. While he could most certainly say that it was distracting, he was used to experiencing that type of situation due to his already deep bond and experiences with Guilmon and so he was able to adjust…more or less, as at present he couldn't really tell how he himself felt about it, caught up as he was in the fury of battle that he didn't get a moment to think about it. He got the idea quickly that he was sharing more then just strength with Sakuyamon the moment he felt that strength flow into him like a volcanic eruption. Having briefly hear her thoughts this idea was further reinforced and he wondered what more there was to the energy that Rika had passed to him, and what it was that she had done to make it possible. His own struggle to control that power, in a rather ironic turn of events, only served to strengthen it even further. Whether or not that contributed to Sakuyamon's Mode change he didn't know, but what he did know was that first there was a torrent of fire and then it tapered back, calming down. It was still there, focused in his lance but there was something more to go along with it. A sense of _connection_ on a level that he had previously recognized with Guilmon and even Jeri, only somehow…different.

If he knew how to describe it what he was feeling, he probably would have likened it to the flow of a river from a larger body of water. Every individual drop had its own story to tell and many secrets hidden within the overall depths while light sparkled upon its surface.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment. The sudden, sharp instinctive glance over at Sakuyamon, much like the rest of the battle, once more left him with no room to ponder what he was experiencing, because as he had done so his eyes had also taken note of the wire cables that were now assembling themselves against her, looking as though they were preparing to strike. Sakuyamon, presently too focused in gathering her magic for the launching of an attack hadn't yet noticed that she was being targeted.

It was at that moment that something in Gallantmon snapped and he lashed out instinctively with his lance.

_"Lightning Joust!"_

Protective energy flared across the group of tentacles that had begun to focus on the shaman as a stream of blue lightning sliced across it. As ineffective as Gallantmon's attack had been it did do the duty of grabbing the cable creature's attention as it was reminded of its original mission. Turning on a dime the cable creature redirected its wires towards the white and red Royal Knight, only to be stopped as a flurry of razor sharp, crystal shards cut across its path, shredding tentacles and shattering them into shards of data. Undaunted, the cable creature continued to push forward with an increasing number of wires…

…Until Dynasmon flew in and delivered a tremendously powerful blow to its main body with his massive fists, knocking it off balance. Down on the ground below, Justimon quickly took note of this and morphed cybernetic arm into his _Voltage Blade_ and rushed forward, slashing it in a wide, reaching arc, pouring every bit of power that he could into the attack. As though in response to this, old, familiar data surged to life within the weapon and the energy blade lengthened tremendously, cutting a swath through the support cables and sheering through the fog shield of the wire creature. The creature's balance, now upset by the loss of a solid, grounded support again toppled to the side, crashing to the ground and kicking up a massive amount of dust and debris that obscured the entity from everyone's view.

"Nice one," spoke up Lilithmon as she came up behind Justimon while he morphed his _Voltage Blade_ back into its humanoid form.

"It's not over yet," said Justimon in his dual voices of Ryo and Cyberdramon. "I'm willing to bet that's not going to keep that thing down for very long. We're going to need something with a lot more strength to put that D-Reaper knockoff down for the count."

Justimon turned up to look at Sakuyamon, who was still coated in her silver aura, and she nodded in agreement. At this point, they couldn't afford to take any chances.

Dynasmon flew in closer to the battle scene, his eyes narrowing as he tried to pierce the clouds of smoke that billowed into the air. Gallantmon flew over to join him, his energy lance crackling with electricity.

"Any idea what that thing is?" Asked Gallantmon in his dual voices of Takato and Guilmon to his fellow Royal Knight.

"No," answered Dynasmon simply, as though the earlier battle between his allies and the Tamers had never even occurred before glancing over at his _companion_ and glowering at him, having just now noticed Gallantmon's presence and his appearance. Dynasmon's eyes took on a venomous expression to them that caused an unconscious shiver to crawl up Gallantmon's spine.

_"Takatomon? Why's the white digimon looking at us like that?"_

_"I don't know Guilmon, but he definitely doesn't look happy about something. I think that it has something to do with his reasons for coming after you in the first place. Right now though we should focus on seeing whether or not that weird…_ thing _ **…**_ _is still around before we try and figure out what Dynasmon wants with you."_

_"He was poking around in my memories earlier…"_

Takato raised an eyebrow at that, nearly forgetting what he had said earlier about focusing on the cable creature and was about to ask what Guilmon meant by that…and what he meant by _memories_. _Nearly_ forgot though, is the key word within that sentence, as before Takato could even press the question he felt Guilmon's instincts flare suddenly as an enormous sense of presence hit them all at once, threatening to overwhelm their mental defenses. They weren't the only ones to notice it either. Everyone, Dynasmon, Sakuyamon, Justimon, Lilithmon… _everyone_ that Takato and Guilmon could see who had partner digimon or was a digimon, could sense that something _big_ was coming.

And Takato, though he couldn't quite explain why, felt a strange sense of _familiarity_ with that presence.

Turning around Gallantmon looked towards the horizon and saw a black pillar of darkness rising into the sky, an obelisk of fear and terror and _immense_ power that filled Takato with a sense of foreboding at what it could be. Takato frowned within his data sphere as he watched the pillar begin to shrink back onto itself, revealing what appeared to be a figure, hovering in the air on wings of darkness. Narrowing his eyes the goggle-wearing Tamer tried to get a closer look at figure's appearance, unable to shake off the sense of _familiarity_ and the sudden, nervous flutter that he had picked up since its appearance. Even Guilmon snarled at it from the darkness that surrounded the boy's red and orange colored data sphere.

_Something is just…not right here…_

Dynasmon glared at the new creature as it began to surge towards them.

"What new devilry is this?" The white armored, purple winged knight asked, anger and frustration apparent in his voice.

_"…That almost looks like Gallantmon's Crimson Mode…"_ Takato heard Sakuyamon's voice whisper inside his mind, and suddenly he felt something click in his mind.

_Oh no…no. No! NO!_ _It_ can't _be!_

_"Huh? Takato? What…?"_

"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF THE WA…!"

_"Black Requiem!"_

Before Gallantmon could even complete his warning a bolt of black lightning stormed into the battlefield, slamming dead center into Gallantmon's shield, sending him careening backwards as a wave of pain completely encompassed his mind and drowned out all thought. This wave of pain was subsequently followed up by a similar tide of raw energy that washed over the area, slamming into Dynasmon and blasting him to the side. Craniummon and Sakuyamon deftly avoided the attack, and in response flew forward to counter attack their new opponent. Sakuyamon sent out a flurry of crystal shards and fox spirits, aiming to trap and batter the knight's armor, but a swift flap of the knight's wings scattered the shaman's attacks with minimal effort. Craniummon surged forward, the broken remnant of his Claiohm Solais spear raised high above his head to deliver a powerful blow. Seeing this, the dark knight raised his demonic spear to block the attack. Sparks flew through the air as the two weapons clashed against each other and for a moment both combatants remained locked in place, staring into each other's eyes as their weapons strained against one another.

_This…creature,_ thought Craniummon, feeling surprise reverberate through his mind through his mind with a soft echo. _Its appearance…it looks so much like the Gallantmon that I know, and yet, like the other one it's…different. And powerful. I don't understand what this is all abou…_

Craniummon's thoughts were broken as he heard the sound of metal cracking. His eyes widening, the black Chrome digizoid knight looked on in shock as he saw the metal of his infamous spear Claoihm Solais splinter at the edge before extending outwards in a series of spider web patterns, stretching until the weapon suddenly and inexplicably shattered entirely all the way across the blade and handle. The broken fragments fell towards the ground beneath them, and Craniummon was too stunned by this act to even notice that his adversary was now rearing backwards with his weapon until it was too late to do anything about it.

_Ah! Wha…HRRRGH!_

Craniummon grunted in pain and surprise as he felt something hammer into his chest with the force of thunder. Looking downwards, Craniummon's sense of surprise found whole new dimensions and depths as he saw the dark Gallantmon's spear blade sticking out of his chest. Cracks were already appearing on the armor segments around the injury, and were fast spreading throughout the rest of his body. Craniummon shuddered as dark liquid began to drip and pour through the cracks. He didn't feel any pain yet. The shock was just far too much for him to handle for something like that to register. He had been injured before, both before his service to his master, Yggdrasil as well as during (most notably while in battle with the Legendary Tamer, Justimon), but never, in his memory, had it been to such a vast extent. It was without precedence…

_Who…_ what _…is this being…?_

The world grew faint in Craniummon's eyes as he felt his body sag against the blade imbedded in his chest until it became the only thing that was holding him aloft. His strength was rapidly disappearing and…and…

Craniummon felt his eyes slide shut as his grip on the world vanished altogether.

* * *

Sakuyamon watched in horror as she saw Craniummon's body break apart into shards of data that were swiftly drawn into the all too familiar form of Gallantmon's Crimson Mode…or should she say _ChaosGallantmon?_ Despite the fact that the digimon had been presumed dead after having been destroyed and loaded by Lucemon Chaos Mode it was plain to her that this digimon was what this new Gallantmon was, only somehow having ascended to a form that was a darker version of Gallantmon's Crimson Mode, which was an extremely powerful form from what she remembered the last time she had seen it in action.

And now it was here.

_We're in trouble,_ thought Rika from within her data sphere as her eyes narrowed in determination.

A shriek of rage and anger broke onto the air and suddenly the _Crimson Mode_ version of ChaosGallantmon found himself the target of one enraged Crusadermon as she flew at him, becoming a pink and yellow blur as she slammed her Pile Bunker shield into his armored face in an uppercut fashion. Seeing that the dark knight was now off balance, Crusadermon's body continued to blur as she grabbed hold of one of her yellow ribbons, extending it and slashing it at ChaosGallantmon like a sword. Sparks flew as the ribbon cut at the warrior's defenses until finally Crusadermon appeared above him, her ribbon raised above her head just as Craniummon had done with his spear blade earlier and brought it down on ChaosGallantmon's head, cutting a swath across his helm that dragged all the way down his blue, reptilian visor.

And through it all ChaosGallantmon had not made a single sound to indicate that he at all felt any of Crusadermon's attacks.

Grabbing hold of Crusadermon's unprotected wrist, ChaosGallantmon glared at the pink Royal Knight venomously before tightening his grip on the appendage. Crusadermon's vocals, which had previously been filled with rage and fury now transformed into that of pain as the sound of metal being crushed filled the air. Fighting through the pain Crusadermon brought her Pile Bunker shield to bear and attempted to batter ChaosGallantmon senseless with it in her attempt to get him to relinquish her hold on him. Before she could even land a single blow ChaosGallantmon raised his spear blade to ward off the blow.

A second later a sheared off Pile Bunker sailed helplessly through the air.

Snorting disdainfully at the Royal Knight's actions ChaosGallantmon threw Crusadermon away from him. Seeing this, Sakuyamon, now free to attack without regard for accidently striking her temporary 'ally' began to slash her wand in arching patterns. Seeing this, ChaosGallantmon flew towards her, spear blade raised to skewer her before she could have a chance to complete her attack.

_"Lightning Joust!"_

A burst stream of lightning erupted from beneath ChaosGallantmon, and impacted with his body. Sakuyamon quickly took advantage of her opponent's distraction via Gallantmon's timely recovery and slashed her staff downwards, unleashing a storm of fox spirits at ChaosGallantmon. The fox spirits tore at ChaosGallantmon, enshrouding his form, trapping him completely while Gallantmon rose into the air to add to the Shaman's attacks. As though seeing the rising knight gave ChaosGallantmon newfound strength, he slashed his spear outwards, cleaving through his _cage_ in one fell swoop. Darkness erupted from his body like a hurricane, and both Sakuyamon and Gallantmon were thrown down towards the ground. Twisting in mid-air both Gallantmon and Sakuyamon managed to stabilize themselves while still continuing to be buffeted by the pressure of ChaosGallantmon's attacks.

For a moment, silence reigned as the two shared a brief glance between them before looking up at ChaosGallantmon, who hovered in the air before them. Darkness surrounded the knight's body like an eclipse as he extended one hand outwards, holding his spear in front of him like a grave statement of malicious intent.

_"What's he doing?"_ Asked Sakuyamon in Gallantmon's mind, her dual voices of Rika and Renamon sounding ragged and edgy, yet still maintaining the undefeated tone to them that was their trademark.

_"Somehow…I don't think that we want to know…"_

_"Pitch Black,"_ ChaosGallantmon intoned in response to their unvoiced questions before releasing the spear. The weapon dropped towards the ground like a bomb, where it impacted, imbedding itself in the earth like a venerable 'sword in the stone' image from an Arthurian tale. Black light poured from the weapon in all directions, shattering the ground with an intense shockwave as it rushed towards the remaining combatants. In the one second that they had before it hit them Sakuyamon stepped in front of Gallantmon and raised a defensive sphere to protect them while Gallantmon simultaneously placed his shield in front of her. They waited for the impending attack to hit them.

It didn't come.

Both of them blinking in surprise, Gallantmon lowered his shield and they both peered out to see what it was that had prevented the attack from touching them. Looking around the two Megas saw massive amounts of damage that devastated parts of the park and the city streets, but for some reason it fell just short of where they had stood.

"Um…not that I'm complaining or anything, but what just happened?"

_"Maybe you should use your eyes, Gogglehead,"_ said Sakuyamon with Rika's voice as she pointed upwards. _"Look."_

Following the shaman's direction Gallantmon raised his eyes up towards the sky and they widened in surprise. As Gallantmon watched with a stunned gaze, the ebon, destructive energy that had just scant seconds ago been surging towards them was now being pulled upwards into the sky towards an all too familiar, green and yellow colored vortex hanging above the form of ChaosGallantmon.

"No…way…"

"Looks to be _way_ to me right now Gallantmon," said Sakuyamon as she hefted her wand. "Looks like Yamaki has finally decided to do something constructive for once with that sky splitter of theirs. I wonder…" Sakuyamon turned to look at Gallantmon. Her expression was unreadable due to her fox mask being in the way, but through the strange bond that now lay between them Gallantmon felt a sliver of thought move. Within his data sphere Takato chuckled.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Sakuyamon groaned and raised her head, giving Takato and Guilmon the impression that she was rolling her eyes at him.

"Has anyone told you just how bad you are at making jokes Gogglehead?"

Gallantmon's response was a loud laugh as he took to the air, followed closely behind by his shaman companion.

* * *

ChaosGallantmon struggled against the forces emanating from the vortex that threatened to pull him into its gaping maw, but for all of his strength the dimensional tear was even stronger, and in spite of his struggles the dark knight could feel that he was losing ground. By inches of course, but he was still losing them nonetheless. This couldn't be…this _couldn't_ be how it was all supposed to end! Not when he was so close to attaining what he had been searching for so long! ChaosGallantmon looked down at his oncoming Tamer, the one who had created him and he felt the familiar emotions of pain and despair rise up within him. They were what made him…what had given him life and power, and what connected him to his Tamer. He hadn't quite understood how this was save for the fact that there was a link between them from the moment of his being born. He could feel the same energies that beat within him coming from the boy and they drew him to the Tamer. On some, deeper level, the one where the child that currently had helped him rise to his present Mega form he had come to the full realization as to what it was that had linked the two together.

Before he had been just BlackGuilmon. A creature that had been so greatly controlled by his viral essence that abstract thought had been replaced wholly by instinct and the desire to consume. Now though, upon his absorption of Noriko and her essences touching with his _deeper_ self he saw himself for what he really was, and a piece of what Noriko had within herself shed light on that. Although he didn't quite fully understand the concept of art, he certainly knew what it meant to feel connected with something be it a place or object (his own fixation on Takato, and faint feelings of familiarity when he stayed in that concrete hut during his first stay in the human world was a case in point). What was more, when Noriko had revealed his _real_ self he had felt something awaken inside of him that felt more in tune to what Noriko herself was. Human perhaps? He didn't know, but when the two of them met fully something had become clear to him about his relation to Takato Matsuki.

It had been said, or at least ChaosGallantmon got that impression when his inner essence had been awakened by Noriko, that when one _creates_ they put a little bit of themselves into what's being made. Intuitively ChaosGallantmon knew that he had been created by the Tamer Takato, and that it explained the sense of connection that he felt with the boy, and it was for that reason alone that he desired to reclaim him as his own.

For now, ever since his _rebirth_ in the digital world ChaosGallantmon had felt a strange sense of _absence_ of that connection. A hole, so to speak, that ached within him and demanded that it be filled; _demanded_ that he be _complete_ once more. Remembering how he felt when he had first biomerged with the child this seemed to be the most logical solution to his predicament.

Simple, right?

_Well, it's been anything_ but _simple so far,_ grated ChaosGallantmon in his mind as he glared at his counterpart. _I wonder if this new version of me is what's responsible for what I feel. Regardless, I shall have to dispatch him and claim my Tamer. Soon…soon I will be whole._

The Hazard symbol on ChaosGallantmon's chest began to glow blue, and the tug from the portal suddenly began to feel that much weaker.

* * *

Kuroda smirked as he finished typing. Juggernaut was passing through level two and entering level three at sixty percent power. He had to remove some of the safeguards that were preventing him from activating it, something that had taken quite a bit of persuasive talk on his part, plus some regular alerts of devastation from the fight going on outside, to persuade Yamaki to give him the go ahead but he had done it. Juggernaut was fired up and ready to go. Soon, so very soon, Juggernaut would remove the offending digital invader from his home city…

Kuroda frowned as he looked at his view screen's readout. There was an abnormal spike in the energy buildup.

_Something's wrong…_

Blue Hazard symbols suddenly began appearing all over his computer monitor, spreading like wildfire throughout his systems and Kuroda felt fear and panic begin to take root in his mind and burn his earlier, confident smirk to ashes.

_Something is_ really _wrong!_

* * *

Dynasmon groaned as he felt consciousness return gradually to him. Pain filled his body and made his mind cry out and he quickly distanced himself mentally from it, calling upon his mental training to do so. The pain fell back, abating somewhat. Good. Now he would be able to move about and see what the situation was. He heard the sound of fighting, which wasn't exactly a good sign, but then again it also counted as not a _bad_ one either as it meant that there was still resistance going on…unless that is all those explosions were just from the land around him being leveled.

_No,_ thought Dynasmon dryly. _I can sense digimon data patterns in some of those explosions. Attacks are being pronounced and utilized._

The memory of a dark armored digimon that resembled his comrade Gallantmon attacking him came to mind. Dynasmon _hmmphed_ at it.

_Of course, I could either just lie here and continue to think about the what-ifs and all the possibilities that exist therein, or I could just get up and see for myself._

Dynasmon chuckled at his berating of himself and opened his eyes. Green colored sky greeted him but so far he was unable to see much more then that.

_Puzzling,_ thought Dynasmon. _And here I was of the opinion that there were no green skies in this world._

Dynasmon tried to move his arms so that he could lift himself up off the ground, and then frowned as he felt something weighing them down. His frown deepening the Royal Knight tried to turn his head to see what it was that was holding him down while at the same time trying to move his legs.

Negative on both accounts.

A dull, electric pulse thrumming through his body came to Dynasmon's attention and then a shadow fell over him. Looking up Dynasmon found himself face to face with a singular blue cable. It hovered over him, as though analyzing him before being joined by several more. The cables began intertwining themselves together and soon formed themselves into a sharp, pointed object that rose back slightly. Dynasmon, sensing that it would be within his best interests to break loose from whatever it was that was holding him down immediately began struggling against his bonds.

_"Preparing for data extraction/reconstruction,"_ intoned a cold, emotionless, computer voice from the pointed collection of cables and for an instant Dynasmon froze at the meaning of the words.

That moment was all the cable entity needed as it dove forward.

* * *

_"Lightning Joust!"_ Shouted Gallantmon as he shot a blast of electricity at ChaosGallantmon. The dark knight simply swatted it away with the flat of his blade as he beat his wings upon the air, striving to get close to his counterpart but the pull of the vortex slowed him down almost to a standstill. Gallantmon and Sakuyamon both felt the same forces tugging at them but they were both smart enough to keep their distance as best they could while using their ranged attacks to push at the dark knight in an attempt to force him into its embrace. As Gallantmon cut away, dodging a blast of ebon lightning Sakuyamon flew up and let loose four elemental fox spirits that flew towards ChaosGallantmon and slashed at him. Though sparks flew from the contact no outward damage could yet be seen, and with a cry of rage ChaosGallantmon slashed a hand through the air and unleashed yet another torrent of energy at them. Gallantmon raised his shield to ward off the attack while Sakuyamon shrouded herself in a _Crystal Sphere_ and did likewise. While the two fought off the resulting blast a thought entered Takato's now battle weary mind as to where this ChaosGallantmon had come from. So far he hadn't really had time to think about it due to the fact that it had shown up so unexpectedly and began dishing out beatings left and right on anyone and anything that showed so much as a willingness to fight him, never mind the fact that he had already been embroiled in a previous engagement with the blue cable entity. Both were oddities in and of themselves, but right now the question of ChaosGallantmon was of the utmost importance due to its immediate effect in their lives. It felt as though he were forgetting something.

* * *

" _So what do you think about that stuff with that girl that Henry found in the park?" Asked Kazu. Takato tilted his head to one side in confusion._

" _Huh? Girl?"_

" _Kazu, he doesn't know about her. He was unconscious for most of the time, and we didn't bring it up while his parents were here."_

" _Oh. Right," said Kazu as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment._

" _Um…a little confused here…"_

" _Uh…well," Kazu coughed to clear his throat. "This is what we heard after we regained consciousness. Yamaki was holding a meeting and he insisted on our attending it after we got a clean bill of health. That storm from yesterday, the…what was it that Henry called it?"_

" _The_ _Hazard Storm,"_ _answered Kenta. Kazu bobbed his head up and down in acknowledgement before returning his attention to Takato._

" _Yeah, the Hazard Storm. Turns out it was caused by a girl that Henry knows."_

_If Takato hadn't already been confused earlier he certainly was now._

" _Say wha…?"_

" _Kenta? You want to take it from here?"_

_The bespectacled boy leaned forward in his chair as he took over the conversation._

" _You'd have to talk to Henry about it since he was there personally when he witnessed the whole thing, but from what I remember from the meeting last night the girl that he said caused the storm was the girl that was reported missing after that fight with Lucemon…"_

" _Pihpihpuh!" Piped in MarineAngemon from his spot next to Kenta. The dark haired boy nodded._

" _Right. Her name's Noriko Nakata."_

_Takato blinked._

" _I remember that name."_

" _Duh!" Exclaimed Kazu. "Her name was plastered all over town. She only came back earlier this week. Henry found her wondering out of a digital field…"_

" _Whaaaa…?"_

_Kazu rolled his eyes._

" _Chumley…if you keep doing that, this story isn't going to get explained. The leading theory is that she got sucked into the digital world when Lucemon made his getaway after he clobbered us. She came back with some holes in her memory…amnesia or something."_

" _She's missing something like three weeks I think," supplied Kenta._

" _Something like that, yeah."_

" _But…" Takato shook his head, trying to clear it of the cobwebs of confusion that he felt building up in his head as he followed Kazu and Kenta's story. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask, but Kazu was right. The story couldn't be told if he kept interrupting. But still, some questions begged to be asked. "What does her going to the digital world have to do with her being the cause of that storm from yesterday? Did she become a Tamer while she was there?"_

" _Henry didn't find a digivice on her," said Kazu with a shake of his head. "And before you ask if she had a digimon with her let us at least finish, because this is where it gets weird. Henry said that when he found the Noriko girl she was…um…not human."_

_Takato furrowed his eyebrows in concentration._

" _You mean she…biomerged, right?"_

_Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon shook their heads in one, identical, uniform motion._

" _Well," corrected Kenta. "Actually, we're not sure. Terriermon said something about how she spoke in the same way that you guys do when you biomerge with your partners but she didn't separate into a human and a digimon like you guys do. Instead she just became human, but before that Henry said that she looked like a mix between an angel and a black dragon. And she had a Hazard sign on her chest too."_

_Kazu paused for a moment, looking as though he were considering something, and then shook his head as though just by doing that he would shake off the thought as well. Takato, for his part, took no notice and neither did Kenta._

" _Angel?" Asked Takato, his face becoming serious. "Dragon?"_

" _Yeah. And she had a Hazard symbol on her too. In fact, come to think of it, he said that before she returned to her human form the dragon part of her was colored_ _black."_

* * *

Gallantmon's eyes flew wide as the memory came to him, and as though the memory had been a catalyst for such an action Sakuyamon also stopped in her own attacks and looked over at Gallantmon.

_"Takato?"_

_"Rika…we can't do this! That ChaosGallantmon! I think that it's Nori…"_

A wave of black energy suddenly slammed into the two Mega level digimon, cutting Gallantmon off and sending them both spiraling down towards the ground once again. This time the force of the blast was enough to cancel out their biomerge and return them to their composite forms. ChaosGallantmon smiled beneath his helm upon seeing this. His Tamer was now separated from the _other_ Guilmon. Soon, he would be united with him…

ChaosGallantmon's musings were interrupted as all at once a massive swarm of blue cables rose up and lashed out at him, grappling at his limbs in an attempt to restrain him from moving and getting away. Caught off guard ChaosGallantmon thrashed against the restraining cables, but as he had bereft himself of his spear earlier and lost his sword in the fight with MegaGargomon his ability to combat the entity was significantly lowered, especially as he had very little time to prepare for its appearance. The cables continued to force themselves upon him, wrapping themselves around him like a cocoon and beating down all resistance that he was mustering against them. His wings darkened as he charged up for an attack and the series of blue cables responded in kind by sending surges of electricity through the warrior's body. ChaosGallantmon roared in pain and frustration as he found his attacks useless against the attacking cables. Continuing to press on him from all sides ChaosGallantmon was afforded one last look at the tumbling form of Takato Matsuki before the never ending amount of cables and wires finally obscured his vision.

ChaosGallantmon's howl of thwarted fury went unheard in the darkness that now surrounded him.

* * *

Justimon barely had time to recover from the dark blast that had struck him when he noticed that Takato, Rika, Renamon, and Guilmon were falling through the air unattended. Between the four of them Renamon was at least making a decent effort to reorient herself and had succeeded in grabbing hold of Rika but Takato and Guilmon looked to be completely out of it. Moving on pure instinct and raw adrenaline Justimon hurled himself into the air, propelled forward by his powerful legs. Reaching out he grabbed at both Guilmon and Takato, praying that he didn't hurt either of them as he caught them. It looked to be rather dicey and the odds of him getting both of them at once were…

_Yes!_

Justimon felt his heart soar as he successfully caught both the goggle-wearing Tamer and the crimson scaled, bread eating digimon that was the boy's partner and within his data sphere Ryo smiled triumphantly.

_"We're not out of the woods yet,"_ rumbled Cyberdramon's gravelly voice from out of the darkness, a split second before Guilmon's weight shifted backward against Justimon's forward momentum, causing their speed to bleed away and gravity to lay claim over them.

_Awww…nuts,_ commented Ryo as he began to fall back down to earth. Attempting to reposition himself so that he could land as safely as possible without harming either of his two friends, who were both so far unresponsive to what was happening to them.

He needn't have bothered.

Before Justimon's surprised, and quite relieved eyes, a pink heart flew up and enveloped the Mega level digimon and his two charges, halting the rate of their fall and bringing them to a complete stop without any trouble. Breathing heavily, but happily Ryo released his hold on his Mega form and a soft warm glow enveloped him, returning Justimon to his separate forms of Ryo Akiyama and Cyberdramon. As soon as they were separate Ryo dropped down to his knees to see how Takato was doing, as he was just now starting to come to.

"Uhhhh….wha…what's…?"

"Take it easy there Takato," said Ryo softly as he placed a supportive arm around the boy as he struggled to get back to his feet.

"Ryo…"

"Yeah," replied Ryo with a grin. "That's me. How're you doing?"

"I feel like someone just hit me on the head with Zudomon's hammer…and my head's swimming…but I…" Takato closed his eyes and fought to keep himself from passing out. Ryo's expression became firm, but took on a compassionate look to it.

"Hey. No worries, okay? It looks like this fight's over," Ryo glanced up at the sky, watching for a brief moment as the cable constructed sphere disappeared into the emerald vortex that had appeared earlier. "Yeah. It definitely looks like it's over. You're fine, Guilmon's fine, and I can't see a sign of any of the Royal Knights anywhere."

"Rika…"

Ryo looked back down at the goggle-wearing Tamer with concern.

"Pardon?"

"Where's…" Takato paused before continuing, and Ryo noted the measure of exhaustion that was present in his voice as he stumbled over his words while he fought to keep his eyes from closing. "Where's Rika and Renamon? They were…with me right…right before I… I can't…feel them anymore…"

Ryo raised an eyebrow at that, but after a quick look down at the battlefield he saw another heart shaped bubble just coming to rest on the ground while Kazu, Andromon, and Kenta, the latter of whom was carrying a worn and battered looking, but still raring to go MarineAngemon in his arms. Ryo smiled at the little sea angel's tenacity. The bubble popped and deposited Renamon, carrying Rika in her arms safely down to earth.

"They'll be okay," Ryo reassured his friend as they continued to float down to rejoin their team. Ryo took another look at Takato and again spoke, if only to not only reassure him of his assertion but also to affirm it. "They'll be okay."

Takato's response was to force himself upwards to see for himself, only to pass out from exhaustion midway and collapse back down to the ground. Concern flashing through him Ryo checked him over and after feeling confident that the unofficial leader of the Tamers was going to be all right after having a good night's rest he leaned back against Cyberdramon's leg and smiled.

_Goggleheads…they just don't know when to quit. But then, that's why they make such good friends._

* * *

Renamon held onto Rika protectively as she combed one paw through the girl's now loosened hair, grateful that the battle appeared to be over but still wary about any further developments that might occur. Rika stirred against Renamon's touch.

"Gogglehead?" The girl murmured to herself, her eyes flitting beneath their lids.

"Shhh," Renamon hushed the young girl gently. "It's all right, Rika. It's over."

Rika sighed within her partner's embrace and, apparently content with that answer dropped off to sleep. Nearby, Kazu smiled at the sight and thumbed his visor.

"Man, who would have thought that Rika would look so innocent asleep like that?"

"You'd be surprised about many things about her," Renamon said with a small smile appearing on her face as she rose up onto her feet. Still holding Rika carefully in her arms the vulpine digimon looked up at the sky as the vortex disappeared from it and blue began to replace green and burning yellow.

Yes. The battle was over. Renamon was now certain about that. But in the wake of todays events, what was to come next?

The thought left Renamon with a sense of worry.


	64. 63: The Calm of the Storm

A dark figure sat silhouetted against the waning daylight on top of a building, surveying the scene as it unfolded before him. Down in the streets below work crews and damage control teams were surveying the area and going over it with a fine toothed comb to make sure that nothing, be it person, digimon, or just plain rock and tree, was missed as plans were made for repairs; repairs that were becoming something of a tradition in the city of Shinjuku in ways that the usual schedule of maintenance simply did not compare to.

_Almost ironic in a way,_ thought Oni as he stretched the wings on his back for a moment and then relaxed them before settling back and continue to watch the area with his ghostly, white colored eyes. _For years these people have dreamed up dreams of giant, city destroying monsters…a fair number of which were transformed into lovable creatures for children to play with. And now, now they have them in reality and in abundance. What a dream._ Oni frowned as he looked down at one, black clawed hand. _Isn't modern technology wonderful? The humans have brought their own nightmares to life…and in the process created new monsters in the process._

_But I'm going to take that nightmare away from them. I'm going to set things as they should be; a human world that doesn't fear the threat of out of control AI programs._

Oni narrowed his eyes at the humans that were gathered around the massive, double bladed, blue and black colored spear that stood imbedded in the ground like a giant exclamation point in the city. The weapon pulsed and throbbed as the Japanese military set up a yellow tape barrier around it, and began assigning guards around it. A worthless defense Oni knew, as anyone with a certain amount of determination and power could easily breach it, but then again it was designed to ward off any _human_ intruders. Not that it was all that affective either though the soldiers certainly served as a good deterrent, but mainly the weapon itself was in no danger of being destroyed or stolen by someone stupid enough to approach it.

_Or maybe it's just that that they don't want to happen. Minimize the dangers that you can think of and deal with the unknown as carefully as possible. At this stage though I'd be more worried about any digimon who might be attracted to that artifact of Chaos. It will most certainly call for its master, and that call will be heard by those of sufficient power and station. The Royal Knights will likely be too busy dealing with their difficulties in Yggdrasil's new world unless Yggdrasil senses it and deems it necessary to retrieve it, but others? I can definitely see one of the Olympus Twelve coming here in search of ChaosGallantmon's spear. Them…or others. And that makes it all the more important to put an end to the digital world before it can cause more pain and sorrow for the families of this world. I shall see to it that it all ends. A pity that the weapon contains no active aspects of the Hazard that I can use. Oh well, at least I'll be able to focus on finding the true shell of the Hazard, and hopefully separate the girl child from the shell before it's too late._

Oni's frown darkened as he thought about ChaosGallantmon.

_It will be…_ most _difficult to track him down. I hadn't expected that strange program to show up_ here _in the real world and then to suddenly capture ChaosGallantmon. Hmmm…DinoRexmon had indicated that it had been looking for something when it first tore through our forces in the digital world, and its arrival so soon after the activation of the Digital Hazard…I wonder…could it? Couldn't be…_

_But then, it wouldn't be the first time it had gone off in search of the Hazard._ If _what I'm thinking is true…_

Oni let the train of thought die as he continued to observe the sword, and after a few minutes he glanced away from the magnificent looking weapon. Looking down at the humans as they continued to swarm about Oni let a small smile curve a white scar on his face and with a flap of his wings he took off, flying into the oncoming night.

There was much that needed to be done.

* * *

_"West Shinjuku has been officially declared a disaster area,"_ spoke the news reporter on the television screen. _"Reports are still coming in on damaged areas and casualties but so far nothing has yet been affirmed by any of our sources in the field. We'll continue to give you updates as the situation develops…"_

Click.

Yamaki walked in front of the television screen, his arms folded behind him and his expression unreadable. To the other man in the room, whose appearance was very much the same as that of the blonde haired head of Hypnos with the exception of dark slicked back hair and a facial build that looked to have been hued from stone. The man was an old acquaintance of Yamaki's, Eiichi Nakazawa, or as he is better known, the Chief Cabinet Secretary to the Japanese government.

"We have a problem," said Yamaki in a flat tone.

"I've noted that," said Nakazawa as his gaze followed Yamaki from where he was sitting. "Care to elaborate on anything? I get a report that tells me that there's a digimon wrecking havoc in this city and as soon as I get here I find that Hypnos is in shambles, and the three primary Tamers are in the hospital."

"I'd like to point out that due to Daigo Kuroda's actions we received a feedback that has further disabled nearly all of our systems, setting us back considerably. As for the Tamers, at least two of the three that were hospitalized are only in need of rest due to their exertions, and Kenta's partner is seeing to Henry Wong due to his injuries."

"Noted as well," said Nakazawa with a curt nod of his head. "Thank you for clarifying that. Regardless, you are in a tricky position here. The damage that was caused today will have a dramatic affect on the anti-digimon groups that are calling for something to be done about them…"

"A pity then that the program that they've been championing isn't going to be of any use to them."

Nakazawa raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

"From what I've been able to gather there was a… _infiltration_ of our systems during the incident yesterday when Argus ran out of control via the Hazard infection of the Hypnos network. It cleared out everything that we had on Argus. All the programs, files, and history on its development."

"I see," said Nakazawa as he shifted in his chair, for once looking uncomfortable. "That _is_ a problem."

"Perhaps. But perhaps it's more of a boon. I am in the process of having a report prepared for you to read in regards to Argus and its development. Itokawa has been most helpful in discovering some aspects of it from Daigo Kuroda, its primary developer and supporter, which lead me to believe that had we pursued it further there would likely have been consequences. You see…Argus and its various subprograms were digimon."

Nakazawa again arched an eyebrow.

"Are you certain of this?"

"Kuroda admitted it openly when I got around to questioning him and Itokawa. I have yet to gather all the details as of yet due to everything that's been going on these past few hours but I'll be able to provide you with more details tomorrow morning."

"I see. This certainly leaves quite the hole in Hypnos security then, doesn't it? Your systems are down, Argus is missing…we're at a weak point."

"We'll only be down for a couple of days," said Yamaki dismissively. "Until we are back up and running at nominal capacity and have affected repairs to our damaged areas we'll have to rely on the Tamers to carry out our primary duties of protecting the world from any breaches from the digital world."

"Business as usual then?" Nakazawa chuckled. Yamaki didn't react to his superior's _playful_ jab as he had hoped he would. But then, it had always been quite the undertaking to get a reaction of any kind out of the agent. So far, only the digimon had managed to pull that off. Well, them and a certain red haired woman who served as Hypnos's Chief Operator…

"The only difference will be that the Tamer's will be operating without backup. I have every bit of confidence in their ability to handle any situation until we're back online."

"They needed your help today though," commented Nakazawa idly. "And I don't think I need to point out that the attacks have been getting steadily worse all week. What do you think the odds are that something worse is just over the horizon?"

Yamaki turned to look fully at the dark haired man. Nakazawa eyed Yamaki carefully, and though he couldn't be one hundred percent certain, he could almost swear he saw the ghost of a smile appear on the man's lips.

"I have faith that they'll be able to handle any situation as they appear until Hypnos is back up and running. You yourself are always telling me about how they have done a far more efficient job then I have at dealing with the digimon presence in Shinjuku."

"As have you if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes."

There followed a brief moment of silence between the two men, and when it passed Nakazawa nodded at Yamaki.

"So…it looks as though the Tamer's program is a go."

"We'll see," said Yamaki. "Somehow I don't think it will be that simple."

"Since when has it ever been _simple_?"

"Don't start…"

* * *

Crusadermon limped through the shattered ruins of Shinjuku Park as she clutched her right arm, now bereft of its golden shield. She eyed her surroundings carefully, wary of making any human contact. In spite of her own immense strength, even in her weakened condition, the _Indifferent Warrior_ of the Royal Knights was _uncertain_ as to what to do or how to react, and anything at this moment felt certain to shatter her body as easily as Craniummon's had been against the dark counterpart of her fellow Virus and _Gallant_ comrade in arms…

_Craniummon…_

Clenching her free hand into a fist Crusadermon continued to make her way through the park, fighting off the urge to take flight as she didn't feel that she was up to such an arduous task until she was sufficiently recovered. That battle with the cable creature and the dark, black winged knight had taken a lot out of her, and her mind had yet to fully come to grips with everything that had happened in the short time that she had been in the human world. Craniummon was dead…Dynasmon…she didn't know for certain but she hadn't seen him since he had been shot down by the dark Gallantmon, and from what she remembered of that being's power there stood a pretty good chance that he was dead as well.

What was more, she felt deep in her heart that the bushido trained, honor driven warrior that had been her opposite in more ways then one, was no longer of the physical existence that they had been born into. In the past, she wouldn't have thought much of it but for some reason this left her with a strange feeling of… _emptiness._ Not indifferent…just…nothing. Nothing except a large hole to which there was no foreseeable bottom. Unaccustomed to such a feeling Crusadermon pushed it aside as she thought about her current situation and what she could do about it. She was too exhausted right now to return to the Internet to regain strength to be able to rest and heal so she needed to find a place to hold up until she was sufficiently recovered.

But where could she go where she could rest? Rest and not be disturbed?

No answer came to her, and her mind was far too fogged up from the pain of battle and exhaustion to think of a coherent answer. It was best to keep on going, and to stay out of sight until she found safe harbor. It was almost nighttime now, and if human sleep cycles were anything like digimon then this period of _sunset_ (a strange concept to most digimon of the digital world, and, Crusadermon had to admit, herself as well) meant that they should be going to rest soon. Continuing her staggering movements Crusadermon made her way slowly through the park, and when the night finally fell and a silvery, shining orb hung in the sky above her she had finally exited the park. Feeling a strange and faint tugging in her mind Crusadermon pushed herself onward until she entered a side alley of a house. Feeling a strange sense of safety upon arriving there Crusadermon walked over to the side and collapsed to the ground, leaning her back against its wall, and soon fell into a fit, but troubled sleep.


	65. 64: Dawn

_Slowly…ever so slowly…light, crystal clear, sky-blue eyes opened to peer at the darkness surrounding them. A soft glow hovered just at the edges of their owner's vision, giving some measure of depth to the shadows that consumed their sight. With a low groan, the owner of those clear, sky colored eyes raised a lilac colored, metallic arm with three fingers to its face, brushing aside some hair that was the same color as those eyes. The hair twitched lightly as two, wing like objects emerging from the thick mop flapped themselves in agitation, beating in time to the pair of brown and gold colored, and much larger wings that sat on her back._

_"Wha…what happened?" Asked the figure in a decidedly female voice as she glanced around her, taking note of a series of objects that somewhat resembled totems of animals and warriors that hovered next to her, causing the bird like humanoid to raise an eyebrow in confusion. She easily recognized the items, as she remembered that she had a certain kinship with them that went beyond the limitations of the physical world as she knew it. On the far deeper level of the spirit…_

_"Ah. You're awake," boomed a voice from the darkness, causing the bird female to tense up and scan the darkness carefully. In that instant she quickly conceived a desire for her friends to be there with her, to help her shed some light on that constant and oppressive darkness that surrounded her._

_'Lobomon would cause more then enough light on his own though Agunimon and Beetlemon would certainly be more then willing to help…and Loewemon…Loewemon wouldn't even need light to know what was out there. He'd be at home here…'_

_"Who's out there?!" Demanded the humanoid bird as she raised her three digit hands in a defensive position. The sound of low chuckling reached her ears, as though it were amused at her antics. She couldn't decide if that alone should worry her or not._

_"Relax," spoke the voice from the darkness. "I'm not here to harm you or your comrades Zephyrmon. Quite the contrary I mean to help you, and hopefully you'll be able to help me in return."_

_The bird woman now identified as Zephyrmon blinked in surprise before narrowing her eyes in suspicion._

_"Why should I do anything to help you?"_

_There followed more chuckling from the darkness. A strange, light hearted laughter that went largely missed in the darkness that constituted Zephyrmon's present environment._

_"Why shouldn't you? You see, I have taken great measures to rescue you and your comrades from you_ prison. _I'm not what I once was, and the task was certainly not without its own risks. So call it a debt if you would. But if that's not enough I should think saving the world would be plenty of reason enough. It's your destiny after all. You and your companions of all digimon should know that. Chosen digimon are hardly unaware of that particular fact…well, except for those first steps of course. They're always the most difficult to make sense of…"_

_"That's not good enough."_

_"True. You have only my word for it, at least for the moment. As soon as I have your companions up, about, and ready to do battle I shall explain things in full detail. If nothing else, history is no barrier to me as you shall soon learn. I must say, I find it interesting that you recovered before any of the others. That boy's partner, MarineAngemon has more to him then I_

_would have thought. It's always the ones that you least expect who end up causing the most trouble. Go figure."_

_A shadow shifted in the darkness, causing Zephyrmon to narrow her eyes at it in an attempt to discern its appearance. She couldn't quite make it out, but it looked vaguely saurian like, with multiple arms and two large cannons on its back._

_But again, the shadows were so thick that it could have been anything._

_"What…who…are you?" She asked again._

_A pulsing flare of yellow and blue fire erupted on the creature's back, giving Zephyrmon a brief outline of the entities form, confirming Zephyrmon's initial discernment of its contours. Zephyrmon's eyes widened at the creature's immensity and as the darkness again began to envelop it, the beast drew its bestial mouth up into a cruel and ironic looking smile._

_"A legend's Legacy," spoke the creature, its eyes burning as embers._

* * *

Ryo Akiyama repressed a gasp as he started in his bed, pushing himself upwards and blinking blearily around him, letting himself become once more accustomed to the familiar surroundings of his bedroom before allowing himself to fall backwards and laying an arm over his forehead. Looking over towards his open window Ryo took note of the warm sunlight that filtered in through his bedroom window, and the shadow of Cyberdramon's body as he waited patiently on the roof for the teenage boy to wake up. As though sensing that Ryo was awake the cybernetic dragon poked his head through the window, and upon seeing that his partner was all right, simply _hmmphed_ lightly and returned to his original guard position outside. Ryo raised an eyebrow at this and smirked slightly.

_Yup. That's Cyberdramon for ya…_

" 'Morning to you too Cyberdramon," said Ryo as he climbed out of his bed and made his way over to the window to climb out onto the roof to join his Ultimate level partner. As he settled himself next to the dragon the Legendary Tamer moved one hand up to brush aside his hair, which had taken on a measure of untidiness that his friend Rika would most certainly have called him out on had she been there to see it.

_As if she'd ever take the time to come down to my place,_ thought Ryo sarcastically with a wry smile growing on his face as he remembered his longstanding rivalry with the Digimon Queen and how for the longest time she had quite vocally disavowed any possibility of friendship or even tolerance of his presence. Amazing how one card game could affect a person but then he supposed that it had more to do with the fact that when they met up in the digital world he hadn't been able to remember her until she had brought the issue to bear later on that evening. Of course, she eventually got over it as extenuating circumstances pushed them into fighting side by side on a regular basis (excepting one incident when he had gone off to fight on his own against D-Reaper's agents) and had since accepted him, more or less (so she claimed) as a friend.

Amazing how one event could change things so much. There were many times where he looked back on his own life and wondered if the one event that had changed his life had as much in the way of 'good' results as Rika, Takato, and Henry's becoming Tamers had on them. Sure, things looked to be more then a little shaky for them right now but from what he had seen of them in the past they had what it took to work through their issues, and because of their bond with each other they'd be able to do it…together.

_Unlike me,_ thought Ryo, his expression becoming downcast as he glanced peripherally at Cyberdramon. Observant as always Cyberdramon glanced over at Ryo, who had by then already turned his eyes away from the Ultimate level Vaccine dragon. Cyberdramon however, was not fooled one bit.

"You worry too much," the cyborg grated in his harsh, gravelly tone. Ryo chuckled lightly.

"You can tell?"

"We have been partners for a long while Ryo. We've even biomerged and shared each other's minds. I can usually tell when you have something on your mind. What is it?"

Ryo sighed mentally at the way that his partner had phrased that, making it sound more like a threat to do violence if Ryo didn't start talking rather then as a simple question and offer of a friendly ear. Whenever Cyberdramon was in his Ultimate form he tended to have a lot less patience for things where people hid what was on their mind. Before their first biomergence it wasn't something that Cyberdramon did normally, preferring to just fight anything that came within his ability to attack them and ignoring everything else but since then, perhaps promoted through his temporary devolution back to his Rookie form of Monodromon, Cyberdramon had been more considerate of his partner. Ryo reasoned that was why he had been able to restrain himself so much in the real world; an attempt of sorts to give Ryo a normal life and keep himself from going out of control to the point where Ryo would be forced to take him back to the digital world to blow off steam. It was rather admirable from Ryo's perspective.

_So long as I don't take into account the possibility of Milleniummon's having escaped him,_ thought Ryo.

"You're not usually one for talking," commented Ryo, still looking out over the city.

"And you're avoiding the issue."

Ryo couldn't help but laugh that time, and Cyberdramon looked at him, tilting his head to the side just enough to show his confusion towards his partner's reaction.

"Sorry," said Ryo calming down. "You just don't know how weird it sounds experiencing this when you're not Monodromon. Like I said, you're not much for talking in your Ultimate form. Mostly you prefer to smash anything and everything around you while Monodromon just wants to play or talk."

Cyberdramon _hmmphed_ before looking away.

"You speak of me as if I'm two different digimon."

"You kind of are you know," said Ryo leaning against the side of his father's home. "As much as I hate to say it, you have been for a while now."

"Thinking of Milleniummon again?"

Ryo again glanced at his partner, but this time was not subtle about it. Cyberdramon took the expression on the teens face as surprise.

"You're my Tamer Ryo. I know how you think."

"I know. It's just…" Ryo paused for a second. "…You just don't know how easy it is to forget that sometimes."

"You know better though."

Ryo nodded.

"You're right. I do know better. But on good days, well…I guess I like to pretend otherwise."

"Like you pretend to the Tamers?"

"That's our business," said Ryo firmly.

Cyberdramon was silent for a moment. He wasn't used to having to think about this kind of thing when he was in his Ultimate form. That was more of Monodromon's area of expertise while his was fighting. However Monodromon was presently unavailable due to Cyberdramon being his default form so he had to make due with what was available.

Strangely, that was a concept that he often applied as a warrior. Not that it made it any easier in this current situation and his form but still. Things were what they were and he desired to help his partner in what ways he could.

"Didn't the Katou child mention something about wanting to help you?"

Que another look of surprise from the Legendary Tamer.

"Cyberdramon? Are you feeling all right? You're not being…you."

"All I'm saying is, perhaps it's time that we stop looking at _him_ as just _our_ problem."

"I haven't even said that Milleniummon was what was on my mind…"

"We're partners Ryo," Cyberdramon reminded, flexing his claws absently.

Ryo merely nodded before turning his gaze back to the horizon of his home city.

"I had a dream this morning. It _was_ about Milleniummon…as you had guessed, and he was talking to that bird lady that we met on Friday. He was trying to get her help in something…her help and the help of others."

Ryo turned back to his partner.

"Cyberdramon…are you sure that you're still bonded with Milleniummon?"

The dragon cyborg growled as his claws clicked against his body armor.

"I'm _quite_ certain. And I know that you felt it too when we were biomerged yesterday. The trace of his data is difficult to miss."

"But that doesn't explain everything that's been happening lately. First we've had aspects of his powers showing up when we were in the middle of a fight, then the visions and strange dreams, and now that card." Ryo frowned. "Cyberdramon? _Did_ I do the right thing leaving that card with Jeri?"

Cyberdramon, although startled that the Legendary Tamer had broached the question to him (as it was not something he would have normally done until he was in his Rookie form), did not so much as turn towards Ryo in surprise, and instead continued the conversation as though it were something he did as naturally and as normally as fighting and breathing did.

"You were the one who was so sure on it in the first place…"

"I know," grimaced Ryo. "But now that I've had that dream I'm not so sure. I think that I might have made a mistake this time around."

"And the card changing forms didn't give you any reason to think otherwise prior to this dream?"

Ryo's brow furrowed again. Cyberdramon did have a point. Admittedly he had been in a hurry due to the digimon attacks but that was hardly a good excuse. As he had told Cyberdramon at the time his instincts had told him that the card was better off in Jeri's hands then his and if there was one thing that he listened to it was his instincts, and when all else failed his instincts were by far the most dependable thing about him. He never liked to give the impression that he didn't know what to do. In most team dynamics nothing erodes confidence and teamwork faster than waffling no matter how close people were. Cyberdramon of course was not like most _people_ (using the broadest sense of the word) and could easily understand and sympathize with Ryo's situation as he had experienced much of it first hand, and as Monodromon he tended to worry a lot, just like Ryo was doing now.

_Now I'm the one who worries and he's the one who fights the hardest. Back when he and I were in the digital world it wasn't like this…_ _**I** _ _wasn't like this. But then, I used to think that I_ _wouldn't have to deal with Milleniummon after he jogressed with Monodromon. What a fool I've been._

_That still doesn't change how things are in the here and now though. Cyberdramon and I have a problem that we have to deal with by ourselves. We're the only ones who can face Milleniummon when he decides to make his move…whatever it is and whatever his motives are. He sounds like he's changed but I've faced him too many times to be sure of anything that he says. And as strong as the Tamers are, and as willing as they are to help out, there's nothing that they can do against him. Milleniummon said it himself; I'm the x factor that escapes all of his plans, and that's because he and I are a part of each other. Our destinies…woven into each other._

_And what's more, I wouldn't want Jeri to get caught up in this. Not after everything that she's been through with D-Reaper. It was stupid of me to let her hang onto that card when I knew Milleniummon was starting to make a comeback. The guy's crazy and there's no telling what someone like him will do to a person like Jeri just because she happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even_ if _Jeri's slashing that_ SolMilleniummon _card did kind of come in handy…_

"You're doing it again," growled Cyberdramon, his voice grating like boulders caught in a rockslide.

A lighthearted smirk grew on the Legendary Tamer's face and he patted his partner's armored shoulder companionably.

"So I am. What else is new? Anyway, I'm going to get dressed now and then we're going to head out. We've got a busy day ahead of us."

_A_ very _busy day…_ Ryo lamented as he crawled back inside his bedroom.

* * *

Ayaka greeted the new day with a powerful and superbly satisfied yawn as she stretched in her bed, extending her limbs to their utmost limit before gradually relaxing them. She lay still for a moment, a fond smile on her face as she absently brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. The smile lasted approximately eight seconds before her gaze fell upon the familiar pink and yellow trimmed digivice that lay on the nightstand next to her bed.

Golden eyebrows furrowed upon the girl's brow as she sat up, groaning with mild irritation. Glaring at the digivice Ayaka found herself filled with a mixture of anxiety, frustration, and another emotion that she couldn't quite clearly identify but would describe as 'parental' in feeling. A strange feeling to be sure; she knew the reasons why she felt the way she did about the first two. Her experiences in the fights that the Tamers had been in had left their mark on her. Before she had something of an interest in becoming a Tamer as it had looked interesting but she had been wary of what the duty entailed because of some of the stories that the Tamers themselves had told her. Miki could sit there and absorb it all wholesale with dazzled eyes but she, unlike her dark haired friend, always listened with a critical ear. After the battles had ended she became less certain as to whether or not it was worth it to become a Tamer. She had thought so during the battle, that much she knew was for certain but now she had had time to settle down and let things collect in her mind like a puddle that she could look at. So while she continued to get herself ready for the day ahead of her she asked herself the question… _Was_ it worth it? She didn't know now. Not with the way things had ended last night with her combing the park for any sign of her friends, and of _Crusadermon_ , getting lost and then running into her worry stricken parents. Had she not been so close to the whole thing she might have actually found the situation somewhat amusing due to the changes in her perspective towards Taming while being bewildered by Miki's continued desire to be one in spite of everything that she had been in the thick of intense fighting and nearly losing her life a couple times, the thought of becoming a Tamer had suddenly lost its appeal to her.

_It's just all too serious,_ thought the blonde haired girl as she crawled out of bed and walked over to her dresser, pulling open one of the drawers and rooting through her shirts until she found the red and orange striped T-shirt that she usually favored. Setting it aside Ayaka closed the drawer and opened up another as she continued to choose her appearance for the day. While she did that her mind drifted absently to the digivice whose presence she studiously attempted to ignore while at the same time she mulled over recent events that had led to her becoming a Tamer. She didn't understand it. She had ceased wanting to become a Tamer and in the end she had become one. What could she make of that? What could anyone make of that? It was as if the universe desired to make fun of her by trapping her in something that she didn't want anymore, and on that account she was quite certain of. And yet…she remembered seeing the pink knight digimon, Crusadermon, struggling to get back into the fight with the strange cloud being, failing, and in so much pain…practically about to die unless she received help soon. Something about her pain and her refusal to admit it had touched her in ways she couldn't even begin to describe. She had seen a living creature hurt and she wanted to help it even though it was far more capable then she was with helping itself. That is, until the digivice showed up.

Ayaka wondered if that was where the _parental_ feeling came from?

The blonde haired girl sighed and cast her eyes over at her digivice. It sat there, waiting as patiently as ever. Ayaka fancied that it was teasing her just by its very visible presence on her nightstand.

_And I'm just now realizing that I have more then just me to worry about now, and I'm likely to be in this up to my ears, with no way to get out of it! Even Kazu couldn't if he wasn't so obsessed with digimon!_

Ayaka frowned and huffed irritably.

_At least I got that Impmon to promise not to say anything to anyone about my becoming a Tamer. I still need to figure it out for myself. How much is going to change because of what I am now? How will this affect the people that I care about? Mom and Dad were so worried about me when I ran into them. They were practically in tears! Mom was hysterical and…_

Ayaka's eyes widened slightly as a thought occurred to her and she pressed her hands turned into fists against her forehead, clenching her eyes shut tightly.

"AAAAGH! What're my parents going to say when they find out about this?!"

"Everything all right dear?" Called out a muffled voice from just on the other side of Ayaka's bedroom doorway, causing the girl to squeak and jump in surprise at having her conversation overheard.

"Ah! Um…yeah! Sure! Everything's fine! No worries!"

_Takato; Kazu; Kenta…how_ do _you guys do this everyday?!_

* * *

Ayaka stepped outside, fully dressed in her day clothes and with her newly acquired D-Arc attached to her waist, hidden just underneath the hem of her shirt. Its presence still felt wholly alien to her and she had felt tempted to leave it behind but a part of her felt that doing such a thing would be a denial of what had happened. And besides, there was still some things that she needed to settle today, namely a certain digimon by the name of Crusadermon, who was still out there somewhere in the city and while she was at it have a talk with Miki, and perhaps even Jeri. She had plenty of time to do all the things that she needed to doing, as school, and indeed many places, had been closed down due to all the damage that had been caused by last week's fighting, particularly yesterday's. It certainly was going to be hard getting around. Much of the area around the park had been closed off, primarily the area where that giant double-bladed spear had been imbedded in the ground. From what she had heard on the news the military was currently in the process of trying to dislodge it and have it prepared for transportation to some undisclosed location. The news media was something in the dark about that part of yesterday's news and it was causing quite the controversy on the net.

Touching her digivice Ayaka wondered where things were going to go now. She had heard some things about the anti-digimon movements that had been building up since the D-Reaper invasion, primarily because her father insisted on reading the _important_ news each morning at breakfast, and on her father he was something of a supporter of the anti-digimon groups. Not _officially_ taking a stance on the matter but she could tell that the thought of digimon worried him. And he had every reason to. Heck, any sane person would have reason to worry about them. They tended to be pretty destructive and it looked as though barring any digimon that were automatically partners from the start that was all they were. Her own _partner_ , and Miki's too apparently if what had happened yesterday was any indication (and she hadn't gotten around to talking to her dark haired friend since she had biomerged and joined the fight to see if that was the case) both started off on some rather destructive grounds. Impmon had fought Crusadermon a couple times already, and from what she had heard when she was with Kenta a couple days before Dracmon, or 'Beanie' (as Miki had stubbornly insisted on calling him), had also started off that way and had even hurt Henry's father in an attempt to escape.

All in all, not a good way to win the hearts and minds of people who fear you.

Ayaka sighed and shook her head, the two pigtails shaking slightly from the motion as she looked down the path of her home's front yard. She was just about to take a step towards the streets when the beeping of her digivice caught her attention. Reaching down Ayaka uncovered the digital artifact and took it into her hand, studying the constantly swinging compass arrow that stood emblazoned on its screen.

"It…looks like it's picking up a digimon," Ayaka whispered unknowingly to herself. "But…where is it?"

The red, flashing arrow swung around in an arc once again, as though unable to make up its mind as to where it was pointing. Ayaka began waving the digivice around in the hopes that by doing so it would finally start to settle in a coherent direction. At the same time she pressed the button that lay beneath the screen. Ayaka began to growl in annoyance when her actions produced no visible results.

"Rrrrgh…how's this stupid thing supposed to work? What are the digital deities thinking when they hand out these things without an instruction manual? I mean, seriously, this is just…ah!"

Ayaka stopped dead in her tracks as she turned around and her eyes caught sight of something pink and metallic leaning against the side of her family's home, looking _dead_ to the world.

The blonde haired girl found herself at a loss for words as she gazed at the form of Crusadermon, sleeping against her house.

* * *

Impmon sat on top of the roof overlooking the spear that had once been wielded by the Mega level dark knight, ChaosGallantmon, one hand resting on a knee while one leg dangled in the air, restlessly, and at the same time lazily, moving back and forth. Huge cranes were fixed to the spear's handle as machines fought to pull it up, but at present the weapon refused to budge.

Impmon couldn't help but wonder if that was the intention of the weapons owner, even though he…or rather _she_ was no longer of this world.

_Certainly is interestin'…but not exactly something that I'm going to spend too much time thinking about. Right now I'd say that the best thing to do is get it out of there and take it someplace safe, or if at all possible destroy it._

Impmon's green eyes twitched as he noticed a crowd gathering at the edges of the tape line. Some of the people there were holding up signs that called for the removal of digimon from the real world in rather… _colorful_ …and intensely harsh language. Some of them weren't even native born Japanese, but were instead foreigners who had traveled from various locations across the globe just so that they could physically make their voice heard. The Japanese Military Police was standing guard at the other end of the yellow tape, and for the moment their presence was all that was necessary to keep the crowd at bay. It was fortunate that the turnout from anti-digimon groups was rather low today, but how long would it last? Yesterday's incident had been pretty bad. A number of businesses and schools all across the western portion of the district of Shinjuku had been closed down except in a few cases where the damage hadn't been extreme enough to affect them. There had even been more then a few injuries and some people missing but so far no one had been reported as having been killed in the fighting. A miracle so far and one that Impmon hoped would continue, but had the gut feeling, and enough wisdom to know that it wouldn't last. One year had passed since Takato and his friends had become Tamers, and a little bit longer since digimon had first begun appearing in the real world and so far no one, so far as he knew of, had actually been killed.

_Unless you count Leomon,_ thought Impmon bitterly. His left hand twitched noticeably as though wanting to clench into a fist. He briefly thought about his most recent mode change and he felt a touch of anger move through him, directed towards himself but he swiftly squashed it. So far no one had commented on it to any significant degree but he got the feeling that wouldn't last long. He still didn't know what to make of it himself. Leomon's data rising to the surface, giving him the warrior's sword, blue eyes, and attacks. Painful reminders of what had been stolen. He wondered how Jeri would react to it once she found out.

_Enough!_ Impmon berated himself as he stood up and dusted himself off. _What's done is done. Jeri forgave me for what I did and the here and now is all that matters! I have to accept the fact that Leomon isn't going to be coming back._

But even as Impmon looked back towards the work area he felt as though he were caught in the midst of a lie. True, Jeri had forgiven him. Heck, all the Tamers have to some extent, but if there was one person who hadn't that was himself. Given his own actions earlier in the previous week when he tried to get Janyu to remove the lion warrior's data from his body, and his own reaction to that failure, forgiveness did not feel like something he had earned.

_Just so long as the body count stays down,_ thought Impmon, _and humans and digimon get along, I can live with what I did. But that won't change how I feel about my actions._

Impmon turned away from the scene as it continued to unfold down in the streets, feeling the faint pings of hunger beginning to gnaw away at him. His partners were sleeping in today, but he had told their parents that he would be around to greet them when they woke up. He had already stayed out to long as it is and…

Suddenly Impmon's eyes widened in shock as pain ripped through his back, paralyzing his legs and causing him to fall forwards on the rooftop with a hard thud. Gasping harshly Impmon rode through the pain as best as he could until it began to fade back to tolerable levels. Getting back up with a groan, Impmon blinked back a tear that had forced its way out and he gave an audible sigh.

_It's those stupid injuries,_ the diminutive Demon Lord thought exasperatedly. _The ones that I took saving Crusadermon from that cloud/cable thing yesterday. I've got to say that thing really packs quite the wallop. I'm a little surprised that I'm still feeling them like this…and this badly. I mean, I've taken some pretty nasty hits before…D-Reaper, Indramon…but none of that stuff stuck around for longer then a few days. We digimon tend to heal fast and…ahhh…forget about it! I probably just got hurt more then I thought I did and it's just still going through the lingering stages. I gotta get back home to see my partners before I hook up with the rest of the goofballs so that we can have that meeting with Yamaki._

And with that thought in mind, Impmon took a second to collect himself before blasting off of the roof at top speed, not noticing the faint sparkle of data floating off of his back before disappearing in the morning sun.


	66. 65: Musings: Part 1

_"We have gone over your recent reports Yamaki,"_ spoke up the dark haired woman whose image was currently highlighted on a view screen. _"It would appear that you have had a rather interesting time of late."_

"Funny. I don't recall being paid for old Chinese curses."

_"Sarcasm, Yamaki? That's not like you. But then I can imagine that you're under quite a bit of stress. The damage to Hypnos is quite severe after all, and the number of recent emergences has ensured that you haven't been able to fix them with any reliable degree of permanency. Battles taking place within your own building, damage within the city, a young girl missing and presumed returned to the digital world while at the same time inhabiting the body of a digimon…need I go on?"_

Yamaki remained silent, glowering at the screen beneath his sunglasses.

_"No. I see that it is not necessary. You were, after all, there…"_

_"Can we just get to the point?"_ Interrupted a man's voice from an image screen next to the woman. He was a thin, man dressed in a dark suit. _"This whole 'digimon' fiasco that's bee going on for the past couple of years has been driving me crazy! I want to see an end to it, and soon!"_

" _Sadly_ , sir," Yamaki spoke, his voice all but dripping with bitterness and contempt directed towards the member of the Board that had just spoken, "it doesn't appear that an end is in sight. The digimon are here to stay."

_"Just the partner digimon,"_ said the woman. _"As had been decreed by Parliament, and that only extended to those digimon who were partnered with the group that had fought the D-Reaper. There's no mention of anything about any others who come through afterwards."_

"A minor technicality, and not exactly one that's iron-clad in any case due to the increasing influx of digimon that cross over. More Tamers will naturally be needed as the primary children age. I hardly think that such a discrepancy will prevent the government from accepting more Tamers into society."

_"Perhaps, but the mood of the people has affected the outcome of many an election. What makes you think that concerned parents will want their children to combat threats from another plain of existence? Threats that have shown themselves time and time again to be far more dangerous then anything that any military on Earth can hope to cope with."_

"All of this are things that we do need to think about," said Yamaki coolly. "But that doesn't change the fact that the situation is what it is now. Argus is gone thanks in part to Itokawa's interference…"

_"Not to mention the interference of a child possessed by the Digital Hazard,"_ commented the thin man in a dry tone. Yamaki turned to glare at him.

"The child is merely a victim of circumstances…"

_"I really don't care Yamaki, so spare me your platitudes and self righteousness. Honestly, I don't know why you even bother to keep selling me that line. My associates and I have invested heavily into this project of yours and every day we lose more and more money with no agreeable results. In fact, the results become increasingly negative. Your record speaks for itself and we have gone over it many, many times. If it weren't for your skills we would have replaced you ages ago. The girl, Noriko Nakata, is yet another addition to that list. However unintentional her actions may have been, they still had far reaching affects on Hypnos. My_ _colleagues insist that eventually you will have visible returns but frankly I'm getting tired of waiting…"_

_"Except that you know that you no longer have an active choice in the matter,"_ said the woman sharply. _"Our esteemed government has seen to that, and for very good reasons."_

_"Maybe they seem like 'good reasons' to you…"_

"Save the bickering for another time," demanded Yamaki somewhat hotly. "You two can decide to do things however you want with your funds, and you can hold to your own beliefs as you see fit. I still have a project to run, and it still needs repair if our world is to be adequately and fully defended from threats from the digital world. All I need from you and your associates is assurance that you'll continue to support and fund Hypnos and its endeavors as agreed upon by the contract that you signed with the government."

_"I'll continue to stand by the agreement,"_ said the thin man after a few moments. _"As if I have a choice in the matter."_

_"As will I,"_ followed up the woman.

"Good. Then this conversation is ended."

The thin man's image blinked out of existence at that in an abrupt fashion, but the woman's stayed lit. Yamaki looked at it, resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow.

"Something more that you would like to add?"

_"About Itokawa and Kuroda…"_

"Itokawa has been suspended until further notice. This you already know."

_"I would like to apologize for my vote of support for his position. I hadn't thought that he'd go as far as he did…"_

"Wouldn't know it since you kept Kuroda on. His hacked digimon program didn't make for much of an impression as I recall and yet you're allowing him access to Hypnos's fascilities."

_"He_ _**is** _ _well qualified mind you, and you will need him if you plan to follow through with your plan."_

Now Yamaki couldn't resist raising an eyebrow.

_"Don't give me that look. You're calling all the Tamers together for a meeting. To me that just about screams 'rescue mission' for that Nakata girl. The news might not have picked up on it yet, and you may have obtained her mother's silence on the matter but word is going to get out sooner or later that she's gone missing again. You can't have her gone for too long either. Not if you want to avoid a scandal."_

"A scandal is the least of my concerns right now," commented Yamaki dryly.

_"Of course. I've noticed how much you've changed over the past year. You're a lot more empathic then you used to be, especially towards the Tamers and Ms. Nakata's position as a mother. Truth be told, I can sympathize with her after a fashion. I have children of my own. I wouldn't let anything get in my way of tracking them down if they disappeared into a place like the digital world."_

The woman scrutinized Yamaki's still features for a moment before continuing.

_"You realize of course, that the government hasn't given any confirmation as to whether or not they'll allow you or the Tamers to go searching for the child."_

"You'd think that they would. Children have a way of making the whole world stop."

_"Yes. They do, don't they? Probably a reason why people are so resistant to the idea of allowing the Tamers to be an official part of Hypnos operations. It's almost like child-labor, only as soldiers. However, I and many others are having a hard time seeing a way around it right now so you have your support for a Tamer's program. As to your rescue operation…and don't_ _try to deny it Yamaki. I know that you have a reputation for doing things your way, like when you used Yuggoth, which was an unapproved program by the way. Now, as I was saying, about your rescue mission…you have my support, my approval, and my blessing. I'll cover for you as needed. Unofficially you're going to find and rescue Noriko Nakata while those seat warmers in the government debate the wisdom of such an undertaking using children. Officially, there's nothing against you testing out the repairs done to your upgraded Juggernaut system while the Tamers just happen to be in the room. Right?"_

The woman gave Yamaki a rather noticeable smirk, and Yamaki gave her a nod in return, all the while trying to hide the small, returning smirk that he felt growing on his face.

"Yes. I think that will do quite nicely."

_"Keep me appraised on your progress then,"_ said the woman, and her image winked out a second later. Yamaki stood there for a moment, the smirk on his face still there as he felt a sense of amazement flush his system. This was a rather unexpected turn of events.

_She was more observant then I thought,_ thought Yamaki as he finally turned and headed towards the door of his office.

* * *

Aiko Nakata sat at the kitchen table of her apartment home, staring straight ahead of her with her head resting on her arms, her eyes red from lack of sleep. Her son, Daisuke was currently in his bedroom, sleeping, and she did not begrudge him that due to his age. If anything she envied him. She could use a good night's sleep right now, but sadly, that was denied to her. It had been late last night that she had received news as to what had happened to her daughter…or rather that she had gone 'missing' again, with no further details being revealed to her until the Tamer, Henry Wong, woke up and was able to talk. This last she had received directly from Yamaki herself when she had hoofed it down to the Shinjuku government building, bypassing all the destruction that had been caused during the day's fighting and causing enough of a clamor to significantly upset the secretary and attract some attention from all the right people to get the Head of Hypnos to come downstairs and see what was going on.

Needless to say, Aiko was mortified to hear that her daughter was missing again, and that Henry had been injured in an attempt to keep her from disappearing.

It felt as though it was all a little too much for the woman to take. She had felt as if something had _cracked_ in her mind…in fact, she could attest to actually _hearing_ something crack, and it had been the first time that she herself had come within inches of fainting since she had been a very young child held within the grips of a temper tantrum. She had staggered on her feet, and the world had become that much more distant to her. However, some inner part of her had refused to let such an action take hold of her, refused to even admit that she had felt something snap within her, and her balance corrected itself with ease. The metaphorical _crack_ remained little more then a splinter in the mirror of her mind that may or may not heal itself, depending on how things went in the future regarding her family. Aiko remembered how her mother had always claimed that she was too proud, stubborn, and strong willed to let things get to her, whether or not they were big or small, and it was one of her greatest attributes.

For the first time though, Aiko could almost wish that she didn't have to be so strong, and that she had someone to share this burden with. Alas, her husband was dead, Noriko was missing, and Daisuke was too young, _far_ too young to have such burdens placed on his little shoulders, and even if he was old enough she would still not want him to bear any of it. Even so, she knew that was the wrong way to go about things. Just as what she was contemplating now, and had been contemplating for the majority of the evening was what she knew to be _the wrong way._

Sitting in front of her, in a tall, dark colored object with a crystal clear glass sitting in front of it. It was a bottle of Sake.

Aiko had been staring at the bottle for about six hours now, ever since she had come home from Hypnos and had seen that Daisuke was already in bed. She recognized that she would have to tell him about his older sister's disappearance, and with that thought in mind Aiko had settled down heavily in the kitchen, breaking out the bottle of Sake that she had been saving for a special occasion alongside a drinking glass and wished that, for a moment, she could forget about all of her troubles.

So far, the bottle remained unopened, the glass, remained dry, and she had not yet drowned her memories and troubles.

It wasn't often that she had alcoholic beverages, or even allowed any to come into contact with her children. During the holiday season it was a treat that she indulged herself, and Noriko in (conservatively, and Daisuke not at all due to his younger age) for celebration, but it was never something that she allowed herself in any significant quantities. Everything in moderation tended to be her philosophy, and besides, foreign imported wine was good for the heart as well as for the soul. Extremes were the sort of thing that she avoided, and she had seen what it had done to her husband's father, which had not been a pretty sight in and of itself. She never saw it a man destroying himself as an enjoyable experience, especially when it involved degrading themselves, abusing relationships, and puking their guts out (the former of the two especially stuck out in her mind), but like most adults she knew what it felt like to just forget about the whole world in something as simple as a glass of Sake…or two…or three… Aiko was often cited as being a role model by her friends and coworkers as a parent, but she would be the first to admit that she was hardly the model of perfection that people liked to view her as. Her own mother would certainly vouch for that fact while recalling a rather 'interesting' evening during the woman's rather rough teenager years.

Those years were not the sort of thing that Aiko looked on with any sort of pride.

The past was the past though, and for this moment it had no bearing on the present except as a reminder to the mother of two that her own mother had told her, during that aforementioned evening, that she wished that one day she would have children that would put her through the exact same things that she went through. While her present situation was not the same (in fact, it was much, much worse then anything that she could have ever put her mother through) the grim irony was not lost on her. It was a good thing that she had grown out of that time of her life upon meeting her future husband. There were times, she wondered, where she would be if he had never entered her life. Just like there were times where she wondered how things would be if he were still alive.

_If nothing else, we'd be here, together, and this stupid bottle wouldn't be sitting in front of me, making me feel as though it's waiting for me to just take it up and start drinking from it._

Aiko lifted her head off of her arms and straightened her back, sighing deeply with her eyes closed before reaching out and grasping the bottle. With a twist the cap came off and the sharp smell of Rice Wine stung her nostrils. Aiko held the bottle in her hand for a minute, her hand caressing the fine smoothness of its neck, feeling its weight in her hand…

A second later she was pouring the liquid down the drain of her kitchen sink.

_This isn't the way to get through this. If my husband were here I wouldn't have had this thought in my mind. And even though he isn't with me here_ physically _he's still with me in spirit,_ _and that's all the assurance that I need to stay strong. Him and my children. Daisuke doesn't need me going to pieces and it wouldn't do Noriko any good either to have her come home to a broken mother. I worked through my husband's death, and I'll work through this as well. For all our sakes._

The last of the Sake dripped down the drain and Aiko promptly rinsed out the bottle before throwing it in the recycle bin beneath the sink. Leaning forward against the countertop of the sink Aiko let strands of hair fall over her eyes as she closed them. She didn't feel any better, but she felt in control, and so long as she had control over even the smallest part of what was troubling her she could find a way to get in control of everything else. She still needed some closure though. Some kind of assurance and that meant that she needed to take a little bit more of an active participation in events. To begin with, she was going to need to see Henry and Yamaki again. She needed to see what she could start doing to find her daughter.

* * *

"Ms. Pwetty Pants! Time to kiss _Mr._ Pwetty Pants and get mawwied!"

Terriermon blinked at the diminutive girl that was his partner's younger sister and the youngest child in the Wong family before glancing over at Lopmon, who was presently sitting in front of him, looking over at Suzie worriedly.

"Tell me that she didn't just say what I think she just said…"

Lopmon's look of worry was becoming dangerously close to embarrassment and she leaned over to Suzie and spoke to her in as soft a voice as she could muster.

"Um…Suzie? I don't think that this is a good idea…"

"Why not?" Asked Suzie, looking confused at her partner. "You two look good together…not to mention that you look alike, so why not?"

Lopmon looked down nervously and twiddled her tiny thumbs together.

"Oh…how do I explain this…?"

"And while you're at it," barked Terriermon as he folded his arms over the pink dress that he had been forced into when he had been given his instructions to 'keep Suzie entertained' during the visit to the hospital, "can you explain to me why it is that Suzie insists on our gender roles being what they are? For starters, digimon don't even _have_ genders. And another, you're more of a girl then I am! It's not dignifying being stuffed into these tutu's when you're the epitome of butt kicking awesomeness!"

"Um…Terriermon?" Began Jaarin, Henry's older sister as she looked over at the playing group with an expression that was a mixture of worry almost equal to Lopmon's, and strange regard over her little sister's antics. "I think you're talking too much for a stuffed animal…"

"Give me a break! These doctors knew I was a digimon when they brought Henry in yesterday. And I _still_ want to know why Suzie keeps calling me Princess Pretty Pants when she's got Lopmon."

Suzie just blinked at the tiny digimon in confusion.

"Because you _are_ Pwincess Pwetty Pants."

"Ugh…"

"Momentai Terriermon," chuckled Rinchei, the oldest sibling of the Wong family.

"Momentai's not helping in this situation. Henry! Help me out here!"

"Suzie," spoke up Mayumi, the mother of the four Wong children, looking over from the bed that she, Rinchei, and Jaarin were standing next to. "Why don't you try something else with Lopmon for now? I'm sure that Terriermon would like some quality time with his partner."

"Ohhh…okay…"

_"Finally_ ," breathed Terriermon as the girl grudgingly began to undo the knot that kept the dress on the long eared, rabbit-dog digimon. "Good luck keeping her occupied Lop-ears!"

"Terriermon…" This from all the gathered Wong family now.

"Oh boy…"

"Now," began Mayumi as she turned back to the doctor who was currently checking Henry over for anything that might complicate the boy's road to recovery, "about my son…"

The doctor clicked off a penlight and stuck it in his coat's breast pocket.

"He looks to be fine. Aside from the scar that's on his right arm there he's in perfect health."

"Yeah, well, we certainly have a certain little fairy to thank for that don't we?" Grinned Terriermon as he hopped up joyfully onto his partner's shoulder, relieved to be free from the evil clutches of _Princess_ Suzie. Said fairy, MarineAngemon was currently resting on Henry's other shoulder, giggling excitedly, flapping his fin-like arms in front of him.

"Yes, I must say that his healing powers are certainly quite extraordinary. I imagine that medicine would benefit from having someone like him around. Just out of curiosity, does he…uh…have a… _partner?"_

"Yup. He's just not here yet. He'll be here though, you can count on that. If there's one thing that Kenta has it's a sense of timeliness. Practically the only thing that he didn't get from being friends with Takato…"

"Terriermon…" grumbled Henry, but the sound didn't have the strength that it normally had in it and Terriermon looked at his partner with concern in his dark eyes.

"Well, we're glad to hear that he'll be okay. How soon can we expect to have him discharged from the hospital?"

The doctor shrugged at Mayumi's question.

"Digimon healing is not something that we normally explore, so we don't know what kind of side affects could occur. Granted, we've had a couple patients rolling in and out of here lately that seem none the worse for wear from the experience, but I'd rather keep him here a little bit longer while we run some tests just to be sure. Also, given that he has maintained a scar it's something that I'd like to keep an eye on."

"Just to be sure?"

"Just to be sure. It wouldn't hurt after all." The doctor laughed lightly and scratched the back of his head in slight agitation. "Sorry. Bad pun."

"The second lowest form of humor," muttered Terriermon.

"Terriermon…"

Terriermon turned to eye his Tamer carefully. Again, this bit of scolding didn't sound as though it had the force behind it that it normally would. Something was bothering the young Tamer, and Terriermon could easily guess why. However, it wasn't something that he was about to press with Henry's family in the room. Not when he didn't know for sure. After all, he could still be just groggy from all the pain killers and other assorted drugs that the hospital fed him until MarineAngemon showed up. Odds were though Henry was upset about having lost to ChaosGallantmon and lost Noriko Nakata simultaneously as they were both the same creature. In fact, trying to figure out what had happened had been the first thing that he had asked about upon regaining conscious (albeit with a mouth that sounded like it was chewing on a wet rag due to the exertions that he had dealt with prior to and during his trip to the hospital). The matter was made complicated when he didn't receive a quick response due to the fact that very few people actually seemed to know precisely what he was talking about, or were confused in lacking Henry's half of the story. Eventually Henry had gotten the story out of Takato, who had been sharing the same room with Henry during his _very_ brief stay (as he was suffering more from a case of exhaustion then injury) and had sown it up with his own experiences. The revelation that Noriko, as ChaosGallantmon, had returned to the digital world via Yamaki's Juggernaut program, while simultaneously being attacked and eventually imprisoned by a series of blue cables did not do any favors for the Tamer.

And who could blame him? Terriermon certainly felt that he couldn't. Henry had been acting a bit more protective of Noriko since her first return from the digital world, spurred by her rather tragic circumstances and a sense of debt and gratitude for her listening to him when he needed someone to lend an ear, which was in a sense aggravated by the fact that he didn't see himself as really doing anything _helpful_ for her. He had offered her his friendship and the assurance that he and his friends would do what they could for her to help her adjust to the then known changes in her life only to have everything literally blow up in his face and in the end he couldn't do a thing for her. His own desire to help her had been his Achilles Heel because he didn't want to see her hurt any more then she already was.

_We'll find a way to get her back,_ thought Terriermon with his usual sense of optimism. _If I know Henry, and I do, he's already got that computer brain of his working at warp speed to figure out some way to go to the digital world and make like the knight in shining armor. Well, that last bit would work if we actually_ looked _like a knight when we biomerged but that's Takato's job. We'll figure something out. I'm sure of it._

* * *

Henry's mind was indeed working, but not at the speed or on the subject that Terriermon had been boasting about in his mind. Rather pity and self-loathing was currently being the cornerstone of his thought process right now. Not the best way to be going about things. That he knew quite well as it wouldn't do Noriko any good but he couldn't seem to help himself. The situation had been beyond his control; far more then he had thought that it had been from the very start, and by his own actions, or rather _lack_ of them ChaosGallantmon/Noriko had battered him and his partner relentlessly before taking off to fight his friends, and then shortly afterwards disappearing back into the digital world again; one of a seemingly endless string of failures that he had been experiencing of late.

_I failed to help Takato when he fought Lucemon…had even_ attacked _him when he was biomerged with that BlackGuilmon. I lost control of myself in that last battle with Lucemon and nearly got Rika and Renamon killed; I couldn't protect my father from Sangloupmon; and now I couldn't even bring myself to help Noriko when she needed me the most. What…what was I thinking? What_ was _I_ thinking?!

Henry felt the urge to just throw aside his bed covers and storm out of the room…to do something, _anything_ in which he could at least vent his frustrations, but he didn't. Felt that he _couldn't_. Not with his family here. He didn't want them to worry about him any more then they already were. Still, the feeling remained. He needed to do something to correct his lack of foresight, but the opportunity refused to present itself for the time being. Stuck in the hospital for an indeterminate amount of time, never mind the fact that there was very little that he could do _outside_ of it that could help Noriko so long as she was in the digital world and he was here. Unless, of course, he or one of the others discovered a portal to the digital world like last time.

_I wonder if the possibility is there. Yesterday there was enough digital activity going on where an active portal might have remained behind…I'll have to see what I can find out from the_ _others when Terriermon and I get out of here. I have to save Noriko! I have to bring her home. I can't fail like I did last time. Not if I have anything to say about it._

"Henry?" Asked the soft voice of his mother as she gently placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, interrupting him from his train of thought and startling him.

"Huh? Yeah Mom?"

"I'm going to go over a few things with your doctor and then I'm going to check up on your father before I come back. I…"

Mayumi blinked in surprise as MarineAngemon suddenly leapt up into the air in front of her and began a series of questioning _Pih's_ and _Puh's_ , waving his little finlike arms and tilting his head to one side. Mayumi just looked at the little pink digimon in confusion before turning to Henry. The boy simply shrugged.

"Maybe he wants to help Dad like he did me."

"Pih."

"I'll take that as a yes," said Terriermon from his position on Henry's shoulder.

"PihPihPih," said MarineAngemon with a nod of his head. Terriermon grinned.

"Wow. I speak MarineAngemon now."

"More like you got lucky in a game of charades," replied Henry in a dry tone, causing Terriermon to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow. Someone's got a case of bad bedside manners…and isn't that supposed to be _my_ job here?"

"Nnnggg…Terriermon…"

"Momentai!"


	67. 66: Musings: Part 2

Takato stood on the porch just outside of his home, his eyes staring out at the building in front of him but not quite seeing it. A slight breeze brushed through his hair, causing him to narrow his eyes slightly until it passed. The sun felt so good, beating down on him, warming the top of his head. It felt good to rest after yesterday's battle, but for Takato, rest felt wrong to him but at the moment he couldn't see anything else that he could do while he collected his thoughts. Besides, his mother had insisted…yes, _insisted_ (made even more strange by the fact that Kazu, who was presently downstairs working in the bakery, had joined in on the insistence) that he stay in bed longer to recover from yesterday's fight. While he didn't want to stay in bed he wasn't quite willing to argue with his mother either, so for the time being he met her halfway and stayed in his room. For the time being of course. He certainly had no intentions of staying up here for much longer. He wanted to see how Henry was doing, and while Kenta had promised to phone him when he went down to the hospital to pick up MarineAngemon and get a report on their half-Chinese friend there was nothing that could ease his worries more then seeing for himself how he was doing.

Next to him, Guilmon's golden eyes followed an insect as it slowly flew in front of him. Takato watched the sight for a moment, chuckling mentally as the crimson scaled digimon's eyes followed it in a comical zigzag fashion on the dino's nose. Guilmon stared crosseyed at the insect for a second, during which it buzzed its wings, sending a ticklish vibration up his nose. As Takato watched, Guilmon's face scrunched up; his bat wing-like ears twitched and bent back against his head and he opened his mouth, making a series of broken intakes of air through his nose as the tickling sensation in his nose increased exponentially.

"Ah…ah…ah…AH…"

_Oh boy…_

"AH-CHOO!"

The insect buzzed back into the air, swaying in annoyance at its perches instability before disappearing from sight altogether. Guilmon sniffed and rubbed his snout.

"Gesundheit."

"Hah?" Guilmon bent his head to one side in confusion, and Takato, upon realizing his mistake rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh. Yeah. That's right. You don't remember. It's just something that people do when someone sneezes."

"Oh." Guilmon blinked his gold colored eyes. "Why?"

Takato again scratched the back of his head."

"Um…because it's the polite thing to do I guess. It's just something that people do."

"Did you tell me before?"

Takato gave his partner a rueful smile as inside of him a part of him quietly mourned the loss of his best friend's memories.

"Yeah. Yeah I did tell you about it once. Before…ah…before you _forgot._ "

Guilmon twitched his ears as he looked at Takato.

"I haven't forgotten Takatomon. Yesterday Renamon and Impmon helped me remember some things…"

"Yeah?" Takato's eyes lit up remembering his _skating on sausages_ reference. "Like what?"

At that, Guilmon's expression became downcast and his bat wing-like ears drooped.

"The time where Renamon hit me. She says that she was a different digimon then. I don't really know what she means by that. Did she digivolve and then… _poof…_ become someone else? Or was she like me?"

Takato shook his head, continuing to rub Guilmon's as he did so.

"No, Guilmon. What she meant was she went through a lot of changes and experiences that changed the way she looked at things. Before she met Rika she believed that all she had to do was load another digimon's data to get stronger, but afterwards…" Takato shrugged. "…She found out that just caring about someone and knowing that they care about you in return was all she needed."

Granted, it was a rather abridged version to the shared experiences that Rika and Renamon had together that led them from the battle obsessed Tamer and digimon team that they used to be to the caring, and still a bit battle obsessed, friends that they were now, but it got to the point fairly quickly. He and the others had once remarked on the changes that they had all had when they were on their way to the last battle with D-Reaper. Now that Takato thought about it, those changes never stopped, and they weren't always for the best. He himself was a case in point. He had once started off as a rather goofy, somewhat shy kid who was more often then not unsteady when it came to being a Tamer and had a lot of insecurities that he had to fight through in order to become what he was at the time he first biomerged with Guilmon. After that there had been a rather noticeable, at least to everyone else except himself, change in his personality. Henry had commented on it a couple times, as had Rika. He had become more confident, more assertive; lacking the headstrong, brazen attitude that he once had after he had first defeated IceDevimon which had resulted in his belief that he was invincible and becoming tempered by his experiences. Still awkward and goofy but that wasn't something that Takato, or anyone else who knew him for that matter, would ever believe would go away.

_Only now it feels like I've come full circle,_ thought Takato as he continued to look at Guilmon, _only not in the right way. I feel afraid a lot of the time. I know that I don't show it when I'm fighting or when I'm with my friends…at least not all the time but I definitely feel afraid. Losing Guilmon, and then everything that had happened after that…it changed me somehow. I don't feel as confident as I used to that things will turn out for the best. Jeri's lost Leomon, Guilmon was killed, Henry's been injured, my whole friendship with Rika has been turned upside down…_

Instinctively at the thought of his red haired friend, Takato turned his gaze, unknowingly, in the direction of Rika's home before returning his gaze back to Guilmon. For a moment, his mind almost set itself to wonder about her but he felt something lock up inside of him and he quickly pushed away.

_…Everything's changed. Everything's the same, but different somehow. It's almost as if things are in the reverse for some of us. Myself, Guilmon…the only ones that aren't like that are Rika, Jeri, Ryo…and just about everybody except maybe for Henry. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much. But…I just wish that I knew what to do. Ever since that first fight with Lucemon the whole world's been turned upside down._

"Guilmon?" Asked Takato all of a sudden. "Why do you stay with me?"

Guilmon tilted his head to one side inquisitively, imitating Renamon whenever she wanted clarification about something.

"Huh? What do you mean? Do you want me to go sleep outside again?"

"No! I don't want that, not for anything! What I mean is…you're memories are so fragmented that you barely even remember anything at all except in certain cases. Up until now you've taken everything that I and the others have told you at face value and you've fought by my side…even biomerging with me again. I guess…I guess what I'm trying to get at is…is…"

Takato fought to find the words that he wanted to say, but felt as though something was lacking. As if there was something that he feared to admit or even recognize before he could even begin to say it aloud.

_And here I thought that I had gotten past most of that when I biomerged with Guilmon again,_ thought Takato as he remembered the conversation that he had with his partner prior to their merging. _I guess I was wrong…_

"You want to know why I trust you, huh?"

Takato whirled on Guilmon with surprise clearly evident on his face. He hadn't expected Guilmon to get to the heart of the matter.

"Ah! I…that is…um…er…"

"Takato…you've taken care of me ever since I woke up and saw you again at Kai's place. You've tried to protect me from danger and when we fought I always felt your strength flowing through me. And even then there was always a part of me that felt like I knew you from somewhere before even though I didn't remember anything about my past."

"Yeah…but…you get hurt out there whenever we fight against another digimon! Badly sometimes." An image flashed through his mind from their fight with DinoTigermon at Kai's home when the Mega snapped off one of Growlmon's arm blades. "How…" Takato swallowed. "…How can you follow me and trust me so completely when I let you put yourself in harms way like that and you don't even know the reason why?"

"Because you fight with me. Because you care about me. I don't know if I can explain it, but that's the feeling that I get whenever we're together and fighting. I know that you'll stand by me no matter what."

"Guilmon…" Takato stared at his partner with amazement, remembering the first time he had seen Guilmon talk like this and Guilmon had assured him that no matter how much he changed and digivolved he would always still be him on the inside. It had surprised him quite a bit because back then he had been used to Guilmon acting much more childish, and it reminded him that everyone grows and changes in different ways based on their experiences.

_Guilmon could have been different on any number of occasions, even dead on his second day of living. He could have continued to be like Megidramon when we were fighting Beelzemon, or have turned out like that a lot sooner…_

Of course, as Takato thought about this, he remembered that Guilmon had again changed, and not necessarily for the better. Not bad but more in the reverse manner that he had thought of earlier. True, every now and then Guilmon showed a little bit of his old self, such as his penchant for calling Takato by strange mix ups of his name and digimon (or even 'mother') from the early days of their partnership, and even now with his rather mature and even insightful reasons for fighting by Takato's side and staying with him in spite of being in situations that weren't safe for him, but even with these things in mind the Guilmon that was here now was so very far away from the Guilmon that he used to know.

_But…is that necessarily a bad thing?_ Thought Takato as he rested his arms on the railing in front of him. _Guilmon's back and little by little his memories are returning. Some day he'll become the Guilmon that I remember, and in some ways he still is. On some level that part of him hasn't vanished. The only things that are different are his appearance and his memories. We_ _can go on from there without too much trouble I'm sure. If nothing else Rika would tell me to stop worrying myself so much about this. Not many people get 'second chances' like this…_

At the thought of 'second chances' and his friend Rika Takato groaned in frustration and propped his head on one arm.

_Second chances,_ mused the goggle-wearing Tamer as he looked over at the city's horizon. _When did life get to be so complicated?_

Takato gripped the railing with his free hand as a wave of frustration swept through him with a light gust of wind blowing in through the alley.

_Maybe that's part of changing too. What changes us and how we feel about other people…_

"Takato?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry. Can we eat now? My tummy's making grumbly noises."

Takato raised an eyebrow.

"We ate before Mom and Kazu shooed us upstairs…"

"I thought you said that my stomach was like a bottomless pit though."

"I did Guilmon. I was just being…ahhh, never mind. We might as well go see what we can get from downstairs. Hopefully we won't get sent back up here and maybe sneak out of the house so that we can go check up on Henry. I'm worried about him boy."

* * *

Kazu carefully kneaded the bread doe with his hands, his brow furrowed in concentration as he went through the now well-practiced motions with a thoughtful thoroughness. He never would have thought about it before, and presently would have a hard time admitting it to anyone, but during the past week that he had been working at the Matsuki Bakery he had been…well, in his own words, much more _relaxed_ then he had been at any other time in his life. He had always been something of a nervous bundle of energy, always being on the move, always talking, rarely relaxing for more then a few minutes to think or even to grant some measure of silence to the world around him (though he had his moments, none of his friends would ever dispute him that). Not a whole lot had changed with him of course as he _still_ acted that way, but of late he was finding more things to put all that extra energy into and finding more time to just let silence speak for itself. These past three weeks, since Guilmon's _death_ as a matter of fact, he had been changing, more then he cared to admit. All of his friends, his partner, even his teacher had noted it (mainly because of his increased diligence with his homework and tests), and for the teacher, Ms. Asagi, had done so with a certain degree of suspicion towards him if only because he had a history of causing trouble and mischief.

Not that he could blame her, especially after that incident with the Ramen three years ago.

But that's a story for another time.

At any rate, the visor-wearing Tamer never would have envisioned that he could feel relaxed just by simply working, losing himself in the motions and the now well-memorized patterns of his life at the bakery. He still wasn't an expert, but he was learning, and as he gradually became more and more familiar with his tasks to the point where he didn't have to think about them to do them he found himself able to do more with his mind then he otherwise would have thought. Thoughts on people, his friends, his memories, family, his partner, his duties as a Tamer, even _homework_ all moved through his mind and he tackled them there while he worked out the physical tension that the thoughts put on him during these uncertain times. And that surprised him.

_Who knew that I could actually think of stuff like this just by baking? I wonder if this is what Henry feels whenever he meditates. I never used to think about it before but now that I do…yeah. Probably. I should talk to him about this when he gets out of the hospital and things calm down a bit. We've just been through one roller coaster after another and after what happened yesterday it doesn't look like the rides ended. We've still got that Noriko girl to go after…_

Kazu tightened his grip on the bread dough before flipping it over and continuing to knead it with more force.

_Man. Everything about that girl is just so messed up. Merged with Chumley's BlackGuilmon? The one that everyone thought was dead? Deleted and loaded by Lucemon? That's what Takato told me and the others after he got out of the hospital, and he had gotten the story from Henry because they shared the same room together. If it weren't for the fact that she was at the center of that Hazard Storm a couple days ago I would have thought that Henry was delirious about the whole thing. I hear drugs can do that to you._

_It's too bad that portal in Guilmon's hut closed up after our partner's returned. Otherwise returning to the digital world to find that kid would be a piece of cake. Not that we really have an idea as to where to look or anything, but we got pretty lucky with Calumon when we last went there and we spent more time just getting lost then actually looking for him. I figure that I can take that as a good sign that we can still save the day. We've sure done it enough times in the early days and we had no real clue what we were doing._

_Heh. Well, actually it was Chumley, Rika, and Henry who were doin' the whole 'savin' the day' thing until we got home. Either way, my point still stands. It was like, back then we had something going for us that no matter what happened, things would work out fine. Well, with the exception of what happened to Leomon…_

"Um…Kazu? I think that dough's done being kneaded now."

Looking up, Kazu blinked his eyes upon finding Takato and Guilmon entering the kitchen and making a beeline towards the fridge, the former of whom was looking at the visor-wearing child with a raised eyebrow. Making a _tsking_ sound Kazu shook his head and placed his hands on his hips in mock irritation.

"I think after this one week I know when the bread's ready to be set aside Chumley."

"Except that you've been only doing it for just one week Kazu," said Takato as he popped open the fridge and began rummaging around in it, "as hard as it is for me to believe. I've been doing it a lot longer then you though."

"Besides," piped in Guilmon as he poked his head beneath Takato's elbow so as to jam his head into the fridge, "you were daydreaming."

"I wasn't daydreaming," spouted Kazu indignantly. "I was _thinking._ So sue me if I happened to get a little lost in that. A lot's been going on lately. At any rate, aren't you supposed to be upstairs still?"

"I'mf nof ath lifflef kif Kafu."

"What's that dude? You got bread in your mouth."

Takato swallowed the bit of Guilmon bread that he had stuffed in his mouth to quiet his appetite while passing a couple pieces to Guilmon before turning to his human friend.

"I said I'm not a little kid Kazu. I don't need to be babied every time I get into a rough fight. I've had my rest." Takato frowned and looked away. "Come to think of it, that seems to be _all_ that I've done lately."

"What're you talking about? You and Guilmon have been through a lot so it's only fair that…"

"That's just it Kazu!" Takato exclaimed angrily. "I'm a Tamer! I'm not supposed to go to pieces over everything that comes my way to knock me down and…"

Takato halted in his ranting and looked back over at Kazu, and his expression, which had looked sour suddenly softened and he closed the refrigerator door quietly.

"I'm sorry Kazu. I didn't mean to get on your case like that. I actually appreciate what you're doing. I'm just…"

"Frustrated?" Asked Kazu, tilting his head to one side. His tone of voice held a touch of bitter reckoning to it. It was a tone that Takato did not fail to notice.

_He didn't deserve that. I really should be more understanding. He's only trying to help out. It's just…I don't know. I know he wants to help but…_

Takato sighed. During the three weeks in between the time when he had gone off to Okinawa to recover from Guilmon's loss and the initial shock of said loss Kazu had gone through a tremendous change in how he reacted towards him. And it wasn't just towards him; it was towards just about everything no matter how trivial, _especially_ when it was directly or indirectly linked to him, giving whatever situation that arose a metaphorical 'icing on the cake'. Homework, notes, just about everything that came up Kazu attacked it with a gusto that gave everyone the impression that his life depended on having it done _just right._ Eventually it got to the point where Kazu had to be told to back off for once and take a breather. He did, but upon coming home Takato had found that breather was little more then a point from which Kazu would catapult himself into doing something more to help his hurt friend.

"You know," began Takato in a wistful tone, "it was kind of weird, having you backing my Mom to get me to stay in bed today. Even though you know what's happened to Henry, and that Yamaki wants to see us all today."

Kazu nodded guardedly. That much was true, as Yamaki had informed everyone, upon their exiting the hospital after checking on their friends, that he expected to have a little sit-down with all of them. That decision had been made expedient by the fact that a certain digimon by the name of _Dracmon_ , or _Beanie_ as Miki had insisted on calling him a couple days ago back when she had first informed the Tamers about her _catch_ , had informed them that he too had quite a bit to share in regards to the digimon attacks that had been occurring lately. And then there was Takato's story, gotten from Henry during their brief stay together in the hospital, about a strange, dark entity with wings that _Beanie_ called _Oni_ …

Everyone it seemed had a story to tell, and today, Kazu was sure, was going to prove _very_ informative.

"Well," replied Kazu, his hands still on his hips like some kind of diminutive parent scolding an impudent child, "you have to admit you looked kind of unsteady today. And yesterday both you and Rika were pretty out of it. I think that was the first time I've ever seen Rika stay quiet about _anything_ after a fight, and you weren't all that talkative either except when you were spilling out Henry's story. I figured that you needed a bit more rest. Is that such a big deal?"

"It is, and it isn't."

"I don't get it."

"Kazu, you weren't like this before Guilmon…um…you weren't like this before that fight with Lucemon. You have a big heart…bigger then you let on sometimes," Takato gave his friend a warmhearted smile, "and sometimes you let that get you carried away. You know what we have to do, and the kinds of things that we have to face. Granted, I've been feeling pr-etty out of sorts from what's happened that I wonder about the things we do and I get worried about my friends, but…" Takato took a moment to put one hand on Guilmon's head and pat it gently while the crimson dino bolted down yet another loaf of Guilmon bread with a speed that caused the goggle-wearing Tamer a bit of worry. Takato hesitated, recalling his conversation with Guilmon and some of his own worries. Doubt settled into his heart and he felt as though he couldn't continue onwards for fear that he wouldn't be able to believe his own words and becoming a hypocrite. Regardless, Kazu caught the gist of what he was trying to say and nodded.

"It's one of those 'our friends believe in us' kind of deals, huh?"

Takato locked eyes with his friend, and although uncertainty filled his heart he nodded. Kazu sighed.

"Yeah. Okay. I guess that maybe I have been overdoing it. It's just…I felt kind of useless when I tried to help you in that fight with Lucemon. I mean, I finally got Guardromon to digivolve and then…Bam! The next thing I know we're both knocked flat on our rears and we're out of the fight. That's not an easy thing to live down, you know?"

"I know," said Takato nodding in understanding. "I'm still struggling with some of the things that have come up since then. Some of it has to do with Guilmon…" Takato nodded to his partner, and the dino looked up at him with golden eyes blinking at him questioningly. "…And some of it has to do with… _other_ things."

Kazu raised an eyebrow.

"Like what kinds of _things?_ If you don't mind my asking, but seeing as how we're already doing this 'sharing' stuff I figure that we might as well get all our cards out on the table and work things out."

Takato looked down as he felt his cheeks begin to grow warm.

"Uh…"

"What? I ask one question and suddenly you get all stopped up on me! You're like a soap opera Chumley, you know that? Next thing I know you're going to give me one clever line that shuts down all conversation and leave the room to let the drama set in…"

Before Takato or even Guilmon could make so much as a response to that the sound of Mei's footsteps accompanied by her voice could be faintly heard approaching the kitchen. Panicking Takato grabbed his partner by his arm and dragged him down behind the kitchen counter where Kazu stood, ignoring the boy's protests and crouching down low and raising one hand to his lips in a _shhhing_ manner.

"No, Takahiro!" Exclaimed Mei as she came in carrying one of the bread pans that she had been washing outside. "We're not letting Guardromon in to help out around the bakery. I don't care how good he is with machinery he's too big to fit inside! Now hurry up and get back to our customers!" Mei entered the kitchen and frowned upon seeing Kazu standing around and acting foolishly.

"Kazu! Aren't you done with that batch of dough yet? We have hungry customers to feed already!"

"Ah! Yes Ma'am! I'm almost done! This dough's just being a little…uh…stubborn."

Mei looked queerly at the way that Kazu kept glancing down beneath the table counter, looking for all the world as though he were glaring at something in particular.

_What is he up to? It better not be anything that's going to cause trouble, like set fire to the table there. After one week I've come to trust him so I don't think that I have too much to worry about. He's probably just hiding Guilmon or something to keep me from sending him back upstairs with Takato. That reminds me, I still need to have a talk with him later._

"All right. Just make sure that bread is done on time or else it's coming out of your paycheck."

Kazu blinked. "I'm getting paid for this now?"

Mei simply _hmmphed_ as she set the bread pans down near the sink.

"We'll talk about that later. Make sure to put these away when you're done with the dough."

"Yes, Mrs. Matsuki."

There followed a brief silence in the kitchen before Kazu looked down and glared at Takato and Guilmon, the latter of whom was squirming to open his mouth from Takato's clutches while the former was trying not to laugh.

"You want to tell me what was up with the whole hiding routine?"

"I didn't want my Mom to send us back upstairs. You know how she is sometimes."

"Don't I know it…well, at least _now_ I really know it. I take it that you're off to see Henry?"

Takato nodded. "I know that Kenta said that he was going to call but I need to get out of the house and see him in person. I'd like to see for myself how he's handling things. Last night he was…well…"

"Yeah. I get it. I saw him when he was still under remember? Even with MarineAngemon helping him he didn't look so good. If your Mom tries to find you I'm not going to take any responsibility for structural damage that she inflicts on the city trying to find you."

"I'll be sure to leave a note before I leave. Oh, and by the way. Congratulations."

"Eh?"

* * *

Miki stood in front of her bedroom mirror, smoothing out her short, dark hair before bringing her arms down to a rest at her sides. One of her hands gripped the fringes of her gray colored dress as she took in a light, shaky breath to calm herself.

_Well…today's the day. Of all the things that could possibly have happened I never would have thought of this._

"You know, you shouldn't be so worried."

Miki turned to face a small, demonic looking creature wearing a leather mask over his pale face with green and red shaped eyes painted on the front, sitting at the foot of her bed. The creature, known as _Dracmon,_ simply sat there, looking at her inquisitively with his painted on eyes moving in display of the emotions that his mask was otherwise meant to hide while his hands were folded neatly in the center of his lap, looking quite the respectable digimon despite his rather dark and mischievous nature. Well, the nature that was described in the other Tamer's digivices that is. Miki turned back to her vanity and scowled slightly, her eyes falling to the black and purple trimmed digivice that lay at the center. It looked almost exactly like the digivices of the other Tamers, with the only difference between it and the others being that this one lacked some of the normal functions of the originals. It couldn't scan cards as it lacked a slot to perform that function and it was unable to analyze digimon. So far as anyone was able to tell, given the limited resources that were available last night, she couldn't even access any of the higher digivice functions except for the biomerge one. Why this was, no one had been able to tell her, but Dracmon had postulated that this may have stemmed from the fact that their first biomerge had been initiated by the remnants of DinoRexmon's data from when it had congregated around them yesterday, which most certainly wasn't helped by the fact that he had already been deleted and his data heavily fragmented. In essence, Miki now had a digivice, but it was imperfect, and would likely remain so. Still, it was proof enough to make her a Tamer, and in her mind that was all that she needed.

"Actually I think that I should be a bit worried. You've been a pretty bad boy around here it seems."

Dracmon raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"For the last time, I didn't use Fluffy's litter box. I don't know what your mother's so up in arms about…"

"That's not what I meant Dracmon," said Miki somewhat roughly, and Dracmon tensed up. In the past, the girl had the tendency to refer to him with cute names, Beanie being her favorite and most oft used. This time, she had used his digimon species designation. That, combined with the sound of irritation in her voice told him that he was in the metaphorical dog house.

_Of course, I_ did _tell her to not call me Beanie…_

Dracmon sighed. _Seriously. How_ did _I end up in this mess? In_ any _of the messes that cropped up lately?_

"You're talking about everything that the Tamers told you…about my fighting them, right? And about what little I've told them…"

"It's why we're having a meeting with that government guy today, seeing as how you have information that he needs and we're now partners."

"What do you expect?" Asked Dracmon from his spot on the bed. "I didn't come here looking for partners. I already had my loyalties sworn to another cause and I was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish my goals."

"I'm…I'm not asking you to justify your actions," said Miki as she placed a hand on her digivice. "But I'm just curious if you realize the implications of what you've done and how that affects things now? Especially with how you relate to the Tamers…"

"Your friends."

"Uh…yeah. I guess you can call us that."

Dracmon chewed on his lower lip for a moment and flexed his claws.

"It's a tricky position. What more can I say? My actions were meant to be calculated, but things went wrong. Doesn't help that I was deceived right from the very start either, but there's not much that I can do about that. The past is the past, and while it will continue to affect my… _our_ present as well as our future, we can only live for tomorrow. Our backs are always behind us for a reason you know. We can only look back, but we can't live there. If I spent all my days wondering _coulda, shoulda, woulda,_ I'd never be able to live my life and I'm sure neither would anyone else. I'm not asking for forgiveness, but I will ask for a cease fire and disclosure. I don't care if any of them hold grudges against me."

"Except it's not just you, you know."

"Why? You weren't the one who made me fire my attack at that Tamer right before his father got in the way. I made that decision by myself."

"But we're still in this together, good and bad. There may be some…um…resentment held because of what you did. The others may see me as being in the way of…of…"

"Taking revenge?"

Miki placed her hands in front of her and clasped them together.

"This…isn't what I wanted. It's not what I was expecting."

Dracmon lowered his gaze, feeling a slight sense of shame pervade his feelings before glowering.

_Why am I feeling this way? This is hardly my ideal situation either you know. Blast! Of all the people DinoRexmon! Why oh_ why _did I have to be joined with her as a reward for my services? Crazy…_

Dracmon sighed mentally before hopping off the bed and waltzing towards the door, hands held behind his head.

"We've still got the whole day to go through before we have to meet Mr. Yamaki. I'll…"

Dracmon sighed again.

_I'll figure something out,_ was what he had been going to say when thinking about his and Miki's new relationship with the Tamers. However, something in him stopped up his words, and after a couple seconds of struggling to say something he simply left the room.

_Blast,_ thought the demonic imp as his feet padded down the wooden floor, unable to shake loose the sense that he had damaged something that was supposed to be special.


	68. 67: Musings: Part 3

Daigo Kuroda stood at the edge of the sidewalk, sipping from his cup of coffee as he watched the scene unfold before him. Orders were shouted every which way between construction workers and military police to civilians who stood too close to the edge of the taped off, required distance. In the background he heard the shouts of people, foreigners and natives alike, who expounded against the presence of the digimon and their affects on the lives of the good citizens of the world. He found himself sympathizing with them a bit. He had told his fellow colleague, Itokawa that he didn't like the whole idea of digimon entering the human world, especially since all they seemed to do was cause havoc when they arrived, and he stood by his beliefs. However, he could easily recognize that change was coming, and that it was best to simply adapt and bend with the breeze rather then stand against it.

Digimon were a hurricane wind that would snap and break anything that stood against it and would cause needless and unnecessary devastation in the long run. Far better to bend he reasoned, then to break.

_At least then we'll have some of them on our side and be able to find better ways to deal with them without having to rely on them._

Kuroda raised his coffee cup to his lips again as he watched the workers fix a heavy crane to the massive, double bladed weapon that stood upright like an obscene exclamation point on the edge of Shinjuku Park.

_That right there…that's going to be the rallying symbol for all those groups that want to get rid of the digimon. I wonder if anyone will attempt to harass the Tamers because of this. Yamaki's been pretty good about keeping the publicity on them down to the bare-bones minimum, but with that Takato kid waltzing around with that large partner of his and Mr. Wong's rabbit imitating dog…never mind the Shioda child and his gargantuan excuse of an android…Tsk. It's rather odd that people who are native to Shinjuku take to the digimon so much more easily then people who originate from outside of it. I've passed the Matsuki Bakery a hundred times…even bought food from there a few times and I have yet to see any signs of hostility or negativity directed towards the owners. If nothing else, they've prospered rather well, and Toei keeps their hands out of the whole Guilmon Bread issue despite the fact that digimon are copyrighted merchandise._

Kuroda successfully resisted the urge to laugh out loud at the concept of copyright laws when concerning digimon. That alone was keeping the judiciary branches of the Japanese government busy when trying to reconcile the issue, regardless of the fact that the Monster Makers, of whom one Janyu Wong was a member of, were the original creators of the digimon line.

"Fascinating isn't it?" Asked a voice from next to Kuroda. The man nodded absently as he took another drink from his coffee cup, recognizing Itokawa's voice amidst the drone of other people's voices that were beating upon the air.

"A weapon belonging to a digimon…one of the most powerfully recorded digimon known no less, and it's been left behind. The government's going to have a field day with it. I wonder what the United Nations have to say about it."

"They're still trying to get information out of our esteemed government Kuroda. The United States is making angry noises, same with China, but for now we're neither confirming nor denying anything. Doesn't help though that we've got to deal with their satellites…"

"No plausible lies I take it?"

"Not in our case, no."

Kuroda raised one arm and looked at his wrist watch.

"So…when do you have to appear before the investigation committee, Ito? Almost funny that you're out and about when I'm on my way to work. I would have thought that Yamaki would have put you in a holding cell after everything that's happened."

A sigh from Itokawa caused Kuroda to turn towards him with a raised eyebrow.

"The committee is still being put together. You know how long these kinds of things can take. Bureaucracy never makes things fast."

"I would have thought you would prefer the delay?"

"No," said Itokawa with a shake of his head. "Not in this case. During something like this I'd rather just get it over and done with, like ripping off a Band-Aid. As for why I'm out, Yamaki doesn't have anything really to hold me with. My disobedience, while serious, was not quite in the same league as a criminal act, especially when considering how everything had been damaged by that Hazard storm on Friday. In some ways, I think that contributed quite a bit. Yamaki's gotten off for pulling the same kind of stunts with Juggernaut."

"What about that punch he gave you?"

Itokawa winced.

"I never said that he…"

Kuroda waved him off.

"Please. Government employee you might be, but save the lying and misdirection for the actual job. I told you the truth about Argus, so don't tell me that you had a run in with a lamp post. You got someone, most likely Yamaki, angry enough at you to have them knock you down to the ground. Now, I want to know if you can use it to save your neck."

Itokawa frowned and shook his head, and his programmer companion rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"It's not that I can't," began Itokawa before Kuroda could even say anything, "it's that I won't."

"Come again?" Asked Kuroda, perplexed by this statement.

"This is a bad time to be doing something like that," said Itokawa attempting to clarify himself. "Hypnos is at a low point right now, and Yamaki's one of the few people who can actually run the program affectively. As for his…assaulting me. Well, I had it coming anyway…"

Kuroda's expression took on a bored, unimpressed look.

"I never would have thought of you as the type of person to commit seppuku Itokawa. Don't give me that look. You and I may not be much in the way of friends but I am a good study in people. Your pride's been wounded…again, and your pride always been the driving force in how you go about your work. Your first failure to successfully activate Juggernaut a year ago after Yamaki's suspension over the last Deva incident as I recall was what pushed you into working against Yamaki's methods and his alliance with the Tamers. And now your back is to the wall because a freak event turned Argus against the Tamers. Be honest. You're trying to save face."

"Is that so wrong?"

Kuroda shrugged at the agent.

"You tell me. You're the politician, I'm just a programmer. Would you rather just roll over and let your career die? Because while I may just be the token computer geek here I can still say that that's what's going to happen to you if you use that attitude."

Itokawa's eyes narrowed and he glared at Kuroda.

"You speak out of turn…"

"So I did," said Kuroda taking another sip from his coffee cup. "And you know me well enough where you should expect that from me by now. I always speak my mind because I think people need to hear what goes on in there, even if they aren't inclined to listen. It's my hope that my words will one day find a warp in space somewhere and eventually an intelligent life form will take heed of them."

"Such lofty ambitions Kuroda," said Itokawa dryly. "Reality is hardly that accommodating."

Kuroda simply _hmmphed_ and finished off his coffee before speaking again.

"As much as I enjoy our verbal fencing, I have to get to work. I wish you the best of luck on getting out of losing your job by the way. And if you want to keep your job, you might want to think about what I said. You of all people should know that politics is a dirty job. You have to not be afraid of getting stained to deal with it."

And with that, Kuroda took one last look at the tall spear, wincing slightly as the crane's cable hook snapped upon its attempts to dislodge the weapon. As he turned and left Itokawa behind in the crowd to continue watching the scene he couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship with the crane and the worker who operated it.

_Looks like it's back to square one,_ the programmer thought.

* * *

Rika lowered her shirt over her body as she finished getting dressed, her violet eyes frowning slightly at her stomach as the white fabric with its full heart image fell into place. The skin around the area that she and Renamon had been shot yesterday by that strange, blue creature, while no longer looking as irritated as it had during that battle, still felt tender to the touch. She found herself quite aware of it as she had gotten herself ready for bed last night and now as she got herself ready to go about her business for the new day. The doctors at the hospital that she, Henry, and Takato had been checked into had assured her that she was all right and that the skin irritation would go away in short order (though how long _that_ was they didn't say and instead only voiced the possibility of her purchasing soothing creams to deal with any discomfort). Hypnos had yet to check her and Renamon out in a more thorough fashion for any digital anomalies due to their having received extensive damage to their systems over the past week but Yamaki's agents had assured the young Tamer and her family that it would remedied as quickly as possible.

Not that her own injuries were at the top of her list of concerns at the moment.

Reaching over Rika picked up the green hair tie that Jeri had given her a week ago and, after a brief pause to look at it again, proceeded to secure her crimson hair back into its usual fashion, calmly noting the presence of Renamon as the vulpine digimon phased into existence behind her.

" 'Morning Renamon."

"Good morning Rika," said the golden furred vixen. "Sleep well?"

"After that fight from yesterday I'd have been surprised if I hadn't been able to fall asleep at all. It's been a while since we were in a fight as taxing as that one." Rika finished looping the hair tie around her familiar ponytail before turning around to meet her partner's cerulean gaze. "How're you feeling?"

Rika dropped her eyes down to Renamon's abdomen, indicating the bandages that covered the area where she had been struck yesterday when the two of them had been biomerged. Rika's face fell as she thought of her partner being injured in the fashion that she had been, and not just because of the physical damage and pain that it entailed but also the mental and psychological, as never before had Rika recalled either of them being injured so brutally in any single fight except for the brawl that they had with a Dokugumon from a year ago. She wondered how Renamon was holding up from it.

_She always shrugs this kind of stuff off,_ thought Rika as she gazed at the bandages that the doctors had placed around her stomach after clearing it of the burnt and destroyed fur. _I don't think I've ever seen her get worried about her own well being…always someone else's. I can't help but wonder what she thinks about all of this and why she keeps putting herself on the line. She always told me it was because we were partners and that we were supposed to look out for each other, and that always used to be enough then, but now…now after all these battles, and after what's happened to Guilmon and Leomon…to Jeri and Takato…and now Henry and that Noriko girl…_

Rika sighed mentally as she recalled her telling Renamon during their last battle with D-Reaper how that was going to be their last fight, and about how she had become tired of fighting and wanted to do more to help others.

_Funny how things work out,_ the red haired girl thought rather bitterly.

"I'm fine, Rika. Better then I was yesterday. The doctors were more than efficient despite their lack of knowledge about digimon anatomy."

"Even so, I think that we ought to give Kenta and his fairy partner a visit just to be sure. Yesterday you refused to have them help you…"

"…So that they could focus their efforts on Henry. You remember what we were told about his injuries…"

"I'm not saying anything against that Renamon. I'm just pointing it out. I still think that we should see them. I don't have a _Seed of Health_ card available to use on you and with Hypnos down that leaves Kenta as the next available candidate. Come to think of it, he and MarineAngemon are probably _the_ _best_ candidates."

A small smile appeared on Renamon's muzzle at that.

"You know…I believe that may be the best compliment you've ever given Kenta."

A small, ironic smirk graced Rika's features and she turned away from her partner to hide it.

"Yeah, well, he wasn't here to hear it, so it doesn't count. And if you say anything I'll deny it."

"I won't have to Rika. After all, you'll be going to him for help, which isn't something that you're known for doing often."

"You know Renamon," said Rika, still maintaining the same ironic smirk on her face, "this isn't like the old days where I was just being stubborn and prideful about being the _Digimon Queen…_ "

"I'm not saying that you are, Rika," said Renamon, smirking playfully at the young girl. "I'm simply pointing out a fact. However, it should be noted that any one of your friends would give you help unconditionally, and have before. Just like you do them. That is what friends do."

"Wow. I ask how you are and I get a lecture. I could almost swear that I was talking to Gogglehead and Henry just now."

"Hmmm…" began Renamon knowingly. "For once you make me wonder if I should be envious of them for that comment."

"Huh?" Rika raised an eyebrow in mock confusion and she turned towards her partner. "Envious? Henry I can sort of see, but why…?"

Rika's eyes widened a second later as realization and recollection struck her. Her cheeks flushed a bright red discoloration and she again turned away to hide the blush, crossing her arms as she did so.

"That is _so_ not funny Renamon…"

The vixen sighed mentally.

"I wasn't trying to be."

"Just pointing out an observation right?"

"Not at all Rika."

"Then why even bring it up in the first place?"

Renamon hesitated as she searched her own feelings for an answer that she could provide to her partner. On the issue regarding Rika's present state of her relationship with her friend and fellow Tamer, Takato Matsuki the girl remained uncertain on what she felt and how to approach it. Renamon could sympathize as she had to come to grips with similar feelings when they first became partners. Having never experienced any feeling of connection with another being before and also previously seeing Rika as nothing more then something to derive strength from she had her own uncertainties when trying to discover where the two of them stood in their partnership. Ironically, she had found that the strength and power that she had first desired only came when the two of them had begun fighting as friends as well as partners. Rika had gone through the same emotional turmoil as she had back then, and she found it rather curious that Rika hadn't resolved the newer issue with Takato any faster then with her due to the lessons learned from previous experience.

_Perhaps it's because it's much more intense,_ thought the vulpine digimon with a mental shake of her head. _I have observed how humans react when confronted with the prospect of romance, particularly where Takato and Jeri were concerned prior to Guilmon's deletion. Even when feelings are obvious between two people, and even shown to have a willingness to be reciprocated, it's as if there's an unwillingness to pursue the rewards that might emerge from such a bond._

Renamon thought back to their mode change to their Shrine Maiden form from yesterday, remembering the influx of feelings and emotions that had suddenly surged through her via the connection that she shared with Rika. The pounding feeling that beat in her breast, the warm regard that she felt flowing like a moving river when the connection between her and Gallantmon fully realized itself, a sense of deep rooted trust and care for another…they were not all that dissimilar to how she felt towards Rika and how Rika felt towards her. It was a nice feeling… _beautiful_ was how Renamon would have described it and Seiko had certainly done so, but the vixen also realized that it was those feelings and their intensity that gave so many people pause when recognizing them, especially where more then one person was involved.

_Like Jeri,_ thought Renamon as her azure eyes subtly flitted towards Rika's ponytail and lighted on the green colored hair tie.

Rika, noting Renamon's hesitation looked over her shoulder at her partner, her face still maintaining some of its previous blush though frustration still stood out quite clearly on it. Unconsciously Rika thumbed the sleeves of her shirt before letting her hands fall to her sides.

"This _really_ is not the time to be talking about this sort of thing. Not with everything that's going on."

"Perhaps. But with everything that you've experienced lately you may want to consider doing something about it, and soon. If you put your situation with Takato off for to long, and it remains unresolved your friendship may suffer for it. Yesterday you two created an even stronger connection between each other in order to fight off an enemy, and that by itself is going to carry ramifications much like your kiss to Takato has. True, we do have other things that need tending to… _important_ things, but if you are not able to resolve your conflicting feelings with Takato...I don't think that I need to remind you of the consequences."

"Are you saying that I'm using our recent problems as an excuse to _not_ talk about what happened between me and Gogglehead?"

Renamon narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

_"Are you?"_ The vulpine digimon asked. "I can certainly understand hesitation, but you have already talked to Jeri about this and while I can sense some misgivings and concerns from her about the situation she's accepted it and still sees you as her friend. She knows that you would never intentionally hurt her, and she wouldn't want to stand in the way of your happiness either."

Rika _hmmphed_ disdainfully and walked off towards her bedroom's door and slid it open, pausing briefly at its entrance for a moment.

"And that's just the problem," said Rika in a low voice that sounded more like a frustrated growl. Renamon raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?"

Rika did not answer her partner, and instead stepped out of her room, bee lining towards her home's kitchen so that she could fix herself some breakfast. However, her mind gave voice to her answer mentally, though Renamon did not hear it through their mental connection.

_She's always doing things for others…even if it means hurting herself. And after everything that she's been through, I just don't want her to be alone…_

* * *

Kenta made his way through the streets of Shinjuku, hands stuffed into his pockets as he avoided the areas of the city that were closed off as best as he could while still trying to make his way to the hospital as quickly as possible.

_"Knowing Takato he's going to want to know how Henry's doing the second he wakes up no matter how he's feeling,"_ Kenta remembered telling Kazu earlier that morning before the visor-wearing Tamer and his oversized android headed off to do his rounds at the Matsuki Bakery.

_"Don't worry about him Kenta,"_ Kazu had told him reassuringly. _"I'll make sure that he gets all the rest that he needs, even if I've gotta chain him to the bed to do it. Besides, I'm sure that his mom is willing to back me up on that one so it'll be a synch."_

_"If you say so…"_

Kenta wanted to smile at the memory, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. Even though the danger had ended and people were making an active effort to repair the city, the scenes of devastation sapped any humorous mood out of him. Much had happened this past week, and most of it, if not all, he didn't understand. The contemplation of the meeting later on with Yamaki and Dracmon, despite the revelations that they promised, did not sit well with him, though this had more to do with the fact that Dracmon, a digimon who had been on the opposite side of the Tamers and had even admitted to fighting them and having ulterior motives towards the real world, was partnered with his fellow classmate Miki (with a digivice that strangely was not like his or any of the others). Not exactly the kind of thing that he wanted to learn about a new 'ally' (or so it appeared).

_Even if one of our friends is responsible for killing Leomon,_ thought Kenta before his face darkened and he silently berated himself for thinking that way about Impmon.

_Still, there doesn't seem to be a way out of it. If I didn't know any better it's like all of us have something about us where we do something that, given completely different circumstances, we never would have thought about doing. We just didn't see things as clearly as we do now…though I'm not sure anymore if we do see things clearly. I'm not sure how I can explain it, but it's like all of our experiences this past year have been building us up just to tear us down, or vice versa._

Kenta sighed audibly and hung his head. He had never been really comfortable with some of the stresses that he and his friends had found themselves being put under lately. It had seemed so simple at first. The game had become real. Sure, there was danger but everything that he had dreamed about had become real, and as long as he had his friends and they kept winning then he was capable of pushing aside any worries and fears that he had about danger and the reality of the situation that they found themselves in, so much so that he and Kazu were willing to go to the digital world to find their partners despite the fact that without them they would prove to be more of a hindrance then a help, and were in part responsible for breaking the group up during their first couple days in the alien dimension. And then the death of Leomon brought home just how real the situation was. Kenta remembered that day quite well, and just how much of a shock it had all been. Of all the things that he had expected death sure hadn't been one of them. Well…there had been the fear of digimon eating them (much like what he and Kazu had envisioned with Jijimon and Babamon), but actually being _murdered?_ And at the hands of a digimon that he had known no less. And if Leomon was killed…then…it could happen to any of them. The adventure was no longer an adventure, and for the first time Kenta nearly had a breakdown. He had gotten over it of course once death was no longer looming so large in his immediate future (especially when hope had come in the form of a gallant knight in shining armor), and he had soon come to realize what it meant to be a Tamer, and quite unexpectedly too when he had pulled MarineAngemon out of the ground he had impacted in, ironically almost missing the lesson in the same breath as well.

And to think, before he met MarineAngemon he had only cared about the outward quality of the digimon partner that he wanted.

_Sometimes I almost wish that things were like the way that they were portrayed on the show,_ thought Kenta as he entered a street full of houses. _Not that I would want to face evil villains like Devimon or the Dark Masters, but more that we had someone who could advise us and help us when we're at our low points, like Piximon, Azulongmon, or better yet Gennai. Gennai especially though right now I think Takato and Henry could use some help from Piximon, just like he helped Tai and Agumon. But I guess that's not how things work. Not that our parents are bad at it but this kind of thing is out of their league, and Yamaki is…well, he's Yamaki. I don't think that I can explain it any better then that._

Kenta groaned as he continued to plod along at the same, steady pace that he had been holding ever since he had left his home.

_If only all those streets hadn't been closed down I would be at the hospital sooner. I'd have taken the bus but with all those detours and road congestion I couldn't count on getting anywhere fast that way either. Besides…I didn't have the money I needed to pay for the transportation. That's what I get for blowing my allowance on digimon boosters…_

Kenta was interrupted from his thought process by the sound of his digivice going off. Bringing it out the dark haired, bespectacled boy looked quizzically at the holographic circle that had materialized above his digivice's screen, displaying the compass function that now swung wildly before settling in a direction somewhere ahead of him.

_There's a digimon nearby! Oh great! And at a time when I don't have MarineAngemon with me! Or a weapon either… What perfect timing! Great! Should I do? Try to find a phone so that I can reach one of the others, go and investigate by myself, or stay here and hope that it goes away without causing any damage?_

Kenta didn't even have to reflect on how ludicrous that last thought sounded and he soon found himself moving forward, following the signal on his D-Arc as it pointed him towards the digimon. A loud, female scream resounding upon the air added a burst of speed to his movements as well as providing his brain with the location that his digivice wasn't quite giving him. Rounding a corner Kenta's mind raced frantically as he thought of something that he could do… _anything._ Memories played through his mind from his most recent battles but they did not provide him with any useful tactical information that he could use until he knew the exact identity of his soon to be opponent.

_Maybe I can try to generate that electric whip that Ryo used on Cyberdramon,_ thought Kenta as he approached a yard. There were more sounds of exclamations and screams coming from the other side of the bushes that half obscured the house that was ahead. Giving a quick check of the skies Kenta sighed in relief that, if nothing else, the digimon was not going to be giant-sized.

That relief lasted all of five seconds.

Kenta came to a halt at the edge of the yard and his mouth fell open in shock. Standing in front of him, holding what looked to be a blonde haired, pigtailed girl by the neck was a pink armored knight digimon that he recognized all too well. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he also recognized the girl that the knight was holding.

_Crusadermon and Ayaka…_

Kenta took a deep breath and stepped forward.


	69. 68: Things to Come

"Let's see…if we tweak this algorithm just a hair…"

A soft 'blink' sound could be heard in the stillness of the hotel as Shibumi typed away on his laptop's keyboard, his eyes glued to the monitor. Shortly thereafter a feminine voice spoke up from the computer, signaling that his efforts have granted him the desired effect that he had hoped for.

_"Welcome to Morpheus."_

Shibumi sat back in his chair, raising one hand to his chin to stroke the whiskers of his beard thoughtfully, immersing himself in his world of concentration and the innumerable ones and zeroes of computer language that were now beginning to appear on his screen. He didn't feel wholly satisfied with what he had made for the American version of the Hypnos program, _Morpheus,_ and the soon-to-be International organization, _Oneiroi_ , that made up the various agencies that dealt with the digital world. For a detection and monitoring system that was very much needed for the West it was woefully inadequate compared to its predecessor in Japan, lacking some of the finesse and superb tracking capabilities that Hypnos had in addition to the anti-digimon programs. But as something that could be built upon and, of course, improved upon it was good enough. As there were very few bio-emergences in the United States and other affiliated North American countries such as Canada and Mexico this particular program wasn't deemed as high a priority as just getting Morpheus up, running, and staffed. Everything and anything else such as the improvement of technology and the seeking out of Tamers and partner digimon would follow afterwards.

And on that matter, Gorou _Shibumi_ Mizuno would have to be content. Especially if he were to return to Japan as quickly as possible, per Yamaki's _request_ that had finally gotten through the strange block on his E-mail account. Shibumi was still rather confused about that, and even more then a little frustrated that it had vanished conveniently when he had been working to figure out just what was wrong with it to begin with. Shibumi couldn't tell which frustrated him more; the knowledge that something had been preventing him from communicating with Hypnos or that same something had up and disappeared without so much as leaving a trace of itself. Not even the Mokumon who normally accompanied him and helped him out on some of his research into the digital world could find out anything about that debacle.

It was almost as if a child had swept everything under a rug and convinced his parents that everything was back to normal.

_Tricky little bug,_ thought Shibumi as he grasped a bottle of soda and took a sip from it via a straw, continuing to roll the problem through his head, searching for a way to get back on track. It didn't look as though he were going to arrive at an answer anytime soon. Which was a pity as the ordeal left him feeling more then a tad bit worried. He had been to the digital world and seen much of what went on there, and the beings that inhabited it. If a digimon, or some force like it considered him enough of a threat to have disconnected him from the best available resources to aid the Tamers and Shinjuku, without him knowing about it either, then…what next? Would it come after him directly? Well, possibly not seeing as how it vanished when it completed…whatever it was that it had set out to accomplish. Yamaki's last message promised some rather _interesting_ (and he used the term rather conservatively) information in the near future, and expressed a desire for his presence due to his knowledge of the digital world. A satellite connection could of course be set up and he could communicate via a web camera or a similar device but Yamaki was unsure as to whether or not that would be advisable due to their previous experience and opted to send a jet to pick him up.

Shibumi had told him not to bother with the jet. He had, as he put it in the last E-mail he had fired off to Yamaki, his own ride set up and that he would be there the next day as soon as he could.

Remembering Yamaki's questions in regards to his method of transportation, Shibumi wondered about the look that would be on the blonde's face when he did show up. That is, before he remembered that Yamaki normally was as readable as a block of wood with those sunglasses that he always wore on his face.

But that was neither here nor there. Glancing up at the clock, Shibumi noted the time. It was getting pretty late on this side of the ocean, about eight O'clock in the evening. He was going to have to get a move on if he expected to get back to Shinjuku in time for Yamaki's meeting with the Tamers. Not that he was in any particular hurry, but nonetheless he was going to need time to be fully debriefed on the situation and about Guilmon's present condition so that he could be ready to ask as well as to answer questions that came up.

The smell of smoke caught Shibumi's attention, and with a small, fatherly smile growing on his face the balding man looked up to see two dark cloud-like entities floating in front of him, their eyes aglow despite the smoke that constantly whirled about their bodies.

"You two aren't in a hurry are you?"

"It's getting dark out," spoke up one of the two clouds on Shibumi's left with a nod of its head, its voice squeaky and sounding quite childish in its pronunciation of its words. This caused Shibumi's smile to broaden. During his acquaintanceship with the two Fresh level digimon he had done his best teaching the two Mokumon about reading and talking, and while they showed a great amount of aptitude for learning, devouring knowledge and books wholesale (in one case early on, literally), there were still some things about them that marked their immaturity despite the fact that they had been at the Fresh level for years, excepting those moments that they took his form and traveled in the real world. Shibumi found it of interest that some personality traits remained so consistent with a digimon's level no matter what their age was. It was an odd little quirk, but one that Shibumi felt strangely endeared to.

"All right," said Shibumi looking back down at his computer. "Just let me finish up the last of this program and send off an E-mail to the head director of Morpheus and then we can go."

While the two smoke cloud digimon waited Shibumi set about to accomplishing the remainder of his task, putting the scanning system through its paces before exiting out of it. A few minutes and one sent message later Shibumi closed his laptop. His things were already packed, so there were no preliminaries necessary for him to take care of. All that remained was the trip home.

With a smile on his face Shibumi clipped on a pair of sunglasses and nodded to his two companions as they set themselves up on either side of him. A second later, a fog of cool mist sprung up around the three, enveloping them before contracting, and then… _vanishing._

Zeroes and ones contained within an ocean of shimmering blue light surrounded the three companions. The two Mokumon glanced at each other before floating ahead of the Monster Maker. Shibumi followed them without hesitation. Long experience from having walked the length of the digital world with these two by his side and having them operate in his place in the real world had given the two Fresh digimon nigh intimate knowledge of what to do and where to go when running through dimensional barriers. While their knowledge was not on par with that of the Digimon Sovereign or other various powers and groups (like the Trailmon of one of the medium levels) it was enough for them to get around when they needed to.

One of the Mokumon suddenly came to a halt, looking around it with glowing eyes widening first in surprise and then in puzzlement. The second one soon joined it both in its end of movement and in expression.

"What's wrong?" Asked Shibumi as he drew up to a stop behind the two digimon, looking around him to see if he could find any visible reason for their pause. The Mokumon turned and looked at Shibumi, their eyes aglow.

"We are sensing an incoming data, transit surge from an outside source."

Shibumi raised an eyebrow. "A what?"

Before the two Mokumon could reiterate a wave of violet colored data washed over the trio, sweeping them away from each other. Shibumi flailed his arms about as he struggled to reorient himself, losing his bags in the process where they soon disappeared in the trackless void of blue and numbers. Crying out in surprise Shibumi instinctively reached out for his now lost baggage…only to be stopped as a ring filled with intricate symbols flared into existence around him. No sooner then did Shibumi's hand reach the edge of the ring did a jolt of electricity surge through it, causing the man to shout in surprise and pain and cause him to withdraw immediately.

_"Calm yourself Giver of the Light,"_ spoke a cool, feminine voice in a tone that was little more then a whisper. _"All is well, and so long as you do not resist you and your companions will be returned to where you are now as soon as possible. Until then, we would have words with you."_

"Who's out there?" Asked Shibumi as he nursed his hand. In spite of the pain a quaint curiosity fell over him about the nature of his present situation and the force that had deemed him important enough to focus on even if only for a short while. The curiosity of a scientist as well as a programmer. The whole world could be coming to an end or an evil digimon could be the one behind his sudden imprisonment but for whatever reason fear was never his first instinct. Questions were always the first to leave his mouth even under the possibility of danger and death. His friends had noted this odd little quirk of his before. Janyu 'Tao' Wong, Babel, and Rai 'Curly' Aishuwarya had once jokingly claimed that Shibumi would go to his grave with a question on his lips. Shibumi's own response to this was that his greatest fear was that, when that fate finally happened, his question would go unanswered.

As if his fear was being confirmed, instead of receiving an answer the light around him intensified considerably, forcing the man to narrow his eyes even though they were protected by sunglasses. The shapes of his two digimon companions were now completely and totally obscured, and their voices were drowned out entirely by the strange, but beautiful chanting that was now rising on the air. The light gave one great pulse that made Shibumi close his eyes entirely before he felt his back impact with the ground beneath him. It didn't take more then a second for the Monster Maker to realize that there was something wrong with that feeling.

_Hold on. Wasn't I just in that dimensional void?_ Wondered Shibumi as his fingers curled into his palm. The feel of grass tickling his exposed skin sung on his nerves as he opened his eyes. Pushing himself up into a sitting position Shibumi glanced around, his eyes widening at the numerous figures that surrounded him. Figures that were more then a little bit familiar looking in appearance.

_O…kay…this isn't something that happens everyday,_ the man thought sarcastically before his eyes lighted on one figure in particular. She was tall, dressed in flowing white kimono with a red silk dress. Shining silver hair flowed down her back, tied off into two separate ponytails, and were it not for the clearly individual strands of hair that he could see he could have sworn that they appeared more as fox tails. In fact, the fox shaped facemask that covered the tall woman's face, as well as that of all the other female figures that surrounded him, more then drove that mental image home.

The woman smiled at the Monster Maker warmly upon seeing that he was all right.

"Hello Mizuno-san. Welcome back to the digital world," spoke Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode.

* * *

Digital lines crisscrossed the field surrounding the two figures as they stood facing each other. One of them, stood with his arms folded across his broad chest, obscuring a golden _'V'_ shaped symbol that stood emblazoned upon the surface of his white and blue colored armor. Blue wings flapped slightly behind him, giving the impression that they were more of a cape then as wings, though in all actuality they served the purposes of both. The other figure had the appearance of a warrior of the utmost royalty and all but beamed with an aristocratic air to him. Long, shining hair cascaded over his dark brown shoulder guards, reaching the red sash that was tied to his waist. Two, angelic wings were fixed to his shoulder guards, standing at attention and ready to be used at any moment. The warrior looked over the thin, straight bladed sword that he held in his right hand with a bored expression in his golden eyes, looking for all the world as though he were thinking about giving himself a manicure. The two armored warriors stood there a moment longer before the long haired figure spoke.

"It would appear that we've lost contact with three of our fellow members."

The blue warrior raised an eyebrow beneath his dragon shaped helm.

"Oh? Do tell, Duftmon. I believe that I was the one who first approached you with this concern a few days ago, Earth time. Normally I wouldn't be so concerned about Crusadermon and Dynasmon's antics as their mission was to be out in the field and to keep a low profile, but they have been gone for too long without contact with our lord Yggdrasil or any one of our number. And what's more, Craniummon was recently drawn with them with no explanation as to what was going on save that they were travelling to the human world. They missed the last meeting…"

"As have we, if I'm not mistaken UlforceVeedramon," commented the warrior identified as Duftmon as he lowered his sword with a sigh. "But you are correct about the lack of contact. As…chaotic as Dynasmon and Crusadermon can be when it comes to operating in tandem with the rest of their fellow Royal Knights Craniummon at least has proven himself fully capable of staying on top of that sort of thing no matter what the situation. His absence is cause for much worry. Omnimon could have used his help when dealing with the rebels in the Verdani Terminal of the new digital world. I have begun to hear news of some unpleasantness building up there."

"You would hear much more of it if you visited Skuld more often like the rest of us," derided UlforceVeedramon.

"Are things even worse then I was led to believe? Fore shame…"

"More then you know Duftmon. And here, you're supposed to be our Master of Arms. Our Chief Strategist. You've let your Leopard Mode control you too much."  
"The better to scout out the terrain with my dear UlforceVeedramon. Or have you forgotten which of us destroyed the first serious uprising prior to the migration to the new world? But perhaps you are right. Perhaps I've indulged too much in my wilder side. This war with the X-digimon demands much from us my friend. Perhaps that is why our three errant knights have left when they did. Have you noted the interest that the X's have been showing in the human world lately? If ever there was a reason why they felt it necessary to travel where we are normally forbidden to go that would probably be it."

"Still," said UlforceVeedramon with a nod of his head, "I believe that it's time that we investigated their reasons for such a long absence. Again, when it comes to Dynasmon and Crusadermon I would normally disregard it as they are known for such acts but Craniummon…he and Omnimon are Yggdrasil's closest out of all the Royal Knights. Should one of them…"

"Perhaps it is best to not delve into any theories until we have properly analyzed the situation personally," said Duftmon as he dismissed his sword into digital space. "Craniummon's a formidable opponent as are Dynasmon and Crusadermon. It would take much power and strength to defeat them. Power that we would have surely noticed."

"Oh? I should point out that we haven't been paying as much attention to the old world as we otherwise would have since the new world was created. Things are not what they were."

"Yes. Gallantmon mentioned that…right before his fateful battle with Omnimon."

UlforceVeedramon growled under his breath before unfolding his arms and letting them drop to his sides.

"Don't ever speak his name again. I still find it hard to believe that he would betray our lord and master."

Duftmon chuckled.

"Time does strange things to people. And Gallantmon has always been more then a little… _too_ honorable and passionate for his own good. He thought too much with his emotions. I do find it rather understandable though. As much as we are sworn to the service of Yggdrasil his latest commands seem rather…out of character for him. I don't remember him behaving like this back when Milleniummon rose against him. I wonder if the Digital Hazard has made him desperate."

"How can you speak of such things?" Demanded UlforceVeedramon hotly, his body tensing. Duftmon simply waved him off.

"Unlike you I'm a realist UlforceVeedramon. And I have an inquisitive mind. Be at peace though. I have no intentions of turning against our lord. An oath sworn is an oath that is eternal. Nothing shall swerve me from my chosen path. That is my karma, and the karma of every Royal Knight that serves Yggdrasil and the forces of light. Not even death can release us from our oath. This you know well. Sleipmon would have understood. A pity that he is not here. He would serve our lord much better if he were aiding us rather then simply spying on that _other_ human world and pretending to be a partner digimon. He looks little better then a pet with the way he hangs off of that human's shoulder…"

UlforceVeedramon nodded before spreading out his wings.

"Shall we then proceed to the human world? Time is short. Omnimon has informed me that the final phase of Project Arc shall be starting soon. We cannot afford any delays. We must find out what has happened to our three comrades, and should they have met with an ill fate then we must extract vengeance upon the perpetrators. _That_ is our oath of _brotherhood."_

Duftmon smiled beneath his helm.

"I wouldn't have it any other way my friend."

* * *

In the space between the worlds numbers floated lazily through the air, completely disconnected to the environment that surrounded them. Electric pops and hisses echoed as space continuously warped and flexed. It has been said in both the digital world and the human world that this sound was a mark of the weakening of the barriers that separated the two worlds and that one day it was not only possible but quite _probable_ that this barrier would come crashing down despite the best efforts of the Sovereigns and the human organizations to prevent that. It was a fear that many who stood in places of power and influence often worried about, but for now that fear was not realized. Holes that lay in the barrier had been patched up as best as they could be and all was still…

…Pending the occasional digimon or group of breaking through and invading the real world.

Such was the case now.

A loud, shrill scream resounded upon the air and numbers and symbols by the thousands burst apart, breaking into shards of data that soon vanished as a black, dragonic figure with blood red wings swept through them. Its body glowed briefly as the data from the numbers and symbols were pulled into its digital frame before dimming. The creature tore onwards, eyes hidden behind a steel plated facemask scanning the space around it. Its mind was all but blank, carrying little thought of its surroundings save for one thought that beat continuously within like the pulse of a heartbeat.

_Destroy…_

Twisting to the side, the dragon flapped its wings again and vanished in a hailstorm of exploding numbers. A loud shriek echoed once more, the sound carrying a death knell to it that spoke of the grave.

And deep within the recesses of the warped, digital space, Oni, who had seen the creature and heard its loathsome call, shivered.

_So…the end is coming far sooner then I had thought. It's still not enough though. Not…quite…enough to put an end to the whole, sick show._

Flapping his own wings Oni moved on, continuing to trace the trail of his ever elusive prey.

_Soon Amaya Abe…soon, there will be peace…_


	70. 69: A Hurricane between Friends…

Ayaka stood there, her eyes bug wide as she stared at the armored figure of Crusadermon leaning against the side of her house. Her muscles had tensed up almost instantly upon first sighting the female knight digimon, her instincts telling her to run back into the house and tell her family to get out as quickly as possible before Crusadermon laid waste to the place. The how and why she was even here, at _her_ home escaped her but from what she recalled from the way that Crusadermon had acted yesterday during the battle with the cable creature she wouldn't have put it past her to show up just to vent her frustration. Crusadermon was, if nothing else, quite the temperamental Royal Knight.

It took only a second however for Ayaka to realize that causing harm was most likely not Crusadermon's intentions as a strange sound escaped through her helmet, causing Ayaka's eyes to widen even further in surprise before shrinking in contemplation.

_Did…did she just…_ snore? _Did Crusadermon just snore while leaning against my family's_ house?!

Ayaka leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she strained her hearing to listen to the digimon's noises. Sure enough, Ayaka was rewarded with the sound of a much louder snore penetrating the otherwise still silence of her yard. Ayaka leaned backwards, bringing one hand up to her mouth as it, much to her surprise, began to draw up into a small smile. A light giggle escaped the young girl's lips and her shoulder's shook with the effort of keeping quiet.

_Crusadermon…just…_ Ayaka snorted as she fought against the rising torrent of laughter that she felt building up in her. _…snored!_

As if to drive the point home another snore punctuated the rapidly dissolving silence, this time much louder then before. This had the unfortunate affect of causing Ayaka to giggle even louder and she turned around and clasped her hands over her mouth, trying to still her laughter as best as she could all the while desperately trying to tune out the Royal Knight's snoring. She just couldn't help it. Yesterday when she had first become partnered with the pink armored knight, Crusadermon had been quite the war machine, full of fiery passion, frightening fury, and a grace in battle that had to be seen to be believed, all of which gave her a kind of beauty to the blonde haired girl in spite of the fact that she was terribly afraid of the consequences that their partnership would bring into her life.

And now, here she was, leaning against the side of her house, snoring as she slept.

_Mom always said that every beautiful woman has something going on with them that's their Achilles Heel. Crusadermon may not be a woman in the strictest sense but she's close enough._

Ayaka wiped her eyes to clear them of the tears that had been forming as a result of her incessant giggling. Once she was sure that she had it under control she turned back around to look at Crusadermon again.

Queue snore from errant Royal Knight.

_Aw nuts,_ thought Ayaka as she again turned around to hold back the stream of giggling once more.

As soon as she was calm again Ayaka cleared her throat and turned back to Crusadermon. Firming her resolve Ayaka swallowed down a renewed attempt at giggling and took a cautious step forwards, striving to ignore the knight's soft snoring as she approached her partner. One hand caressed her pink and yellow digivice for assurance as she came to a stop and lowered herself until she was crouching in front of Crusadermon. Ayaka swept her light brown eyes over the elegant, steel curves that made up Crusadermon's armored body.

_Hard to believe that someone like this would even need to be sleeping,_ thought Ayaka as she brought her eyes up to Crusadermon's face.

_I wonder what she's dreaming about. Come to think of it, do digimon even dream? I mean, it would kind of make sense seeing as how humans do, but digimon are so different from people. Hmmm…_

Lowering her eyes down to her digivice, Ayaka pressed a button and brought up the holographic circle. It rotated once but so far no information or image could be seen appearing in its center.

_I guess that there is a limit to the whole 'seeing through my partner's eyes' thing that Impmon told me about yesterday,_ thought Ayaka as she dismissed the holographic ring with a press of a button. _Either that or digimon don't dream at all, and if that's the case…I don't know. It just seems kind of sad. Makes me hope that Crusadermon just happens to not have much in the way of an active mind when she sleeps. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to not be able to dream at all. Sleep would be so boring._

Crusadermon's fingers twitched noticeably and Ayaka stared at them for a couple seconds before remembering the situation that she was currently in and the possible danger that it entailed. She remembered that Crusadermon hadn't at all been thrilled to find out that she was now partnered with a human. In fact, saying she was _furious_ was putting it rather mildly as she had conceived an instant desire to throttle just about anything around her (and to Ayaka's relief, it wasn't her or Impmon), which wasn't something that Ayaka associated with just being angry. As a matter of fact, Ayaka's definition of anger and its difference between what she observed with Crusadermon was quite different. Still, Ayaka could hope that Crusadermon's appearance at her home just to rest meant something good. The last thing that she wanted was for her family to be endangered by her newly acquired lifestyle.

_Funny…she looks so different asleep like this,_ thought Ayaka as she watched the sleeping digimon. Reaching out, the blonde haired girl tentatively ran one hand over Crusadermon's helmet, frowning as her fingers traced over a sharp crack in the metal armor. Looking over the Royal Knight's body again Ayaka glowered at the series of cracks and fractures that decorated her armor and the absence of the shield that had once covered her arm. Ayaka berated herself for not noticing the Mega's injuries until now. She had to do something about them.

_But how? I mean, I'm just a kid. I don't know anything about first aid, especially when it comes to digimon! Kenta's partner is capable of healing with those little hearts of his but he's not here right now and all I have is this stupid digivice that I don't know how to work._

Ayaka looked down at her digivice and glared at it.

_This thing did something to help her yesterday. But…how did it do that? I mean, one moment I didn't have this thing, and then when I did it shot out a blast of light that healed her. Let's see…_

Bringing her hand away from Crusadermon's face Ayaka pushed the center button on her digivice, hoping that by doing so she would be able to figure out some of its controls.

_"To set clock, please press one,"_ chirped a mechanical voice from the digivice. Ayaka groaned in response and her glower deepened.

"There _is_ no one you stupid piece of junk!" Ayaka growled at the plastic piece of digital technology. It was at that moment that the click of metal grinding together diverted Ayaka's attention away from her task. Looking up with eyes widening she saw Crusadermon stretching out one limb, a yawn wrenching itself loose from her throat. Was she awake? Ayaka couldn't really tell. It sure looked like it but with that helmet obscuring her face one couldn't be sure about anything until she made a much more dramatic movement.

Crusadermon sighed and rolled her head to face Ayaka fully. Although this could be taken as confirmation that the Royal Knight was indeed awake, the fact that she had no features from which Ayaka could be certain of this, so in her rather nervous state on what to do and what to say Ayaka blurted out the first thing that came to mind in a rather Calumon-like fashion just to be sure.

"Do you know that you snore when you sleep?"

Crusadermon's body stiffened suddenly and Ayaka had the distinct feeling that she had made a mistake.

_Uh oh…_

All at once Crusadermon's hand lashed out and grabbed Ayaka by the throat. She had barely a second to let loose a scream before her air was cut off and she was hauled up into the air as Crusadermon suddenly got to her feet. The pink and yellow digivice clattered to the ground helplessly.

_"You,"_ Crusadermon snarled venomously as she pulled Ayaka towards her, her vision boring into the frightened visage of the young, blonde haired girl as she clamped her hands around the armored wrist that held her. Ayaka made loud, choking sounds as she struggled to get the arm away from her neck and restore her ability to breathe. However, the arm was much too strong for her and as it was well protected there was very little that she could do to encourage its removal away from her most vital of extremities.

"Ack…guh…C-C-Cru…sa…sa…der…mon… Cggh…ug…"

"You," Crusadermon reiterated, poisonous anger dripping into her words. "How… _dare_ you?! What in the name of the digital world did you _do to me?!_ You…me… _partners?!_ This is intolerable!"

Ayaka made a gargled sound as she pushed her hands against the knight's arm. She was squirming now, making as much effort as she could to get away short of striking out against her with her feet, but Crusadermon held fast to the child. Oddly enough, Crusadermon's grip, as tight as it was, had not yet turned into a crushing one. Not that it mattered all that much as it was still enough to obstruct her breathing. Ayaka's face began to take on a red discoloration as her lungs began to cry for oxygen that couldn't come.

"I am a soldier of Yggdrasil! My loyalty is _sworn_ to him and him only! And now…you…you…"

Beneath Crusadermon's helm her lips twisted into a snarl and she began to tighten her grip on the girl's neck accordingly as anger flushed through her system.

"S-s-sorry…" Ayaka whispered, and suddenly Crusadermon hesitated. Her grip loosened slightly and she frowned beneath her helm. As she looked at the girl she felt something move inside of her. Something that felt… _odd._ She couldn't quite describe it but it was as though she were feeling something beating inside of her chest, and with it flowed a sliver of some kind of emotion that she couldn't quite identify. What was it? And why… _why_ did she feel it while she was focused on this child? Why…?

"Hey! Let her go!"

Whirling about, Crusadermon found herself staring at a dark haired boy wearing a pair of glasses on his face. In one hand he held out a digivice that was similar to Ayaka's while the other was clenched in a tight fist by his waist. Although he had a determined expression Crusadermon could tell that the child was scared.

_Hmmmph. A Tamer. And one without his partner with him. He must be trying to bluff me. Stupid child. He should know that digimon can sense when there's another about regardless of whether or not they're partnered to a Tamer._

Crusadermon looked the boy over, taking note of the slight shake in his legs.

"Run home little boy," Crusadermon growled.

"I said…l-let…her… _go!"_ The boy pointed his digivice at her and the wobble in his legs suddenly vanished. For the first time Crusadermon wondered if he was threatening her with it. Although the idea seemed laughable Crusadermon actually considered the possibility. Her master kept a record of all classes and types of digivices that had ever been encountered when dealing with humans, and some were known to be capable of projecting energy, though under most cases this was meant to deal primarily with dark digimon. The D-Arc was a relatively new digivice and very little was known about its full capabilities save for the Sovereigns report on its ability to merge humans and digimon together and Omnimon's observations on the use of mere _playing cards_ to add bonus attributes and equipment as needed. Beyond that it just hadn't been observed under the appropriate circumstances to get an accurate idea as to what it could do.

Looking into the child's eyes Crusadermon again saw the steely determination in the boy's heart, coupled with fear. Nonetheless, she could see that he refused to back down.

_Just what is it about humans,_ wondered Crusadermon, _that makes them so set on fighting a battle that they have no hope of winning?_

The sound of Ayaka's choking, and the feel of her hands beginning to slide off of her arm caught Crusadermon's attention and once again she felt something flash within her. For an instant she felt…

_No,_ thought Crusadermon feeling a sense of panic invade her mind. _It just..._ couldn't _be…_

Feeling as though a surge of electricity was flowing up her arm Crusadermon turned and hurled Ayaka towards the boy. The girl made a loud, gasping sound as her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief (as well as relief). The two of them had an instant of connection with their gazes before the human girl impacted with the other child with a loud thud, sending them both sprawling to the ground like ragdolls. Ignoring their groans and cries of pain Crusadermon let loose a loud cry of frustration before leaping into the air, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt as she left the two Tamers shrinking behind her.

But try as she might, no matter how far she flew or how fast, Crusadermon knew that she could not escape the strange feeling that was now pervading her every thought.

* * *

Watching Crusadermon fly off Kenta pulled air into his lungs as he recovered from the blow that he had received from Ayaka's full weight slamming into his body. His head felt like it was swimming but that was quickly clearing up. At the moment however, his greater concern was not about how he was feeling but more about his blonde haired classmate who was presently lying on top of him, letting loose a series of half gasps, half sobs as her body shuddered on top of him. Her hands, drawn up into fists grabbed hold of his shirt and clutched tightly onto him, as if afraid to let him go. Kenta, sensing that she was in need of comfort, brought his arms around her and hugged her, whispering gentle reassurances to the girl as best as he could, but so far it did nothing to calm the girl.

_But then, I imagine that if I was being throttled by a Mega digimon like Crusadermon and couldn't do anything about it I'd be more then a little bit scared myself. I remember how bad_ _things were when Beelzemon was trying to kill us. I don't remember any other moment where I was that scared. I guess Ayaka's going through the same thing…_

Obliquely Kenta wondered where Ayaka's parents were, given the amount of noise that had been made from the moment he had heard Ayaka's scream. Massaging Ayaka's back Kenta continued to try and get her to feel better.

"Hey, come on Ayaka. It's okay. You're okay now. Everything's going to be all right. It's…"

Kenta bit his lip as he tried to think of something… _anything_ to say that could make her feel better, but for some reason he was coming up dry. Well, it wasn't often that he had to deal with something like this, though he would have thought that after that business with Takato and Guilmon he would at least have _some_ idea of what to say or do. The others would at least, he was certain, have known what to say. Heck, even _Kazu_ would have known what to say even if he couldn't particularly say it in a way that could be called comforting and more like sarcasm.

_Ryo probably would have her calm by now,_ thought Kenta as he continued to rub Ayaka's back. So far she was showing no signs of calming down. _He probably would have swept her off her feet to while he was at it._

"It's…uh…okay…" stuttered Kenta as he awkwardly fought to find the words to comfort her.

_This really isn't working,_ thought Kenta. _We need to get her inside…call a doctor or something just to make sure that she's all right._

"Um…hey, here's an idea," he began. "W-why don't we…um…pick ourselves up from off the ground and…uh…get you back inside the house and…"

Kenta frowned as he found Ayaka gripping onto him all the more tightly. Sensing that something was going to have to be done to get her off of him and into the house where she could be checked out more appropriately and receive better help then what he could provide (and not wanting to explain their situation to her family when they finally deigned to come out and see what all the commotion was about) Kenta moved his hands to her shoulders and tried to push her off of him. He got her only as far as a couple feet off his body before their eyes locked and Kenta found himself flabbergasted by the expression on her face. It was a mix of so many emotions, fear, frustration, and… _uncertainty._ It was so completely different from what he was normally accustomed to seeing from the rather bold and outspoken girl; the very same girl who not to long ago had defeated a piece of the Argus with just a simple kick. And there was something else too…something about the way that she was looking at him. It made him feel more then just a little bit nervous.

Feeling that something had to be done to break up the awkward silence Kenta again tried to get her off of him, but this time Ayaka would have none of it. Instead she tightened her grip on his shirt again and pushed herself forward, catching the Tamer by surprise.

"Kenta…" was all Kenta heard her say right before her lips found his own. Kenta's eyes went wide with surprise at the contact and he felt his body go rigid at the whirl of emotion and feeling that surged through him. He desperately tried to find any sense of coherent thought but no sooner did he make the attempt then the front door to the Itou residence burst open, revealing the bristling matriarch of the household as she scanned the front yard.

"Now what's with all the noise that I was hearing? I was upstairs doing the laundry and…oh!"

Kenta's world spun out of control shortly thereafter.

* * *

"Hey! Henry!"

Henry raised his gray colored eyes from the bed sheet that he had been staring at for what seemed like an eternity to see his older sister Jaarin entering the room.

"Hey," Henry said, forcing a light tone into his voice so that he wouldn't douse the upbeat spirit that Jaarin had entered the room in. Unfortunately, his partner Terriermon ruined the illusion as he slid off of his Tamer's head and landed in his lap.

"It's about time that someone showed up!" Exclaimed the long eared digimon happily. "I've just about given up on trying to get ol' Henry here out of his funk. I mean, I know that my jokes rarely get a smile out of him…"

"Terriermon…" groaned Henry, causing the long eared digimon to fake flinching and look over his shoulder with false worry.

"…And often get me in trouble, but this is just not normal."

"Maybe you just need to be a bit more sensitive Terriermon," commented Jaarin as she made her way over to the bed and picked up the rabbit-dog digimon, pressing one finger against his nose in a teasing manner that caused him to screw up his face in annoyance.

"Well I _would_ be more sensitive if you guys didn't treat me like I came from the circus or a petting zoo all the time…"

"Touché," replied Jaarin as she leaned back and folded her arms across her chest, "though personally I'm finding it hard to let go of the circus image considering the fact that you act like a class clown."

"Man. I'm just glad that I wasn't partnered up with _you._ You have me more under your thumbs then Henry here."

Both Jaarin and Henry glared at the little digimon in response to that statement.

"Shutting up now…" muttered Terriermon as he hopped back up onto Henry's head. "…But before I do, do something to get him out of this depression thing he's got going on. It's not doing him any good."

"Terriermon…I am _not_ depressed!"

"Actually Henry, I'm going to have to agree with the long eared master of villainy there. You have been acting kind of down ever since you woke up."

"Thank you Jaar…wait. Why did you call me a 'master of villainy'? I'm one of the good guys."

"On some days I have to wonder, especially around dinner time. But back to the subject at hand…"

"How's Dad?" Interrupted Henry. Jaarin frowned at her younger brother.

"You're changing the subject. Now I _know_ there's something wrong with you."

"Jaarin…"

"I mean it Henry. When was the last time you tried to change a subject when it got to be uncomfortable for you? As I recall you were six and you never did it again after that. Your martial arts teacher saw to that. Now come on. Spill already. I'll tell you how Dad's doing after you're done."

Henry frowned before finally nodding.

"I'm just…worried about Noriko."

Jaarin tilted her head to one side.

"That's the girl that's in your class right? The one whose mother showed up at our apartment earlier last week?"

"Yeah. It's a little complicated but she's been mixed up with digimon ever since she got back. Last time I saw her I tried to…"

Henry groaned irritably and balled his hands up into fists.

"…I couldn't protect her," he finished. Jaarin's expression mottled up with confusion.

"Henry…is…she's not…"

"I don't know," said Henry with a shrug. "The last thing I heard she was…" Henry's eyes narrowed. "…Taken."

"Taken." Jaarin spoke the word smoothly, rolling it around in her head as she tried to figure out what kind of meaning that Henry had in saying it. Kidnapped? That was the most likely, and practically a given, but when it came to the life that Henry ran these days Jaarin felt that there was a lot more to it then something as simple as that.

_What else could it be though?_ Wondered Jaarin as she pulled up one of the hospital chairs and sat down in it.

"What happened?"

Henry chuckled with wry amusement. "Where do I begin?"

Terriermon suddenly flapped his ears and stood up on his partner's head, folding his arms across his chest and taking on the appearance of importance.

"Short version; Noriko disappeared to the digital world for three weeks, and when she got back she was merged with a digimon that we thought was dead with the power of the Digital Hazard to boot. The digimon half took control of her and some weird blue thing bio-emerged and grabbed her before going back to the digital world."

Jaarin blinked while Henry looked up at his partner, an annoyed expression building on his face.

"Right. What he said."

"And I don't think I understood even half of that…"

Terriermon _hmmmphed_.

"You don't need to. All you need to know is pretty much what Henry said: he tried to help Noriko and he got stomped into the ground for it. As a result he's going through one of his moments where he feels responsible for every little thing that happens even if he's not."

"Terriermon…need I remind you that we wound up having to _fight_ Noriko?"

"So what? She digivolved to a demented version of Gallantmon's Crimson Mode. It was a lost fight anyways…"

"TERRIERMON!"

"Would you two just momentai already? You're starting to give me a headache!" Jaarin sighed as she closed her eyes. After counting to three she resumed speaking. "Okay…so let's see if I can get the gist of what's going on here. Your classmate turned into a digimon and she couldn't control herself, and you two had to fight her…right?"

"Yeah," answered Henry.

"In a nutshell," supplied Terriermon as he tumbled back down into Henry's lap.

"And she just got taken back to the digital world…right?"

Terriermon and Henry exchanged glances.

"We think so," said Terriermon. "So long as that blue thing didn't take her to another dimension that we weren't aware of before…"

"But that's the situation as it is," said Jaarin. Henry nodded. Jaarin thought it over, calling upon some of her own life experiences that she's had that could conceivably help her younger brother, but not really coming up with anything. Henry tended to be a bit more mature in his thinking then she was due to conditioning that his training levied upon him. That and there was the fact that Taming digimon and just the whole business with the digital world in general was outside of her area of expertise. Her father or one of his other Tamer friends would actually be better suited for this but none of them were here at the moment…

As Jaarin continued to think it over a strange thought entered her mind and she chuckled in amusement at it.

"You know…this is almost something out of all those old fairy tales where the warrior goes and rescues the maiden in distress."

Henry frowned at his sister.

"This isn't a story Jaarin."

"Okay, so it isn't, but you have to admit that it has the right kind of feel for one. In any case, you know what the appropriate response is in a situation like this, right? You just buckle your swash and go and rescue her."

"Sounds like the kind of thing that we do on a regular basis," said Terriermon looking up at his Tamer with a smirk on his face. "Come on Henry, what do you say? That's as good a piece of advice as any that you're going to get and it sure beats beating yourself up over what happened yesterday."

"I wasn't…oh never mind." Henry ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Sensei always taught me to be honest with myself. I guess that I have been beating myself up over the whole thing. As bad as I feel about it though, it doesn't do Noriko any good if all I'm do is feeling sorry for myself instead of trying to do something."

"That's the spirit!"

Jaarin smiled while Terriermon raised his ears at her and bent two of the three thumb-like apparatus on them to give her something akin to a thumbs up.

"You know," began Jaarin looking up at Henry with a teasing look, "I have to admit, you do sort of look like the adventuring hero type. Too bad you and your partner don't digivolve into a knight in shining armor. Then the image would be complete."

Terriermon waved one ear dismissively.

"That's Takatomon's job. Henry here at least doesn't trip over his own two feet, so he's got class as well as brains. Come to think of it though, Takato _does_ have a penchant for rescuing girls. I think Henry's going to need to start taking notes from him now. Never thought I'd live to see _that_ day…"

"Nnnnggg… _Terriermon_ …"

Jaarin couldn't help but laugh at the two.

"By the way," she began, forcing herself to try and stay relatively calm enough to be able to speak. "About Dad…it looks like he's going to be getting better soon. Mom, Rinchei, Suzie, and Lopmon are in there with MarineAngemon. By the looks of things he should be back on his feet pretty soon."

And for the first time that day, an honest smile crossed Henry Wong's face.


	71. 70: Of Love and Other Things

"Pocky?"

Sitting on a bench outside of a convenience store Ayaka looked up to see Kenta standing next to her, holding out a small box containing a group of sticks with a flavored coating over it. Recognizing the popular candy the blonde haired girl nodded gratefully and blushed lightly, one hand gripping the edge of the bench that she sat on vice like while the other reached out and drew forth a couple pieces of Pocky. Ayaka raised one eyebrow as she noted the candy's rather _pinkish_ color, although she did not look in the least bit disappointed in the choice.

"Huh. Strawberry? You picked my favorite."

Kenta fidgeted nervously as he sat down on the bench next to her and rummaged around in the Pocky box, a dark red discoloration enveloping his face.

"Um…yeah. Uh…Jeri once told me about how you ate this one a lot and I noticed you bringing it in to lunch a few times before so…uh… _ahem…_ yeah…"

In the awkward moment that followed Kenta frantically pulled out a Pocky from the box and, after almost losing it to the ground, bit into it. A loud _pokkin_ sound, after which the candy was named, resounded upon the air and the dark haired, bespectacled boy munched it with varying degrees of nerves and thoughtfulness. Ayaka watched him for a moment before quickly following suit, adding her own _pokkin_ sound to the scene followed by chewing.

It had been about an hour since their rather bizarre _moment_ back at Ayaka's home and needless to say, they were _extremely_ out of sorts. The two children had escaped all manner of questioning by Mrs. Itou, mainly due to Ayaka's rather creative on-the-spot lie, although Kenta, if asked, would argue over its effectiveness due to Mrs. Itou's switch from shock to a devious grin. Had he not been so caught up in feeling slightly offended by his role in the lie, in addition to still feeling heavily shocked about the kiss that even now continued to tingle on his lips, he would have pointed out that no one would have believed that she was administering 'mouth to mouth' because he 'fainted'. And it certainly wasn't helping that she was blushing while she stuttered out the entire explanation, leaving out the 'reasons' _why_ he _'fainted'_ and Crusadermon's appearance at the house and assault on her person. Glancing peripherally at his classmate, Kenta's eyes wandered towards her neck and he noticeably winced at the red marks that blemished her skin, hidden as they were somewhat by the blush that continued to crawl across the girl's body.

_She made it quite clear that she didn't want to be checked out by any doctors,_ thought Kenta with a note of sadness to his expression. _She let me take a look at least. I didn't see anything that looked too bad or permanent but I don't have the kind of experience to make that kind of assessment. She could have anything wrong with her and I might not be able to know it! She…_

"Kenta? Whatever it is that you're getting all worked up about, you'd better stop. Otherwise you're going to eat all the Pocky…provided that is you don't choke on it first."

The dark haired Tamer looked down at the package of Pocky, blinking as he realized that while he had been thinking he had been mechanically shoveling the candy in his mouth, going through half the box in rapid succession. Continuing to bite down on the Pocky he had, small crumbs fell from his mouth as he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. Sighing, Kenta passed the box over to Ayaka, who took it tentatively, all the while watching him curiously. Silence hung between the two as they sat on the bench, watching the world go by as the two children pulled themselves together. People milled around them, completely unaware of the two Tamers who sat within their midst.

Kenta snuck another glance at his blonde haired friend's neck, and his eyes softened. He noted that the red marks that had covered the girl's neck had by now almost completely disappeared, and she hadn't shown any signs of pain since her mother had interrupted them from their… _moment_. It was something of an oddity, Kenta felt, but one that, if nothing else, he could count on as a good sign, but still. He couldn't help but worry, and he _was_ on his way to the hospital anyway (something for which he was now quite overdue).

_Maybe I should try to convince her to see a doctor again,_ he thought. As if sensing his thoughts Ayaka's brown eyes snuck a look at him peripherally and Kenta jerked his gaze away, his face blushing once more.

"Um…I still think…" began Kenta, one hand moving up to rub the back of his head nervously.

"I'm sorry about…" Ayaka began saying at the exact same time, causing both of them to halt their sentences and look at each other. Their eyes met for a moment before jerking away suddenly and looked around them _anywhere_ but where the other was; as if by doing so they could deny the sudden rush of emotion that was even now giving their cheeks a rosy tint to them. After a few seconds they tried again.

"You first," they again spoke in unison before a renewed round of blushing and silence passed between them, punctuated only by the sound of Ayaka humming softly, and nervously to herself as she also drummed her fingers on the seat of the bench. Kenta, for his part, resisted the urge to copy her and instead settled for gripping the edge of the bench's seat.

_Awkward moment. Awkward moment,_ chanted Kenta to himself mentally like some kind of mantra as he valiantly fought down the burning heat that pervaded his face. _REALLY awkward moment…as if her kissing me wasn't bad enough…or her mom coming across us at the exact same time…Oh man…what would Takato do in a situation like this? He's the one who's got that crush on Jeri. Maybe he could help. Ahhh…who am I kidding? I don't think I could figure this out even_ with _his help! This is just…so new…so…_ different! _I doubt any of my friends have experienced this yet. I can't ask my Mom about this because then she'd start acting all weird and happy and pinch my cheek, saying how her 'little Kenta is all grown up and has finally found himself a nice girl to settle down with.' Not that Ayaka isn't a nice girl that is. I mean, aside from the few times she teased me and lumped me in with the others about Impmon's terrorizing couples in the park she's actually not all that bad and kind of pretty and…and now I think I just lost my mind somewhere back at the house._

Kenta felt the urge to just bury his face in his hands and groan in exasperation, but feeling that that would give a bad impression he opted to play it as cool as he possibly could…with all the heat that he felt flushing through his body that is…

"About what happened earlier…" began Ayaka, coughing to clear her throat as she studiously avoided making eye contact with the boy. "…I'm…I didn't mean for that to happen. I was just upset and…um…"

Ayaka felt her face heat up again and she cursed herself silently.

_That's a weak, stupid excuse,_ thought the blonde haired girl. _I kissed him…Kissed_ Kenta _of all people and I tell him that I did it just because I was upset?! Normally the thought of even kissing him would have made me upset and…_

Ayaka scrunched up her eyebrows into a frown as she analyzed her present train of thought.

_Hold on…come to think of it, I don't think I was angry or anything about kissing Kenta. Come to think of it…that kiss felt…kind of nice…_

And that was all it took for Ayaka to clench her eyes shut and shake her head in negation, trying to deny the direction that her mind was now taking. It just couldn't be…it just _couldn't!_ Kenta…one of a handful of boys in her class that she had sworn to never have anything to do with when she was in the fourth grade! He was too weird, acted too skittish, hung out with Kazu, and he sure wasn't anything that remotely resembled a knight in shining armor. In fact, during most of the time that she had known him, bravery wasn't something Kenta was renown for…

_Until he became a Tamer that is,_ Ayaka's mind whispered to her and she paused on that. This was true. After that crazy period in which Takato and his friends had become digimon Tamers Kenta had gone through an enormous change, much of which was brought home to her this past week when she saw up close what he and his friends had to contend with. The battle with that strange bird lady, and then later with the gigantic dinosaur with the toenail problem showed her a side of him that he didn't reveal when he was in the classroom, cowering from their teacher, Miss Asagi, and now that she did think of it, she couldn't envision him as being at all like the kid that she had grown up with. He and his partner, despite not looking like they could hold their own in a fight, managed to stand up to DinoRexmon, had freed the bird lady, albeit temporarily, from whatever control it had been under, and had even saved her at the last minute from an attack that would have killed her. And then when the bird woman had 'died' despite his and MarineAngemon's best efforts to heal her…

She remembered how he had reacted then; the look that he got in his eyes. That had been the most telling part of that moment. She had remembered seeing him angry in the past, but never anything that had been even remotely close to what she saw that day and it had shown her depths to him that she had never thought existed, even after he became a Tamer. An angry Kenta. Something about that concept didn't settle well with her, and seeing him not only angry but hurting over his failure to save the bird woman Zephyrmon felt worse. And then the talk that they had together, where he had discussed with her some of his fears about death, and how his 'adventures' as a Tamer were not in the least what he had been expecting, and his own helplessness in the face of losing someone that he had tried to protect.

_I distinctly remember telling him about how I used to think he was just another 'stupid boy',_ Ayaka thought, smiling inwardly. _And I also remember how Terriermon called me 'his girlfriend'. Weird, considering what just happened between us._

"Yeah," said Kenta in response to her attempt to excuse her earlier action. Kenta coughed and tugged at his shirt's collar nervously. This time Ayaka did look at him, and as she did so she felt something catch in her throat, and she bit down on her lip. "You definitely were…uh…upset…um…"

Kenta fell into silence, searching for more words to say in regards to their present situation. Ayaka watched him, her heart pleading with her to say something… _anything_ just to give the two of them some kind of closure with each other.

"…Well…I…ah…hope that you're better now…" Kenta said, turning his face away as his sentences continued to break up and his face reddened dramatically. Ayaka likewise felt her own face heat up once again and also turned away.

"I am," she said a little too quickly. "You…um…you did a _real_ good job at that…"

Never before in either of their lives had these two wished for a hole to just appear out of nowhere for them to fall into.

_I can't believe I just said that…_

_A digimon attack…please. Anything for a digimon attack right now…_

"Um…" began Kenta, hoping to steer the topic of conversation away from the current one. "…About what happened earlier…with Crusadermon I mean! Why did she attack you like that?"

"Huh? You didn't see the digivice that I dropped earlier?" Asked Ayaka, turning to the other Tamer as she removed her pink and yellow colored D-Arc from her waist and showed it to him.

"Um…I was a little distracted at the time," said Kenta as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. Ayaka blinked and turned red again.

"Right. World's stupidest question."

"So…this makes you a Tamer now?"

Ayaka nodded slowly as she lowered her digivice into her lap, her eyes softening as she immersed herself in deep thought.

"Yeah. Crusadermon's my partner. I got this thing during yesterday's fight after she and Beelzemon got shot out of the sky. I remember wanting to help her and the next thing I know this thing shows up and heals her completely."

"Um…I take it that I can't say 'congratulations' or anything?"

Ayaka glowered at the boy and tightened her grip on the D-Arc, leaving Kenta to wonder if she intended to bean him in the head with it. After a moment the girl relented and looked away.

"I didn't want to be a Tamer," she said finally, still frowning. "And by the way Crusadermon reacted to me today I don't think _she_ wants to be tamed by someone like me…or even by a human period. I mean, she was pretty angry with me because of the fact that we're partners now. She mentioned about how she serves someone else and now…"

Ayaka sighed.

"This is just so confusing. Kenta is there any way to break a connection between a Tamer and a digimon?"

Kenta's eyes went wide with shock and he jerked to attention.

"What?!" Kenta exclaimed, unwilling to believe that he could have had heard such a thing.

"I don't want to be a Tamer! I've…what I've seen so far…it scares me! How can you guys even go through that stuff?! I hear Kazu go on about how great being a Tamer is every day we're at school… _without letup…_ and all I can think about is how a person can handle that kind of thing! Your life is in danger all the time; some of your own friends have been hurt pretty badly by being Tamers, and don't even get me started on Jeri! I still don't know all the details about what she went through when that blob attacked the city but I can tell that it's not anything good, especially since she says she _used_ to have a partner. I thought that this would be fun at first, back when I first wanted to learn about the card game but things have changed! I don't…" Ayaka swallowed, "I don't think I can handle this."

Kenta sat there, his mouth agape. He hadn't been expecting this, not after seeing Ayaka and Miki being as passionate as they were about learning the card game and about what it took to be a Tamer. In a lot of ways this was like the story that Takato had told him once about Rika saying she hated digimon. It didn't seem at all natural. True, he had his own misgivings about being a Tamer; the violence, the destruction, and the risk of death being reasons for this but the rewards he felt outweighed the drawbacks. These days he didn't know where he'd be if he didn't have MarineAngemon by his side, knowing that there was one person, or rather digimon, in all the world that he could count on to stick with him through thick and thin, and could also count on him to do the same. It was difficult to put into words how close he and MarineAngemon were…although _words_ actually wasn't that bad of a way to put it given how the two of them understood each other when no one else could, but the point was, he knew how deep the bond between a Tamer and a digimon could run, and to hear Ayaka, a new Tamer, say how she didn't want to be a Tamer…it struck a negative chord in him.

And yet, he could easily see her side of things. And it was because of that that he found himself sympathizing with Ayaka.

_What would one of the others say in a situation like this?_ Wondered Kenta as he looked at the blonde haired girl who sat next to him, looking crestfallen at the card that fate had dealt her. On that he was coming up blank, but then he had never met someone who didn't want to be a Tamer unless he counted Rika but he met her for the first time _after_ she had reconciled with Renamon. Takato had told him that she had worked out her problems with Renamon on her own, but was that the right approach in this situation? At least Rika and Renamon had been working together from the start and not having Renamon attacking Rika like Crusadermon had done to Ayaka earlier. He wanted to tell her that it would be all right; tell her all the reasons why she should be happy that she was a Tamer but every time he opened his mouth to do so his mouth clicked shut without even saying a thing. The words just…didn't feel right to say on this occasion.

All of a sudden Kenta felt a strong desire to comfort Ayaka, but he felt woefully inadequate to do so. Nonetheless, he was the only one there. Feeling that she was counting on him as a fellow Tamer and a friend (if nothing else, then as those at least) Kenta raised a hand tentatively and placed it on her back, patting it awkwardly. As he brought his hand down to rest on her back again he hesitated, feeling her tense up beneath his touch. Feeling he had done something wrong Kenta was just about to pull away when he felt her relax and then lean into his touch, surprising him. After a moment he resumed patting her back, this time with far less awkwardness then he had started with.

"It's going to be okay," Kenta said softly, attempting to reassure her, surprised by how calm he was feeling at that moment. "We'll think of something."

Ayaka, despite still not looking at all happy with her lot, nodded silently, not saying a word.

* * *

Takato walked down the streets with Guilmon by his side, the crimson reptile looking around him with wide, curious eyes and stopping every so often to give the world a good sniff before continuing to follow his Tamer. Guilmon looked at Takato with an expression of worry. The brown haired Tamer had been unusually quiet since they had left the bakery in Kazu's hands. Not that there was anything different about this of course, as Takato had been very much like this ever since he was 'reborn', going through varying bouts of deep thought and worry, but Guilmon felt that this wasn't something that he was used to seeing in him…or at least, not to this extent. And he was pretty sure that he knew the reasons why, and from his perspective they seemed many. On one hand was the issue regarding his friend Rika, although what that particular issue was about Guilmon was a tad bit confused on. They looked like they liked each other, but for some reason because they liked each other they didn't want to. Guilmon scratched his head in confusion, wondering how it could be that people who were that close didn't want to be. He sensed that it had something to do with their other friend, Jeri, as Takato had acted the same way

when they had met up again upon their return to Shinjuku. The similarities in the way that they acted around each other when compared with Rika was far too great to ignore.

_It's kind of like Takatomon can only be close to one of them,_ thought Guilmon as he padded along after the goggle wearing Tamer. _I wish he would tell me why. He doesn't like talking about it at all ever since he and Rika had that argument back at Kai's place. It's weird. Why can Takatomon only be close to one of them? I didn't think you couldn't have more then one friend. After all, Takatomon is friends with so many other Tamers and digimon. Is there something about Rika and Jeri that makes them special that he can only be with one of them?_

Guilmon's face took on a sad expression and he looked down at the ground.

_I hope that doesn't mean that he can't still be my friend,_ thought Guilmon as his bat-wing like ears drooped down.

Looking up at his partner once again Guilmon blinked as for a second, he thought he saw Jeri and Takato walking in front of him. Takato was rubbing the back of his head in a nervous fashion and stammering over his sentences while Jeri was next to him, looking as though she were giggling about something. But…that didn't make any sense. Takato was right next to him! A quick look to his left confirmed this. Takato continued on, not in the least bit concerned about the sight that was in front of him. It was as if he didn't even see them. Before Guilmon could even say anything, he felt his head go dizzy as a voice spoke within him.

_Memory scan commencing…level two sub protocols active…Seeker connection successfully imbedded…awaiting confirmation…_

Guilmon groaned as he felt himself grow distanced from the world around him…

* * *

_Takato, and Jeri, walked through the streets, with Guilmon walking a short ways behind them as though he understood the need to leave these two alone while at the same time being their unofficial chauffeur. Guilmon watched them with curiosity, remembering some of the things that Terriermon had told him about boys reacted around girls that they liked. In the past, Takato had lived up to Terriermon's expectations of being nervous and clumsy (and not to forget red faced), though Guilmon didn't really understand why this was so. If his partner liked Jeri in the way that Terriermon had said he did then why didn't he just tell her? It would probably make things a lot easier in the long run for him to just get it off his chest. Guilmon had only the faintest of notions of emotions like love, but if Takato's feelings for Jeri were like how Guilmon felt about bread than the reptile guessed that that was love, only without the eating part. Guilmon found it rather silly that Takato would get nervous around Jeri and as such a memory came to him concerning a conversation that he had with a familiar white digimon that closely resembled a creampuff known as Calumon._

" _Being afraid is kind of like skating on sausages…"_

_Guilmon took this as perhaps the wisest thing he had ever heard in his life, and he took it to heart. The way that Calumon explained things sometimes made a lot of sense to him, probably because the way he said them was so simple._

_With a shake of his head, Guilmon continued to follow his two friends, oblivious to the danger that was fast approaching._

* * *

"You okay, Guilmon?" Asked Takato, breaking the crimson reptile out of the trance that he had found himself in. Blinking in surprise, Guilmon snapped to attention and looked at his partner.

"Ah? I just had the weirdest dream…"

Takato cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Um…you were awake boy. Although you did look like you were zoned out for a minute there."

"So I was sleepwalking while I was awake?"

"I'm not sure I understand. I just noticed that you had stopped walking and that you looked like you were lost. You said you were _dreaming?"_

"Yeah. And you were here…and Jeri was here…you were both ahead of us and you were looking like you were trying to tell Jeri something but you were getting all red and funny looking."

Takato tilted his head to one side, feeling more then a little bit lost himself as to what it was that Guilmon was talking about. Both he and Jeri were here? And he was trying to tell her something? That didn't make much sense, as Jeri wasn't here at all. And by the sounds of it Guilmon was under the impression that even though he was standing right here with Guilmon while simultaneously walking somewhere up ahead with Jeri.

_I'm pretty sure that I didn't see anything like that. But what Guilmon just described sounds a little bit familiar. I wonder if…_

Takato took a glance around him, frowning at the street before his eyes widened slightly as realization hit him full on.

"Of course," Takato whispered more to himself then to Guilmon.

"Hah?"

"This street…this is where we were before…Lucemon…"

There was that look again. Takato's eyes grew distant and thoughtful, and one hand drew up into a loose fist, as though it were trying to keep a thought from materializing in his mind. It didn't take much for Guilmon to realize what his partner was talking about.

"Is this where I died, Takatomon?"

Takato looked over at his partner, surprise clearly written on his face at how casual Guilmon sounded, at least when compared to him, when talking about that time.

"Do you…remember?"

Guilmon frowned.

"I think so. I only saw you and Jeri…and a voice spoke in my head too. It was saying something about a memory scan…"

_Dynasmon,_ thought Takato as he looked back towards the street where his partner had met his grim fate all those weeks ago. _He had been trying to recover something from Guilmon's memories for some reason. I guess that whatever he was trying to do it's still going on, and it's helping Guilmon remember who he is and what happened to him. I know he didn't mean it, and that he was doing it for his own reasons, but it is helping. I wonder whatever happened to him. So far, out of all three of those Royal Knights that came here, we only know that Craniummon is dead and Crusadermon had 'escaped'. At least, that's how Impmon put it yesterday. Dynasmon is still unaccounted for._

"Well…at least you're starting to remember some things," said Takato, looking back at his partner.

_Though to be honest, I wish that you didn't have to remember the day that you died._

"Takatomon? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah. Yeah. I'm…fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because your eye is leaking, Takatomon."

Blinking blearily Takato raised one hand to his face, frowning slightly as he felt something wet roll down his right cheek. Sniffing, Takato wiped his eyes and forced a laugh.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be okay. It's just…bad memories. That's all. I thought that I was over them when you came back, but I guess not."

"I'm sorry for leaving you alone like that."

"Guilmon! Don't…don't be sorry. You couldn't help it. You were hurt very badly in that fight and I…"

Takato stopped himself from what he was going to say next. _I couldn't do anything to help you._ He didn't want to say those words. Saying them felt like a confirmation of everything that he had been feeling afraid of ever since he first lost Guilmon, and it would negate what he had come to face with when he biomerged again with Guilmon. He had hoped that by admitting to being afraid that time he would be free of all of his fears, but for some reason they still remained chained to him like an iron weight. He wanted very badly to be free of it all, to set things back to what they were before Lucemon showed up, but he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't change the past. What was, was, and what is, is. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. He had learned that the hard way when Leomon had been killed, and was still learning it. He supposed he always would too. It was a harsh lesson. One that lasted a lifetime.

"It's okay Takatomon. I'm here now, aren't I?"

Guilmon pressed into Takato's leg, nuzzling him and looking at him with his big, golden eyes. Takato couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he fought down the lump that had been building in his throat.

_Yeah. He's here now, and that's all that matter's right? I mean, I can't let this drag me down anymore. I've got more important things to worry about. And as long as Guilmon's with me, I don't have to be afraid anymore._

_…_

_Right?_

A hand fell onto his shoulder at the precise moment that he had completed that thought, and turning Takato found himself looking into the concerned, violet eyes of one Rika Nonaka.

"Huh? Rika? What…?"

"What am I doing here?" Asked Rika, raising one eyebrow as she looked full into Takato's magenta colored eyes, giving his shoulder a soft squeeze before retracting her hand and folding her arms across her chest. "I've been trying to find a route to the hospital that isn't closed down so that I can check up on Henry. Not too much luck on that front I guess you could say."

"You didn't want to ride Kyubimon there?"

"She says that she's feeling better after yesterday's fight, but I didn't want to strain her too much. Besides, I don't mind walking all that much. Gives me time to think, you know?"

"Oh. Right." A pause fell between them. "So…um…thinking about anything in particular?"

Takato felt that he could kick himself for even asking, but he hated the tension and silence that always seemed to appear whenever he was around Rika now. It just…didn't feel right with him.

"You could say that," said Rika calmly. "How're you holding up?"

"Me?" Takato pointed at himself with raised eyebrows. Rika chuckled.

"No. The _other_ kid wearing goofy looking Goggles on his head. Of course I mean you. And don't say that you're _fine_ because if what I saw and felt earlier was any indication you're definitely anything but."

Takato frowned. "Felt?"

Rika resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Just answer the question already will ya?

Despite having some curiosity about what Rika was referring to Takato simply nodded and looked out towards the street.

"It's…difficult to put into words…"

"Takatomon's just worried about me," piped in Guilmon. "I had a memory come back from when I died and it's making him get all thinky."

"Guilmon…" Takato groaned.

"What? You said that it was difficult to put into words, and I wasn't having any problem with that so I thought that I'd help you with that."

"Hate to say this, but Dino boy's got a good point there. Simplest answer is usually the best Gogglehead."

"He's also worried about you and Jeri," Guilmon continued, causing Rika to stiffen slightly and Takato's eyes to widen once more in shock as he felt his face heat up ever so slightly in embarrassment.

_Guilmon…I'm going to have to remind you about the word 'tact'. Man, I feel like I'm in Henry's shoes when he has to deal with Terriermon…_

Guilmon observed the two Tamers, and the silence that had fallen between them. Something had happened when he had said that last bit about Takato's concerns over Jeri and the red haired Tamer who was now with them. Some invisible curtain had fallen and…

"Yeah," began Rika in a low voice, her violet eyes taking on a steely, determined expression to them. "About that…"

Takato turned his head to look at Rika, wondering about the look that she had on her face. She looked as though she were in debate about something. After a couple seconds Rika looked at him.

"Takato. I'm ready to talk about what happened between us."

Takato was so thunderstruck that he didn't even notice his digivice screaming an alarm until the digital field had already fallen over them.


	72. 71: Heart of a Tamer: Part 1

The sounds of people walking by and talking filled the air as Rika made her way through Shinjuku, her eyes set in deep thought as she sought for a path that wasn't closed off for repairs so that she could get to her destination. A few heads turned in her direction as some people recognized her as being the 'Digimon Queen' but she didn't notice them, so caught up in her own thoughts at the moment that she refused to be bothered by such things. Phasing in and out of view up on the rooftops, keeping a watchful eye on the red haired Tamer, Renamon followed closely behind, keeping a discreet distance from the girl. Rika smiled inwardly as she sensed her partner's presence, comforted by the knowledge that she was there. The vulpine digimon had offered to give her a lift to the hospital when she had stated her desire to check up on Henry, but she had steadfastly, but politely, refused, stating that she needed some time to think. Renamon, well aware that Rika often did her best thinking when on her feet and moving, respected her Tamer's wishes, and so it was that they found themselves where they were now.

Rika crossed a four-way street as soon as the light indicated that it was safe to cross, grateful that this one area at least hadn't been closed down for repairs. However, she found some measure of irritation over how far it was from the area of the park (which was also closed off) as that tended to be the quickest and easiest of routes that she used to get around the city short of using the subway and Renamon. But again, she wasn't exactly looking for any time savers as she wanted to metaphorically 'walk' her way through her thoughts, although she wouldn't have minded the convenience of the park as well as the sites. She usually tended to be a city person, preferring the concrete over nature but she had found a fondness for Shinjuku Park and other similar areas. There was an air of peacefulness quiet to them that the city, with all of its bustling activity, generally lacked, making it a great place for thinking.

That and she also had quite a few fond memories in the park that she would have liked to reminisce about, even if they served as more of a distraction from what she wanted to think on.

Rika could almost wonder if the universe, with its rather twisted sense of logic and humor, had thought ahead and had sent trouble just to close off that avenue for that very reason. The idea made her feeling rather prickly towards the world as a result.

Rika's footfalls echoed quietly on the sidewalk, drowned out by the world around her, and Rika quietly cursed the fact that the batteries to her walkman had recently died and there were conveniently (far too conveniently Rika felt) none left to be had. Yet another thing to add to her growing list of complaints, but this one at least was a rather minor one and not one that she was given to focus on for very long. Not when she had other things to worry about.

" _Are you saying that I'm using our recent problems as an excuse to_ _not_ _talk about what happened between me and Gogglehead?"_

The memory of her earlier conversation with Renamon rang quietly through her mind and Rika felt a momentary flutter in her heart, causing her to frown in further irritation. Nervousness…it wasn't something that she was accustomed to, and yet she had been experiencing it far too often of late, and to have it revolve around a _boy…_ around _Takato_ , one of her friends no less, struck a chord of frustration within her, though as she had ruminated on multiple occasions it _was_ something of her fault after all, and it continued to surprise and confound her to no end. She wasn't blind to the subtle changes that could come about in a relationship between two people, be they two sexes, one, human or non-human. Far from it in fact; at the age of thirteen Rika could be described as being quite developed mentally for a girl her age and had been for more years then she could cared to count, but she never entertained any thoughts about ending up in the situation that she had suddenly and unexpectedly found herself in four weeks ago, and indeed didn't have any interest in it. She wanted to live her own life on her terms before she ventured out into that field, if ever, and if she did, as with all things that entered her life, she would keep pretty high expectations and standards that would have to be met.

Now she couldn't help but wonder in a half sarcastic-half serious manner if she had relaxed her standards.

Setting both her and Takato's age and level of maturity aside, Rika had for these past four weeks wondered just where it had been that the kiss had come from, and what exactly it was that she felt for him and _why_ she felt that way about him. Of all her acquaintances Takato was hardly what she would consider to be her first choice, and she certainly never entertained any thoughts about the two of them being together in any way beyond friendship (although in the early days that they knew each other 'friendship' was considered just as nigh an impossibility then as well). True, she had teased him about 'being in love with her' after she had heard about his dream and discovered him in that alley near her house but it hadn't taken long to discover that he had no more interest in her then she did him. In fact, as they grew to know each other she, like the rest of the Tamers, saw where Takato's true amorous interests lay, and had found the whole scene involving him and Jeri mildly entertaining. She would of course be the first to admit confusion when Takato had 'asked her out' (such as it were) on her birthday, as it flew in the face of everything that she knew about the kid. But then, Takato tended to be like that, whether it was pretending to be her and sending reassuring notes to her family with 'girly hearts' or making some stupid comment about her shirt. It wasn't until afterwards that she had learned that Takato had not only been put up to it to distract her from the surprise party that had been waiting for her back home, but it had been _Jeri_ of all people who had thought of it _and_ put him up to it.

She remembered the day she had confronted Jeri about her 'half baked scheme' (her words exactly) quite well. Well…she hadn't exactly 'confronted' the puppet loving girl about it per se, but had voiced irritation over the matter, which had in a rather bizarre turn of events led to her and Jeri's first 'boy talk', of which only Jeri had found the whole scene humorous. A blushing Rika was a rare sight indeed, especially given how it had all come out of a setup forced on Takato who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nonetheless, despite the huge potential that Jeri had found for teasing her red haired friend and bringing out that little bit of immaturity that she so rarely displayed to the world, it was agreed that it was best to simply drop the matter and never speak of it again. On that, Rika was quite content.

She didn't feel that it was that, or any other similar events that had provoked her kissing Takato, even though the amount of time in between her birthday and that fateful moment were rather close. However she did feel that she had been becoming emotionally closer to the hazardous, goggle-wearing Tamer. The same could be said for any one of her friends of course; Ryo, Henry, and Jeri especially (though Ryo could be pushing it at times), but somewhere down the line, on that runaway Locomon that she had very nearly fallen to her death from, her perception of Takato had changed dramatically as though she were seeing him with new eyes. Not in any way that made their friendship noticeably different, but for her it had seemed to be a giant leap. Her regard for him, her _trust_ and her bond with him, became different, and it was something that she had still been in the process of figuring out when Takato lost Guilmon.

If the first time was a leap, the second was most surely the equivalent of falling into a canyon.

She had seen a lot of sides to Takato; very human sides. Happiness, sadness, clumsiness (which by itself tended to be his regular trademark) determination even when he admitted to being afraid, an ability to turn situations around even when she herself couldn't see an out, anger that could be quite surprising in its scope, depth, and passion, and a kindness and willingness to forgive no matter what wrong had been committed…these were just some of the many things that made him the Takato that she knew, but most of all it was his smiles that she enjoyed the most. That stupid, often cheesy, goofy looking smile that he put on whenever he got in over his head and realized it, did something stupid, or was just plain happy about something. It was an annoyingly childish smile, but one that didn't push anything, but instead greeted warmly; the kind of smile that could make any situation bearable. It was that smile that she had missed most about him during all the time that he had been without Guilmon; the smile that even now still refused to shine through the clouds that covered his heart. The smile that Rika had come to love most about Takato Matsuki.

Rika's mind paused on the word _love_ for a moment as she thought of her chestnut haired friend, and she pulled her hands up tightly into fists.

_Do I…?_ She wondered as she continued to make her way down the streets. An image of Jeri's smiling face flashed through her mind and she was all too keenly aware of the green ribbon that tied her hair back, tugging gently on the ponytail as a light breeze blew over it. Following Jeri came the memory of her first kiss with Takato…the warmth, the desire to give comfort… Rika wanted to hate herself for feeling such things towards someone that one of her friends cared about deeply, and yet…

Rika sighed and closed her eyes, repeating a thought that she had had many times these past few weeks.

_This is so stupid…_

Rika reopened her eyes, her violet eyes set into a fearsome glare that attempted to bore a hole into the sidewalk.

_The worst part about all this is I know how Takato's feeling about all of this. Ever since I had that weird dream about him it's like I've been steadily growing more and more aware of what's going on in his brain. It's usually only there when Renamon and I are biomerged as Sakuyamon, which by itself has had its fair share of distractions, but after we mode changed and linked up our attacks with his I feel like I'm more aware then ever. Like I see him peripherally or something and…_

Rika turned her head to one side distractedly and blinked as her eyes lighted on the familiar, goggle-wearing Tamer standing a short ways off in the crowd with Guilmon by his side. It looked like they were just standing there and talking. Rika's face softened as she picked up a telltale sign of Takato's emotions flickering through her mind, and a second later she realized the reason why.

They were on the street where Guilmon had been killed four weeks ago.

_No smile again,_ thought Rika as her face set itself into a frown again. _The last time I saw him smile for real was when Shibumi gave him Guilmon's egg. Since then…I don't know. It's like whatever fire he's had in him before has burnt out. Every time I look at him there's something different in him. No smile. Fear I get a lot of…he's not the Takato I know._

_"Death does change people,"_ spoke up Renamon from within the depths of the girl's mind. _"Takato had come close to losing Guilmon permanently, and for a time even believed that he had. And Guilmon is every bit a part of him as Takato is a part of Guilmon. Two sides to the same, greater whole, and those two were tied together especially close. I can't imagine that_ _everything that's happened since then has helped much either. He has come close to losing Guilmon a few times since he's returned. He was afraid that he lost you following our first confrontation with Dynasmon, and he still fears losing you over what happened between you and him. And then there's Henry's being injured…"_

_Still…he used to have so much faith. He could move forward no matter what happened._

_"Sometimes all it takes is one incident to shake our faith in ourselves. Takato, for all his strengths still has his own faults. Even angels can fall Rika."_

The image of a triumphant Gallantmon, transformed into his Crimson Mode and held aloft on ten shining wings, rising into the air filled her mind. Rika found the metaphor… _appropriate_ given the form that the ultimate expression of Takato's inner, untapped strength took when he was fighting at his best.

_Well this is one angel that won't stay fallen for very long. Not if I have anything to say about it._

With a steely look of determination mixed with the utmost compassion that was in her heart, Rika took a step towards Takato and Guilmon to make right what wasn't. She was going to settle things with her friend if it was the last thing she would do.

* * *

_Not again,_ growled Yamaki mentally as he stormed into the Hypnos control room, the cigarette lighter in his right hand flicking open and shut in rapid fashion to the point where anyone who had seen it would have wondered if it would break off under pressure. The mere fact that it had survived such handling for this long was enough to cause wonder even amongst those who knew well of Yamaki's nervous habit. To date, no one had ever seen him use a different lighter to express this nervous habit with, leading many to consider the possibility if Yamaki just plain bought the same kind over and over again out of sentiment and familiarity or if it just happened to be indestructible.

The saying _'they don't build them like they used to'_ has since become something of a joke for those leaning towards the latter explanation. Not that they'd ever let Yamaki hear it of course.

_I'm starting to get the feeling that this is becoming far too much of a habit,_ thought Yamaki despondently as he came to a rest beneath the two chairs that held his two best operators of the Hypnos systems, Reilly and Tally. _Every time this happens I rush in here, demand what's going on only to hear that it's a high class digimon preparing to breach and that it's already circumvented or destroyed Yuggoth and gotten around the firewalls. At least in this case, I'd be right to assume that, as Hypnos is presently at its lowest point ever._

_Nonetheless, that's just what protocol calls for. And I won't be able to formulate a definitive counter response without any idea as to what precisely is going on._

"Report," spoke Yamaki in a flat tone that indicated to the two operators that he had already guessed what the situation was. Sure enough, as lava flows follow a volcanic eruption, so to did Reilly and Tally's report confirm his suspicions.

"High level wild type has breached into the real world," intoned Tally as she continued to gather information on the digital anomaly. "Attempting to get a better scan on the incoming data now sir."

"I'm experiencing some difficulty in getting a proper analysis of the new data," said Reilly as the seats they sat in rotated in the air once. "Boosting the signal feed now."

"Primary tracer activated."

On one of the overhead screens that surrounded the control room a white, arrow shaped symbol with a circle at its tip suddenly shot towards the location of the digital disruption before suddenly bursting into shards of data, causing Tally to gasp in surprise.

"The tracer has been…destroyed, sir!"

Yamaki gripped his lighter tightly. "Did we get any data on the anomaly before the tracer was deleted?"

"Yes sir. Not much but…" Tally frowned beneath her visor as she analyzed the information that was being fed to her from the tracer's last transmission. "This…data…it doesn't make any sense. It's…"

"It's what? What is it Tally?"

"It's like…" Tally licked her lips in agitation as she fought for the right words to describe what she was seeing on her terminal. This just didn't make any sense. The signal was clearly a digimon, but the data that she had received…it was as though it were telling her otherwise. As though it weren't…

"It's like it's… _dead."_

* * *

Barely had a few minutes passed upon meeting Takato and informing him that she was ready to talk that a digital field had sprung up from out of nowhere, enveloping the two Tamers in its embrace before settling over the street like a thick blanket. Rika Nonaka slipped on her violet colored sunglasses as the digital field cascaded over her, one hand already going to the card holder on her belt while the other slipped over to her blue trimmed digivice. Next to her, a certain brown haired boy wearing a pair of bright yellow rimmed goggles was doing the same, but his moves were agitated; shaky, uncertain, yet determined, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him, but for she was not in the least bit surprised by what she saw. She had been feeling it herself ever since she woke up this morning and knew full well the reasons behind it.

_Can't dwell on that right now,_ thought Rika, and in spite of her own wishes to the contrary, she pushed the feeling aside to focus on the here and now.

"Renamon," called Rika quietly as the vulpine digimon materialized out of thin air next to her, standing at attention as though she had always been there. "See anything?"

Renamon peered forward, narrowing her eyes as they took on a rainbow light hue, piercing through the fog and focusing on the dark form that was now starting to take shape at the center of the digital field. After a couple seconds a holographic circle appeared above the screen of Rika's D-Arc, displaying an image of a quadruped, dragon-like creature with red and black scales and a metal plate with a steel horn affixed to its face. The digimon had all the appearance of a demon to it, and just looking at it left both her and Takato with a sense of unease. The information that they were receiving didn't help much in settling their nerves. In fact, it did nothing at all. Not even a name.

N/A

"No data?" Asked Takato in a low voice as he looked away from Rika's digivice and back to the epicenter of the digital field, wondering why the digimon hadn't moved yet. Guilmon was presently crouched low to the ground, his eyes narrowed to slits and growling viciously. "What kind of digimon is this?"

"Obviously an unknown kind," replied Rika as she continued to scan the digimon, hoping that a prolonged scan would reveal something more about their likely adversary as it had done in the past with previous unknowns. "One that doesn't look like it wants to give up its secrets."

"It looks pretty tough," said Takato, glancing back at the holographic image hovering above Rika's digivice and wincing at the creature's metallic horn and twisted, whip-like tails. "We may have to biomerge for this one."

Rika lowered her digivice, her eyes closing as the hologram receded. Her mind raced as a thought came to her, and after a couple seconds she reopened them and looked at Takato full in the eyes.

"No. Not yet. Let's go take a closer look at this thing first before we do anything else," she said before taking a step into the fog, gesturing for Takato and Guilmon to start following her. Renamon fell into step next to her, walking with the easy grace of long companionship. Takato and Guilmon both looked at each other in confusion before quickly moving to follow the duo. The mist made it rather difficult to keep track of them, but as long as they were moving in the general direction of the digimon Takato assumed that it wouldn't be too difficult to stay with them. He wondered why Rika wanted to get a closer look before deciding to do anything about the digimon. She wasn't exactly one for that kind of action. In fact, it was quite rare that she ever went to a bio-emergence without it turning into another fight (although the same was true for all of them due to the fact that digimon were notorious for turning violent upon entering the real world), with the only known exception being Locomon…to some extent. That aside for some reason Takato was sensing a bit of apprehension tinged with regret coming from the fiery haired Tamer. He couldn't explain it, but the feeling was there, and it was definitely coming from her. Why that was, he didn't know. Although he could easily guess that it had something more to do with their present situation instead of…

Takato's mind hesitated on that and he decided that for now it was best to focus on the here and now. After all, he was losing sight of Rika and Renamon's forms, which wasn't good at all. The dragonic figure was looming large now, its shadow shrouded outline devouring Rika and Renamon's as they calmly strode towards it. After a couple seconds Takato and Guilmon finally broke through a particularly thick cloud of fog and Takato stumbled forwards as he briefly lost his footing.

"There it is," said Rika from in front of him, pointing up towards the massive dragon that stood in front of them. Takato's mouth dropped open.

_Why do these things always look so much scarier in real life?_ Thought Takato distractedly.

"It's…trapped," said Takato, feeling slightly stunned as he noticed the shell of energy that surrounded the creature. A low growl resounded from within the depths of its throat as it flexed its muscular body, pushing against the barrier that imprisoned it. Energy crackled along its length, and Takato wondered how long it would be before the prison collapsed.

"Not for long I'll bet," said Rika as she adjusted her sunglasses and once more raised her digivice to scan the digimon. "Now, let's see what you are…"

"But you already scanned it."

"Doesn't mean that we won't get any better results now that we're up close. Now be quiet."

Slipping off her violet shades the familiar holographic circle sprung to life above the D-Arc's screen, once more revealing the creature's image.

"Ah…here we go. DexDORUGreymon. That's a new one all right. Certainly not a digimon that I've ever heard of. Ultimate level, Virus type. Special attacks are _Bloody Cave_ and _Metal Meteor._ This is right up your alley Gogglehead, so I suggest that you'd better get Dino boy suited up for this one."

Takato raised his eyebrows.

"Huh? You're not joining?"

Rika shook her head as she clipped her D-Arc back to her belt. "Not this time. I'm sitting this one out."

"Um…oookay…that's certainly... _different."_

"Takatomon? Is Rika feeling all right?"

"The correct question here actually is _'is Takato feeling all right?'_ "

Takato tilted his head to one side in confusion in time to the crackle of energy coming from the digital barrier. Takato looked at the barrier worryingly before looking back at Rika.

"Um…I'm confused…"

A small, good humored smirk grew on Rika's face, though she kept it hidden from the boy.

"I think you know what I'm getting at here Takato. The whole reason I'm sitting this fight out is about you. Or rather, what _hasn't_ been you. You've been really out of sorts a lot lately. More so then usual. I know you know it. Heck, I've _felt_ it more often then not every time I'm around you. It's like there's a part of you that you're holding back; the Goggleheaded part that remembers what it means to be a Tamer."

Rika turned to face Takato now, her smirk gone, replaced by a firm look that drilled its way past Takato's defenses. Rika placed her hands on her hips, assuming a stance that looked to Takato like Ms. Asagi getting ready to give out yet another detention. Only with Rika she wasn't facing him as a teacher to a student, but as a friend and fellow Tamer determined to get through to him no matter what it took. It was the same look that she had during the pig Deva attack when she helped him break through his fears of losing Guilmon at that time.

And then, in a flash of insight that normally would have escaped the goggle wearing Tamer, Takato realized that she was getting ready to do just that again.

"You're good at bouncing back up when you fall down, Gogglehead," Rika continued. "You've had more then enough practice with that at least, but for some reason you haven't been taking the same amount of effort to get all the way back up. It's like you're holding back for some reason, and if there's one thing that I know about you it's that you've _never_ held back." Rika paused and chuckled, shaking her head in reminiscence. "Well…that's not entirely true. Sometimes you do need to be coaxed, but that's not the point right now."

Takato shook his head, trying to deny his earlier thoughts even though he knew full well that she was right. He had admitted it often enough to himself in the past, and it had been key to his biomerging with Guilmon once more.

_Well, that and an orange card…_

Takato paused, wondering if that was the underlying cause of all of his fears about Guilmon. Was it because of the orange card that he had gotten from Shibumi's 'associates'? Was it because he hadn't been able to perform the biomerge fully by himself and had to rely on a data correction algorithm to do the job for him? Did he subconsciously feel inadequate because of that? Inadequate to being a Tamer again no matter how many times he went out into the field and proved himself? In the TV show, that was how bonds were strengthened and realized anew. The hero was able to come to a realization on his own about something and then he or she would derive strength from that realization that would save the day. Okay, so the real world _wasn't_ the TV show, but he had pulled off that bit of fantasy enough times on his own, most notably with Guilmon's evolution to WarGrowlmon and Gallantmon, to have it affect his perception of things. If the orange card hadn't been delivered to him, would he have been able to affect the biomerge on his own given enough time?

"But…" began Takato, trying to find some focus once more. "…I had already faced all of that…"

"I wonder sometimes," replied Rika, narrowing her eyes, though a flicker of compassion danced behind her eyes. "From what I remember about you, you have a knack for going around in circles with what worries you even when you face up to it. How long was it before you stopped worrying about Guilmon changing for the worst? Even after Vikaralamon it was still on your mind and you almost lost Guilmon because of that. I can get it if you're afraid…I sense that much from you as it is. Fear is good sometimes. Not always of course, but sometimes a healthy dose is good for you. But you have to remember that as a Tamer, you can't let it control you. Whatever it is that you're feeling, you have to set it aside and move on."

Rika frowned mentally.

_I'm not sure if I'm even getting through to him. This isn't the kind of thing that I'm used to doing. Let's just hope that plan B works, which should be starting right about…_

"Rika," began Renamon from next to the red haired teenager, looking up at the digital barrier that towered above them. "The seal…"

With a sharp screech that forced both Tamers to cover their ears, the barrier that held the DexDORUGreymon imprisoned shattered. Mist sprayed in every direction as blood red, demonic wings spread wide in freedom. The creature loomed hungrily over the Tamers and their digimon, mouth opening slowly as if savoring each and every moment of its victim's surprise and terror. After a second it made a meaty, smacking sound and lunged forwards.


	73. 72: Heart of a Tamer: Part 2

Takato felt himself freeze up upon the sight of the overly large, red and black dragon digimon hurtling towards him at breakneck speed, mouth open and ready to devour him like a side order to the main meal, if not an appetizer (though in all honesty Takato doubted that he and Guilmon combined would even so much as make so much as a snack for this _DexDORUGreymon)_. Fortunately for him, deep rooted instincts that had been trained into him by months of harrowing battles against rogue digimon and planet destroying programs, both in and out of digimon form, overrode the lock that had placed itself over his body and in short order Takato dove to the side, pulling Guilmon along with him as best as he could. Guilmon yelped in surprise as the unexpected move pulled him out of his feral instincts and back to a more rational attitude. Blinking questioningly at Takato with his large, golden eyes Guilmon opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted by the massive form of the crimson dragon flying right over them, shrieking loudly as it beat its mighty wings upon the air.

_"Better take to the offense there Gogglehead before you two end up turning into snack food,"_ spoke up a familiar voice in Takato's mind as the dragon finished passing over them.

"Huh? Wha…? Rika! Where…?" Takato's eyes whirled about, trying to find a sign of his red haired friend, but he couldn't find any sign of her or Renamon.

_"Don't worry about me. I'm close by. Just do something about that freak dragon already!"_

_Is she speaking in my mind again?_ Wondered Takato as he and Guilmon scrabbled to their feet. Takato swiftly shrugged off the question as his eyes began scanning the sky for the DexDORUGreymon. It wasn't all that difficult really due to the creature's size and ability to call attention to itself with its loud screeching. It was presently arching up towards the sky, and judging from its angle Takato gathered that it was going to fly right back towards them, most likely by executing a dive bomb once it reached a good enough height to execute the maneuver. Readying his gold trimmed digivice Takato's expression firmed and he raised it up.

_"No biomerging,"_ broke in Rika's voice suddenly, and Takato nearly fumbled with his grip on the D-Arc. _"You're doing this the old fashioned way."_

"What? Why?"

"Takatomon?" Asked Guilmon as he warily watched the DexDORUGreymon reach the peak of its arch. "This isn't the time to be talking to an invisible friend…"

"Eh? No! It's Rika! She…"

Takato paused in his speaking as the dragon suddenly began rushing towards them all in one mad swoop.

"Oh never mind," groaned Takato before grabbing hold of Guilmon and throwing the both of them down to the ground, narrowly missing getting caught by DexDORUGreymon's jaw as it snapped at them. No sooner had the dragon finished passing over them it immediately began wheeling back up towards the sky.

"You're _really_ not doing yourself any favors out here, Takato," spoke up Rika's voice from just ahead of Takato and Guilmon. Looking up Takato found himself looking at Rika and Renamon's normal, biomerged form of Sakuyamon, once again garbed in her familiar bronze armor and black body suit. Her bronze, vajra staff was held at the ready, but she made no move to do anything to help the duo.

_At least that explains the whole 'voices in my head' thing,_ thought Takato as he looked over his shoulder nervously, trying to keep track of the dragon.

"Um…Rika? What…?"

"No time for explanations, Gogglehead. You've got a dragon to fight, and that's precisely what you're going to do. No biomerging though. You two are going back to the basics for this one. You need to look at this from the _outside_ of the fight."

_"What?_ Rika! That digimon is…!"

But before Takato could even finish his sentence, Sakuyamon's form became transparent and then vanished from sight, just like Renamon would.

_"No biomerging, Takato,"_ Sakuyamon reiterated in Rika's voice. Hearing the sound of the dragon roaring once again, announcing its oncoming attack Takato whirled about, his mind racing. He had only seconds to act…seconds to choose. Should he biomerge? Or should he…?

_Rika asked me yesterday if I trusted her,_ thought Takato as his mind sped through his options. _Whatever reasons she has for doing what she's doing…I know I can trust her for them._

As the dragon flew closer, Takato drew a card from his pants pocket.

* * *

Justimon flew towards the sight of the bio-emergence, the Legendary Tamer within his data sphere already straining his eyes to get a view of the digimon that had broken the barriers between the worlds.

_Never a dull moment around here,_ thought Ryo sardonically as his speed increased from gravities pull on his body. From the depths of the darkness that surrounded him Ryo heard Cyberdramon snarl in agreement, but more in eagerness then anything else. It seemed that even under the possibility of Milleniummon no longer being a part of him, his influence upon the Ultimate sure hadn't vanished.

Suddenly a group of four, flaming foxes flew up in front of him, blocking his flight path towards the battlefield. Throwing his legs forward with all his strength, Justimon used the force of the motion to break his forward momentum and redirect him away from the foxes and down towards a nearby rooftop. Upon landing, Justimon looked around, quickly spying Sakuyamon standing on the same rooftop. In his bewilderment over the unprovoked attack, Justimon instinctively looked for the trace of a smile on the woman's face, but was even more surprised when he saw the deadly seriousness that graced her features.

"Okay…you mind telling me what's going on here?" Asked Justimon, trying to hold back the frustration that he felt rising in him. For a moment, the Legendary Tamer had the dark thought in which he wondered if Rika had decided to fight him one on one to prove herself the better Tamer, but the moment passed rapidly and he reminded himself that Rika wouldn't do something like that. Not during a situation like this at any rate.

"Sorry Ryo," said Sakuyamon in her dual voices of Rika and Renamon, "but I can't let you get involved in this one."

"What?" Within his data sphere Ryo blinked, confusion replacing his frustration. "Rika, there's a digimon down there wrecking havoc. Letting it continue…that's not like you."

Finally, a thin, grim smile appeared beneath the fox shaped mask that covered the shaman digimon's face.

"Under normal circumstances, you'd be right. But I have my reasons for this, and if it's not too much trouble, no matter how weird this may sound as well, I'd like you to stay out of this fight."

"Oookay…once again you've left me more then a little bit confused…oh, and you've left Cyberdramon angry…"

The sound of Cyberdramon's gravelly growl emanating from the Mega's covered mouth could be distinctly heard, and Sakuyamon nodded, acknowledging the warrior's displeasure at being made to sit on the sidelines for no apparent reason that he could see.

"Takato's down there dealing with it. It's something that he needs to take care of on his own."

Cue a confused expression from Ryo Akiyama as he tilted his head to one side, and his outer form of Justimon made the same movement.

"In layman's terms, it's one of those things where the hero of the story needs to face a trial to find himself again. Think Tai and Agumon from the first season when Piximon trapped them in that cave."

Ryo found himself laughing in spite of himself, feeling relieved over Rika's reasons, and ashamed that he had ever thought that she would do anything else.

_So…Takato's in need of a moral boost, huh? After what I've seen from him I find it hard to believe. But then, I've been in similar situations, so I can understand where he's coming from given what he's been through lately. Every now and then you can end up losing yourself pretty bad and you need someone to guide you back to where you're supposed to be. Wish Monodromon and I that I had that kind help that we could depend on back when we first faced Milleniummon…_

"Wow Rika. I didn't know that you watched children's cartoons…"

"Oh very funny Ryo…"

"Well," said Justimon as he turned towards the battle and folded his arms across his chest, "you have to admit that for you, using a TV show to figure out how to help Takato does seem kind of unconventional. But then, I haven't exactly hung around with you guys enough to see how you would handle a situation like that."

"You wouldn't think that if you stopped disappearing all the time," jested Sakuyamon, referring to his vanishing shortly after the return of their partners. "As for the idea, it's really nothing special. Considering that this is Takato we're talking about I figured the only way to really get to him would be to think like he did, so that meant that I had to start thinking like a twelve year old, hopeless fan boy with an overdose on his favorite show. Kind of a step down for me actually…"

Ryo chuckled as he noticed the lighthearted tone in her voice and the playful, rather fond looking smirk that was growing on Sakuyamon's pale face.

"So…do you think that he'll be okay out there?"

"I don't think Ryo. I know he'll be okay."

"I have every bit of confidence in him too Rika, but…"

"He'll win," Sakuyamon cut in, and Ryo raised an eyebrow in surprise at the certainty that was in her voice.

"Okay. If you're confident that he can do it, then I'll go for it. Not that I have any doubts on my end either…"

"…You just like to be prepared for anything. Don't worry. If something unforeseen happens, I'll be the first to be there."

Justimon nodded before turning his attention back to the battle, smiling slightly as an explosion resounded upon the air.

* * *

Takato raised his arms above his head, shielding his body from the dust and debris that had been kicked up by DexDORUGreymon's furious impact with WarGrowlmon's body, courtesy of a rapid and very last minute, Matrix digivolution. WarGrowlmon grunted as the dragon digimon pushed against him, scarring his chest armor with the steel horn on its head. With another piercing shriek the dragon reared back and sunk its teeth into the thin upper portion of WarGrowlmon's mechanical arm, causing the Ultimate level cyborg to roar at the attack. Takato gave a shout as pain ripped through his own arm via the link that he shared with his partner. Before either of the two could do anything the dragon gave a sharp shake of its head, twisting at the arm with ferocious force. Sparks flew through the air as the creature's teeth grated over metal, and Takato had the sudden nightmare image of his partner's arm being torn off, and all at once he was reliving the memory of Guilmon's body dispersing into bits of data particles. A fire suddenly awoke in him, and with hands clenching into fists, Takato forced himself to step forward, bringing himself in synchronicity with WarGrowlmon before unleashing a mighty roar of his own.

"RRRAAAGGGHHH!"

With their bodies moving as one, WarGrowlmon, with Takato mimicking his motions, grabbed hold of DexDORUGreymon and forced the dragon off of his body. Steel shrieked as DexDORUGreymon's jaw left WarGrowlmon's arm. Pain flared in the arms of the connected partners but such was the fire that burned within them that they both ignored it. WarGrowlmon's cannons glowed with a burning crimson as they sighted on their target.

_"Atomic Megalo BLASTERRR!"_

Twin beams of energy slammed into DexDORUGreymon's body, throwing it into the streets. As soon as it came to a stop the dragon quickly began struggling to get back to its feet, hissing at WarGrowlmon viciously as smoke curled up from its burnt scales. Growling in return WarGrowlmon took a threatening step forwards, raising his bladed arms towards the dragon, ready to fully assault his adversary…to rend…and to tear.

And yet, even through the haze of red anger and animal instinct that he felt beating in his mind and that of Takato's, a sliver of thought made itself known, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of shame in his actions. He didn't know why exactly. During the past few days that he had been 'alive', he had been involved in a fair number of fights, and in each of them he had been shown that battle was necessary when dealing with digimon that refused to listen to reason and wrecked havoc as they pleased (the latter being more of the case in this situation). As the digimon that he was fighting now was acting little more then a mindless animal, acting on impulses and attacking anything that moved within its sight, this looked to be one of those cases where the use of violence was required, but for some reason there was something about the way he was acting that made it feel _wrong,_ and at the same time also… _familiar._

WarGrowlmon wasn't the only one experiencing this sense of doubt.

Takato stood there, his shoulder's heaving slightly as he panted, drawing in deep breaths as he fought to regain control of himself. Yes, he could feel the fear and anger growing in him, and that startled him tremendously. Raising his head, Takato looked at the DexDORUGreymon, blinking his eyes. For a brief instant, the dragon's body appeared to shift and he thought he saw…

_Lucemon?_

Takato blinked again, and DexDORUGreymon's body returned, leaving Takato to wonder if he had even seen Lucemon to begin with.

_Why? Why did I see Lucemon? He's not here. He's…in the digital world…I think. Was it because of where we are? Where we are fighting? This digimon…it's not in the least like he was. Sure, Lucemon attacked us…even succeeded in…in destroying Guilmon, but he had his reasons. This digimon doesn't even look like it's thinking about what it does. It's just lashing out…not caring who it hurts._

Takato frowned slightly as a thought occurred to him.

_Maybe…maybe that's why I thought I saw Lucemon. DexDORUGreymon in a way is like Lucemon. Attacking relentlessly, not even caring what he did just so long as he got what he wanted. Just like the way Beelzemon was back when he worked for Zhuqiaomon. Just like I was when Beelzemon killed Leomon…and the way D-Reaper was when it attacked both the real and digital worlds._

Takato's breathing evened out and he felt the redness in his mind recede a bit. Had he found something? Had he found what Rika was trying to get him to recognize? He wasn't sure, but one thing that he did know was that as he stood here, staring at DexDORUGreymon as it finished regaining its feet, was that he could definitely feel all the negative emotions that he had been experiencing ever since Guilmon's death running through him freely, without any kind of resistance from him, and it was at that moment that he realized that he hadn't been the Tamer that he was supposed to be. He fought, yes. He fought side by side his friends, trusted them but the one thing that he had stopped trusting was himself, and without that trust he lost faith in himself and what it was he could accomplish as a Tamer. He had known this already of course, and admitted it but he hadn't fully recognized it and what its affect was having on him.

DexDORUGreymon suddenly rushed forwards, jaws snapping open as though eager to have another taste of WarGrowlmon.

_DexDORUGreymon hasn't even used its ranged attacks,_ thought Takato distractedly, and as though the realization had been a trigger Takato braced himself and felt his mind synchronize with WarGrowlmon once more. The street they were fighting on didn't allow for much room to maneuver, not that it would have made much of a difference in WarGrowlmon's case due to his size and slow flying abilities, but the same held true for DexDORUGreymon. So far he and WarGrowlmon had been matching the dragon strength for strength with only one occasion of using a ranged attack, one that didn't look like it did much good in the long run as DexDORUGreymon was still moving and not all that terribly hurt looking. There had already been some damage to the streets from where DexDORUGreymon had landed, and if Takato was any judge if he didn't end this fight quickly there was going to be a whole lot more.

_Rika said that I shouldn't biomerge for this fight, but to end it quickly that's what I have to do…don't I? What other things can I do that don't require biomerging?_

While Takato pondered the question he fingered a card in his hand, and then looked down at it with a raised eyebrow.

_Oh…yeah. That's right. Well, here's another goose egg moment. I am_ such _a Gogglehead sometimes._

Takato looked up at the oncoming form of DexDORUGreymon.

_I don't have enough time to find any cards that I can use to end this fight quickly! I…Oh forget about it! I can already hear Rika…have a little faith Gogglehead! Have…_ faith!

Takato tore into his pockets and pulled out the first card that he saw, slashing it through his D-Arc during the split second that he saw its name.

"DIGI-MODIFY! TRAINING GRIPS ACTIVATE!"

The familiar belts materialized around WarGrowlmon's right mechanical arm. Moving on instinct the cyborg dragon threw the arm forward, launching the Training Grips towards DexDORUGreymon, the belts expanding and reformatting themselves to accommodate themselves to the dragon's form. DexDORUGreymon squawked suddenly as the belts strapped themselves tightly around its body, pinning its wings tightly against it and interrupting the control that they granted it over gravity.

_Only a second to move here,_ thought Takato as his thoughts sped through his mind. _Those Training Grips won't last long._

Pulling out two more cards from his pocket Takato slashed them through his digivice in rapid succession.

"DIGI-MODIFY! SPEED ACTIVATE! POWER ACTIVATE!

With a sudden rush of power surging through him, WarGrowlmon rushed forward, his bladed arms grabbing hold of DexDORUGreymon once more, trapping it in his grasp to prevent him from escaping. He then activated the engines on his back and pushed himself upward into the air, the power and speed cards that he had slashed serving to cut down the amount of time required for the Ultimate to get to a height where he would be more comfortable fighting. DexDORUGreymon struggled against his bindings and WarGrowlmon's grip as they ascended into the air. Bindings snapped as the dragon's strength finally overwhelmed the Training Grips, and with a furious twist of its body DexDORUGreymon broke free and flapped its wings, straining to get some distance to regroup and formulate a counter attack.

All this Takato saw through WarGrowlmon's eyes.

_This is it,_ thought Takato as he reached into his pocket once again and pulled out another card. _I've got the upper hand, so I've got to finish this as quickly as possible. DexDORUGreymon hasn't used any ranged attacks so far, and WarGrowlmon wasn't able to put him down with his Atomic Megalo Blaster attack. Even with the Power card boosting his strength it might not be enough. I need something that can trump DexDORUGreymon's defenses. Something like…like…_

Takato looked at the card that he had drawn and smiled at it, taking it as a good omen for both his and Guilmon's future.

_…Like this card._

"DIGI-MODIFY! METALGREYMON'S GIGA BLASTER ACTIVATE!"

_"Giga Blaster!"_ Shouted WarGrowlmon as two metallic chest plates materialized over his chest armor. Splitting open, the chest plates revealed dual, fish shaped missiles extending outwards from within their compartments, sighting on the DexDORUGreymon just as it started to wheel about to face WarGrowlmon. With the roar of blazing engines the missiles burst forth from their silos and streaked towards their target, detonating with explosive fire and metal pointed death. DexDORUGreymon never stood a chance.

_And that wraps that up,_ thought Takato covering his eyes with his hands to protect them from the blinding light. _Vaccine beats Virus._

* * *

Justimon watched as the battle ended with WarGrowlmon's victory, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Well?" Asked Sakuyamon in her dual voices of Rika and Renamon, bringing a playful smirk to the Legendary Tamer's face as he turned to face her.

" 'Well' what?"

"Don't you have something to tell me?"

"What? That you were right? I said that I believed you, Rika."

"Hmmmph. You just _have_ to make things difficult don't you?"

"What can I say? Takato _is_ the kind of person who tends to make things come through all right in the end, even if the road gets a little bumpy along the way. He kind of reminds me of…" Ryo paused, and from within her azure data sphere, Rika raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Reminds you of what?"

Ryo chuckled in a wry fashion, shaking his head in silent recollection.

"…A friend that I once knew…a long time ago. Someone that I had a lot of respect for."

"Okay…now you're being weird. _Had?"_

"Never mind," said Ryo, waving her off. "It's not important…"

"I would think otherwise given the way that you sounded talking about this 'friend', never mind that you're comparing Takato to him. And then there's the fact that there's the unprecedented act of _you_ talking about your life outside of being a Tamer."

_Never said that it was outside of being a Tamer,_ thought Ryo with a frown, _even if it was under a different name then._

Ryo however, was not the kind of person who readily talked about his life or anything about himself. He relationship with his father was strained because of this, although that was but one reason among many. At any rate, as with any situation that arose where someone refused to let something go when he didn't want to go into it, Ryo settled for changing the topic of conversation. And when it came to Rika, he knew just what to do.

"Why so interested, Pumpkin?" Asked the Legendary Tamer with a wide grin materializing on his face. "Are you writing a book about me? Or is it something more?"

The sight of Sakuyamon's pale cheeks taking on a cherry-like discoloration was a far better reaction then Ryo could have ever hoped for. Although he would never know it, he had practically repeated the same scene that had ran between the fiery tempered girl and Takato in an alley almost a year ago. Not that it mattered in either case as Rika still would have reacted negatively to Ryo's comment anyway, but in a case such as this, it only added a little extra flavor to the mix.

"What?! What kind of crazy idea do you have running through your head _this_ time?! You perfect, two timing, no good…"

"Love you too Rika," Ryo joked as he stepped up on the ledge of the rooftop, crimson scarf billowing in the breeze, giving him a rather impressive, heroic stance as he stood silhouetted against the city line. Justimon gave the fuming Sakuyamon a snappy salute before he leapt into the air, giving him every bit the image of triumph that he always exuded.

"I'll leave you to have a talk with your knight in shining armor!" He laughed as he disappeared from the shaman's sight.

Sakuyamon flexed one, gloved hand as she glared at Justimon's retreating form, blushing profusely and unable to stop herself from doing so.

_"Rika?"_ Prompted Renamon after a couple seconds of silence from her partner. From within her data sphere Rika jerked slightly.

_"Stupid,"_ Rika growled in frustration as she folded her arms beneath her breasts.

_"Well, this_ is _Ryo…"_

_"Hmmmph. Don't remind me. First time he says anything about himself aside from his time as a Tamer and card tournament champion and he goes and takes off."_

Rika could almost swear that Renamon was smirking at her.

_"If you're so interested, perhaps you should have Jeri have a talk with him. She seems able to get people to discuss things that they normally wouldn't under other circumstances."_

_"I'm_ not _…oh, never mind! We've got more important things to worry about right now."_

_"Yes. Yes, I suppose we do…"_

With that, Sakuyamon leapt into the air to join her two friends.


	74. 73: Heart Beat

"Status report," called Yamaki as he watched the signal on the Hypnos detection grid disappear entirely from sensors. He already had a suspicion as to what happened, but as with all things it helped more to have confirmation then to second guess.

"Wild One has been destroyed sir," replied Reilly.

"And a good thing too," commented Tally from her seat behind the red haired woman. "Whatever that thing was, it was causing a large amount of interference with the network. According to these reports that I'm getting, network's experiencing massive amounts of data loss and breakdown. Nothing compared to what we've seen during last week, so any damage should be repaired quickly, but still…"

"It is rather unnerving," said Yamaki as he studied the readouts that he was getting at his station. "So many things have been happening lately that have been damaging to Hypnos, and we're supposed to be the highest protected information monitoring agency in all of Japan. At least this time we weren't set back to square one again. How soon can we have the damage repaired?"

"Approximately one hour sir. The damage that our data banks received wasn't terminal, so we can retrieve everything lost."

Yamaki nodded to the blonde haired woman.

"Keep me posted," he began before his voice was drowned out by the sound of another alarm blaring throughout the control room.

"Another Wild One!" Exclaimed Reilly, her voice starting to sound frayed as her fingers sped across her control panel. "Multiple signals this time! I can't stop them!"

"Where are they going to bio-emerge?"

"Processing…Got it! Their signals are…no. Oh… _no!_ Sir! They're going to bio-emerge here in T-Minus thirty seconds!"

_"What?!_ Clear the room! _Now!"_ Yamaki pulled out his cell phone while Reilly and Tally immediately set themselves to bailing out of their seats, and dialed a number. His eyes glanced up furtively to the detection grid as the other end picked up, eying the countdown warily.

"This is Yamaki. Get me security up to the Hypnos control room and contact the Tamers as quickly as you can. We're about to have a foothold situation in he…"

Yamaki was cut off as fog suddenly bloomed into existence, enveloping the control room in seconds. Tally had just raced past Yamaki while Reilly came to a halt next to the blonde haired head of Hypnos. Instinctively the two of them grabbed hold of each other, feeling some measure of comfort and safety in the others arms while they waited for whatever digimon it was to appear. Realizing that this was not necessarily the best situation to stop moving in Yamaki began pulling Reilly with him towards the door, only to stop when he heard a low groan coming from the depths of the dense, digital field. A strangely _familiar_ groan. Slowly, and carefully releasing Reilly Yamaki took a step towards the source of the sound, being stopped only by Reilly placing a hand on his shoulder and making a pleading face with him. Giving the scarlet haired woman a placating look Yamaki took another step forwards. Briefly, upon realizing how much easier it was for him to look through the digital field with his sunglasses on, he had a moment to wonder if this was what it was like for the Tamers to enter a digital field. He remembered some of their stories about it so…

_Not the place for that kind of thing right now,_ thought Yamaki, brushing the thought off. He still had to stay focused on the here and now, and with the digital field now starting to dissipate he had to be prepared for anything that might show up. He still didn't know why he thought the groaning that he was hearing sounded familiar but he intended to find out, even if it went against his better judgment. But first thing was first.

"Reilly…get out of here."

"Sir, with all due respect I'd rather that I stay with you."

"I'll second that motion," said Tally coming up behind her colleague.

"As much as I appreciate your sentiments and loyalty, I'm afraid that I must insist. This is a potentially dangerous situation here."

"Too dangerous for us, but not for you?" Asked Reilly, raising a sardonic eyebrow.

"Don't make me pull rank on you," replied Yamaki in a hard voice. For an instant, time seemed to pause as Yamaki turned and stared at the woman that he cared about, and she looked back. Although Yamaki's eyes were hidden by his dark shades, Tally would wager a bet that Reilly looked every bit as intimidating as Yamaki no doubt did right now.

_Those two really have been living together for too long now,_ joked Tally mentally before glancing away from the two lovers and back to the digital field. Two sets of glowing eyes suddenly winked into existence, eliciting a cry from the brunette, breaking the two out of their staring contest to look and see what was going on.

The mist continued to clear as they watched, and Yamaki interposed himself between the two sets of glowing eyes and his employees, ready to do whatever it took to ensure their safety should things take a turn for the worst. He distinctly heard the sound of running feet behind them…security no doubt being on their way. A voice on his cell phone was also rambling away, asking if he was all right. Raising it to his ear, Yamaki tried to calm the Hypnos secretary and ensure her that he was all right for the time being, and that she was to wait for further instructions. He could now make out three distinct shapes, one of them was definitely humanoid in appearance while the other two were… _unique_. He wasn't quite sure how else to describe them as they had no shape that he could easily put a name to, except that they were more like some kind of cloud.

Security finally burst into the room and Yamaki raised one hand to signal them to hold their fire and wait.

The mists finally cleared, revealing the three figures for what they were. Leaning against the railing stood a rather disheveled looking Gorou _Shibumi_ Mizuno, alongside two, tiny clouds of smoke with glowing eyes. The two clouds, digimon Yamaki surmised, looked around them, eyes flaring slightly in awe while Shibumi promptly recovered himself and saw the welcoming committee that was gathered to greet him and his two companions. Feeling himself relax a bit Yamaki couldn't help but feel the slightest of tugs at the corners of his mouth.

"Well now…I can tell that _this_ is going to make for an interesting story," said Yamaki with the slightest amount of humor entering his voice. Shibumi chuckled lightly.

"Sorry to just drop in on you guys like this…"

* * *

The sound of birds chirping echoed quietly upon the air as Rika and Takato sat in front of the lake, Rika calmly sipping a drink while picking out a slice of salmon from the Bento that she had sitting on her lap. Sitting across from her, Takato was doing likewise with a piece of pickled Ume fruit from his own Bento, facing the lake and watching the ducks that swam serenely across its surface and dipping their heads towards the water. His expression Rika noted, for the first time in a long while (that she had seen anyway) was one of peace. Almost what she had known before Guilmon's death; _'almost'_ of course, being the operative term used here.

Turning her head, Rika saw Guilmon sniffing around the edges of the lake, curiosity about the ducks evident on his face. He had finished his own Bento scant minutes ago, practically as soon as he had received it (a fact that left Rika with very little surprise and quite a bit of confidence in the progression of his return to normalcy, as Takato had once noted that if Guilmon still found time to be hungry and enjoy food then all was right with him), and had to be discouraged by Renamon from begging Takato to give him his meal. Rika, for her part, had to get on Takato's case for 'encouraging him' when he gave the crimson dinosaur a pickled Ume, and that it wouldn't do Guilmon any good if he got fat from all the food that he got on demand. That seemed to have ended the matter right then and there but Rika detailed Renamon to keep a close eye on him just to be on the safe side. Having Guilmon thieve their _Hayaben,_ or _Early Lunch,_ wouldn't be good for either of them regardless of the dino's appetite, and having ducks turn up missing would have been even worse. Presently Renamon was staying out of sight, but Guilmon knew enough about her ninja-like skills to know that just because he couldn't see her that was no guarantee that he could do anything that could be considered _risqué._

Not that he couldn't have any fun of course.

Guilmon continued to sniff the air at the edge of the lake for a few more seconds before jumping in. Water sprayed through the air as though a cannon ball had crashed into the lake, and ducks began quacking abruptly and loudly, startled by the sudden break in the quiet of nature that was their home. Renamon phased into view once the last of the water droplets finished coming down to earth and shook her head in resignation, unable to decide whether she should be faintly amused by Guilmon's antics or annoyed by them. For a moment, Renamon contemplated on the possibility of her having to go into the lake to keep him from chasing after the ducks, and did not in the least bit relish having her fur get wet doing so.

Guilmon, for his part, just began swimming through the lake, unmindful of the splashes that his long and powerful arms made as he pushed them through the water, launching him into a venerable 'Guilmon paddle'.

_Looks like Renamon's got her hands full,_ thought Rika, wondering if she should lend her partner a hand, or better yet, have Takato do it for her. Rika back at Takato just in time to see a small smile appear on his face at his partner's antics. Rika felt a smile of her own draw up on her face upon seeing it, grateful that it had finally begun to show itself once more after so long a time of being absent or false.

"I see that you're starting to feel better," commented the red haired girl as she used her chopsticks to pick up some rice and stick it in her mouth. Takato turned to look at Rika, his smile vanishing into a look of slight surprise as though remembering that she was sitting there with him. His smile soon returned however and he looked back at his meal, idly fiddling with the rice that surrounded Ume fruit that made up the center of his Bento. His lunch was far simpler then Rika's, lacking many of the side dishes that she had when they bought their meals at a local convenience store following the battle, and despite her offer to get him something more, he had stuck with it.

_To each their own I guess,_ thought Rika. _I just hope this isn't one of those guy things. After all, it's not like we're out on a date or anything where he feels that he's supposed to pay for everything out of courtesy. Not that I'd let him that is..._

"Well," began Takato as he continued to fiddle with his Bento, his chopsticks drifting back and forth between the Ume and the rice that made up his meal, as though unable to decide which he wanted more at the. "I have you to thank for that. If it weren't for you I'd…"

_"I_ didn't do anything Takato," said Rika with a little more force then she had intended. "You did. You needed to remember what it meant to be a Tamer again, and that life and death is something that we have to deal with every day. I just figured that the best way for you to get past everything was to have you watch Guilmon battle on the outside instead of being biomerged with him and acting as one. Otherwise if you didn't see Guilmon hurting without the same kind of restrictions that being separated has, you wouldn't have been quite as motivated to help him in the same way. Having it all happen where Guilmon died was an unexpected twist though."

"Still," said Takato. "Thanks."

"It was nothing," said Rika with a shrug. "It's just the sort of thing that friends do for each other. I'd expect you to do the same thing for any one of us…just like you did before."

A pall of silence fell between the two Tamers then, broken only by the sound of their chewing and Guilmon's splashing. After a few minutes Takato finally spoke up.

"Rika? About what you were saying earlier…before the digimon showed up…"

Rika looked up, pausing in the raising of the last of her salted salmon.

"You mean...about our overdue… _talk?"_

"Well…that too, but I also meant what you were talking about when you came up to me. You said something about what you saw and… _felt…_ earlier…"

"Oh. That. It's…complicated. I'm not sure that I really understand it myself."

_Besides the fact that I created a link with him and I can now sense what he feels…sometimes, except when I'm biomerged with Renamon. And then there's that crazy dream that I had about him creating BlackGuilmon…_

But that wasn't something that Rika was interested in thinking about right now. In all honesty, she couldn't tell if she was supposed to be frightened, guilty, or accepting of her actions towards Takato during the past month. Even the setting that they were in now was more then a little disconcerting. Even though they weren't out on a date, to her it was just a hairs breath away from being just that considering what had already happened between them and what was _still_ going on between them.

"It has been a confusing time, hasn't it? I mean, who ever would have thought that things would have gone the way that they…uh…did? Even with that dream that I had about you all those months ago I…"

Takato halted in mid-sentence, his eyes going wide while Rika glowered at him. Takato dropped his head in shame and gave a sigh.

"Oh yeah. Right. Wasn't supposed to bring that up again…"

"You know Gogglehead. If it weren't for the fact that I cared about you as much as I do, I'd hit you for that."

Takato raised his head to look at his red haired friend, and although in his heart Takato had been expecting this he couldn't help but feel a bit surprised by her admittance.

"You…"

Rika glanced downwards with a look of discomfort, a faint hint of red starting to color her cheeks. For an instant, Rika let go of the strong image that she normally presented to the world and in battle as she opened her heart up to Takato and told him its inner most secrets.

"Yeah. No sense in avoiding the issue now but…I _do_ care about you Takato. I care about you a lot. More then I thought I did anyway. I'm not exactly sure when it started but I guess it's been growing on me lately…probably ever since my birthday party if not a little bit after that. I don't know for sure but seeing how you were hurting after Guilmon's death, and not opening up or anything…and then leaving your goggles at Guilmon's home…it did something to me. I just…I wanted to make you feel better and…I guess I got carried away."

Rika sighed and shook her head dismissively, her veil of strength wrapping itself around her once again.

"The whole thing feels like it's silly, and that it shouldn't have happened. I mean, you and Jeri care about each other a lot…something that I _knew_ about for a good long while…"

Takato reddened slightly at the obviousness of his feelings for the puppet loving girl, but decided not to interrupt his friend while she spoke.

"…And then I go and do the one thing that could ruin everything between you two. I don't know what's worse, the fact that I even have these feelings or the fact that I didn't even know about them until I…" Rika hesitated, and clenched her teeth together in annoyance, pressing one hand tightly against her Bento while she held her chopsticks in a vice-like grip. Deep inside of her a part of her decried against the emotions that she felt roiling up from within her heart, but she knew them for what they were and felt that she wasn't doing herself any favors by continuing to dance around the subject any longer then she already had. The whole purpose of their talk now was to clear the air and figure out where to go from there and whether or not their friendship would remain intact or it would become altered, for good or ill.

And although Rika didn't want to admit it, she feared that 'ill' was the direction that their friendship was taking.

"Rika," began Takato, sensing that the silence needed to be broken. "I…um…I'm not going to lie and say that you don't mean anything to me. Truth is, you mean a lot to me…probably more then you'll ever know. I've always admired you for your strength and your grace…"

Inwardly, Rika couldn't help but feel a bit pleased by Takato's compliments.

"…You remind me what it means to be a Tamer when I need it, you listen whenever I needed to talk about something, and you've always given me a piece of your mind. And even though you can be a bit…um…ah…" Takato gulped out of nervousness but continued. "… _Difficult_ to be friends with sometimes, I'm reminded everyday how lucky I am to have you for a friend. You have moments that I've seen that are really special to me, that remind me how important you are in my life and how I'm a better person because I met you. And…and…" a dark blush began to make its presence known on Takato's face. Seeing it, and listening to Takato's words, brought a small, barely visible smile to the girl's face.

"…And…whenever I see you smile, or see you show that you care about others even when you don't like to…even the way your eyes look whenever you're happy or thinking about something…I feel better seeing them. They feel…special. Like a gift that can only be shown at certain times, and when they are…you know that it's important. I always feel glad seeing that part of you."

Rika relaxed her grip on her Bento, one hand reaching out and hovering briefly above Takato's right hand before coming to rest upon it, her thumb caressing the smooth skin beneath it softly.

"Takato…" Rika said in a gentle tone, causing the goggle wearing Tamer to tense up and flush profusely at the contact. Seeing this, Rika remembered how things stood between them and feeling as though she were intruding, pulled away.

_I haven't felt this strongly about anything since Renamon returned from the digital world,_ thought Rika quietly, and the realization made her heart hurt.

_I guess…I do love him…_

"But it's not enough, is it?" Asked Rika, her eyebrows frowning slightly, a part of her wishing that she didn't have to care about this, another wondering why she did, and still another wishing that she had never done anything to complicate their friendship the way that she had.

_We can't help the ones that we love,_ commiserated Rika as she thumbed her Bento slightly.

"I'm sorry Rika," Takato choked out as he looked down miserably at his Bento. The food within no longer looked as appetizing as it had a few minutes ago. Takato's eyes glistened with tears. "As much…as much as I'm flattered that you…you care about me like that I…I don't think I can return your feelings. I'm all mixed up inside and…"

Her face softening Rika set down her Bento and pulled him into a gentle hug. Although it caught him off guard Takato returned it gratefully. "It's okay…"

"No. No it's not! I…"

"Shhh…" Rika hushed the boy, rubbing his hair and pulling him towards her more tightly. "It's okay."

"Rika…" Came the muffled response. "Why? Why do you tell me that it's okay? You're always comforting me and…I can't comfort you. You give me more then I've given you. It's _not_ okay. It's _not!"_

_Jeri should be the one doing this,_ thought Rika to herself as she continued to hold Takato while he held her back. _She should be the one here now. Her. Not me._

"Come on, Gogglehead," said Rika, an embarrassed smile making itself known on her face as she massaged Takato's back. "We're still friends right? What is it that you and Renamon and the rest of the bunch are always telling me? As long as we have that we'll get through anything? It's worked so far, right? It'll work with this too. Come on. No crying okay? You'll get my shirt all wet."

Takato's body shuddered against her, and for an instant Rika thought that was precisely what he was going to do, but instead was pleasantly surprised when a low laugh broke free from his mouth.

"You're…you're crazy. You know that right?"

Rika, still smiling, closed her eyes and patted Takato's back gently.

"Tch. As if I could be any other way, Gogglehead."

* * *

Renamon watched the scene unfold with a saddened expression on her face, wishing that there was some way that she could aid her Tamer to help alleviate the difficulty of the situation, but as it had become quite clear to her a while ago, this was something that only Rika and Takato could work out for themselves and with each other. Still, she couldn't help but want to do something.

_There are some moments,_ thought Renamon. _Where I could wish that I knew what it was like to be more human, so that I could aid Rika more effectively. However there are some battlefields that we must all face alone._

The sound of water splashing and the feel of tiny raindrops raining down upon her fur coat broke Renamon free from her train of thought, surprising the vixen. Looking to the side with a dark, baleful gaze Renamon saw Guilmon standing next to her as he finished shaking himself off like a dog when wet.

"Feel better?" Renamon remarked sardonically. Guilmon looked up at her and grinned.

"Yup. Hey, what's going on with Takatomon and Rika? Did something happen to them that's making them all huggy?"

"Nothing new Guilmon. They're just having a little heart to heart right now. We should let them be for the time being until they are ready to join us."

"Oh. Mmmm…okay. Want to go swimming with me then?"

"Maybe some other time."

A second later the sound of Rika's cell phone ringing cut through the air.

* * *

Yamaki hung up his cell phone with a click and looked down at it with a slight frown.

"Rika and Takato will be here. They're going to make a few round trips to check up on the others and apprise them of the situation so that we can call the meeting prematurely."

"You know," said Reilly as she leaned against the railing overlooking the Hypnos control room from her spot next to Yamaki, "it would help if we gave the Tamers cell phones. It would make things a whole lot easier getting them all together."

"As they're not an official part of Hypnos the Board frowns on allocating funds to non-Hypnos personal. They would probably feel that it would reflect badly on them."

"Not to mention that youngsters such as themselves are notorious for running high phone bills," grinned Reilly before changing the subject. "So…about what happened today…do you think what Shibumi told us is going to have any change on how things are going to proceed?"

"If nothing else it makes finding the Nakata child easier though it's still like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. And then there's the fact that the digital world is becoming a much more dangerous place to be in. I don't think that the Tamer's families will want them to go."

"It _does_ sound like a risky gamble, but can we live with ourselves if we just left her there? After you told the girl's mother that we'd find her?"

"Somehow I get the feeling that one way or another we won't have a choice in the matter. Forces are moving and we must move with them. The Tamers will no doubt decide that on their own, and I already know what their response will be."

"As if it needs to be said…"


	75. 74: Meetings and Greetings

_"So…someone care to explain to me why we can't help them again?"_

_"You should learn patience Scion of Flames…"_

_"Hey! Was I asking you?"_

_"You didn't specify a specific speaker Scion. And need I point out that you said 'someone'. That's a pretty general word in a group this size."_

_"It was also rhetorical."_

_"Didn't sound like it…"_

_"Well, now that the question_ is _on the floor, do you mind explaining it to us again? I mean, this is kinda confusing. We're warriors, not observers. And what about…?"_

_"_ They _cannot cross over to this world, which you know full well. The rules don't permit it, though I am surprised that you drifted here following your victory over Lucemon. Not that it matters in the long run. As things stand, your being here is actually very beneficial. When the time comes, your powers will be needed to combat the approaching storm. As powerful as I am, I'm not strong enough to deal with the matter myself. And things are not quite right yet either. I guess you could say that the stars aren't properly aligned, if you would prefer a metaphor…"_

_"What's a metaphor?"_

_"… Let's move on. Now, you asked why we aren't doing anything to help the Tamers at this point in time. I have my reasons. Some are good ones having to do with the nature of the digital world and the disruptive effect that the Digital Hazard has on its physical structure. Others have more to do with just having a sense of drama. And what can I say? The digital world loves drama. I've seen it happen more times then you can count over countless centuries and millennia."_

_"Lovely pun there…"_

_"It wasn't a pun. At any rate, the Hazard is sealed for now. Harmless, but that won't last forever. Oni is searching it out, and when he finds it, he will get what he desires…even if it's not what he thinks it will be. After all, the Hazard is a difficult power to tame. In fact, it doesn't take to kindly to that kind of treatment."_

_"I have to agree with flame boy though. Why don't we do something about this?"_

_"Because it's dangerous to do so with the present state of things. For starters, young Katou is not ready, and if I enter the physical world before she is prepared to shine like the star that she truly is…let's just say that things will not go well. It's not a good idea in my case to impede evolution. I intervene now, I lose everything that I've learned and have been struggling to obtain. I go back to what I was before, and I've been down that road far too often to make that same mistake again. How's that old saying go? Fool me once, shame on you…? It goes on after that, but I believe the end result is 'shame on me'…or something similar. Rather apt I feel."_

_"So you're just going to sit here?"_

_"Sit here and guide things when it's appropriate to do so. Sometimes when you push things too hard they become broken. You can't hit something with a hammer all the time and expect it to fix a problem. It might work sometimes, but in the end the hammer's purpose is to pound things. And when things get pounded, they don't end up in a very good condition. Ms. Katou has already passed the first series of tests. She has the template required. Now she just needs to attune herself to it and synchronize with her comrades. A pity that the Nonaka girl also has a similarly developed power and a much more advanced one at that, but there's nothing that_ _can be done about it. It doesn't help that she's not suitable for my purposes when compared to young Katou but that's just the way things turned out, and she's had many more opportunities to practice anyway. If Leomon hadn't been destroyed…well, no point in wondering about the 'what-ifs' right now."_

_"And you can't do anything to change that?"_

_"I have the power, but as I stated, using it at this time is far too dangerous. The Tamers would become my enemies if I did and you would only end up getting caught in the cross fire. Victims. I've had enough of that. And before you ask…no; I wouldn't be able to do it afterwards either. Changing what was is dangerous enough whether it's done in the now or the then. Far too many variables to account for and the end result would be the same. How ironic. Being a god and unable to do anything with that kind of power except in certain cases. The universe has a cruel sense of humor I have to say."_

_"This…Katou person. Are you sure that she's up for this?"_

_"More then capable. She may be behind the Queen, but all that's about to change. The other one has been rather…distracted of late. Not exactly conducive for what I have in mind, but I can't fault her for that. That's just the way the universe works. Once something starts, it's difficult to halt its progress. At any rate, Ms. Katou has what I'm looking for. All the connections that I need to pull off the whole thing when the right moment arrives. I rather look forward to seeing how she handles this. I just hope her heart's big enough. From everything I've seen that looks to be the case, and that gives me confidence. Heh. Soon, so very soon, a new star will rise, and Ms. Katou will be at its very center. Rather fitting actually. She was at the heart of darkness once."_

_"That's kinda hard to believe."_

_"You'd be surprised. Of course, not all darkness is the kind that you and your comrades have fought in the past…the physical body of the monster. Sometimes it takes an immaterial form, and the person creates it all by themselves…evolving it until it finds the right trigger; the right outlet. The same is true for light as well. It's not all just entities that you must deal with; it's also what you carry inside your heart. Jeri Katou has seen what she's carried inside of her and faced it. All that's left now is to see how far that courage of hers soars; whether she truly faced it in her heart as well as her mind. This will be her final test."_

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"CALUMON!"

The tiny creampuff digimon, who was currently resting himself on top of Jeri's head lowered his face in shame and retracted his ears into his head.

"Sorry…"

Jeri sighed, and her face adopted a pitying look for the In-training level digimon.

"No, _I'm_ sorry Calumon. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. But you shouldn't have kept asking that question like that. I told you, we'll get there when we get there."

"But the hospital is so far away…"

"You're not even doing anything," said Jeri, looking upwards with a teasing expression.

"Only because you told me to sit still, and you know how I am about staying in one place…"

"Right; 'if you don't do something you'll pass out'. Honestly Calumon, I think that you exaggerate when you tell people that."

"Well it happened once."

"Calumon…" began Jeri in her best, authoritative tone. "Somehow I don't think you can say 'falling asleep when you've gotten yourself all tired out' is the same thing as passing out from lack of playtime. Takato even said that it had been getting dark out and you had been running yourself around for the entire day _and_ the night before when that happened."

"But I'm like that pink bunny person from the talking boxes. I just keep going and going…"

"I see that you've been watching American television again on the Internet again," said Jeri, her face setting in a slight frown. "At any rate, if it's not too much trouble could you just wait a little bit longer? We'll be there soon, I promise."

Calumon nodded. "I'll try."

_Maybe I should have insisted on leaving him back home with my brother. But ever since he found out about what happened to everyone yesterday he's wanted to see if everyone's okay. After hearing about what happened to Henry I can't say that I blame him as I also want to make sure that he and everyone else is fine. At least MarineAngemon will help heal him._

"Hey! Jeri!"

_Hm? That sounds like Miki._

Turning, Jeri's amber colored eyes lighted on the dark haired girl who was jogging towards her, with the form of Dracmon flitting through the crowd behind her, deftly dodging oncoming feet and startling any passer-byes who happened to notice the black, diminutive demon scurrying about. As Jeri watched them approach, she couldn't help but ponder upon Miki and 'Beanie's' circumstances and what it meant for the future of her friend in particular, and for all her friends in general.

_I would like to feel glad that Miki finally got her wish and became a Tamer, but there's the fact that she's partnered to a digimon that has come here for some unknown purpose, has fought Ryo and Henry, and injured Henry's father. I remember that Terriermon was not at all pleased to find out about him the day that Miki showed us his picture at the playground._

"Hey Miki."

The young, dark haired girl in the gray dress, almost a mirror opposite of Jeri in every way so far as appearance went, came to a stop in front of her and bent forward, leaning her hands on her knees so that she could catch her breath. Calumon took the moment to spring off of Jeri's head and bring himself hovering in front of Miki, eyes wide and smiling brightly.

"HI!" Calumon squealed excitedly, and Miki smiled faintly as she continued to take some labored breaths.

"Nice to…see you too, Squeaky," Miki said cheerfully, though something in her tone gave Jeri reason to wonder otherwise. And she was sure that she knew what the cause was.

"My name's not squeaky. I'm Calumon. CALUUU!"

Ignoring the strange looks that they were getting now from the people walking by, Jeri plucked the disruptive little digimon out of the air and set her back on her shoulder once more.

"Don't mind her, Calumon. Miki just likes to give things nicknames."

"Like how Rika calls Takato 'Gogglehead'?"

"Sort of," replied Jeri with a small smile on her face.

"Hmmph," grumbled Dracmon as he stopped next to Miki's leg and folded his arms across his chest. "No _'sort of'_ about it. At least 'Squeaky' is more dignifying then 'Beanie'. I swear it's not the sort of name that would be given a digimon of my status, let alone one who has been a part of the X-Rebellion."

"Oh hush! If you didn't like it you should've complained sooner instead of telling me that you hated the name right when we were about to get smashed by that overgrown knight. At any rate, I thought we were going to hold off on any talking until we got to that Hypnos place and had that Pow Wow or whatever it is that's going on. You'll get people all confused. Look at Jeri! Are you confused Jeri?"

Jeri just looked at Miki with a slightly bemused, slightly concerned expression on her face before smiling and shaking her head.

"Not in the least," Jeri replied as she looked down at Dracmon. "I'm willing to bet that you have an interesting story to tell, and I would like to hear it. I'm off to see Henry at the hospital right now though, so I don't know if I'll be able to be there…unless Henry's going to be discharged today, which I suppose is possible seeing as how he's got MarineAngemon looking after him…"

"You're rambling Jeri," Miki said with a companionable smirk as she placed her hands on her hips. "Anyway, the meeting's taking place pretty soon. I got a call on my home phone from Mr. Yamaki not too long ago, so I'm trying to get there as soon as I can. He said Takato and Rika are going around trying to find everyone else…"

"In a city like this that's like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack," grumbled Dracmon. "Honestly, how _do_ you humans live like this? You're all cramped together in giant boxes made of cold walls of stone and metal. It's amazing you don't smother each other with the sheer amount of numbers you have."

Jeri and Miki exchanged glances.

_He is right though,_ thought Jeri. _Looking for the others is difficult sometimes. At least we know the general location of where everyone is. Henry's at the hospital with MarineAngemon so Kenta will be heading there. Kazu's at Takato's bakery, helping out, Rika's…with Takato right now I think if I understand Miki correctly. Except she didn't say that Rika and Takato were together…_

Jeri shook her head mentally, wondering if she sounded jealous because she was assuming things. She supposed that a part of her was. Finding out what she did last week about what went on between those two particular friends of hers had come as something of a shock to her, but she had thought that she had accepted it. After all, she wanted nothing more then to see her friends be happy, and Rika was, in her eyes, in a far better position to…

But the memory of Rika's anger when she had last expressed such thoughts brought Jeri up short in her thinking. Shaking the thought off, Jeri turned her attention back to the subject at hand.

_Well…I'm sure that either way it won't take long at all to find everyone. But the others could use a more affective means of communication for this sort of thing, and Hypnos doesn't seem to be doing anything about that. I wonder if that's something that I can take care of. It won't be easy I know…getting everyone cell phones takes a lot of money, and without that getting in contact with everyone that's now a Tamer is…well, it takes time. With the exception of Rika and Ryo, everyone can only be reached at their homes and they're not always_ at _home to reach._

Jeri's hand touched the fringe of her dress's pocket, and the feel of the card within sparked a memory from last week, when she had made contact with the strange voice and transformed Ryo's card from _Milleniummon_ to _SolMilleniummon._ She remembered how she had been connected with everyone then…a strange feeling truth be told but a welcome one. And one that had threatened to overwhelm her defenses by the sheer scope and range of emotions that she experienced as a result of the connection. And then before that, when she had dreamed about Takato and Guilmon being attacked at Okinawa by Dynasmon…

_I wonder why I haven't experienced either of those since then. I mean, afterwards I was feeling pretty tired for a while but…_

"Jeri? Earth to Jeri?" Miki placed one hand on the brunettes left shoulder and shook her slightly, snapping her back to attention.

"Huh? Wha…?"

"Sorry. But you went off into a daydream or something for a minute there. It looked like it was something pretty deep. You didn't even hear a thing I was saying."

"Sorry. I was thinking about something…mostly what you were saying about the difficulties we have getting in touch with each other when there's trouble. You'd think that we wouldn't have set something up by now to get past that."

Miki shrugged. "I don't pretend to understand half of the things that you guys do when you carry out your Tamer duties. You're the veterans after all so I figure that you know what it is that you're doing."

"Probably not a good thing then that we now know that there's a slip up in the communication system," muttered Dracmon, scowling beneath his leaf shaped facemask. Miki looked down at him irritably.

"You're being awfully sarcastic for someone in your position."

"I blame my Rookie personality. If I was digivolved you'd see something different."

In spite of her misgivings for her digimon partner, Miki grinned.

"Oh, I've seen how _different_ you can be when you digivolve."

Dracmon glowered up at the dark haired girl, and Miki clasped her hands together in front of her and giggled in a manner that was most uncharacteristic of her. Jeri raised an eyebrow at her friend. Seeing this, Miki immediately calmed herself down and frowned.

"Sorry. You know Beanie and I…ah…biomerged during yesterday's battle. It's…um…"

"…Not what I was expecting," finished Dracmon dryly giving the girl a strange look.

Miki giggled again. "Neither was Ryo I think."

Cue another raised eyebrow from Jeri, but the mention of Ryo's name caused Jeri to once again touch the edge of the card that lay within her dress pocket.

_Ryo…that's another thing that I need to take care of at some point. He and I still have a talk to finish…_

* * *

Crusadermon lay in the shadows of an alley, her cracked, armored body shuddering as she held her arms around her, trying to find some sense of order to the chaos that she suddenly found enflaming her mind. Her encounter with the human child, Ayaka, had not gone well. Exhausted and injured, she had reacted quite violently towards the girl and with a blazing fury that had frightened the human. Having somehow sensed her fear and felt her pain Crusadermon had felt a fear of her own. Fear was not something that she was accustomed to experiencing herself. Seeing it in others, yes, but never had she actually _felt_ the horror and pain that she had caused in another living creature, experiencing it as if it were her own. She had heard the rumors and had read the reports that had been made concerning the partners of digimon. She had thought that she had understood what the connections entailed; what strengths the link gave, what weaknesses there were. Though there was the advantage of being able to accelerate digivolution, there didn't seem to be any actual strength that could be derived from the union. And for the partners of the Southern Quadrant, the connection was even closer then any other, right up to the point of physically _merging_ the human with the digital.

Though she had most certainly not merged with Ayaka Itou, Crusadermon was most definitely experiencing one of the downsides of being connected to a human.

She had always loved battle. Enjoyed the thrill that it gave her to test herself against a powerful opponent, and even when one wasn't available just being able to use her power to enforce Yggdrasil's will over weaker subjects could be just as thrilling. There was a certain excitement that she felt whenever she used that strength against a helpless enemy. Dynasmon could tell her all he wanted that it was the dishonorable thing to do (and so far as testing herself against strong adversaries, that was as far as their agreement on the matter went), there was no denying how _good_ just being able to show off her strength made her. Why should she have cause to be ashamed of it? It was all done in Yggdrasil's name. Feeling powerful was like icing on the cake, and she felt that it was important to enjoy what she did as much as she could. Why should it matter if she was feared when the fear added that little bit of extra spice to the wine that was her life?

_The others always told me that the experience of pain and fear changes who you are…either strengthening you or weakening you…for good or ill. Is…this what they meant? What that child felt…is that what I caused in so many others? Is that what could happen to me if given the chance?_

Ayaka's face flashed through her mind, intermingling with the ferocious bite of her emotions as they leaked into Crusadermon's mind, making her digital heart freeze up from the contact, her mind absorbing the fear and giving an edge to it. And when she felt Ayaka's hand slide off her arm, the sudden thought that the human had actually _died_ had for some reason greatly alarmed her. The sense of _drifting_ that she had gotten from her at the time, the sense of _leaving…_ it was as though she was not only experiencing Ayaka's emotions, but also whatever physical sensations she was having. She could still feel her even now, although by this time she was little more then a vague impression. Much more tolerable now, but still there, and Crusadermon had the distinct impression that the closer they were physically, the more intense the sensations that she received from Ayaka. For now at least, she was alive and well, leaving Crusadermon to wonder if that was actually a good thing.

But every time she felt that it would have been better if she had simply removed the distraction that Ayaka was and the complications that her being a Tamer imposed upon her, she would remember the look in her eyes, and of the girl whispering _'I'm sorry'_ , apologizing to the knight despite being threatened by her.

_Why? Why would she do that? I mean nothing to her. She means nothing to me! I…I…_

Crusadermon tried to force her thoughts to organize themselves in a rational manner. Flexing her fingers, metal clacked against each other as they closed into a fist. Giving a roar of anger Crusadermon smashed her fist into the wall of the alley in front of her, punching a hole in it and eliciting cries of surprise from the other side. Ignoring them the pink armored knight withdrew her fist from the wall, breathing heavily and trying to reign in her anger.

_There must be a way to escape this,_ Crusadermon thought darkly. _Some way to get out of this blasted bond that continues to trap so many digimon. As far as I know, the only way to break a bond is by death._

Crusadermon's fist tightened as she pondered the thought, but for some reason the thought did not appeal to her all that much. For some reason, the very idea of going after Ayaka with the thought of causing harm in any fashion was… _repugnant_ to her. She didn't know if it was because she was actually afraid of causing the girl harm, afraid of what might happen if she did follow through with the idea, or if being linked to a human altered a digimon's thinking in some manner. She had no idea at all, and right now she didn't care. All she knew was that harming Ayaka was one avenue that was already closed off.

_If all else fails however,_ thought Crusadermon, her fist shaking slightly as fury flashed through her mind.

And then… _something._

Crusadermon's head snapped up towards the sky as she felt her senses tug at her.

_A digimon is coming…trying to breach the barriers between the worlds._

Crusadermon smiled beneath her helm. It would appear that she would soon have something to vent her frustrations on.

The sound of jet engines caught her attention though. Scanning the skies Crusadermon sighted a figure, bulky in appearance from what she could tell from this distance, flying overhead. A Guardromon.

A Guardromon that also had a human sitting on top of its head.

A thought occurred to Crusadermon. While her master had never bothered to look into the possibility of needing to break the bond between human and digimon, surely those who were closer to the problem had thought otherwise. Perhaps the Tamers knew of a way. And if not…if not…

Feeling a strange sensation of hope making itself known in her heart, Crusadermon leapt into the air, aiming for the pair who were flying towards the bio-emergence in the depths of the city.


	76. 75: Rage and Confusion

"Come on Guardromon!" Called out Kazu, fighting to make himself heard over the roar of his mechanical partner's engines. "Get the lead out! We've got to go! That digimon could be out there causing mayhem right now!"

Said android simply looked up at the boy with a slight look of irritation on his armored face, mainly visible through the way his eyes scowled.

"You're hardly helping Kazu, with all your yelling. The least you could do is scan another speed card. Otherwise, unless you want to be the one flying…"

Kazu huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, grumbling something inaudible before speaking aloud again.

"No offense dude, but you weigh a ton so I wouldn't be able to carry you around like you can with me. Plus I don't have jet engines like you do. Besides, I already scanned my only remaining high speed card. The other one that I had got junked in the fight with that Argus thing last week, remember?"

"My memory chips haven't forgotten, though I do wish that you would remember that my speed is somewhat limited while I'm in this form."

"Are you kidding me?" Exclaimed Kazu incredulously. "You can chase down a runaway Locomon without even breaking a sweat, but you can't fly across the city in record time?"

"I had to push my engines into the red in order to catch up with Locomon," answered Guardromon calmly, "but point taken. The safety of the city is…" Guardromon stopped in midsentence and frowned, coming to a halt in midair and looking around him. Kazu raised an eyebrow at his rust colored, mechanical partner.

"Guardromon? What's up? Why'd you stop? Didn't we just agree that we've got a digimon that needs stomping a second ago?"

"My sensors are picking up an object heading this way at a high rate of speed. I believe a clone card may be appropriate in the next three seconds."

"Huh? I don't have a clone card anymo…"

Kazu was abruptly cut off as a pink colored blur smashed into Guardromon suddenly, sending the android tumbling to the side with Kazu rolling off the top of his head and entering free fall, the deck of cards that he had been holding in one hand spraying out of his hands and fluttering through the air like pigeons that had been sent scattering to the winds. Guardromon quickly grabbed the boy by one arm and tried to reorient them both, but his attempts at doing so were confounded by a pink armored fist smashing into the side of his armored face with tremendous force. This was immediately followed up by a brutal kick to his chest that again sent the android spiraling, and sent Kazu flying through the air like a ragdoll, all the while with Guardromon holding as tightly onto him as he possibly could without causing harm.

Kazu immediately did his best to assess the situation and come up with a way to get out of it. That they were under attack, no doubt by the wild digimon that his digivice had picked up earlier, was certainly something that did not slip by his attention due to the rather frightening reality that he was experiencing. By what kind of digimon, and how to deal with it though was quite another situation all together.

_My decks gone and Guardromon's getting slapped around like a wet rag…_ Kazu clenched his mouth shut as he felt his stomach heave, protesting against the rather violent tumbling that its owner, and his partner, were being forced to endure. _…And I can't even tell_ _what it is that we're up against! Come on Kazu! Think! Rika can't always be right about how my brain leaks like a sieve! What would Ryo do in a situation like this? Besides slashing his cool Goliath card or biomerging and totally owning the field with this wanna-be villain…_

_What can me and Guardromon do?_

As Guardromon's body continued to tumble through the air, an idea struck the visor-wearing Tamer and once again he shouted to make himself heard.

"GUARDROMON! CRANK THOSE ENGINES OF YOURS UP TO FULL POWER AND GO FORWARD!"

For much of his young life, those who knew Kazu had stated that when he wanted to make himself heard, he had virtually little to no trouble doing so. He himself never put much stock in the proclamation even if it was richly deserved (something that his teacher, Ms. Asagi would attest to under any oath or book placed upon her), though he did take some measure of pride from such assertions and would claim it, publically anyway, as one of his finer qualities (outdone only by his Tamer skills and his charm). Now it appeared that the assertion was to be put to that most ultimate of tests.

He wasn't in the least bit disappointed.

Engines roaring to life, Guardromon's body flew forward, pushing themselves to maximum output in a millisecond, catching their assailant off guard and preventing them from mounting a cohesive defense as the massive android plowed into them. Careening violently through the air while struggling to maintain his grasp on Kazu, the three flew towards the streets. As they surged downwards Guardromon reversed his engines and pushed himself backwards, his arms flying up and the ports on his forearms opening, revealing twin, comical looking missiles with faces and whistles in their mouths. Sighting on the digimon, Guardromon took only a second to register Crusadermon's identity before cutting loose with his attack.

_"Guardian Barrage!"_

Flying free from their moorings, the twin missiles rocketed towards the pink armored knight, impacting with her body with tremendous force, sending her flying the rest of the way towards the streets. Smoke and debris were thrown into the air as she struck asphalt and cars screeched to a halt in surprise.

_That looked like it hurt,_ thought Kazu as his partner helped him climb up onto his shoulder, wincing at the pain that ripped through the arm that had been previously been gripped in the robot's giant, mechanical hand. He flexed his arm experimentally, glad that he hadn't been seriously injured. From the way that they had been spinning, locked in Guardromon's hand the way he was, he had been half expecting to have broken bones, if not a dislocated shoulder.

_Good thing Guardromon can be a lot more graceful and gentle then he lets on…_

Coming to a landing, Kazu hopped off his partner and peered into the rising smoke, straining to see if Crusadermon had survived the attack. He was fairly certain that she would, as she was a Mega level digimon and Guardromon's attack had been two levels lower then she, not to mention weaker in terms of combat strength. However, at the last minute before Guardromon's attack connected with her he could have sworn that he had seen the Royal Knight looking fairly damaged; armor cracked and even missing her _shield_. Not normally the kinds of things that went hand in hand with surviving an encounter of the combat kind.

_Still, a Mega's a Mega no matter what condition they're in. You can't take one lying down at face value. I've seen it happen enough times already._

"Do you see anything Kazu?" Asked Guardromon as he raised his fists defensively and scanned the smoke with his eyes. Kazu shook his head.

"Nope. How about you?"

"I'm not detecting any movement outside of the motorists nearby. The crater is quite clear of movement though I'm afraid the drivers are quite agitated and may be interfering with my sensors, especially with the smoke screen scattering them. I take it that this goes far outside the usual constraints of motor safety and conduct?"

"Don't ask me, I've never driven before," said Kazu. "At any rate, we've got to check this out and hope that you actually got her with that attack."

"She did look fairly injured."

"I know. I saw her too, but she's still a Mega, and we'll need to be prepared. Oh man…if only I didn't lose my cards when she smacked you earlier…"

"HEY YOU!"

His attention snapping away from the scene of carnage, Kazu's gaze lighted on a blonde haired, bearded man striving towards him, making his way through the gathering crowd with an expression on his face that did not make the boy think that he was just coming over to say 'hi'. Sensing trouble was coming, Kazu tensed up.

"Uh…you talking to me?"

The man broke free from the crowd, shoving aside a small boy who had been standing at the edge of the sidewalk unmindfully, not so much as hearing his cry as he hit the pavement with a cry, sending what looked to be digimon cards flying in front of him. Kazu felt a flash of anger at such unwarranted treatment, but he had little time to dwell on it as the man was bee lining towards him with a look that could have melted Chrome Digizoid metal with ease.

Veins stuck out quite prominently on the man's already flushed forehead and neck, a clear indicator as to the depth and rage that the man was experiencing, and while Kazu had been more then prepared to deal with a flurry of angry words from him, he had no way of predicting his actual intention, and was thus quite stunned when it became a reality.

"You _monsters,"_ the man hissed venomously as he approached the Tamer and his partner. "We try to live our lives…decent people every one of us! And all you do is show up and try to destroy that! Monsters! _Freaks!_ Freaks _every one of you!_ I'm sick of it! Sick of waiting for the next one to show up and blow up the world! _Why don't you go back to where you_ belong?!"

Still maintaining his stride the blonde haired man stooped down and picked up a piece of rubble that had been thrown free from the streets. Without missing a beat the man hurled the chunk of asphalt into the air. Kazu's eyes widened in surprise as the rock sailed towards him. _Him!_ There was no mistaking it even if he wasn't the actual target! The rock that the man had decided to lob in his general direction was coming right for _him!_ And there was no way he was going to get out of the way fast enough! His body had become frozen in sho…!

_"KAZU!"_

Kazu was suddenly and abruptly pushed out of the way by Guardromon, and a split second later the rock struck against his iron hide with a loud _clanking_ sound. Not in the least bit perturbed by this, the man continued to pick up rubble from the road and throw them at Guardromon, screaming and howling his frustration at the unfeeling robot who simply scowled at him, as though pondering what could have been the cause of his actions. Finally, as though the man's rage had been a signal, another person detached himself from the crowd, dark of hair and slim of build, and within seconds rushed up to the bearded aggressor and tackled him to the ground. The two struggled for a moment, but it soon became clear that the bearded man, despite having been caught off guard, was his physical superior and it didn't take long for him to break free and punch the man in the jaw. As the dark haired man hit the ground the bearded one immediately turned back to the rubble on the ground, endeavoring to renew his assault against Guardromon.

He didn't get a chance to throw one at the android.

A strong, powerful hand grabbed hold of his arm just as soon as he was preparing to hurl the mini-boulder, and deftly kicked the back of his leg, upsetting his balance before he was redirected, as gently as possible with hands cupping one arm and his armpit, to the ground. Blinking in surprise, the bearded man found himself staring at another male, this one with dark brown hair, neatly trimmed and combed with the same doubling for the mustache that decorated his face. The clothes that he wore appeared to be of a traditional Chinese design with a blue vest and he stood tall. The look that he held in his eyes was that of nigh infinite patience and understanding, but also held the critical eye of a teacher about to correct a student on something that they've done.

When it came to Chou Kitamura Sensei, teacher to one Henry Wong, nothing could be closer to the truth.

"You may want to rethink what you were trying to do before you do something that you regret," Chou spoke in a voice that was, though calm, full of warning. The bearded man again blinked, flummoxed by what was going on. He opened his mouth to speak when the sound of a woman's voice joined the teacher in his protest against his violent actions.

"How can you think about doing what you did?" Asked a dark haired woman wearing a pink colored blouse over a white T-shirt as she came up next to Chou. "That boy…all he's trying to do is protect us and you…you tried to _kill_ him!"

"But those digimon! They're…"

"No more different from you or me," interrupted the man that had been decked earlier, his words slurred by the swelling of his jaw from the blow that he had suffered. A blonde haired woman was presently helping him get back to his feet. "Or did you think that any of us were exempt from that rule?"

"They're _monsters!"_ Howled the bearded man as he pushed himself to his feet, pointing accusingly at Guardromon, who was helping Kazu get back up. "Every day they show up! They fight! They destroy! They try to possess us! This whole… _Taming_ shit," the man spat the title as though it were bile in his mouth, "it's a _virus!_ Don't you see what's going on?! What it's doing to our lives! As long as they keep coming here, _we're not safe!"_

"Any more then we already are?" Called out another feminine voice. Heads turned to see a woman with long, dark hair done up in a ponytail approaching the scene from the crowd. A few voices whispered amongst the crowd as they recognized her as the mother of a missing child in the newspapers from the past few weeks. _Aiko Nakata._

The woman came to a stop in front of the group that had gathered around the bearded man and placed her hands on her hips, her dark eyes frowning slightly as she beheld the scene in front of her. Instinctively her eyes glanced up at Chou briefly, and the man nodded politely to her in acknowledgement before they returned their attention to the matter at hand.

"You say that the digimon are monsters," said Aiko gazing at the bearded man with a mixture of sympathy and hardness, "and that they bring nothing but chaos to our lives. Just a moment ago you tried to harm a child who was trying to protect you just so you could vent your frustration on a digimon who was _also_ trying to protect you. Is the monster really where you think it is?"

"The Tamers are _heroes,"_ called out another voice from the crowd, and it was soon joined by more cries, relating to a series of events that the Tamers had saved them or a loved one in.

"Say what you want about them, but if you want to hurt them, you'll have to go through us!"

Kazu watched the crowd, unable to describe the emotions that he was feeling at that moment. He had never before encountered someone who hated digimon. Sure, he had heard of them…seen them on the news and Yamaki had also discussed them during one of their meetings with Hypnos following the Parasimon invasion, and he had even talked about 'trying to set them straight'. Takato and Kenta had persuaded him not to do such a thing even though they were in agreement with him (due to their worries as to what kind of reaction such a meeting could cause and Yamaki's own desire to have the Tamers maintain a low profile as best as they could), and so he had done as they asked. Even so, he didn't think that the anger and frustration that some held towards digimon and the damage that they caused when they crossed over would get to the point where someone would actually attempt to harm him or any of his friends like Guardromon. For the first time Kazu felt worry over what would happen in the future if such groups gained enough of a voice to give them serious trouble.

And yet…

Seeing all these people here, standing up to the man who had attacked Guardromon and nearly stoned him, people who despite having their daily lives disrupted by the digimon attacks on the city were still willing to help him…it gave him hope that such times would not come to pass. He had seen and met many people like this ever since the digimon returned. There were times where he had been stopped in the streets (being quite visible due to Guardromon's size) and actually 'thanked' for helping to put a stop to D-Reaper and Parasimon (though he had claimed, in a modest tone that would have surprised his friends) that he himself was not the one that they should be thanking, but they thanked him nonetheless.

Seeing the determined unity in their proclamation and support of the Tamers reminded Kazu of all the friendship speeches that Takato had made in the past; speeches that, as corny as they were, he hoped to hear again someday from the goggle wearing Tamer.

_With people like this at our side, we'll get through anything,_ thought Kazu, a beaming smile growing on his face.

The bearded man looked around him, as though searching for support from the stone faces that surrounded him. His gaze finally settled on Chou, who calmly stared back at him with an unreadable expression. As Kazu watched, something seemed to pass between the two men and soon enough the bearded man looked down, his shoulders sagging as though his spirit had become deflated. He just stood there, not making a single noise or even so much as a move. He was so still that Kazu began to wonder if he was all right. Apparently it was something that Guardromon was wondering as well because within short order the android, in a surprising move, loudly made his way over to the man and brought one hand to rest as delicately as he could on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir? Are you all right? If you need medical attention I'd be more then happy to…"

"Don't… _touch me!"_ The man shouted, pulling away from Guardromon's hand and rushed away, pushing through the crowd. People parted eagerly, more then happy to see him go though Guardromon, Chou, Aiko, and the man and woman who stood with them wore different expressions.

_Oookay…_ thought Kazu with a shake of his head. _Well, I guess you can't win everyone over. Now where were we? Oh yeah…we were throwing down with…_

Kazu gave a yelp as a powerful hand gripped him by his shirt's collar and yanked him upwards. He was soon brought face to face with an all too familiar, pink colored, beak shaped helmet.

_…Crusadermon._

"Put him down!" Shouted Guardromon as he raised his arms and took aim. Crusadermon scoffed at him.

"Or you'll do _what?_ Shoot me? I know your kind robot. You can't harm me so long as I have your partner."

"He said, let him go bitch," growled someone from behind the Royal Knight. Hearing the sound of running feet Crusadermon spun on a dime and lashed out with one of her yellow ribbons, extending it and wrapping it around her humanoid attacker, using his forward momentum to throw him into the crowd that surrounded her.

"I have no time for this," grated Crusadermon, flinging one arm around her in a wide arc. _"Scarlet Tempest!"_

Crimson rose petals flew through the air, wrapping around her and Kazu's forms, obscuring them from view and keeping the crowd at bay as it expanded outwards, forming a ring. Kazu struggled to free himself from Crusadermon's grasp, but even weakened she was far too strong for someone like him to handle.

"Now," began Crusadermon as she turned her full attention to Kazu. "I have questions for you."

"Like I'm going to tell you anything," spat Kazu as he continued to squirm.

"Oh no? Not even if it means your life? Or that of your partner?"

Kazu froze as a memory came to him from his and Guardromon's last battle with the pink Royal Knight. She had been merciless in that fight then, ready and willing to upload Guardromon's data…

_Just like Beelzemon had been when he killed Leomon,_ he thought as the nightmare image of Crusadermon absorbing Guardromon flitted through his mind.

"What…what do you want to know?"

"The bond between Tamer and digimon. I need to know how to break it."

_What?_

"Break the bond between Tamers and digimon? Are you nuts or something?"

Crusadermon pulled the boy closer to her menacingly.

" _Answer_ the question! How do you break it?!"

"Why do you want to know?" Asked Kazu, somehow feeling that it was necessary for him to stall for time.

" _I_ ask the questions here _Tamer._ Now… _answer_ me or I'll…"

Before Crusadermon could even complete her sentence Kazu gave one last burst of strength against his captors grip, lashing out with one leg and pushing against her with his foot. The sound of cloth tearing filled the air and a second later Kazu, now bereft of his traditional heavy metal T-shirt landed with a thud on the ground. Crusadermon looked at the shirt as though with disgust before tossing it aside disdainfully.

"I am not done with you yet," she began again, beginning to move towards the visor-wearing Tamer. Kazu scooted away from her on his rear, trying to get as much distance from the Royal Knight as he possibly could.

He needn't have bothered.

A dark shadow suddenly loomed behind Crusadermon, and sensing the presence of the intruder she turned to face it. An orange aura flickered around the form of the owner of the shadow and a second later Crusadermon found herself flying through the air, screaming with surprise as a steel gauntlet met her face.

"Geez," said Beelzemon slowly as his clenched, orange glowing fist trembled angrily while smoke drifted up from its claws. "And you said that _I_ was a bad guy…"

The wall of roses disintegrated as Crusadermon pushed herself onto her hands and knees, glaring at Beelzemon behind her armored mask.

"You…" she whispered hatefully.

"Yeah. Me. Now what are you doing here? Don't you have some place to be?"

"I…have no one," rasped Crusadermon, knowing full well what Beelzemon was talking about, but not wanting to admit it. Beelzemon scoffed at her.

"Yeah, right. I was there you know. I know differently. You think that you can ignore her forever? You need her just like she needs you."

"Um…Beelzemon?" Asked Kazu as he got back to his feet, unmindful of the cool air that brushed against his naked upper torso. At this moment, the loss of his favorite shirt didn't matter to him as he listened to Beelzemon's conversation with the fallen knight. Something about the way that they were talking to each other…"What's going on?"

"Poetic irony," responded Beelzemon, not breaking his gaze away from Crusadermon. "Isn't that right? It wasn't too long ago that you tried to destroy the partner of this kid," Beelzemon indicated the machine digimon who was now coming to a landing next to Kazu. "How's it feel now? Bet it doesn't feel good."

Shut up," Crusadermon seethed as she flexed her fingers.

"No. Because you need to hear this. You've become a part of something bigger then whatever mission you were sent here for, and you need to recognize it before you do something stupid. I made that mistake before and I pay for it every day because of it…"

"I said… _shut UP!"_

Throwing herself forward Crusadermon launched herself at Beelzemon, yellow ribbons already lashing out, seeking to rip and slash the Demon Lord with their razor sharp edges. Grunting in annoyance Beelzemon dodged the attack and reached over his shoulder, pulling out the long sword that was strapped to his back. Counterattacking Beelzemon blocked the next flurry of ribbons with ease. Strong though Crusadermon was, she was badly injured and not quite up to par as she had been in the past. Beelzemon by contrast, was fully rested and…

One of Crusadermon's ribbons, instead of attempting to strike him snaked around his sword's blade and wrapped around it, tugging against it with one sharp twist, surprisingly not being cut by the sword, and then ripped it out of Beelzemon's grasp. Flinging it to the side Crusadermon again laid into him with her armor's ribbons.

_Aw nuts…_ grumbled Beelzemon as he fell back against the knight's assault, flapping his wings to give himself some elevation. Quickly twisting in midair Beelzemon delivered a brutal kick to Crusadermon's skull, sending her crashing to the ground once more. Beelzemon looked at the battered knight. Although she had proven herself to be merciless in battle, willing to kill without remorse, he couldn't help but feel pity for her. Knowing what she had become…what she was now and how it was affecting her. He had been down a similar road when he first arrived in the real world, and it was why he had gone searching for Crusadermon to begin with. Although he would be loath to admit it, except to Ai and Mako of course, Beelzemon saw too much of himself in Crusadermon. His _old_ self at any rate, and while the knight hadn't done anything to endear herself to him he felt the need to help her nonetheless.

_She's lost,_ he thought to himself as he landed on the ground. _She's lost and she can't find her center. I don't know how far her bond with Ayaka goes but I'll bet that however deep it runs already it's the first time that she's being made to feel such things. I heard her when she was interrogating Kazu…wanting to break her bond. Never thought I'd see the day where that happened even if I thought that foxie and her partner would do it after they had that falling out._

Crusadermon moaned and staggered upwards. Beelzemon winced as he saw a black liquid drip from a crack that had materialized in her armor from the blow that he had given her.

"Look," began Beelzemon. "It won't do you any good to be doing stuff like this, and trying to break the bond that you have with your Tamer is even worse. Trust me. I've seen what happens when that kind of thing occurs, and it's not pretty." Beelzemon's blue eyes flickered in remembrance of his brutal killing of Leomon and Jeri's anguished cry immediately following it. "I'm not going to force you into this if you don't want it, but you really need to consider your options…"

"I…don't _care_ about what you think, or what you _suggest,_ " Crusadermon spat hatefully. "That girl…that _child_ …has no right to claim me as if I were some kind of _pet…"_

"You _aren't!_ " Beelzemon snarled angrily at her. He was trying to be patient with her. He really was, but the knight's own anger and spite was not doing either of them any favors.

_I can understand it though,_ thought Beelzemon, remembering how he had been when Ai and Mako used to fight over him. He had thought the same thing then. Believed that humans saw him as just another _thing_ to use and then discard when they grew bored with him.

"You aren't," Beelzemon reiterated. "And that's the first thing that you have to learn. You and your partner…you're friends for life. You back each other…you fit each other in places that you're weak in, and you compliment each other's strengths. You're supposed to trust each other…know that they won't fail you no matter _what_ happens and that they'll understand you when you're goin' through rough times. That girl from yesterday…" Beelzemon bit his tongue against saying it out loud. Ayaka had wanted to keep it a secret between the two of them and that's what he intended to do…for now anyway. "…She wanted to help you when you were hurt and that's what she _did!"_

A pall of silence hung in the air as Beelzemon let the words sink in. Crusadermon was breathing heavily, _angrily_ but he could tell that his words were having an affect on her. The crowd around them, their view no longer blocked by the shield of rose petals that had surrounded them, watched anxiously, waiting to see what would happen. Kazu looked back and forth between the two combatants, wondering just what exactly it was that was going on.

_It sounds like…Crusadermon's got a partner now…but…who could it be? They didn't mention a name…_

Suddenly, before Kazu's eyes Beelzemon's body became blurred and distorted, and the Demon Lord screamed out in pain, his legs unhinging themselves and causing him to fall forward. Kazu's eyes widened in disbelief, and his eyes darted over to Crusadermon just in time to see her leap towards the Demon Lord, one long yellow ribbon pulled back like a spear, ready to skewer him. Crusadermon was screaming an enraged, blood curdling battle cry. His hand darting to his pockets reflexively, Kazu dug into them in an attempt to find a card that he could use before he remembered that he had lost them earlier.

_Oh no. No. No! NO!_

_"Warning Laser!"_

A beam of high intensity energy suddenly sprang into existence from Guardromon's eyes, connecting with Crusadermon's body and sent her careening to the side with a cry of pain and surprise. Striking the ground with the sound of metal grinding against pavement, Crusadermon rolled through the streets before coming to a stop. She was breathing harshly, and she looked to be in even worse condition then before. Despite this, it looked as though she were still going to get back up.

"A card…" muttered Kazu as he frantically dug through his pockets, praying that he had missed one when he had first pulled his deck out of his pocket to give Guardromon his speed boost from earlier. "…I need a card…"

A tap on his elbow caught his attention. Looking downwards, Kazu found himself looking at a young boy that had to be little more then Suzie's age with a shaggy mess of dark brown hair, and wide, chocolate colored eyes. On his forehead stood a particular item that caused Kazu to smile warmly at the boy. A pair of dark blue rimmed goggles with blue tinted lenses.

_Now there's a kid that Rika would love to call 'Gogglehead',_ Kazu thought with a surprising amount of fondness for his fellow Tamer.

Kazu's smile faltered when he remembered the danger that was around them.

"What are you doing here? It's dangerous! You shouldn't…"

"But…" the boy interrupted before shrinking back a bit and swallowing. Nonetheless, he pressed onwards. "…You said that you needed cards."

The boy pressed a small deck towards Kazu and he blinked in surprise. He quickly took a glance at Crusadermon and Beelzemon. Beelzemon's form had stabilized now, but he was kneeling on his recently acquired sword, using it as support and shuddering uncontrollably. Crusadermon was likewise in the same position now, only without anything to lean on. Kazu picked out the top card to the child's deck and without even realizing it, morphed it into a Blue Card. Without wasting a second he raised his D-Arc and slashed the Blue Card through its slot.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

"GUARDROMON!" Shouted said robot as energy spiraled around him into a cocoon and his data began to reconfigure itself. "MATRIX DIGIVOLVE TOOO…ANDROMON!"

Breaking free from the data sphere, Andromon got into a battle stance while behind him the boy stared at the scene next to Kazu in awe.

"All right!" Exclaimed Kazu as he raised his fists in time with his partner, feeling the link flowing through them. "Time to wipe the floor with the wanna-be Mimi!"

Raising her head Crusadermon glowered. Pain throbbed in her body. Even though she felt fairly confident in her abilities and condition to defeat Andromon she had to consider the possibility of Beelzemon rejoining the fight, if not another Tamer showing up, particularly one of the _Primes._ As much as she desired to continue this battle and get what she wanted to know, she recognized that her chances of doing so had just slimmed down considerably.

_Another time then,_ thought Crusadermon as she gathered her strength. A second later she leapt into the air, pushing herself to achieve as much speed and distance as she possibly could.

_"Gatling Attack!"_

Hearing the call of an attack Crusadermon twisted in midair, slashing out with a ribbon from her body armor. She was rewarded with the bisection of one of the shark missiles that Andromon had fired at her, but the other simply evaded her attack. Pushing herself even harder Crusadermon fought past the pain that her injuries gave her and dove for the cluster of trees below her, hoping to lose the missile in the tangled forest of Shinjuku Park.

Pain erupted once more as the missile impacted with her body. The last thing she saw before darkness claimed her vision was the trunk of a massive tree coming towards her. Another jolt of pain and then…

…Nothing.


	77. 76: Where am I?

Oni approached a shining sphere suspended in shimmering light, made up of many thousands of tightly woven cables that gave the dark creature the impression of a ball of rubber bands. Here it was; what he had long been searching for. Finally, his quest was coming close to an end. Although it had proven rather difficult to find a trace of the entity that had so savagely ravaged the forces of his former X-Antibody allies and later laid claim to ChaosGallantmon, once he had found its trail he had found it quite easy to follow due to a distinctive _warp_ that it left behind as it made its way through the barriers between the worlds.

_The barriers were already badly weakened to begin with,_ thought Oni with a flap of his hand-like wings. _They're only a hairs breath away from coming down completely and forcing the real and digital worlds to collide with each other. True, Hypnos and various digital world powers have gone to great lengths to reinforce the barriers and prevent such a cataclysm from occurring, but for how long can something like that last? Hypnos's resources are limited, and all of the digital world stands poised to come apart at the seams. If it weren't for the fact that Yggdrasil's plan threatens to destroy the barrier entirely from the shock of the DexDORUGreymon's powers I would simply leave things to go as they will…well, that and the fact that Yggdrasil has created a whole new digital world to reside in. That cannot be allowed to continue either. Not for the sake of people like Amaya Abe and children like her son._

Oni frowned as he drew up to the surface of the massive ball, his white eyes scanning over its surface, seeking for an entranceway that he could use. There were none.

_Of course not. Why should there be? This thing was created to keep the Hazard in after all and it was made with every intention to keep it from escaping. I still can't believe that it's here after all this time. I thought that it had ceased to exist after the core of the Digital Hazard escaped. If it weren't for the fact that this thing's wavelengths matched the Hazard's signature so well I wouldn't believe it myself. So amazing that the Hazard managed to escape at all. Few programs ever let anything break free as well as this one did._

Oni chuckled lightly as he let one clawed hand drift over to the surface of the cables. Electricity sparked, as though warning off the demonic creature but he pressed forth unconcerned. There was little that the program could do to him. He, like so many others of his kind even though he was fallen, existed apart from some of the rules that governed entities like digimon and humans. A little protection program would not harm him in the least.

_After all, you could say that it was my kind that helped create it. Or rather_ he _did before he too evolved to the next level when the Digital Hazard first appeared. Or was it the other way around? The origins of my people are…so clouded sometimes. The Sovereigns call us the Ancient Ones, but there are times where I feel that must be called into question._

_But enough of ancient history for now; soon, that's all it and this world will ever be. Just a bad memory that's meant to be forgotten, and if I can help it I'll see to it that no digital world ever rises again and that no AI ever exists either to pose a threat to humanity._

_First things first though. I must acquire the means to put an end to the whole thing._

His black body blurring slightly, Oni pushed himself forwards, phasing through the wall of cables that surrounded his target. The sphere sparked even more, resisting his attempts to get through but he forced himself forward all the more. Energy crackled before finally giving away, and soon enough Oni found himself passing through the barrier and into a void like space. Despite the obvious lack of light sources this area shimmered just as brightly on the inside as it did on the outside and blue cables hung from the wall. They were not draped as Oni had found himself expecting, like creeping vines, but were instead rigid and restraining. Oni chuckled lightly.

_Of course. Makes sense after all. The Seal has captured the Hazard in a physical form that didn't break down in the process of its capture. It would be necessary to ensure that it wasn't going to go anywhere._

Following the lines of cables and wires with his pure, ghostly eyes, Oni's vision settled on the armored form of ChaosGallantmon, still in his Chaos Mode, his body held aloft and supported wholly by the strength of his bonds, appearing as a dark angel with his arms outstretched, crucified upon his prison. His head hung facing downwards, and the cables that held him pulsed with light, like a beating heart. Oni surmised that the Seal was draining ChaosGallantmon's power in addition to keeping him immobile.

_Excellent,_ thought Oni with a touch of glee as he beheld the dark knight. _This should make things a bit easier for me. But before I do anything involving the Digital Hazard, my first priority is to see if the human child within is all right. No matter what happens or how long it takes, I will not leave this world with her or_ any _child, being harmed. I will suffer no more broken families from this world. Not if I can help it._

His ghastly expression becoming firm Oni approached the inert form of ChaosGallantmon and placed one hand on the Hazard emblazoned sphere that stood out on the dark knight's chest plate. The cables around him twitched slightly, as though sensing the intruder but they soon calmed and became still once more when Oni frowned at them. Closing his eyes Oni brought his focus back to ChaosGallantmon and shifted his vision from the world that was most immediately visible around him to that of the numbers that composed the existence of this pocket universe. Peering deeply, Oni began the arduous task of scanning each and every individual zero and one for what he was looking for. He knew that it wouldn't take long, as in the past he had easily detected the child's signature with little trouble, but for him to do what he had planned, his knowledge of this entities form and of the depth of the connection that it shared with the human, he was going to need every bit of knowledge that he could get.

_Every_ bit of knowledge counted.

_All right Noriko,_ Oni thought as he continued his scan, his body taking on a soft, white glow as he did so. _Show me where you are._

* * *

Noriko opened her red colored eyes, blinking at the bright spots of light that dappled her skin gently, warming it with their touch. With a groan, the young girl raised one hand to blot out some of the brightness so that she could get a clearer view of what was around her. As she did so, a soft, cool breeze brushed through the fingers of her hand, and involuntarily causing the girl to smile at the touch. The sound of many leaves swaying through the air reached her ears and as she watched, she could see the tree branches to which they belonged to. They were deep greens…the leaves that is, and not of a type of green that she was familiar with seeing in Shinjuku. Rich…youthful…like a breath of fresh spring air, forever caught in the strength of maturity. An odd combination, but for some reason the young girl felt revitalized seeing such a sight. It was… _beautiful._

_Where am I?_ Thought Noriko Nakata as she continued to shade her face from the sunlight that sprinkled down through the gaps between the tree leaves and branches. _Better question actually, how did I get here? The last thing that I remember was…_

Noriko frowned and closed her eyes tight as images assaulted her mind. She was looking down at hands that were hers…and yet weren't. Nor were they _human_ hands either. More like the claws that a monster had…or a digimon. And not only that, Henry and his digimon partner stood across from her and…

Noriko's hand fell down upon her eyes as she groaned. Biting her lip Noriko rolled over to her side and sat up. Resting her hands on the ground she let her dark hair cascade down over her eyes, obscuring them from any potential onlookers though the strands did nothing to obscure the memories and emotions that continued to move behind them. She saw more images…herself wearing heavy, black and blue armor, standing atop of Henry's Mega form of MegaGargomon. She recognized MegaGargomon easily enough, having seen it on the news enough times during the D-Reaper coverage, during the Parasimon invasion, and of course during the titanic battle in the park where he had fought Lucemon.

_That's right,_ thought Noriko as she bit her lip in slight irritation as the memories washed over her. _I fought Henry…_

It was rather odd, she felt. She definitely felt upset about what had happened…was upset about a _lot_ of things, but for some reason she was taking it with a sense of calmness in her mind. Maybe it had more to do with the fact that she knew that she had managed to gain just enough control over the body that was no longer hers to spare Henry and his partner, or maybe there was something about the environment that she was in that kept the negative feelings from truly taking hold of her.

_Or maybe I'm just too numb from everything that's happened,_ thought Noriko berating herself. A slight smile appeared on her face as she took in the thought and the bitterness that lay behind it.

_Maybe I'm not as far gone as I thought I was. That's a good sign at least._

Opening her eyes again Noriko looked at the tree branches as they swayed in the breeze, leaves quietly singing in their musical clash and dance with one another, the light spilling forth between their gaps and illuminating them like a nightlight of sorts even though it was broad daylight out. She felt a sense of… _hope_ building up inside of her, and she found herself comforted by that feeling.

_I've got my own body at any rate,_ thought Noriko as she rolled her head to the side, taking in the soft dirt that she lay on. _Can't help but wonder how long that's going to last. With everything that's been happening I don't know if I can count on that lasting. I can't believe that I didn't notice it for so long. I wonder if I was in denial or something…_

Frowning, Noriko couldn't help but feeling that she had to start doing something now. As peaceful as she felt just laying here in the shade and listening to the leaves play with the wind she knew that she couldn't just stay there forever. After all, she had no idea as to where she was, and while her own memories from the battle that she had found herself participating in against her will were still rather sketchy at best she had an idea that she was most certainly not in Kansas anymore. Not that she had ever been there to begin with except for once when she was very little (something of an inside joke between Aiko and her husband the woman had claimed sometime later, a few months prior to the man's death), but that was beside the point at the moment.

Rolling over to one side, Noriko got to her feet and dusted herself off, taking in her surroundings once more. It was definitely a natural setting, more along the lines of something that she'd have found in Shinjuku Park only much wilder and less tamed back. Noriko mused if that idea was appropriate in some way considering her current situation and some of the people that she knew but soon pushed the thought aside as unimportant. She had to figure out where she was and what she was going to do.

_What would Henry do in something like this?_ Noriko wondered. She had little experience with Henry's adventures as a Tamer although what she had gone through recently had served as something to build off of. And of course there was that trip through the digital world that she had been on a few weeks ago…

Noriko blinked her crimson eyes in surprise as memories came to her. Memories that were not in the least bit pleasant as she had been very frightened, upset, and caught off guard at the time.

_I…actually_ was _in the digital world. I mean, not that I didn't have any reason to doubt Henry or Mom…not after everything they told me but up until now I didn't even remember._

Noriko stood there for a moment, expecting the flood of memories to wash over her in some manner that would cause her distress or discomfort, as she had been feeling during the majority of the time that she had been back in the real world, but for some reason that didn't happen. The memories simply settled into their accustomed places without any undo problems or complications as if she had always remembered them causing Noriko to wonder if on some unconscious level she had and simply wasn't aware of it at the time.

_Then again, I did get all those weird flashes,_ thought Noriko as she placed one hand on her stomach tentatively. _Weird. But at least now I think I know what to do around here. I just wish that I knew where I was._

Looking around her once more Noriko let her eyes fall on a tree and she walked towards it, peering at it cautiously and checking it over. After a second she carefully rapped on its tough bark and waited. After a moment during which the tree made no movement or noises towards her to indicate that it was a digimon Noriko proceeded to break off one of the slimmer branches, tugging at it with a low grunt until it snapped off with an easy twist on the bark that still clung to it. Looking the tree over one more time to make sure that it was going to behave (her instincts telling her to be ready to run on a moments notice in case her earlier inspection had been wrong, as she now remembered full well that digimon could easily be anything in existence) Noriko turned her attention to the tree branch and then began to snap off any smaller bits that were not needed. After about seven minutes of this treatment Noriko leaned back and analyzed her handiwork. Crude though it was, and Noriko knew that it could be, she now had herself something that could be called a defense against any wild digimon that she encountered. Even if it was little more then a club at least she had something.

_Better then my hands and feet anyway,_ thought Noriko wryly with a small grimace. _If nothing else at least this doubles as a walking stick. Should make my travels a little easier._

Glancing around one last time to make sure that there was no one around her Noriko set her crude staff down on the ground and set off in the direction in front of her. Wherever she was going she had no idea, but she had to start somewhere.

As Noriko traveled, the thought of finding food and water to live off of was _very_ present in her mind.

_At least I'm not in a desert this time…_

Noriko didn't know how long she had been walking, though it was certainly long enough for the sun to have dipped in the sky by a few degrees. Sun. It was odd. From what she remembered having a _sun_ visible in the sky above her was something that she had to wonder about…that is if she _did_ happen to be in the digital world. Going through her memories from the last time she had entered the digital plain Noriko knew that the digital world didn't have a sun. Not exactly. There was an orb in the sky all right, one that had light but it looked more like a digital version of the earth to her complete with satellite dishes and pink beams of energy. Here there were none of those. No blue orb, no pink beams gliding across the landscape sucking up anything that wasn't already nailed down or fast enough to evade them…just the sort of natural occurrences that she was used to back in the real world.

_From the look of things I don't think that nightfall is going to be a sudden thing wherever I am,_ thought Noriko as she shaded her eyes tracking the sun's path through the sky. _Which is a good thing; I like having plenty of warning before everything goes dark._

Returning her gaze to the path in front of her, or lack thereof, Noriko continued to plod along, trailing her way through the field of tall grass that she had found herself in after she had found herself in after leaving the confines of the forest. She scanned the area around her, looking for any place that would do for shelter in the event that she needed to take cover or rest, and of course keeping an eye out for any sources of food.

Another oddity that she noted but so far discarded for the time being was that she hadn't felt in the least bit hungry since she had arrived.

_I wonder how much time has passed since I arrived here,_ thought Noriko. _Wherever 'here' is._

Hearing the sound of some kind of animal roaring Noriko crouched down in the grass and looked around her. Her eyes soon spied what looked to be a blue scaled, serpentine creature with orange, tattered, dragon-like wings and a white, skull like mask surrounded by a gold and red main covering over its face flying through the air a short ways off in the distance, just enough for Noriko to be able to pick out the details. Noriko gulped heavily as she recognized the creature, remembering that she had seen one during her first week in the digital world even though she knew not the name. _Now_ she knew that she was in the digital world.

_Really should have paid attention to that TV show when the real thing started to show up,_ thought Noriko in exasperation as the dragon continued onwards, not bothering to take heed of the human that lay out in the open and for all intents and purposes, helpless. After a few minutes the dragon roared again and was soon far enough for Noriko to feel confident enough in continuing her journey without it seeing her. Thanking the gods she got back to her feet and continued onwards, keeping a watchful eye on the dragon just in case it decided to do a one-eighty on her.

_Good dragon,_ thought Noriko when it finally disappeared from her sight all together. Continuing her journey Noriko felt herself calm a bit and she sniffed the cool air as it cascaded over her in a soft caress.

_I smell water,_ thought Noriko as she brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. Smiling, Noriko picked up her pace and sped her way through the field as best as she could without being noticed by any digimon who could possibly be nearby and soon enough she found herself standing in front of a small stream. Water ran over freshly wet rocks, dribbling over them and washing through every nook and cranny that they could. Feeling elated at having found it Noriko came up to its edge and placed her walking stick down on the ground and leaned forward. She hesitated only a second before she took a sip.

_Tastes wonderful,_ thought Noriko with a glimmer of celebration and she began to take bigger drinks. She continued this for a few seconds before leaning back, licking her lips and sighing in appreciation. As strange and as frightening as the digital world could be sometimes, the one thing that she remembered as being the _only_ fond thing about it was that its water always had a particular taste to it that no other liquid on earth could match. It tingled her lips and invigorated her while at the same time relaxing her.

_The water at that oasis was especially good,_ thought Noriko as she remembered her brief haven that she had stumbled across in the middle of that vast ocean of desert from her first trip…right before it had been burned to the ground by two fighting black colored dinosaurs.

Opening her crimson eyes Noriko looked down at herself, thinking about washing her face and hands before doing anything else, however what she saw next caused her to hesitate and frown in confusion.

_Okay…someone care to tell me what's going on here?_

Noriko's frown deepened as she looked at the sparkling water, unsure what to make of what she was seeing. It couldn't be right, but this was what was there in front of her. It was curved, just larger then her hand. Large enough where she wouldn't be able to wrap her whole hand around it anyway and it had a silver ring wrapped around its square, glowing screen. In fact, with the exception of the ring it highly resembled the digivice that she had seen Henry used. It was reflected in the water in front of her…

Only she wasn't anywhere in sight.

Again, she didn't feel any sense of panic, something that she felt as though she should be bothered by but wasn't. Instead she just leaned towards the surface of the water, her face scowling. The digivice likewise moved closer to her, but unlike her it didn't do anything else to show its reality. Raising one hand above the surface of the water Noriko waved it over it, and her scowl deepened upon seeing that nothing happened. Deciding to test her luck Noriko leaned away from the water, counted to three and leaned forward once more. Noriko scowled again when the digivice once more took the place where she should have been.

_Nyah,_ thought Noriko as she stuck her tongue out at the offending reflection and huffed in annoyance. Sitting up and folding her arms across her chest Noriko regarded the digivice, wondering why it was there in the first place and why her reflection wasn't there. There were thousands of possibilities she was sure, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it could be…

_Wait._

No.

That wasn't quite true.

* * *

_Looking up with widening eyes, Noriko saw a black colored reptile with red stripes staggering to its feet, pupils dilated while next to it an all too familiar, angelic child lay on the ground. Clutching the digivice to her chest Noriko began to back up nervously…_

_The action caught the attention of the dark dragon._

"Pyro Grenade!"

_Before Noriko could react a searing heat slammed into her body, knocking her to the ground. Pain erupted throughout her body. A gasp escaped her mouth as her mind tried to grasp what was going on. The pain was everywhere. Her nerves were practically_ _singing_ _it! She felt something in her body let go and suddenly the pain began to feel…_ _distant._ _She felt as though she was falling away from the world around her…things were starting to become faint._

_As the world began to darken in her eyes she felt her energy drain away from her…_

_The last thing that she heard was Lucemon's cry of rage._

* * *

Noriko shook her head in denial, her hair brushing her neck and forehead from the motion and a small trickle of pain made itself known in her head. Taking a deep, calming breath Noriko counted to three before looking back at the digivice, fishing tentatively through the memory that had so suddenly washed over her.

_Is…that what this is then? I…died, but somehow I'm being kept alive by this digivice? The one that came to me when I thought Lucemon was going to die? When I was…afraid that he was going to die?_

The idea sounded ludicrous to her, and of the kind of idea that she would have read in a story or seen in a show, but lacking any other possibilities and someone with enough know-how about this phenomenon that seemed to be the best bet. Seeing as how the digital world from the TV show was real the idea didn't sound all that far fetched now that she thought about it, but still she wasn't at all fond of the idea.

Once more Noriko was surprised at how calm she was feeling about this discovery.

_I'm still here,_ thought Noriko. _That's probably why, and it's not like I know anything for certain about what's going on. Besides, I've already seen some weird stuff so I guess I should be used to it by now. Either that or I'm in shock. Or maybe it's something instinctive that I picked up from one of the two digimon that I'm sharing my body with…at least, I_ think _I'm sharing my body with…I mean, they certainly haven't bothered to make themselves known since I showed up here..._

Noriko again shook her head, feeling more then a little bit confused by events. She wanted to know what was going on, she wanted to crawl somewhere and hide and wait for herself to wake up, but she had the distinct feeling that none of those things would do her any good in her present situation and that the only thing she could do right now was keep moving forward. She wondered what it was that brought this mindset on, if it was just from her experiences or any shared experiences from the other two that she _believed_ to have shared her body with (and from all that she remembered there stood plenty of evidence for this), or if it was something else all together. Something that she didn't understand.

_I wonder if I'm in denial,_ Noriko thought sarcastically before frowning at the rather uncharacteristic thought. Leaning forward once again Noriko took a close look at the reflected digivice image and tilted her head. The digivice likewise tilted to one side.

_Well, I'd say that's definitely a sign of it being me, but that only gives me a whole mess of other questions that need answering. I…_

Noriko froze for a moment and she peered down at the water beneath more closely.

_I don't see my shadow…_

The ramification settled quietly over her, and she repeated the thought once again as if doing so would confirm the reality of her observation. Yes. She didn't see any shadow. Just light reflecting off the water and of course the reflection of a digivice. Nothing more, nothing less. Her heart made a hard _thump_ in her chest and she gulped audibly, panic for the first time beginning to take root in her mind. _Now_ she wanted to scream. _Now_ she wanted to howl with fear and frustration and take her anger out on the image in front of her. She didn't do either of those things though. Instead she just kneeled there, frozen stiff with shock, her breathing quickly becoming irregular.

_I'm not going to faint. I'm not going to faint…Aw nuts...I'm going to faint..._

Black spots began to materialize in Noriko's vision and her thoughts began to grow sluggish. Her head dipped forward and her mind screamed at her to wake up or at least pull away before it was too late. It was no use though, she was going to…

The sight of a dark creature with hand like wings and white, ghostly eyes and a thin scar of a smile appearing behind her, or rather the image of the digivice reflected in the water, broke the girl out of her shock. Spinning rapidly Noriko grabbed the stick next to her and surged to her feet, only to blink in surprise when she saw that there was nothing behind her except the large track of field that she had just trekked through.

_Oookay…_

Panting heavily, Noriko took a second to calm herself before glancing back at the water. The digivice still looked back at her, unchanged except for the fact that its screen was flickering in a half hazard manner. She raised an eyebrow at it before the sound of grass rustling as if from something moving through it caught her attention. Looking across the bank Noriko had just enough time to see a dark, child sized figure disappear into the brush, moving at a breakneck pace. Her eyes flashing Noriko disregarded all of her earlier inhibitions and gripped her staff before quickly jumped to the other side. Upon landing immediately took off after the other figure. The figure bobbed up and down through the thicket in an attempt to escape her before suddenly squawking as it tripped over something. Seeing her chance Noriko sped up and then pounced forward, landing heavily on the figure and wrestling with it briefly before she pinned it to the ground. Finally getting a good look at what she had thought to be her _voyeur_ Noriko's eyes widened in shock.

_"YOU!"_


	78. 77: Drifting Dreams

Slowly, Lucemon stirred and cracked open his blue eyes, blinking them against the bright sunlight that filtered into the marble and crystal room that surrounded him. For an instant, a very brief instant, Lucemon thought that he was back in the Nakata apartment still recovering from his battle with the _Great Beast_ but the thought disappeared almost as soon as it had formed. True, the scene was similar enough, at least as far as him waking up in a place of safety but that was as far as the similarities went. Most obviously the main reason for this were the materials used in the construction of the room, marble and crystal, as opposed to the plaster, drywall, and wood of the Nakata family home. And what was more, unlike said human abode, this place he knew, and knew _well._

He was in the fortress castle of Seraphimon, one of the three holy angels that guarded the realm of the Celestials and Ancients of the digital world that he had been born, and at one time, had even died in.

_What am I doing here?_ Wondered Lucemon as he rose in his bed, shrugging off the green and white silk sheets that served as his bed covers. Flexing his wings Lucemon pushed himself out of bed, his blue eyes narrowing dangerously as he did so.

_Something is not right. This is not where I'm supposed to be. The last thing that I remember I was speaking to Noriko; lending her some of my energy so that she could survive the Great Beast's drain on her life energy._

Lucemon's brow furrowed. He was not one given to think that everything he had recently experienced recently was that of a dream, nor had he ever entertained such thoughts. Contrary to perception of others he was the sort of digimon who listened to his inner instincts (something that had gotten him into trouble on one occasion). If something felt right to him upon his consultation with his inner self then he would conduct himself in accordance to what his instincts told him unless presented with evidence to the contrary, a reason for which why he believed Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Cherubimon when they informed him upon his _birth_ about his own _'past'_. Yet here he was, in a place that he didn't remember coming to recently (had in fact left some time ago), in his own body, and with memories that couldn't have happened if he were still in the Land of the Celestials. Unless…

_Unless they reached through the barriers between the worlds and brought us here,_ thought Lucemon to himself as his wings fluttered slightly, causing him to levitate off the bed and then set him down on the cold, marble floor. His feet making contact with the hard stone, Lucemon began walking towards the room's only entrance, his blue eyes hard and piercing as though he were trying to see through them.

_I wouldn't have thought that they would try to do something like that,_ thought Lucemon as he exited the room. _Moving between the barriers between the dimensions of various digital and real worlds is dangerous. Even the Sovereigns forbid such actions to all but the most high in standing. The Legendary Tamer is an exception to this rule, as are a fair number of powers such as the Royal Knights, the Sovereigns themselves, and in some cases the Seer Council, but the Celestials have so far focused all of their efforts in the digital and real world that they reside in and nowhere else except in cases of extreme emergency such as when the D-Reaper began its onslaught. Technically, I wasn't even supposed to have gone to the Tamer's world either, and I had done so without permission. But how could everyone ignore the danger that the Great Beast represented?_

Lucemon's frown deepened when he thought of his foray into the world of the Tamers. Although he now had an idea that what he did was wrong, he still didn't feel in the least bit repentant for it. And why should he? He was merely doing what he felt was right in order to protect the digital world. But then, by his own actions he had ended up unleashing a creature that was far worse then that which he had initially destroyed, and it had been only through the last minute intervention of the creature's Tamer that prevented the reemergence of Megidramon into the real world, an event that would have been nothing short of 'catastrophic'. In retrospect, Lucemon realized that the task he had undertaken had been done with very little knowledge of the situation and that his attack against the Tamer of the Great Beast was very much unnecessary no matter how he felt about it, and that had he left the duo alone nothing like what he had seen would have come about. The darkness and rage that had previously been sleeping wouldn't have been unleashed and taken form, and most importantly Noriko wouldn't be where she was now…wherever _that_ was.

_It was rather impulsive,_ thought Lucemon as his feet padded along the marble floor, echoing loudly in the quiet of the fortress castle around him. _Almost reminiscent of how I was before being reborn in this world, back when I was the Chaos Lord and Prince of Darkness. Back when the Ancient, Legendary Warriors fought me. I wonder if, even though my data has been purified by Susanoomon, some aspect of that great evil still resides within me._

Lucemon rotated the hand bearing the Digital Hazard symbol and brought it up to eye level, where he scrutinized it carefully.

_Or perhaps this has something to do with it. Digimon marked with the Digital Hazard always seem to be…different in some way when compared to others. Open to being influenced by outside forces, as I have been. By rights, and my own reasoning from when I first began hunting the Great Beast, I shouldn't even be here. I utilize the Digital Hazard as well and had been evil in the past. I should be destroyed as well._

Lucemon scowled and lowered his hand as he continued his journey through the empty halls of the castle. He didn't like such thoughts. They were all too often filled with conflicting ideas and moral dilemmas. It didn't help either that he had no memory of what he was like prior to his entering the service of the Three Celestials…at least none that he was aware of at any rate. He was all too aware of how the digimon of his world looked at him, as though they were expecting him to do something that would send them scattering at a moment's notice and steal their fractal code and every so often it caused him to wonder just what exactly he had been like. Hearing the stories from his caretakers was one thing, especially the so-called 'Keeper of the Book' that had for a time hung around the castle when he was at the In-training level, but for Lucemon, the lack of experience had a filtering affect on him and more often then not he found himself unable to empathize with those who wondered if he could be a threat in the future.

_Still…I fell once. Could I do it again?_

_"The risk is always there…"_ echoed a voice from out of nowhere, causing Lucemon to tense up and scan his surroundings with a furious expression on his face.

"Who's there?" Lucemon called out, his fists rising into the air and taking on a bright, golden glow to them as he prepared himself for battle. It almost frightened him at how quickly and easily the instinct for battle came to him, here in this place of sanctuary that he knew all too well, but there was something about that voice that was… _familiar_ to him. It was as though he had heard it somewhere before, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out how that could be.

_"You know where I am,"_ continued the voice, and before Lucemon's ice blue eyes the light gray shadows that were cast by the stone pillars that made up the grand hall around him began to deepen and lengthen, devouring the light that poured in through the open windows. In response to this encroaching darkness the light around Lucemon's hands began to brighten until they were burning as suns, but still the darkness spread and did not retreat.

_"Now, now. Is that how you would treat an old friend? Your mentor? I expected more from you Lucemon considering that it was you who sought me out in the first place. Has your time of regeneration and purification changed you that much? And here I thought we meant so much to each other…_

"Who _are_ you?" Demanded Lucemon as he felt his fury rise. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

_"Very well."_

The darkness that surrounded Lucemon began to recede and take shape, moving like a form of black liquid that coalesced together until ultimately a form appeared. It was tall, resembling something akin to a Centaur in shape with its animal like, four legged lower body and a humanoid upper body, but the resemblances ended there. The lower form appeared more as a dog with shaggy, matted, dark brown fur and bladed legs that for some reason made Lucemon think of a Cerberusmon even though the creature was of a completely different build and appearance. The upper form had thin, gangly arms that looked as though they could stretch in any direction that they chose and lay hold of whatever they desired and they, as well as the main body itself, was wrapped in dark brown leather reminiscent of the lower forms fur and indeed blended easily and seamlessly into said coating. Red belts crisscrossed the junction joining the human and animal parts while at the chest and shoulders of the human half were two, blue colored, bat wing like items that weren't as functional as the gray and black wings that sprouted from its back, and instead were more for ornamental purposes that reflected and emphasized the blue colored, and horned, head crest that covered the creature's face. However it was none of these features that first caught Lucemon's attention. That honor went to two, snarling, shark like appendages that sprouted from the shoulder blades of the animal portion of the torso. It was this distinction that gave Lucemon the knowledge of what this entity was, and it caused the light around his fists to glow even brighter.

"GranDracmon," Lucemon hissed beneath his breath, recognizing the being who was said to be the lord of darkness within the digital world… _any_ and _all_ digital worlds.

"How sharper is the serpent's tooth," GranDracmon commented in a casual, offhand manner as he towered over the child-like angel. "You always knew how to get your point across in as few words as possible, which is perhaps why those two foolish excuses for Royal Knights, Dynasmon and Crusadermon followed you. Or maybe it was because they were gullible enough to believe that you would allow them mastery over the human world. Beings with such high minded goals and values are always the first to become corrupted by their own desires and dreams."

"Get out of here!" Commanded Lucemon as he rose into the air, flapping his many angelic wings as he began to draw power from the Digital Hazard that was imprinted on his left hand. The Hazard began to pulse with a dark blue color in tune with the tattoo's own coloring before it took on a blood red aura to it. Lucemon fixed GranDracmon with a baleful glare. "This place is sacred ground. I will not have you contaminating it with your stain!"

"Sacred ground?" Asked GranDracmon, a knowing smirk appearing on his face. "What makes this place any more sacred then the dustbowl that is the southern digital world of the Firebird that governs it? If nothing else, this digital world has nothing of the holy about it. After all, _you_ created it."

Lucemon narrowed his eyes, wondering what GranDracmon meant by that.

_Nothing most likely. He's just trying to distract me…trick me into let my guard down. It's happened before, and to many more digimon. Seraphimon told me that I was one such being that fell into his power, as was one of his own brethren as hard as I find it to believe. Ophanimon and Cherubimon also made the same claim. His voice holds a_ fascination _to it. I can't listen to him. Best to just destroy him and be done with it._

_"Heh, heh…you can try, but you can't do any harm to that which is merely a part of you…"_

"Shut up," growled Lucemon as the light around his fists began to envelope his body. "And stay out of my head. _Grand Cross!"_

The air warped around Lucemon suddenly, lashing outwards and beating against the form of GranDracmon who just stood there, smiling at the angel without concern. Facsimiles of planets and a central star in the form of a cross shape appeared in front of Lucemon as he took aim at the great demon. Throwing his hands to the side Lucemon launched the planet arranged cross at GranDracmon and it flew towards him with ferocious force, impacting his body and detonating, sending fire and smoke flying in every direction while the blinding light obstructed Lucemon's view of his adversary. As the light died down Lucemon hovered in the air, his eyes narrowed as he tried to peer through the thick smoke for any sign of his enemy. Soon enough, the outline of GranDracmon's body took shape and emerged unscathed from the attack.

"So like you," GranDracmon said with a low, dark chuckle. "Always attacking something even when it's of a higher level then you. You didn't learn the first time, did you? Or perhaps you merely… _forgot._ "

Pointing one finger upwards, the ceiling of Seraphimon's palace shattered and a bolt of black lightning shot down from the heavens, colliding with Lucemon's form, ripping a cry of horror and pain from his mouth as fire tore through every fiber of his being. His wings lost their grip on the air currents that held him aloft and soon enough gravity once again reasserted its mastery over his body, sending him plummeting towards the floor with a resounding crash. Groaning, Lucemon fought through the pain that constantly assaulted his senses and threatened to shut him down. For the most part, he succeeded, and briefly he found himself wondering why none of the Holy Trinity or their servants had arrived to see what all the ruckus was about.

"They won't come because they aren't here," said GranDracmon as he approached the fallen and battered angel that lay prostrate on the ground before him. "Because in this world they don't exist. Hasn't it become clear to you yet that this isn't the digital world that you were born into? That it's not a digital world at all, but is instead a place of refuge that you created in your own mind in order to cope with recent events? Events that have become too much for you?"

"B-b-but…N-Noriko…" Lucemon stammered as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees. His wings flexed weakly but he could tell that they would still support him.

"The child and the Dark One…yes. They're here as well…just like I'm here also. The only difference is that they aren't here to help you, while I am."

"No…"

"Yes, Lucemon. I'm always with you. Your data may be purified, but my voice remains imprinted on it, stored in the deepest recesses of your consciousness where no amount of scanning can possibly touch or remove. Your Fractal Code is bound to me, and my voice is bound to you. Your coming here, creating this place, gave me a place to appear in…to make you _mine_ once more. And with Noriko Nakata as your Tamer, and the addition of the Dark Child's portion of the Digital Hazard, you will be even greater then you were before. The perfect tool…"

At that Lucemon's glare took on new intensities and he staggered to his feet, the golden glow reappearing around his body, flaring as he felt his anger burn within him. _Here_ was cause for righteous fury. An evil that had to be burned out of him…an evil that was responsible for so many deaths, so much pain and hatred in the digital world. Corrupting a long ago dream that he no longer remembered…a dream of peace and prosperity. _This_ was what he should have focused on before…an evil that most _definitely_ deserved to have its data removed from existence…

The air pulsed around Lucemon once more and the simile arrangement of stars and planets once again materialized in front of him. GranDracmon just stared at him, smiling as though he wanted the angel to strike out at him once more

_"Grand Cr…!"_

_"Cleansing Light!"_

Missiles rocketed down in between the two, blasting open holes in the floor and setting off blinding surges of energy that interrupted Lucemon's attack and knocked him back. When the dust settled Lucemon looked up and saw that two more figures had joined himself and GranDracmon in the castle. Figures that he recognized even though he didn't remember meeting them before.

They were both humanoid in appearance, a fact that was emphasized by the human features that were just barely visible beneath the animal shaped masks that covered their faces. Their armor mirrored each other in such a fashion that could be construed as on opposite ends of the spectrum in both their armor color and the design, conjuring up images of the never ending war between light and dark…and that of cats and dogs as well, or more precisely a lion and a wolf if the angelic digimon remembered his history lessons correctly. One of them was covered in black armor with golden trim on some of its edges, and a mask that had lion's mane design and a lion's face built into the figure's chest plate, its maw open as though it had been caught in the midst of a snarl when it had been made. The other was covered in white armor with blue stripes, with wolf paw-like gauntlets over its forearms and a wolf mask over its face. In one hand it carried a staff with twin, massive, curved, half moon blades.

Lucemon recognized them easily from images that he had been shown by his teachers when he was in his In-training form of Cupimon, but something even deeper then a history class tugged at his mind. In his heart he recognized them in another manner pertaining more too personal experience.

_Beowulfmon…Loewemon…_

Lucemon felt the fire within die back a bit.

_So…the Trinity really was telling me the truth,_ thought the angel with quiet realization as he felt the feeling of recognition and remembrance flow through his body. _I really am the Lucemon of old…the terror of the digital world of the Three Celestials…_

_"So slow in the uptake, aren't you?"_ Chided GranDracmon's voice from within Lucemon's mind, which caused the angel to scowl in anger and the golden aura surrounding his body to increase ever so slightly in intensity.

"You're pretty spry for something that's merely a fragment of the influence that once held sway over this celestial," spoke up the wolf warrior, hefting his great weapon and pointing it at the massive, demonic figure.

"Darkness's power comes from those that fear it or embrace it," commented Loewemon from next to Beowulfmon in a low, growling voice. "Lucemon's emotions are operating in tandem with this essence; giving it power where it shouldn't have any remaining."

Lucemon's eyes widened slightly at what the two warriors of legend were saying.

_This isn't GranDracmon?_

"No, it's not," said Beowulfmon, as though picking up the angel's thoughts. "This is merely the essence of him that had first corrupted you. His _voice_ if you prefer another term…"

"It makes no difference what you call me," interrupted GranDracmon as he raised his arms. Black electricity danced up and down his arms like a series of cobras, hissing up the length of his limbs as he gathered power about him. "All that matters is what's standing in front of you. Legendary Warriors," GranDracmon smirked and raised one hand to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Long have I waited to see you in person. A pity that circumstances is not quite what I wanted for such a meeting."

"I think we prefer to not meet you at all," said Beowulfmon as his weapon began to glow and build up with raw energy. The air around Loewemon began to warp as the dark lion warrior folded his arms over his chest. The lion faces on his chest and shoulder guards began to widen their maws and the air fluctuated around them with incredible intensity, as though they were drawing power from unseen source.

"The shadows call for you," said Loewemon. "It is time to return to them."

GranDracmon shifted his gaze to the Warrior of Darkness.

"I would have thought that you of all people would understand my purposes Dark One. We are of the same mind after all."

"No…we are not. Dusk has fallen," commented Loewemon as he closed his eyes; the glow from his companion intensified while the air warped around him even more, "and the night shall never heed the words of corruption."

"Well said," said GranDracmon, his smirk dissolving into that of a strangely fatherly like, and proud smile. "AncientSphinxmon chose wisely when he succeeded you and Koichi his power. He says _'hi'_ by the way."

For an instant Loewemon faltered and narrowed his eyes at the demon of darkness.

"Which one?"

"Does it matter? You're all _one and the same_ anyway."

Before anything else could be said further GranDracmon lashed outwards, sending furies of obsidian lightning shrieking towards the trio, taking advantage of their lapse of focus to blast them all. Fire and smoke were thrown into the air, eliciting cries from all three of them as their bodies struck the ground hard. The three struggled to get up almost immediately, but with GranDracmon stalking towards them, making the earth tremble beneath his feet, they knew that the time they had available to do so with their current injuries was not in their favor.

"Tell me something Loewemon," said GranDracmon as he came to a halt in front of them, a dark aura forming over his body like a black stain. "Does it ever make you wonder what you could have been like if you didn't have to depend on that human heart to unlock your power? Or if your power wasn't as fragmented as it is now, separated between the Beast and the Human halves? You were so much more before; even Duskmon pales in comparison to that potential and there was very little in the way of restraint with him already. Did it ever occur to you why you were made so weak to accept a new wielder of the power that was given to you? Why you had to play second seat the way you were made to?"

GranDracmon raised one hand, and dark colored lightning once again traced its way across his arm before converging in the center of the palm of his blood red hand, forming a sphere of shadow.

"Your time will one day come, Scion of Darkness, where you will be called upon to make a choice about the path that you take. That time is not now however. I'm here for another prize all-together…"

_"Enough!"_ Roared a voice echoing throughout the hallway. The sound of pillars cracking and dust and debris falling to the floor from the intensity of the shout, was all but drowned out by the voice reverberating throughout the castle.

Turning in response to the voice that had interrupted him, GranDracmon glared balefully around him, only to be forced to shield his eyes as a blinding light suddenly burst into existence within the hallway, searing his vision and causing smoke to curl upwards from his body. Shadows retreated all around him and staggering backwards, GranDracmon lifted his arms to shield himself from the fiery sun that had bloomed. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the light began to die down, revealing a new presence in the room.

She was tall, armored in aquamarine steel with eight golden, metallic wings sprouting from her back and helm, and two, natural, feathered ones pointing downwards, ending at the silk dress that peeked out from beneath the metal chassis that guarded her legs. In one blue winged hand she held a long, lance like javelin and in the other she carried a small, gold and blue trimmed shield emblazoned with the image of a unicorn's face, a small spike feature sprouting from the center of its head to serve as the horn. The lower portion of her face was set in a firm, stone hard expression, and even though the upper half was covered with a helmet there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was angry.

_Ophanimon…_ thought Lucemon as he stared longingly at the beautiful angel that for so long he had seen as the closest thing he had to a mother. _…But…wait. Something's not right here…_

The thought drifted out of his mind as Loewemon and Beowulfmon got to their feet, auras of black and white flickering around their bodies and reaching out to intermingle with each other. Energy clashed and roared as the images of a massive white wolf wielding twin, golden swords and a large, black and gold, quadruped lion with gold wings materialized around the two warriors. Loewemon, his eyes burning crimson from within the lion affixed his gaze on GranDracmon. The demon stiffened slightly under the blazing eyes that pierced their way into his being.

" _This_ is the power of the human heart, GranDracmon," said Loewemon as the fires around him intensified. "Prepare to be banished back to the Shadows. _Shadow METEOR!"_

_"Frozen Hunter!"_

As one the two warriors of light and darkness unleashed their attacks, the forms of the warrior wolf and the great lion dissolving and melding together into one, combined beam of radiant power. The beam surged towards GranDracmon and smashed into his body, and the great demon screamed in pain and horror as his body began to disintegrate beneath the onslaught that was visited upon him.

And when the storm of power finally died down, nothing could be seen of GranDracmon save for broken data rising into the air.

Loewemon and Beowulfmon turned back towards Lucemon.

"We've done all we can right now," said Beowulfmon, his eyes frowning beneath his wolf helm as he noticed his form beginning to become transparent. "Our power is depleted. We had hoped that we would have more time, but…"

Lucemon nodded in understanding, though his face held a troubled look.

"I too wish that we had more time. There is… _much_ that I would have liked to say to you…"

"No need," nodded Loewemon as he too began to fade. "We all know the unsaid words that lie within your heart. For now however, you have other things to worry about. Beware of the future Lucemon, Servant of the Light. A great ravager is coming, and he will take what lies within you to complete his mission. This cannot be allowed. You must learn to be as one with your heart in order to stave off the ravager…"

Loewemon's words began to trail off as his and Beowulfmon's bodies deteriorated even further. Limbs vanished all together now as particles of data began to be pulled out of them.

"Wait. Who is this _ravager_ that you're talking about? What exactly are you talking about _period?!_ TELL ME!"

_"Find…Noriko…"_

The two voices of Beowulfmon and Loewemon drifted off entirely as their bodies finally disappeared in a haze of scattering data. Giving a roar of anger and frustration Lucemon once again felt his aura materialize around him, and it took on the shape of a threatening, dragon-like form before finally receding back upon himself, returning to the angel the child-like shape that he had. Lucemon breathed in and out in harsh, shallow breaths as he fought for control over his anger. He couldn't allow such actions to control him any more. Not here, and most _especially_ not in the presence of the one that he had such high respect and love for…Ophanimon.

_Even if she's just a dream here,_ thought Lucemon quietly to himself, remembering GranDracmon's words from earlier. Almost as if his thoughts had summoned her Lucemon felt one of her hands fall lightly upon his bare shoulder. Looking upwards, Lucemon felt the remainder of his anger evaporate, and throwing aside all the pride that he had built up, regardless of whether it was born in this life or a previous one, he threw himself into the elder angel's awaiting arms. There was a moment in which he noted that Ophanimon staggered backwards, as though in surprise at the act, but such thoughts became unimportant as she returned the hug.

_Even if she's just a dream,_ thought Lucemon once more, and he let the thought drift as for this brief moment he found some measure of solace for himself.


	79. 78: Hidden Truths

_"I cannot believe you two. Would you mind telling me what it was that you were thinking when you pulled that stunt? I'd expect something like this to happen with Agunimon at least but_ you?!"

_"Hey!"_

_"What? He is right you know. This is something that would be right up your alley. You used to do it a lot when a certain hot blooded Gogglehead was in the driver's seat."_

_"Heh. I won't deny that. It's just more of the principle of the thing."_

_"Hmmph. Don't sound so insulted. The Warrior of Light has the tendency to push the envelope as well even if he tends to not be so half hazard and erratic about it, so I'm not so surprised by his actions, but Loewemon? Do you mind explaining this one to me? You all are aware of how dangerous it is to move about the way that you were, right? It takes a lot more power to create a physical form in a place even if it's a dream and if you materialize_ all _the way then everything that I've worked for is for naught. You know what's coming too…"_

_"My brother and I are well aware of what's coming."_

_"Then why? Excuse me for being so slow figuring things out here but for the life of me I can't see why you would take such a gamble_ without _my knowledge."_

_"Need I point out that Lucemon won't be able to fulfill his part of his role in events if he returns to being possessed by GranDracmon's essence?"_

_"Between the two of us though I had every faith that Lucemon would be able to pull through. If not with the help of Noriko then from the one that went into that dream to check in on him."_

_"You mean…?"_

_"Yes._ Her. _I find it interesting that she showed up when she did though. I certainly wasn't expecting her at all. I almost didn't notice her arrival in Lucemon's dream but when I did…I knew that he would be in good hands. I used to wonder about why she was doing what she was doing when I first saw her around here, but after seeing her in the form of Ophanimon…I'd say that it makes sense. Even a tad bit of irony if I do say so myself. I suppose everyone needs a guardian angel…including angels themselves."_

_"That doesn't change the fact that she she showed up rather late. If Lucemon's last attack had made contact with GranDracmon's essence when he was in the state that he was…"_

_"I don't dispute that. Perhaps your interference was warranted after all, especially since she was, as you said, late to the show. However, there was a high amount of risk involved in what you did. You were pushing it rather hard you know. Your hearts were strong enough thankfully that I didn't have to interfere; a good thing to be sure. A_ _**very** _ _good thing."_

_"You always sound so ominous when you talk about that."_

_"If you knew what I was like in the past, and what I'd be like if I entered the real world now before the transformation was made complete, you would find that ominous tone has a lot of base to draw from. If you ever get the chance Beowulfmon, ask Ryo Akiyama about the hell that I made of his life. You will find it rather…educational."_

_"Great. Now I'm sorry that I even mentioned anything to begin with. But you have to admit, you are something of a mystery to us. We don't know anything about you or why you're doing what you're doing."_

_"Quite right Scion of Light. But after what I've shown you, the danger that you know is coming…isn't that why you agreed to give me the benefit of the doubt?"_

_"GranDracmon lures with lies and false promises."_

_"Touché Loewemon. Touché."_

_"You know, it really creeps me out that he smiles when he says that Beetlemon."_

_"You and me both Kumamon. You and me both."_

* * *

"Better now?" Ophanimon asked Lucemon as the child-like angel pulled away from her carefully. The angel nodded slowly as he began to regain some of his composure.

"Yes. I…" Lucemon scowled as he felt a blush develop slightly on his face. He wasn't used to showing any amount of displays of emotion in his Rookie form, even to someone like Ophanimon, pride being his usual, characteristic trait, but knowing that he was in a dream world that he had inadvertently created as a place of safety and, ideally, rest, he felt that it was now appropriate to show what he loosely defined as 'weakness'. After all, it wasn't like anyone was going to know.

"…I'm feeling much better now," finished Lucemon finally. "May I inquire as to the whereabouts of Seraphimon and Cherubimon my lady?"

Lucemon felt like kicking himself for asking such a question. It had come so smoothly, practically instinctively due to the sheer realism of the world that he was experiencing around him; something of an oddity he felt as he felt pain and even the differences in temperature in the marble floor beneath him. He could even taste the difference in the air that he was breathing and smell the impurities that floated in it from the battle that had raged around him. It was all a dream, and yet it felt so _real._

_But then, the digital world is a place where dreams find reality in one form or another,_ thought Lucemon to himself.

He wasn't really expecting much in the way of an answer. GranDracmon had informed him that the two digimon had no existence in this dream world but Ophanimon's presence here certainly appeared to detract from this assertion. In either case there wasn't much importance to be placed in the question and he fully expected to be told that they were somewhere else…somewhere _other_ then at the castle.

"They don't exist here," answered Ophanimon in a listless, monotone voice that caught Lucemon off guard, more so then the actual answer that he had received, contradicting his own assertions to the contrary. It took a moment for the blonde haired angel to properly process the response and the way it had been spoken before he once again regained himself and frowned.

_That was different,_ thought Lucemon. Seeing his expression Ophanimon simply shrugged her shoulders in resignation, another sign that not all was as it appeared to be on the surface.

"You know what this place is?"

"Yes," came the simple response from the elder, female angel. "I've been watching things for a while now. I don't know why I came here looking the way I do, but this is how it is. So…no. I am not Ophanimon."

"Then who are you?" Lucemon eyed his fellow angel warily with his blue eyes narrowed, as though trying to discern the identity of his companion through the armor that concealed her identity.

"It doesn't matter," said Ophanimon with a tilt of her head to one side. "Wherever I am, I'm little more then a ghost of your imagination. Probably everyone else's too. Either way, I feel that you needed a bridge to help guide you back to your partner…or _partners_ I think I should say…some kind of connector between two spirits so that you can find a way to return to what you once were. I don't pretend to understand all the ins and outs that you have going on with that Noriko person that keeps her as safe as she's been from being biomerged with BlackGuilmon, but I know that it can be used to separate the three of you."

Lucemon raised an eyebrow at that.

"You know about…our situation as well?"

"Yes. Yes I do. I told you that I've been keeping an eye on things."

"And what makes you so sure that you know how to solve my and Noriko's… _problem?"_

Ophanimon's lips did not so much as twitch once when she spoke, but Lucemon could feel a depth of emotion lying within her.

"Experience," Ophanimon said simply before she turned away, leaving Lucemon to his thoughts. "Come. We have a friend of yours to track down…"

* * *

_"YOU!"_

Noriko sat up in surprise as her crimson eyes widened upon meeting the same colored irises of the small, brown haired boy that she held pinned to the ground. The boy squirmed beneath her weakened grasp and nearly succeeded in breaking free until Noriko, upon seeing what he was doing pushed him back down and tightened her grip.

"Let me _go!"_ The boy squawked as he continued to try to get loose, pushing his smaller arms against her longer ones. Growling in frustration Noriko grabbed the child's wrists and pulled them together.

"No! Stop it! Geez, you're like my brother! Will you just _hold still_ for a moment?! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Owww…"

"Ahhh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Noriko blanched as the brunette pulled too hard against her vice-like grasp. Reacting reflexively from years of play wrestling with her younger brother Daisuke Noriko loosened up her hands and again the boy tried to get away, this time sitting up in an attempt to throw her off, but the girl's body, though not heavy for a girl of her age, proved to be more then enough to complicate things for the younger child. Taking charge of the situation once more Noriko grabbed hold of the boy's shoulders, shoved him down to the ground and again regained control of his limbs while simultaneously heaving herself upwards so that she was sitting more on his chest at the base between his ribs and stomach, supporting herself off of it just enough so as to not cause too much discomfort, but enough to ensure that he would not be going anywhere anytime soon.

As the boy's struggles decreased Noriko took a moment to look the child over. He was definitely younger then she was, if not around the same age as her brother. He had light brown hair and red eyes, and he wore a black, short sleeved hoodie over gray khaki shorts and sneakers colored gray and white. Memories trickled into her mind as the familiarity of the boy's appearance hit her full force. Yes, she knew this child, and not just because she had seen him previously in some half-forgotten dream although that certainly had quite a bit to do with it. It felt as though she was close to coming upon something important and all that she needed was to say but a word and the pieces to the puzzle would fall into place.

"Takato Matsuki," Noriko breathed and the boy's eyes widened perceptively.

"Um…ah…ah…"

There it was. Noriko felt a small smirk grow on her face, almost against her will as she saw the boy begin to become flustered at her identification of him, proof, if proof were needed as to his naming. Noriko felt the need to chuckle inwardly at how she hadn't caught on quickly enough the first time that she had met the child in her dream (something that still struck her as weird and bizarre, as it seemed to her far too much like the sort of thing that would occur in a cartoon show).

_How could I forget little 'Taka-chan'?_ Noriko thought as she quirked an eyebrow in a half-amused, half-scrutinizing fashion while reflecting on the irony of the name choice that she had used upon first encountering the child. Old, half forgotten memories came to the girl's mind and she smiled fondly at them. _After all, he was the first boy that I ever had a crush on, even though we were both six at the time, in different classes, and never spoke more then three or so words to each other. I remember how his weird little quirks like his stuttering were the things that I found to be the most endearing parts about him…plus he could be funny when he tripped over his own two feet…_

Noriko had a brief moment where she wondered where that small _crush_ that she had held onto would have gone if it weren't for her father dying the way that he had. Would it have grown or would she have grown out of it as she had when her father left her life? Noriko quickly pushed the thought away and refocused on the here and now as she once again reaffixed her gaze with _Takato's_ , her brow knitting downwards in a deep frown.

"No…you're not Takato. You're too young for starters and…" There was something else, but it felt as though whatever proverbial straw it was that she was grasping at was just outside of her reach. She knew that this wasn't Takato even though it looked so much like him, right down to the eyes and…

Noriko paused as she looked into those Mahogany eyes that she had looked into when she was so much younger. It wasn't something that she had done since those early days having rapidly become lost in her own misery at the time, but if there was something that she remembered and remembered _well_ was the spark of warm light that she saw in those crimson irises that were so much like her own. They often, she recalled (even if there lay years of difference between now and the last time she had looked into them) looked as though they looked towards the sky in a dreamlike fashion, magnifying whatever emotion the boy had at any given point. One thing she remembered in particular was the look of concern in those eyes when they actually had a moment to speak to each other…when he had accidently startled her at the end of the day and she had fallen. It was like looking at a beam of inviting sunlight in a room.

That light was missing from this Takato though. All she saw in its place was something that made that red color of his eyes appear _darker_. She couldn't quite place a name for what she saw, but it felt to her as though midnight had fallen in those eyes, and a waning moon was all the light that shone outwards; not enough to reveal anything about what those eyes of his hid from a scrutinizing world.

_Who or what are you?_ Noriko wondered as her mind wandered back to the dream that she first had involving this child. A memory flickered…a memory of Taka-chan and her facing Lucemon. Taka-chan had _transformed_ into a black colored dragon with a hazard symbol on his chest…a dragon that looked eerily like the digimon partner that she saw Takato Matsuki with once…

" _I WANT TO GO HOME!"_

…And he was surrounded with black nimbus of light.

Noriko felt her limbs grow tense at the memory and her heart quickened up its pace in fear, but she fought it down.

_If this little kid was dangerous, he would have did his metamorphosis thing or whatever, and he didn't do anything the last time I saw him…although for some reason Lucemon was afraid that our turning into that dark knight would…kill me._ Noriko gulped unconsciously at the thought. _I get the feeling though that he's not out to hurt me…_

Noriko's mind suddenly flashed back to her last recollected memory from the digital world and she bit her lip at the remembered pain that had then seared across her chest. Despite this she held onto her earlier thought with an optimistic hope that felt more forced then not.

Besides, she soon realized that she couldn't hold him down forever. Sooner or later someone was going to have to move.

Taka-chan shifted his body beneath her and winced noticeably.

"You're hurting me…" he wheezed and Noriko scowled.

"I'm just sitting on you."

"You're heavy."

Noriko pouted, wondering if the real Takato had actually been this blunt when he was this age. Their one and only encounter hadn't exactly given her much knowledge about his personality except that he was nice. But then, this _wasn't_ Takato.

_Or if it is, then it's a side of him that I didn't see,_ thought Noriko as she looked the boy over once more. _Come to think of it, that probably makes some bit of sense if we look at it from the cartoon angle. Digimon are just a show but they're real also, so why shouldn't some things from a fictional universe spill over as well. If Takato's the same friend that Henry was talking about when we had our first talk,_ Noriko felt a small stirring within her as she thought about the half-Chinese Tamer that she had so recently become acquainted with, _and seeing as how this kid also happens to be a darker version of Takato's digimon partner…it might not be too far fetched to think that they're both one and the same._

Noriko remembered what this younger version of Takato said about being 'abandoned' by his brothers. If she remembered school rumor at all, Takato had essentially 'created' his partner. And if he had experienced the loss of his partner would he have tried to do the same thing to bring him back?

Noriko wondered if there was something about the link that she now shared with the child that was helping to facilitate this thought process. It was strange that such an idea would occur to her. She didn't think that it would have under normal circumstances (although admittedly, these were far from normal circumstances). She had for most of her life lived by the knowledge that what went on in cartoons happened only there and rarely, if ever, in the real world. The appearance of digimon as real, living creatures did not change her point of view on this assertion. And yet here she was, with the idea taking concrete form in her mind.

_Maybe I've just experienced enough to give me a new perspective on things,_ thought Noriko brushing the strange idea to the side.

"Okay…I'm going to get up now, but if you do anything funny or try to get away…"

Noriko let the sentence drift off, allowing it to sink in for the child. Taka-chan dry swallowed nervously and nodded. A good thing Noriko felt though she held onto the seed of doubt. As long as Taka-chan was in his human, child form she didn't think that she would do anything to seriously harm him if he did decide to do anything. Looking like the kid that he did Noriko would have been hard pressed to fight him unless she was seriously pressed to do so, though she felt that in such a situation Taka-chan would just simply shift forms anyway.

At least, that's what she told herself.

_Taking a big chance here…_

Still holding her eyes to his Noriko pulled herself off of Taka-chan and with a slight nod towards him she backed off, stooping down just enough to pick up her walking stick in the process, the act subtly reminding Taka-chan of their agreement. Casting his eyes downwards Taka-chan sat up and pulled his legs up close to his chest. After a few, tense moments Taka-chan finally spoke up.

"Um…I…Mnnn…" Taka-chan clammed up, looking somewhat ashamed for some reason, though what Noriko couldn't tell.

_Oookay…_ Noriko tilted her head to one side questioningly.

"What's up?"

"N-nothing."

The sound of Taka-chan's stomach growling the instant after he said that shed light on the boy's lie and Noriko's eyebrows rose in amusement. Taka-chan blushed deeply.

"A-Actually…do you have anything to eat?"

Noriko's face softened slightly and she let out a sigh and shook her head in negation.

"Sorry. I haven't seen any places where I can get any food from."

Noriko frowned as a thought occurred to her.

"Hold on. Aren't you also a digimon? Can't you find food here?"

Noriko could actually swear that she could feel the tension in the air. She had an idea where that tension came from too.

"I…I can't," Taka-chan choked out.

" _'Can't'?"_

"I've tried to change," Taka-chan said, his voice speeding up a bit in agitation. "But I can't! I'm stuck like this! I don't understand it! I was able to change the last time you and I…um…met but I can't now!"

The tension that Noriko felt between herself and Taka-chan increased slightly at the mention of their last encounter but Noriko set it aside, feeling that it wasn't worth dwelling upon given their current situation. Although, she had to ask herself, why was she helping Taka-chan? Well, not necessarily _helping_ per se, though she certainly felt that was the road that she was going down towards. That was just how she was, a fact that found evidence in her treatment of Lucemon when she and her brother had first found him in the park, and even afterwards when the two of them met up again after his brief foray away from her families apartment. She was just the sort of person who didn't like _not_ helping someone, and being ashamed when she felt helpless to do anything. One of her most prominent memories of this aspect of her personality, and the one that her mother brought up the most involved a baby bird that had fallen in front of her from its nest when she spent a day in the park once, a short time after her father had died. The distance had been fair enough to ensure its death, but unfortunately not enough to give it a quick one. There had been nothing that she could do then, that she had understood and she had cried against the futility of her efforts to save it because of her lack of knowledge. She had brought the chick to her mother, hoping that she, with her greater knowledge and experience, would be able to do something only to be met with the greatest of disappointments. The bird was dead by the time she had gotten home.

_"Sometimes things happen and we can't do anything about them,"_ Aiko had told her then, to which Noriko remembered quite clearly her own response to it being something along the lines of how she hated that; how she hated how life just made and took things away before it got a chance to grow and love. More to the point, she hated life in particular, but such a proclamation did not convince Aiko of such sentiment.

_"If you hate life so much then why did you bring this bird home with you to save it when you could have left it to die?"_

Noriko didn't have a response to that other then that it wasn't fair that the bird should die so young. Aiko agreed that it wasn't fair, and that she didn't know why things worked out that way, and because of that she couldn't give a precise answer that could be true. She did however state that it was certainly the most prominent question that she fully intended to ask the gods when she joined them. Not one to leave her daughter without something to think upon she did tell Noriko this:

_"If you want my thoughts on the matter though, I do believe that the fleetingness of life makes us appreciate the good things more. We don't take them for granted, and when something touches us enough it leaves its mark on us, for good or ill, that will always be with us and will affect not only us but the world that we live in."_

_"Like the ripples ducks make when they swim?"_

_"Yes. Each act touches the other. And maybe that's what it's all about. Being able to connect with someone in your life, even if only once."_

_Is that what this is about?_ Wondered Noriko. _Because I want to connect with Taka-chan? To be able to figure out why he's the way he is? This whole thing confuses me. I didn't want to have anything to do with all this digimon stuff, and now here I am talking to one that looks like a person and I've even been_ fused _with him!_

Sighing again Noriko bent down and held out her hand to the child that sat in front of her, anger and frustration a silent portrait on his face.

"All right. Come on. Let's go see what we can find. I get the feeling that we're both going to be in need of something."

Taka-chan looked up at her with round eyes, and with more then a little bit of suspicion in them. To trust, or not to trust? Even Noriko didn't have an answer to that one, but for now they were both on their own with no one else but each other to depend on, and like it or not they _did_ have things that they both had to work out with each other. At least this way Noriko felt that they could keep an eye on each other, even if protecting each other wasn't on their list of priorities. This way, they would know where the other was and what they were doing.

The sound of Taka-chan's stomach growling a second later made up the boy's mind and soon enough his hand reached out and clasped hold of Noriko's. Pulling the boy up and keeping a firm hold on his hand the two set off together, looking for a place where they could find food.


	80. 79: What the Heart Tells You

Oni sat deep within the shadows of the tree as he peered out towards the horizon, his white, ghostly eyes set in a frown while the white scar that was his mouth likewise pointed in the same direction. The sound of a bird chirping could be heard on the wind but Oni paid it no mind. After all, it wasn't as though it was a _real_ bird. In actuality it was more of a wild Biyomon. He could tell just by the pitch of its chirping what species it was. Still, Oni wouldn't have been surprised if there was a normal, earth born bird (at least in appearance) hanging around somewhere nearby. The way that the digital world worked sometimes creatures of that sort all to often found their way here, or were at least digital copies that for some unexplained reason flourished in the presence of digimon, even if they served no other purpose then as food. Fish were a primary example of this although it mainly depended on the world and quadrant that one was in. Fish were purely an Eastern Quadrant phenomenon in much the same way that digital life forms like Gennai existed even though they had no attributes and by right shouldn't have been able to survive in the digimon infested digital world. His own cousins, the Digignomes, at least had great powers and were nomadic by nature. Despite appearing weak, it was only deceptively so and to date no digimon has ever captured or deleted a Digignome. That honor went to the D-Reaper and _other_ similar programs that buried themselves before and following the Cataclysm.

_Except that this isn't the digital world,_ thought Oni distractedly as he continued to eye the skyline, searching for his quarry. _This is a world of thought; the interior of the Mega level digimon known as ChaosGallantmon. The part of him that contains the individuals that make him up…Lucemon, BlackGuilmon, and…Noriko Nakata. It's not the digital world, and yet it is. Or rather an incredible copy of it, recreated through memory though how this could be is beyond me. The Digital Hazard certainly doesn't have this kind of power; destruction and corruption is more of its forte even when it's sealed and controlled. Even the Crimson Knight's highest known form cannot do more then that, and Megidramon most certainly cannot. No digimon that has utilized the force of the Digital Hazard has ever been able to create an illusion such as this._

_Which brings to mind the question…is there a property of the Seal itself that creates this 'pocket world', something that's caused by the digital world, or…or is there another player in town?_

_I have a feeling that the answer to such a question is going to be very important._

His frown darkening, Oni glowered towards the sky, taking note of two shining figures flying through the air with an aura of _holiness_ about them.

_Angels,_ thought Oni as he zeroed his attention on one of them. _And one of them contains the spark that I need. The other one though…hmmm…interesting. Not quite what I was expecting. I wonder what she's doing here…_

"Hello!"

Oni started as a pink, feathered bird dropped down in front of him, flapping its wings so as to enable it to hover. The bird, most _decidedly_ a Biyomon and most likely the same one that he had heard earlier, giggled cutely at him in that way that only a Biyomon could. For an instant Oni felt his mouth curve upwards into a smile before a sudden fire of anger doused it.

"Get out of my way," Oni growled and a second later he slashed his claws through the air, catching the poor bird digimon off guard. Completely unprepared for the sudden and unexpected attack, Biyomon let loose a cry of pain as the demonic creature's claws tore through its body, shattering its form and reducing it to free floating data particles. Oni glowered at them as they drifted away.

_Gnat,_ Oni thought grimly before returning his ghost white gaze back to the retreating forms of the two angels. _Digimon…always interfering even when they're not looking for a fight._

Oni flexed his claws slightly at the thought.

_That was rather strange though. That Biyomon showed far more independence then I would have expected for a creature that had been born of a dream. Experience has taught me that dream digimon tend to be…not quite so animated._

Shaking the thought off with a sense of discomfort Oni flexed his wings and took off into the air, shadowing the two angels. With any luck, he thought, these two digimon would lead him to his quarry.

* * *

_Noriko…she's proving strangely difficult to find,_ thought Lucemon, his physical eyes closed to the world around him while his mental ones guided him. Lucemon scowled in agitation while on his left hand the Digital Hazard symbol pulsed like the beat of a heart. He had been funneling power from his portion of the Digital Hazard that marked his species, trying to improve his senses but for some reason the human child that he had become so closely linked remained just outside of his ability to pinpoint her exact location, remaining always on the periphery. It unnerved him to say the least, though which unnerved him more he couldn't really tell; the fact that she continued to evade his ability to detect her or that he found himself caring at all about what happened to the human.

He wasn't certain as to why he felt such a desire to find and protect Noriko, although he did feel a suspicion that the appearance of a digivice in the girl's hands just prior to her untimely deletion and loading by BlackGuilmon had something to do with it. Or maybe it was something else…some sense of debt and gratitude for helping him when he had been injured.

"Or maybe you just have a bigger heart then you think you do," spoke his fellow angelic companion, Ophanimon, aloud in the same monotone voice that she had been using since they met in this place.

Lucemon opened his eyes and looked at the angel with a slightly irritated expression.

"I didn't think that Ophanimon were capable of mind reading," said Lucemon. "I know that the Ophanimon that I knew certainly did not."

"Just because I look like an Ophanimon," said the female angel slowly, "does not mean that I am one. I only took this form because it was convenient. It was how this world could accept me into it. I wouldn't be here otherwise. As for the mind reading…" Ophanimon then shrugged, causing Lucemon to raise an eyebrow at her, making note of the fact that in all the time he had known angel digimon he had never seen one shrug in such a dismissive manner.

_Truly curious…_

"…This is a world created by thought," continued Ophanimon. "It also happens to lie in an area of a spatial distortion, which I'm sure gives it other properties that we may not be aware of. One of which happens to be the ability to sense your thoughts."

"What makes you so sure of this?"

"I've seen enough TV shows to know that wherever I see air warping around me it usually means strange things are going to happen. I also saw it happen the first time I went to the digital world."

This prompted yet another rise of Lucemon's eyebrows as he looked at Ophanimon with surprise.

"So…you're not a digimon," he said, more of a statement rather then a question.

"I did say that I only took on this form for convenience's sake. It doesn't matter anyway what I am. What does is that you get back to Noriko and the Dark Child."

"I would like to know who you are regardless," said Lucemon, drawing up to a halt and prompting Ophanimon to do the same, "if only to know who I'm dealing with."

Ophanimon looked at the child digimon with an unreadable look for a few seconds before reaching upwards with her aquamarine armored hands. Pulling her helmet off and letting her gold colored hair cascade downwards between her wings Ophanimon raised her eyes to meet Lucemon's azure ones. Lucemon's eyes widened slightly as he took in what he saw before nodding courteously to the angel.

"Interesting meeting you here," said Lucemon finally.

"Not much of a conversationalist are you?" Asked Ophanimon with a slight touch of sarcasm in her voice as she replaced her helm back over her face. "I've known beings that reacted more then you have just now…even digimon as powerful as the Sovereigns."

"It has been noted," agreed Lucemon, remembering a Patamon that he had been friends with following his rebirth. "I must say though, the form that you have taken for this world certainly… _suits_ you."

"Then perhaps you were the one that gave me this form. I wouldn't have taken it otherwise."

Lucemon frowned at that, feeling slightly insulted. Still, he couldn't really blame this person, going through what she had gone through, losing what she had. Although he had been lacking knowledge of the closeness of bonds between digimon partners and even human friendships and how they affected the participants they were concepts that he had been coming to understand of late. Remembering the feelings of concern and the need to protect Noriko from harm, he felt that he could at least in some way, sympathize with her.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," said Lucemon, again bowing respectfully towards the angel. "But I must say that out of all those humans that I have knowledge of, I always associated you the most with angels."

His angelic companion did not reply to that, and instead merely turned around, her lower, feathery wings flapping in agitation.

"We still have far to go. If you can, try to figure out where Noriko is before the sun sets. I don't want too much time to pass before she's missed."

Lucemon nodded, but he still had one more thing to say…or rather, a question to ask.

"Tell me something though. What was it like…losing _him_?"

"What would it feel like to you, losing the real Ophanimon? Or even Noriko?" Replied the angelic woman after a few moments of hesitation. Lucemon winced, hearing the sound of sadness and the bitter tang of pain in her voice.

"I…wouldn't know." _Though I have a good idea,_ finished Lucemon in his mind as he recalled the rage that he felt upon seeing BlackGuilmon load Noriko's data into his body.

"I hope that you never do. Now come on."

* * *

"This should hold us over for a little bit," said Noriko as she placed a couple more ripe looking apples into Taka-chan's black hoodie that was splayed out on the ground. The young boy reached out for one of them tentatively, only to give a cry of surprise when Noriko lightly slapped his hands away from them.

"Hey!"

"Don't _hey_ me mister. Unlike you I've at least seen these at an oasis in a desert I was walking through before you came back into this world. You wouldn't like how that apple would taste uncooked. It's like raw meat."

The brown haired boy made a face as he massaged his hand, causing Noriko to shake her head as she bundled up his hoodie turned traveling pack.

"But I'm hungry now…"

"Can't help you there right now," said Noriko as she tied the shirt's sleeves into a knot and pulled the bottom and hood towards it, giving it the appearance of a basket. "But all good things come to those who wait. Your stomach will thank you for being patient. These apples will taste good after they're cooked, and they come in quite a variety of flavors."

_Although their consistent flavor of meat and meat related products is a little bit worrying,_ thought Noriko as she began scanning her surroundings for a decent place to set up camp. _It's not the sort of thing that I'd be expecting from fruit. To be honest, I'd much rather that these things_ tasted _like apples and not give me a mixture of beef, liver, or something else involving cheese and pepperoni. I keep thinking that I'm eating junk food._

There followed an uncomfortable silence as Taka-chan fell into step next to Noriko as she began heading towards a spot near a lone tree. Noriko set down their meal and began picking up pieces of broken sticks and twigs. After about a minute of this she looked up at Taka-chan and signaled to him with a sharp glare that he should start doing so as well. Making a face of displeasure Taka-chan nonetheless followed suit and began copying her movements.

"So…tell me about yourself," spoke up Noriko as she grabbed another stick, this one much larger then the twigs that she had previously been picking up. She eyed it carefully as she looked through her memories of her first three weeks in the digital world, from when she had truly begun to learn how to survive on her own. Silently she was amazed at how learning something that she had previously taken for granted had made such a difference during that time.

_Necessity is the mother of invention,_ commented Noriko in her mind as she placed the chunk of wood with the rest that she carried in the nook of her other arm.

"Like what?" Asked the young boy/digimon, pausing briefly in his chore to look at Noriko suspiciously.

"I don't know. Anything. Seeing as how we're travelling together we might as well know something about each other, especially since you're a digimon…or at least you're supposed to be. I'm a little curious as to why you look like a six year old version of one of the Tamers when you're supposed to look like a big, black colored dragon. I mean, what's that about?"

Taka-chan frowned, though on his youthful face it looked more like a pout or at least the kind of sulk that her younger brother would have given when he was being made to do something that he didn't like.

"I don't know."

_Well that's real informative,_ thought Noriko with some irritation, but she supposed that she couldn't really fault the child for that.

_Why does he look like a kid? I mean, really look like a kid? Digimon, as far as I know don't look like that. Okay, I'll admit that my knowledge of digimon isn't first class. I don't know the first thing about them except that they grow bigger and can merge with a human partner._

Noriko paused as she remembered her fight in the real world against Henry and Terriermon and her face softened.

_I wonder what he would do right now. I've always seen him as being pretty logical; approaching things in a rational manner. He at least knows more about digimon. He'd have to_ _seeing as how he's a Tamer. Let's see what I do know about what's going on. I've got a digimon here that looks like a younger version of Takato, who also has a second form of a dragon that's a darker twin version of Takato's partner…what's he called? Gillmon? Goldimon? No…_ Guilmon. _When I first talked to Henry he mentioned that a friend of his had experienced a tragedy…meaning his partner had been…killed. By Lucemon no less._ Noriko felt a flash of anger and she grabbed a stick a bit more forcefully. _But that's where my knowledge really ends. Unless you count the fact that school rumor says that Takato created his partner, and following the line of thought that I had earlier…does that mean he created Taka-chan or dark Guilmon or whatever? There are some TV shows I know that would view him as a manifestation as Takato's darker half, or maybe his negative emotions…_

"I…have two brothers," spoke up Taka-chan finally, and Noriko paused to look at him.

"Huh?"

"I have two brothers," the boy repeated, and a flicker of a dream made itself known in Noriko's mind. A dream in which she had first met the child in the middle of a playground.

"Oh yeah," said Noriko, grateful that the boy was now starting to talk to her. "You said something like that before."

Taka-chan nodded and a strange look came over his face. One that looked…very sad.

"I remember you saying something about how they left you behind," continued Noriko, tilting her head to one side. "What did you mean by that?"

"He called me," Taka-chan replied, an angry note entering his voice. "He called me and I came."

"Who called you?" Asked Noriko as she walked over to the camp spot and upon placing her collection of wood on the ground began sorting through it, separating the thinnest from the thickest.

Taka-chan frowned again as his mouth worked, as though he were trying to place a name to the identity of his 'caller' but found himself unable to. Finally he raised his hands to his forehead and made circles with his fingers. Noriko was confused for a moment until she associated the gesture with the face and the topic of their conversation. She felt like kicking herself for a dope for not seeing it sooner.

"Takato."

The boy nodded.

Noriko shook her head. "I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about. What do you mean by 'Takato called you'?"

Taka-chan shrugged.

"I don't know. He just…called for me. There was darkness all around me and I heard him calling. I fell asleep and when I woke up I saw him and…" Taka-chan chewed over his lower lip as he tried to find a way to express what he wanted to say. While he did this he walked over to where Noriko was currently crouching and dropped his armful of sticks onto hers, not noticing that he had buried the two distinct piles that she had been making. Noriko, though irritated, chose not to comment on it for the time being.

"…I don't know," the small child continued. "I felt angry…like I was having a tantrum, and when I saw Takato I felt something in me go. I felt like I was a part of him, but I wanted him to be more of a part of me. I wanted _him._ Like my stomach wants those apples. And then, when he made me grow and get stronger, I wanted him more. I felt like he was a part of me more."

Taka-chan's eyes then became downcast.

"I don't feel that anymore. He's got the _other one_ back with him now. My twin. He doesn't need me anymore…he doesn't _want_ me. I don't think he even wanted me around in the first place. I'm a mistake."

Noriko listened intently, absorbing everything she heard although she felt somewhat lost in the translation, most likely due to Taka-chan, or BlackGuilmon's childish nature and apparent lack of knowledge about how exactly it was that he himself came to be. Still, some of it sounded similar to what she had been theorizing about. She still felt greatly confused by the whole ordeal. She had been deleted, absorbed, returned to the real world with no memory of what had happened while at the same time in the body of a digimon (though somehow she had managed to transform it into her old self, albeit briefly), had actually _turned_ into a nightmare hybrid between BlackGuilmon, herself, and Lucemon, and had even turned into a dark knight before getting sucked into an alternate plain of existence…again.

_And now I'm stuck in a world where the dark Guilmon looks like a six year old version of Takato Matsuki, and wherever I go my reflection looks like a digivice that I had gotten before Taka-chan here shot me._

Noriko felt herself tense up at the painful memory before she closed her eyes and counted to three, taking deep breaths as she did so. The memory receded and she opened her eyes once more, feeling shaken, but calm again.

_Move forward,_ thought Noriko, remembering the old mantra that she had chanted to herself during her first visit to the digital world. Glancing up at Taka-chan Noriko mentally winced as she saw the look of fright mingled with worry on his face as he looked at her. She wondered if he was at all able to know what she thought seeing as how they had been fused together at one point.

_Although how we became separated is still something of a mystery,_ thought Noriko.

"Don't worry about it too much," said Noriko, trying to reassure him of his worries about his relationship to Takato while she resumed her sorting of the wood pile. "We'll think of something. The Tamers will come and rescue us and we'll figure this whole mess out once and for all."

"You think so?"

"They're the good guys," said Noriko, flashing him a small grin that belied the nervous flutter of butterflies that she felt inside her stomach. "I know so."

* * *

Noriko lay against the trunk of the tree as she munched on her apple, savoring the taste of pork roast while at the same time wishing that it was more apple-like, if only to give her more of a sense of reality to the fruit that she did not associate with what her tongue was telling her she was eating.

_Extra juicy too,_ thought Noriko as she gazed up at the sky, taking note of two oddly colored moons of red and yellow that was now rising above the tree line, accompanied by the faint glow of stars as they began to make their presence known. The smell of burning wood as it roasted in the crackling flames of the campfire reached Noriko's nose and she breathed it in, feeling oddly peaceful from the faint, smoky scent.

_I wonder how Mom and Daisuke are doing,_ the dark haired girl thought as she swallowed and took another bite out of her 'meat apple'. _I hope that they're okay. Mom I know isn't going to be happy by a long shot, but then, what mother would be? I just hope that she doesn't decide to do anything drastic. She was upset enough when I first disappeared I can only imagine how_ _this second time will affect her. I'll try to get home as soon and as safely as I can Mom. That's a promise._

"Noriko?" Came Taka-chan's quiet inquiry from the other side of the fire.

"Hmmm?"

"Why are you helping me?"

Noriko paused in her chewing for a moment before resuming. Taka-chan waited for a bit for her to answer before speaking again, this time with the sound of nerves in his voice at her lack of response to his question.

"I mean, I haven't done anything that should give you a reason to help me. I-I've used you, I've hurt you…I've even loaded you after I…"

Although Noriko didn't see the boy make the motion, she could easily imagine him hanging his head in shame as he said the next set of words.

"… _Killed_ you," the boy continued, a timid tone in his voice now. "So…why are you helping me?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because I hurt you."

_Yeah. You did,_ thought Noriko glumly as she lowered her apple into her lap and fiddled with it in her hands. Noriko turned her face towards the encroaching shadows of the evening.

"Did you mean it?"

Noriko heard Taka-chan stutter in response before he fell silent all together. Turning her face towards him now Noriko could see the conflicted expression on the boy's face as he pushed his arms into his shirt for added warmth. It was as if Taka-chan's silence were a sign that he didn't trust his words, or if not that then he was afraid of what Noriko's reaction would be if he spoke them aloud. Noriko sighed mentally.

_I really don't want to have to think about…what happened,_ Noriko thought feeling as though deep down inside of her a part of herself was screaming to wake up from the nightmare that she seemingly had stumbled into. A part of her wanted to blame Taka-chan for what had happened. Wanted to blame Lucemon; wanted to blame the Tamers for everything that had happened to her; wanted to blame the whole world, both digital and otherwise. Yet, instead all she felt was…tired. Noriko closed her eyes and felt herself drift for a few seconds while she tried to collect herself for a proper response to her _companion._

"Did you mean to hurt me?" Noriko asked again, this time looking over at Taka-chan. Inside her heart softened as she saw what had to be the most miserable expression she had ever seen in her life. What made it even worse in her eyes was seeing Taka-chan nod to her before burying his face into his knees and giving a loud, keening cry.

"Yes…I did!"

Noriko felt her eyes glisten and sting as she turned away to look back up at the sky. She still held onto the meat apple, though by now her appetite was long gone. Taka-chan continued to talk in a rapid, half hazard fashion, his voice struggling to keep from breaking.

"I've felt darkness around me all the time! Ever since I first woke up! I feel like I'm angry and ready to lash out at everything around me at any moment! For any reason! Lucemon deleted me! He absorbed me! And then when I came back, I saw you and I sensed the connection you had with him! I…I…I'm lost in the woods! I'm lost in the woods and I can't get out!"

Noriko stopped listening at that point. Listening had become too painful for her even though she could tell that Taka-chan was hardly doing any better then she was. He had gone through the same thing that she had. It was almost ironic how things worked out. Her association with Lucemon, the creation of a connection between the two of them ended up making her a target for a child's pain; a child's _fear_ of death. She could understand where Taka-chan was coming from, but that did not negate the fact that he had turned it all square on her as if it had been her burden to carry. She had not liked the sensation of being deleted and then being absorbed. Feeling as though everything that made her Noriko Nakata was being stripped… _torn_ from her to feed someone else.

_What makes it worse,_ thought Noriko with a sense of realization, _is that it wasn't just him that was the cause of it all. He came from Takato. From his own fears from losing his partner. He might not have done it if he were the one in charge…I don't see him as being the one to do something like that, but that doesn't change the fact that it came from him. And that they also come from Lucemon and his fears about what Takato's partner was capable of. The 'Great Beast'…yeah, that's what he was talking about when he stayed with us. Like ripples in a pond…they all come back and affect other things in their path. Whatever it was that Takato's partner did…it touched a lot of things. A_ lot _of things. Lucemon, me…_

_…Taka-chan…_

Noriko looked over at the small child as he quietly cried into his shirt, looking very much like a young child who had encountered something that was far bigger then his mind could comfortably grasp. He knew what he felt, but didn't understand _why_ he felt them and acted on them the way that he did. He…

Noriko suddenly stood up, every muscle in her body becoming wire tense all at once. Her eyes widened as goose bumps crawled their way up her arms and distantly she heard the clicking and beeping of something mechanical…the way Henry's digivice reacted when a digimon entered the digital world. She wasn't the only one that noticed it either. Taka-chan had rapidly snapped to attention and was now crouching low to the ground, growling while sniffing back his tears, the former of which serving as a reminder that the boy was a digimon first and foremost, and was more of a creature of instincts then she ever would be.

Shadows shifted in the forest around the pair, making the light thrown off by their campfire appear feeble and easy to snuff out. Noriko carefully walked over to Taka-chan and stood next to him, strangely feeling comforted by his presence in spite of everything that had happened between them.

Shadows moved and coalesced until they formed together just outside of the range of the fire's light. A massive foot moved into view a second later and twin shark-like heads attached to a crimson waist of what appeared to be a centaur of sorts snarled at her. A calm, gentlemanly voice spoke from out of the darkness as the figure moved towards them, and Noriko's eyes moved upwards until they settled upon a demonic, but humanoid figure dressed in red with a blue collar and head crest.

"Well, well, well," spoke GranDracmon as he rested one hand upon his chin. "What do we have here?"


	81. 80: Spirits of Light and Darkness

"LOOK OUT!" Shouted Noriko as she pushed Taka-chan to the side, the two of them narrowly avoiding GranDracmon's hand as it reached towards them. The two rolled on the ground for a couple seconds before they finally came to a stop, Taka-chan jumping up to his feet, crimson eyes narrowed to slits and pupils dilated as he growled at the centaur like demon. The two sharks affixed to GranDracmon's waist snarled at the boy in response, as though eager for battle to begin. With a light chuckle GranDracmon patted one of them lightly as if it were a pet dog being brought to heel before its master and he looked at the small brunette, a cruel smile curving beneath his blue head crest.

"Now, now," said GranDracmon in the same courteous voice as before, only this time with a touch of a mocking tone behind it. "That's no way to act towards your guest. I'm not here to hurt you."

Noriko's eyes shot towards Taka-chan. Apparently the boy was not convinced by GranDracmon's words as he flexed his hands in front of him and bent his legs, preparing himself to strike. Sensing that an extremely bad situation was in the making Noriko got to her feet and called out to him, trying to get him to snap back to reality.

"Taka-chan! What are you doing?! You can't take this guy on the way you are right now! He'll kill you! Taka-chan!"

GranDracmon laughed lightly as a parent would to a child doing something naïve and playful.

"Why don't we let _Taka-chan_ make the decision on that? Taka-chan? Would you like to attack me?"

Giving a loud yell bordering on an animalistic howl the little boy charged towards GranDracmon and leapt towards him, arms outstretched to grab hold of the demon; fingers curled inwards to latch onto and tear upon finding their purchase. Were he in his actual, digimon form of BlackGuilmon he would actually have caused some damage even if it was negligible in the long run. However, he was not in the form of the black dragon. He was very much a human, a form that carried quite a few limitations and handicaps when combating a creature of the like of GranDracmon.

Reaching out with little more speed then what one would use picking up their keys or grabbing a newspaper GranDracmon snagged Taka-chan out of the air and closed his massive hand around him tightly, but not quite enough to harm him. Taka-chan struggled and squirmed in the demon's grasp, but he found himself without the strength, ability, or even the leverage that he needed to break free. Unwilling to give up however Taka-chan pushed his head forward and sunk his human teeth into the closest finger that held him imprisoned. Sadly, the tough, crimson leather did not so much as give under the pressure of Taka-chan's bite.

"Such fortitude," praised GranDracmon as he watched the child continue with his fruitless efforts to escape. "Such fire; such passion. Yes. You'll do nicely. A fine replacement for the treacherous Lucemon. The Greater Dark will be pleased to have one such as you with them. The first…of the _Black Knights._ "

_"Taka-chan! Taka-chan!"_ Shouted Noriko frantically before turning her blazing eyes on GranDracmon. "Let him _go! Right_ now!"

Beneath his head crest GranDracmon raised an eyebrow curiously at the girl before smirking at her.

"Ah yes. Noriko Nakata. Don't think that I've forgotten about you. You would make an excellent choice of vessel for the first of the dark knights…a harbinger of the _chaos_ that is to follow…"

"Shut up!" Exclaimed Noriko hotly, riding over GranDracmon's words and causing him to raise an eyebrow again once more at the fierce tone that he heard in her voice. "I said…let…him… _go!"_

"And why should I listen to a human such as yourself?" Asked GranDracmon taking a step towards her, causing the earth to tremble slightly beneath his powerful steps. " _If_ that is even what you still are…"

"I _said…"_ Noriko's eyes flashed and she ran over to their as yet undisturbed campfire and grabbed a burning stick from it, brandishing at GranDracmon.

_"…Let..."_

Noriko's legs pushed her forwards, aiming towards the demon's closest leg.

_"…Him…"_

Noriko thrust the blazing stick into the thick mess of brown fur, jamming it forward as hard as she could.

_"…GO!"_

As if the girl's words carried extra force to them the fire from her torch flared and burst outwards through the demon's leg fur. Shouting in surprise GranDracmon jumped backwards, his unexpected motion accidently sending Noriko toppling backwards. Taking no notice of this GranDracmon focused his will on the searing flames that had begun to crawl their way up his body. A cold, midnight wind played through the air surrounding the fire, enveloping it with darkness until it was all snuffed out. A cold smirk once more appearing on his features GranDracmon reached downwards, paying no mind to Taka-chan's continued struggles and teeth assaults on his hand and grabbed hold of Noriko, hauling her upwards into the air until she was eye level with him, giving her a first hand glimpse of the rage that burned within his shining eyes, tempered back only by a deep rooted need that was at his black heart.

"How commendable you are," said GranDracmon in a low, dangerous voice. "Risking yourself for a creature that had caused harm to you. Such a light that burns within you. I can see why it is that Lucemon has become so attached to you. Not to worry though. That light will be quenched soon enough."

GranDracmon turned his gaze over to Taka-chan, who was glaring at him with the darkest expression that Noriko had ever seen on the face of a child. Taka-chan snarled and strained against his prison, but still found himself unable to break free.

"Bearer of the Digital Hazard…tell me, how does it feel to know that it will be because of you that this girl will lose everything that she is?"

As GranDracmon said this his thumb traced a path up Taka-chan's chest and the boy recoiled at its touch even though there was nowhere he could go to where he could escape. The contact however, strangely enough, did serve to restore some semblance of rationality to Taka-chan's mind.

"Rrrrww-wha…what do you mean?"

"The Digital Hazard of course. The power that you have contained within you; marked on your very body as a sign of its presence. A naturally occurring glitch in the digital world that occasionally finds its way into the code of digimon. Gather enough of it and it grants you power; more power then most digimon on a given level. Even more and it causes certain distortions to occur, either in the individual or its surroundings, if not both at the same time. Once, there had

been enough that it created a digimon…one that had to be sealed away because it had been so dangerous and so powerful that it threatened a collapse of the entire digital world. That seal was broken and now…well, I'll let you connect the dots from there. The point is you hold within you the power of ruination. In order to bring out your maximum potential, and I don't mean that crude creature called Megidramon, you will need to be merged fully with a human. It just so happens that we have one handy that you're already connected with. I don't feel however that she'll survive the evolution process, but that's easily solved with the power of _Death X Evolution._ You'll have to tell me how it feels to have a living corpse making up your digi-core…"

Fear flashed through Noriko's mind. And judging from the expression on Taka-chan's face, she could tell that he was absolutely petrified by the thought as well.

"No…" Taka-chan whispered. "Nononononono…"

"Sorry. You don't get a choice in the matter."

_"NOOO!"_

A crimson light suddenly burst forth from the center of Taka-chan's body and a red hazard symbol appeared on his chest. His form began to warp and change, expanding in size as the red aura enveloped the child. Smoke hissed from GranDracmon's hand and with a grimace of pain he released his hold on the child. Taka-chan, now released from his restraints fell towards the earth, impacting it with tremendous force and blasting away the last remnants of the campfire that he and Noriko had shared. GranDracmon and Noriko watched intently as the dust and smoke began to settle, waiting for the boy to reveal himself.

They didn't have to wait for very long.

Twin red lights burned within the smoke's embrace and a flurry of blue swept through the air, blowing away the last of the smoke, revealing a tall knight-like figure garbed in gray and black armor with blue highlights on his shoulder, elbow, ankle, knee guards and visor. With one last elegant motion of his right hand the dark digimon fastened a blue colored cape to his shoulders and then lowered both of his arms to his side. Fingers opened and closed in short, flexing motions before morphing into a long lance and a large, gray shield with a darkened sun logo engraved on its surface. Glowing red eyes turned up towards GranDracmon before dying down to reveal golden irises. GranDracmon chuckled.

"So…the light of the Dreamer still shines through even when its soul has been darkened. And such a small light it is too, but light is light regardless of what form it takes. I wonder, did Noriko bring that out of you or did a piece of the Matsuki Tamer still manage to thrive in you and grow as you did, _ChaosGallantmon._ "

The knight silently raised its lance, aiming it directly at GranDracmon's face while pulling his shield away from his body, pointing it behind him so that its surface was not visible to GranDracmon. The demon scoffed at him as lightning crackled around the tip of the lance.

"I have the child and yet you desire to match me in _single combat?!_ I am not like you knights, child. I have no compunction about using her as a shield. She would still serve my purposes regardless of her state of being."

"You're forgetting one thing though," said ChaosGallantmon in a voice that sounded to Noriko like icebergs crashing and grinding against each other. "I'm not a knight."

Changing his targets, ChaosGallantmon pointed his lance down towards the ground where he stood and jumped upwards, firing off a _Demon's Disaster_ as he did so, kicking up more smoke and dirt that billowed up into the air, obscuring his path of flight. Narrowing his eyes GranDracmon searched the area for his opponent while increasing his hold on Noriko.

_Where is he…?_ GranDracmon began before a blue, glowing shield appeared in front of his face.

_"Judecca Prison,"_ boomed ChaosGallantmon flatly before azure energy leapt forth from his shield and slammed into GranDracmon's face at point blank range, sending his body rocketing backwards while his hand released his hold on Noriko. Twisting rapidly in midair and dismissing his weapons ChaosGallantmon grabbed hold of the flailing girl's body, making sure to be as gentle as possible so that she wasn't harmed in any way before plummeting back towards the ground and executing an aerial back flip to reorient himself. The earth trembled as his armored body came to a halt, smashing his feet into its surface.

"Are you all right?" Asked ChaosGallantmon in a voice that echoed of Taka-chan, only far more mature then that of his child self. Noriko slowly and carefully, still somewhat stunned by what had happened, lowered herself to the ground before looking up at her rescuer, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Um…well…uh, you're not exactly a knight in shining armor but all things considered I think I can live with that."

Before ChaosGallantmon could even reply a roar of pure rage tore through the air and a beam of radiant energy surged outwards, slamming into ChaosGallantmon's body. A cry erupted from ChaosGallantmon this time as his body impacted fully with the ground, just barely missing Noriko as she scrambled backwards. Pained gasps of breath escaped the dark knight's mouth guard as before Noriko's horrified eyes a shimmering ice-like growth marched along his body, enveloping him entirely within the span of a few seconds until all he was appeared as a crystalline statue.

"No," Noriko gasped as she shoved her hands onto the now crystallized helm. "Taka-chan!"

"Heh, heh," laughed GranDracmon as his thunderous footsteps told the young girl of his approach. "Crystal Revolution. I simply enjoy making trophies of my adversaries."

"How could you?" Noriko asked in a trembling voice, panic quickly beginning to fill her mind as her hands shook on their position against the fallen knight's face.

"Yes GranDracmon," called out a new voice before the demon could even reply, this one easily recognizable to both parties. "How could you?"

A light burst forth from the darkness, drowning out the shadows and driving them back until the form of Lucemon stood revealed, hovering in the air with his arms folded across his chest and his sapphire eyes piercing through the falling night, sparkling like chips of ice.

"How could you _survive_ that is? After your encounter with Beowulfmon and Loewemon…"

"They even combined are nothing compared to one such as I, who have also walked in the light once before lest you forget. In either case, it is not I who am responsible for my continued existence, as I am not the real GranDracmon. We've had this conversation already Lucemon. I am what you took with you even through your purification; the code of my voice that refuses to leave you alone even though you've been redeemed."

Lucemon tilted his head to one side before shaking it.

"I refuse to believe that a creature such as you is _ever_ a part of me…"

"That's what you said before…back when you first met me. All it took was for you to listen but once however and you fell…"

"I am not here to discuss the past! I am here to protect my charge, and to extract retribution while I'm at it."

GranDracmon lowered his hands to his sides, black lightning crackling around his finger tips.

"We've already danced to this song once before. Do you need a repeat in your lesson?"

"I have learned the steps this time," said Lucemon as he closed his eyes and brought his hands up in front of his chest, crossing them together. The air warped around him until a facsimile of the solar system materialized in front of him. His eyes snapping open the blonde haired angel threw his arms outward and sent the multitude of planets with their central star, all aligned into a cross shooting towards their target.

_"Grand Cross!"_

"Pitiful," muttered GranDracmon as he raised one hand into the air. A wall of black energy materialized in front of him. "I had expected more from you."

The cross impacted with the dark shield, throwing light and fire across it. GranDracmon did not look in the least bit concerned however. He, or rather his master, had faced Lucemon in all of his forms. He had more then enough experience to handle the…

_"Divine Feat!"_

GranDracmon gritted his teeth to keep himself from crying out in pain as he felt the very _essence_ of light suddenly sear its way into his body and into the corners of his soul. Swiftly turning around the demon lashed out with his right hand charged with dark electricity, attempting to swat the annoying gnat of an angel. Lucemon, bearing a long cruciform sword shaped out of light dodged the blow with a satisfied smile on his face. It was then that GranDracmon realized that his earlier _Grand Cross_ attack had merely been a diversion from his actual strike.

_He circled around as soon as I raised that barrier._

A dark smirk drew up on the corners of GranDracmon's mouth.

_Clever angel…_

* * *

Noriko hammered her fists on the ice prison of ChaosGallantmon, trying to break through and forcing herself to ignore the pain that she felt with each blow.

"Taka-chan! _Taka-chan!_ You've got to wake up! You've got to…ah!"

Noriko gave a cry of surprise as a hand came to rest on her shoulder and gently pulled her backwards. Noriko's eyes widened as her gaze fell upon a female angel wearing aquamarine armor and golden, metallic wings. Before she knew it, memories flooded into her mind and a name came to her lips in recognition.

"Ophanimon…"

The angelic woman grimaced but shook her head.

"Not quite, but it's nice to see that your bond with Lucemon is still strong enough for you to remember what he does. I can help him though." The Ophanimon gestured towards ChaosGallantmon's crystalline form with her head. Noriko blinked, unsure what it was that the angel meant by what she had just said about _bond with Lucemon_ and _not quite being Ophanimon,_ but having heard that she was able to provide aid to Taka-chan the young girl's eyes became hopeful.

"Can you?"

"This form does have it's… _advantages._ Let's just leave it at that. Now stand back."

Unconsciously obeying the angelic woman Noriko stepped back as a soft glow began to appear around Ophanimon's body. Reaching out towards the fallen knight Ophanimon laid her hands upon his head and the light extended itself over ChaosGallantmon. The light grew in intensity and data particles began to float into the air while the form of ChaosGallantmon began to shrink and recede. Tense moments passed as Noriko looked on until the light died down, revealing Taka-chan nestled comfortably in Ophanimon's arms, in his human form once more.

"Only one last thing to take care of now," said Ophanimon as she laid the small boy down on the ground.

A wave of black energy suddenly surged over the female angel throwing her to the ground and knocking over Noriko as well. Looking up Noriko saw that GranDracmon was towering over them, one hand clinging onto the limp body of Lucemon. Making a _tsking_ sound the demonic digimon tossed the angel to the side almost disdainfully before reaching down and picking up Taka-chan. Noriko made one final, desperate attempt to grab onto the boy but missed his hand as he was pulled upwards. Falling back down to the ground Noriko could only watch as GranDracmon held Taka-chan aloft in one hand, and the other hovering menacingly over his body.

"This child is too pure, ironic as that is. He has too many connections, _especially_ to the Dreamer. His dark knight form would be useless to me, as would the Hazard if it remained in him. Fortunately, I have a way around that…"

GranDracmon's hand glowed a crimson red and the sound of Taka-chan screaming tore through the night air. At it Noriko was on her feet and rushing forwards, determined to do whatever she could to stop GranDracmon from whatever it was that he planned to do, even if she had no idea how she was going to do that.

She didn't notice the sound of clicking or beeping in her ears until she saw the burning light coming from her chest.

_Wha…?_

* * *

Lucemon groaned as he pushed himself up on his hands, straining against the pain that he felt pounding within his body. He had expected to be defeated. Even with the power of the Digital Hazard aiding his already superb strength; even with his type advantage over GranDracmon he was still three levels beneath the demon. And although Lucemon's power surpassed the great Seraphimon, GranDracmon was on a whole different level of his own.

_After all, GranDracmon is rumored to be the creator of the Dark Ocean,_ thought Lucemon as he coughed up some digital blood from his mouth. _Still, I lasted longer this time around. I could have been taken down a lot more quickly if I didn't play things the way I did, using my smaller size and superior speed to get around his abilities. That doesn't change the fact that he's stronger,_ far _stronger then I am, and with a lot more staying power at his disposal. Not to mention experience._

Lucemon was broken out of his thoughts as he heard the sound of a child screaming in pain. Recognizing the owner's voice as the true form of BlackGuilmon, the shadow of the 'Great Beast' that he had first pursued and bearer of the Digital Hazard he brought his head up just in time to see a black orb with a pulsating, blood red symbol of the Digital Hazard emblazoned on its surface, tear free from the boy's chest as he let loose one last, horrifying cry. And what was more Lucemon heard that cry intermingle with Noriko's as she ran towards GranDracmon.

He wouldn't ever remember when it was that he had first moved, when his wings granted him mastery over the forces of gravity as they beat upon the air. All that mattered at this moment in time was that he put a stop to GranDracmon before anything else happened. Before he could get away with the Hazard…before he could bring harm to Noriko.

A light bloomed around Lucemon's body and words involuntarily emerged from the angel's lips as he flew towards the demon. He felt a rush of power flow through his body as it began to lengthen, growing a bit more muscular and mature in appearance. The golden locks of his hair grew and spilled down his back in between twelve wings, one side birdlike while the other side molted, revealing the smooth, curved, bat-like wings hidden beneath. His clothes didn't change much during the transformation, and retained their simple, robe like quality while adding a fringe of black to its edges. His face lost its child-like composure, becoming more adult-like with the look of well earned wisdom glowing in those azure depths of his eyes. A short, neatly trimmed, golden beard materialized on his chin, completing the transformation for all to see.

"LUCEMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…LUCEMON! BALANCE MODE!"

Breaking free of the shell of data that had materialized around him, Lucemon brought his hands forward, gold, rune engraved bands surrounding his wrists burning with a blinding light. GranDracmon, sensing his digivolution turned towards him.

He didn't get a chance to defend himself.

_"Harmonious Dichotomy!"_

Twin spheres of light and darkness, glowing in time with the twelve demon and angel wings on his back appeared in the palms of his hands. Bringing the two spheres together, a blast of raw lightning burst forth from their epicenter, impacting with GranDracmon before he could even defend himself. Narrowing his concentration the newly christened Lucemon Balance Mode extended the energy across GranDracmon's body, shattering and breaking the field of data that made up the demon's body, ignoring the screams of the master of darkness until finally nothing more then dark shards of data particles could be seen rising into the air while a limp, child-like body was falling through the air.

Not even hesitating Lucemon dove towards the falling body, intent on saving it before it could even hit the ground.

And in the light of victory, came the shadow of the turnaround.

A black figure suddenly appeared directly in front of Lucemon, forcing him to draw up short. The figure was shrouded with a dark aura alternating between black and purple with ghostly white eyes glowing within. A long, thin scar of a mouth sat beneath those eyes, and in spite of himself Lucemon could not repress a shudder.

_What manner of beast is this?_ Wondered the angelic digimon before brushing the thought out of his mind. _Never mind that. Just get around it and save the child before he…_

Faster then Lucemon could blink a black, clawed hand burst forth from the darkness, wrapped in spiraling rings of energy and stabbed itself into Lucemon's chest. His eyes bulged in their sockets as he felt pain flare up in his body. The white scar of a mouth curved upwards into a smile as its owner jerked its hand outwards, revealing a blue sphere with a red hazard symbol on it. Lucemon's eyes followed it into the darkness that covered his attacker and noticed a second crimson hazard sign beating within the shadow's embrace.

_He retrieved the first Hazard…_ thought Lucemon as he felt his energy beginning to leave him. Gravity soon enough pulled at his body with its harsh tugs and brought him crashing down to earth with a sickening crack.

* * *

_I have what I came for at long last,_ thought Oni as he flew down to the ground, completely ignoring the slowly disappearing form of Lucemon as he lay prostrate on the ground within a crater of his own making. His eyes scanned the area around him until they lighted upon the form of a tall, female angel touching down to earth with the inert body of a young, brown haired boy. And next to them, was Noriko Nakata, looking at Oni with shocked eyes.

_Still one last thing to take care of though. Poor child. This just hasn't been your day has it? Not to worry. It will all be over soon. You'll be back home and you won't ever have to worry about being troubled by such situations ever again. You have my word on it._

The angelic woman, an Ophanimon if he remembered correctly, set her charge down on the ground gently. It irked him that the creature had to look so human…so helpless _and_ human at this time. He had to remind himself that that _beast_ wasn't in the least bit human. That it deserved its fate…just as _all_ digimon deserved the fate that he was about to visit upon them and their precious digital world.

"It's time to end this farce," said Oni as he brought the two Hazard spheres together, melding them as one. Black and red lightning sparked from their contact and lashed out, shattering the world around them and reducing it to a blue haze…

* * *

Noriko opened her eyes slowly. Her first thought being of the cold that she felt touching her bare skin before sighting on the unmoving forms of Lucemon and a black colored dragon floating next to her in a blue, shimmering void. In her exhaustion filled mind Noriko didn't have enough sense to notice that she was currently naked.

"Not quite how I planned this," spoke up a smooth, dark voice. Following its source Noriko felt herself gasp as her gaze fell upon a spindly, black figure with hand-like wings sticking out of its back, cruel, white colored eyes, clawed hands and feet with two antennae sticking out of its head, and a thin white mouth. In one hand it held a smooth sphere of alternating blue and black, with a crimson hazard symbol pulsing on its surface like a heartbeat.

"All things considered though," continued the creature, "I have what I need. The Hazard, and the human that I came in search for. Although I'm more then a little bit surprised that _you_ survived the destruction of that dream world."

Noriko's red eyes followed the creature's eye line, coming to rest on the tranquil angelic figure of a tall female, covered in aquamarine colored armor and carrying a lance and shield in each hand.

"I have my layers," the angel replied in a monotone voice. "As do you I'm sure. One thing is for certain, I cannot let you leave here."

"Oh? And who are you to stop me? I don't know who you are, but you're not what you appear to be. You're not a digimon so what are you? You can't be a human. You don't feel… _complete_ enough for that. It's as if you're just a shade."

"I wish I knew," said the angel as she hefted her lance and pointed it at the dark creature. "But I can't let you complete your task either way."

The dark creature merely _hmmphed_ at the angel and raised the sphere that he held in his hand. A bolt of crimson lightning lanced out and struck the angelic woman full force. Data burst from her body as she was sent flying backwards. For an instant, Noriko was struck by a sense of confusion as she noticed that the woman's size appeared to shrink with the destruction of her armor and wings, but her mind, addled as it was by fatigue could do little more then think on that oddity rather then remind her of the situation that she was in.

She did however notice the strange, black colored dress that had replaced the armor and white flowing gown that had made up her original clothes, a surprising contrast to what she had seen before.

Noriko cried in pain as she felt a clawed hand grab hold of her neck suddenly and jerk her away from the black dragon and Lucemon.

" _We_ are getting out of here," hissed the dark creature in a tone that sounded as though there was panic held within…panic and _fear_ , but before Noriko could focus on anything and bring herself to full wakefulness she was once more pulled roughly away from the scene in front of her, and her view of the world was soon replaced by another.

* * *

In the blue void a young girl with blonde hair, part of which was tied into a single pig tail while the rest flowed freely in the air with a torn hair tie snarled within its lengths, looked up. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly as she watched Oni and his captive disappear, vanishing altogether from the seal that surrounded them. The young girl took a moment to ponder about this recent development before she brushed off her battered and torn black colored dress.

"Nuts," Alice McCoy quietly cursed in the silence that filled the void.


	82. 81: Lumin de Lumine

"Let me… _go!"_ Shouted Noriko as she finally came to her senses and began flailing about in mid-air, struggling to break free from her dark, demonic captor. While she gathered that doing so rated pretty high in the un-smart department due to the fact that the black, winged creature could fly and easily get around in the zero gravity environment that they were in just being in contact with said creature awoke instincts in her that she didn't know that she had and she madly fought and clawed to escape its grasp.

"Stop struggling," grated Oni as his grasp on her neck became that much firmer, forcing a scream of pain and panic to erupt from Noriko's mouth and she lashed out with one foot reflexively, smashing it into the demon's side, just below where the rib cage would be located in a normal human being. Although Oni was _far_ from being a 'normal' human being, let alone human period, the girl's last minute attack did have the effect of eliciting a grunt of surprise from him and caused him to let go. Taking hold of the opportunity as best as she could Noriko began pumping her bare arms in a swim stroke manner, pushing away from Oni at a pace that was almost unbearably slow.

"Get back here!" Growled Oni as he flapped his wings and flew towards her, one clawed hand extended to seize hold of her.

"Stay _away_ _from me!"_ Shouted Noriko as she instinctively twisted in mid air, bringing her leg up against her pursuer and smashing her kneecap into the side of Oni's face. Oni again grunted from the impact but this time he was prepared for it. Oni grabbed hold of Noriko's leg and began reeling her towards him like a fish on a line.

"Enough of that," Oni hissed angrily. "I am _not_ trying to hurt you. I came here to _save you_ as well as to return you home! Now if you would be so kind as to _stop resisting_ and allow me the time to do that…"

Suddenly a shot of blue energy rocketed towards him, impacting with the wrist holding the young girl, causing Oni to shout in pain and surprise electricity danced through the appendage and forced him to again let go of Noriko who once more began swimming away from him in her desperate bid to escape from his presence. Growling in frustration at having been interrupted Oni looked up to see who his attacker had been, half expecting it to be Lucemon, BlackGuilmon, or even worse, the ghost of the human girl known as _the Messenger._

Oni's eyes widened in surprise as he saw that it was neither of those three that was now approaching him with electric fire dancing at the tips of its blue cables.

_The Seal… Oh shit! I forgot about that!_

No sooner then had Oni completed that thought then the sphere of cables and wires unwrap and uncoil themselves from around each other, spreading open and wide like a pinecone before transforming into an intricate web that constantly flowed around and into itself. Cables moved towards the demonic entity, seeking to entrap him within their grasp before delivering the coupe de grace and reclaim the treasure that he held in one hand; the pulsating blue and black sphere with the glowing crimson hazard sign on its surface.

Unbeknownst to Oni, a tendril of darkness flickered beneath the hazard sign before disappearing back into its murky shadows.

_The Hazard…I cannot allow it to be taken again. Not after sacrificing everything that I have for the destruction of the digital world. My existence as a Digignome; the X Digimon_ _rebellion; Argus and the Ten Legendary Warriors…even…even if I must sacrifice Nori…no. No! I…I cannot! I came here to rescue her and obtain the Hazard. If the digital world's destruction must be delayed in order for her to return home safely I must…_

Oni didn't have time to finish his line of thought as the azure seal program fired a hailstorm of blue energy towards him, seeking to destroy him and everything in its way in order to prevent the loss of the Digital Hazard.

_Awww…nuts!_ Thought Oni as he threw up a sphere of darkness around himself and Noriko to protect them from the oncoming attack.

* * *

Noriko continued swimming despite the blackness that had materialized around her, fear settling in rather heavily in her mind from everything that was going on around her and she sought to find a way to escape from it as quickly as possible. She didn't have a clue as to what was going on now; the shock of her waking up, separated from the two digimon that she had shared her body with for so long now, and finding herself the sudden target of a creature that looked like it had come out of a nightmare was far too much for her to absorb in such a short amount of time. All she knew was that the demonic entity that had appeared to take her home like some kind of deranged, avenging angel frightened her in ways that she couldn't begin to describe except for the chill that ran down her back. After that, there only seemed to be one thing to do. Get away…as fast as she can.

Unfortunately, a barrier that she found herself hitting prevented her from making good on that attempt.

_Wha…? What is thi…?_

The sounds of something striking the barrier that surrounded her drowned out Noriko's thoughts. Frantically Noriko's eyes threw themselves about, searching for some way to escape the prison that she suddenly found herself in. Her hopes were quickly dashed as they encountered nothing more then darkness surrounding her on every side…with Oni's ghostly white eyes and smile being her only company.

"Don't worry," the creature assured her in a soft, smooth voice that made Noriko's skin crawl. "Everything will be all right. You have my word on it."

_Oh gods,_ thought Noriko despairingly.

* * *

Lucemon, now returned to his child form, struggled to open his eyes. Throughout his many long years and two separate lifetimes, he had always been a digimon of great power, his strength having been noted as to passing that of Seraphimon despite the vast difference in level and, at this point in his life, experience. Much of this had to do with his mastery over the powers of light that were at his disposal, and his high ranking as an angel which were signified by the twelve wings that decorated his body. And then there was of course the Digital Hazard that was imprinted on his left hand, a powerful force that went far beyond the many powers that inhabited the digital world simply because of the destructive warping affect that it had, and very few were ever able to utilize such forces with any degree of success, and to date only two digimon and their assorted evolution lines had been able to do so. Lucemon himself was one of them, and the other was a Royal Knight of wholly untapped potential; a knight that he himself destroyed not too long ago…twice.

And yet, for some unexplained reason, for all of his strength and power; power that had made him a legend even among the most highest in standing, Lucemon found that performing the act of opening his eyes took more strength then he had ever thought possible. With a pained groan the angelic digimon cracked his eyes open to the blue void around him, and silently took note of the mass of blue wires and cables that were surging past him, aiming for some as yet unseen target.

_Strange…_ thought Lucemon rather distantly, the thought echoing throughout the corners of his mind and he felt himself drift a little. His eyes began to sag shut but he forced them to stay open. Fighting against the urge to let his eyes droop Lucemon turned his head to one side and took stock of the situation.

There was a large, gaping hole in his chest, and shards of data were bleeding from it in small rivulet's, drifting up into the air in a lazy fashion. The hole was also gradually expanding...slowly, and the angel's left arm phased slightly, taking on a static like appearance before returning to normal. Glancing down towards the appendage, Lucemon noticed that the same thing that was happening to his chest was also happening to his arm, only without the existence of a hole. The whole arm remained intact, though somewhat blurry and disfigured by what was most likely fractured data. It was pretty easy to see what had caused it too.

There was a complete and total absence of a Digital Hazard sign on his left hand.

_Interesting,_ thought Lucemon in a detached fashion as he raised his head back up towards the mass of cables and wires that were speeding through the air. He wondered what they were. He had a vague recollection of having seen them before, but for the life of him, what little there was left, he could not recall when he had done so. The memory, much like the matter of his disintegrating body, had lost all sense of importance to him.

_I must be pretty far gone,_ thought Lucemon as he closed his eyes to the world around him. _Normally I would have at least some concern about what is happening to me…and to…Noriko…_

An image of a crimson eyed, dark haired girl flashed through Lucemon's mind, and though the memory of Noriko Nakata felt distant, even more distant then the connection that the angel had with his own body, it still called up a _need_ for action in him that prompted a reopening of his eyes. Taking another look around him, Lucemon noticed that Noriko wasn't there at all; wasn't even close in fact. In fact, the only being that was even remotely close to him was that of a small, brown haired boy that he recognized all too well as the _Dark Child;_ the essence of the _Great Beast_ that he had been hunting since the unleashing of the Digital Hazard upon the digital world. And yet…seeing the boy floating there with him in the void, his body fading in and out of view like his own was doing right now and pressed up against him, clinging tightly to his right arm, Lucemon saw a different perspective to the child.

_You're so much different from what I thought you were,_ thought Lucemon, remembering those occasions that he had met the young _Takato Matsuki_ during their time together with Noriko in her mind. He had expected to see something much darker and horrific…something more along the lines of Megidramon or a similar such creature, and was quite surprised to see him as being completely different. Young, perhaps owing to his recent birth into the real world, quick to anger as well as to sorrow and sometimes so lost in those two emotions that all he could do was merely react to the source of his torment in a violent manner in an effort to get it to leave him alone.

The child shifted slightly against Lucemon's body and murmured quietly to himself before he shuddered. Static appeared over him and for an instant Lucemon could see through Taka-chan's body. Upon his stabilization Taka-chan clung all the more tightly to Lucemon, but as yet he made no effort to awaken from his slumber the way Lucemon had, a sign of the sheer amount of exhaustion that taxed him.

_Poor child,_ thought Lucemon and for the first time since he had entered the real world, he truly regretted his actions that led to events turning out the way that they had and the affects that they had on so many lives, both human and otherwise.

_But surely there's something that I can do to change that…isn't there?_ Wondered Lucemon as he took in a long, shaky breath. _I can't be that far gone where I'll be unable to help those in need…am I?_

_Noriko…where's Noriko…?_

"I've…got to get moving…" muttered Lucemon beneath his breath. However, while the spirit was willing the body was most certainly betraying him. One wing fluttered weakly and then became silent, refusing to move any more while the rest remained dead to the world. Even his arms and legs did not so much as twitch, and soon enough Lucemon's eyes began to close shut once more.

_Blast,_ thought Lucemon as he threw the remnants of his will relentlessly against the insurmountable fate that was coming upon him. He could feel it. He knew that it was coming. His death. He could feel the bonds between his data weakening…slipping away from each other and from the moorings that connected them to his digi-core.

_I've…I've got to do something…I can't…let it…end…like…th…i…i…s… …_

And it was at that precise moment, that Lucemon could have sworn that he felt a soft voice asking him if that was truly what he wanted.

And Lucemon, even though he didn't know to what or who that voice belonged to, answered 'yes'.

* * *

_Come on, come on…_

Alice struggled to hold onto the last vestiges of the Ophanimon data that Oni had blasted off of her body so that she could maintain use of some of its powers, a job that was made easier by the fact that there remained a spatial disturbance from the strange, disintegrating dream world warping the air around her but its affects were rapidly dispersing and as a result her control was literally slipping away from her hands. As Lucemon's body disintegrated before her eyes Alice raised one gauntlet covered hand, data streaming from around the area of her wrists as she did so, and narrowed her eyes as she brought her concentration to a needle fine point. White light surrounded the destroyed angel's data as it began to separate from each other. For an instant, the data around her hands broke apart and began to fragment, and the light that contained Lucemon's data faltered. As the shards from the former angel's body began to escape into the void a memory came to the girl's mind of her long lost companion, Dobermon, as he gave his life to enable the Tamers to biomerge in the real world and she clamped down on the data with her mind, netting it together with one final burst of light.

_Not this time,_ thought the blond haired, gothic Lolita styled girl as the data shards collapsed down into a small sphere. Alice breathed a sigh of relief as she saw this, but she knew that unless she was able to carry out what she had in mind to save these two digimon her actions would be for naught.

_I wish my grandfather were here,_ thought Alice as she unconsciously brought her arm across her forehead, thinking of the red haired computer programmer who was one of those responsible for the creation of the artificial life forms known as digimon. _He knows a lot more about this sort of thing then I do even if he did his best to teach me before I…well, never mind. That's not important right now. I'm here, he's not and that's all that matters. I have to be able to do this if that girl is to have any chance of getting out of here alive._

The ball of light that she held aloft in her hand pulsed once as though in response to the girl's thoughts, anxious to get moving even though it no longer had a body that it could use to function. Alice frowned at it.

"Don't be so impatient," she told the ball in a slight no-nonsense voice. "I'll get to it. But this is a delicate procedure. You know that even better then I do."

The ball pulsed but once before dimming. Seeing this, Alice's frown deepened for an instant before putting her mind back to the task at hand. Reaching out, Alice placed one gauntlet covered hand on the cheek of the small boy who had now curled into a fetal position. The gauntlet burst into broken fragments of data, sailing past Alice's face but she ignored it for the time being. She still had the other one, and as long as she had that, she could complete her task.

"Taka…Takato," she spoke in a soft voice, trying to awaken the small child as best as she could. The boy shuddered and groaned as his body blurred once more and Alice, her buttons already pushed to their limit, grimaced as she felt herself tense up. She forced herself to remain calm though, as she knew that was her best bet at getting to the heart of the boy who floated in the air in front of her.

Alice took a deep breath and closed her light cerulean eyes and steadied herself. Recalling her training and centering her soul Alice reopened her eyes and reached out for Taka-chan with her mind and heart, her eyes piercing into the epicenter of the child, seeking out the true part of him that remained open no matter what changes it went through, how many bodies it inhabited, or what form it took.

_Even if it's a little fragmented right now,_ thought Alice distractedly before she spoke again.

"Takato Matsuki," Alice said, her voice ringing clear and true in the void around them, blotting out the sounds of battle that echoed upon the air. The boy's body continued to blur, and began to transform into static for a moment until it stabilized once more.

"Yes?" The boy spoke, his tone surprisingly calm and mature despite what was happening around them, and Alice gave a small smile upon hearing it. It told her that she had found what she was looking for and had reached it.

_An advantage that people like me have,_ thought Alice to herself. _We see things and can touch things that no one else can. Or so I've been told._

Time seemed to hang still for a moment as the boy slowly began to uncurl himself from his fetal position. His hoodie briefly changed colors from black to blue before resettling back on black as his crimson irises met with her azure ones.

_That little bit of light still shines in him. I just hope that it finds its way back to its true master before too long._

"Takato…the Digital Hazard has been removed from your body and because of that you won't be able to hold yourself together for much longer. The same is true for Lucemon," Alice gestured with the hand that still held the sphere of light and it pulsed in response, "and because of the way his Hazard has been removed even he won't be able to hold on."

The young, black shirted Takato simply tilted his head to one side and a look of tired confusion settled over his features.

"I…I don't…understand," the boy wheezed.

Alice sighed mentally in frustration.

_I can see why that girl calls him a 'Gogglehead' even if they're practically two separate people right now…_

_But then again, this is definitely bigger then what he's experienced so far. I know I was a little bit confused when I was first told about this._

A loud scream tore through the air, catching both of their attentions and even getting a fearful, and rather energetic reaction from Taka-chan despite his exhausted appearance.

"Big sis…" Taka-chan responded weakly before coughing.

"Noriko," Alice added with a nod before raising an eyebrow at Taka-chan's choice of identification.

_That may be the key. Weird though. I wonder what happened between those two that got that from this guy. Last I checked he didn't seem all that favorably disposed towards her. He even shot her and loaded her data just so that he could get back to the real world!_

Setting such thoughts aside for later consideration Alice looked at Taka-chan fully in the eye, and he looked back at her with an expression that appeared almost… _expectant._ Almost as though he were silently asking her for help but was too weak to say the words.

"Takato. Right now you and Lucemon are dying, and Noriko is in trouble. I can't do anything as I am right now, and neither can Lucemon. _You_ are the only one who can do something. Only you have what's necessary to help her. But you can't do that without help for yourself. You…"

"What do I need to do?" Mumbled Taka-chan as he fought with his eyelids desire to slide shut. Alice blinked at the interruption before looking at her gauntlet. Cracks had appeared all along its surface. It wouldn't be long now…

_Too short a time,_ thought Alice. _I may not have a choice left. I…_

Suddenly Lucemon's data burst free from its confines and Alice nearly yelled in horror and anger at the sudden and unexpected loss. _Nearly_ being the key word here as much to her own surprise the data, instead of floating up into the air twisted and poured itself around the silver crucifix that hung around the blond girl's neck, giving it a bright glow. Alice blinked in surprise for a moment before lifting her hands to the cross's necklace. After a moment's pause Alice pulled it off from around her neck and looked at Taka-chan.

_Thank you Lucemon,_ thought Alice, taking in some measure of irony from the former digimon's actions. Pausing to rub the boy's hair with one hand Alice raised the necklace around his head and slipped it on.

"Make a choice," Alice said, her voice barely above a whisper as the cross touched down on Taka-chan's chest. Light bloomed out from it a second later, engulfing the void of space in its intensity.

* * *

Taka-chan opened his eyes in a blackness-filled void. It was something that he was already very familiar with, and wholly it depressed him upon seeing it again.

_Nothing's changed,_ thought Taka-chan as unbidden a ghost of a memory floated past him, transported by a dark fog-like haze that swirled around his feet. It was one that he knew _very_ well. One that he had lived with all his life in fact. A white and red colored knight falling before the power of a twelve winged, blonde haired angel. The fight where Gallantmon had died and from which the creature known as BlackGuilmon would soon find life.

"This one torments you a lot doesn't it?" Spoke a voice from the darkness. His eyes snapping upwards, Taka-chan's gaze settled squarely on Lucemon, now standing directly in front of him.

"What are you doing here?!" Taka-chan demanded as he jerked back reflexively. Lucemon's blue eyes hardened as he followed the boy's path.

"I would have thought that it was obvious. Your older counterpart would know this place for what it is. It's where minds and souls meet. The Hazard Tamer has been here twice before when he wrestled with some great difficulty. It's where he first digivolved Growlmon to WarGrowlmon, and then later biomerged with his partner to create the Royal Knight known as Gallantmon."

"But…you weren't there for that," stammered Taka-chan, confused. "And if you were, then why did you…?"

"I did what I did then because, as you so rightly pointed out, I wasn't there for it. However, I have shared your mind for a while now. Your memories are readily available to me just as mine are to you. The difference is I was aware of that and you weren't."

"Oh…so…why are you here?"

Lucemon cocked his head, hesitating for the briefest of moments.

"Because, like your creator we both have an issue to work out. The issue of my actions that led to your birth. And of course, your place in the grand scheme of things now that your Tamer has rediscovered his bond with his first creation. A bond that you were never meant to fill or replace."

Taka-chan flinched at those words, but in his heart he knew that they were true. He had been a mistake; a being born from a lonely boy's desire to bring his companion back from the dead.

Lucemon frowned seeing the boy's stricken face.

"I'm sorry. I know that was not what you wanted to hear…"

"No. It's…" Taka-chan sighed. "…I guess…it's what I was meant to hear anyway. I always knew that. I just didn't want to accept it."

_But now I don't have a place to be,_ thought Taka-chan as his eyes became downcast.

"I would also like to apologize," continued Lucemon with a nod of his head, "for my actions from before. For my hunting you and causing you harm. I had thought that you were something that you weren't, and in my rash actions I disregarded what you actually were. You are not the monster that I believed you to be, and for that I am deeply sorry."

Taka-chan tilted his head to one side.

_Monster?_

"That girl from earlier said something about making a choice though. What does this have to do with anything? What does this have to do with Noriko?"

"I just…feel that it is necessary to apologize. Whether you accept it or not is your choice. However, as a being who also shares a bond with Noriko, I implore you to do whatever you can to save her and protect her regardless of any feelings of animosity that you feel towards me. She is innocent in my actions towards you."

"Um…" Taka-chan simply felt confused. "… 'Kay. I would have done so anyway. She…" Taka-chan looked down and ground one toe into the dark ground beneath him, a slight redness crossing his cheeks as he did so. "…she helped me when I was down…even though she didn't have a reason to do that. I'd do anything to repay the favor. I'm just not sure that I can do it alone. There's an awful lot going on out there and that scary guy's got her in something dark. I don't like _dark."_

A small smile grew on Lucemon's face.

"If you'll have me, I can help you with that."

Taka-chan's face lit up as he looked at the angelic digimon expectantly.

"Really?"

"Yes. The darkness and I are on _very_ familiar terms. There's little that it has that can surprise me or frighten me. But…will you let me help you?"

Taka-chan bobbed his head up and down exuberantly.

"Yeah! You got it! Anything to save big sis!"

Lucemon stretched out one hand towards Taka-chan and the young boy took it without question. A light flowed from the point of contact and enveloped their two bodies as words involuntarily came to their lips.

* * *

_The seal hammered relentlessly upon the shell of darkness that continued to resist its efforts to reclaim its charge. How this was possible the seal wasn't sure, but it did know that it had to make contact before the intruder could escape. It had already made various scans of the barrier that held it back. While it had proven to be highly resistant to the X-Virus that it had garnered from the various digital life forms that had infested the digital plain of the communications network, its normal attacks were proving to be far more affective. A crack had now appeared in the shell. Soon enough the chink in the proverbial and literal armor would be broken and all would be as it was once more. The data anomaly would be sealed and its thief would be destroyed and absorbed._

_Suddenly the seal picked up a massive spike in energy levels coming from the other entities that had infiltrated its core. But what…?_

* * *

"…DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

Those were the words that Oni and Noriko heard once they felt the attacks against their shield let up and then a blinding white light tore across their vision, wiping out the shadows that made up the barrier. Oni howled as the light penetrated his eye sight and he raised one clawed hand across his face to protect himself. Noriko on the other hand, found herself surprised that the light did not cause her harm in the same way that it was Oni, and indeed she felt captivated by it. _Warmed_ in some fashion that she didn't think possible. As she looked into the epicenter of the light she saw a young boy, no older then she herself as a matter of fact, with short brown hair resembling Taka-chanin some aspects, but the resemblances to that child vanished there. He was garbed in white cloth the same as Lucemon had worn, only lacking in the golden wrist and ankle bands and four bird like wings sprung forth from his back. Like Lucemon before him a trail of tattoos traced their way across his chest and towards his left hand, curling around a strange symbol that appeared as a series of triangles with one inverted at the center and three smaller ones surrounding it. The angelic boy slowly opened up two eyes that had previously been closed, revealing two gray colored irises that appeared to Noriko as thunderous storm clouds. The boy moved his lips, speaking the remainder of his evolution and announcing his identity to those gathered around him.

_"…Lumemon."_

The light gradually died down, receding until the brown haired angel, _Lumemon_ was the only one surrounded by its nimbus. Above him the seething sea of cables and wires continued to move in an agitated fashion as though uncertain as to what to make of this sudden occurance.

It wasn't the only one.

Oni hissed as he saw the angel turn its attentions towards him and he brought the sphere that he held in one hand up. Black and red lightning played along its surface.

"Let Noriko go," spoke Lumemon in a soft, but warning tone that was eerily reminiscent of Lucemon. "I will take her home and let you go in peace."

Oni scowled.

"And leave her safety to the likes of you? Your kind has already caused enough death and destruction as it is."

Lumemon frowned at the demon.

"I don't know what your reasons are for that decision or your beliefs, but I do know that you've hardly distinguished yourself in protecting her. The Seal is only after you because of what you hold, and so long as you have it she will continue to be in danger."

"And only _I_ can properly assure her safety," countered Oni. "I have the power. You I sense are… _diminished_ despite your twain evolution. And the Seal lies between you and the real world. The only way out, is to the digital world. I will _not_ allow that to happ…"

Oni was suddenly cut off as his attention was diverted to the mass of blue cables that was now surging towards him. A creature of programming, the digital seal of the Hazard had no sense of conversation or of the entities that debated beneath it. It knew only of its goal and stated purpose, and nothing else.

Oni fired a black bolt of electricity at the oncoming attackers, successfully annihilating them as they came, but still the seal pressed its attack. And what was more, it was going to add ranged attacks now. He was going to lose…

And that was when something strange happened. From the sphere that Oni held, a thick tendril shot out from the black and blue surface of the hazard sphere, and was quickly joined by still more. Oni's white eyes shot wide in surprise and while he watched the air began to distort around him.

_What…? What…is…_ this?! _What is going on here?!_

The situation rapidly fell out of his control as the tentacles and cables of the Hazard Seal program sighted on him…

…And fired.


	83. 82: the Storm Resumes: Part 1

Tally knuckled her back as she made her way down the halls of Hypnos, grimacing as she heard some pops. Although the sounds brought relief, any cracking of the bones, joints, and other various tissues was not something that she enjoyed as it, like the sharp tingle that she was experiencing in her buttocks and legs as circulation kicked back in full throttle, was an indication that she had been working too hard.

_Not that sitting in a chair is hard work,_ mused Tally with some slight sarcasm coloring her thoughts.

Tally groaned and shook her head as she turned the corner and entered a nearby break room, quickly scanning the area for the coffee pot and smiled upon seeing that some of that ever so magical elixir was already being brewed, even though no one was presently around to tend to it. Thinking that whoever had done so had just stepped out for a minute to go to the bathroom or something of that nature Tally made a mental note to thank whoever it was if they happened to come in before she was finished. Work had been hectic of late due to the massive amount of glitches and damage caused to their systems during the past week, making the their restoration top priority until further notice, which left everyone with very little in the way of spare time to run even the most simplest of errands. To see that someone had actually found some time to make some coffee was something of a Godsend. Even a workaholic like Yamaki, Tally felt, would have been grateful for such an infringement of his orders due to the exhausting pace that everyone was pushing themselves at.

_And coming from Yamaki, that would probably say a lot,_ Tally giggled mentally as she opened up a cupboard and brought out one of her favorite mugs and set it on the counter as she waited for the coffee to finish brewing. While she waited she looked the coffee mug over for what had to be the thousandth time and forced herself to repress a laugh at it. It was a simple mug in appearance, little more then a novelty item that someone had brought in as a practical joke (though for who and what the joke was had now been lost to her and just about everyone else in the building as the mug faded into obscurity amongst the others gathered in the cupboard), but it had a little cartoon 'piggy' drawn on it, hanging around in a barnyard just doing 'whatever it is that pigs do'. Although Tally wasn't too sure of what to make of the actual animal itself, the cartoon version plastered on the coffee mug that just about everyone in Hypnos (Yamaki included) agreed was 'hers' had endeared itself to the young programmer, and as such she made it as much hers as everyone made it out to be.

She even named it 'Hogmon'.

Tally smiled as she saw the last of the coffee finish pouring itself into the pot and she reached out to turn off the pot and help herself to the delicious and invigorating liquid, humming quietly to herself as she did so.

_And this little piggy went to the market…_

Tally felt her toes curl in her shoes as she sipped at the coffee and she sighed contentedly as she felt it begin to work its magic.

"Mmmm… _good_ coffee…"

"Heh. Thank you. I had a husband teach me how to make it like that."

Her cheeks turning cherry red at having been caught talking to herself Tally spun around and found herself looking at Amaya Abe as she stepped into the break room. The woman chuckled and waved at her fellow coworker, mildly amused at Tally's reaction.

"Oh! Abe-san! You made this coffee?"

"Yeah; I only stepped out for a minute to use the ladies room," said Amaya Abe as she picked out her own coffee mug, a plain, light gray colored one with twin blue stripes cutting around the center, and began pouring herself some of the dark, steaming liquid. "I finally managed to catch a break on my end of things so I thought that I'd refresh my brain before going back to work."

"I know what you mean," said Tally with a quick bob of her head. "We've been trying to run our equipment for detecting digimon after we reinstalled all the programs. Instead of getting any of the usual feedback all we got was that old Deva message playing across the screens from last year, only this time there was a 'two' tagged at the end."

Amaya Abe fixed Tally with a skeptical look as she took in the woman's contemplative tapping of her chin as though she were a detective. Finally Tally just laughed nervously.

"Sorry. That was just a little joke that I thought would help lighten the mood. You know…when you see a two where there should only be ones and zeroes then you know you need a break, right?"

Amaya Abe cracked a smile and nodded in agreement.

"I can agree with you there. I never would have thought that I'd say this, but right now I miss the days that my mother had to work in when they tracked everything by paper and didn't have any of this computer nonsense."

"Yeah. At least then the only thing that we had to worry about was paper cuts and files getting mixed up or lost. Now we have to worry about giant city destroying monsters and rogue progra…oh!"

Tally stopped herself as she looked at Amaya's blank expression. Feeling her cheeks heating up Tally looked down at her coffee mug and let her thumbs fiddle along its surface while she mentally berated herself for making a joke like that.

_Stupid! Stupid! Baka! You knew that her son had been killed in that D-Reaper mess last year and you went and kidded around as though it were nothing! Stupid…stupid…stupid…um…_ Gogglehead!

Tally, even in her fit of embarrassment, still had the sense of mind to mentally roll her eyes at herself for using something that she had heard one of the Tamers, namely Rika Nonaka, use for one of her friends when he had done something clumsy.

_Reilly's going to think that they're rubbing off on me…_

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking…"

"It's okay," said Amaya calmly as she took a sip from her mug. "It's just something that I have to deal with. I'm mostly… _over_ it, but it is rather hard sometimes."

"I know the feeling," agreed Tally. "I lost my grandfather when I was still in High School. Heart failure. It never really goes away…"

"I don't need to be pitied!" Cut in Amaya rather harshly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself. "My apologies; I just don't like to talk about that. I had enough of it with family members, friends, and psychiatrists. It…didn't help then. I don't expect it to help now. I…"

Amaya halted and lowered her coffee mug to waist level as she raised a hand to her head, massaging her temples as though they pained her in some way. Tally, worried, placed a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I'm…fine. Just a little tired…not to mention that I have a headache. Too much going on in too short of a time I guess. I don't remember things being this bad since…well, you know."

The two women shared a sympathetic smile.

"Maybe you should see about taking it easy after work today. Settle down, read a good book, or whatever. You look like you're coming down with something…" Tally paused as she did a quick look over Amaya's face. She _was_ rather pale looking right now, though that could just as easily be a trick of the light.

_Reilly is always talking about how poor the light quality is in these break rooms._

Amaya Abe shrugged nonchalantly and took a drink from her coffee mug.

"I've worked tougher shifts then this feeling even worse then I do right now. I'll live through this one."

"Well…if you say so," said Tally as she turned to get some sugar from the box sitting next to the pot. She hadn't added any when she first poured her cup; something of a habit of hers as she wanted the raw taste to add to the caffeine's ability to wake her all the way back up.

As such, she didn't notice the dark flicker that materialized around Amaya Abe's body as she stood behind her.

"You know," continued Tally, tearing into a sugar packet and pouring it into her coffee, "I know this may sound a little bit silly, but I've noticed that you don't really talk to many people. I was wondering if you'd…"

The sound of a crash interrupted Tally's words. Spinning around Tally had just a second to register Amaya's coffee mug roll restlessly on the ground next to its broken off handle before looking up and seeing the older woman's legs come unhinged as she collapsed to the ground.

"AMAYA!" Tally screamed as she rushed forwards to catch the woman, not noticing that her own coffee mug, the famed _Hogmon_ , had accidently slipped out of her fingers and was now rushing towards the ground to join its comrade in its fate.

* * *

Alice McCoy made her way across the mountainside, one hand carefully placed alongside the rock wall overlooking the cliff while the other held firmly onto the side of her dress. Even though the dress was rather short for her, stopping just above her knees and as such did very little to disrupt her ability to walk or run in any fashion it was the very act of doing so that took the edge off of her nerves. She had never been one to be afraid of heights, and when she had traveled with her 'partner' had never had reason to be afraid at all, but even for someone like her Alice had to admit that the distance between her current location and the oh-so-very far ground was more then a little bit daunting. Beautiful, thankfully, but still daunting nonetheless.

_I sure wish Dobermon were here to see this though,_ thought Alice as she paused in her stride to take a look at the endless mist shrouded mountaintops and cliffs as sunlight poured into them, illuminating the valley with a gentle glow and giving it a rainbow like aura in some places. Alice's eyes softened as she resumed her journey. As she moved her right hand crept up from its place on her skirt and up to her chest, seeking the silver cross that was no longer around her neck, and the blonde haired girl frowned as she remembered its absence.

_Lucemon and Takato needed it,_ thought Alice comforting herself. _They did fine too, though I'm a little bit worried about what happened to that corrupted Digignome. I've never seen anything like him before and I'm sure the others haven't either. And to have him become infected the way that he did…I can only imagine what's going to happen to him now. That power wasn't meant to be used in that way. I can only see bad things approaching from here on out. Nothing but bad…_

"You look like you're contemplating the fate of the whole world _Little One_ ," spoke up a voice from off to Alice's right. Closing her eyes, Alice _tsked_ in false annoyance as a small smile grew on her lips.

"You would know that, wouldn't you _Elder Sister_?"

Turning Alice's cerulean eyes met the blue and purple garbed, fox styled shaman that was the twin of Sakuyamon. Smiling, the pale faced woman regarded Alice beneath her blue fox mask before nodding at her and extending one gloved hand.

"Care for a lift? I'm sure that it would do you some good, not to mention save you some time."

With a grin Kuzuhamon added, "Although the view certainly _is_ good enough to be tempting to stick around here a little bit longer…"

Alice shook her head and clasped Kuzuhamon's hand in her own before stepping off the cliff. The taller shaman shifted the young girl around so that she was in a sitting position in her arm while she secured her arms around the woman's shoulders and neck. With a nod signaling to Kuzuhamon that she was ready the pair took to the air and continued their journey. A strong gust of wind blew at Alice's pig tails as they flew.

"So…what's been happening since I've been gone?" Asked Alice as they made their way over the mist covered land.

"Azulongmon arrived some time ago to see our perpetual lady of faith, but that you already knew…"

"Yes. But what _else_ has happened?"

Kuzuhamon chuckled.

"Patience Little One. Strange how a being like you hasn't quite learned that…"

"Why do you people always make me sound like I'm something other then human? Last I checked…"

"Peace Alice. I was only teasing. I didn't mean to bring that up. I was merely referring how someone in your position would have a little bit more patience to them then is normal for visitors from your world. At any rate, we recently had _another_ visitor whom is an acquaintance of your grandfather, Robert McCoy, one of the Monster Makers."

Alice's eyes widened slightly at that and she unconsciously felt her grip tighten around the kitsune priestess.

"Really? Which one? Who was it?"

"Mizuno, or as your grandfather liked to call him, _Shibumi._ He had asked about you."

"Wait…he _knows_?! But I thought he…!"

"Not quite. He only knows of what the Tamers told him…at least so far as I understand it. The Priestess suspects that he might know more then he lets on. Mizuno-san, even when immaterial has his ways of knowing about things that he otherwise should have no knowledge of."

Alice frowned. "From what I remember my grandfather telling me about him that's probably true."

"You know…the Priestess's offer to return you to the human world _is_ still there. And the Sovereigns…"

"I know," said Alice a little harshly, immediately regretting the tone that she held towards her companion. Not so much due to the fact that they were flying awfully high up in the air and was completely at the mercy of Kuzuhamon, but more that she was afraid to have hurt her friend's feelings.

"I know about the Priestess's offer," repeated Alice in a much softer tone as her eyes became downcast and regretful. "And I know about the Sovereigns too. It's just…I don't want to go back just yet. Not after what I've been through…you know? Ever since you found me I've actually been happy. I haven't had to think so much about how Dobermon…how he had to…"

"I know Alice," said Kuzuhamon as she briefly tightened her grip on the young girl. "Believe me, I know. We've all lost important people to the Chaos. And admittedly your situation is rather unique, but it was thanks to you that we gave the Tamers a fighting chance in the real world."

"But I wish that…" Alice began before heaving a heavy sigh and finishing in a quieter voice. "…never mind."

"Alice…"

"What about Shibumi? What's going on with him right now?"

"…He and his two Mokumon have been sent back to the real world, where they will relay information from the Seer Council regarding what has happened recently. The High Priestess is organizing some of our forces to lend them aid, as will Azulongmon once he returns to his territory, but for some reason she feels that we may not be able to provide them with the necessary support in time. She claims that we are going to be receiving _visitors_ soon and that they will take up much of our attention."

Alice's eyes narrowed.

"I see. Did the Priestess give any indication as to what kind of visitors we should be expecting?"

"No. Just that they are coming to see Azulongmon, and as he is here this is where they will meet." Kuzuhamon grimaced before continuing. "To be honest, I have something of a bad feeling about what's coming."

"I'll trust you on that," said Alice as the sound of thunder boomed through the air and the mists began to part beneath them, revealing a massive, serpentine dragon wearing a dark blue helmet and chains surrounding his body.

"Greetings Lord of the East," hailed Kuzuhamon as she brought herself up and then proceeded to head towards the ground feet first with her dark hair trailing in the air above her like a pair of fox tails.

"Greetings Gate Keeper," thundered Azulongmon with a nod of his head before turning his gaze to the Lolita styled girl held in the woman's arms. "And greetings to you to, young messenger."

"Lord Azulongmon," said Alice with a respectful nod.

"Was your journey well?"

"It had its complications," replied Alice to the dragon lord as Kuzuhamon landed, bending down just enough to allow the young girl to step down and give a slight bow to Azulongmon and a word of thanks to the shaman.

"Has the human been released from her bonds?"

"That is difficult to say. The battle ended rather…dramatically to say the least, but the two digimon did merge. However the Hazard Seal went to great lengths to capture Oni. The Digital Hazard itself has been...I'm not quite sure how to describe it…"

"Please try…"

"Azulongmon," spoke up Sakuyamon Kibuki Mode in a commanding tone as she made her way out of the temple grounds and folded her arms beneath her breasts. "Please. Alice is tired, and could do with some rest as well as some food I am sure. It won't do to browbeat her until she has done so. We still have time until our _guests_ arrive. Until then…"

A rumble echoed upon the air, but Azulongmon nodded in agreement.

"Of course."

"Kuzuhamon; see to her needs. We will convene in a few hours and discuss events then."

"As you say, my lady," said Kuzuhamon with a bow before placing her hand on Alice's back and began to lead her towards the main temple. Upon their entering the main temple Kuzuhamon's form shrank, becoming more human like in appearance and losing the armor and black leather body suit, replacing it with violet and blue colored Shinto kimono. Her hair, dark like a raven's feathers, went down her back and past her waist and, like her natural Mega form, was tied off into two separate pony tails with white fox-like tips. Her face, no longer covered by the face mask that was her species trait, remained pale with two dagger like tattoos cutting up from her chin and ending just beneath her eyes, but there was a warmth and friendliness in those eyes that belied the coldness of her features. Alice smiled at the older appearing, but still youthful looking woman. Kuzuhamon traced a hand down Alice's hair and smiled at her.

"I'll be along in a minute. I have to visit the kitchen and see what Gyōjamon has prepared for you to eat. You head down to your room and make yourself comfortable."

Alice gave a small smile and nodded before turning away from her companion and padding off down the hall. Kuzuhamon watched her go for a minute before vanishing into thin air, the sound of a flute being played being heard faintly on the air as she did so.

* * *

Azulongmon chuckled as he turned his attention back to Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode as Alice and Kuzuhamon disappeared into the temple.

"You know…sometimes I think that you like to see yourself as that girl's mother."

"She is my charge," commented Sakuyamon, her gaze unflinching underneath her fox mask. "One that you entrusted to me after Kuzuhamon found her wandering in the digital world following the final battle with the Chaos. However I must admit that she has grown on me, just as Kuzuhamon has become quite attached to her. Her presence will be missed when she decides to return to the human world."

"It has been several months since she has arrived at your temple, and even longer since she first appeared in the digital world. She has had many opportunities to return home. Do you still believe that she will do so?"

"She just needs some time to come to terms with what has happened to her and what she has lost. If you knew her like I did, you would also know as I do that she is not one to turn her back on the world or run from her fears. She just needed a time out, and that is what she has been afforded these many months since Dobermon's death. I see no reason to rush her through it."

"Neither do I, but still, the question does beg due to the longevity of her presence here. Still, you know her and her needs best right now. I will trust you in your decision regarding the Messenger…Alice McCoy."

"Practically the _only_ thing that you have ever entrusted me with," commented Sakuyamon with a playful smile."

"Not so," chuckled Azulongmon. "But then, it is rare that you ever leave these grounds so it is difficult to judge fully."

Sakuyamon waved a dismissive hand at the large dragon.

"That was my choice, just as it was your choice to join the Sovereigns at Huanglongmon's request…even though he _did_ create you solely for that purpose. At any rate, we are not here to discuss the past."

"Of course. About Oni…"

"Yes. A corrupted Digignome. I never thought that I would see the day where something like _that_ would occur. I must admit that not even my divination skills could have conceived that such a thing could happen or even be _possible._ "

"As I have learned from humans," said Azulongmon wistfully, " _anything_ is possible. Especially when a human is involved…"

"It was not her fault. Digignomes just…take things a little too seriously. Strange thing since all they do is giggle."

"Sarcasm Sakuyamon? It has been a while since I have heard that from you."

"Perhaps that has more to do with the emergence of my fellow sister into the ranks of the priestess. Even through the barriers that separate our two worlds I can sense her like a ripple in the pond." Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode shook her head. "There was never supposed to be more then one of us at any single time in a quadrant."

"What do you intend to do about her?"

"Do?" Sakuyamon looked up at Azulongmon, somewhat startled at his question. "Nothing. She has earned her right to exist as have I. If it happens then it is meant to be. That is the belief that we of the Seer Council hold by. And it _was_ love that unleashed her form to begin with. Perhaps one day she will become a _true_ Digimon Queen. Until then we must content ourselves with what's in the present. Oni represents an unknown factor within the digital world, and if the news Alice brings is the same as what I beheld in my vision..."

"Strange that the Digital Hazard would react in such a way as even with Megidramon it never took on qualities like that, but we can only wait for Alice to confirm your vision. I wonder…could Oni's existence as a Digignome, even a corrupt one have caused such an event to occur?"

"That would mean that it has happened before…or rather a being like Oni has existed before. We already know that _something_ happened, but what the catalyst for it was…" Sakuyamon shrugged. "…For some reason that is shrouded from my vision. I would need to contact the Essence of Light but for some reason she has been… _absent_."

"A dilemma then; without her there's only so much that you can see. I wonder…"

"Wonder what?"

"Hmmm…well, perhaps it is nothing, but I will need to check with my agent in the East. He has noted an _occurrence_ once before that may be related…"

Sakuyamon frowned beneath her facemask.

"Well then…when you have some information that you would like to share with me regarding that, feel free to tell me. You know how close I am to the Essence."

"Yes. I am well aware of that. Do not think for a moment that such a thing has slipped my mind."

"Never have old friend," replied Sakuyamon before a devilish grin appeared on her lips. "Although…you still owe me some of that egg drop soup that you had promised me…"

Azulongmon rolled his eyes in an uncharacteristic, exaggerated fashion at his old friend.

"I told you; The Dark Masters imprisoned me before I could get to the spring! Not exactly the best of timing let me tell you…"

* * *

Alice McCoy untied the black ribbons that held her blonde hair in their traditional pigtails and let it cascade down her shoulders as she proceeded to undo her dress and slip out of it. As the gothic Lolita dress found its place on a clothes line hanging up in the room facing an open door leading outside Alice reached out towards the black colored kimono that Kuzuhamon was holding for her. Alice scowled at her friend as she put one arm in through the left sleeve of the robe.

"You know _Elder Sister_ , I really wish that you wouldn't do that."

Kuzuhamon shook her head in amusement as she helped the young girl into her temple clothes.

"I'll never understand what it is about you humans and your insistent need to be fully clothed in the company of others _Little One_. We humanoid digimon only wear clothing as it appears within our evolved forms and has very little to do with anything about us unless it serves an additional purpose such as protective armor."

"So why do you continue to wear clothes then?" Alice calmly rebutted as she began to tie her kimono together at the waist. Though she already knew the kitsune woman's response it was something that she preferred to ask anyway, as it had become something of a routine with them.

"It's just something that we've held onto…a leftover from human made data I suppose. You might call it tradition. And what about yourself? I know that you find that dress… _appealing_ to your aesthetic tastes but it's hardly what I would call useful."

"What can I say?" Alice said with a shrug and a slight smile. "If something looks good you should at least wear it. That's how it goes in my world, though the original intention was just to keep warm. Humans don't respond well to temperature extremes the same way you do, remember?"

"True…but as I recall humans don't always have to worry about such things when they're here. I know that _you_ don't."

"Habits die hard," Alice said as her face contorted into a frown. "And to be honest I'd rather not be walking around naked so that everyone can see me."

"You humans and your genders," laughed Kuzuhamon lightly, the sound akin to that of the tinkle of a bell to Alice's ears. "I swear I'll never understand you."

"Just like I'll never understand why you all say you don't have genders when it's _pretty_ clear that some of you do." Alice gave a final tug on her kimono's belt before turning to face Kuzuhamon. The woman smiled and presented to her a bowl of rice.

"Gyōjamon has been rather busy today so he didn't have time to fix you a proper snack for your return to the temple. He sends his most sincere apologies and regrets that he was also not able to greet you on the temple grounds either."

"Is he still having trouble with training that boy Renamon?"

Kuzuhamon gave a small laugh at the use of the word 'boy' in light of their earlier conversation as she passed the bowl of rice to the girl.

"You could say that. But then, that's to be expected from a digimon like that; youthful with far too much energy to burn. The _females_ at least have more control over themselves, not to mention more grace. Still, they're teasing of him can't be doing any favors."

"I can imagine," said Alice with a mischievous grin and an energetic bob of her head. "There were some boys that I used to know back home who always blushed when they…"

Alice's eyes took on a distant look all of a sudden, and she looked down at the bowl of rice in her hands, one hand caressing its surface in an agitated fashion. Kuzuhamon looked on, her lips pursed together as she regarded the human. Alice turned her head towards the outside, not saying a word.

During the past few months that the two had known each other since Kuzuhamon had stumbled across Alice McCoy, wandering through the thick patch of mist that concealed the home of the Seer Council the shamans had learned that there were some things that she simply did not talk about, much of it involved her life in the human world, though more often then not it was the life she had shared _after_ she entered the digital world, and more precisely the bond she had shared with the dog digimon Dobermon.

_She had been despondent then,_ thought Kuzuhamon thinking back to their first encounter at almost the exact same place that she had picked her up today. _Refused to talk much except in those cases where she heard the voice of her lost digimon friend…the last remnants of his data that maintained a tie to her, and even then it wasn't the kind of thing that gave her much relief. Sakuyamon did the best that she could to set things right for her, but there are still some scars that run too deep. Some injuries that refuse to let their voice be heard. At least she's talking more…and wearing something other then that depressing dress all the time. It is rather surprising when she asked to be let on as a Miko during her stay here. I wonder what brought that on. Perhaps some need to feel useful. I just wish that she would say something…something like what she was about to just now. She had always been willing to take me into her confidence since I've looked after her the most often, and even Sakuyamon as she had spoken quite a bit to her during those early days of her being here. I…_

Kuzuhamon's eyes narrowed as she noted that something was amiss with Alice around the area of her neck.

_Her cross…the one thing that she wouldn't willingly part with. Why…?_

"Alice…" began Kuzuhamon, only to hesitate as something caught hold of her senses. Her eyes widening Kuzuhamon got to her feet in one sudden rush, catching Alice by surprise. Her cerulean eyes following Kuzuhamon she cocked one eyebrow questioningly.

"Kuzuhamon? Is everything…?"

"Someone is here," spoke Kuzuhamon as her form shifted back to her standard Mega level appearance. " _Someone's."_

* * *

Azulongmon felt his beard blow lightly as a gust of wind signaled the dispersal of the fog that surrounded the fortress of the Seer Council. Turning his gaze towards the horizon the massive Mega level Sovereign breathed a silent sigh and flexed his talons in agitation. Next to him Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode shifted her robed arms beneath her breasts as her lips became one thin, tense line.

_Nervousness,_ thought Azulongmon. _Never thought that I'd see that emotion from her. She's usually so well poised…so in control of herself and of her surroundings. But then, I wouldn't blame her._

_These are the servants of the most high after all._

At the edge of a cliff on the closest peak, framed against the light of the burning sky, stood a tall, dragonic figure wearing blue armor, calmly crushing a flower beneath one clawed foot as he was flanked by a sleek, catlike figure.


	84. 83: the Storm Resumes: Part 2

Alice McCoy raced down the hall, her legs easily keeping up with Kuzuhamon from many months of practice as she held the ends of her kimono up to keep herself from tripping over them. Her mind was awhirl with confusion over her friend's behavior, not to mention the sudden bustle of activity that the temple had gained in the short amount of time that she had been back. Renamon's raced back and forth, some of them in various stages of disappearing, and here and there a Kyubimon could be seen bounding down the hallway followed by a Taomon. At least two Sakuyamon were sighted but they had vanished before Kuzuhamon could even speak to them.

Seeing all that was going on, not to mention how Kuzuhamon had reacted upon first sensing their 'guests', combined with the overall atmosphere of the temple Alice got the distinct impression that whoever was here was one of the utmost danger to their existence.

_No matter where I go, there's trouble,_ thought Alice despairingly before swiftly banishing the thought. It was a leftover habit from those days from following Dobermon's death to blame herself for the chaos that she saw around her. It was a habit that she had spent these past few months shaking herself free of, and up until now she had thought that she had succeeded.

Of course, it could be rightly said that up until now, her 'new existence' had been severely lacking in trouble of the sort that she was now expecting.

_I just hope that things don't go down that route,_ thought Alice as her feet pounded against the wooden floors after Kuzuhamon, the two of them together racing towards the main courtyard.

* * *

Standing tall and proud, decked out in blue and white armor with a dragon shaped helm, silver wristbands, and blue wings folded around his body to resemble a cape, the Royal Knight known as UlforceVeedramon came to a halt in front of the main gate leading to the center of the temple of the Seer Council. Standing at its entrance as though she were a guard, Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode frowned at the azure knight beneath her facemask. She knew that UlforceVeedramon could have merely entered the temple without even having to stop at the gate, as there was no roof protecting the courtyard so it struck her as odd that he should choose to stop at this particular place.

_Although…there are some Royal Knights who do prefer to make something of a grand entrance in this way as a show of respect for some of the local powers so that they don't feel threatened during negotiations. Perhaps that's the case. Especially since Azulongmon is taking up a lot of space above the court yard. I keep telling him to take a break from those soup springs…_

Sakuyamon's frown deepened as a nagging thought in the back of her mind wondered where the Royal Knight's companion had disappeared to.

"You arrived here earlier then I expected," commented Sakuyamon as she folded her arms beneath her breasts and tilting her head to one side questioningly. UlforceVeedramon chuckled lightly and all at once Sakuyamon felt a chill run down her spine.

_That's not a good sign,_ thought the silver haired shaman woman and she felt her wand through the sleeve of her white kimono.

"Peace Lady of the Temple," said UlforceVeedramon, raising one hand up in a placating gesture. "I have not come here looking for trouble. However due to circumstances I felt that it would be… _expedient_ to arrive here as quickly as possible…"

"And what business does one such as you have in this world since your kind and your master abandoned it?"

"Abandoned? I wouldn't so much as call it 'abandoned'…"

"Enough!" Thundered Azulongmon as he coiled his body in the sky and lowered his head to look fully at the blue colored Royal Knight. "State your business for being here."

UlforceVeedramon looked up at Azulongmon, his eyes gleaming within the light illuminating the dragon's body.

"There has been unusual amounts of activity of late regarding the human realm of the Southern Quadrant, guarded by your Royal brethren, the Sovereign Phoenix of Fire, Zhuqiaomon. A group of X digimon have been showing an interest in that world and three of my fellow Knights have gone to investigate. They have not been heard from since. I have come here in search of you, so as to beseech a boon from you that I might be able to enter the human world and investigate the situation more thoroughly."

Azulongmon frowned at UlforceVeedramon.

"You know that the Royal Knights are forbidden to enter the human world."

"Your brother didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it. I would ask him but I can see that he is already indisposed at the moment. An oddity. I should wonder what has been happening in the land of the Sovereigns since Lord Yggdrasil's departure to the new world. My master's eye has too long been away from your affairs."

"His interests no longer coincide with ours," said Azulongmon as the distant sound of thunder echoed upon the air. "He and Huanglongmon never did see eye to eye, and the unleashing of the X virus was _not_ a part of the greater plan…"

"I did not come here to discuss the merits of your creator," interrupted the blue Royal Knight as he folded his arms across his broad chest, "or listen to you critique the god of our world…our very _father_. I have come here for one reason and one reason alone. The key to the human world that Zhuqiaomon entrusted to you when he allowed you temporary mastery of his domains for the duration of his injuries. I have great concern for my comrades in regards to this matter, and now I will no longer ask for the key," UlforceVeedramon unfolded his arms and lowered them towards the ground, fingers flexing slightly as though in anticipation, "but _demand_ it of you…"

" _You_ have no right to demand _anything_ from us," cut in the high priestess, Sakuyamon. "Least of all from _any_ who are guests in the temple! This area is sacred ground and not even Yggdrasil has dared make himself a threat here. Even in these dark days the treaty of protection that he has granted this place holds and not even you shall be allowed to hold any power here save in its defense."

Strands of violet energy sparked around Sakuyamon's hands, causing Azulongmon to look at her with a wary eye before looking back at the Royal Knight.

"There is no need for there to be violence here," the majestic dragon. "And my lady is correct. The treaty here still holds, as does your agreement to stay out of the human world. What is so great of a concern that you must consider breaking bonds and agreements that were made since the first foundations of the digital world were laid down? Surely there must be something more then a group of rebellious digimon?"

UlforceVeedramon glowered at Azulongmon darkly.

"Things are very much changed Lord of the East. Old treaties cannot hold where the safety of the new world is concerned, and so long as the _X digimon_ continue to plague and infect its purity, Yggdrasil and his servants shall do whatever is necessary to stamp out all who would oppose his will. He may no longer have an interest in this world, but it is still _his_ by rights. Azulongmon, you _will_ hand over the key to the human world. No more debate. No more talk. Relinquish it now or suffer the wrath of Yggdrasil."

Sakuyamon looked over at Azulongmon now, her heart pounding within her chest as a mixture of fear and righteous wrath poured through her. She hadn't liked the Royal Knights…digimon who had been handpicked to carry out Yggdrasil's will or created from scratch. Either they were bloodthirsty creatures who used their master's powers and voice as a reason to cause injustices or were far too single minded in their allegiance and their oaths. Only a very select few, such as Gallantmon, ever seemed to have a mind of their own.

_But even he could be unquestioning to an extreme sometimes,_ thought Sakuyamon sadly as she thought of the lance bearing warrior who was, in her eyes, the epitome of the 'knight in shining armor' image.

In spite of her own unsavory dislike of the Royal Knights she knew full well that any action made in opposition to them would be met with harsh returns. As powerful as the Seer Council and as powerful as Azulongmon were, she did believe that either the Seer Council or the Sovereigns would be able to survive a war with Yggdrasil and his armies. The Seer Council especially as it was not made to fight wars. Their strength ran in illusions and the high language programs of magic, both of which the Royal Knights were made to be stronger then.

_One way or another,_ thought Sakuyamon, _this will not end well. For our part of the world or the humans._

Sakuyamon long, slender fingers tightened their grip on the wand that remained hidden inside her sleeve.

_Which is more important? My duty to my people or my duty to the higher calling? I'm supposed to protect and guide the Seer Council as well as to fulfill the obligations bestowed upon me concerning the human world. I cannot do both…_

Surprisingly Sakuyamon found herself chuckling in wry amusement and her grip on her wand became more relaxed and natural.

_It looks as though there will be one high priestess in this world after all…_

_"Sakuyamon?"_ Spoke up Azulongmon's voice and the shaman priestess felt herself smile warmly at the dragon's use of an all too familiar bond; one that had lain dormant for more years then she could count.

_"Yes?"_

_"I'm sorry. But I cannot allow the Knights to have possession of the Key to the human world. There is something about them and Yggdrasil that has become…_ unstable. _I cannot trust them or their actions with it."_

_"I understand. Can't say that I'm surprised. If it's any comfort to you, I agree with you on this one."_

_"I wish that there had been more time Sakuyamon. I would have liked to deliver that soup to you once things had calmed down. Now I don't think that I'll get that chance again."_

_"Another time then. I'll make sure of that my dragon…my guardian. Until then…"_

Sakuyamon and Azulongmon refocused their attention on UlforceVeedramon who had been watching them silently in bemusement. After a moment the blue armored warrior merely nodded as though he had already heard their decision before extending one hand to the side and an azure colored energy blade sprung to life from one of the bracelets fixed to his forearm.

"So be it," UlforceVeedramon said in a low voice before leaping towards Azulongmon. _"Ray of Victory!"_

* * *

Alice and Kuzuhamon burst into the courtyard, the taller shaman holding her silver staff at the ready just in time to see a massive explosion rock the front gates, sending shards of wood and stone flying in every direction while up in the sky Azulongmon coiled about into a tight circle, the electrified chains wrapped around his body springing to life and seeking their target. Kuzuhamon, seeing the incoming debris and the highly potential danger of the situation grabbed hold of the blonde haired girl who was her companion as well as her charge and dove to the side, rolling across the ground before jumping back up into the air, landing on her high heeled boots before springing upwards, narrowly missing being crushed by a boulder from the wall as it landed heavily upon the earth with a sickening crunching sound.

Alice, for her part, looked on with wide, blue eyes, her mouth straining to find some way of expressing the torrent of emotions that she was feeling at this very moment.

"Ah…ah…ah…"

"Hang in there Alice," said the purple and blue garbed shaman as she flew backwards, dark hair blowing in the wind as she tried to get to a safe distance so that she could analyze the situation more appropriately. Within the confines of the gates kitsune digimon of all ranks and levels were pouring into the courtyard, leaping from their hidden places, trying to find some order to the chaos that they had suddenly found themselves in. Up in the sky Azulongmon was reeling up a figure with his chains, sending surges of electricity through them and towards his captured prey, only to have his eyes widen in surprise as the figure, most positively the Royal Knight AlforceVeedramon, broke free from his prison with what appeared to be minimal effort on the part of his mounted arm blade. The surprise didn't end there as the Royal Knight flew towards Azulongmon, who again sent out his chains in a repeat attempt to capture his opponent. UlforceVeedramon however would have none of this and easily caught the chains in his hands as they flew towards him, and with a mighty jerk, like a fisherman who had caught a great prize, pulled the massive dragon forwards and plowed him into the ruined remains of the gate below them.

Of the high priestess, neither Kuzuhamon or Alice could see any sign of.

As if the injury hadn't been enough UlforceVeedramon surged forwards, still holding the great dragon by his chains and promptly began to drag him away from the Council's temple grounds and into the valley that surrounded it, digging up a deep trench behind him as he went. In response Azulongmon bucked and twisted his body, quickly repositioning himself in spite of the pain that dug into his nerves and with one motion, threw his tail up and slammed it into UlforceVeedramon's back, throwing him into the depths of the mountains and forcing him to relinquish his grasp on the Sovereigns chains. Huffing in annoyance Azulongmon regained his posture and pursued the Royal Knight into the cliffs, lightning crackling around his body as he disappeared into the mountains. There was a great flash of bright light followed by a deafening sound of thunder and the shaking of the earth. A mountain side was shattered entirely and its broken remains flowed down into the valley…

…And towards the temple grounds.

_NO!_ Shouted Kuzuhamon and Alice in their minds but before they could do anything a voice resounded powerfully upon the air and a crimson ball of light rocketed towards the flow of falling debris, detonating upon impact and creating a cascading wave of energy that moved up the falling tons of stone, breaking them into shards of data before they could cause any harm to the Seer Council below them. Turning in confusion, Kuzuhamon and Alice rested their gaze on the form of a floating, gentlemanly like figure in brown and white armor, and a flowing mane of hair going from the top of his head and down his back. In one hand rested a long, thin bladed sword.

"Terribly sorry about that," spoke up the digimon that Kuzuhamon quickly recognized as the Royal Knight Duftmon. "My companion has always been rather zealous when it came to battling an enemy."

"What is going on here?!" Demanded Kuzuhamon hotly as she brandished her silver staff at the knight. "I thought that we had a treaty!"

"We did," said Duftmon casually. "But these are extenuating circumstances. UlforceVeedramon requested that we be allowed to enter the human world to investigate the disappearance of several of our comrades, and when he was refused he took measures into his own hands."

Kuzuhamon felt her mind seethe in anger, but she restrained herself as she still held onto the young girl in her arms. Alice however, felt no such qualms about speaking her mind.

"And _that_ justifies your attacking a sacred place?! What is wrong with you?! Have you completely lost it?! I thought you were on our side when I saw you fighting the chaos!"

Duftmon regarded the human girl for a second, raising a questioning eyebrow at her before brushing the uniqueness of her presence off as merely another odd quirk of the digital world and its local powers.

"In times of war the law falls silent, dear child. The new world is threatened and the Royal Knights need to muster all of their strength to combat the storm that threatens it…"

Kuzuhamon frowned in time with Alice and spoke up.

"And I see where it's okay to do that at the cost of everyone else's lives, like when you unleashed that X virus on us. You may have spared some regions and allowed some local powers to maintain their worlds and autonomy but you certainly didn't play favorites all the time did you? You Royal Knights used to stand for something, only now you're all genocidal maniacs that are no better then the Demon Lor…"

Kuzuhamon was cut off in mid sentence, giving a shout of surprise as Duftmon slapped the side of her face with the flat end of his sword, allowing its tip to slice thinly along her skin as it left her. Turning with a baleful glare on her face, and ignoring the trickle of liquid data that ran down her cheek from the blow, Kuzuhamon met Duftmon's gaze steadily as he pointed his sword at her.

"Do not compare us with the Demon Lords," Duftmon said in a low, soft voice, his eyes dancing with hidden threat. "And remember, if it weren't for us, you and yours would have been made a part of their data long ago."

A shadow then fell over Duftmon's back, causing the Royal Knight to tense up and turn, blade at the ready. His golden eyes fell upon a figure wrapped in white cloth and a dark kimono, appearing as a ninja complete with a face mask, but much more heavily armored and bearing a Samurai's long sword attached to his waist. In one hand the warrior carried a long, curved bladed spear…a _naginata_ , upon which was decorated a number of fox styled images. And behind it, golden and silver fur flowing in the wind, were two kitsune tails.

"Gyōjamon," Duftmon breathed as he raised his sword in salute of the spear carrying warrior. "I must say it is an honor to finally meet you, although I wish the circumstances were different."

Gyōjamon simply hefted his spear and pointed its tip at the Royal Knight's heart, and when he spoke Kuzuhamon could hear the telltale traces of anger hidden beneath his tone…something that Kuzuhamon found _most_ unsettling when it came to the warrior of the Seer Council and guardian of the High Priestess.

"Get the child to a safe place," Gyōjamon said flatly, and unconsciously Kuzuhamon felt herself swallow. Nonetheless the shaman nodded and turned away, pushing as much speed as she could into getting away from the battle that was about to commence.

And out of the corner of her eye, Kuzuhamon saw the Sakuyamon's and Kuzuhamon's of the Seer Council exiting the smoke stricken, flying towards the broken mountainside as it shuddered violently once again from the power that was being unleashed there.

* * *

Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode placed one bloody hand against the broken wall of the temple that she had served for so long, breathing heavily as she clutched the side of her body.

_Stupid…_ the silver haired woman thought as she winced beneath her facemask while she reflected on recent events. _Thought that he was going for Azulongmon for real that time. Didn't think that it was just a feint to get me to press my defense elsewhere. Tricky…very…tricky…_

_…And now Azulongmon is fighting that knight on his own. I don't care how powerful he is…that's…bad news…_

Sakuyamon pressed her body against the wall as she forced herself to maintain consciousness. Some digital blood seeped through her fingers while she muttered incantations under her breath, striving to heal the injury but so far it looked to be a losing battle. UlforceVeedramon had caught her by surprise in the worst way, going for a high speed direct assault after diverting her attention, and her protection spells over to Azulongmon when he launched his initial attack, stabbing her with his energy sword full on in the side with his full strength and affectively putting her out of action until she could get healed. _If_ she could heal herself that is. She was losing energy at a rapid pace, far more then she would have thought and the energy that was being used to repair the damage just wasn't keeping up with the drain that she was feeling.

_Some type of weapons program, keyed to UlforceVeedramon's digi-core? If nothing else it's working at a high rate of speed, disassembling data as quickly, if not faster then it reforms itself. Almost ironic that it has a viral appearance even though it came from a Vaccine._

Taking another, shaky breath Sakuyamon took her hand away from her injury, grimacing at the crimson stain that was billowing up on her white kimono. Reaching down towards her red dress the shaman priestess tore off the lower end of it in one smooth motion and tied it off around her side, pressing it firmly against her injury to staunch the flow of blood. If she wasn't careful, if she lost too much, her body would begin disintegrating next, and she had to keep things under wraps, literally, until she could properly sit down and tend to herself.

_At least the red dress hides the color,_ thought Sakuyamon with grim sarcasm, fighting off a wave of dizziness. Not for the first time did the High Priestess's thoughts turn towards the powers that made her who she was with a sense of sorrow.

_Oh Essence of Light…where are you? Where did you go?_

"Mother!"

"Kuzuhamon. Alice…" whispered Sakuyamon, turning her head towards the approaching Alice McCoy and Kuzuhamon. The duo landed in front of her and immediately upon touching down Alice reached out and placed one hand on the woman's injury.

"Sakuyamon! You're hurt!"

"I was stupid," muttered the shaman with a shake of her head. "But I can't let this get me down. Azulongmon needs my help. _Our_ help. The entirety of the Seer Council…"

"Mother," interrupted Kuzuhamon. "We can't let you enter battle in this condition. If you should be deleted…"

" _That_ is not our concern at this moment. If Azulongmon is deleted things will become even worse. You _know_ how important he is in the greater balance of the digital world, and that is already perilous as it is no thanks to the Royal Knight and his ilk that are attacking him now. Kuzuhamon! Alice! I want you two to leave this area! Immediately! If we should survive I will give you a signal that it is safe to return."

"But Mother…"

" _Now_ Kuzuhamon!"

"Sakuyamon…" broke in Alice, her voice shaking, and hearing it Sakuyamon's face softened and she cupped one hand around Alice's right cheek.

"Alice…I am sorry. I hate for this to happen with you here…after what you have been through, but it seems to be the way of the world for now. You were strong before you met Dobermon…you were strong when you let him go, and you've been strong living with the knowledge about yourself and his sacrifice ever since. I ask you to continue being strong in case things don't work out. Don't let the darkness cloud your heart. It would be a waste of a beautiful thing, to let the waters drown something so precious in this world."

Sakuyamon and Alice looked at each other for a few moments until finally the Shaman pulled her hand away. Alice made an attempt to move towards her, whether or not she wanted to stop her from continuing with her plan, or to give her a hug was unclear, but at the last second she hesitated, caught between the conflict of letting her adopted parent since her arrival in the digital world go and making her stay. That second was all that Sakuyamon needed to leap into the air, a lone, sparkling tear breaking free from its course down her cheek and landing on Alice's face, mixing with the girl's own as she watched to see yet another loved one disappear into fate's harsh clutches.

_Goodbye,_ Alice thought unknowingly to herself as Kuzuhamon placed one hand on her shoulder, bringing her out of her reverie. Within moments the violet and blue shaman had Alice in her arms once again and the two were flying through the air, heading away from the battle field.

* * *

UlforceVeedramon forced the azure dragon down to the ground as he cut away the last of his chains.

"So much power and you didn't even use it all against me," UlforceVeedramon scoffed at the Sovereign. "Your concern for the Kitsune is _touching._ "

"It is much the same as the concern you share for your fellow Royal Knights UlforceVeedramon," responded Azulongmon, rasping as he struggled against the knight's powerful grip. Despite the serious size difference between the two UlforceVeedramon had the upper hand over Azulongmon since the battle started due to his greater maneuvering capabilities, speed, precision attacks, and link to Yggdrasil's power. Azulongmon's power was great, but he was hampered by his greater size, and slower speed. That, combined with the sheer destructive force that he was capable of producing, especially in close proximity of those that he was trying to protect, greatly hampered his ability to fight the Royal Knight. A fact that UlforceVeedramon exploited to great advantage.

"True," replied UlforceVeedramon with a nod of his head as he raised his energy blade. "But my concern applies only to my comrades and our collective service to our master. That is our oath. Something that you know all about Azulongmon, or else you wouldn't have been with Huanglongmon for as long as you have. The greater service is all that matters in the end…"

"Only it wasn't supposed to be like _this!"_ Shouted a voice from behind the two combatants. Turning, UlforceVeedramon's eyes settled on the collected assembly of the Seer Council with Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode, their High Priestess standing at the center. Power flowed around them in gold and blue waves, and UlforceVeedramon frowned beneath his visor.

_So…she's still alive. She's stronger then she looks, and allied with all those other Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon she's only becoming stronger. I doubt that she'll be bothered by her injuries for much longer if she absorbs enough of that energy rather then directing it as she's doing now._

As if in response to the dragon warrior's observation the aura that surrounded the multitude of shaman digimon flared and took on the form of a massive, nine tailed kitsune. The fox deity growled at the Royal Knight as it took form and bared its flaming fangs. For the first time UlforceVeedramon felt… _uncertain._

But he still had one last card to play.

* * *

Steel clashed against steel as Duftmon and Gyōjamon traded blows. Duftmon felt the thrill of eagerness flow through him as he tested his metal against the kitsune warrior, the Seer Council's _only_ male Mega form of the Renamon line, a rare event that was said to occur only once every seven generations or so of Renamon births. So far, Duftmon had to admit that the encounter was by far not a disappointing one. Far from it in fact. Gyōjamon moved with a speed and grace that he would not have believed capable of such a creature, utilizing his spear's greater length with great proficiency, and up in the air with nothing to obstruct its path it gave him a tremendous advantage over the knight's sword, which did not afford him the same level of reach. The two were also on even par with their ranged attacks, although between the two Duftmon, from what he had seen so far, held the greater destructive capabilities while Gyōjamon used a combination of lightning from his spear's blade, curved energy attacks, and storms of crystal shards similar to the Renamon's standard attack. At present neither had been able to land a blow against each other, and as such, Duftmon was suitably impressed with his adversary, even if his silent anger was a little bit… _disturbing_.

_Would that I had more time to combat this one,_ thought Duftmon as he deftly jumped backwards in the air, narrowly avoiding getting cloven in half by the warrior's curved spear. Sneaking a glance out of the corner of his eye Duftmon noted that UlforceVeedramon was now in trouble and was presently staring down the collected Seer Council in all their glory.

_I can never take him anywhere without him causing some kind of trouble,_ thought Duftmon sarcastically as he threw himself forward, long sword angling towards his opponent. Metal again clashed against metal as sword met spear. _And to be honest, it rather looks like the game is indeed up._

A slim smile grew on Duftmon's face beneath his helmet.

_Or rather it would be if we didn't make a pit stop on the way here. And UlforceVeedramon didn't think that it was wise to delay._

Reaching behind his back Duftmon grasped the bag that was tied securely to his belt and drew it out, blocking another spear thrust from his opponent. Flapping his wings mightily Duftmon fought to buy himself some distance, sheathing his sword as he did so and settled to work on the bag's drawstrings. Feeling a slight tingle in his mind Duftmon moved to the side, evading another lightning stroke from Gyōjamon's spear. One more knot was all it was going to take and…

_There,_ thought Duftmon as the bag finally opened, revealing the glowing, golden wonder held within. Withdrawing it from its confines Duftmon took a moment to look it over. It appeared as an orb with a simple wing sitting at its top with a golden, metallic sheen to it, replete with a curved 'S' shaped symbol that was reminiscent of the Yin and Yang sign that adorned many a Sakuyamon, only lacking in the light and dark outer halves that composed the greater whole. It was the symbol of _Destiny_ , as described in digimon folklore and in the texts of the high and mighty. One of the greatest powers known to exist.

_A digimental,_ thought Duftmon fondly as he proceeded to pull it over his shoulder. _Never leave home without one._

And with that, Duftmon threw the object towards UlforceVeedramon, who caught it a split second before the gathered shamans unleashed their attack on him.

* * *

"You have one chance," spoke up Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode from within the writhing mass of living flames. "Surrender and leave this area."

UlforceVeedramon took a moment, as though pondering his options, but in reality buying himself a few precious seconds of time that he needed. He had seen the glowing item Duftmon had tossed his way, and he recognized it for what it was. Now he saw the wisdom of his fellow knight's delay in obtaining the item. As the Digimental of Destiny drew closer UlforceVeedramon allowed a smile to cross his face and he retracted his energy blade and raised one hand into the sky.

"I must thank you for giving me that chance then," spoke UlforceVeedramon as the glowing star drew even closer, shooting past the shamans who each now gasped in surprise at seeing it. "Your reward shall be your _lives."_

The flaming fox roared to life now, rushing towards the Royal Knight as a golden glow cascaded over his body upon his catching the digimental. As the kitsune surged forwards UlforceVeedramon allowed his smile to grow even wider as he felt his body flush with power. He extended his energy blade from his wrist one more time.

"Ray of Victory," the Royal Knight said in a low voice just seconds before the blazing kitsune crashed into him, setting off a tremendous explosion that kicked fire and smoke into the air, blotting out the sky with their combined intensity.

* * *

Kuzuhamon and Alice watched from a nearby cliff, a tree obstructing their figures from sight. Light illuminated the black smoke that billowed out from the smoking ruin of the mountain side and the temple. Thunder echoed across the landscape as attacks were used until finally, with one last roar of pain, all fell silent. After a few seconds two figures escaped through the smoke and flew into the air, their bodies shrinking as they got farther and farther away. Alice and Kuzuhamon watched them go for a moment before Kuzuhamon looked away, her lips set in one thin, grim line.

"That's it. It's over. Those were definitely the Royal Knights, and they got what they came for. The key to the human world. _Not_ good…"

A gust of wind blew over the two, and Alice, blinking back tears that threatened to spill forth from her eyes, let her vision be covered by the blonde hair that now flowed freely, as though by doing so she could erase the horrible image of her second home being destroyed by yet another entity hell bent on destruction. Her hands clenched into fists Alice bit her lower lip and swallowed, feeling the hot lump that had materialized in her throat. A boulder of pain had found itself in her heart, and try as she could, it refused to be moved.

_Sa…Sakuyamon… Azulongmon…_

Alice's blazing, blue irises found the sky once more, and tracked the retreating forms of Duftmon and UlforceVeedramon as they continued on their journey, their prize now in their hands. Alice watched them go, the shine of anger and hatred sparkling in her eyes.

_If either of them were harmed…in_ any _way…I swear…there won't be any force on this world or the other one that will keep me from finding you…_

The wind blew at Alice's hair once again, and for a moment, her view of the world was obstructed by the darkness.


	85. 84: Waking Up

_"How are you feeling?"_

_"Like a new mon. What can I say? I haven't had a battle like that in a while."_

_"_ _Gyōjamon actually managed to tag you in the time it took for you to send me that digimental. If I hadn't received the power boost that I did and took care of the Seer Council he would have deleted you for certain. He is far stronger then I had expected…"_

_"We don't need to worry about him though. He'll be contending with the aftermath of the battle and seeing to the survivors. And even though I'm injured I shall be able to gather enough data to repair myself once we reach the dimensional barrier between the two worlds. I'd be more concerned about you right now though. The effects of that digimental, while temporary, were extremely draining on you…"_

_"Yes…it was. But we mustn't let that stay our investigation into the fates of our comrades. Let us recap Yggdrasil's files concerning the human world of the Southern Quadrant and its defenses. What kind of resistance should we be expecting upon arrival?"_

_"Tamers mainly…you know; those children who are partnered up with digimon in the same manner as the guardians of the Eastern Quadrant? Only in this case it's much more half hazardly…or so it is led to be believed. The digignomes native to that region desired to make contact with the humans and found children the easiest to reach. Having already been supplied with the Arc program by the human known as Shibumi following the shut down of the AI program this was made even easier. The Arcs are an intriguing piece of digital technology, going beyond anything that Azulongmon and his allies ever dreamed with the original digivice outline. The systems at least are similar…a strange coincidence that. At any rate, the Arcs are much more versatile enabling for long range communication between human and digimon partners, data modification, and linking of partners to enable a high degree of strength sharing on Ultimate and Mega levels. It is on the Mega level, as reported in the Sovereigns files that a Tamer is truly dangerous and could be taken on par with beings such as ourselves due to the physical merging of the two partners. It is sufficient strength to defeat a Sovereign in single combat with minimal battle experience."_

_"Intriguing…"_

_"Yes. However there is a downside to this 'biomerging' of human and digimon. It is extremely difficult to have occur in the real world where life forms are made of solid matter rather then digitized energy given a shape, a reason why it was never attempted in the Eastern Quadrant. Organic bodies are not quite as malleable as data. Humans have to have a certain amount of data in their carbon makeup in much the same way to make them almost indistinguishable from bio emerged digimon that produce the 'false proteins' that allow them to hold their shape in the real world. Normally the only way to have this happen is for a human to spend a significant length of time in the digital world…"_

_"How long of a time?"_

_"Uncertain, though reports indicate that eight months is long enough. Ryo Akiyama resides in this world and he was able to biomerge with Monodromon without any help from the Messenger. Of course, there's also the fact that_ He _is his partner…"_

_"Interesting that the Legendary Tamer is there. We will have to factor that into our plans. Any other ways that a biomerge can be accomplished?"_

_"A sacrifice or donation of additional data, usually from another digimon and outside of the partnership is sufficient to provide the extra data required for a biomerge. Dobermon is an example. He gave his energy to three Tamers during the Chaos War. Zhuqiaomon's files are quite detailed on this part. At present only four Tamers reside in the human world who are capable of biomerging. That's four active Megas, though there are others. Two additional…a MarineAngemon and a Beelzemon, Zhuqiaomon's former servant. We should be wary of this last one for that very reason. Even though he hasn't achieved biomerge, he is still a Mega, and he's partnered to two humans. Their bond with him has enabled Beelzemon to take a step further down the path of evolution, creating a Mode change called 'Blast Mode'. And then there's his status as a Demon Lord to be concerned about. Zhuqiaomon's data implies that he was able to fight one on one with the first biomerged Tamer on equal terms even before Mode Changing, and that first biomerged Tamer took on the form of a Royal Knight; a Gallantmon to be more precise. That's makes him notable for strength and endurance."_

_"I see. So we should expect stiff resistance?"_

_"Not only from the Tamers and their partners but also from the humans. Apparently they have various defensive programs lying in wait within the digital barrier, not to mention that we will be unable to cross over without being detected. And it_ was _the humans who created a way to defeat the Chaos in the end where the Tamers were faltering. We would do well to not underestimate or ignore either part of their group. They compliment each other in numerous ways. The Tamers and digimon provide the frontline combat capabilities and more immediate reactions against threats while the human groups provide support and more long term strategy and defenses. One side is the gun; the other is the eye that gives them the targets. Symbiotic relationship."_

_"Hmmm…so whatever we do, we must take into account as many eventualities as we can. Our ability to move freely will be restricted because of the Tamers and their allies, limiting our investigation into Dynasmon, Craniummon, and Crusadermon's disappearances."_

_"The Devas were able to infiltrate the primary human organization affiliated with dealing with our kind via one of their programs, as did the Chaos ironically enough. Of course, we can't rely on the humans not installing better safeguards to protect themselves against such an invasion…especially a repeated one. Not that we need it…"_

_"What then, Duftmon, is your assessment of what the proper course of action?"_

_"Stay on the fringes of the dimensions, rest and heal from today's battle, analyze the enemies movements, and wait for a moment of weakness that would enable us to enter the real world and move about unopposed. No reason to risk ourselves unnecessarily at this point in things."_

_"The longer we wait, the less of a chance we have at uncovering what we need."_

_"Such is the price of patience, that most uncelebrated of virtues…"_

* * *

Crusadermon felt herself come to, light opening the darkness and flooding her senses. With it came pain and a sense of bone deep weariness. Groaning the pink armored Mega level digimon pushed herself up to her knees, forcing her arms to hold her weight up until she brought one to rest on the ruins of the tree that had served as her stopping point. Looking at the shattered remains of the tree in front of her Craniummon contemplated the devastation for a moment, feeling an eerie sense of calm in the air around her despite the bustle of activity that she had just went through.

_I wonder how long I've been out,_ Crusadermon thought as she took a few shaky breaths, trying to steady herself and regain her strength. Reaching up Crusadermon rubbed at the side of her helmet, massaging the battered data patterns that made up her armor. She winced at the pain that she felt flaring through her skull, and upon withdrawing her hand she saw a thin, black veil of liquid staining her armored fingers and palm. Returning the appendage back to her helmet Crusadermon ran her fingers along her face until she came across a hair thin crack on the metal.

_Fortunes from the Lord of Gluttony,_ mused the Indifferent Warrior irritably, but strangely enough that irritation did not flare into full fledged rage as she had expected. Instead, all she felt was…tired. Drained.

Lowering her hand to her waist Crusadermon got to her feet, groaning once more as pain stretched its way through her body with a long, dull ache. And behind that ache lay the now, all too familiar sensation and presence of a young girl with coppery pig tails; the girl who was now intricately bound to her in ways that she did not understand and refused to have connected to her in any way.

_Except it's not working out the way that I want it too,_ rasped Crusadermon as she moved away from the broken tree, leaning against another one for balance as she felt her legs tremble violently. _I want to be free of this bond…and I can't seem to be able to do that. I…lost. Lost to that Demon Lord. Lost to that other child and his pet machine. I…_

Crusadermon raised her bloodied and smeared hand and looked down at it, watching it shake as her tired thoughts continued to ramble on through her mind.

_…I…am broken. I am… nothing. I couldn't fight that cable creature. I couldn't…I…_

_…I am not a Royal Knight. I am…tainted. Everything that I am has been taken from me…thrown at me. My strength…my power…the Tamer's win. And that girl…has beaten me without even putting up a fight. Her emotions are now…mine…_

_…Staining me…_

Crusadermon didn't twitch as her grip on the tree that she was holding tightened, nor did she react when her strength snapped the tree in two. As a matter of fact, just breaking something and listening to it fall had the affect of calming her down a little bit, a sign to the Royal Knight that she was still her own being no matter what she felt. She was still Crusadermon. Still the Indifferent Warrior. Still…

The sound of crying caught her attention.

Turning now Crusadermon looked for the source of the crying, and soon found her focus on what appeared to be a nest made out of thin twigs that had fallen out of the tree she had just broken down. Three white, fluffy creatures with stubby wings were clambering out of the nest, beak shaped mouths opening and closing and squawking and crying in irritation and…fear? They were such little things…weak, helpless; beneath her notice and yet they held her attention. Something that brought to mind the question…why? Why should she take notice of such creatures? They were weak, insignificant things born of the material world. If they weren't able to survive on their own then what was the point of their existing? Only the strong survive…

A loud call, similar to that of the small creatures who were hopping out of their abode but much more mature resounded upon the air and Crusadermon grimaced beneath her helm as she felt talons rake at her armor. Glaring upwards Crusadermon saw a bird, bigger then the three animals that were on the ground but still not of any significant size flying through the air, screeching threateningly at her while circling about for another pass, completely disregarding its own safety.

_How like the relationship between humans and their 'pets',_ thought Crusadermon, casually knocking the bird away with one hand as it again flew into range. The bird squawked once in surprise from the impact and then landed on the ground with a gentle sounding thud. Crusadermon watched it impassively, noting that the creature's chest continued to rise and fall, signaling that it was merely stunned. She had pulled her punch at the last minute. There was nothing to be gained from the death of the bird like creature…no data to load that would sustain or heal her. And…for some reason she felt that its continued survival would be important to the three chirping nuisances down on the ground. _Tsking_ in annoyance Crusadermon prepared to move on, her mind already organizing priorities for survival, healing, and the continuation of finding a way to break the link between her and the Ayaka child. As she did so she hesitated and looked back down at the three 'children' and then at the 'parent' bird. After a moment's contemplation Crusadermon went back and roughly removed the nest from the ground, and after catching each of the three fluff balls and depositing them back in their nest, she found a place on another nearby tree to put them. Ignoring their increased agitation and struggles to get away from her until they were back in the nest Crusadermon stepped back and glanced down at the fallen, larger bird. It was still stunned, but she could see that it was starting to come to its senses.

"Keep those little brats out of trouble next time," commented Crusadermon, much to her own surprise. "Otherwise I may not be around to rescue them."

And with that, ignoring the role that she had played in the chaos that had started the whole mess in the first place, Crusadermon staggered off; eager to find a place that was other then where she was now, all the while pursued by the sense of connection that she felt with the girl named Ayaka.

* * *

Yamaki flicked his lighter open slowly as he stared out the window of his office, held it that way as was custom for the intermittency of the habit before flicking it closed once more with a metallic click. Another click signaled it being opened again, and a second later another click signaled its closing.

"And there was no indication at all that Ms. Abe had any signs of being sick?" Yamaki asked a thin, dark haired man who was presently cleaning a pair of glasses.

"No sir," replied the man, placing his spectacles back on his face. "Not in the least. She seemed to be as normal as ever. Stressed, sure, but just about everyone has been with the increased work load, but it's not as though this were something she was unaccustomed to. She was even a bit chipper today, which is a little bit more then what I've seen from her these past few months to be honest. I just thought that she was finally recovering from the death of her son or had been too caught up in her work to think about it."

"I see. Thank you. That will be all."

"Yes sir."

As the man filed out of the room at a brisk pace Yamaki raised one hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging it gently between his thumb and index finger before pushing his sunglasses back up. A low click filled the air as he flicked his lighter open again.

"You don't have to do this you know," spoke up the voice of Riley Ootori from within the office. "The doctors are looking after her. They'll let her family know if there's anything wrong with her."

"That I'm well aware of," replied Yamaki, flicking his lighter closed with another click of metal shutting against metal. "However I need something to do. Shibumi wants to hold off on sharing his information until the Tamers arrive for our scheduled meeting and a fair number of our projects are already being taken care of, leaving me with very little to do at the moment except to sign approval forms for running a test or overseeing program reconstructions and system maintenance…none of which appeals to me at this moment."

"That's not like you," Riley chuckled.

"No…it's not. It bothers me that it has come to this. It wasn't too long ago that I was fighting Kuroda, Itokawa, and the board on the use of the Argus program, and now Argus has gone missing; vanished from our files without any explanation why. If I were me, I'd be trying to get things up and running again to see why that is, where Argus went, and who took it if there actually is another agency behind it and not just another freak accident caused by that Hazard Storm."

Yamaki sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Which reminds me about the Nakata child and her mother…"

"You need to get some sleep more," commented Riley, her tone giving Yamaki the impression that she was a doting mother scolding an itinerant child for staying up to late. The mental image caused the blonde haired head of Hypnos to raise an eyebrow in mild bemusement and turn to face the red haired woman who was presently flipping through some papers that she was holding.

"You've been pushing yourself pretty hard this past week," continued Riley, not noticing that she now had his full attention. "Fighting against the use of Argus, fighting to contain the digimon that keep crossing over, dealing with the parents of children, trying to get Hypnos up and running again… I almost think you're picking smaller battles to take on just to give yourself a break away from the bigger ones that are on your doorstep."

Riley now flicked one scrutinizing eye up to meet Yamaki's shade covered ones and for a moment they both held each other's gazes until finally Yamaki sighed and looked away.

"I can't walk away from it all now," said Yamaki. "Too much to do."

"I'm not asking you to sir, and I know that any vacation you'd end up taking you'd make yourself miserable on with everything that's going on. But you could do with some rest at some point. You're only human Yamaki." A small smile drew up on Riley's face then before she went on. "Even the digimon need sleep at some point. Why not you too?"

Yamaki looked out of his window, surveying the city that lay beneath him, shining in the sunlight. Here and there he could pick out the construction sights where repairs were being made following battles against digimon and various other digital life forms, most notably the area where a massive blue cable creature similar to the D-Reaper, if the Tamer's descriptions were accurate, had emerged. And of course, there was the park.

_At the very least some good things have come out of this,_ commiserated Yamaki, thinking on how he had yet another thing to worry about. _Itokawa's out of the game and I have the support of one of the board members for my next set of plans. No invasion force has arrived either. Things could be worse. I've experienced worse anyway…_

"This is off the record Riley, but what are you doing after work?"

"Hmmm…depends on what the boss-man has in mind."

Yamaki could almost _hear_ the smile that was growing on her face in her voice. He resisted the urge to flick his lighter closed.

* * *

There were times in Kazu's life where he wished that he was a little bit smarter, if not faster on his feet both in the physical department and in the mental one. Not that he was in any way bad in either (though when it came to mental capacity his teacher Ms. Asagi he was sure would vote against him), far from it he tended to do rather well in spite of what his grades said about him and when it came to being physical he was the best in his class with Takato as a close second. He knew that he didn't hold a candle to the athletic prowess of his friends, Henry, Rika, and especially Ryo (or any of the digimon partners that they as a group had) but at the very least he was satisfied with what he was capable of. After all, things could have been worse. He could have been like Kenta who, during the majority of their time growing up and even after they both became Tamers would often complain about the effort that it took to make a short run down half a block, never mind all the running that he had to do during the D-Reaper crisis. It was in Kazu's opinion this aspect of Kenta that separated the two and would ensure that Kenta at the very least would have the hardest time getting girlfriends once they entered high school.

However, the physical aspect of his life had very little bearing on what was going on now, and did nothing to alleviate his own confusion about the present situation. Case in point being that almost immediately following the end of the battle with the Royal Knight known as Crusadermon Beelzemon had forcefully dedigivolved back to Impmon and looked to be in a lot of pain, something that was only reinforced by the sheer amount of data that the hobgoblin of a digimon had flowing from his body although the shuddering and clenching of one fist to his chest served well enough on their own as well. The situation had only become even more problematic and confusing when Impmon, upon Kazu's asking if he was alright and needed help, became exceedingly angry and fled the scene, tearing off into the city and leaving behind a very bewildered boy and Andromon…not to mention the crowd that had gathered when the action had been getting into full gear. It had taken Kazu a couple seconds to get a hold on himself and finally react to Impmon's rather confusing outburst.

"IMPMON!" Kazu shouted, moving forward a few paces rapidly and cupping his hands around his mouth. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! WHAT'S GOING ON?! _IMPMON!"_

"He doesn't appear to be listening Kazu," said Andromon coming up next to the visor wearing Tamer.

"I noticed that," grumbled Kazu as he folded his arms across his chest, and then blushed after a brief realization that he had been bereft of his favorite shirt during the fight with Crusadermon. Deciding to ignore his half nakedness, not to mention the stares that he was getting from the uniform clothed girls that were in the crowd Kazu pressed on. Pulling out his digivice Kazu called up the compass function, hoping to pick up Impmon's signal, only to scowl when the scan came up empty. "Nuts. Andromon, can you get a fix on him?"

"I'm afraid not," said Andromon with a regretful shake of his head. "There are too many motion signals around us for me to get a specific read on one target."

"Wouldn't you be able to pick out digimon signals anyway?"

"Normally yes, but there's been so much digital activity of late that it's causing some trouble for my sensors. The Hazard Storm has affected Shinjuku immensely. I've been running a program to compensate but it requires some time. Besides…despite Impmon's apparent injuries he has shown himself to be able to move rapidly enough where he could get out of range by this point if he really wanted to."

"Nnnnggg…" Kazu groaned and grabbed hold of the sides of his head in irritation. "…Well…I _do_ remember him saying something about how he learned to get around digivice scans when his partners kept using theirs to find him whenever they played _Hide and Seek_. Can't say that I should be all that surprised though I thought he was bragging at the time…"

"Perhaps we should seek out his partners so that they can help us…"

"That would be a good idea except that I don't know where they live. I left that kind of stuff up to Takato when he elected to help get them back home after that business with the D-Reaper ended. And it's not like Impmon goes traipsing around with those two whenever a digimon shows up to wreck havoc. You know how protective he is of those two."

"Even so, I should point out that the longer we stay here, the more of a chance that Impmon will be beyond our reach."

"Odds are he's already beyond our reach anyway," mused Kazu, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "The guy moves pretty quick at the Rookie level, and he knows how to hide real well, and since your sensors aren't picking him up and my digivice has decided to throw in the towel also we've got about as much chance as looking for a needle in a haystack in a city this big. We're going to need a plan, and more importantly we're going to need someone who knows how to look for him. We'd need Guilmon, or at least Renamon. _Especially_ Renamon since she found him so easily back in the digital world even though we had no clue where he was at the time."

"Not Ryo?"

Kazu gave a wry chuckle.

"Yeah…no offense to his awesome coolness or anything, but I don't think that he's going to be ideally suited for this. His digivice is probably going to be about as good as mine is right now and Cyberdramon…well, he's Cyberdramon. 'Nuff said there. Guilmon's got a nose that can track anything down no matter where it is or how far away even if they're underground with several dozen feet of dirt and concrete in the way. And Renamon…well, I already said that when it comes to Impmon she can find him no problem."

Andromon nodded in agreement but there was still a look of doubt on his face. "I should point out that we don't have much of a clue where they are either."

"No problem. Remember that we all have that meeting at Hypnos to go to…"

"Meeting at Hypnos? That's the place with that Yamaki person, right?" Came the voice of a dark haired woman who was approaching the duo. Turning towards her, Kazu took a moment to recognize her as one of the people who had leapt to his defense when an anti-digimon supporter went nuts on him and his partner. He had extra reason to recognize her as well, as she was the mother of the girl from Henry's class who had disappeared into the digital world a few weeks ago, and had most recently disappeared there again following yesterday's titanic battle with three Royal Knights and a giant, blue cable creature.

_Aiko Nakata…_

"Uh, yeah," said Kazu cautiously, wondering how she knew that much about Hypnos before remembering that Henry had been with her there at one point. "Guardro…I mean _Andromon_ and me, as well as the rest of the group, have to go down to Hypnos and have a meeting about some of the big stuff that have been going down lately."

Aiko narrowed her eyes slightly as she fiddled with a torn piece of cloth in one of her hands. It didn't take Kazu long to recognize it as the remains of his shirt.

"Then it's most fortunate that I met you here," said Aiko after a moment of contemplation. "I'm also heading down to Hypnos as well. If it is all right with you, I would like to accompany you. I would have some words with the head of your organization…"

"Um…actually we don't really work for Yamaki…"

"Kazu…didn't he offer everyone a job recently?" Asked Andromon, looking down at his partner.

"Yeah, but no one's gotten back to him on that yet…"

Aiko, in spite of herself, allowed her lips to turn upwards in a small, but brief smile as she came to a halt in front of Kazu and the giant android that was his partner.

"I can see that you still have some things to work out, but nonetheless I still want to see Mr. Yamaki…and meet your friends as well. Especially one in particular by the name of Henry Wong. He and I have some things to discuss regarding my daughter."

Kazu glanced over towards the area where Impmon had disappeared to in agitation. He wasn't all too sure if he should allow this woman to come with him, as Yamaki was pretty sensitive about letting people into a secure facility like Hypnos.

_Then again, Yamaki has already let her into the building and talked to her…he probably wouldn't mind having another face to face with her about that Noriko girl. I mean, she_ _**is** _ _the main reason why we're even having this meeting in the first place. Just look at what happened to her…_

"I'm sure Kazu would be glad to have you accompany us m' lady," interposed Andromon suddenly. Kazu glared up at his partner and again folded his arms across his bare chest.

"Hey! I haven't even said anything yet!"

"But Kazu…would you let her walk to Hypnos on her own without an escort?"

"Well…no…but I wish that you wouldn't preempt me when it comes to this kind of thing. I thought I was supposed to be the brains of our awesome twosome!"

"You were taking a long time with coming to a decision…"

"Only because the cold spring air was slowing my brain down…"

At this Aiko's attention was drawn to the boy's lack of a shirt and she looked down at the remains of the one that she held in her hand. It was a clean rip fortunately, so there stood a good chance that she could have it repaired, but for the time being it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that its service to its Tamer was over.

_Hmmm…yes. We'll have to do something about that won't we?_ Thought Aiko bemusedly before returning her gaze to Kazu, who was still arguing with his partner, while simultaneously giving glares to girls who were checking him out, dissolving into fits of excited giggles, and waving cutely at him.

_I have the distinct feeling that he's going to be having some interesting high school years,_ thought Aiko before returning to the present.

"I know of a clothing store near here," said Aiko, grabbing Kazu's attention. "I imagine that before we head down to Hypnos, we should at least make you presentable."

Kazu blinked and then looked down at himself.

"Well…at least this is slightly better then showing up there in my underwear…"

"You mean like that one nightmare you had last month?" Asked Andromon.

"Whaaaa…? Andromon! That was Kenta! I _don't_ have nightmares like that!"

"Funny…my memory banks must be malfunctioning. I distinctly remember you linking it to yourself."

"Moving on now," grumbled Kazu, pushing at his giant, mechanical partner to get him moving out of the area as quickly as he possibly could. A task that was made quite difficult by the fact that Andromon weighed far more then Kazu could possibly lift.

As Aiko prepared to follow the pair and lead them to the clothing store that she had mentioned, her crimson eyes caught sight of a man wearing a blue colored, traditional Chinese vest with neatly combed hair and trimmed mustache. She recognized him as one of the bystanders who had intervened on Kazu's behalf and she nodded at him her thanks.

Chou Sensei nodded in return before turning and disappearing back into the crowd.


	86. 85: Gatherings

Impmon's body shuddered as he collapsed to his knees on the hard rooftop. Pulling his arms close to his body as though by doing so he could keep himself together, the diminutive digimon felt his eyes bulge in their sockets as a pain ripped through his body. It was a pain that he had experienced a couple times already following the battle with the cable creature from yesterday's battle. Battle injuries he had thought then, as he had no real reason to think otherwise at the time. Now however he was starting to feel that such may not be the case after all.

_Injuries usually heal after digivolving,_ gasped Impmon within his mind as he clutched his ribs and groaned. _Not all the time…especially if the damage is bad enough, but usually that's how it goes. Whatever's wrong with me ain't your regular run-of-the-mill injury. I'm willing to bet my data on it now. It's not just that what's hurtin' me keeps showing up no matter what form I digivolve to…it's that it's gettin' worse._

Impmon gasped as he felt the torrent of pain reach a crescendo and then finally back off, allowing the imp to take a long, shaky breath. His limbs felt like jello that was preparing to dissolve into water at any second. Pulling his red gloved hands away from his body Impmon stared at them, uncertain of what it was that he was looking for but feeling a distinct fear of finding out what it was. Nonetheless, the demonic digimon continued to look. And wait.

"Ah?!" Impmon gasped as he saw his hands blur and pixilated. Data flowed from them in shining, sparkling lights and the world swam in his eyes. Crying out Impmon fought against the dizziness that he felt rushing on him. Suddenly it no longer seemed like a good idea to have ran from Kazu when he was just offering help, but pride, that ever present Achilles Heel of his, as well as the desire to not let Jeri find out about the extent of his injuries, not wanting her to feel any kind of pain or guilt over them. He knew all too well that she would worry herself far too much if she did find out, and even though he recognized that hiding this from her would achieve something to the same affect and would even make her angry, he wanted some time to figure things out on his own before he had to come forward, if at all.

Unfortunately, it looked to him that time had come all too soon.

_Wha…what did that thing hit me with?_ Impmon wondered, his mind starting to fray at the edges as unconsciousness loomed over him, desiring to claim him like a jealous lover. Impmon fought against its hold over him, struggled to deny it and in so doing forced himself to get to his feet.

A second later he fell backwards, his small body impacting with the rooftop with a small thud as his strength failed him.

* * *

"Jeri?"

"Hmmm?" Jeri looked away from Calumon, who was off flying through the air ahead of them and laughing as usual and over at her friend Miki, who was watching her with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Just wondering what was on your mind. You looked kind of distant all of a sudden, like you were somewhere else or something."

"Oh. I don't know. I guess…I just felt a little weird, coming down to Hypnos. I'm…um…the only Tamer attending this meeting without a partner."

Jeri raised one hand to her chest and closed it tightly into a fist as she looked at the oncoming doors that led to the government building of Shinjuku. Although she had meant what she had said, as she no longer had Leomon by her side she didn't feel that her presence in meetings such as this were at all necessary, however that was not the underlying reason for her feeling the way that she did. She didn't know how to describe it really, although she knew that she had felt something similar to it before, as when she had been separated from the Tamers during their first battle with Lucemon and Guilmon had been deleted. The closest that she could get to was a slight _stinging_ sensation, but that by itself didn't quite describe it. And with it came a feeling of…distance? Like there was a sudden void in her somewhere.

_I wonder if it has anything to do with Takato,_ thought Jeri worriedly. _He and I haven't exactly had much of a chance to talk to each other since that time at his house, and so much keeps happening that I haven't been able to see him. All the fighting that's been going on, and then there's Ryo and that card he gave me…_

Jeri gripped at the card that she carried in her dress's front pocket to assure herself that it was still there. The reality of the object still puzzled her greatly, as did the memory of the voice that had contacted her during the day of the Hazard Storm. Ryo's connection to the card and his apparent fear of it…and she could tell that he was…also contributed to her confusion, not to mention his gold trimmed digivice; something that up until this time had only been granted to Takato.

_Just what is that all about?_ Wondered Jeri as her mind strove to unravel the mystery that was Ryo Akiyama. Unfortunately, given her limited knowledge of the Legendary Tamer beyond her few interactions with him and the slips of information he had given her more recently there was very little that she was able to come up with. _There's so little that any of us know about him. Even Rika, and she knew him before any of us ever met him. I need to talk to him again…finish that conversation that we started on my family's rooftop. I need to know more about this card and what it could mean. And if it's any danger…_

"Jeri? Hey Jeri! Earth to Jeri! Hellooo…"

"Ah! M-Miki! You startled me!"

The dark haired girl cocked an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips while behind her Dracmon regarded the whole situation coolly behind his facemask.

"Sorry, but you were spacing out on me again." Miki's face took on a sympathetic expression and she removed her hands from her hips. "Look…I didn't mean to bring up your partner, or remind you about him. I know how you're still upset ove…"

"No!" Interrupted Jeri fiercely, catching the other girl by surprise. "Um…it's not that. I've…gotten over Leomon's death. Well, as best as I can anyway. I still miss him and everything, but I know what can happen when I let that kind of pain keep a hold over me." _I know it all too well,_ the brown haired girl thought to herself remembering her time of imprisonment in D-Reaper. Jeri's face took on an annoyed look then. "Sometimes I wish that people didn't always tip toe around that subject. I know it's not the kind of thing that anyone wants to be reminded of, but everyone treats me as if I were made of glass whenever Leomon's name comes up."

"Oh," said Miki carefully. "Okay. Well…sorry anyway."

Jeri shrugged, feeling somewhat rotten for having snapped at her friend like that.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have gotten after you about that. I mean, you're just showing me that you care…"

"Tell you what Jeri," said Miki with a concerned, friendly smile. "I won't be sorry if you won't be sorry, okay? I'd hate for this to turn into one of those 'I'm more sorry then you are' games."

"Good idea," said Jeri, allowing a lighthearted giggle to enter her voice.

"Glad you think so. Now that that's out of the way, what is it that's got your mind so preoccupied?"

"It's just something that's been on my mind lately…"

"Yeah? And aren't you going to share or are you going to leave me and Beanie in the dark here?"

Dracmon's colored eyes shot up on the surface of his leather mask.

"Wha…? Why are you including me in this?"

"Aren't we partners? Come on Dracmon! Back me up here!"

Dracmon grunted noncommittally. "I'm still working on that aspect of our relationship. Come to think of it, I thought you were too."

Miki huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, but we're still partners either way," the dark haired girl mumbled under her breath before returning her attention to Jeri, who was staring at the pair in a bewildered fashion. "Ahem. Anyway…about what you were thinking about…"

"It's nothing really," said Jeri, a nervous titter in her voice that did not make her proclamation sound at all convincing to her friend. "It's just something that's kind of personal for a friend of mine."

Miki cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at the brunette.

"Right. Jeri, I've known you long enough to know that 'nothing really' is usually a 'big something'. You never let something occupy your mind unless it's important. Of course, you _do_ tend to let a lot of little things become big things with the way you worry sometimes."

Jeri looked as though she were about to rebuff her friend's argument before stopping herself.

_She is right about that. I do tend to be a worry wart about some things. It's just…this, isn't one of those little things. This is really a big thing!_

Once more Jeri reached over and rubbed the outer area of her dresses pocket, feeling the card that lay within. It was a motion that did not go unnoticed.

"What's that you got in there Jeri?" Asked Miki, pointing at the pocket that Jeri had touched. Seeing that she had been caught Jeri brushed her pocket down and laughed nervously.

"N-Nothing," she said, trying to save face. "Just…um…just a little spot of dirt, that's all…"

Miki did not look at all amused.

"Jeri," the dark haired girl began in a low, soft voice that Jeri did not like at all. "We've been friends for how long? You know I can tell when you're trying to hide something from me. You're as bad a liar as Takato is if not worse. Now come on. What's on your mind and is it at all connected to whatever it is that you're hiding in your pocket there?"

Feeling her face start to heat up in embarrassment and shame at having been caught in a lie Jeri sighed.

"I don't think that I should. It is kind of personal…"

Miki took on a hurt expression.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about it, then I won't push it. But I should remind you that it usually helps to talk about these things when they're bugging you. That's what you've been telling me lately ever since that business with the red blob ended after all…"

"Miki…don't do this. I know what you're talking about. Believe me, I know better then you think I do, but a friend took me into his trust. I don't know if he wants to talk about it at all with the others and like it or not I should respect his privacy."

Again Jeri fingered her dress's pocket in agitation and she could feel her worry over the card growing. Miki watched her do so, feeling conflicted over wanting to barge right in and help Jeri with whatever it was that was on her mind regardless of the consequences, and respecting her wishes. Miki sighed in exasperation.

"All right," said Miki finally. "Fine. But if you need any help or even a listening ear, you know I'm here for you right?"

Jeri nodded her thanks to her friend before returning her attention to their journey towards Hypnos. As they came to a stop at a crosswalk and waited for the traffic lights to signal that they could cross safely, Jeri's thoughts turned towards the Legendary Tamer, and she wondered just what exactly it was that she had gotten herself into when she had asked Ryo if she could hold onto that Milleniummon card.

_One thing is for sure, I need to talk to Ryo again…and soon._

* * *

Kenta and Ayaka both entered the doors of the hospital, and were greeted by the happy, smiling face of MarineAngemon as he flew over to them, flapping his tiny wings as hard as he could. A smile of his own blooming onto the dark haired boy's face Kenta reached out and cupped his hands together for his partner to land into and he pulled the pink fairy digimon close to him, rubbing his cheek against MarineAngemon's, unmindful of how it must have looked to the other people around him. After all, this was his partner digimon, and he had no qualms about showing how happy he was to see him.

"Hey there MarineAngemon," said Kenta, pulling away from the diminutive fairy. "How are you doing?"

"Pihpuhpuhpuh," said MarineAngemon, his face taking on a sad, tired look and he wiped one wing like arm across his face in an exaggerated manner, and Kenta smiled at him once again as Ayaka came to a stop abreast from him.

"Tired huh? Well don't you worry. As soon as we get home I'll get you something to eat and then we can spend the day just hanging out. By the way, how's Henry?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Called out a loud voice that pulled at everyone's attention. Turning his eyes in the direction of the voice, Kenta's eyes fell on the familiar, long eared rabbit dog form of Terriermon, sitting in his usual, accustomed place on top of Henry's head as he strode towards the two Tamers and digimon, flanked by his three siblings while pushing… Kenta's eyes widened in surprise and he jogged up to the Wong family.

"Mr. Wong!" Kenta exclaimed to Henry's father, who was presently sitting in a wheel chair, looking to be in pretty good shape for a man who had been badly injured less then a week ago. "You're…!"

"Better then I was earlier," said Janyu with a cough. Kenta looked him over and then raised a questioning eyebrow at Henry and Terriermon, the latter of whom spread his long ears and giggled happily.

"You have the tiny pink guy to thank for that. Remember how he has those healing powers of his? Well, he went and used them on Henry's Dad."

"Oh, right," Kenta said, kicking himself mentally for a dope for not thinking about it earlier. Except… "Why's he still wearing casts though?"

Terriermon looked down at his partner.

"Henry? You wanna give him the scoop? You're the one who knows all the big words here."

"Nnnmm…Terriermon…"

"Well at least I got _some_ kind of response out of you," muttered the long eared digimon as he settled back on Henry's head and scowled. Janyu chuckled and coughed again before picking up the threads of conversation.

"It looks as though for some reason MarineAngemon's powers, while sufficient to help heal me of the worst of my injuries, were only able to do so much."

"I don't get it," said Kenta with a shake of his head. "He did so well with Henry and Takato, so why not you?"

"I wish I could tell you for certain Kenta," said Henry in a subdued tone of voice that caught Kenta's attention. "But I think that it might have something to do with the fact that MarineAngemon's abilities are geared more towards repairing damaged data, and since Takato and I were given the ability to transform into data when Dobermon sacrificed himself to enable us to biomerge, MarineAngemon's powers are able to work on us. It's probably the same for anyone who has gone into the digital world too since Ryo was able to biomerge without the sacrifice from Dobermon. My dad wasn't exposed to the digital world outside of his experience with his college project…"

"Which really isn't all that much," commented Janyu from his wheelchair.

"…And since he's not part data in any way," continued Henry, "MarineAngemon's healing abilities are limited, so he probably has to work harder to do what he's already done so far."

"Oh," said Kenta, his face becoming downcast.

"Come on Kenta," scowled Terriermon as he crossed his tiny arms over his chest. "Don't you go getting all depressed on me too! Henry's already like that and he's not much fun that way."

"Terriermon!"

"Besides," continued Terriermon, raising his head and closing his eyes, giving everyone the appearance of a preacher about to embark some great amount of wisdom on those gathered around him, "MarineAngemon got Mr. Wong fixed up this far, which is more then what this hospital is capable of already you know. He's coming home a _lot_ earlier then expected."

"Which is more then what we could have hoped for," spoke up Henry's mother as she came over with a doctor by her side. Looking over at the bespectacled boy and his pink fairy partner Mayumi Wong and the doctor, much to Kenta's surprise, both bowed to him.

"Thank you," said Mayumi as she and the doctor straightened themselves back up again and turned towards one another.

"So…you want me to bring him in next week?"

"Yeah, just to see how he's reacting to the digimon's treatment. This is really a completely unexplored area of science and medicine. I can only imagine what sort of affects this could have on the human body, but so far it's working out pretty well. But like I said, just to make sure. Now if you'll excuse me…" With a smile on his face the doctor inclined his head to the Wong family and looked over at Kenta and MarineAngemon, nodding to them respectfully before heading off. MarineAngemon giggled and did a cartwheel in the air while Kenta felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Um…okay…yeah. So…uh, anyway Henry, Mr. and Mr. Wong…I'm sorry that MarineAngemon wasn't able to…um…help you guys much…"

"Kenta," interrupted Henry's older sister, Jaarin. "Didn't Mom just get done saying that what you're partner did was more then what we could have hope for? Dad can come home now, although now we're faced with the awful task of keeping him in bed and away from work until he fully heals…"

"Jaarin…" began Mayumi with a firm expression on her face. On Henry's head, Terriermon raised an eyebrow and flapped his ears slightly.

"Sheesh. And here I thought I was the only one who got in trouble like that."

"Terriermon…" began Henry with a warning tone and then the waiting room was filled with laughter from the Wong family, Kenta, and MarineAngemon.

"Gotcha there Henry," chuckled Terriermon as he leaned down and shook a tiny finger at his partner.

"So you did," said Henry with a sigh. Mayumi smiled at the young boy and walked over to him, gently placing her hands on the arms of Janyu's wheelchair, replacing Henry's with a single, soft look at her son.

"We'll take things from here," said Mayumi, causing Henry to lift one eyebrow in confusion.

"Mom?"

"Can't you take a hint Henry?" Asked Terriermon. "She already knows that we have to go off to save the world and everything…"

"Terriermon," said Mayumi softly, interrupting the rabbit dog, and surprisingly Terriermon settled down, leaving Henry looking at his mother in surprise.

"He is right though," said Mayumi. "Yamaki called while the rest of us were waiting for the news on MarineAngemon's efforts with your father. He wanted to see how you were doing and to remind you that there was a meeting for you and your friends to attend at Hypnos if you felt up to it." Mayumi sighed and shook her head. "And as much as I'd rather that you didn't have to go I know how important this is to you."

Henry's face set itself in a determined expression then and he looked over at his father.

"Are you going to be all right Dad?"

Janyu gave his son a 'thumbs up' and smiled.

"Don't you worry about me Henry. I'll figure out a way to escape the house and help you out at Hypnos even if I have to enlist Susie's help to tie my bed sheets together so that I can go out the window."

"Yay!" Susie exclaimed gleefully as she pulled her digimon partner, Lopmon, the darker furred twin of Terriermon, closer to her in a bone crushing hug, eliciting a grunt of discomfort from the long eared digimon. "I get to hewp Daddy sneak out of the house! Oh Wopmonnn…"

Mayumi scowled at her husband.

"Don't you go putting any bad ideas into our daughter's head. Susie…don't make me confine you to your room until your father gets better."

"Ohhh…"

A small smile appeared on Henry's face then and he nodded. "All right. I'll be sure to let you know if anything develops."

Susie tugged on Henry's pants, and the half Chinese boy looked down at her.

"Henwy? Can I come too?"

Henry, already anticipating his mother's response shook his head.

"Sorry Susie, but this is kind of…big kid, adult stuff. Plus Mom would get worried about you if you got involved."

"Yeah, but…I'm a Tamew too."

"I know Susie," said Henry with an understanding look on his face. "But you're still a little young to be getting involved with this kind of thing."

"Susie," spoke up Jaarin as she came over and bent down so that she was on eye level with the young girl. "It might be better if you stayed at home anyways. With Dad still injured he won't be able to protect us from any bad digimon, so until he gets better he's going to need a protector right?"

Susie looked at her older sister with a blank expression for a moment before understanding dawned on her.

"So…I should protect Daddy until he's all bettew?"

"That's right Susie. He's depending on you to keep him out of trouble. Just make sure that he gets plenty of rest and he'll be fine."

"Okay!" Susie beamed happily, and Henry and Jaarin exchanged smiles. Henry silently nodded his thanks to his older sister.

* * *

Henry waved to his family as they made their way towards the hospital exit before turning to Kenta.

"Are you okay Henry?" Asked Kenta.

Henry thought about it for a moment before looking over at his departing family.

"I'll be fine. Thanks for lending MarineAngemon to us today. He really made a big difference today for my family…especially my dad."

Kenta rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You're welcome I guess. Though I wish that I had been able to do more. I mean, MarineAngemon was the one who did all the work…"

With a giggle Terriermon hopped over onto Kenta's head and laid himself down on top of it, mashing down the boy's hair and nearly knocking off his glasses in the process.

"In that case you know what you have to do if you want to be a help, right? Guess who's going to be the 'Joe' of our group. That means a lot of sleepless nights worrying over just about everything and anything, right down to the smallest cut and the slightest sneeze."

"Terriermon…" said Henry with a smile and a shake of his head at his partner's antics. Reaching over the half Chinese Tamer picked up the long eared rabbit dog from off of Kenta's head and let him clamber onto his shoulder where he would be more comfortable.

"He is right you know," said Ayaka now approaching the three friends. "If you do want to be a backup for MarineAngemon when he can't heal people you'll have to look into getting first aid training and probably take some classes towards becoming a doctor."

"It'd be a lot better then listening to you whine about how you can't do anything at least," piped in Terriermon, and Ayaka turned an annoyed look towards the bunny dog.

"Henry…just how did your mother get him to shut up for longer then five seconds?"

"I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Given his preference for my mother's cooking I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that food is involved somehow."

"Or maybe your mom and I just happen to have a better understanding between us," said Terriermon with a smug look on his face. Face it Henry, you never give me any limits outside of 'be the doll when we're in a place packed with people'."

"Funny how that doesn't seem to be working right now," deadpanned Henry.

"They've already seen my standup routine, and they're not really bothered by it. The nurses think I'm cute."

"Funny…I thought that they said _MarineAngemon_ was cute. They just gave you a weird look."

"Trust a pink fairy to steal all of my glory," pouted Terriermon indignantly. Henry chuckled.

"Momentai Terriermon," he said as he reached up to scratch his partner's ears. "Momentai."

"Hey! That's my line!"

"Well, now that we're all together, shouldn't we be going now?" Asked Kenta as he adjusted his glasses. "We still have that meeting to go to at Hypnos. We don't want to be late for that."

"No," said Henry as his face became serious. "No we don't."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Called out Terriermon as he pumped one tiny fist into the air in a dramatic fashion. "Hiyo Henry! Awaaay!"

"Terriermon…"

"What? Momentai Henry! I'm just setting the theme to our little walk. I could be boring like you and walk like a robot without saying a word."

"Terriermon!"

Once more the group laughed and for a brief moment they were all able to forget their worries. Upon settling down they began to make their way towards the doors of the hospital. As they did so, Kenta took a look around and furrowed his brow.

"Hey. Where's MarineAngemon?"

Ayaka glanced over at Kenta and blinked before taking a look around the hospital, her gaze quickly settling on the familiar pink fairy floating in front of her, smiling happily. Before the coppery haired girl could even say a word MarineAngemon laughed merrily and flew towards her, snuggling against her chest, startling the young girl. Henry, Terriermon, and Kenta all watched this strange scene play out with raised eyebrows, and Ayaka, for lack of any better idea, simply closed her hands around the small fairy, hugging it close to her while giving her companions an uncertain look.

"Heh," began Terriermon. "Guess that means he likes you."

At that, Ayaka blushed and her heart quickened its pace from a steady beat into a nervous rhythm. MarineAngemon looked over at Kenta from within the girl's gentle grasp.

"Pihpuhpuhpih!"

Terriermon scratched his head and looked down at Kenta, wondering why it was that that Kenta had joined Ayaka in her blushing.

"Care to share what that was all about, Kenta?"

Kenta's only response was to jam his hands into his pockets and begin humming loudly to himself. Henry watched the two for a couple seconds before shaking his head.

_Just start walkin',_ was all he thought.

* * *

Yamaki stared out of his window, lost in thought as he flicked his lighter open and closed. He had recently received news from Henry's mother that Janyu was doing all right, and that thanks to MarineAngemon, Kenta's partner, he was now well enough to leave the hospital. She had mentioned of course, and indeed emphasized, that he was still going to be in need of down time because of some limitation involving MarineAngemon's powers but for now Yamaki was all to happy to hear that the leader of the Monster Makers was doing much better then he had been during the past few days that he had been injured.

_Just one last thing to look forward to for today,_ thought Yamaki as he saw Cyberdramon's familiar form fly towards Hypnos with Ryo Akiyama sitting astride on his right shoulder. As though it were a sign the phone on Yamaki's desk rang, and the blonde haired head of Hypnos picked it up with a dull click.

"Yamaki."

_"Sir,"_ came the response from the resceptionists desk. _"Some of the children that you have requested a meeting with have arrived. Should I send down an agent to show them to the meeting room?"_

"Please do. I'll be down there shortly."

With that Yamaki hung up and got up from his desk. His lighter snapped open and closed once more as he regarded the city for a brief moment and then turned towards the door of his office.

_Time to get this meeting started…_


	87. 86: Revealing Secrets: Part 1

Rika scanned the streets below her as she and Kyubimon leapt from rooftop to rooftop, blinking her violet eyes to clear them from the two strands of hair that blew across her face from the wind.

_We're starting to run out of time,_ thought Rika with a frown forming on her face. _The meeting at Hypnos starts soon and Gogglehead and I still haven't found a sign of Kazu and his dopey partner Guardromon._

Rika thought back to the phone call that she had received from Takato on her cell phone following his arrival at his home. Needless to say it hadn't come off as swimmingly as she had hoped, and thought that it would. Apparently Takato's parents, more specifically his mother, wasn't too thrilled about him and Guilmon sneaking out of the house, which complicated things a bit, but as they were already aware of the meeting that the Tamers had to attend it didn't extend much further beyond a basic scolding and a promise to 'have a talk' once he got home. All in all, Takato had taken up to half an hour to get in touch with Rika and tell her that Kazu was nowhere in the bakery to be found. Not that there was anything surprising there given the high probability that Kazu's digivice picked up the bio emergence of the DexDORUGreymon from earlier in the day and he had gone out to investigate. In all honesty Rika was surprised that she and Takato didn't run into him following their battle with the bizarre dragon digimon. Not too long ago she would have been grateful for even that much of a reprieve from Kazu's presence, especially since it granted her and Takato the privacy they needed to have their long overdue 'talk', but right now she was starting to get worried.

_Seriously, how hard can it be to find that idiot? Kazu usually makes it pretty clear where he is at any given point of the day,_ thought Rika irritably as she traced her eyes upwards and scanned the skies for the form of Guardromon, knowing that in most situations Kazu preferred to go flying about on his mechanical partner.

"This is getting us nowhere," grumbled Rika as she turned her attention ahead of her and adjusted her grip on Kyubimon's collar ribbon. "We've checked out Hypnos and the surrounding area where we fought that wild digimon and we _still_ haven't seen so much as a single obnoxious hair from Kazu." Her frown deepening Rika looked down at her pants pocket, glaring at the outline of the cell phone that lay within.

"Come on Gogglehead…why don't you just call and let me know that he's arrived at Hypnos already?"

"Perhaps because Kazu hasn't arrived yet," supplied Kyubimon as she bounded off of yet another rooftop and, after a quick course correction in mid air, aimed for the streets below them. Rika _hmmphed_ and scowled.

"Or maybe he's just forgot to bring enough Yen with him to make a simple call from that payphone we dropped him and Guilmon off at. Why did I have to get dragged into this?"

Kyubimon sighed under her breath. Due to the lack of returns in their search Rika was in one of her moods, and as such she was hardly in the frame of mind to be entirely rational or reasonable even though it was a bit justified. Nonetheless, Kyubimon refrained from reminding the fiery tempered girl that it had been _her_ idea to go out and look for Kazu as she and Kyubimon were the fastest and most mobile outside of Rapidmon and Cyberdramon, and amongst all of the Tamers, only she and Ryo (who was also out searching with Cyberdramon) had cell phones with which they could be contacted with in the field. Kyubimon mused about the damage that Hypnos had taken during the past week, as its connection to the world's communication and satellite systems would have made the process of searching that much more easy. However, as Hypnos was presently 'under the weather' there was very little that the agency could do until it was back up on its feet.

_A pity,_ thought Kyubimon as she pounded her flaming feet on the hard surface of the city streets, startling many a pedestrian in the process. _Normally I wouldn't complain, given that we are more used to operating without the aid of Hypnos in such situations, but given recent events we can't afford to tarry with this task for much longer._

"Rika," began the vulpine digimon as she once more leapt up into the air, her paws landing on a new rooftop with an easy grace that left many of Shinjuku's civilian population gaping at her in amazement. "Why don't I just return you to Hypnos for your meeting so that you don't miss out on it? I can continue searching for Kazu and Guardromon and meet up with you and the others later."

Rika's scowl deepened as Kyubimon trotted to a halt to allow the girl a moment of calm inactivity to contemplate the idea. With an air of frustration Rika tugged her cell phone out of her pocket and glanced at the time.

"That probably would be the best idea for right now," said Rika finally, her displeasure for the motion apparent in her voice. "Hopefully Kazu's almost at Hypnos right now anyway and you won't have to miss out on anything." Rika turned her violet gaze up to the cerulean one of her partner and gave the kitsune a small smirk. "All right; yeah, let's do that. But if he's not there and you have to go out looking for him, be sure to shake him by his legs over a rooftop as a lesson for making us have to babysit him and his partner… _again._ "

Kyubimon chuckled as she crouched down, preparing herself to resume her journey.

"I'll see what I can do."

And with that the nine tailed, vulpine digimon leapt into the air once more with her partner, and faded from view.

* * *

Takato and Guilmon anxiously waited by the payphone, both of them keeping a sharp eye out on the streets around them with Guilmon occasionally sniffing the air for any sign of Kazu and Guardromon, and by the same token Rika and Renamon should they also be in the vicinity. After a few minutes went by Takato let go of a sigh and gazed up at the horizon, a frown crossing his features. Guilmon looked at him with a worried expression.

"You okay Takatomon?"

"No," responded Takato, not bothering to correct his partner on his adding the 'mon' part to his name, "I'm not. This waiting…it's tough. Rika and Ryo are out there looking for Kazu and so far there hasn't been anything. If it wasn't for the fact that our digivices only picked up one digimon signal from when that DexDORUGreymon had bio emerged I would have wondered if Kazu had gotten into a fight without backup."

"Yeah," nodded Guilmon in understanding. "That was one tough lizard. He wasn't very nice at all. Smelled wrong too. There was something about it that felt weird. Kind of like the way the D-Reaper's pet birdies did when I got into a staring contest with them."

Takato's gaze snapped over to Guilmon with a look of wonder and surprise mixed in his crimson eyes, causing Guilmon to give the boy a questioning blink.

"Ah…is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?"

"Guilmon…did you just remember our first encounter in the digital world with the D-Reaper?"

Guilmon tilted his head to one side in confusion.

"D-What?"

Takato groaned in exasperation.

_Well, so much for that hope…_

"Uh…just a bad guy that we fought last year. It was a pretty nasty one. You just mentioned something that you did at the time and I thought that you remembered it in full."

"Oh." Guilmon paused. "What was it that I remembered?"

Cue another groan from the young Tamer.

"Well…it's kind of hard to explain. It was a program that went on a rampage both here in the real world and in the digital world, deleting everything that it came in contact with…"

"That didn't sound like it was very hard to explain."

Takato paused and then chuckled.

"No…I guess it wasn't after all. There was a little bit more behind it though, like how it attacked us using agents, and kidnapping Jeri to try to learn more about us." Takato's eyes became downcast as he remembered that particular aspect of the adventure from last year. He would have given his life and more to prevent that if he had known, and he had almost done just that rescuing her.

"Yeah," nodded Guilmon. "That copy of Jeri was pretty scary. She felt wrong in almost the same way as that digimon did."

"Guilmon…" Takato breathed as he looked at his partner in amazement. "…I didn't even say that the D-Reaper had even created a clone of her at all."

Guilmon looked at his partner and cocked an eyebrow.

"You didn't?"

Takato shook his head and a smile bloomed on his face.

"Guilmon…that's…that's _awesome!_ You're starting to remember things on your own now! I mean, I knew that you were starting to remember some things but this is the first time that you didn't have someone helping you! That's…that's…"

Unable to contain his joy any longer Takato threw himself at Guilmon, for the first time almost knocking the red dragon digimon over. Guilmon grunted in surprise from the force of the boy's impact, but held his ground and the two partners quickly burst into laughter. Drawing back Takato fixed Guilmon with an expectant gaze as he rubbed the sides of the reptiles face.

"What else do you remember? Tell me anything!"

Guilmon placed one claw against his jaw and tapped it thoughtfully, closing his eyes and furrowing his brow in an attempt to give some grounds to Takato's hope.

"Hmmm…mmm…um…ahhhh…." Guilmon's frown deepened as his concentration narrowed and he huffed slightly before his golden eyes finally snapped open and lit up as though in joy.

"Ah! Shirt!"

"Hu-whah…?" Takato looked at his friend with a perplexed expression. Guilmon laughed and continued speaking.

"Yeah! A shirt! You said you liked a shirt in the tunnels!"

_I liked a Shirt? In the tunnels? What on earth is he talking abou…?_ Began Takato's train of thought as he tried to decipher Guilmon's words, only to have realization strike him full on a second later and his expression transformed from one of confusion to bright red embarrassment to rival Guilmon's scales. Seeing this Guilmon looked at his partner with a curious, innocent expression.

"Takato? Why are you all red and funny looking? Are you digivolving into me now?"

"Ahhh…" was Takato's intelligent response as he waved his hands in a placating manner in front of his partner to assure him that he was all right.

_Man, of all the memories he just_ had _to remember_ that _one? Then again, he was just going off of the memory from our first encounter with D-Reaper. Uugghh…_

"Hey Takatomon!" Hailed an all too familiar, high pitched voice from down the street.

Takato whirled around in surprise, coming face to face with Henry, Terriermon, Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Ayaka as they approached him and Guilmon.

"Ah…Hey guys!"

"Hey yourself," said Terriermon cheerfully as he waved his ears at the goggle wearing Tamer. "Hope we're not late or anything."

"No!" Takato stopped to clear his throat as he fought down the last remnants of his blush. "Ah, no. Actually the meeting hasn't even started yet because we're just waiting for, well, everyone else to show up. Rika and I saw you guys on our way down here and according to Yamaki Jeri, Calumon, Miki, and Dracmon are already inside waiting for the rest of us to go in…"

"You haven't seen them?" Asked Henry raising an eyebrow. Takato shook his head.

"No. Rika wanted me to stay by this pay phone so I could call her in case Kazu showed up. She and Ryo are out looking for him right now since he wasn't at the bakery and those two are the only ones that have cell phones on them…"

Terriermon frowned down at his Tamer and flapped his ears irritably.

"Seriously Henry; why don't we ever get those things? You know how useful they are in our line of business…"

"Yes Terriermon, I know," replied Henry in exasperation as he reached up and patted the long eared dog bunny on the head. "You don't need to remind me about that."

Henry turned his attention back to Takato. "So Rika and Ryo are out looking for Kazu, and Jeri and Miki and you are the only ones here? Outside of us now…"

Takato nodded. "Yeah. The lady at the front desk will have someone show you where the room is."

Henry frowned as he looked at the front doors leading to the Shinjuku government building, his expression making it unclear as to whether or not he wanted to go inside. Although Takato was perfectly fine with his friends staying around and keeping him company there seemed to be something in the way that Henry was looking that seemed _off_ in some fashion. As though he were uncomfortable…

_I wonder if it has to do with Dracmon,_ thought Takato, remembering some of the stories that he had heard during the past couple of days since his return home. _After all, the little guy did hurt his dad._ Takato thought about a time in the digital world that had been marked by a similar experience, more specifically the incident in which Leomon had been killed and both he and Guilmon had lost control of themselves in the ensuing battle that they had with Beelzemon.

_I know that Guilmon and I had a difficult time trusting Beelzemon after what he did to us,_ thought Takato, sighing mentally at the memory. _And the same was true for everyone else. The only ones who actually forgave him before any of us…or at least did enough to bring him back home with us were Rika and Renamon. I wonder if we can be friends with Dracmon too like we are with Impmon._

_I wonder if he'll even let us…or if Henry will._

"Hey Henry," spoke up Terriermon as he took a moment to clamber up from the half Chinese Tamer's shoulder to the top of his head. "I don't suppose we could head on in and go up to the mess hall for a bite to eat can we? I'm kinda hungry."

"You're always hungry," commented Henry, allowing a small smile to appear on his face at his partner's antics. "If anything you're almost as much of a bottomless pit as Guilmon. Just where do you put it all?"

"My stomach. Where else?"

"You are incorrigible," said Henry with a slight shake of his head. Turning his gaze to Takato the dark haired boy gave him a regretful shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry. I've got to go feed the untamed beast."

Takato gave a light laugh. "Yeah. The stomach. The Tamer's last conquest. Good luck with that."

"Mm. Hopefully my allowance will cover this one."

"Momentai Henry! It's jus a little snack! Honest!"

"Right. And since when is _little_ the next size up after _extra large?"_

"Hen-ry! Momentai!"

Takato watched the pair head off towards the Hypnos entrance with a broad smile on his face. Ayaka was quick to follow but after a couple steps she stopped and turned around, giving a quizzical look at Kenta and MarineAngemon, who hadn't yet moved.

"Are you coming Kenta?" Asked the coppery haired girl, and Kenta gave her a reassuring smile that, to both the young girl and Takato, wasn't very reassuring.

"Um…I'll be along in a few minutes. I just need to ask Takato something."

Ayaka furrowed her eyebrows at the Tamer but soon gave a nod at him and followed Henry inside the building. Giving a small sigh of relief, Kenta turned around, a dark blush already building on his face.

"Are you okay Kenta?" Asked Takato, and the boy gulped.

"I could say the same thing about you actually," said Kenta with a nervous tone in his voice. "When we first saw you, you looked like you were uncomfortable about something."

"Oh, that's because Takato was thinking abo…Mmmph!" Guilmon's words were cut off in mid sentence as Takato clamped his hands around the red dino's mouth. Takato laughed nervously and gave his partner a warning look.

"Ah…well, Guilmon was just…ahem…remembering some things, that's all. Ah…heh, heh, heh…"

Kenta looked at Takato with a strange expression before finally shaking his head.

"Well, I'm glad that Guilmon's starting to get his memories back."

"Yeah. Me too," said Takato, releasing his hold on Guilmon's mouth. _Even if some of those memories are kind of embarrassing._ "Uh…anyway, you said that you wanted to ask me about something?"

A sliver of crimson once again crawled over Kenta's face and he held his hands behind his back, as though he were feeling uncertain about something.

"Oooh…Takatomon. He looks just like you did before he and Henry, and that other girlmon showed up," said Guilmon, pointing at Kenta's face with one claw. "Is he digivolving into me instead of you?"

"Wha…?" Kenta sputtered, looking back and forth between the two while Takato groaned.

"Guilmon…no. Kenta's not digivolving into anything…and neither was I! He's just…I'm…hey. Why are you looking all embarrassed anyway?"

Kenta's body became rigid and he began twiddling his fingers behind his back. MarineAngemon watched his partner with a worried expression before turning to Takato.

"Pihpihpihpuh."

Takato and Guilmon tilted their collective heads to one side in imitation of one another.

"Um…I don't think that I speak _MarineAngemon,_ " said Takato regretfully. MarineAngemon frowned and glanced over at his partner, who was now humming, straining to speak but not quite having the courage to say what was on his mind.

"Puh!" MarineAngemon spat a pink hearted bubble at the dark haired boy and then turned towards Guilmon and Takato meaningfully.

"Oookaaay…" came the intelligent response from the two partners before they exchanged glances.

"Maybe it's like a game of charades," supplied Guilmon, trying to be helpful.

"Now if only we had an idea what it was that he meant. So far we've just got a lot of _pihs_ and _Puhs,_ and a heart blown at Kenta. I take it that this has nothing to do with Valentines Day?"

"Uh…" began Kenta, uncertainty and nervousness still filling his voice. "Actually it's…sort of related…"

Takato and Guilmon looked at Kenta expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"I was sort of hoping that you could give me some advice," said Kenta after hesitating for a second. "You see…" Kenta rubbed the back of his head in agitation before continuing. "…Um…something happened between me and…ah…er…Ayaka."

Takato blinked.

"Like what?"

"Yeah," supplied Guilmon. "Did she kiss you?"

"Guilmon!"

"What? I'm just asking. It seems to be happening a lot lately…"

"What's he mean?" Asked Kenta, raising an eyebrow at Takato as he was presently palming his face with one hand. "Did you…?"

"It's… _complicated._ But I'm dealing with it right now. Anyway, about, ah, you and Ayaka. What exactly happened between you two?"

"Well, that's where it also gets complicated. She doesn't really want to talk about it, but I know that she's going to have to at some point. Even so, I would like for you guys to keep this a secret for a while, okay?"

"Sure," said Takato with a nod while Guilmon did likewise.

"Our secret," said Guilmon.

Kenta took a deep breath before continuing. "Anyway…you guys remember Crusadermon, right? That pink Royal Knight that attacked you guys yesterday? Well, she's still alive. And not only that, she's now partnered to Ayaka."

"What?!" Takato's eyes went bug wide at this revelation.

"Um…hurray?" Prompted Guilmon, trying to see if this could be considered a _moment of celebration_. Truth be told, he himself had mixed feelings. On one hand, Guilmon had been, as mentioned, attacked by Crusadermon and even used as a living shield against Beelzemon's attacks, but if she had become a partner to one of his Tamer's human friends, surely only good could come from that.

Right?

"No Guilmon," said Kenta with a shake of his head. "Not hurray. Crusadermon didn't react too well to it. In fact, I'd say that it's safe to say that she's pretty angry about it. She actually threatened Ayaka. I saw it myself. And when Crusadermon left, after throwing Ayaka at me that is, Ayaka…she…well…"

Takato blinked his eyes, trying to decide on which part of the conversation he should be focusing. This was all a lot to take in all at once. Crusadermon still being alive, and not only that becoming a partner digimon to one of his classmates (while at the same time apparently not liking the arrangement to the point where she physically attacked her own partner), and now Ayaka…

"…She kissed me," finished Kenta finally, his face again taking on a red discoloration to it as he tried to not avoid Takato's eyes.

"Uh…wow," was all Takato could say.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do you have to say?"

Takato scratched the back of his head. "Man…where do I start? I mean… _wow_. This is a lot to tell me all in one sitting…"

"Start with what I'm supposed to do about Ayaka's kissing me. I don't know what to do or how to react!"

"Well…uh…" Takato hesitated. "…How do you feel about her?"

"I…I don't know. I never thought that she'd end up doing _that_ with me. Remember how in class she used to always make fun of us for liking digimon? She even thought we were the ones who were terrorizing couples in the park even though it was really Impmon just because we were, well, boys!"

"How does she feel about you?"

Kenta sighed and looked down at the ground. "She hasn't said really. Even when we did get a moment to talk alone we didn't really spend a whole lot of time talking about that. She did tell me that she didn't mean for it to happen. She was just upset so…"

Takato's gaze softened.

"So she's saying that she just got caught up in the moment? And that you just happened to be the closest person there at the time?"

"I…" Another pause. "Yeah. I guess that's what it looked like."

Takato noted that Kenta seemed even more saddened by this fact then he had been about the sudden change in his relationship with the girl.

_Kenta's never really been in this kind of situation. He probably never expected one to happen either. He's never exactly had the most confidence when it came to girls, but then again I don't think any of us were really thinking that far ahead anyway. Girls and relationships were something that he, Kazu, and I all expected to have to deal with once we got into high school. And now, here we are, still in elementary and already some of us are dealing with that kind of thing. There are my feelings for Jeri, and now there's what happened between me and Rika…and now there's Kenta and Ayaka. I get the feeling that we were all exposed to too much too soon, and because of that we're developing in our minds faster then we're supposed to. If this is what we have to deal with now, what're things going to be like when we're older? When we're in high school? How's this kind of thing going to affect Kenta? Or Rika and Jeri? What are any of us going to be like in the future?_

_Or maybe I'm just going about this the wrong way. Maybe I'm looking too far ahead when I really need to focus on the here and now._

"Kenta…I don't know if I'm the best candidate to really help you with what you're going through. I'm kind of going through the same thing right now, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't have any answers. You see, I have feelings for one person, but they're also conflicting with how someone else feels about me, and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about her except that I care about her a lot. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I know that no matter what I do that's just what's going to happen. Right now I'm stuck on what to do, or if I should even do anything at all. It's not exactly an ideal situation, and it's certainly a very confusing one. But if I had to give you some advice, then I'd say that you should really ask yourself how you feel about Ayaka. That's a pretty important thing that you're going to want to know and," Takato sighed, "and it's all too easy to fool yourself into thinking that there's something there when there probably isn't."

Takato blinked at that last part, wondering where it had come from as he had never considered that possibility before. In the silence that followed between the two Tamers, Takato pondered on it for a few minutes, rolling it around in his mind until finally Kenta spoke up.

"Thanks Takato," said Kenta finally. "I guess I've got a lot of thinking to do."

"Heh. Yeah. I hope you figure something out. Maybe next time I'll ask you for some advice."

The two boys shared a good laugh before Kenta bade his friend a fond farewell, saying that he'd meet him inside once everyone had arrived. Waving Takato watched Kenta go for a minute before returning his attention to the streets.

_Still no sign of Kazu,_ thought the goggle wearing Tamer. _I wonder if he's taken a page from Calumon's book and is playing Hide and Seek._

"Hey Takato," began Guilmon after a second of silence.

"Yeah boy?"

"That was really good advice you gave Kenta. How come you're having such a hard time taking it?"

"Uh…"

"What's he talking about?" Asked a familiar, female voice as a light breeze blew over Takato, accompanied by the sound of a flute being played. Turning his head Takato found himself looking at Rika as she sat atop of Kyubimon's back. Takato found himself smiling at the crimson haired girl that was his friend.

"Oh…nothing really. Though if Terriermon were here I'm sure he'd say something along the lines of the usual daytime drama. Either that or momentai. How'd the search go?"

"No sign of Kazu anywhere," grumbled Rika as she climbed off of her partner and set herself down on the ground. "I don't know what that crazy kid is doing but he's making me worried."

"What about Ryo? Has he seen any sign of Kazu? Or even his visor?"

"No difference on his end of things either," Rika said with a rueful shake of her head. "The meeting's going to be starting soon too. Have Henry, Kenta, and what's-her-name shown up yet?"

"Ayaka," supplied Takato with a nod. "Yeah. They're here. You just missed them by a few minutes."

"Well that's something. Ryo's making his way back here, but he's going to be backtracking first just to make extra sure."

"But what about…?"

"Cyberdramon and I are going to continue looking for Kazu and Guardromon," said Kyubimon. "We'll be sure to let you know when we find them or if anything else develops."

"Oh. Okay. Well I guess that just leaves the meeting to us then."

"Good luck," said Guilmon, giving the vixen a wave, to which she responded with a simple nod of her head before fading from view to resume her search for the missing Tamer. Takato furrowed his brow.

"Hey," said Rika, placing a hand on Takato's shoulder, "don't worry about Kazu, all right? I know that I don't always show the greatest amount of confidence in him, but on the off chance that something did happen he knows enough about how to handle it."

"I know," said Takato. "I'm just…worried, that's all. Maybe we ought to put this meeting on hold. Kenta…Kenta told me that Crusadermon is still alive somewhere in this city."

"She is?" Asked Rika with a raising of one fiery eyebrow.

"Yeah. But it's complicated though. I don't know if we'll have anything to be worried about from her or not. It all depends on whether or not Kenta brings it up at the meeting."

"Well…why wouldn't he?" Asked Rika, looking into Takato's eyes, trying to gauge his thoughts and trying to sense his emotions through the link that they had made with each other. Unfortunately, as she wasn't biomerged with Renamon at the moment, she wasn't picking up anything beyond just a slight trickle of worry coming from the boy.

"Like I said, it's complicated," answered Takato as he ran a hand through his hair. "Plus he didn't want me blabbing about it, but since Kazu's not here yet…I don't know…"

Rika frowned, not liking this development. If Crusadermon was still alive, that meant that she was an incredibly high, potential threat that had to had to be dealt with. Why Takato or even Kenta of all people would not want to remove her as a danger to the city and to their friends was beyond her…

_"Rika…"_

Rika glanced up reflexively towards the sky.

_"Renamon?"_

_"I've found Kazu and Guardromon. They're both on their way down with a 'friend'. They'll all be at Hypnos shortly."_

_"Okay. See you here soon then."_

_"Actually…that's going to be difficult. Kazu has informed me that he and Guardromon have fought Crusadermon who has survived yesterday's battle, and that Beelzemon, who had also been involved, is missing and injured. I am going to go look for him."_

Rika frowned, and Takato looked at her warily.

_"Okay. Just get back here so that I can join you and…"_

_"Rika. I know that you're worried about Crusadermon, but right now you have a meeting to attend to. I'll be careful. I promise"_

Rika's frown deepened, and she clenched one hand into a tight fist.

_"…Okay. I'll see you later then."_

_"As always."_

"Renamon says that she's found Kazu and Guardromon, so they'll be here soon. In the meantime she's going to go looking for Impmon. I guess he got into a scuffle with Crusadermon and got hurt."

"I hope he's okay," said Takato. "I know that he's tough, but Crusadermon's pretty tough too."

"I'm sure that he's fine," said Rika as she turned and began to saunter towards the doors of Hypnos. "Now come on. I don't think we want to be keeping _Mr. Yamaki_ waiting any longer then he already has been."

"Uh…right." Takato watched the girl walk off for a second before exchanging looks with Guilmon. With a shrug of their shoulders they both joined their friend and headed inside.


	88. 87: Revealing Secrets: Part 2

"Thank you all for coming," said Yamaki to the group gathered around the rectangular table that sat in the small, plain, windowless room that had come to be recognized by the Tamers as their 'meeting room' whenever they came down to Hypnos to have a discussion with Yamaki. It wasn't anything special, and it wasn't ideal for fitting all of the Tamer's partners in the room (digimon like Guardromon and Cyberdramon were unable to fit inside due to their excessive size for the rooms parameters), but for all intents and purposes, pending a remodeling of the room's interior and expansion of its boundaries, the room served the Tamer's well for what they went there to do. Shibumi glanced at each of the Tamer's in their turn, taking in their appearance and gauging their emotional weather, Kazu, Aiko Nakata, and Takato especially. Kazu, mainly because he was the most recently in a battle and presently sporting a dark green T-Shirt in place of his standard black shirt with yellow crucifix symbol (a change that he did not look in the least bit happy about); Aiko because she was the mother of the missing child, Noriko Nakata, who was one of the subjects of this meeting; and finally Takato as he shared a fair amount of importance in the meeting as well, not to mention his most recent experiences regarding his own partner. This led Shibumi to look at Guilmon, who stood next to Takato's seat loyally, observing the whole scene.

Guilmon had changed quite a lot from the last time he had seen the crimson reptile, being much larger from head to tail tip, appearing a bit more reptilian like with more of a hint of animal savageness but still maintaining his usual, childlike innocence in his big, golden eyes. The most obvious difference with Guilmon was the apparent lack of the Digital Hazard sign that before had been so acutely observable on the dragon's chest. Shibumi wondered what sort of affect that had on Guilmon, and what it meant in the long run.

_Quite a lot if what that Sakuyamon has told me means anything,_ thought Shibumi as he remembered his forced visitation to the temple grounds of the Seer Council. _I hadn't imagined that things had gone so far as they did…or that there were some things going on that were running so deep._

Shibumi turned his gaze over to Dracmon, who was calmly sitting on the table in front of Miki, studiously ignoring Calumon's antics while Jeri strove to keep the creampuff of a digimon quiet so that Yamaki could proceed uninterrupted.

"There have been a number of recent developments concerning the digital world of late," continued Yamaki, to which he received a number of affirmatives from the Tamers.

"Got that right," said Rika as she leaned forward on the table, entwining her fingers together. "Do we really need to list them off though?"

"There are those of us who might benefit from this knowledge," replied the blonde haired head of Hypnos. "And it also would give us a perspective that we can work from. According to our latest digital visitor and Shibumi, much of what has occurred is linked together."

Yamaki glanced over at Dracmon, who regarded the Hypnos agent with a bored expression on his face before turning to examine his crimson colored nails.

"I take it that this is my time to take center stage?" The diminutive demon asked.

"Yes," stated Yamaki matter-of-factly. "As I'm sure the Tamers have made you aware, if such knowledge was even at all necessary, we have been getting a high degree of digimon bio emerging into the real world. Far more then what we have been accustomed to in the past, many of them containing a strange code of data within them…"

"Yeah…that would be the X-Antibody."

Yamaki glanced over at Shibumi before returning his gaze back at Dracmon.

"X-Antibody?"

Dracmon nodded.

"My people don't exactly know what it is, or where it came from. But what we do know is that it appeared as if it were a response to the X-Virus when it appeared in the digital world…"

"X-Virus?" Asked Henry as he now leaned forward.

"You're going to have to bear with me," sighed Dracmon. "There's a lot of history that you guys aren't aware of and it's all connected together to how things ended up as they are now. I don't know exactly when this occurred, or what exactly spawned it, but I do know that it happened after the war against the Chaos…or the _D-Reaper_ as you humans call it…ended. After it was over and the digital world began to rebuild itself, the God and ultimate ruler of the digital world, the _great and mighty Yggdrasil,"_ Dracmon put as much spite and anger as he could into the name and title before continuing, "collected a number of digimon and transported them to a new digital world that he had created…"

"Yggdrasil?" Spoke up Takato with a frown. "Hold on, I thought that the Digimon Sovereigns were the ones who controlled the digital world."

"They're the guardians of the digital world," said Dracmon with a wave of his hand. "You can also call them governors too, but ultimately they, like every other group in the digital world save for the most rebellious, answer to a higher power. Or at least they used to. Up until recent times Yggdrasil was the one who pulled the strings of every major power in the digital world."

Ryo stroked his chin with one hand absently.

"From the way you tell it, it sounds like this guy's been in charge for quite a while."

"For the entire existence of the digital world as a matter of fact," said Dracmon with a nod of his head. Ryo frowned.

"I'm pretty well versed in the digital world and some of the groups that exist there, and I can definitely say that I've never heard of Yggdrasil."

"So? I've heard of a human who defeated a dark god capable of bending time and space, but I never once heard his name. Not all stories reach the Southern Quadrant and to be frank, the south is more of the graveyard for things like that. Too many digimon caught up in the struggle for survival to even bother keeping track of that kind of thing. Only here and there can you find a place that actually has a story worth telling but for the most part it's one big blank with the myth of the human world as the only story existing, and none of the digimon can agree on the correct way to get there except by absorbing the data of a Tamed digmion, which never works by the way. Yggdrasil is probably something like that. A story that got lost somewhere in the translation between quadrants. Then again, maybe it's something else all together. I've heard stories where he's gone by different names in the past. Like ENIAC for example."

Ryo's eyes widened ever so slightly at the mention of that name, almost imperceptible to those gathered around him, but for one Jeri Katou, who had looked at Ryo at the mention of the 'human that defeated the dark god capable of bending time and space', she noticed it quite clearly.

"Point…taken," said Ryo dryly.

"Okay. Glad that's understood, now where was I…? Oh yeah. Anyway, Yggdrasil created a new digital world from scratch after the war against D-Reaper ended and then selected certain digimon to take to the new world. Once that was done he designed a program called the _X-Virus_ and unleashed it on the old digital world where it began to eradicate the digimon population that remained…"

"What?!" Exclaimed Jeri in shock and surprise, shooting up in her chair as she did so. Takato looked at her with a worried expression. Out of all the Tamers gathered at the table she was perhaps the only one who would react the most to the idea of mass genocide of innocent digimon, and with good reason as she had been used by the D-Reaper to try to accomplish that very task."Why? Why would someone… _anyone_ want to do something like that?!"

Dracmon shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. No one really knows for sure about anything when it comes to Yggdrasil's motives. The only things that I've ever heard are the words 'Hazard' and 'Project Arc', but what they mean is completely beyond me."

At this, Takato's face darkened, his thoughts turning to an event in the digital world when he had forced Guilmon to digivolve to Megidramon in an attempt to get revenge on Beelzemon for killing Jeri's partner, Leomon.

_Hazard…could he be talking about the Digital Hazard? Could I have had something to do with whatever it was that happened in the digital world to cause the mess that Dracmon is talking about? That was what made Lucemon come to the real world looking for Guilmon. He said that Megidramon had caused a lot of damage to the digital world when he appeared, and Henry did say that he had a Digital Hazard sign on his chest._

Takato's frown deepened as his mind continued to work.

_And like I told Rika, there wasn't a Hazard symbol on the original artwork that I made of Guilmon…the one that got scanned into my digivice. Where did that symbol come from? More importantly…how did it get there to begin with? If I didn't draw it…then what was it doing on Guilmon?_

Silently Takato began to curse himself for his lack of observation in that regard, caught up as he had been in the discovery of digimon being real and that he had actually _created_ one. How could he have ignored something like that? After all, it had been plastered on his best friend's body for him and the rest of the world to see. A sign of possible danger that had made itself _very_ known on the day that Megidramon had been born.

_Oh man…what have I done?_

Takato didn't notice the concerned look that Rika was throwing his way.

"So this Yggdrasil attacked digimon with a virus designed to destroy them," said Yamaki, more of a statement rather then a question. "But what does that have to do with the digimon that have been bio emerging in our world lately?"

"What does any species do when they're faced with the possibility of being wiped out?" Asked Shibumi, entering the conversation now. "Or when there's a change in their environment that makes living difficult for them? They migrate. They move to another area that's _away_ from what's disrupting their lives. If I were to hazard a guess I would imagine that the Parasimon invasion might have been one such migration with taking over the world serving as an additional, but secondary motive."

"That's just speculation of course," said Yamaki. "And as there are no Parasimon around to verify this we aren't likely to know for certain. Still, it would explain much."

"Sounds about right anyway," said Dracmon. "I heard about that invasion. Surprised me that they did something like that and in such large numbers too. Usually there are groups that prevent such massive movements, but things have been kind of hectic lately from what I understand…what with everyone trying to find some way to combat the X-Virus or having to

deal with some out of control digimon wrecking havoc. I saw my own home world destroyed that way once. Anyway, that brings us to the X-Antibody. Like I said no one really knows how it came to be or what its purpose is, but one thing is for certain it showed up in certain digimon as a response to the X-Virus. It emerged in new species of digimon that were evolving in response to, how we say, _environmental schisms,_ or in regular, known species, rendering them immune to the X-Virus, changing their appearance, and increasing their strength in a fair number of cases. You've already seen the results with your red friend there…"

All eyes turned to Guilmon, who blinked as he suddenly found himself the center of attention. Yamaki looked over at Shibumi.

"Is that what you did to him? Did you imbed this _X-Antibody_ into Guilmon's data when you were reformatting him?"

Shibumi rubbed the back of his head in slight agitation.

"Yes. It was the only way that I could see to solve certain problems involving Guilmon's reconstruction. His data had been badly fragmented. While I had been able to piece it back together in the form of a digi-egg and fed it enough power to hold itself together I wasn't getting a response from his digi-core…which is the _heart_ of a digimon if you would. To use a metaphor you could say that I wasn't getting a heartbeat. When I found the X-Antibody while conducting a network scan something in its code looked like it could solve all of the problems that I had been encountering. I managed to create a copy of the code and attached it to Guilmon's digi-core and I got an _instant_ reaction. There were of course a few glitches, such as the repression of some data that was a part of Guilmon's data patterns prior to his death so I created a new algorithm while I was working overseas in the U.S. and put it on an orange card."

"Yeah," spoke up Takato. "You sent it to me using two digimon that looked like you."

Shibumi nodded. "Those would be my Mokumon. They helped me out when I was in my coma, working as my eyes and ears in the real world and sometimes delivering Blue Cards when they were needed." Shibumi chuckled a little. "Though I was hoping to get Tao's attention at the time. I had hoped that he would recognize what had happened to me at the time if and when he ever came across the Blue Card algorithm, since he would recognize where it came from. But then, he had a hard time believing that there was a possibility that digimon would develop the ability to enter the real world and vice versa for humans as well."

"And why didn't you inform me about this new code when you first came across it?"

"Sorry. I was in something of a hurry at the time. You were having me set up to go to the United States to help jumpstart their _Morpheus_ project, and I knew that you would have taken the time to analyze the code before it could be used at all. I just compromised and created a copy, leaving out any parts that I thought would be harmful to Guilmon or I didn't recognize and left it at that. I did send you E-mails of course regarding the information that I used both before and after I left, but as you know they didn't reach their intended destination."

"No. They didn't," nodded Yamaki. "But make no mistake; we will have a further discussion regarding your actions later."

"Looking forward to it."

"Now…if you may continue."

Dracmon nodded.

"That part about the E-mails is actually quite closely related. In fact, there's a lot that went on in this place of yours that is all related to what was going on in my side of the dimensional fence. I'm sure that you've all, or at least some of you anyway, have met _Oni_ , right?"

There was a look of confusion from a number of the Tamers, digimon, and adults in the room, but among them all only Henry, Terriermon, and Shibumi didn't look all that terribly surprised.

"Terriermon and I did encounter _something_ once before in Hypnos yesterday, when Noriko was escaping…"

"Yeah. And your long eared bunny friend also took a wallop from him the day I fought you guys as Sangloupmon."

_"That_ was the guy?!" Exclaimed Terriermon incredulously. "But…wha…he…that dirty, no good, rotten…"

"You don't know how much I agree with you on those insults right now," said Dracmon, scowling beneath his facemask.

"What do you mean?" Asked Takato.

"I've still got a bit more history to cover before I get to that bit…"

"Aaagh!" Growled Rika as she stood up, balling her hands into fists and glaring at the demon digimon angrily. "What does this little history lesson have to do with _anything_ about what's been going on here?!"

"Rika," began Takato, raising one hand towards her. "I'm pretty sure that if we just wait and hear him out he'll tell us."

"Yeah, 'cause I can see how pummeling him into unconsciousness is going to be getting us answers," muttered Terriermon, causing Henry to give him a warning look. Terriermon sighed.

"I know, I know. _'Terriermon…'"_

"If you guys are through I'd like to continue," said Dracmon dryly before resuming. "Anyway, there had been some moderate success by the strongest powers at holding the X-Virus at bay, keeping it from completely overwhelming the old world. However there were those of us of the new X-Antibody group that followed Yggdrasil's 'Chosen' into the new world in the hopes of finding a better life, and continuing to live rather then try to survive in a dying world. Needless to say this did not go over so well with Yggdrasil, and he set his dogs, the Royal Knights, on us. Despite the fact that Yggdrasil had chosen certain digimon to live in his new world he and his Royal Knights didn't exactly play favorites with any digimon who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They of course favored outright destroying X-Digimon, but any normal ones they treated as witnesses that had to be gotten rid of. It was as if just by having contact with an X they became tainted in some way…"

"Were they?" Asked Yamaki. Dracmon raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"Believe me, if they were, there would have been a sign of it. The X-Antibody makes itself known quite visibly with older styled digimon. I know it did when a WarGreymon and a MetalGarurumon became exposed to it. Anyway, the actions of the Royal Knights began breeding resentment and discontent among many of our fellow digimon. Just the right ingredients for starting a civil war and boy did it start. The Royal Knights of course clamped down all the harder on the digital world for our even trying such a thing, and the war began to turn into one bloody mess. One of our leaders, the WarGreymon that I told you about wanted to warn the Chosen about how it no longer mattered what side you were on. He had started to catch glimpses of what the whole 'Project Arc' thing was about. Mind you, I never found out what it was. Our group split apart before he could tell us…that is _if_ he ever found out in full detail. That was around the time that _Oni_ showed up."

"We were in something of a bad way then. The Royal Knights were really putting the squeeze on us at the time and we hadn't gotten fully organized. Heck, just _getting_ to the new digital world was taxing enough for even a small group of digimon to pull off and the Royal Knights were starting to pick us apart as soon as we arrived. We had enough numbers to create a foothold, but it didn't take long for the Knights to turn it from a foothold to a toehold. Some digimon wanted to talk to the Royal Knights, let them know that we didn't mean any harm, while others wanted to start a full blown war with them for everything that had happened…everything that Yggdrasil had done. Oni…whatever he was, and for the longest time I don't think _any_ of us had a clue as to what kind of creature he was…offered us a way to help solve our problems. Something that would shift the balance of power between our two sides and give us better ground to negotiate or fight on. His plan involved the human world."

"The human world?" Came the voice of Miki quietly. Dracmon resisted the urge to look at her, because he knew what he would see when he did. He remembered the conversation that they had back at her home, and how she had looked to him then. Full of worry and nervousness, and also in some fashion anger. He couldn't really blame her for any of that. She had been thrown into something that was bigger then she was, and even though she wanted it from the start of their relationship, it was most definitely not turning out the way that she had hoped it would.

_I've been involved in a conspiracy against her home world; I've harmed the father of one of her friends_ while _attacking said friend…I haven't exactly made much of an effort to make things right with anyone either. But then, it's not like it's something that I really care to do. Why should I? I don't really owe these humans anything except an explanation. What I did, I did for the sake of my people. I was just deceived into it. If my_ partner _here doesn't like how her fantasy world is turning out, tough. This isn't the fantasy world. It's reality, and digital world or human world, that's what you have to face every day of your life._

And yet, while Dracmon believed this to be true, there was a part of him that felt otherwise.

* * *

Renamon, having shifted back to her Rookie form following her meeting with Kazu, bounded from rooftop to rooftop, her blue eyes scanning every nook and cranny around her while she strained the rest of her senses to their utmost limit in their search for a certain, diminutive, demonic digimon by the name of Impmon whom, according to Kazu Shioda, was presently somewhere in the city, injured. Not that she was exactly surprised by the notion, given the nature of the opponent that Kazu had told her he had fought, but the description that Kazu had given her, that being a _pixilation_ of Impmon's body while he was in his Mega form of Beelzemon, not to mention a forced de-evolution back to his Rookie form.

_But it's much more then that,_ thought Renamon as she bounced off of another rooftop and somersaulted into the air. _Kazu mentioned that Crusadermon hadn't been able to touch Beelzemon in any way during their battle…_

_Could he have been injured during yesterday's fight?_

It was quite probable. She hadn't exactly gotten a chance to see for herself but given the amount of lasers that had been flying through the air she wouldn't have felt confident enough to bet that Beelzemon had gone through that entire fight without getting touched once, especially after having fought against the Royal Knights, two of whom had laid into the Demon Lord with particular harshness. And although Beelzemon had received multiple hits at the hands of both Dynasmon and Crusadermon Renamon was quite certain that neither of them were responsible for what Kazu had described Beelzemon having gone through. Coming to a landing on a rooftop overlooking the business section of Shinjuku, Renamon laid a hand on her belly, lightly massaging the bandages that covered the bare surface that lay underneath.

Oh yes. Renamon was _quite_ certain that whatever it was that Impmon was suffering from, it was most likely from the same thing that had affected herself and Rika and had forcefully broken them apart from their evolution from yesterday.

_Strange though,_ thought Renamon as she removed her hand from her stomach and looked out towards the city streets that lay below her. _Ever since Rika and I broke our biomerge to recover from that hit we took from the cable entity neither of us have suffered any relapses. My own injuries have so far been restricted to a loss of fur around the area where I had been struck. Rika merely has a rash, and that has been going down quite rapidly since she got it. Could it have anything to do with our Mega form being a hybridization of the organic and the digital that has prevented any further complications? Or is there something more? Could it have anything to do with Impmon's former allegiance to the Sovereigns? As far as we know his failure to carry out his mission to destroy us and his further refusal to obey any orders from Zhuqiaomon has not led to him losing his power to digivolve to the Mega level. Far from it, he retained it, and his Tamers gave him the ability to change into his Blast Mode._

_There is so little that we know about what has been going on lately. That blue cable entity especially. It's quite possible that it has nothing to do with the Sovereigns; but then, lacking any information about it, it just as easily might be connected to them as well. Still…it wasn't looking for Impmon in particular. It was looking for the Digital Hazard, something that only three digimon that I've seen have access to, and two of them were present in the real world when that entity arrived. No, it's far more likely that whatever that thing was, it had nothing to do with the Sovereigns. Impmon just happened to get in the way._

Renamon sighed mentally and closed her blue eyes to the world.

_This isn't helping me find Impmon any faster. I have no idea what his condition is at this moment. I need to find him, and fast._

Renamon began to slow her breathing now. With each breath that she took her focus narrowed to a needle fine point, and she cast it out into the city, aiming everything that she was for what she was searching for.

There had always been a link between her and Impmon from the very first moment that they had met, one that enabled her to find him wherever he was, wherever he hid himself, and to recognize him no matter what form he took in his life. It had allowed her to find Impmon when he had been lost in the digital world, and to see him through the unrecognizable form of Beelzemon. While she didn't understand the nature behind the bond that they shared, in all her experiences she felt that understanding wasn't necessary. What was, was. What is, is. The bond that they shared was strong and could not be erased from either of them save perhaps through the deletion of their existence.

Wherever Impmon had hid himself, Renamon would find him.

Still keeping her eyes closed Renamon instinctively turned towards what appeared to be a random direction and then leapt into the air, fading from view within seconds.

_Hold on Impmon…_

* * *

_Red fire cloaked the skies above the tiny, dark digimon as his green eyes gazed at the spiked spire that was the fortress home of the digimon Sovereign known as Zhuqiaomon. Lightning crashed against the skies, illuminating the landscape around him, blinding Impmon for_ _the briefest of seconds and he threw his gloved hands over his eyes to protect them from the searing light. When he lowered them, he blinked when he saw that his hands had changed, losing the simple, three fingered shape that they had previously and shedding the red colored gloves in exchange for steel claws, gaining two extra digits, and covered in black leather backed by spiked, studded plates on the backings of his hands. Looking down at himself Impmon saw that he had grown, his limbs becoming longer and more spindly, continuing the black leather that started on his hands. Looking over at the bicep of his left arm he found the familiar red scarf that he wore in his Rookie form tied around it._

Impmon digivolve to Beelzemon, _thought the Demon Lord digimon sarcastically as he straightened himself out and took a look around him. He was most definitely in the land of the Sovereigns, more specifically the area of the Phoenix digimon known as Zhuqiaomon, the very same so-called 'lord of the digital world' who had given him the ability to digivolve to Mega in the first place. The landscape was strangely rocky for some reason, as a recent and extremely massive battle had taken place there._

This place looks even more beat up then usual, _thought Beelzemon as he flexed his claws and began to walk forwards. He didn't know why he was moving, as he wasn't moving in any specific direction except that it was towards the entrance of the Sovereign's castle. The reason for this, Beelzemon felt, would have seemed obvious to anyone else but he didn't hold any real reason for entering the domain of a digimon Sovereign. He had seen the outside once, wrecked it even. He didn't have any interest in seeing the interior, or even seeing the digimon that owned it._

Maybe I'm supposed to tell ol' Zhuq's that he needs a new exterior decorator and should consider getting a refund from the old one, _quipped the ex Demon Lord, not needing Terriermon around to make inappropriate jokes about the rulers from on high._

_As Beelzemon got closer though he frowned as a strange feeling of being 'watched' came over him. Feeling exposed Beelzemon twisted around to scan the area around him once more…_

_Only to get swept off of his feet by a massive, crimson tail belonging to one giant, raging dragon that Beelzemon would remember in his nightmares for the rest of his days._

_Beelzemon hit the ground hard, and before he could even roll out of the way and get back to his feet the Demon Lord soon found himself fending off the giant jaws of Megidramon as he came slavering down on him, acidic drool leaking from the yellow stained teeth and hissing as it touched down on his body. Beelzemon growled in pain and frustration as he felt the dragon push down on him, straining his arms to their limits. As strong as he was, Megidramon was even stronger, and possessed by a rage so powerful that it bordered on madness. Looking into those blood red eyes and black, soulless pupils, Beelzemon could see a terrifying glint…a fire that raged within them. It was one that he had memorized ever since the first time he had faced the demonic dragon, and would remember all too clearly when Lucemon descended into the real world to take Guilmon away from Takato, reminding them all of his actions that brought about such an end, by giving birth to the monster that had given Lucemon cause to fear its return so much to put an end to the innocent life that it had been formed from._

_Beelzemon felt a grunt escape his lips as his arms started to give, losing the struggle to keep the fiery abyss that was Megidramon's mouth away from him. He was losing! And yet…for some reason, Beelzemon felt that this…was what he wanted._

_Suddenly the sound of a blast cracked upon the air, slamming into Megidramon's skull, shattering the bony head crest that surrounded the dragon's head and throwing him down to the ground with a horrific, keening scream. The earth shook beneath Beelzemon's body as Megidramon landed, twisting his tail in his final death spasms before finally becoming still. With_ _a groan Beelzemon got up to his feet, flexing his arms and fingers and feeling bones pop in response to the release of the tension that they had been forced to endure. Looking over in the direction where the attack had come from, all three of Beelzemon's crimson eyes widened in surprise and shock as they laid sight on the one thing that he never expected to see._

_The dull click of a Berenjena shotgun filled the air as a fresh round was loaded into its chamber. A dark smirk graced the creature's pale, gray colored features as the weapon was holstered. Crimson met crimson in the dark land of fire._

_"Hello bub," said Beelzemon to his astonished counterpart who stood across from him. "Miss me?"_


	89. 88: Revealing Secrets: Part 3

The tension hung thick in the room as Dracmon looked over each and every human and digimon partner that was gathered there, listening to him. He wondered what was going through their minds right now. He couldn't imagine that they were viewing him in any way that could be described as positive, but then, that was what he was expecting. He had been an adversary to the humans, particularly the Tamers, and had just now admitted to having been involved in a plan that involved their home world. Not exactly the best way to enter the group's inner circle, especially if Terriermon's glare was any indication (to say nothing of a certain red haired human either). Of course, it could easily be said that he had been forced into it thanks in no part to his former superior, DinoRexmon, who upon his death had used his power to join him with the human girl Miki. A girl that he found to be the utmost annoying creature to ever walk the face of two worlds due to her constantly calling him 'Beanie' or other, various cute names and addendums.

_Still, she can be charming in her own way,_ thought Dracmon as he picked at his teeth with one, crimson colored claw. _And I suppose that I must resign myself to such an existence anyway for I doubt that I'll be able to even digivolve without her now. Now if only I can get along with her pet cat…_

_But first things first. I have a story to tell, and like it or not the Tamer's, not to mention myself, are just going to have to get used to my presence now. Hopefully this will be a relatively…_ smooth _transition, though from what I remember from my experience involving the new digital world it will be anything but._

Anyway…" continued Dracmon as he removed his claw from his mouth and clanked at it, promptly wiping it on himself a second later. "From the D-Reaper to the great cataclysm that spawned this whole series of events, there had been some weakening between the barriers of the worlds. And I don't mean just the human world and the digital world, I mean _all_ the worlds…"

"What do you mean?" Asked Henry, his eyes narrowing at the demon digimon.

"During my lifetime I've encountered various other versions of the digital world that are different from the one that you know. Some of them even have connections to what appear to be alternate versions of the human world…or at least that's what I've been told by older digimon like my old superior, DinoTigermon."

Takato started at the mention of that name, his mind going back to the saber fanged, armored lion that he and Guilmon had encountered on Okinawa prior to the interruption of Dynasmon.

"He said," Dracmon went on. "That there were four quadrants in the digital world connecting to each other…"

Ryo nodded. "Yeah; the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Quadrants. Zhuqiaomon's the ruler of the South, Azulongmon the East, Baihumon the West, and Ebonwumon the North."

Takato blinked. "That…actually sounds a lot like what we saw in the TV show, remember when Yolie went to Kyoto?"

"Makes sense considering how the card game and show perfectly duplicate all the digimon that exist in them," said Henry. Terriermon, who was presently sitting on top of his partner's head, looked down at the half-Chinese Tamer with a cockeyed expression on his face.

"Well I'm glad that it makes sense to _you._ How does that work anyhow? Wouldn't someone in the gaming company have needed to have access to have access to the digital world in order to copy it like that?"

"Hate to say this," commented Rika. "But rabbitmon's right you know. Now that I think about it, aside from how the digital world looked when we got there just about every species, with the exception of Dino boy here," Rika indicated Guilmon with a nod of her head, "and all their evolution lines, types, and attacks." Rika turned to look at Shibumi with a critical eye. "How does a computer geek project evolve into two things that are so perfectly identical?"

For once Shibumi looked puzzled.

"It is a tricky question. I'm afraid that I don't have any answers for you at the moment."

"Typical."

"Well look on the bright side Rika," piped in Terriermon. "The only original digimon that we have here is Guilmon here."

"How is that a bright side?"

"And what do you mean _original?"_ Asked Dracmon. All eyes then turned to Takato as he looked over at Dracmon.

"What they mean is I was the one who created him. I mean, I drew him, and my digivice scanned his pictures, creating his digi-egg. Guilmon never existed until a year ago."

"There's never been a Guilmon in the card game," said Rika with a frown. "We couldn't even get any data on him the first time Renamon and I met him."

Dracmon raised one, colorful eyebrow on his facemask.

"Then I gotta say, as far as coincidences go that's certainly one of the biggest I've ever heard of. I've seen your Mega form. A variant of the Gallantmon form right? There just so happens to be one among the numbers of the Royal Knights right now… _has_ been there for quite some time, and every digimon from Fresh to Rookie is told bedtime stories about how the evil _Megidramon_ will come and get them if they don't behave."

"Hu-whaaa…?"

"As fascinating as this sounds," interrupted Yamaki, pushing his sunglasses up on his face, "Might I remind you that we still have more immediate concerns at hand. And I'm sure that Ms. Nakata would like to discuss the circumstances concerning her daughter soon as well."

Yamaki nodded to the dark haired woman who sat at the other end of the table, who nodded back in return.

"Please. Continue," requested Aiko. And though her voice was calm and full of patience, as she recognized the need for all the cards to be out on the table (in the metaphorical sense) as far as Hypnos was concerned (as there was clearly more going on than just what concerned her), Yamaki could easily pick up the tension and worry that she carried within her. That she had gone this long without interrupting the meeting, demanding action be taken to rescue her daughter as many of the Tamer's parents had done when he first called them together, was rather impressive.

With a nod of his head, Dracmon resumed his story.

"Anyway, as I was saying, the barriers between the worlds have been weakening considerably, allowing for things to drift back and forth with relative ease. I've seen digimon showing up in places that were outside of their usual habitat, and still others that even _I_ had never seen or heard of before. I've also been caught up in that drifting bit too. My first home was in the Celestial Kingdom, a digital world that's comprised of ten lands named for ten elements and warriors of ancient legend. A tear brought me into the Southern Quadrant just as the X-Virus was being unleashed."

"Data streams…"

"Not data streams. Those things didn't exist in my birth world. My home was a bit more stable then the phoenix's realm even if it did have its odd conflict. Like DinoTigermon had told me, there are many other worlds out there."

Takato frowned. "Funny. Gennai from the TV show said the exact same thing during the first season. He was telling Tai, one of the main characters, about how there were 'many other worlds'."

"It was just a TV show Gogglehead," said Rika.

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black…"

"Terriermon…" Henry shook his head with an exasperated sigh before looking at Dracmon. "But what does this have to do with you and your group's…" Henry's mouth set itself into a thin line. "… _plans_ for the real world?"

Dracmon turned his head towards Yamaki.

"That would have to do with a little project that you called _Argus."_

* * *

_"Wha…what's going on here?" Rasped Beelzemon towards his counterpart who stood across from him, calmly blowing at the smoking barrels of his shotgun. The other Beelzemon smirked._

_" 'What's going on here?'" He taunted, mimicking Beelzemon's words in a childish manner. "I'm surprised that you would even have to ask that. Or maybe I shouldn't be seeing as how you got yourself partners and became…what's the word I'm searchin' for? Oh yeah…pathetic."_

_Beelzemon narrowed his three, crimson eyes at his counterpart dangerously and flexed his claws. The words sounded all too familiar to him, and they brought back memories of when he had hounded the partner digimon to the Tamers for their decision to join with the humans._

I was so lost then, _thought Beelzemon with a frown._ I was such a completely different mon…

_"What'sa matter?" Asked Beelzemon's double as he cocked his gun and slid it into the holster behind his back. "Gatomon got your tongue? You're so silent lately…not bothering to even say what's really on your mind because you don't want to hurt all of those so-called 'friends' of yours. You must've been hit pretty hard to have gone down this far."_

_"Why don't you shut your flamin' trap and tell me who you are and what's goin' on?" Beelzemon snapped. His clone simply smirked at him._

_"So you can talk. I was afraid that those brats of yours had made you too much of a wimp to even say a thing."_

_Orange fire flickered around Beelzemon's hand at that but for the moment he waited. His clone however didn't even bother acknowledging the flame. At least, not in any way that was visible._

_Spreading his clawed hands wide, Beelzemon's clone gestured dramatically around him._

_"You know who I am. You've always known._ I _would have thought that it was obvious, especially after all that TV that we've watched together. I'm the part of you that you hate; the part of you that was willing to sell out the Tamer's so that you could have a taste of power." The duplicate glared at Beelzemon, red eyes blazing in anger and half concealed disgust. "The part of you that made you what you are today."A smirk drew up on the Demon Lord's pale face just then. "Isn't it ironic, dontcha think?"_

_"I see," said Beelzemon with an understanding nod of his head. "Is this supposed to be the scene where I face up to my fears, namely by kicking your butt, and come out of the fight stronger than ever?"_

_"You_ really _think that it's going to be that easy?" His duplicate taunted. "This isn't some stupid 'light versus dark' gig. You're not 'divided' bub, and this ain't a TV show either. Be honest with yourself here, you're avoiding the true issue here, and that's the fact that you're a glutton for punishment. Seems to suit you just fine actually. First it was power; now it's pain. Different sides to the same sin, right?"_

_"What're you talking about?"_

_"What you don't want to admit to yourself, so I'm here to get you to see yourself for what you are, and that's a hypocrite. You're the biggest one alive, did you ever know that? I ask because you seem to be the biggest, most ignorant doof that I've ever met; more so then ol' Pineapple Head and his sidekick Mr. Creampuff, and that takes some doin'. How long have you been enjoying playing the hero? A few months right? D-Reaper, keeping a handle on any wild digimon that were trying to delete the Tamer's partners back when you were all stuck in the digital world, Locomon, Parasimon, Lucemon, ChaosGallantmon, and now it's Crusadermon only with her you're trying to teach her all of those 'values' that missed you completely back when you killed Leomon."_

_"Just get to the point!" Exclaimed Beelzemon angrily as his claws twitched, aching to clasp the metal of his gun. His center eye narrowed dangerously at his double. He wanted so badly to put this part of him, his 'past' self, out of its misery so badly right now. He hated being reminded of what he had done, and how far reaching his actions had been ever since, far more then he had first thought they had been._

First Jeri and her possession by D-Reaper, and now Takato and Pineapple Head…

_Beelzemon's clone's smirk broadened considerably at his double's anger._

_"So you don't want me to just break it down for you, huh? Fine then. Everything that you are, everything that you've done and have received in return…friendship, forgiveness…you don't deserve it. You don't deserve_ any _of it! You haven't fought on the side of the Tamer's because it was the right thing to do. You were fighting for yourself! Just like you were when you signed on with Chatsuramon!"_

_The next thing Beelzemon knew, his hands became blurs as they ripped his twin Berenjena shotguns free from their holsters and immediately began firing at his double._

"Double Impact!"

* * *

"Argus?" Yamaki raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Dracmon. "What do you know about that?"

Dracmon chuckled. "Quite a bit actually. It was after all, Oni who put it into your systems."

"What?!" Yamaki asked, unable to hide the incredulous tone in his voice. Henry looked at the blonde haired head, remembering the last time that he had seen him caught off guard in such a fashion. It had been when he had first activated the Juggernaut program and the Deva digimon Mihiramon entered the real world, kick starting the beginning of the Deva attacks and the eventual abduction of Calumon. The man had obviously had his feathers ruffled then, though at that time it had been _much_ more extreme.

_Nearly being throttled is the wedge that splits the difference,_ thought the half-Chinese Tamer. _I don't imagine that this is knowledge is going to do Yamaki any favors._

"Oni had…discovered something floating between the worlds. He never quite explained what it was except that it was power that needed you humans in order to be fully realized. Using a connection that he had with one of your agents in Hypnos…"

"An _agent_ was working for _your_ _group?!"_ Yamaki exclaimed as he grabbed onto the table to provide some sense of stability for his shattered view of his world, barely holding back the shock and anger that was forcing its way into his voice. Now all of the Tamers were watching Yamaki with a guarded look, wondering what he was going to do. Each of them had to admit that this in itself was shocking news indeed and it definitely went a long way towards punching a hole in the image of close secrecy and trust that they had come to regard Hypnos with.

Shibumi placed a hand on the man's shoulder, and while Yamaki's expression didn't visibly change, the tension appeared to run out of his body as he remembered where he was and the whole point of the meeting.

Dracmon merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Not…quite. It's not that simple. Oni had a link with the agent, but there was definitely nothing to suggest that they were working together for any mutual goal. You could call it a 'sleeper agent'. An agent who had no idea that they were providing any kind of information to an enemy."

"Who is it?"

"You're asking me? Heh, of course you would. World's stupidest question. But in response to your question, I have no clue. I had limited access to some information regarding the information of our group, and was only told certain secrets in greater detail when I was tasked to enter the real world to 'stir up some trouble and resentment'. You see, we had a program of our own going on that corresponded with the development of Argus. It was called 'Exodus'. Its goal was the evacuation of our group to the real world as 'refugees', to attract the attention of the Royal Knights to the real world. This would, as I'm sure you can guess, cause enough problems and damage to start a war between Yggdrasil's forces and the humans, with us as your allies and with the Tamers and Argus as the weapons of choice."

Dracmon winced beneath his facemask as he heard Miki gasp audibly behind him. He didn't even need to look at her to know that she had an expression of utmost horror and shock on her face. He could hear her voice quivering as she fought to put what she felt into words, but ultimately failing to do so. Silence hung on the air, broken only by the faint beginnings of Miki's quiet sobbing.

"Miki?" Began Ayaka, putting one hand out to her friend to comfort her. But the girl would have none of it. Giving a loud shriek, Miki burst from her chair, catching everyone by surprise. Before anyone could react Miki ran towards the room's door and swung it open with enough force to cause it to bang roughly against the wall, and ran out into the hallway. The door to the room hovered between the wall and the entrance, wobbling uneasily on its hinges as the sounds of Miki's frantic race and sobbing could be heard echoing from the hallway.

"Blast it," cursed Yamaki, and as though his words were a signal the Tamers immediately surged to their feet, ready to chase after the poor girl, only to be stopped by Jeri's voice.

"Wait you guys," the brunette said. "I'll go after her. You guys stay here."

"But Jeri…" began Takato, but Jeri silenced him with a soft shake of her head.

"This meeting's pretty important and I don't think we can afford to have it interrupted right now. I'll talk to Miki."

"I'll go with you," said Ayaka, walking over to the door. "I mean, uh, I'm not really that important in this meeting so…"

Ayaka let her words drift off, and something in their meaning caught Jeri's attention. Tilting her head to one side and raising a questioning eyebrow, Jeri looked into Ayaka's eyes for a moment before finally nodding. With that acknowledgement the two girls quickly left the room together. The Tamer's watched them go for a moment before looking at each other, bewildered, before turning their attention, and their glares, towards the demonic digimon sitting on the table with them. Dracmon did his best to not look affected by the way that everyone was looking at him, but to him it felt as though he were failing. He did not know why, but for some reason Miki's distress had greatly upset him.

_Why does it affect me so much? It's not like I care about the girl. She's nothing to me. Just an annoyance that I have to live with now._

The very thought made Dracmon's heart want to sink.

Taking a deep breath Dracmon looked at the Tamers, and they looked back at him in turn.

"How can you act like that?" Asked Rika harshly and again Dracmon winced beneath his mask.

"Act like what?" He asked, knowing that he was lying, yet strangely feeling that he needed to hear it out loud from someone else. Violet eyes flashing Rika slammed her hands down on the table and stood up, towering angrily over the Rookie in such a manner that for an instant Dracmon was afraid that the fiery haired Tamer was going to attack him. Fortunately for him however, the girl was stopped by a hand belonging to one goggle wearing Tamer as it reached out and grabbed hold of her forearm. Rika, in response, turned her baleful gaze to her friend.

"What Gogglehead? Is this where you go _'Rika…'_ and try to reason with me?"

Takato frowned at the angry and insulting tone that she had used in her imitation of him, and for an instant Dracmon saw something spark between both of their eyes as violet clashed with crimson. There was something in the way that they looked at each other that Dracmon could have sworn that they were having an argument without even having to use words.

Dracmon was not the only one to notice this. Ryo, who had a clearer line of sight of his two fellow Tamers, also observed this strange interaction. Not quite sure what to make of it, and also keenly aware that Yamaki was starting to get impatient with the delay, Ryo leaned forward.

"Um…guys? Hate to interrupt your marital dispute here…"

"Ah!" Startled, both Takato and Rika jerked away from each other, breaking their contact as the spark in their eyes vanished almost immediately. Ignoring, for the moment, Kazu's snickering at the scene and at Takato and Rika's obvious discomfort, Ryo motioned towards Dracmon, indicating that the meeting should be allowed to continue before anything other concerns could be voiced.

* * *

_Beelzemon tore into his double, charging at him with the barrels of both shotguns blazing fiercely. As though the copy Demon Lord had been expecting the attack he leapt to the side, drawing his own guns and trading fire back. Beelzemon, already committed to his motion found himself unable to dodge the bullets and howled in pain as they slammed into his upper torso, forcing him to come to a stop and throwing him towards the ground with a heavy thud. Fighting his way past the pain Beelzemon rolled to the side, just barely dodging the next hailstorm of bullets as they impacted the ground that he had been laying on. Eyes burning with a deep, blazing fire, Beelzemon was back on his feet within seconds, leaping backwards to buy himself_ _some distance from his adversaries attacks and quickly laying down a suppressing fire to discourage the offensive stance that his double was taking. Beelzemon's clone however, simply laughed darkly and vanished into the air around him._

_"What's the matter?" Taunted the Demon Lord's voice from out of nowhere, echoing upon the wind like a disembodied ghost. "Can't take the truth?"_

_Beelzemon cocked his guns and looked around him, trying to find some sign of his opponent._

_"I already know the truth," the ex Demon Lord rasped, breathing harshly as his eyes began to take on an emerald sheen to them. "I saw the pain that I caused others because of what I did. You think I want that to happen again? DO YOU?!"_

_"Funny. You didn't think about it when you were deleting all those Chrysalimon and absorbing their data. Because that Katou kid makes that Gogglehead spare you, you suddenly have a change of heart? Well…maybe you did, but were you trying to help the Tamers, and Jeri especially, because you wanted to stop feeling bad about yourself? Did it feel any easier for you then? You still carry the weight of what you did…"_

_"Jeri_ forgave _me!"_

_"Oh, but you haven't forgiven yourself. And now, look at where you are; what you've been up to lately. Remember how you tried to bring back Leomon? How you pressed Janyu to keep up that scan even though you knew that it could kill you…all so you could bring back Leomon. You know, you were right back when you said that you were nothing. 'Cause you know something? You're still nothing."_

_Beelzemon's claws tensed up on the triggers of his shotguns, but he refused to say anything in response to his double's taunts. He remembered how he hated being called 'weak', and being seen as a 'nothing'. In the end he had learned that letting his pride get in the way did nothing but land him into trouble and hurt others. Since then he had learned that having others by his side, people who cared for him like his Tamers Ai and Mako, gave him all the strength that he needed; all the strength that he had ever wanted, and by then he had stopped caring about having it. It had been a strangely liberating feeling, and he often wondered why he hadn't realized it sooner._

_"You're wrong," Beelzemon finally spoke up. "I am something. I'm something in the eyes of my Tamers…"_

_"But they don't know what it was that you did, do they? They don't know about your history. You've given hints…"_

_"Since when did this become about_ you _getting on my case about what I do with my life?!"_

_Beelzemon could hear a crunch as a steel toed boot touched down on the hard ground. Turning, Beelzemon's gaze met the crimson one of his double, a solitary shotgun held casually in one hand as he smirked at him._

_"Because that's what it's always been with us. We've always wanted to go one way, to make something of ourselves. We got that chance and you botched it, and it's been all downhill since then. You can't even sleep properly without having some messed up dream about Jeri losing herself to despair, or Pineapple Head losing control of himself. Now here you are, caught in the middle and you don't even have the guts to go forward anymore."_

_"What do you mean by that?"_

_The clone's smirk broadened and he hefted his shotgun._

_"You still haven't figured it out yet? Looks to me like your brain's been going with your guts."_

_Beelzemon snorted and shook his head._

_"Why am I still even talking to you? All you are is just some messed up dream. I take you out, end this, and move on."_

_The double scoffed at Beelzemon._

_"Can't get rid of what's already a part of you. Not even the Sovereigns can pull that trick off."_

_"Maybe not," growled Beelzemon as great, dark feathered wings tore their way out of his back. "But I can at least shut you up."_

_Summoning his massive cannon, Deathslinger to his right arm, the ex Demon Lord brought it to bear on his counterpart, purple energy focusing between the jaws at its tip as they parted._

"Corona Blaster!"

_Unleashing a massive blast of violet energy, Beelzemon's right arm recoiled. The Demon Lord that was its target merely smirked as the blast surged towards him, as though he had no reason at all to be concerned about its presence or that he was even the focus of its power. Instead he simply vanished, and the blast rocketed through the air, plowing into the ground off over where he had been, impacting with the limp form of Megidramon, who had been lying there, unmoving. Raw energy crackled across the dragon's body, sending cracks spider webbing over the beast's body before it burst into shards of data. As the data floated up into the air, Beelzemon could see a small, humanoid body dropping to the ground like a sack of flour. Beelzemon focused on it for a second, trying to see what it was before he found himself under fire once more. Raising Deathslinger into the air, the Demon Lord attempted to shield himself while he flapped his wings, trying to gain some loft so as to get air advantage over his attacker. Unfortunately for him the bullets that punched their way through his wings quickly put an end to that plan. Before Beelzemon could even react he soon found himself the recipient of one powerful kick to the face and he slammed to the ground once more, a groan escaping his lips as he did so._

_"Pathetic. You're a Mode change yet I'm kicking your butt. Aren't you supposed to be stronger than me right now? Shouldn't_ I _be the one that's losing right now? What is wrong with you, bub? Whatever fight you had in you before, I swear it's like you've lost it!"_

_The sound of a rock being knocked lose caught the Demon Lord clone's attention. Looking over to see what it was, the duplicates eyes widened as they touched upon the battered figure that was rising from the rubble, looking lost and destitute; his eyes trying to figure out what was going on and where he was. Yellow rimmed goggles flashed beneath the crimson sky, triggering Beelzemon's memory._

_"Ah. I see now," said his duplicate as he raised his gun and cocked it. A second later a loud_ Double Impact _could be heard being shouted on the air, followed by a powerful 'bang'. Beelzemon's eyes widened in shock as a meaty 'thunk' could be heard hitting the ground._

_"No more distractions," said Beelzemon's clone raising his smoking shotgun as he looked at the fallen, deleting body of Takato Matsuki. The next thing Beelzemon knew was a red curtain falling over his eyes, followed by a horrendous, animal like roar emanating from his mouth._


	90. 89: the Pain of Realization

Miki raced down the halls, barely keeping an eye as to where she was going and completely unmindful of the Hypnos employees that she nearly ran into. Their shouts of surprise and anger at her only served to encourage her to increase her pace. Tears flooded into her eyes and streamed down her cheeks as her mind replayed what she had heard at the meeting with the rest of the Tamers…what she had heard from her _partner_ , Dracmon.

_"_ _We had a program of our own going on that corresponded with the development of Argus. It was called 'Exodus'. Its goal was the evacuation of our group to the real world as 'refugees', to attract the attention of the Royal Knights to the real world. This would, as I'm sure you can guess, cause enough problems and damage to start a war between Yggdrasil's forces and the humans, with us as your allies and with the Tamers and Argus as the weapons of choice."_

_No…it can't be… It just_ can't! _This isn't…this isn't what I wanted! I…I…oh Kami. I'm…_

"Oof!"

Miki gasped as she bounced off of something solid and unyielding. Quickly wiping off her eyes to see what was in front of her, the dark haired girl's gaze came to rest on the form of a man that looked eerily like Yamaki, only instead he was wearing a black hat as though it were meant to distinguish him from his superior.

_It's true after all. Government agents all look alike…_

"Are you lost young lady?" Asked the dark, hat wearing agent in a soft tone that sent shivers down Miki's back. Miki quickly shook her head and tried to sidestep around the agent. The much larger man would have none of that though and quickly placed himself in front of her, blocking her path.

"Ah…wha…?"

"I'm sorry miss. I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with me. We can't have unauthorized children running around here and…"

"She's okay Mr. Ishimoto," called out Jeri's voice as she and Ayaka came running up behind their dark haired friend. "She was with the rest of us and the Tamers at the meeting room and she…ah…had to step out to find the bathroom before one of us could volunteer to show her where it was."

The agent that Jeri had identified as Mr. Ishimoto raised a barely visible eyebrow beneath his dark hat and looked at the trio of young girls.

"Very well Ms. Katou," the adult said, inclining his head towards her respectfully. "I feel that I should remind you though that you have already passed the women's room."

"Oh yeah," laughed Jeri nervously, waving one hand at the tall man in a placating manner, "I know, but Miki here…she's just…um… _distraught._ "

"Yes. I saw that. Is everything all right at your meeting?"

Miki was looking at her two friends in confusion as Ayaka now stepped forward.

"Well, it's certainly not boring, that's for sure."

"I…see." Ishimoto turned towards Jeri. "I'll let you three go this time, but Ms. Katou, please remember in the future that even though you, the Tamers, and your friends are guests here, this is a secure facility and you shouldn't be just roaming the halls whenever you feel like it."

"I understand," said Jeri, bowing deeply to the agent, and after a moment's hesitation Ayaka and Miki quickly followed, one after the other. The agent nodded in return and soon afterwards, the three girls were heading towards the bathroom to at least give some credence to their story. As they pushed the door open Jeri looked at Miki with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay?"

"Do I _look_ okay?!" Miki breathed angrily, unable to hide the tremor in her voice. Reaching up, Miki wiped at her eyes and sniffed, trying desperately to hold back her tears but found herself unable to do so. Her face softening in sympathy, Ayaka draped one arm over her friend and pulled her close, her lips pressed into one thin line. Time went by slowly as Miki softly cried. Ayaka and Jeri looked at each other, each one wondering what they should say, if anything at all should be said. In the end, on some silent agreement, both girls opted to not say anything until Miki had gotten it all out of her system and was ready to talk.

"I'm sorry," mumbled Miki, sniffing once again, and Jeri went over to a paper towel dispenser to get her something to blow her nose in.

"You don't need to say something like that," said Ayaka reassuringly. "There's nothing you need to apologize for."

"I think there is," said Miki with a shake of her head. Smiling weakly at Jeri as she handed her a piece of paper towel Miki took it and dried her face off before continuing. "I've just…been kinda stupid. I've probably been listening to Kazu for too long or something. Every time I heard him tell a story about you guys and your adventures in the digital world it became something that I wanted to experience for myself. I didn't think that it would have things that mattered so much in it. I didn't think about things like my home being destroyed even after that fight at my place. It was all just one big adventure to me." Miki's face fell as she looked at Jeri. "It's not all fun and games, is it?"

Jeri's face softened as she remembered her now departed partner, Leomon.

"No…it's not. But that doesn't mean it's not an experience worth having. Even though I lost my own partner…Leomon…and that it still hurts missing him, I wouldn't trade the memories that I have of him for anything in the world. Even his final moments are important to me, and I know that any of the other Tamers would say the same thing."

_Including Takato,_ thought Jeri, allowing a small smile to appear on her face as she thought of the goggle wearing Tamer who had rescued her from the D-Reaper.

Miki sighed.

"This whole partner thing is going to take some getting used to. Especially me being a partner with a digimon that was planning world domination. The others don't look like they like Bea…er, Dracmon."

"Hate to say it Miki," said Ayaka, "but he hasn't exactly given them much reason _to_ like him."

Jeri opened her mouth to berate her friend for being so pessimistic before she saw that it wouldn't be helpful to say otherwise. It was, after all, true, and denying it was giving Miki false hope, which wouldn't be good for her if she and the others were to accept Dracmon into their group now that he was a partner digimon.

_But that's not going to be easy. Not at all._

Jeri cast her eyes down towards the ground. There just seemed to be so much to do this past week; so much to take care of and the way things kept popping up there didn't seem as though there was going to be any time to take care of all of them.

_What am I going to do?_ Wondered Jeri as she thought about all of her friends. _Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Henry and Terriermon, Kazu, Miki…Ryo especially._ Jeri touched her pocket once more, feeling the card that was held snug within. _I want to help everyone, but I can't._

As Jeri thought that, she didn't notice the small glow of light that surrounded the card that she held within her dress's pocket.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," said Terriermon with a scowl on his face. "That Argus project that Yamaki was talking to us about last week is really a bunch of digimon?"

"In a nutshell," replied Dracmon, "yes. However the situation is much more complicated than that. In actuality they're the spirits of ten, legendary digimon from my birth world, or at least that's what my boss, DinoRexmon had said right before things went crazy."

Yamaki nodded.

"Yes. The chief programmer in charge of Argus's design, Daigo Kuroda, had given us some information that indicated that Argus was created from digimon. There had also been something unusual about their programming and design…I take it this has something to do with your calling them 'spirits'?"

Dracmon shrugged.

"If my boss was right, and from the way Oni reacted I'd say he was, yeah. Back when I was a Rookie…" Dracmon stopped and then laughed ruefully at himself. "…Back when I was _first_ a Rookie, I was told a story about how ten warriors fought my world's first corrupted ruler, a Lucemon, and after they won their power was divided into Human and Beast spirits and passed to new warriors so that they could fight against the encroaching darkness."

Rika _hmmphed_ upon hearing this.

"Sounds like a bad TV show."

"Call it what you will," said Dracmon nonchalantly. "That's just what I was told. I was just a Baby when the world had been 'reborn'."

"This… _Oni,_ " began Yamaki. "What is he? What is the full extent of his plans for the real digital worlds? By the sounds of things you parted on bad terms."

"He killed my commander," growled Dracmon before turning towards Takato and Rika. "Yeah. I'm well aware that you two and that _Demon Lord_ friend of yours were responsible for that, but that doesn't change the fact that Oni was the one that set him up for it. Doesn't matter if you guys were the ones that did it, Oni was the one that went after him first. Oni…" Dracmon was interrupted by Jeri, Ayaka, and Miki's return to the room. Dracmon looked over at them, his eyes locking with Miki. She looked back, and for a tense, few seconds they both held each other's gazes before Miki nodded stiffly at him. Dracmon nodded in return before returning his attention to those gathered around him and resuming his story.

"…Oni killed my commander, DinoRexmon following that fight he had with the _Shutu_ program, better known as _Zephyrmon,_ Legendary Warrior of the Wind."

Hearing the name Kenta balled his hands into fists as he remembered that fateful battle, and the helplessness that he felt in failing to save her then. Seeing this Ayaka, who had retaken her seat next to the dark haired boy, threw a concerned look at him. Pushing aside all of her own worries and concerns she reached out and placed a hand over one of his fists, one thumb caressing it in a soothing manner. Kenta looked at her in surprise before jerking his eyes away, his face flushing deep red from the girl's contact. Ayaka was grateful that no one was paying them any mind, and that Kenta had his hands underneath the table so that no one could see her giving him comfort.

"Why would he do that?" Asked Shibumi.

"Because prior to our encounter with the true _Shutu program_ no one in the X-Rebellion that was involved in projects Exodus and Argus were even aware that Argus was composed of the spirits of some of the digital world's greatest heroes. Oni had informed us that you humans had already created the necessary programs but you 'needed help' to realize them."

Yamaki frowned beneath his sunglasses, realizing the role that he had inadvertently played in that affair by denying the designers of Argus the necessary data and material required to construct the Grani type programs that they had initially envisioned. Remembering the scope that the finalized version of Argus was capable of reaching once fully activated, especially where the _Zero Arms Orochi_ was concerned.

_I should have suspected that something was wrong then. That program went above and beyond any of the destructive capabilities that Juggernaut was capable of causing the digital world when activated._

"In the end," continued Dracmon, unaware of Yamaki's thoughts, "DinoRexmon told Oni off and drew a line in the sand. Oni crossed it and they fought. I got blasted to the real world and that's where my knowledge of Oni's intentions ends. I don't know what Oni is or what his real intentions were or why he wanted to use my home worlds heroes for them, but it couldn't have been for anything good seeing as how he kept it hidden from us." Dracmon scowled beneath his facemask.

"WarGreymon was right to not trust him," Dracmon muttered beneath his breath.

There followed a brief silence in the room as everyone let the story sink in. After a while Shibumi cleared his throat and took a step forward.

"I believe that I might have some information regarding Oni…"

* * *

_"RrrrRRRAAAGGGHHH!"_

_Beelzemon threw himself at his double with ferocious force as an animal like howl ripped free from his throat. Unmindful of his double firing his shotguns at him Beelzemon slashed his claws through the air, smashing the bullets as they surged towards him and ignoring the pain that rocketed through his hands from the contact. Smashing into the Demon Lord the two struggled against each other, claws latched onto each other as they both strove for dominance. Crimson met emerald, flashing beneath the blood red sky, and the double smirked at Beelzemon's rage._

_"Finally got you angry…" he groaned as he strained against the ex Demon Lord's grip._

_"Rrrrgh…why? Why'd you_ do it?!"

_"Why?" Spat back the clone with a harsh laugh. "What was it that I just said?! NO-DISTRACTIONS! You've been letting this whole mess with Jeri, Leomon, Takato, and Guilmon distract you for so long now that you can barely keep track of what's going on with you! I figure this way, you and I will finally have our tit-for-tat, no holds barred, 'conversation' with nothing else to focus on but me, like it_ should _be! You've spent so much time hating yourself for what you did, and I want_ all _of your focus on me for getting it out of you!"_

_Ripping free from Beelzemon's claws, the Demon Lord punched his fists into Beelzemon's stomach in rapid fire succession. The air flew free from Beelzemon's stomach and he staggered backwards, trying to regain his breath, but his counterpart refused to let up on him then, throwing himself at the dark Mega with a roundhouse kick, smashing his leg into Beelzemon's face. White lights and a rocketing roar of solid pain tore through his skull and he collapsed to the side on the ground. His instincts quickly overriding his bodies desire to lie on_

_the ground and rest the ex Demon Lord rolled to the side, missing having his head crushed by his duplicate's spiked boot. Lashing out with his rodent-like tail, Beelzemon wrapped it around his clone's ankle and pulled taught, forcing the Demon Lord to trip backwards, only to save himself at the last minute and turn it into a back flip. Whipping out the shotgun that Beelzemon had strapped to his back he immediately began firing, not pausing to check his sights or to even aim properly, and instead correcting it as he went in an attempt to keep his double on the defensive. A bullet grazed the clone's shoulder while another clipped the side of his bird-like mask. Leaping up into the air, Beelzemon's double threw up his hands, and as though he had unleashed some hidden power the two Berenjena shotguns that he had dropped earlier flew into his hands and he immediately began returning fire. Bullets slammed into the earth and into each other as the two Demon Lord digimon shot back and forth, both of them seeking to hit each other but failing. Gritting his teeth with rage and a white hot anger, the image of Takato's lifeless, and slowly deleting body, destroyed at the hands and gun of the creature that represented his past self, flew through his mind. An orange aura burst to life around Beelzemon's body and he pulled the triggers on his shotgun extra hard, his arm snapping back in recoil as a bullet flew free from its barrel. Time seemed to slow down as Beelzemon's green eyes followed the bullet as it went on its journey towards its target. He watched with almost grim fascination as the bullet made its way past his counterpart's defenses and dug a long, bloody trench in his facemask, furrowing its way just above his left eye._

_And then, with a horrific scream of pain and rage as the bullet blew past the Demon Lords skull, time returned to its normal pace and Beelzemon's clone fell back to the earth with a crash. With a harsh snarl, Beelzemon rushed towards the impact sight, summoning his Deathslinger cannon once more. Violet electricity danced at its tip but he didn't unleash his attack just yet and instead continued to close the distance as his counterpart struggled to get to his feet. Pulling Deathslinger back like a club Beelzemon brought its crackling, clawed barrel down on his clone with a fearsome crash, triggering the attack at point blank range._

"Corona Blaster!"

_The Demon Lord screamed as the attack exploded in his face, ripping off his mask and setting fire to the feather like hair. Not even caring about the grievous injury he had inflicted Beelzemon brought his cannon down on his counterpart once more, smashing him to the ground before raising it once more and hitting him again. And again. And again. And again._

_Over and over the only sounds that filled the air were those of Deathslinger's impact with the body of Beelzemon's double, punctuated every so often by a scream of pain. Beelzemon didn't care though. So completely held was he in the grasp of the rage that filled him that he was_ beyond _the point of caring. Seeing that his weapon was now battered beyond functionality Beelzemon dismissed the cannon and turned to bludgeoning his double with his fists._

_"You're_ done!" _Beelzemon exclaimed as his fists slammed home. Data sprayed through the air like a high pressure hose, sparkling in the red light before disappearing from sight completely. A trickle of sweat ran down Beelzemon's face as a frantic look appeared in his emerald eyes._

_"You're through!" He shouted as he punched his double once more, wincing as he did so. His fists were starting to hurt now. It felt as though he were punching solid Chrome Digizoid. Changing tactics Beelzemon wrapped his claws around his counterpart's neck and began squeezing._

_"You're not going to bother_ anyone _anymore! I'm_ sick _of you! Sick of seeing you in the mirror every time I turn around! Sick of you reminding me what I did! I'm my_ own _mon! I make my own destiny! I'm sorry for what I did, but_ you…won't…leave…me…ALONE!"

_Beelzemon's eyes burned blue and he raised his opponent's battered body off the ground just enough so that they were now eyelevel with each other. Beelzemon shook his double's nonresponsive body and shouted into his face, as though beseeching him to talk to him._

"Why won't you let me go?! Everywhere I go, no matter what good I do, you ALWAYS find a way to hurt my friends! WHY CAN'T YOU LET US MOVE ON?!"

_"Because…you won't let yourself…" came the answer. Beelzemon gasped and dropped his double back to the ground as he felt a shiver crawl its way up his spine._

That voice…

_Blue eyes turned up to meet his azure ones amidst a mass of bloodied and battered, golden fur. All of a sudden Beelzemon found himself shaking, and he couldn't stop. His claws unclenched themselves and he felt his body go numb as he found himself looking into the tired, yet firm eyes of Leomon as he lay beneath the ex Demon Lord. As Beelzemon watched helplessly, the lion digimon took a deep, shuddering breath._

_"…And that's what this is all about," the lion warrior finished before disappearing into a haze of orange mist. Beelzemon gave a cry as he raked his claws on the ground where the proud, lion warrior had been._

No, no, no, no, no, no, no…

_Arching his back, Beelzemon screamed._

"NOOO!"

* * *

Impmon's green eyes snapped open as a small gasp escaped his mouth. Blue sky filled his vision and within it, small tufts of clouds drifted lazily as though there was nothing in the world at all that they had to worry about.

_Of course they don't,_ thought Impmon distractedly with a touch of dry humor. _They're just cumulous clouds of water vapor. What do they need to worry about?_

Impmon lay there for a few moments, his mind feeling as though it were trapped in a hurricane of confusion. How long had he been out? No answer came to him save for a sudden pain that crawled its way through his body.

_Long enough to still feel like I've just gone another round with that mule face Indramon again,_ groaned Impmon mentally as he rolled over to one side and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. Impmon took a deep, shaky breath as he fought to get a hold of himself. The pain was still there, but it had receded into more tolerable levels. He couldn't say for certain that he _felt_ any better than he did before he passed out, but he could at least be grateful that the pain wasn't as bad as it had been before.

_Still feel awful though. Man, what the heck happened to me? That was one messed up dream I had just now. I fight myself only to find out that I was really fighting Leomon all over again? What is that about?_

Getting up to his feet Impmon wobbled over to the edge of the rooftop and placed his hand on the ledge, which his head was just able to reach over, and steadied himself.

_Probably shouldn't worry about that. My brains messed up enough as it is right now so I don't think that I ought to be too surprised by this little development. I oughtta concentrate on figurin' out what's wrong with me, get better, and then get back on the trail of that Crusadermon. Wherever she is, she's going to be causing trouble, and I got to do something_ _about her before one of the others gets a hold of her. I can't let another partner digimon die…not on my watch._

"So this is where you've been hiding," came a light, slightly playful tone that masked concern. Turning, Impmon found Renamon landing gracefully on the rooftop, ice blue eyes taking in his battered form before she rose up and placed a hand on her hip.

"What're you doin' here, Fox-face? Did I send you an invitation or somethin'?"

"No," replied Renamon, ignoring the imps spunky attitude towards her. "But Kazu had mentioned that you were injured and that it would be expedient to find you as soon as possible."

"You mean he used that big word all by himself? I'm impressed. But I'm afraid though that you wasted your time. I'm perfectly fi…" Impmon suddenly dissolved into a fit of coughs that nearly forced him to collapse back onto the roof's surface. Clutching at his chest, Impmon rode through the painful coughs and when he was certain that he was all right he returned his attention to the vulpine digimon, who by this point was looking at him with her head tilted to one side.

"I'm…perfectly fine," wheezed Impmon. With a sigh and a shake of her head Renamon strode towards the hobgoblin and got down to one knee so that they could be more eyelevel with each other. Impmon backed up cautiously.

"Hey! What're you doin foxy? You thinkin' about proposing to me or something like the humans do when they want to get married? You know, if you're going to adopt _all_ of the human's habits the least you can do is let _me_ do the proposin' instead…"

"Impmon," interrupted Renamon as she narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the imp's antics. "Do you remember why it was that you attacked Indramon on your own last year?"

"Huh?" Impmon blinked, befuddled by the question. "Of course I do. I was acting like I owned the place. Pretending to be stronger then I actually was, and I got my keester kicked around for it. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're doing it again. You're letting your pride get in the way."

"I…uh…what makes you say that?"

"Kazu told me the whole story, about how you were fighting Crusadermon and then suddenly forcefully dedigivolved even though she hadn't landed a single blow against you. Given the oddity of such an occurrence and your current appearance I'd say it's pretty obvious what's wrong with you, and you are trying to cover it up. And in case you didn't notice," Renamon placed one paw on her bandaged stomach as emphasis, "I should point out that I have also been injured in the battle with that entity, just as you were."

Impmon scowled at the vixen, irritated over how she was always able to figure him out no matter what he did or what lengths he had gone to hide himself from her scrutinizing gaze.

With a defeated sigh Impmon looked at Renamon.

"Fine. Fine. Yeah. I'm not feeling so hot right now. There, you happy now?"

"Why would I be, Impmon? We're friends, aren't we?"

"It's a rhetorical question fuzz face," shot back Impmon, trying to not look at the vulpine's sad expression, as visible as it was beneath her usual, calm, controlled demeanor. "It means, 'are you satisfied with gettin' your answer?'"

"Only if you come back to Hypnos with me, Impmon."

Impmon folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the diminutive stone wall that made up the roofs ledge. He could see that this was going to be a losing battle as far as his pride was concerned. He didn't like the idea of anyone making a fuss over him and if he could help it he avoided it as best as he could. But, as he had noted, it was a moot point. Renamon wanted him to go to Hypnos to be looked over, and if she could help it she'd tie him up with his own bandana and drag him there herself. And with the way he was feeling right now he didn't think that he would be able to fend her off even if he digivolved to his Mega form.

"All right, fine. But only if you don't tell Jeri or any of the others about what's going on with me."

"That…will be difficult. They are already aware that you are injured and that I'm out searching for you right now."

"Look, just find a way, okay? I know that those guys mean well when they show that they're concerned about me, it's just…" Impmon frowned. "…I don't think that I can take that kind of treatment right now. Not until I really know what's wrong."

Renamon looked at the diminutive Demon Lord for a few seconds, contemplating his words before she placed one gloved hand on his shoulder.

"We will see what we can come up with," Renamon replied, and content with that answer Impmon nodded to her and together they both vanished from sight.

* * *

"You think you know what's this _Oni_ is?" Asked Yamaki as all eyes turned towards Shibumi. The Monster Maker nodded.

"It has to do with the information that I had told you about when I showed up in your control room. I had been utilizing two digimon that I had encountered during my time in the digital world last year to traverse the network in order to get here faster when I was swept up in a data stream and transported directly to the digital world. A group of digimon known as the _Seer Council_ had wanted to contact me so that I could relay something that they had discovered and were investigating. You see, it also has to do with the Digital Hazard."

Now he had everyone's attention.

"Okay," said Rika. "I think we really need to know what that is."

"What's there to know?" Asked Terriermon. "Whenever it shows up it causes problems. That seems to be all we need to know."

"Actually Terriermon," interjected Henry, "I agree with Rika on this one. We know so little about the Digital Hazard. What information we do have on it comes from the digimon card game and sources vary in account on what exactly it is. The best that we can come up with is that it's a mysterious power that had been sealed away by an equally mysterious force. Considering the amount of damage that it caused the last time it had become active, not to mention the digimon that it's been associated with, and that weird cable entity that invaded the real world searching for it, I'd say that any information that we can get regarding it helps."

"Okay. You do have a point there."

"But what does Oni have to do with the Digital Hazard?" Asked Yamaki.

"Actually," began Henry. "I think that I might have something about that. _If_ I'm getting the description of Oni right that is…"

"Dark guy with white mouth, two antennae, long arms and legs, and hand-like wings?" Asked Dracmon. Henry nodded.

"Yup. That's your guy."

"I found him in the room that Noriko had been in when she was here. It might be possible that he was drawn to the Digital Hazard since she became a vessel for it."

"Wait," interrupted Aiko as she leaned forward on the table. "Are you saying that my daughter had this… _Digital Hazard_ …inside of her when she came home?"

"It's certainly well within the realm of possibility," said Shibumi. "Based on the files that I read about her since returning she did show signs of being merged with the digimon BlackGuilmon, an incarnation of Takato's own Guilmon with heavier accents on its Virus attributes then the norm…"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Guess that's where I step in," said Kazu. "Digimon 101. Digimon are divided into three types known as Vaccine, Virus, and Data…"

"I don't think that's important right now Kazu," said Rika irritably. "And I'm sure that we don't have time to cover the basics of the card game or even the TV show right now."

"Hey, just let me finish. It's not like I'm going to explain the whole thing to her…"

"Just think of BlackGuilmon as a subspecies of the Guilmon that's in this room right now," said Shibumi, pointing at the red scaled dino who waved at the dark haired woman, a friendly expression on his face. "Although to be fair, BlackGuilmon looks more how Guilmon did prior to his reformatting, with the only major differences being a reversal of his colors of red and black coupled with a much more wild nature."

"But this… _Hazard…_ " Aiko shook her head in confusion. "…she has it because she's… _merged_ with this BlackGuilmon? What is it exactly?"

"The Digital Hazard is a naturally occurring glitch in the digital world that usually carries with it great amounts of power, and it's usually symbolized by a standard hazard symbol that you would see here in the human world, only instead it's been turned upside down. As digimon are capable of combining their digital structure with the natural elements of their environment such as fire, water, metal, so on and so forth, digimon can also combine with the Digital Hazard and incorporate it into their digi-core…their heart and center of being if you would. When this occurs it manifests as a hazard sign somewhere on their body. In Guilmon and BlackGuilmon's case it appeared on their chest…"

"But…Guilmon doesn't have one right now."

"That would be my doing actually. You see, Guilmon had been killed by a digimon called Lucemon…"

"Yes. I'm quite familiar with Lucemon," said Aiko with a nod. "My family and I found him in the park, injured, a few weeks ago and cared for him then."

"Wha…?!" Exclaimed Kazu in surprise as he nearly fell out of his chair. "Stop the presses! You're saying you…"

"Kazu!" Interrupted Kenta in annoyance at his friend. "Could you just settle down and listen already?"

"Ah…uh…hu…" Kazu looked back and forth between his friends, Aiko, and Yamaki before settling back into his chair with a confused shake of his head.

"Anyway," coughed Shibumi. "Guilmon had been killed by Lucemon. I had managed to use one of Hypnos's programs to gather his data and reconstruct his form, but I had to introduce my copy of the X-Antibody into him in order to revive him all the way. A side affect was a change in his appearance and the removal of the hazard sign from his body. It's quite possible that the Digital Hazard is either gone or sealed off entirely from his data."

_Which might explain why that cable thing only took ChaosGallantmon and stopped going after Takato and Guilmon,_ thought Rika to herself as she remembered yesterday's battle.

"The Digital Hazard is, for the most part benign in its appearance except in the cases where the digimon digivolves. With each successive level that a digimon evolves to the Hazard, its power and its influence become much more pronounced. If a digimon evolves correctly they'll be able to utilize full control over its power without suffering any debilitating after affects. If it digivolves wrong the digimon will essentially become as a power core reaching critical meltdown, and it will greatly affect and distort its surroundings. Possibly even destroy it."

"And my _daughter_ has this thing in her?! One of your own teammates has had this thing in his partner?!"

"Ma'am, as I said. The hazard is benign in the lower forms. Almost completely harmless unless an outside force acts upon it, especially when it involves a digimon who has a high degree of skill and knowledge about its functions of which there are very, very few digimon that do. And as for Guilmon…"

Shibumi turned his gaze towards Takato, who pointed at himself questioningly. At Shibumi's nod of affirmation Takato spoke up.

"Well…uh…I'll be honest. I didn't actually draw the hazard sign on Guilmon when I first created him. That just sorta appeared on its own when he was born."

"And you didn't tell us this _why_ Chumley?" Asked Kazu as he and just about everyone except Rika and Guilmon looked at him incredulously. Takato rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"It didn't seem important at the time. I mean, I was just finding out that digimon were real and not just a card game…"

"Plus you thought that it looked cool huh?" Asked Terriermon.

"Well yeah, that too…hey!"

"Terriermon…"

"What? He just said I was right!"

"I'm glad to see that you at least can find some measure of humor in all of this," said Aiko in a strained voice, "but this is my daughter that we're talking about. The one that I gave birth to and raised. She's in danger…"

"We know that Mrs. Nakata," said Takato, capturing the woman's attention. "Believe me…we know that better then you think," Takato sent a quick look over at Jeri before returning his gaze back to Aiko, "and we'll do anything within our power to get her back. I promise."

"We _all_ promise," added Rika, and this was met by a number of nods and vocal agreements from all around the table.

"Yeah," said Kazu with a confident smirk on his face. "If worst comes to worst Takato can always draw us a way to the digital world. If he can create a digimon using nothing but his crummy artist skills and a red colored pencil then he can get us to the digital world."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence Kazu…"

"What? I did say that you'd get us there didn't I?"

"In how many pieces though?" Joked a certain long eared rabbit dog from his place on top of Henry's head.

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai!"

"About Oni…" interjected Shibumi, coughing politely in order to get everyone's attention.

"Yeah, what does he, whoever he is, have to do with the Hazard?" Asked Ryo.

"The group that summoned me is unsure, however they have reason to believe that there something is going to happen involving the Hazard and that he's going to be involved in some manner. Given the destructive and highly disruptive nature of the Hazard, especially when large amounts of its code are involved, and the disappearance of the Argus program from Hypnos's systems…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Exclaimed Kazu. "Hold up. Argus is _missing?"_

"Since the incident from last week when Henry and Terriermon first recovered Noriko. We're still looking into it but so far we haven't come up with anything that could explain to us what could have happened."

"A lot of weird things have been happening lately," said Takato in an offhand manner.

"Yeah, like how I ended up at Okinawa so quickly," said Rika with a frown. Once more Ryo felt himself tense up, imperceptible to all but Jeri, who happened to glance at him as she wondered what he made of it.

"So," Ryo began, hoping to get the conversation back on track, "seeing as how Oni is behind the design of Argus and that's currently missing, could he be banking on using the Digital Hazard, namely the one inside Noriko, to carry out whatever it is he's got planned?"

"That's probably the most likely course of action. The Seer Council has sent an agent to investigate further, but I don't know if and when they'll find anything out?"

"Who or what is the Seer Council?" Asked Jeri. "And how did they find out about Oni?"

"I wouldn't say that they did, per se. But their group is made up of sorcerers and wizards. Their leader, a Sakuyamon of a shrine maiden variety…" Shibumi didn't notice Rika's startled reaction at that. "…has some measure of clairvoyance. She can see some things that others cannot. It stands to reason that this is the means that she learned about Oni."

"Does she know what he is?"

Shibumi shook his head.

"No. But she is afraid of what he might do when he gets hold of the Digital Hazard."

"So what's she need our help for?" Asked Rika pointedly. "Not that I'm saying that we shouldn't get involved since we are and I think we should anyway, but having evolved with Renamon to that form I know how powerful she can be. Why did she feel the need to contact you just to deliver a message to us?"

"Because the situation is connected to us," replied Shibumi. "And she wants all concerned parties to work together to the best of their abilities so that we're not getting in each other's way. Which brings us to the next part of our meeting…"

The sound of Yamaki's cell phone ringing broke into Shibumi's words, and the Head of Hypnos calmly opened it and deftly gave a gruff greeting (to use the term loosely) to the caller.

"I see. Very well. Send them up," said Yamaki after a few seconds of listening to whoever it was on the other end. Hanging up his cell phone Yamaki looked over at those gathered in the room.

"Renamon's found Impmon," he said.

The silence that followed had never sounded so louder.


	91. 90: Hope is Life

"Okay," said Shibumi as he finished placing the last of the wires on Impmon's body and turned towards the computer behind him. With a few quick clicks on the keyboard a large, scanner like piece of equipment hummed to life and placed itself over the diminutive demon lord, a soft glow flickering to life within it. "Let's see what we've got."

Less than an hour had passed since Renamon had arrived at Hypnos with a battered Impmon in her arms, and despite Impmon's desire that none of the Tamers know what was wrong with him, that was precisely what ended up happening. It was rather unavoidable, Impmon realized, due to the close association that the Tamers had with Yamaki, and it was made even more so by the fact that the Tamers were in the same room as they were conducting a meeting. In hindsight he should have realized that one way or the other his condition was going to get out despite his wishes and Renamon's promises. Fate just seemed to have a way of having bad timing when it came to him. Lessons about the dangers of pride for example, came far too late for him to learn from before he had committed mistakes, and this had been one after the other. Easily not his finest moments, and he had yet to have another that was capable of trumping them. But then, it could be said that he had come out of those experiences a little bit wiser, if not scarred, and in more ways than one.

Impmon groaned as he turned his head over towards Shibumi as he began the scanning process. He could feel his body tingling as energy poured into him and transmitted information to the computer, causing a series of numbers and letters to appear on the readouts on the monitor. None of it Impmon really understood, but with the way that he felt right now he was pretty sure that he didn't need any computer training to know that the news wasn't good.

As if to confirm his suspicions Impmon's right glove blurred slightly.

* * *

All of the Tamers stood outside of the room where Shibumi and Impmon were working in, anxiously waiting for some news from the room's occupants. Not a single one of them had said a word since Shibumi and Impmon had disappeared inside; even Terriermon seemed to have little to contribute to the scene which was in stark contrast to his usual, highly sarcastic, not to mention sarcastic personality. Under other circumstances Henry, or one of the others would have quipped that the long eared digimon had finally learned tact, but no one was in a joking mood right now.

Ayaka glanced over at each of the Tamers in turn, taking in their worried expressions while wondering how it was that they dealt with this kind of thing on such a regular basis. It seemed more than any of them could handle and yet Ayaka could clearly recall that every time they talked about their adventures there was definitely a fond wistfulness about their recollections that felt that they were talking about the greatest time of their lives. Ayaka cast her eyes down towards the ground, rubbing one of her arms introspectively while she pressed her back against the wall, all too aware of the pink and yellow D-Arc that was hidden beneath her shirt. Not for the first time did she wonder about her place in things now that she had been made a Tamer (and not only that, a Tamer to a digimon that did not want to be tamed). The past couple of days, no, the past _week,_ had certainly been quite a hectic one for her, having landed in more then what she felt that she could handle on more than one occasion. Becoming a Tamer aside she had been placed in danger of being killed by a rogue program and a bizarre mountain of wires and cables that fired blue lasers. Fortunately she had survived that, but it hadn't been too long after that incident that she had found herself in another situation, one that had ended up giving birth to yet another one that she most certainly could have done without.

_Just what have I gotten myself into?_ Wondered Ayaka as she remembered the tingle on her lips from when she had kissed Kenta that morning. The thing was, she knew full well what she had gotten herself into, but she knew that she was going to need time to come to grips with it. Time that she wasn't sure that she had in abundance.

_At least Kenta's kept quiet about Crusadermon,_ thought the coppery haired girl as her mind drifted to the pink armored Royal Knight. _But what am I going to do about her?_

Ayaka sighed mentally as no answer came to her. She was reluctant to involve any of the others due to what was already going on, but…

_I don't think that I can do this alone…_

Unfortunately, Ayaka felt that was precisely what she was going to have to do.

* * *

Yamaki flicked his lighter shut as he stared out the window, looking out over the city of Shinjuku once more, his mind set in contemplation of what he had most recently learned. One thing that disturbed him was the thought that there had been someone operating under his command had been, whether knowingly or unknowingly (though according to Dracmon's testimony it was unknowingly), aiding a group that meant to harm the human world as well as the digital world. As to who could have been in a position to do such a thing…well, there were so many people in Hypnos who were capable of it, particularly Riley and Tally who went through more information in a single day then most of the technicians at Hypnos did in a week. And of course there were the Monster Makers, especially the enigmatic Shibumi who came and went as he pleased and seemed to know things that no one else did, but of that group and his chief operators he could vouch for all of them. Or at least, that's what he felt.

_That's how it always starts doesn't it? You think you know someone until you discover a part of them that reveals an entirely new side that you never knew existed. If it weren't for the fact that Riley and I had so much history together before Hypnos had even been started I would have wondered if that was the reason why she and I became so close. As for the Monster Makers…perhaps Robert McCoy. According to the Tamers his granddaughter became involved with the digital world at some point to be able to enter the real world, despite her being in a coma physically in the real world, and give them the ability to biomerge. As a concerned family member with access to a government agency with all the resources that he needs to analyze the digital world it might not be that far out of his capabilities to attempt such a thing if someone on the other side tempted him with a promise about Alice._

Yamaki grimaced. He didn't like thinking like that, laying down suspicions and doubts but it had been how he had been able to get as far as he did in life already, and it had kept him alive more than once. It was a tried and true method, so why abandon it?

_Simple. Because I trust all of them,_ thought Yamaki darkly, resisting the urge to flick his lighter open once more. And yet, despite the trust that he placed in each of his team members, the core of Hypnos, Yamaki could not let that little seed of doubt die down. Forcing such thoughts away for the time being, Yamaki turned to another subject that also weighed heavily on his mind, and towards the very person who, despite her silence, made sure that it stayed there.

"I assure you Ms. Nakata," said Yamaki as he leaned back in his chair, eyeing the woman who sat across from him behind his sunglasses, "that despite the current situation that has arisen we will do everything in our power to locate your daughter and return her home."

Aiko grimaced, unsure as to what she was supposed to feel right now in light of recent events. She had learned so much in so short of a time, and had an idea that there was still more to be learned. However, that wasn't what was on her mind right now. She was concerned about the children that called themselves Tamers, and were the unofficial protectors of their home city, and indeed the world. They had just experienced a tragedy or at least something close to it depending on what the verdict was on their digimon friend, Impmon, once the man known as Goru 'Shibumi' Mizuno had finished his diagnosis and presented them with the news. Deep inside of her she wanted her daughter returned home to her safe and sound as soon as possible, but the side of her that tended to be concerned about the welfare of others gnawed away at her conscience. Did she have the right to demand such action from the Tamers?

_Even after everything that they've been through,_ thought Aiko as she remembered the faces of each of the Tamers as they left the meeting room at a rapid pace to check up on their friends, _they're still just children._

"Mr. Yamaki," began Aiko carefully. "I…" Aiko hesitated before she continued. "I know that those children are used to having to deal with situations like this…"

"They are indeed," said Yamaki with a slight nod. "They have proven themselves to be more than adequately capable of handling a trip to the digital world, or any digital related phenomena in general. They've managed to put me in my place a few times when I was unable to defend our world, and given the resources that Hypnos has available in comparison to the Tamers that's no small task."

"I know. I've seen all of the news reports. It's just…I don't feel comfortable sending them off into a dangerous world just to look for my daughter."

Yamaki nodded his understanding of Aiko's sentiments. He had felt much the same way many times before, though his worries were nothing in comparison to the parents of the Tamers who had to sit and wait for their children to come home, worrying about how they were doing. It had been even worse for those parents who had not been aware until _after_ the fact that their children had gone off to a place that until that point belonged to the world of television. Among all of them though, Yamaki had been the quickest to put his faith in them, though whether or not this was due to his own training as a soldier and government agent, his distance from the Tamers in comparison to the relationship that they had with their parents, or just his own observations of them in battle he wasn't certain, nor did he actually even care. They operated together as a team for their mutual goals, placed trust in each other, and they had won through. By that point, age had ceased to be an issue for Yamaki. Experience and heart remained.

"Even so, they have their digimon, and that is all that they need to stay safe."

"Is it?" Asked Aiko. "I don't mean to pry, or place any shadow of doubt on them, but from what I saw today, none of those children looked well."

Yamaki waved her off.

"I am sure that they will carry out their duties as Tamers. I have been known them for a while now, and it is very rare that they ever let anything go once started, regardless of what they're going through at the moment. That may sound harsh to you, but that is simply the choice that they make for themselves every day."

Despite his words, Yamaki had to admit, at least to himself, that there was some merit to what Aiko had said. Most of the children that he knew to be active Tamers, and even those that weren't or were no longer Tamers (Jeri and as far as he knew her blonde haired friend, Ayaka as well), had been through quite a bit these past few weeks and while they didn't show it he could tell that something was bothering each of them. Takato he believed to know what was wrong as he had recently had to deal with the loss of Guilmon, and despite the fact that his partner had managed to be returned to life Yamaki knew enough that that sort of scarring did not just disappear that easily. Takato was determined, that he had no doubt, and would also be among the first to volunteer for the rescue mission but would he be mentally and physically stable enough for such an operation? Especially with his partner now being such an unknown due to his new form. Would he be safe? Would the others be safe? Once they were in the digital world they were essentially cut off from any aid save for each other should anything go wrong, and if something happened to Guilmon while they were there…Yamaki shuddered at the thought.

And then there was of course, Henry. Yamaki could tell that the boy was troubled, and he didn't doubt that much of it came from the issues of his father having been injured, his having lost control during his battle with Lucemon, and of Noriko's disappearances and merging with BlackGuilmon. None of which made a winning combination as he could tell that Henry was distracted. Although his father was now doing fine, much better than he had been at any rate, it was clear that it didn't leave Henry feeling any better. He wondered if whether his rather brutal defeat at the hands of ChaosGallantmon Chaos Mode, or the idea of having to work with the digimon that had attacked his father, had something to do with that.

As for the others he could only guess at. He didn't keep up with every detail of the Tamer's personal lives to know each and every problem that brought them down or could conceivably cause them to be distracted during a critical situation.

_I can see Aiko's point,_ thought Yamaki. _Are the Tamer's going to be safe if they have some kind of personal problem interfering? Our best and most seasoned all appear to be distracted about something, and while the lesser experienced don't exhibit those symptoms same degree, they're still too inexperienced in combat to allow to go to the digital world unsupervised._

"I want to go to the digital world," said Aiko, breaking into the agents thought process, causing him to stiffen up in surprise.

"I'm afraid that I can't allow that," said Yamaki firmly. "The digital world is far too dangerous…"

"Dangerous enough for adults but not enough for children?"

"Dangerous enough for anyone without a partner digimon," replied Yamaki evenly. "Understand that not all digimon in the digital world are like what you've seen so far with the Tamers partners. Many digimon there live by the notion of 'survival of the fittest' and as such they can and will grow stronger by any means that they deem fit. Some will be helpful to you, but more often than not you will find digimon who are going to be more interested in trying to load you."

"Load?"

"A digital equivalent of a predator consuming their prey, only in this case there's nothing left over once the individual has been deleted; no body left behind to decay. All information that makes up their structure is absorbed and incorporated into the victor. Presumably your daughter may have gone through a similar experience that has caused her to become merged with BlackGuilmon."

"I…see," said Aiko slowly, but she did not look convinced. Noting this, Yamaki had the distinct feeling that he was going to need to keep an eye on this woman to make sure that she didn't do anything _drastic._

* * *

"So what's the verdict doc?" Asked Impmon in a throaty voice. Unlike Janyu, who had been the last Monster Maker to receive the honor of being given that nickname by Impmon

Shibumi didn't react to it, understanding full well the digimon's reasons for calling him that and feeling somewhat amused by the usage. However, the situation as it was did not allow him to be amused to any significant degree, or for very long.

_This doesn't look good,_ thought Shibumi as the scan fed his computer its results. _Not good at all…although this is certainly also…_ strange. _If I had time to look into it further…_

"Hey! Doc! You holdin' out on me or somethin'?"

_Unfortunately…_

* * *

"…There's no easy way to say this," said Shibumi to the group of Tamers plus Yamaki as they sat at the meeting table that they had temporarily vacated not too long ago. "Impmon's dying."

An eerie silence settled heavily over the room as everyone let the news sink in. After what felt like an eternity Jeri finally broke the silence.

"What?"

The question, so simple despite its singularity as a pronoun seemed to carry with it all the weight of everyone else's question. And with it having been spoken, the ball began rolling, _crashing_ towards its ultimate destination to which only an answer could halt its forward momentum.

"Dying?" Takato followed up. "But…that can't be!"

Shibumi shook his head ruefully.

"I'm afraid that it's true. There's a line of code imbedded in Impmon's data that's breaking down his digital structure, unraveling the bonds that connect his body and his digi-core together. I'm afraid that I don't quite understand the underlying algorithm behind it. Frankly I'm surprised that he's still alive as his body is being broken down at a highly accelerated rate. From what I can tell though the only thing that's keeping him alive right now is the vast quantity of excess data that he's loaded from other digimon, but at the rate that's disappearing it's not likely that he'll last much longer."

"How much time does he have?" Asked Rika, allowing a slight tremble to enter her voice at the thought of one of her friends dying. Shibumi shrugged.

"Hours…maybe a day at best. No more than that I'm afraid. The progress of this… _virus_ is already highly extensive. His body's ability to hold itself together is compromised already. The only thing keeping him together really is gravitation and a few remaining connections but that's pretty much it. If I had more time to study the virus that's infected him then I'd be able to synthesize a vaccine program but…"

Shibumi let the sentence drift off, letting the Tamers draw the obvious conclusion, which unfortunately was not in the least bit comforting for anyone gathered there.

"No…" Jeri broke into a sob, her shoulder's heaving while her friends cast worried looks in her direction. Calumon, who was presently sitting on the table next to the brunette girl shrunk his ears into his head and patted her arm with one tiny hand, trying his best to comfort her.

"Isn't there something that can be done?" Asked Henry, desperately hoping that maybe they had missed something.

"Yeah," said Kenta. "Maybe MarineAngemon…"

"I'm afraid MarineAngemon's healing powers wouldn't work in this case…or at least not fast enough to be beneficial. The virus is spreading in much the same way as a snowball rolls downhill, and it's getting bigger then MarineAngemon could keep up with it."

"How could he have possibly picked it up?" Asked Rika, her eyes flaring up as her refusal to admit defeat in the face of such odds awoke within her heart. "Think. If we can pinpoint what caused it we might be able to figure something out! Renamon…did Impmon say anything to you about it?"

"He had been injured from the fight with the cable creature from yesterday. He said that was when the symptoms started."

Shibumi frowned and rubbed his chin through his beard.

"Hmmm…that entity…the leader of the Seer Council told me about that."

"What can you tell us?" Asked Takato, urgency and hope filling his voice.

"There's not much that she knew for certain about it…"

"Typical," Rika snorted angrily. Shibumi drove on.

"…But what she _did_ know was that it was an ancient program from around the time that the digital world was a new place. The D-Reaper was either still in its early stages then, or had already burrowed itself away to evolve. Where it came from or who made it she was uncertain, but its purpose was to contain a rather large amount of data pertaining to the Digital Hazard. Apparently the Hazard had escaped from its confines about a year ago and it had been searching for it ever since."

"A year ago?" Asked Takato, cocking an eyebrow in surprise. "But…that would put it around the time of when I created Guilmon."

"Sakuyamon didn't say anything for certain about that…"

"But don't you think that's a pretty weird coincidence? The timing's just about right and Guilmon had a hazard symbol on him when he was born…"

Jeri looked up at Takato. She was already picking out the sound of blame that he was heaping up on himself about Impmon's condition. She knew Takato well enough to know that he would do something like that because he cared about his friends a lot, and if they were hurt in some manner, however indirectly it was by something that he did (if there was a remote possibility that it came about _because_ of something that he did) then he would feel responsible for it. Ironically enough, it had been a trait that Impmon had also picked up when it came to both herself and Takato. His actions on the day that he destroyed Leomon had inadvertently given birth to the D-Reaper that had waged war on the real world, and had led Lucemon to seeking out and destroying Guilmon because of the threat that his dark Mega form of Megidramon had posed to the digital world.

Guilmon looked at Takato, his big golden eyes set in a worried expression.

"Takatomon? Did I do something wrong?"

Takato shook his head and gave his partner a gentle pat on the head. "No Guilmon. You didn't do anything. I did."

"Takato…" Jeri began in a soft voice. "…no."

"But it's true. It's my fault. I didn't know what I was doing when I created Guilmon. When that digivice first showed up all I wanted was to just have a digimon partner…one that was my own. Mr. Mizuno said that the digignomes used spare packets of data to create him but where did they get those spare…"

"Gogglehead!"

Takato felt himself jerk to attention as Rika's voice, harsh and commanding cut across his words with all the force of a runaway subway train. All eyes, including Takato's fell upon Rika as she glowered furiously at the brown haired boy who was heaping all the blame for Impmon's condition on himself.

"Do _not_ start feeling sorry for yourself again, and don't even _think_ about taking the blame for what happened to Impmon! Let's get one thing straight here. What happened to Impmon is _not_ your fault and if he were here I'm sure he'd say the _exact_ same thing! Like you said, you didn't know what you were doing; heck you didn't even have a clue about _half_ the things that were going on at the time but you _learned._ None of us did! We never know everything that's going to happen from every decision that we make but as soon as we start questioning everything that we've done in the past and what we do in the future then we can't move forward." Rika paused to fix her gaze more fully on Takato. "And right now, for you, for _all_ of us, you have to keep moving forward. You want to do Impmon a favor? Don't blame yourself for something that was out of your control."

The two friends held each other's gazes for a few more seconds as Takato felt something…he couldn't quite describe what it was… _wash_ over him, and somehow he began to feel a little bit lighter as he saw what he had been doing to himself. Rika's words had struck a chord in him that he couldn't deny.

_Rika…_

Jeri couldn't help but smile at Rika as she offered her support, as blunt as it was, to Takato, keeping him from falling into his usual trap of self blame. In her heart, Jeri had a feeling that Takato was going to be in good hands.

"Wow," piped in Terriermon all of a sudden. "That had to be the most heartfelt scene I've ever laid eyes on. I bet it also helps Rika do double duty that she's got a heart on her shirt."

"Terriermon…"

"She is right Takato," Jeri said, smiling at her two friends. "You should probably listen to her more."

Jeri pulled Calumon into her grasp and gave him a soft hug, still smiling at her two friends and studiously ignoring the strange, and on Rika's part more suspicion filled, looks that they were giving her.

"Now that we have that out of the way," said Dracmon, carefully coughing into his fist. "I don't suppose that we can continue with the original point of this meeting? Renamon…you said that Impmon had been injured by that cable thing from yesterday, right?"

"Yes," replied Renamon with a nod.

"Hold on," broke in Rika as a thought occurred to her. "Renamon and I were both hit in that fight, so how come neither of us have had the same problems?"

"That's…a good question," said Shibumi. "I would imagine that there could be any number of reasons for it. I wonder if your digimon, human hybrid form has something to do with it. If you'd like I can have you both checked out…"

"Do it," said Yamaki curtly. "I don't want us to be taking any more losses if I can help it."

"They seem to be doing fine for now," said Dracmon, "so don't you be going anywhere yet Mr. Shibumi. I want you to check my notes here. Now Impmon was hit by that poor excuse for a mess of telephone wires and that was when the whole mess started…"

"Guilmon and I were also hit a few times," supplied Takato. "But for some reason we weren't hurt or anything."

"I think we've already established the possibility of your biomerged forms having something to do with your resistance…"

"I don't believe that's quite true," said Renamon. "When Rika and I were hit we showed signs of our armor dissolving right away, and even our injuries in our Mega form were grievous and only by reverse digivolving were we able to keep them from getting worse. The Royal Knight Crusadermon was destroyed rapidly upon contact with that entity's attacks, yet when Gallantmon was hit he proved to be immune."

A small smile drew up on Dracmon's face.

"Well…that certainly lends some credibility to my theory…"

"And that would be…?" Asked Yamaki.

"It's the X-Virus. Impmon's been infected by the X-Virus. The signs that Shibumi described…the breaking down of data and his ability to hold himself together. That's a surefire sign that it's the X-Virus. I've seen it happen enough times to know that much for sure. X-digimon have evolved an immunity to the X-Virus, so if the cable creature had absorbed a digimon or even a floating packet of data containing it then it could have transmuted it into a weapon just like how digimon can call on the attacks of a digimon that they've absorbed."

Dracmon then looked over at Shibumi.

"And if you have the X-Antibody code like you say you do, seeing as how you're responsible for ol' bat ears there turning into an X…"

"Ohhh…Takatomon…scary vampiremon called me a name…"

"…Then if you give Impmon the X-Antibody all of your problems are solved," Dracmon finished, ignoring Guilmon's complaints, feeling strangely for the first time like he was taking an active role in something bigger and grander than his former group had ever been.

Had he looked behind him at Miki, Dracmon would have felt even more certain of this feeling.


	92. 91: The Way of the Rose: Part 1

Rika rubbed one arm nervously as she watched the Monster Maker, Daisy as she undid the bandage that surrounded Renamon's stomach and peaked at the pink, hairless skin that hid underneath; the only sign left on the vulpine digimon in regards to the injuries that she had suffered yesterday. For Rika, seeing this caused her to wince visibly though only Renamon was around to see it and if she did she didn't give any indication that she had. Worry filled Rika as she considered all the possibilities that they might discover once Daisy finally got around to providing an analysis. She wished that she'd hurry up so that they would know for sure if there was anything wrong with Renamon. She hated the 'not knowing', and she hated having to wait until they did know. If there was anything wrong with Renamon, she'd…

Rika put a halt to such thoughts. They wouldn't do her or Renamon any good in the long run, and although such worry was a sign that she cared about her kitsune partner, something that could bring a smile to Renamon's face no matter how many times Rika did something like that, it wasn't the right emotion to have during a situation like this. As a Tamer and as a friend Rika had to keep a clear mind, and stay calm.

_Oh who am I kidding? I'm not feeling easy about this at all._

While Daisy did a visual inspection of Renamon's exposed stomach Rika reflected on what had happened following the end of the meeting that she and her friends had had with Yamaki and Shibumi. Takato had brought up the subject of Impmon's Tamers and the possible need of informing them about the former Demon Lord's condition and for them to be at Hypnos regardless of whether or not things took a turn for the worst. Just because Shibumi had a way to 'cure' Impmon of his injuries and the viral infection that was killing him did not necessarily mean that something couldn't come up, and if Impmon's appearance 'changed' just as Guilmon's had after the introduction of the X-Antibody then they were going to need a reintroduction anyway. To this, Yamaki had acquiesced and sent the goggle-wearing Tamer off, with Kazu and Kenta volunteering to tag along to 'keep him company'.

Jeri was presently staying behind, wanting to keep an eye on Impmon should anything develop and so far Ryo was also staying put, though why the Legendary Tamer felt the need to stick around was beyond her as it was often that he went off on his own doing…well, whatever it is that Ryo does in his spare time as he had the tendency to be busy enough to not always hang around with the Tamers. She couldn't really blame him for his distance as it tended to not just be a lack of desire to hang out with the Tamers, but more in the physical sense as his home was not located in the same area as they were. And then of course there was his constant having to keep an eye on Cyberdramon…

_Still, at least he doesn't live as far away as he did when he beat me at that tournament. Makes it easier for me to hunt him down and challenge him at my leisure,_ thought Rika sardonically, though no smile came to her lips by her attempts to distract herself.

Aiko Nakata was presently being escorted home by Henry and Terriermon, though the former had actually protested somewhat against this, as he had wanted to stick around and keep an eye on Dracmon, or 'Beanie' as his partner called him. Certainly not an unfound reason that was for certain given what had happened the last time the demonic Rookie had been stuck in Hypnos. Granted, he had been at the Champion level then and subsequently much more dangerous but given that he had started a fight in his attempts to break out and injured Henry's father, not to mention admitting to having been involved in a plot to involve the real world in a war with the digital world, some caution concerning their newest 'member' of the Tamer group was a must. And speaking of _Beanie,_ he was presently with Shibumi as he was preparing to upload the X-Antibody file into Impmon.

The other girl, Ayaka, had left to go home. Which was fine from Rika's point of view. She didn't quite understand why that girl had even been there in the first place other then she had been with Kenta and Henry.

Rika repressed the urge to sigh as Daisy had Renamon lie down on the scanning bed, something that the vulpine digimon looked rather uncomfortable with doing (though whether this was because of her tail or because it made her look vulnerable Rika couldn't be sure). Daisy had been called in when Yamaki ordered Shibumi to see to Impmon as quickly as possible due to the limited amount of time that they had to save him. And while no one said it out loud, there was the fact involving Rika's gender, and if anyone was going to analyze her, it was best that it be someone that Rika could be sure _wasn't_ a peeping tom.

Rika grimaced as she folded her arms over her chest, watching the scanning equipment come to life. The motion of her arms had just rubbed her T-shirt over the remnants of the rash that she had left on her stomach; her own fortunes from the sharing of the injury that she and Renamon had taken yesterday. That was something else to be concerned about. Even though the physical she had taken at the hospital yesterday had shown that there was nothing to be concerned about, as she had come back clean but there was always the possibility that the doctors had missed something. They weren't equipped to detect anything that came from the digital world, and digital science outside of Hypnos was still in its infant stages, and as much as Rika _wanted_ to trust the doctors that there was nothing wrong with her, just like she wanted to trust them in their assessment that Renamon had also been fine, she wanted to make sure.

_Even though neither of us have had any problems since we got hit. Not like Impmon has, and none of our evolutions have been affected either. For goodness sake we even_ Mode Changed! _I would have thought that if something was going to come up because of what hit us, we would have known about it long before then._

Even so, as the hum of the scanner began to swing into full gear, Rika couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with that assertion.

* * *

Jeri sipped from a drinking fountain that she had found nearby the room where Shibumi was working in, feeling some measure of relief as the water ran down her parched throat. Sadly, the relief that it gave to her did nothing to take care of the worries that she felt concerning her friend, Impmon. Finishing one last gulp of fresh water Jeri straightened up and frowned at the watering fountain. True, Shibumi had said that he had a way to solve all of Impmon's problems, but even he admitted that he wasn't certain if there was anything that he could do, as he had never applied the X-Antibody to a digimon while it was still alive, and not only that suffering from a virus that was slowly killing it. The only thing that gave Jeri some measure of hope was that the X-Antibody was designed to combat the virus that had infected Impmon, and according to Dracmon would be certain to give him immunity to the virus. However, that held only so long as Impmon had the right data in him to unlock the X-Antibody's full potential. Dracmon had mentioned that there were just some digimon that didn't have the capability to utilize the program even when it had been introduced into their systems, and still plenty of digimon that were deleted by the X-Virus without developing an immunity like other digimon had done. A strange oddity, Dracmon had felt, but that was just how the digital world worked sometimes. Either you evolved with your new situations and surroundings or you died. That was simply the way of things, no matter who you were or what kind of mon you were.

_Kind of sad,_ thought Jeri, thinking about all the digimon that had most likely died because of this X-Virus that had been introduced into the digital world, and all by a being that was supposed to be its leader. That in itself did not sit very well with Jeri. This… _Yggdrasil_ that Dracmon had described was supposed to be in command of the digital world, like a god of some sort, and yet it had gone and committed an act of mass genocide. And for what? For what exactly? Dracmon didn't know. Jeri would have liked to think that there had been a good reason for it as it was in her nature to look on the brighter side of things, including people, but considering her own experiences with a certain cleanup program, the D-Reaper, that had used her to attempt the same thing in the human world while conducting the act in the digital world…she found it very difficult to sympathize with any entity, human or digital, that committed such deeds.

After taking a quick look around to make sure that no one was watching Jeri reached into her dress's pocket and took out the card that she kept within. Embossed on its surface was a crimson and gold armored warrior, four angelic wings, and different colored rings of data surrounding its body and wrists. It was a digimon card that Jeri had come to be very familiar with of late. She had every reason to as well. It had been a far different looking card not too long ago that had been given to her by a certain Legendary Tamer when she had asked to keep it for him, and since then it had proven to be quite a… _unique_ card, one that had the capability to speak at times, and had on one occasion aided her though what it did outside of probably dispersing the Hazard Storm from last week was still something that alluded her. And though she didn't as yet admit it to herself, the card scared her as well. And who wouldn't be? Ryo certainly seemed nervous enough about it when she showed it to him. Which reminded her…she still needed to finish her talk with him about it.

Looking at the card again, wondering if it was going to do anything different today, Jeri found herself wishing that she hadn't sent Calumon up to Hypnos's mess hall. She really felt the need to be comforted right now…

A hand fell on the girl's shoulder, causing her to squeak in surprise and jerk away from its grasp. Spinning around with an expression on her face like a panicky bird, Jeri's eyes fell on Ryo Akiyama as he looked at her, somewhat surprised by her reaction.

"Hey," he began, a smooth smile appearing on his face in an attempt to calm her. "Take it easy. I'm not here to kidnap you or anything…"

Jeri made a face of annoyance at the Legendary Tamer and Ryo rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Right. Bad joke. So what's going on? You looked like you were in deep thought about something."

"I was just thinking about…well… _everything_ ," said Jeri with a shrug.

Ryo gave a dry chuckle. "Yeah. A lot has happened lately. But that's kind of what makes us special isn't it? We get to take care of all the fun stuff."

Jeri looked at Ryo with a contemplative stare before sighing.

"Ryo? How do you do it?"

"Huh?" Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"How do you always keep up a front like that…acting happy, smiling and making jokes all the time? I mean…" Jeri fingered the card that she held in her hands. "…from everything that you've told me, and from what I know about you so far, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that anyone could keep up for very long."

Now it was Ryo's turn to look at Jeri in contemplation. He noticed the card that she held in her hands and he sighed mentally.

_Really shouldn't have let her have that thing,_ the Legendary Tamer thought ruefully to himself. _Milleniummon's far too dangerous as a digimon. Him being a card doesn't seem to take the edge off of him either. Jeri doesn't need this kind of stress…not when she has so much else to think about and live for…_

"Ryo?"

"Hmmm? Oh. Sorry. You just got me thinking, that's all." Ryo ran a hand through his hair and sighed. After a second he looked at Jeri. "Hey. You want to get something to eat? If we're going to talk we should probably do it when we don't have empty stomachs."

A small smile appeared on Jeri's face, one that decidedly looked rather playful, if not relieved. Feeling somewhat playful himself as he felt the need to lighten the situation, he offered the brown haired, puppet loving girl an arm in a gentlemanly fashion. One that Jeri quickly latched onto, her smile growing.

"It's a date," Jeri said in a much happier tone then what she had before.

* * *

"Tell me something Ryo," began Jeri as she raised her chopsticks from the meal that she had bought, ramen noodles dripping slightly, "about that card that you gave me."

Ryo raised an eyebrow.

"There's really not too much left to tell, Jeri. Has…something happened with that card again?"

"No, no," replied Jeri with an earnest shake of her head. "Nothing's happened. Ever since I last slashed it through my digivice it's been just a card, but I can't help but wonder about it. I feel that there's an important reason for it changing the way that it has, but I can't quite put my finger on it. And there's also the fact that…well, you yourself said that you were connected to the digimon on it."

"Not in what I'd call a _good way_ ," said Ryo. "Though I guess that depends on how you define 'good'. From the digital world's perspective it's good because I keep that digimon, or at least Milleniummon in check…keep him from getting out of control, but from my perspective it's not so good. It places undue stress on my dad, and he still doesn't really understand why I have to do this, and that puts a strain on our relationship. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't like the fact that I charge off into danger whenever a Wild One shows up, and I _know_ he's never thrilled whenever I have to head off to the digital world to help Cyberdramon blow off steam whenever he gets too hard to handle."

"That's why you left the last time?" Asked Jeri. "Right before the Parasimon invasion?"

"That was… _one_ of the reasons," said Ryo evasively. "But Cyberdramon's always more manageable after he gets a good fight, and all of his aggression out of his system. It's kinda hard on the digital world though…"

Jeri fingered the _SolMilleniummon_ card that she had placed on the table next to her meal.

"Shouldn't we be talking to the others about this? I mean, if you're worried about this guy…"

"I've always handled him fine on my own before," interrupted Ryo a little bit more harshly then he had intended, and the hurt look that he saw appear in Jeri's eyes made him feel awful for speaking to her that way. The way she looked right now…it made him feel as though he had just kicked a dog for wanting to say 'hi'.

"Sorry," said Ryo. "I get what you're saying. And you did point out all the pros and cons of having help for something like this the last time we talked, but with everything that's going on right now I'd rather not have to add anything more to the plate unless I absolutely have no other choice."

"I hate to point this out to you," said Jeri with a nervous titter to her voice. "But…um…this is already _on_ the plate. And I don't mean the ones that we're eating off of either. The thing is, the others just don't know about what's going on with you…with _us_ right now, and they need to know. You've talked about… _Milleniummon_ like he's been a danger to you and the digital world before, and I saw how you reacted when Dracmon mentioned that story about a 'dark god being defeated by a human'."

In an attempt to more fully grab Ryo's attention towards the seriousness of their situation she reached out and placed one hand on top of his own. Ryo blinked at the brown haired girl in surprise as he looked into her amber colored eyes, which were now steely hard in such a way that the Legendary Tamer was instantly reminded of Rika, only different. It was shortly after that that Ryo realized that her hand was _on his hand,_ and for the first time in his life no clue came to him on what he should do about it or how he should react. Jeri, due to the focus that she was putting into her attempts to make him see reason, did not even notice, and continued to stare in a fierce manner at Ryo, as if by doing so she could work her will on him and get him to open up not only to her but to the other Tamers as well.

Ryo sighed inwardly as he remembered Jeri's use of the word 'we' throughout their conversation. He tended to be something of a loner; not by nature but strictly how he had 'evolved' during his trials in the digital world, most exclusively in his battles against Milleniummon. Outside of the digimon that he fought alongside with him he had been alone for the most part. The _others_ that he knew of, the _Digidestined_ that he had known back in his own home and the Tamers in his new one, they had all fought together and drawn strength from each other. Not him. For some reason he had always had to fight alone. Even when he had been with Ken they had spent most of their adventures together separated and apart and although they had come to be pretty close as friends as well as allies, watching each other's back whenever they were together and bonding in ways that he hadn't been able to when he had discovered the rigged contest (or 'training exercise') there was only so much that they could relate to each other with. Even though he had a fresh start in his new home he still hadn't felt all that close to the Tamers. Sure, there was Rika…without a doubt his closest friend outside of Monodromon was Rika though it was often hard to call what they shared by that name as she tended to be difficult to open up to anybody about anything outside of Renamon and maybe Takato and Henry. And there was the longstanding (and mostly one-sided) rivalry that she shared with him, but other than that time where she had lent him her power to combat the D-Reaper and that one stroll through the park that they had together during that week that Guilmon had been destroyed they hadn't really bonded in the same way that she had with Takato and Henry.

Distance between their respective homes, not to mention his disappearances to the digital world, tended to put quite the crimp on any relationship, be it simple friendship or romance. He didn't need his father to tell him that.

_And that's just my problem,_ thought Ryo as he felt the pressure of Jeri's hand over his. _I never let myself get close to anyone. Even in school I have a hard time fitting in. Sure, I have a crowd of adoring fans both on and off school grounds but it's not the same thing. I_ want _to be_ _able to trust others…to have friends, but where I live there's just no one that I can relate to, and here in Shinjuku…I don't get out here that often unless there's a fight._

_How ironic seeing as how I've got my own mode of transportation…_

"Ryo…I really think you should tell the others. It might be important."

_It might be,_ thought Ryo. _But why do I still wonder about whether or not that's a good idea?_

* * *

"All right,' said Daisy looking up at Rika with a smile. "We're all set here. It looks like your partner's all checked out. Aside from the damage to her fur her data scan came back clean. She's not showing any sign of damage to her data structure."

"So that means that there's nothing to worry about?" Asked Rika.

"Nothing at all on her end, and I suspect the same to be the same for you. But just to make sure…"

"What do I have to do?"

"All I need is your digivice."

Rika blinked.

"That's it?" Asked Rika as she reached behind her and unclipped her blue trimmed digivice from her belt.

"Just that. All I need is to download and analyze the base programs in it. The digivice is based on the old style Arc program that my friends and I came up with back when digimon was just an AI project. It was designed to keep a log of all information that passed between the user and the AI that it was controlling. As the Arcs that you and your friends use are much more advanced and are capable of merging you and your partners together the systems are much more advanced, but I don't see many of the basic operations changing all that much. More expanded program, sure, but in order to merge you two together it would need to conduct a thorough scan of your body each time you biomerged, not to mention creating a miniature, compressed digital field."

"Um…why would my digivice need to do that?"

"Well, when a digital field materializes in the real world it sets up a field of energy that organizes data and matter. Matter is mostly unaffected as the field is set up for data primarily but ever so often you'll have something that gets converted into data, which is why every so often when a fight erupts inside a digital field what looked like ordinary matter before the digital field showed up bursts into data bits when it's destroyed, instead of shattering or coming apart like most of what you'd see. This is especially true for inorganic matter due to their mineral compounds, although in the cases of living creatures, such as that of a human, the natural electromagnetic field that's being emitted from their body can also absorb digital information and become digital…although this is more reliant on how long they happen to be in the digital field.

"Now the digivice operates on the same principle, only it's much more focused towards the goal of converting matter into data, so the properties of the digital field are different; much more precise. The kind that you and your friends encounter with Wild Ones is more like an organic soup. This is more like a skin-tight suit that happens to run through ever part of your body, causing the conversion all at once." The blonde haired woman laughed a little as she looked at Rika's D-Arc as she plugged it into her computer. "Because it operates on such a level with every component of your body, I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some strange things."

"What kind of things?"

"Hmmm? I don't know for sure. Probably visions or something of that sort. Maybe whatever you have on your mind at the time. Kind of like a psychoanalysis of yourself; a nifty little byproduct that we didn't intend, and from your reports one that happens to be quite beneficial. The brain works in funny ways, and it's quite powerful too, if not difficult to understand. Shibumi never said everything about what they could do, but then he claimed that their full functions were beyond even him. He _did_ say that communication was key to its functions just like the digital world, only on a smaller scale. It could connect a digimon and a human, or even people if there was a strong enough connection and they shared certain qualities with each other. Shibumi always compared these things to being like an _Ark_ for kindred pairs like from the biblical myths. It's why we wound up calling them Arcs to begin with."

_Kindred…pairs?_

Rika glanced over at her blue trimmed D-Arc, fixing it with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Uh…yeah. How long is this going to take?"

"Huh? Oh. Well, I've got the file information downloaded from your digivice now so…" Daisy quickly unplugged the digivice from her computer and handed it back to Rika, who took it with a strange expression on her face before clipping it back onto her belt. Daisy just shrugged it off.

"You might as well go get yourself something to eat. The server's are being pretty slow with analyzing anything that comes their way thanks to all the action that's been taking place lately, but if it's not too much trouble I'd like for you and Renamon to stay close by."

"Sure thing," said Rika as she searched for a piece of scrap paper and pencil. Finding what she was looking for she quickly grabbed them and scribbled down the number to her cell phone and gave it to Daisy.

"This is the number that you can reach me at when you're through."

Daisy smiled and nodded. Rika checked her cell phone to make sure that it had a full charge just to be on the safe side. It did.

_Good. No unpleasant surprises there._

* * *

Renamon bowed to Daisy as she closed the door behind them and the two partners began their trek upstairs towards the Hypnos mess hall.

"You seem rather quiet," said Renamon after a moment.

"Aren't I always when I'm thinking?"

Renamon chuckled. "I know. That's why I asked."

"Just thinking about how we dodged a bullet on this one. We could have been a lot worse you know."

"Yes," said Renamon, remembering how Impmon had looked when she had found him. "Yes we could have. But you're not out of the woods yet."

"Doesn't mean that I'm in the woods either. We both took that hit remember? If you're fine, then so am I, right? We both digivolved even further yesterday and we didn't have any trouble holding it so I don't see a reason why I should be worried."

"There is some merit to that assertion, but we don't know anything for certain Rika. But as far as you being worried about it I do sense that you're not concerned on that front…"

"I was a bit more worried about you," said Rika, giving her partner a not so subtle smile, to which Renamon responded in kind.

"Still…" continued Renamon. "That meeting certainly gave you quite a lot to think about, didn't it?"

Rika frowned at that, suddenly becoming all too aware of the subtle weight of her digivice as it bumped up against her hip. Bringing one hand to rest upon its smooth, plastic surface Rika couldn't help but wonder if the universe had been playing a practical joke on her when it gave her the digivice.

"Among other things, yeah, it did. I wonder how Impmon's doing?"

"Shibumi should be uploading the X-Antibody program now. I don't think that he would like it if there were any interruptions until he was finished."

Rika frowned.

"We might as well get something to eat then. We can't head off to the digital world and rescue someone, or get bad news on an empty stomach."

Renamon chuckled lightly. "You never change."

"Do I even need to?" Asked Rika, giving a small, yet strangely uncertain smirk to her fox styled friend. Renamon held Rika's gaze for a moment before shaking her head.

"No Rika. I don't believe that you need to."

The pair continued on in silence for the remainder of their journey to the mess hall. Upon reaching it Rika breathed in through her nose, drinking in heavily the wonderful smell that was emanating from its kitchens. As a top government organization that had undergone some remodeling for the past year, Yamaki had made a point to upgrade the mess hall so as to provide a bit more variety to its meals then what had previously been made available to the employees. Riley had claimed that this was done with the Tamers in mind, though for whatever reasons that the blonde Head of Hypnos had done so, the Mess Hall had become a much favored place for not only the Hypnos employees but also the Tamers during their many treks to the government agency. It had taken Takato and Henry some time to convince her to sample its food, but when they did she had to admit that she should have done so sooner. Begrudgingly though, as her two friends had taken a moment to tease her about how for once they were right. It had also been one of the 'rare' moments that she let them get away with it too.

Smiling fondly at the memory Rika and Renamon made their way through the food aisle, Rika being faintly reminded of her school's cafeteria as she gathered whatever she was hungry for at the moment. She didn't get too much of a selection as she wasn't exactly hungry right now, but she did get enough to be sufficient. A little bit of rice, her favored Miso soup, something that she didn't quite know what it was but knew that it was foreign, and a piece, surprisingly enough, of Guilmon bread.

_That's right,_ thought Rika. _Yamaki set something up with Takato's folks. I remember some Hypnos staff joking about how they were fed on their bread for most of the D-Reaper invasion and that if it weren't for them we would have lost._

_There's probably something to that too,_ thought Rika with a small smile as she picked at the bread slightly and headed towards the entrance into the main cafeteria area, Renamon right behind her with a piece of Guilmon bread of her own. The vulpine digimon had, surprisingly taken a liking to the food, though she claimed that it allowed her the only method that she had remaining to 'defeat' Guilmon. Something of her way of making a joke about their early days, though she never said it out loud to anyone else but her partner.

Rika stepped out into the rather expansive mess hall and scanned the area, looking for a place where she and Renamon could sit. Her eyes lighted on Jeri and Ryo and she took a step towards them, only to hesitate as something caught her eye.

Rika narrowed her eyes and took a closer look. Something seemed…a little _wrong_ here…

_Is she…? Are they…?_

_They are!_

That last thought rang through Rika's mind like a gong as Renamon came to a halt next to her, following Rika's gaze out of curiosity.

Sitting at a nearby lunch table were Ryo and Jeri…with Jeri _holding_ onto _Ryo's hand!_

_What…is_ going _ **…**_ _on_ here?! Rika's mind shouted to itself.


	93. 92: the Way of the Rose: Part 2

_So…here I am again…_

Those thoughts punctuated the silence of exhaustion that had been filling Crusadermon's mind for so long now as she stood in front of the human home. The same home that she had woken up at this world's very morning; the home that belonged to _her._ It was a simple structure, sharing the same box like qualities with the pointed roof as every other house on this street, complete with a warm, bluish color on its exterior, appearing as though it were inviting anyone who stopped by to come inside and rest. At its front, just off to the side of the front door, within a garden bed lay a rose garden. She hadn't gotten that good of a look at it before, as she had been far too battered and exhausted then to see clearly in the night of the human world, but looking at it now, amidst the bright rays of sunlight…Crusadermon wasn't quite sure but it definitely touched a chord within her. A faint memory from her days as a Fresh level digimon…before she had loaded her first digimon.

She didn't quite remember the life that she had lived prior to her 'recruitment' by the digimon god Yggdrasil, except that she had always been a highly aggressive digimon, even at the Fresh level. Nowhere near the savagery she had been when she evolved to Ultimate and then to Mega. She had different priorities then…or at least that was what she liked to think about her younger days. Her _misguided_ days. Digimon of the Virus type were like that; highly aggressive and almost constantly seeking power and control over others. Not in all cases, mind you, but for a large majority of Virus types that was their most basic instinct. That is who she was, and what she still is; a fact that she had fully accepted into her life and allowed to be her guide in battle.

_Except Rosemon wouldn't allow it…would she?_ Thought Crusadermon somewhat bitterly.

Rosemon…she was something else that Crusadermon remembered clearly from her childhood. While it was true that digimon weren't divided into genders (regardless of what their outer form often showed) digimon took on behavioral patterns that were often associated with a gender, and even though the regular law of the digital world was survival of the fittest, there were some digimon that didn't live and evolve with that mindset. Rosemon…a digimon who had been her caretaker, her _mother_ if you would, and to other Fresh level digimon, had been one such digimon.

Standing here in front of this flower bed of Roses, Crusadermon couldn't help but find some small measure of irony in her current situation. It was as if she had come full circle.

_Rosemon had been angry with me when I first loaded a digimon and digivolved to the In-training level. It wasn't so much that I had loaded another digimon, it was that I loaded the data of one of my playmates…_

Her first evolution and her first loading. Now _that_ was a day that she would never forget. She and a Chibomon had wandered farther from home than they were used to. They didn't care at the time, as they were too busy having fun, but then Chibomon had an accident while they were playing. She had been far too rough at the time, and she hadn't quite recognized his cries of pain for what they were until he had burst into data. She had watched his form break apart, awestricken by it until, without thinking, she had leapt towards it and pulled it into herself. There had followed an amazing surge of energy, a flash of light, and then…

_…Shinka…_

It had been at that very moment that Rosemon had arrived, looking for them…

Crusadermon clenched one hand into a fist, her fingers making a sharp click as their metal tips touched her armored palm. This had been the first time she had thought about that day in a long time. It was often that her now former comrade Dynasmon had wondered out loud why she was the way she was. Why a digimon of her savagery and lack of caring for scruples would be made a Royal Knight. Honor, duty, loyalty, and ethics, he had told her were at the heart of what it meant to be a Royal Knight. To her, it was just a way to gain power and have fun while she was at it. Thinking back on it now, she supposed that was her _sin._ Gluttony…greed…that first taste of data and evolution all those years ago had been intoxicating to her, and while Rosemon's admonishments had served to correct her behavior it hadn't lasted long. The need for the data, and anything that could cause her to have that same 'rush', of which battle provided quite a bit of, became more than she and Rosemon's teachings could handle. She became depraved, uncaring about who she hurt just so long as she was able to take what she wanted.

And yet…

_The Way of the Rose still stuck with me,_ thought Crusadermon as she continued to stare at the roses. _Even after I left Rosemon. After she…_

Crusadermon's armor clacked as her fist began to shake uncontrollably with anger. Emotions that she hadn't thought on for so long poured into her in one mad rush, _burning_ her from the inside out and inflaming her wounds. With a cry of rage Crusadermon raised her armored fist and brought it crashing down onto the ground, shockwaves ripping through the earth, causing the glass windows of the house in front of her to shiver before settling down. Crusadermon kneeled down on the ground, her fist still imbedded into the ground while she breathed heavily in and out, trying to get a grip on herself.

_Why?_ She wondered. _Why am I acting like this?_

An image of a bird flitted through her mind, followed by the girl Ayaka as her neck was held in the knight's vice-like grip. The feelings that she could feel pouring into her from the girl, and then the Tamer-child that had come to rescue her. No partner had been with him and yet he stood ready to defy her. And Ayaka again…apologizing… _apologizing…_

_No…_

"C-Crusadermon…?"

Spinning suddenly the Royal Knight's gaze fell on the coppery haired girl that she had just been thinking about, surprise plainly evident in her amber colored eyes. Fear too? Yes…that was there as well. Or perhaps she was mistaking it for uncertainty.

_Not that I would blame her for being afraid of me,_ thought Crusadermon. A part of her wanted to laugh at the notion, at having obtained some measure of power over the girl, but another part of her didn't feel like doing so, and instead stood open and receptive to the young child.

The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, neither one saying a thing, just simply regarding the other until a drop of black blood oozed from one of the cracks in Crusadermon's armor, splashing lightly upon the ground. The silence was broken and Ayaka looked down at the drop of black blood before looking up at Crusadermon, her eyes widening.

"You're hurt!"

Crusadermon blinked beneath her helmet. She hadn't been expecting that. If anything she had expected Ayaka to run off and try to hide.

The surprise didn't end there either. Before Crusadermon could fully comprehend what was going on Ayaka marched up to the Royal Knight and began to push her towards the house.

"All right. Come on. Let's get you inside and get you cleaned up. Mom and Dad aren't home so we won't have to worry about hiding you…"

"Huh? What? Hey! Stop! What're you…?"

* * *

Crusadermon could _not_ believe how low she had sunk.

_Pushed around by a human. Me. A Mega_ and _a Royal Knight. I've defeated enemies stronger than she'll ever be and what happens? I let myself get forced into this house against my will and allow her to pamper me! The indignity!_

Crusadermon grumbled beneath her breath while Ayaka forcefully scrubbed at a spot of dried, black blood that had seeped out through the cracks in her battered armor, striving to get as much of it off as she possibly could. Crusadermonn shifted slightly in the bathtub, growling a little as her metal body creaked and scraped against its surface, its sound muffled just barely by the water that was sitting in it. Ayaka scowled at the pink armored Royal Knight.

"I thought I told you to sit still. You're going to damage the tub if you keep doing that."

"Why should I even listen to you?" Demanded Crusadermon as she turned on the girl angrily. "This wasn't _my_ idea!"

For the first time since she had met the girl, Ayaka didn't show any sign of fear. Instead anger also flared in the young girl's eyes and setting down the wash cloth on the side of the tub she stood back and set her hands on her hips, trying to look intimidating.

"And I suppose that you walking around looking terrible with injuries that might get infected is what _you'd_ call a good idea?"

"Digimon don't get infected by your human diseases," said Crusadermon coldly as she stood up in the tub and towered over Ayaka, imitating her look of intimidation. "And need I point out that what I do is not your problem?"

Ayaka and Crusadermon both glared at each other, neither one willing to give in. After a few seconds of nothing being said between them, Ayaka spoke.

"You're getting water on the floor."

Crusadermon looked to the side, and upon seeing that the tattered remains of her ribbons were indeed doing just that the Royal Knight shifted to the side and pulled them inwards. Picking up the washcloth with a barely audible sigh Ayaka stepped up onto the rim of the bath tub and again brought it down on the dark spot that continued to stain Crusadermon's armor.

"I haven't told the others about you," said Ayaka as she put all of her effort into removing the stain. "And I've made sure that Kenta won't say anything. Kazu didn't get a chance to bring you up either but I know that he or one of the others is going to. You've caused quite a ruckus it seems. Care to tell me why?"

"It's…none of your business."

Ayaka frowned and removed the cloth, wringing it a bit so that the dirty water would come out.

"Maybe it is," Ayaka said. "Or did you forget what happened yesterday in the park?"

"I have not forgotten," said Crusadermon, a touch of bitterness entering her voice now. Before Ayaka could once again apply the washcloth to Crusadermon's armor the Royal Knight caught the girl's wrist and pulled her forwards so that they were eye level with each other.

"Why do you even care?" Crusadermon spat at Ayaka. "You…you're nothing to me. Little more than a sack of organic meat, and such a weak thing at that. Fear clings to you like a smell and you _reek_ of the stench! I _hate_ your kind for its weaknesses! Hate you for the power that you have over us…and that we could even be _born_ from you! Why my master hasn't destroyed you is _beyond_ me! You and your people are the cause of so many ills in our world…a source of disorder that he cannot abide by! I should destroy you here and no…!"

Ayaka, who had been calmly listening to Crusadermon's rant had brought her other hand up to her captured one and released the washcloth that it held, wincing slightly at the pressure that Crusadermon was putting on her wrist before she brought the wet rag down on the stain on Crusadermon's helmet, pushing her head back a bit.

"You're kinda angry about a lot of things aren't you?" Ayaka asked matter-of-factly, still trying to scrub away the stain. Growling once again Crusadermon pushed Ayaka Ayaka away from her, causing the girl to fall to the ground with a sharp yelp, though fortunately not in a way in which she would be hurt. Once again Crusadermon simply stared at Ayaka for a couple seconds, trying to make sense of what was going on before stepping out of the tub. Water ran down her armored body and even though she hated to admit it, she felt strangely better than she did when she first arrived. She looked better too. True, her body still retained its cracks and dents from her battles, but they seemed less important to her now.

"Come on…come on…"

Hearing Ayaka's mutterings Crusadermon turned back towards the girl and saw her fiddling around with the pink and yellow D-Arc that she had received upon becoming a Tamer.

_Oh yes…she had healed me with it that time. From what I can see though she doesn't know how she did it._

_Perhaps it's for the best then…_

"Crusadermon!"

The Royal Knight halted as she felt a hand clamp down on her arm. Ayaka's hand. Her digital gaze turned towards the young girl's once more and their eyes met.

"Crusadermon…" Ayaka whispered, holding up her digivice. "I…we…um…I'm…I'm not really good at this. Look. I know that you don't like the idea of being my partner, and I'll admit that the feeling's mutual. Fact is, I don't really want to be a Tamer, but that's just what we are now. Partners. Your problems are my problems too. Shouldn't we be helping each other?"

_Help each other…_ thought Crusadermon quietly to herself. _Like we Royal Knights did? I don't need anyone. I never have…or have I?_

Pulling her arm free from Ayaka's grasp Crusadermon exited the bathroom of Ayaka's home and calmly left the house. Ayaka watched her go before sagging to the floor and breaking down into quiet sobbing.

* * *

_I can't believe it,_ Rika thought to herself as she angrily slammed her bento into a trash receptacle that lay outside of the Hypnos mess hall. _I can't believe this…Jeri…Ryo…_ Ryo…

Anger flared in Rika's mind and she clenched her hands into fists, trying to get a hold of herself while Renamon materialized next to her, calmly eyeing the red haired girl with her dark, blue colored eyes.

"Rika," began the vixen, "you don't know anything."

"What else am I supposed to make of it Renamon?" Asked Rika bitterly. "You know how she is. She cares more about other people's happiness than she does her own. She knew that I kissed Takato. I told her. It's not going to take two brains like Henry for her to figure out that I'm in love with the stupid Gogglehead! This is just her way of stepping aside for me so that I don't feel like I'm inconveniencing anyone! Who asked her to do that?! To do that to… _him?!_ And Ryo…I can't believe that he's going for this…"

"I don't think that it's all that you're making it out to be Rika," said Renamon calmly, though she was rather perturbed at her partner's out of character reaction to seeing Jeri holding onto Ryo's hand. It was fortunate that Rika had taken this moment to leave the mess hall to cool off, and even more so that their two fellow Tamers hadn't seen them. Chaos would most likely have ensued if that were the case, and while Rika had decidedly warmed to the idea of being friends with Ryo in spite of her rather unjustified 'grudge' against him for beating her in a card game and afterwards not remembering her name, their friendship would most likely have not provided adequate protection for the Legendary Tamer.

Ever since Rika had kissed Takato Renamon had found that her partner's confidence had been shaken considerably when it came to dealing with her friends, most especially when it came to Takato and Jeri. In most cases she was able to keep it under wraps and not let it bother her, but it was clear to Renamon that what had transpired between her and their goggle wearing friend had frightened her, perhaps even more so that it came from her knowing what she knew about how he felt towards Jeri. As a result, her emotional reactions could tend to be far sharper than they otherwise would be, and less controlled. Knowing Jeri and how she felt about her friends, and seeing her holding onto Ryo's hand…

Yes. It had been fortunate that Rika had gotten out of there as soon as she could.

"You got another idea?" Asked Rika, her violet eyes flashing as she turned towards her partner.

"Yes. You could try talking to them, or at least Jeri. It could be that those two are just talking…"

"I'll bet they are," said Rika, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the wall. "She's been awfully chummy with him lately. For the past few months they've barely spoken a word to each other. Mostly that was because of the fact that he lives in an entirely different district with the occasional disappearance into the digital world but now all of a sudden those two feel the need to connect? Give me a break."

"Perhaps he can offer a point of view that she cannot. As I said Rika, you don't know everything, and you're making irrational assumptions based on your own situation with Takato and Jeri. While it does bear some merit I should bring your attention to something that Terriermon told me about how to spell the foreign word 'assume'…"

Rika raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And what did that weenie little rabbit have to say about that? Seems pretty straight forward to me."

"Given your age I don't feel that it's appropriate to go into it right now, though I should have a discussion with Henry at some point about washing Terriermon's mouth out with soap. That rabbit has definitely been in places he otherwise shouldn't have. Especially seeing as how he also has Henry's younger sister to live with…"

Rika huffed lightly and shook her head.

"Either way, I don't want to see either of those two right now. Not until I'm in a better mood. And I _definitely_ don't want Ryo to be there to hear about this! The last thing that I need is to hear him talking about how I _like_ Takato…"

"Do you?"

Rika started at that, looking at the vulpine digimon before glancing away, a bright red blush materializing on her cheeks.

"I…ugh…"

"Rika…do you remember what you said to me after the D-Reaper was defeated? When I and the others were being pulled into the digital portal?"

Rika nodded. That had been one day that she'd never forget. Even though her partner had returned to her, that day was forever burned into her mind when she thought that she would lose Renamon forever. There were many times afterwards that she had feared that it was true and that she and the others partners were destined to remain separate despite the bond that they shared. It had been because of that fear that she, upon seeing her partner being ripped away from her, that she had said the words that she had carried within her for so long.

_"No Renamon, please, I love you!"_

But even then, those words did not accurately describe the bond that she and Renamon shared with each other.

_And the same thing is happening once again…only instead of drawing closer to those involved a rift is forming. It's almost ironic considering that she created a link between herself and Takato._

Renamon watched Rika for a few moments, allowing the girl to collect herself. Rika's eyes narrowed dangerously as she hugged her arms close to herself.

"I hate this stupid link," Rika whispered under her breath, and Renamon fixed her with a questioning expression.

"Rika?"

"I hate the link that I have with Takato," she reiterated, and then she unclipped her digivice from her belt. "I hate this too! Everything that I've done…everything that I've learned…and it all turns out that I…didn't have a choice in it at all? That I didn't get to decide my destiny? That some stupid digignome gave me this because Gogglehead and I are…"

"Rika!"

Rika looked over at Renamon, surprised by her sharp tone of voice as Renamon grabbed her by the shoulders and swung her around so that they were looking into each other's eyes.

"Rika," said Renamon in a much softer tone, but in it Rika could pick up the faint hints of anger that she was just barely holding back…a tone that Rika couldn't remember her ever using towards her. Because of it Rika found herself feeling… _scared_. "Rika…do you really believe that everything you have done has been beyond your ability to choose?"

"I…"

"Rika…you chose to become my partner just as I did you. We chose to remain partners even after all the trouble we went through together. We chose to fight enemies, and as much as we both regret it we both chose to attack Takato and Guilmon. Ever action we make is bound to have repercussions in the future that we cannot predict, and while they may influence our actions we still have the ability to choose. Beelzemon had chosen to fight on the side of Zhuqiaomon and become our enemy before he could learn to become our ally. Takato chose to push WarGrowlmon into becoming Megidramon in response to Beelzemon's actions before he could learn that doing so was wrong. Lucemon made the decision to hunt down and destroy Guilmon for Takato's actions; Noriko chose to help him without knowing what he had done. And when all was said and done, regardless of any connection that you have with Takato; regardless of the dreams that you both had about each other or what Daisy mentioned… _you_ chose to comfort Takato when you did. You chose to give your heart to him to make him whole. You have made your decisions just as everyone did, and the shape of the world we are in today is the result of them. That…is what we have. And maybe it is that…that is our destiny."

_A cruel irony,_ Renamon thought to herself as she relaxed her grip on Rika's shoulders. They held each other's gazes for a moment longer before Rika took a shaky breath before regaining her composure.

"You're right Renamon," Rika said, a small, embarrassed smile appearing on her face. "I shouldn't have freaked out like that. It really wasn't me was it?"

A small smile appeared on the vulpine digimon's face.

"We can all understand what you're going through Rika. This isn't the first time that you have reacted like this. I doubt it will be the last either. But you should at least recognize this for what it is, and then make a decision about what you're going to do about it. Rika…I believe that you should talk to Jeri about this. It might not be what you thought it was. You know her well enough as do I, and I believe that she wouldn't dismiss Takato's feelings just for the sake of yours. This is a delicate matter after all…for everyone involved."

"I know Renamon," said Rika with a nod. "I know. I overreacted, but it still gives me something to think about. The link that I have with Takato…you know it's gotten stronger."

"Yes. I do. I think our recent mode change was more than enough evidence of that."

Rika nodded again and then became silent. Something that caused Renamon to observe her partner warily.

"Rika? What do you intend to decide on doing?"

"I'm…not sure yet. But whatever I do, I want to know that I'm going to have your complete support in it."

"Of course Rika. You know you always have my support in whatever you do."

Rika stood where she was for a moment longer before she spoke again.

"Thank you," she said before turning and heading away from the Hypnos mess hall. Renamon watched her go before she too turned and followed her partner.

* * *

_Ah…_ Jeri's eyes widened and her hand pulled off of Ryo's. Ryo raised an eyebrow at her, not because of the sudden removal of her hand from his, but more due to the fact that he had seen the way she had reacted. Something in her eyes had been…off in some manner. In a way that he didn't fully comprehend. Or was it…?

_It looked as though she had just been shocked or something._

"Jeri? Are you all right?"

"Hm? Oh. It's…it's nothing. I guess that I…um…ahem…could you excuse me for a minute?" Jeri got up and gave Ryo a small bow, picking up the SolMilleniummon card as she did so. "I've got to go use the bathroom."

"Uh…okay." Ryo gave the brown haired girl a slightly disturbed look, wondering what was going through her mind while she dashed out of the room. It seemed rather strange to him. Were he someone else, such as say Kazu, he would have chalked it up as just another one of those strange 'girl things' but he wasn't Kazu, and while he was only fourteen years old he had seen and experienced things that gave him something of a heightened perception of those around him. Not psychic, but he could tell when someone was bothered by something.

_Why do I get the feeling that there's something more going on here than what meets the eye?_

Jeri walked on down to the girl's bathroom, her mind trying to figure out what it was that she had felt. It had been _something_ , that much she knew, but what it was she couldn't figure out. It had felt familiar though. Like that time when she had first slashed the Milleniummon card through her digivice and she had felt connected to all the other Tamers, or when she had that dream that told her that Takato was in danger. She didn't quite understand that either, but she had been right and that had been enough for her, just like it had been enough for her to be able to hear Takato's voice in the digital world despite the distance that had been between them. Only…only what she had just felt hadn't been like any of those events. Similar, yes, but different. It hadn't been quite the same as the feeling of connection that she had shared during those other times. It was more like…

_…Like something was breaking._

Jeri paused at the bathroom door, and almost as though a force was controlling her, she turned her head towards a nearby stairwell. Lowering her hand Jeri headed towards the stairs.

"Is that bathroom closed?" Spoke up Ryo's voice from the entrance to the mess hall, causing Jeri to freeze up in surprise. Turning with an embarrassed blush on her face at having been caught Jeri met the gaze of the Legendary Tamer.

"S-Sorry. I just…I just had a funny feeling and I…I felt like I had to check it out."

Ryo walked up to her and fixed the stairway with a hard look.

"Does it feel important?" Ryo asked her, placing one hand on the door's handle.

"Huh?"

"Does it feel like something that you absolutely have to do?"

Ryo didn't meet Jeri's eyes. He didn't know what to think about this right now. For all he knew whatever it was that Jeri was 'feeling', it might be related to Milleniummon. He couldn't recall any experience that he had that involved this, but something in him felt that it was right to ask that question. If nothing else, Ryo always trusted his gut. He hadn't survived this long by relying on anything else…well, that and Cyberdramon.

_Not to mention a few friends,_ thought Ryo, allowing a small smile to grow on his face.

"Yes," said Jeri, in response to his question. "Yes it does."

Ryo's grin widened before becoming serious. With a quick nod Ryo pushed open the door to the stairs.

"Then you lead, and I'll follow."

* * *

The climb to the top had been exhausting. Why it was that Jeri couldn't have chosen the elevator Ryo would never know. All he knew was that she was driven by a need to go _up_ and until they found precisely what location it was that she felt that she had to go see there was little else to do but keep on walking upwards. Up and up they climbed until they reached the last exit…the one that led out onto the rooftop of Hypnos and the elevator pads that lay on them. Opening up the last of the doors with a loud click Jeri and Ryo stepped out into the open, observing the two helicopters that sat idle in their respective places. A gust of wind blew over them, causing Jeri to push her hair back so as to keep it from getting into her eyes.

"See what you're looking for?" Asked Ryo as he brought out his digivice and activated the compass function to locate Cyberdramon.

_It might be him,_ Ryo thought to himself, though as to what 'him' he was referring to when it came to his digimon partner, he was no longer sure. More and more this was starting to feel like a bad idea. A _very_ bad idea.

_At the very least, Cyberdramon is on the other rooftop. Don't know if that's a good sign or not, but I'm going to take it as one. Hope for the best but I might as well expect the worst, right?_

Jeri shook her head at Ryo's question as she continued to scan the rooftop. Something…something was wrong. She could feel it. This was the place. She knew that much. It _felt_ like it was the place but…

_What am I searching fo…?_

Jeri paused as something caught her eye, or rather her shoe. Moving her aquamarine colored shoe backwards Jeri looked down at the ground, her breath catching in her throat. Kneeling downwards she gently picked up a small, green ribbon from off the ground. A green ribbon that she had given Rika last week after her old, aqua marine one had snapped. Standing back up Jeri held the ribbon in her hand before looking out towards the cities horizon, confusion beginning to race its way through her mind.

_Rika…_ was all Jeri thought as the wind blew at her, howling like a lonely wolf.


	94. 93: the Way of the Rose: Part 3

A few minutes earlier…

Rika breathed in the scent of fresh air from her home city as she stepped out onto the rooftop of the Hypnos government building. Coming to a halt at the edge of a railing Rika inhaled again as she surveyed the city, her eyes set in deep contemplation. Renamon materialized out of thin air behind her, regarding the young girl with blue, questioning eyes.

"Rika?" Spoke up the vulpine digimon softly, catching the red haired Tamer's attention. Pulling away from the railing Rika reached behind her and unclipped her blue trimmed D-Arc from her belt.

"We can choose our own destinies, right Renamon?"

"Yes," Renamon said cautiously as she tried to figure out what was going through Rika's mind right now. Normally the bond they shared that enabled the two of them to communicate was only available when one of them sent out an invitation to speak on the mental plain. There were some occasions where the vixen was able to pick up some of Rika's thoughts when she got distracted and let them seep through, but not this time. This time Rika was being quite careful about making sure that didn't happen while she sorted through her thoughts.

"Rika…why are we up here?"

Rika turned her gaze over to the nearby helipad with its helicopter sitting, ready and waiting to be flown into the open air.

_It's been a while since I was last up here,_ thought Rika to herself as she clutched onto her digivice. _Last time it was just me and Gogglehead after we had that encounter with BlackGuilmon. I remember thinking that Jeri should have been the one to be there for him, but since she wasn't I had to make do._

Rika raised her D-Arc, cupping it gently between her two hands as her fingers caressed its smooth, familiar edges and curves while silently remembering the feel of Takato's hand in her own. Warmth flowed through her as a gust of wind blew over her, forcing the bangs of her hair to tickle her face. She paid them no mind however and let them play over her skin as she looked down at her D-Arc. What she had in mind…she wanted to believe that it was the right thing to do, that it was for the best. The best for Takato; the best for Jeri. And yet…no. Rika shook her mind of such thoughts. This was for the best. This was the right thing to do. Her friendship with Takato and Jeri demanded that she do no less for either of them.

_What does it matter how I feel, when it comes to the happiness of two of my best friends? I just want Jeri to be happy…to not have to worry about being alone. And I don't want Takato worrying about hurting anyone either. Him and his stupid heart…it's too big for his own good sometimes._

Rika felt that there was a tinge of selfishness to what she was planning on doing, as it would, if it worked out to letter perfection, effectively take the situation out of her hands, but if that was what it took to make her two friends happy…to keep them from breaking apart as she feared that she was doing…than that was precisely what she was going to do.

_Kinda ironic in a way,_ thought Rika. _I used to wear a broken hearted t-shirt. Even though that heart's been fixed that's still what I did anyway. Not this time though. I'm not going to be the one to break those two apart. I won't._

A soft glow began to emerge from the screen of Rika's digivice and the crimson haired girl glanced over at Renamon, seeking some measure of support and reassurance from her friend and partner. The vulpine digimon met her gaze questioningly, her eyes wanting to know what Rika was planning, but upon seeing the look in the young girl's violet colored eyes Renamon gave her a nod of assurance to let her know that no matter what her decision was, whatever choices she made, she would support her. For a moment Rika felt a doubt burn in her. Was she really doing the right thing? And not telling anything to Renamon until they were biomerged as Sakuyamon…what would she think of that? Especially given Rika's current situation.

No…no…this was the right thing to do. Renamon would understand…wouldn't she?

_But I've never held anything back from Renamon before…_ thought Rika distantly. The light from her digivice faded back a bit, and Renamon then placed a hand on Rika's arm. Turning Rika stared into the eyes of her partner, once again seeking confirmation in those azure depths. Opening her mind Rika reached out to her friend.

_"Rika? What are you preparing to do?"_

_"…I'm going to give Jeri her chance."_

_"You're thinking about cutting off your bond with Takato aren't you?"_

_"Gogglehead already told me that we're just friends. If nothing else I'd rather that things stay that way and that this link doesn't get in his way in the future."_

_"Rika…I'm not sure that I can condone this action. I have seen the beauty that comes from what you feel for Takato as well as the strength that runs along its depths. You've seen it as well. Are you truly willing to set it aside?"_

_"Renamon…"_ Rika felt as though her heart on the inside was cracking, matching the image of the heart on her own shirt. Nonetheless she pressed on. _"Yeah. I'm sure."_

Renamon narrowed her eyes before giving her partner's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

_"Very well. If you feel this strongly about it, then I'll stand by your side no matter what happens. But I must ask you to reconsider. You know your friends wouldn't want you to do this. Not even for their sakes."_

_"And that's why I'm doing it. But…thank you Renamon. Thank you for being there for me."_

_"Always Rika. Always."_

The glow coming from Rika's digivice, which had grown dim and flickered, now came back in even greater strength. A ferocious, white light burst out from the D-Arc as Rika brought it close to her chest, cascading over them and merging the two friends together. Within seconds the proud, triumphant form of Sakuyamon emerged from her sphere of data, slashing it apart with her bronze vajra staff as her golden armor twinkled in the sun.

"All right," said Sakuyamon in both Rika and Renamon's voices. "Let's get this over with."

And with that Sakuyamon leapt off the roof and took to the air, wind blowing at her hair, neither of them noticing the green hair band that was falling to the rooftop that they had left, blown off as it was by Rika's transformation.

* * *

Present time…

"Are you sure that they went this way Cyberdramon?" Ryo asked his partner as he scanned the area around him from his position on the Vaccine Ultimate's shoulder. The cyborg dragon merely grunted in affirmation before following up his response gruffly.

"I saw them travel this way. There is no mistaking Sakuyamon…"

"Not even a Wild One?"

Cyberdramon growled and gave Ryo a look that the Legendary Tamer took to mean 'look at who you're talking to'.

"I'm certain that if that were the case, you would have known."

Ryo nodded before turning away.

"Well sometimes she's wild enough that it's hard to tell the difference…"

"If that was your attempt at a pun it was poorly delivered," growled the Ultimate warrior.

"So it was," said Ryo, his voice losing the humor that he had attempted to put into it. Ryo turned to Jeri, who was presently nestled in Cyberdramon's arms, holding onto Ryo's cell phone. She had insisted on coming with him when he had opted to head out and look for their fellow Tamer. It still felt rather odd to him that Jeri was so certain that Rika had gone off to do something that didn't make her comfortable. She didn't know what it was, or if she did she wasn't being very forthcoming with it (something of an irony Ryo felt considering their earlier conversation), but in either case she had a sense that something was off and that Rika was at the center of it all. Like it or not, she had told Ryo, she was tagging along.

"Any luck?" Asked Ryo.

Jeri shook her head sadly as she hung up the boy's cell phone. Ryo glanced at the small, green ribbon that Jeri had tied around one finger to make sure that she didn't lose it during their flight together.

"Rika's not answering," Jeri said.

"Well, she might still be biomerged," supplied Ryo with a sympathetic look on his face. "I know that it can be hard answering a call, or even picking up a signal in that state. My dad tried to call me once when Cyberdramon and I were in the middle of a fight…"

"The constant ringing of a music tone was annoying," growled Cyberdramon angrily. "Not to mention distracting."

"Yeah, I remember. Dad wasn't too thrilled about it either when I told him what happened."

"She might not want to answer," said Jeri with a frown.

"Jeri? I know that I already asked you this, but why are you so certain about this? I mean, I know Rika can be a little hard to deal with, especially when she gets angry, but I don't think that she'd do anything stupid. Crazy, but not stupid."

"I don't know. It's…just a feeling that I have, and the more I think about it the more I think I know what's going on with her." Jeri stared at the cell phone in her hands for a moment before speaking again. "I just hope that Takato gets my message in time when he gets to Impmon's house."

Ryo raised an eyebrow at that, sensing that there was more to it than just letting the venerable, and unofficial leader of the Tamers know about the situation. Call it gut instinct again, but Ryo was certain that Jeri knew more than what she was letting on.

_Why? After all that…after everything that she said to me about trusting others…why isn't she filling me in on what's going on? A feeling is one thing, but if she knows what's going on behind it she should be letting me know instead of leaving me in the dark. It's not like her._

_But then…maybe she has a good reason for not telling me. It's not easy telling others something personal. I know that better than anyone and my reasons for trusting others or not trusting them are probably different from Jeri's. And after all, she did just say that she's not sure but she's starting to think that she knows what's going on. I should trust her at least this far._

Still…Ryo had to admit to himself that there was a small part of him that was disappointed. For now though he shrugged the thought aside and focused on the present, deciding that it was best to wait until either Jeri felt that she could tell him or until the situation became dire enough where he had to intervene more directly.

For now.

* * *

_It's way too quiet here,_ thought Takato as he subtly glanced back and forth between his two friends, Kazu and Kenta. _Usually Kazu is talking none-stop and cracking bad jokes, usually at Kenta's expense but he hasn't said a word ever since we left Hypnos. Kenta I can understand since he's got a lot to think about right now…considering what happened between him and Ayaka…_

Takato sighed, reflecting on the similarities in his circumstances between himself and Kenta. Both of them caught in a web that was bigger than either of them.

_I think out of all of us Guilmon's the only one who doesn't have something on his mind,_ thought Takato as he turned his gaze over to his crimson scaled partner as he plodded along in front of them, busily sniffing the air. He had long since given up on trying to get MarineAngemon and Guardromon, the former of whom was presently flying next to Kenta while the latter was trodding noisily behind the small party, to play with him. It was ironic in a way. Guilmon had died, come back to life, lacked all of his memories until fairly recently, had been the target of multiple Royal Knight attacks and a bizarre program that was hunting the digital hazard that had been a part of his data, and yet somehow he had maintained his cheerful disposition, never losing his smile and always following Takato and fighting by his side without question. Guilmon had told him that he felt deep inside of him that it was all right to trust Takato and the others, but every now and then the goggle wearing Tamer had to wonder about him and why he stayed so cheerful. No one else he knew seemed to be that way.

_Even Terriermon's charm sounds forced,_ thought Takato. _It's more like he's trying to get Henry to crack a smile…or at least get some kind of reaction out of him. He's been pretty down lately, ever since Noriko disappeared back into the digital world._

Before Takato knew it the thought brought his mind to the woman who had sat in at their meeting, Aiko Nakata, and he couldn't help but feel guilty about his own involvement in what had happened to her daughter, however indirect it was; from the unleashing of the Hazard in the digital world to Lucemon's appearance in the real world. He knew that Rika wouldn't be happy with him for thinking like that...especially in such a circular way…

Takato's eyes softened at the thought of the fiery haired Tamer that was his friend.

_Rika…_

"AAAGGGHHH!"

Bewildered, Takato, Kenta, Guilmon, MarineAngemon, and Guardromon both blinked at Kazu as he suddenly gripped the sides of his head and let loose a frustrated scream. Guardromon swiveled his body around, checking all visuals to see what could possibly be the cause of his partner's sudden duress.

"I do not detect the presence of any hostile digimon in the vicinity."

"Thanks Guardromon," grumbled Kazu irritably as he lowered his hands back down to his waist. "I'm pretty sure that we would have noticed if a digimon was attacking me."

"Well you were screaming…"

"Shouting, Guardromon. I was shouting…"

As one, Takato, Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Guilmon all tilted their heads in confusion at him.

"And why were you shouting?" Asked Kenta. "I'm pretty sure that they heard you all the way in Kyushu."

"He does have a point there Kazu," said Takato. "That was kind of unexpected. Are you okay?"

"Ahhh…I'm just thinking about some of the things that went on earlier today. Got my favorite shirt torn and I lost my cards in that fight with Crusadermon…"

"You lost your cards?" Takato raised an eyebrow at the visor wearing Tamer in surprise. That had been one little tidbit that Kazu had left out during his brief explanation of events to Yamaki.

"Guardromon and I were having a little bit of…ah…turbulence when we were fighting Crusadermon. I had my cards out at the time and…well…"

"Um…what exactly do you mean by… _turbulence?"_

"We were flying over the city when Crusadermon attacked us," said Guardromon, his response causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.

"Man…it's a good thing that Beelzemon showed up when he did," said Takato while next to him a troubled look fell over Kenta's face.

"Yeah, well, I don't know about that. Crusadermon looked pretty beat up when Guardromon and I saw her, and Guardromon took her out after he digivolved to Ultimate. It's not really the cards that bug me though…"

"That's a surprise," said Kenta. "I know that I'd be pretty upset if I lost my entire deck in one shot like that."

Kazu waved a dismissive hand but he chuckled a little.

"Okay, yeah. I am more than a little upset by that, but there're other things that came up in that fight that's got me thinking about the whole thing. And besides, Crusadermon's still out there…"

"Who still represents a notable danger to the public," threw in Guardromon.

"Not from the condition she was in," said Kazu with a shake of his head. "Plus, like I said, some things came up in that fight that's got me thinking. I didn't bring it up at the meeting because we had other stuff to talk about, and then Impmon got brought in, but now that we've got a few minutes here…" Kazu turned towards his friends. "Guys…I think Crusadermon has a partner."

Takato looked flabbergasted while Kenta didn't look at all that surprised though he wasn't noticed.

"Huh-wha…? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure Chumly," said Kazu. "She actually asked me some questions on what it took to break a bond between a Tamer and their partner, and there was something in her conversation with Beelzemon when they were fighting that sounded like she was partnered with someone. Thing is…I don't know who."

Takato raised one hand to his chin in a manner that was reminiscent of their friend Henry.

"Man…if that's true…can you imagine what must be going through her mind?"

"She must be pretty upset about it," said Guilmon with a slight frown on his face. "When I fought her she reminded me a little of Rika back when we met her in that alley…"

"You mean like a real battle freak, right?" Asked Kazu, and Guilmon gave a vigorous nod.

"Yeah, only meaner."

Kazu chuckled.

"Meaner than Rika? Man, that'd take some doing. She's not exactly the least prickly person I've ever met. Did I ever tell you that she kicked me onc…oh, wait. I forgot that I wasn't supposed to talk about that."

"Rika's a lot nicer than she lets on Kazu," said Takato, frowning slightly at his visor wearing friend. "A lot more warm hearted too even if she doesn't show it a whole lot. It's just she expresses herself differently, and believes in being honest with people."

"Blunt too," commented Kazu in an unbelieving tone. "But she and I never really got along all that well anyway. Kind of a shame really seeing as how she's pretty looking and I'm so rugged and handsome…"

"Um…yeah, sure. Whatever you say Kazu," laughed Takato.

"Yeah. Whatever I say. At the very least I can believe you about Rika being nicer than she shows. I don't get it. How come she always shows her softer side to you, Renamon, and Henry?"

"Ah! Uh…um…well…"

While Takato rubbed the back of his head nervously and Kazu continued to barrage him with questions Kenta had sunk into a melancholy mood, his thoughts moving towards his earlier encounter with Crusadermon and Ayaka. He realized that it was his responsibility to tell his friends about Crusadermon and Ayaka, but he had promised not to say anything about it until Ayaka was ready. A difficult task to be sure as hesitation was most certain to result in Crusadermon being destroyed and Ayaka being hurt as a result of that happening. He remembered how Jeri had reacted when Leomon had been deleted all too clearly, and there were times where he felt that he could still hear her horrified scream at night. It was not something that he liked to remember and he was sure that Jeri didn't like remembering it either but there it was; in his lap and he had the chance to do something about it. He knew that he didn't want to see Ayaka get hurt for reasons that had nothing to do with her having kissed him. It was his duty as a Tamer after all, and ever since Guilmon had entered his life, eventually being followed by MarineAngemon she had become friendlier towards him. Where before she had been somewhat hostile towards him and his friends she had come to find them to be a tolerable, even likeable group.

Over the course of the day though, Kenta couldn't help but wonder if it was because of the digimon that had become the actual source of her hanging out with the Tamers or if it was because she had actually found a liking for them. Inner doubts aside though, Kenta knew that if he could help it he wouldn't allow any harm to befall on Ayaka.

But what was he supposed to do? Should he tell his friends about her situation with Crusadermon? Or should he respect her wishes and hold back? The question was an important one as it would decide the fate of two partners.

Should he? Or shouldn't he?

To tell…or not to tell?

_Sink or swim…but no matter how I look at it I'm going to be messing up somehow. Either I'm betraying Ayaka's trust in me or I stand by and run the risk of her getting hurt like Jeri was._

On further introspection however, upon remembering Jeri's reaction to the loss of Leomon Kenta found that he could not just sit by and let things run their course. Not if he was supposed to be a real friend.

"Hey! Kenta! Hellooo! Chumly! Hey! I'm talking to ya!"

"I don't think he can hear you Kazu…"

"Huh?" Kenta blinked, somewhat startled as he was shaken out of his thoughts.

"It's about time that you finally decided to rejoin us in reality bud," said Kazu, shaking his head at the bespectacled Tamer. "You looked like you were really out there for a moment. What's up?"

"He's probably got a lot on his mind right now," said Takato, earning him a suspicious look from Kazu.

"And how would you know that?" Asked the visor wearing boy as he poked one finger into Takato's chest. Takato, flummoxed by how this conversation was turning, and how Kazu had been turning practically _all_ of their conversations around on him lately immediately began to stammer and stutter as he strove to find a response that would satisfy the boy without giving away what he knew about Kenta's situation.

"Ah…well…ahm…that is…you see…"

"Guys?" Began Kenta uncertainly.

"You're not exactly letting me see anything Chumly…unless you're referring to seeing your face get all red and sweaty. It's like you're turning into Guilmon…"

"Nope," Guilmon chirped to Kazu. "Takatomon already told me that he's not digivolving to me."

"Kind of hard to tell sometimes…"

"Most unusual," commented Guardromon, joining in on the conversation. "Do human faces always look like they're about to explode like this?"

"Guys?" Kenta asked again, only to be drowned out by Kazu as he responded to Guardromon's question.

"Well…usually when I rail on him about a girl he likes. Seriously Chumly; if you keep this up you're going to burst a blood vessel before you even get the chance to…"

"Kazu!" Exclaimed Kenta angrily, surprising all of his friends. The smaller boy stood there, hands clenched into fists and breathing heavily.

"Whoa…dude. Are you okay?"

Kenta took a deep, calming breath and adjusted his glasses before answering.

"You know…it would be kinda nice for once if you paid attention to what's going on around you."

"I was!" Exclaimed Kazu indignantly. "I was also having a conversation with Chumly here…"

"And we were supposed to be talking about Crusadermon," huffed Kenta, getting a concerned look from MarineAngemon as he floated on over to him.

"Puhpuhpuh?" The tiny fairy digimon questioned. Kenta nodded to him reassuringly before turning back to Kazu and Takato.

"Is that what you were thinking about?" Asked Kazu as he folded his arms behind his head. "Well…okay. Yeah. It probably would be a good idea if we put our heads together on this one. It definitely looked like Crusadermon was freaking out over it. If she's got a digimon partner I wonder if we can get her on our side or something. I wonder if she's partnered to anyone we know…"

"She's partnered to Ayaka," said Kenta quickly before he lost his nerve. Kazu, in surprise missed his footing and nearly stumbled to the ground.

"What?!" Exclaimed Kazu as the group came to a halt. "Are you kidding me?!"

Takato raised his eyebrows in surprise for a moment before the memory of his conversation with Kenta outside of Hypnos came to him.

"Oh yeah. I had nearly forgotten about that…"

"Hold on," began Kazu, flummoxed. "He already told you this?"

"Yeah…"

"And you forgot?" Asked Kenta.

"Well we've had so much going on today that I haven't really been able to keep track of it all. I mean, I only remembered that Ayaka kissed you after you…"

"She _what?!"_ Kazu exclaimed as yet another shock was delivered to his system, threatening him with overload. The boys were already garnering a number of looks due to the presence of their digimon partners, but now Kazu was attracting even more attention.

_Just what we needed on our way to see Impmon's Tamers,_ thought Takato.

"Um…whoops…"

"Ohhh…thanks a lot Takato…"

"Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! It just sort of slipped out!"

"You do that a lot Takatomon," said Guilmon as he poked at the frozen stiff Kazu, who was presently staring at his friends, completely and totally shocked beyond all recall. "It's a good thing Rika wasn't here for you to make her all red just like last time. She'd probably digivolve into an angrymon then."

"Yeah…wait. What?" Now it was Kenta's turn to be surprised, whilst in the meantime a shudder passed through Kazu's body; a sign that his brain wouldn't be able to take much more surprises than it already had.

"Ugh," Takato groaned. "Guilmon…"

"Make…her…all…red?" Kenta tilted his head to one side. "Rika?" Kenta pondered this unusual development before shaking his head to dispel the thought and return to the present topic of conversation. Given the way Kazu looked as though he were ready to pass out at any moment Kenta felt that it would be a good idea. "Right. Anyway…yeah. Ayaka and Crusadermon are partners now…"

"K-Kissed?" Kazu whispered as he began to come back to reality. "Kissed… _Kenta?"_

"I have a feeling this is going to take a while," said Takato.

* * *

The three boys and three digimon came to a halt in front of an apartment complex. Kazu, having now forgotten about Crusadermon and his loss of cards in the face of the revelation of Kenta having been kissed by a girl before he did (something that the brown haired boy associated with a sign of the apocalypse) continued to rant on about the improbability of the whole thing. Kenta had actually lost his temper with him once as he had wanted to steer the conversation back towards what to do about Crusadermon, but as Kazu had completely ignored him and continued to rail onwards about Kenta's first kiss the boy had promptly given up and was now waiting for him to get it out of his system so that they could get back to talking like normal people…or at least as close to normal as Kazu would allow. Takato for the most part only listened peripherally. Like Kenta he too had decided that it was best for Kazu to just get it all out of his system before resuming their original conversation. While he waited for this he was contemplating what to do about Crusadermon.

As evidenced by her attack on Kazu it was clear that she remained something of a threat, and the fact that she hadn't returned to the digital world was definitely cause for concern. A high class Mega level digimon was not something to be taken lightly, especially considering the amount of damage that she did to the Tamers during the fight from yesterday. Even injured she still remained dangerous.

_But she's a partner digimon now. That's gotta count for something right? If we can find her, talk to her, then maybe we can get her to see that she doesn't have to fight us. It had been pretty hard when Henry and I were trying to reason with Rika, but thanks to Renamon she joined our side and became one of my closest friends. How hard can it be?_

_Well…now that I mention it…ahhh who am I kidding? As scary as Rika was in those early days, and as frightening as she can be now even if she's nicer about it, there's a big difference between her and Crusadermon. Crusadermon serves some digital entity that we know next to nothing about and she can probably bench press this apartment complex…one handed without breaking a sweat. And if what I remember of the Devas is any example I doubt that Crusadermon will be willing to throw down her sword to join our side all that easily. She's a fighter…nothing like Lopmon and she's pretty nice and respectable for a Deva. She didn't much like to fight and Crusadermon…does._

_Yamaki's going to blow a gasket when he hears about this one._

Takato paused as he felt a strange sense of uneasiness settle over him. It wasn't new to him…not exactly, but rather it was something that he had begun feeling ever since Kazu had begun ranting on about Kenta and Ayaka. At first he had merely brushed it off, thinking it had something to do with his accidently spilling the information to Kazu but the more he thought about it and the more he felt it, the more he was starting to think that such was not the case. True, the air held a little bit of tension but nowhere near enough for Takato to feel this kind of uneasiness. To him, it was as though he were watching a storm approaching, and all he could do was stand and wait for it to pass him by, and hopefully leave him untouched.

_But that's not quite it though,_ thought Takato. _This isn't exactly the calm before the storm. It's more like the curse of expectation, like when Ms. Asagi hands out a test that I'm not prepared for. Only it's not quite that either…_

Takato raised one hand to his shirt and clutched at it absently.

_It almost feels like I'm losing something and I don't know what it is yet._

"Takatomon? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah. I guess I'm fine Guilmon."

"That's good," said the crimson scaled dinosaur, ignoring the uncertain tone in Takato's words. "I was just wondering if it was just me or not, because I feel kind of weird."

"Um…like what?" Asked Takato, raising an eyebrow at his partner and wondering at how the bond that they shared manifested in strange ways at times.

_Could what I'm feeling be coming from Guilmon?_

Except that didn't quite fit either. Different Guilmon may look and at times act now due to his partial lack of memories, but he had merged with him enough times, both before and after his death and resurrection to know that whatever it was that he was feeling it was not coming from the dinosaur. This wasn't just synchronizing emotions and physical feelings…it was something else. It was as if whatever he was feeling was coming from another direction…

_But where?_

"Hey! Chumly! Guilmon!" Called out Kazu as he stepped up to the door of the apartment building. "You guy's growing roots? C'mon! Ai and Mako don't have all day you know."

"Ah! Uh…right." Takato stepped forward with Guilmon while Guardromon took up station outside the building. As the three Tamers, plus MarineAngemon and Guilkmon made their way into the building Takato couldn't shake off the strange feeling that he had, and it disturbed him during the entire trip through the apartment.

* * *

Ai and Mako looked at the three Tamers and two digimon with wide eyes while their mother watched them with a calm, respectful smile on her face.

"And that's the story ma'am,' said Takato. "Impmon's been hurt and we thought that it would be a good idea to let his tamers know about it."

Takato looked at the face of the woman who was the mother of Ai and Mako. She appeared plain looking, with light brown hair tied back in a bun, but there was a kind light in her gray colored eyes as she looked back at him in turn. He had met her once before when he had escorted the twin's home following the final battle with the D-Reaper, something that had been an adventure in itself once he found out that Impmon had flown his partners to the site of victory after revealing himself to the children's parents, and that their home was essentially 'guardian-less' until the adults could return, making him their unofficial babysitter during that duration. Not that it had lasted much longer than a few hours thanks to Hypnos putting the word out rapidly (not to mention the twin's parents turning around despite the danger that doing so presented to themselves), but it had been an interesting enough time for everyone involved to leave a pretty big impression. Ai and Mako's mother and father, he recalled, had a special reason to remember him because of this.

_In a way, it was because of them that we were able to all stay together,_ thought Takato, smiling mentally at the memory. _At first everyone went their own ways so that they could sort themselves out, but in the end everyone wound up going to Ai and Mako's home, following their digivices._

Takato remembered that day well, and even though they were all missing their partners, being together reminded them that their shared experiences gave them all the more reason to stay together as friends and as a group, and that they didn't need the digimon or battles to keep that aspect alive. Takato reflected on how he hadn't really made it a point to visit since then. Anything he knew about the twins, which wasn't really much to begin with (excluding the time when they showed him their family album after he brought them home), came from Impmon.

Takato wondered how their family took to Impmon's presence and the affect that he had on their lives in the present, and eventually would in the future if they decided to take a greater part in Tamer battles.

"I see," said the woman with a slight nod of her head, though now a small frown appeared on her face. "Is Impmon all right?"

"Um…actually that's kind of a tricky question…"

"We've got someone we know who's pretty good with digimon checking him out," answered Kazu. "But to be honest, it doesn't really look to good. He got hurt pretty bad."

Takato saw the hurt and worried expressions that shot up on Ai and Mako's faces, and immediately they were up on their feet and running towards the three, older Tamers, speaking frantically.

"Impmon's hurt?!"

"Will he be all right?"

"He's not dying is he?"

"Um…no!" Said Takato, waving his hands in front of him in an attempt to placate the twins. "He's just…uh…"

"Way to be tact Kazu," muttered Kenta beneath his breath.

Ai turned her face towards her mother, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Mom? Can we go see Impmon? Please? He needs us…"

Ai and Mako's mother looked over at the older Tamers.

"Would it be all right with your… _employer_ …if we arrived there?"

To a man the boys shrugged.

"I don't see why not. He didn't raise any objections when we told him that we were coming here."

"I see." The woman contemplated for a moment. "All right children. Go get your coats."

With a quick, grateful nod Ai and Mako ran out of the room in search of their coats. Their mother watched them go for a moment before turning back to Takato, who had a troubled expression on his face.

"Is everything all right Takato?"

Not noticing the looks that his friends were giving him Takato's head jerked up in surprise, snapping him out of his reverie before he shook his head.

"No. I'm just…thinking about some things. That's all."

"I see. Oh. Before I forget, I just remembered to tell you that one of your friends…a girl named Jeri Katou, called asking if you had arrived yet. She wanted to pass on a message to you."

Takato raised his eyebrows. The troubled feeling that was in him sent out some ripples in his heart as though something had disturbed the waters that it dwelled beneath. For an instant, a brief instant, Takato felt as though something were coming into focus for him but it slipped through his fingers before he could latch onto it.

"What's up? Is she okay?"

"She sounded fine over the phone," said the woman, looking over her shoulder to check up on the progress of her children. "But she did say for you to give your friend Rika a call."

"Did she say anything else?" Asked Takato, somewhat befuddled by the message.

"No, that was all. Although she did sound somewhat anxious to give me the message."

"Oh." Takato frowned and placed one hand in his pocket, wondering if he had any yen handy for a payphone. Ai and Mako's mother noticed this and chuckled lightly.

"You don't have to do that. You can use the home phone if you want. It may have been a while since you were last here but I think I can trust you around here."

Takato gave the woman a thankful smile.

"Thank you Mrs. Hirayama," said Takato with a respectful bow.

* * *

Takato held the apartment's phone to his ear, listening to the buzzing as the phone confirmed that the other line was receiving the call. Takato wondered why it was that Jeri wanted him to call Rika. Not that he didn't want to, but it was a rather strange request; one that he couldn't call up Jeri and ask about since she didn't have a cell phone and he had no idea what number to dial her at. Plus they were on a rather short time schedule as Ai and Mako were just about ready to leave and even though their mother had told him that she trusted him about her home he wasn't about to take longer than he should. He was after all, a guest in another person's home.

Still, it was unusual, and it gnawed at him in much the same way that Kazu and Kenta's questioning looks did until he was able to convince them to give him some privacy. Even so, he had to admit that it had nothing on the strange feeling of discomfort that continued to pervade him. In fact, it only made it worse.

The sound of a click interrupted Takato's thoughts.

_"Hey…"_

"Hey! Rika! It's Takato! Listen, Jeri called and she…"

_"…this is Rika,"_ continued the voice on the other end, running over Takato's words as though he wasn't there. Takato's shoulders sagged as he realized that he had only picked up her cell phone's voice mail.

_"…I'm not available right now, so if there's something important going on leave a message. If you're Ryo, hang up. Thanks."_

_Beep!_

"Rika! This is…it's Takato. I'm just calling you because…well…I got a weird message from Jeri earlier telling me that I should give you a call and I guess I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

Takato paused and licked his lips, wondering if he should say anything else. He felt as though he _should_ say something else, but the what and how he didn't know.

A second later though he got an answer.

"I've been getting a funny feeling today too. Something weird. I know that you'd probably say something like how I shouldn't pay attention to strange feelings but this…I don't know. It's really been bugging me lately. I don't know why I'm talking about this over a voice mail but…" Takato drifted a bit, searching for words, any words that wouldn't sound corny to the self proclaimed Digimon Queen. "…Just be careful wherever you are Rika. I hope you and Renamon are okay and joking about how I shouldn't worry so much. I'll see you guys when I get back to Hypnos. B…"

Takato blinked as the sound of a beep signaled that his call had been cut off by the other end, apparently having reached the limit of the messaging service. Heaving a sigh and giving a small smile Takato hung up the phone with a silent click before turning and finding Kazu, Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Guilmon standing at the room's entrance, Kazu casually leaning against the door frame with his arms folded over his chest and a contemplative look on his face.

"Everything all right between you two?" Kazu asked, his voice for once lacking his usual upbeat and nigh constant sarcastic tone that was his trademark. He sounded serious and genuinely concerned about his friend. Takato gave his visor wearing friend a reassuring smile.

"Well she hasn't sent Renamon after me so I guess we're doing all right," Takato joked before his own face became serious. That comment he realized wasn't exactly fair to his two friends.

"In that case we'd better get going. Mrs. Hiramaya is waiting for us to go."

Takato nodded and quickly moved to join his friends.

* * *

Sakuyamon stood on top of a rooftop, one purple gloved hand holding tensely onto her bronze vajra staff. Within her data sphere Rika's face was set in such a fierce expression where one couldn't be sure if she was fighting off the need to be angry or to cry. She had heard Takato's phone call through the darkness, something that had caught her by surprise as she had never dealt with anything like that during the previous occasions that she had been biomerged. She couldn't even recall such an event occurring before and the only thing that came close was whenever Yamaki called them via the Hypnos satellites, and even then he didn't do that often except in the case of extreme emergencies. Regardless, she had been preparing herself for what she had set out to do when Takato's words had cut in through the darkness and she listened to them intently. When the message ended, typically cutting Takato off before he could even finish it, Rika clenched her hands into tight fists.

_Jeri…why? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to yourself?_

_"Rika?"_ Came Renamon's voice from the darkness. _"I know that I told you that I will support you whatever your decision, but perhaps you should reconsider what you are doing…"_

_"No!" Said Rika fiercely as her head snapped upwards. "I came here to take care of this business once and for all and that's what I intend to do. I'm going straight to the end with this one. I'm not going to let Jeri be alone because of something stupid that I did."_

_"…Very well Rika. If that is your decision…"_

With that Sakuyamon raised her staff and slashed it to the side, sending out a stream of violet energy cascading through the air around her, the first beginnings of what she had in mind.

_"The fire that burns blue with passion…"_ Rika intoned as she cupped her hands together on her chest. _"The links that are forged, broken, one by one…"_


	95. 94: Thorns and Petals

Crusadermon stood on top of a rooftop, looking down at the humans below her as they milled about on the streets, making their way to wherever it was that they were going, appearing in much the same way as ants from her perspective.

_Wasting away their meaningless lives,_ thought Crusadermon as she raised one hand and clenched it into a fist. _How pitiful they appear to me, and yet it is their actions that seem to have the greatest affect on the world that I come from, and even their own world though not so from their own perspective. Life goes on and they live in it. A century might as well be eternity to them and they are uncaring about that fact._

_For beings that have created my world and the creatures that inhabit it, they don't act like the gods that lesser digimon expect them to be. Not like ours anyway. Not like Yggdrasil._

Crusadermon looked down at her fist and slowly, carefully, opened it, flexing her armored fingers and rotating her wrist. The metal creaked and groaned and clacked, and the pink colored Royal Knight could see the cracks and dents in the appendage flex, threatening to become even worse with each movement. Still, she could say that it looked better than it had before, caked as her arm, like the rest of her body had been, in her black colored blood. Surprisingly she even _felt_ better for having taken that bath. It still irked her that a human girl of all creatures had been able to bully her into it to begin with but the after affects left her feeling rather refreshed.

_But that doesn't mean that child means anything to me,_ thought Crusadermon as she remembered Ayaka. _She's no different from any of the humans that infest this world._

Except that wasn't quite true, and Crusadermon knew it. From the moment that the two of them connected enough to have a D-Arc link them together Ayaka had become _very_ different from many human girls her age. She had become a Tamer.

And not just any Tamer. _Her_ Tamer.

Crusadermon wanted to rage about the unfairness of the situation. She had tried contacting Yggdrasil and her fellow comrades…even attempted to go back to the digital world. She had been able to do so before as it was but one of many of the 'gifts' that Yggdrasil had bestowed upon his Royal Knights in exchange for their service to him, but unfortunately nothing worked. It left her feeling frustrated and yet strangely… _strangely_ she couldn't find it within her to get sufficiently angry with the human world around her to vent her frustrations on it. Crusadermon wasn't one to conduct a self analysis of herself. She rarely, if ever, looked to her inner workings for answers about what she was feeling at any given time. She was a creature of passions and desires, and when she wanted something she took it. Her fellow Royal Knights often compared her to the Demon Lord of Lust, Lilithmon and would sometimes mix in Daemon, the Demon Lord of Wrath. They never said these things to her face of course (and certainly none of the more respectful ones like Dynasmon ever liked to say it or even admit it) but she knew what they thought of her. What was more, she glorified in it. Her former guardian Rosemon had tried to discourage such sentiments but she herself couldn't see why. Digimon were made for battle. It was built into their evolutions from Fresh to Mega (and the mythical level of Super Ultimate), and all of life and existence served to emphasize that fact. When she deleted a digimon she got what she wanted, just like a digimon that deleted her would gain more power, which was what they wanted…right?

That was her philosophy, and she had seen unrelated digimon enact it on more than one occasion. Being a Royal Knight just meant that she had a reason to pursue it and gain even more power at the same time. That was who she was, and that was how she had always been.

Only now…now she was tainted. _Tamed._ Something that offended her…

…And yet she couldn't find it within her to be offended enough by it. At least, not anymore.

_"_ _You and your partner…you're friends for life. You back each other…you fit each other in places that you're weak in, and you compliment each other's strengths. You're supposed to trust each other…know that they won't fail you no matter_ _what_ _happens and that they'll understand you when you're goin' through rough times. That girl from yesterday…she wanted to help you when you were hurt and that's what she_ _did!"_

Crusadermon clenched her hand back into a fist as she remembered her last battle with the Demon Lord Beelzemon. It was rather ironic that a being such as he was also in her predicament, and yet had, for some reason, had fully accepted it and even preached it as though it were something to rejoice over and greet full heartedly rather than resist.

_From a Demon Lord…_ thought Crusadermon with a shake of her head. True, this version of Beelzemon wasn't the same one that had aided the other Six of his comrades, the Great Demon Lords, in their terrorizing of the digital world, but he was still a Beelzemon all the same. All others that she had encountered previously were gluttonous fiends that destroyed and stole from anyone that they set their three eyes upon, taking like they would humans took in air. Ravagers and destroyers all…except for this one.

What made the difference?

_It couldn't just be because he has a human partner…could it?_ Wondered Crusadermon as she focused back down on the human crowd beneath her. A sharp wail echoed upon the air and she zeroed in on it, taking note of a young human, female child that had fallen to the ground. Her mother was quickly at her side, a small, comforting smile on her face as she helped the girl back up to her feet, wiping away her tears with one thumb. The child's cries were stifled by the simplest of movements and the softest of whispers, and soon enough they were both moving again, as though the incident had never occurred. Crusadermon watched them go for a few moments, briefly reminded of the incident that she had with the bird and its nest following her recovery from her previous battle.

_Willing to support you no matter what…_ Thought Crusadermon to herself. It was funny in a way. From what she had seen of the Tamers so far the digimon were usually the ones that did frontline duty for their partners while they…well, excepting those that were able to merge with their partners the humans tended to be more support than anything else. She hadn't seen what they did outside of battles though she was always under the impression that they were treated more like a pet than an equal. Perhaps, Crusadermon wondered, it was more of a matter of perspective. Her own interaction with Ayaka for example, was that she tended to look down on the girl not only as a human, but because she felt that she would be seen as _her_ _pet._

" _I know that you don't like the idea of being my partner, and I'll admit that the feeling's mutual. Fact is, I don't really want to be a Tamer, but that's just what we are now. Partners. Your problems are my problems too. Shouldn't we be helping each other?"_

_I don't want anyone to help me though,_ thought Crusadermon angrily. _I could always count on myself and not have to worry about others…even my fellow Royal Knights! Why should that change now?_

_So why am I left feeling so empty inside?_

No answer came to Crusadermon, and she growled beneath her breath, desiring to give voice to her frustrations, but paradoxically not wanting to do so.

Just another thing to add to her list of grievances.

It was at that moment that something caught Crusadermon's attention; the usual sixth sense that digimon had for one another. Spinning on a dime Crusadermon scanned her surroundings, searching for any immediate sign of the source of what she was sensing.

_Someone's using power…and_ lots _of it. I wonder…if I should be able to load their data than perhaps I can finally break free from this imprisoning world and return to my master. And then…then I shall visit my vengeance upon this world for all it has done to me._

Quickly taking a flying leap to the other side of the rooftop Crusadermon jumped into the air, swiftly becoming airborne as she sought out her prey.

* * *

_Almost done,_ thought Rika as she spun her staff through the air, tracing multiple, intricate signs with it and her fingers, continuing to chant with each motion. Blue, violet, and pink energy lashed out before becoming constricted by the shaman digimon's magic, molded and shaped into what she desired. In her data sphere Rika felt herself grunt slightly in exhaustion as she continued to chant her spell. She didn't remember it being this difficult when she had first established the link with Takato. Granted, she had been in the middle of a mode change at the time so no doubt the added divination skills and power had a lot to do with that, but even so, she had been gaining enough experience with her Mega form that forming such a spell shouldn't have that big of a deal to her.

_My own teacher always said that it was easier to destroy than to create,_ thought Rika as she scowled. _So why is the opposite happening here? Could I somehow be holding myself back?_

Rika could feel Renamon's presence in the darkness surrounding her, watching her expectantly. Although she had held true to her promise to support her in anything that her partner did, Rika could tell that she was reluctant to follow through with this. It wasn't slowing them down or anything, Rika could sense that much, and Renamon most certainly wasn't holding anything back so it wasn't anything the kitsune was doing that was causing them any of the trouble that they were having. So what was the deal?

Was it her? Or was it…?

_I don't see how. I've been putting a damper on that link ever since I began casting this spell. There's no way that Takato could know what I'm doing._

Frowning Sakuyamon hefted her staff and slashed it through the air again, adding another ribbon of energy to the Mandala circle that she was creating.

_Maybe…maybe it's because it's so big, and I'm not in my Kibuki Mode this time. I Mode changed the last time I was making this and the link went through with hardly any effort. It's a completely different story when I'm just plain Sakuyamon._

Taking in a deep breath Sakuyamon raised her staff once more and prepared to slash it.

_"Rika,"_ began Renamon from the darkness surrounding her partner's data sphere. _"I must ask you once again…are you sure that this is what you want?"_

_"I'm…sure."_

_"Rika…we are sharing each other's minds, bodies, and thoughts. I can sense you doubting yourself…doubting your course of action. You value Takato's friendship…"_

_"And I want Jeri to be happy!"_ Snapped Rika irritably. _"I know what I'm doing. I can handle this! I…"_

Rika's vision swam suddenly, causing her and Renamon's outer form of Sakuyamon to stumble slightly in surprise, one gloved hand rising to her face in an attempt to get a hold of herself.

_"Uhhh…wh…what was that?"_

_"I…do not know Rika. It felt like a power surge of some kind. The process must be far more energy taxing than we thought."_

_"Just great,"_ growled Rika in annoyance. _"Well, we've come this far so we can't back out of it now. Just a little bit longer and soon no one's going to have anything to worry abo…huh?"_

Something then caught Rika's eye from the darkness around her. Narrowing her eyes Rika peered into the blackness, striving to see what it was that she had thought she saw. After a moment of scrutiny her violet colored eyes widened in surprise as a recognizable figure began to take shape in front of her. As if to confirm the figure's identity a voice spoke from now moving and visible lips.

_"Rika?"_

_"Takato?!"_

Violet irises met warm magenta as Takato looked at her, only they appeared as though they weren't actually _seeing_ her in a sense, but was instead seeing something else. There was a look of deep concern being thrown from his eyes, as well as intense confusion as though he were struggling to understand what it was that he was seeing. Somehow Rika had the distinct feeling that whatever it was it had nothing to do with her being in a blue bubble.

_"Rika! What's going on?! What are you doing?! Rika? Rika!"_

_"Takato!"_

Rika's own cry went unanswered as the goggle-wearing boy vanished once more into the darkness. Rika stood there, staring into the shadows around her, half expecting him to reappear again while trying to comprehend what had just happened.

_"Renamon…?"_

_"I don't know what that was Rika, except that it appears that your connection with Takato has caused him to know what's happening."_

_"Is he…?"_

_"No Rika. He's not here. You should know that. You're senses were hardly blinded while he spoke."_

_It sure felt like he was,_ thought Rika with a shake of her head. _"All right. No more horsing around. Let's finish this before Gogglehead decides to make like a hero and stop us."_

_"Rika…"_

_"I've already made up my mind Renamon. I…"_ Rika paused as she bit back the pain that she felt rising in her heart.

_"…Let's just get this over with,"_ finished Rika in a quiet, hoarse filled whisper. Blinking back tears Rika raised her hands to her chest once again, continuing in the same, whispery voice as before.

_"The heart breaks,"_ she chanted as she and Renamon closed their eyes to the world around them.

As such, it didn't occur to the two as to why their data sphere was changing from its bright blue to dark purple.

* * *

"Hey! Takato!" Came Kazu's voice through the blackness that had suddenly blanketed across Takato's vision. "Yo! Earth to Chumly! You in there!"

A pair of knuckles wrapped hard on Takato's skull, bringing him back to reality and snapping his vision back to normal in one fell swoop.

"Ah!" Takato exclaimed in surprise, nearly jumping backwards in his shock.

"It's about time dude. You were starting to worry us there," said Kazu as he backed off with a relieved smile on his face.

"Uh…what happened?" Asked Takato as he looked around him. They were all standing outside of Ai and Mako's residence, having just left it. Everyone was gathered around him with a mixture of curiosity and worry etched onto their faces.

"We were hoping that you could tell us," said Kenta as he adjusted his glasses. "You were just standing there, looking like you were far away…"

"Yeah! You were really spaced out! You kept saying Rika's name and asking what she was doing. It was really weird."

"Takatomon?" Asked Guilmon as he nuzzled his partner, worry apparent in his voice. "When I asked you earlier if you felt weird, did you…?"

"Huh?" Asked Kazu, staring at the crimson lizard in confusion. "Guilmon…what're you talking about?"

"Well I was telling Takatomon before when we were arriving at Impmon's Tamer's house about how I was feeling kinda funny and I wanted to know if he…"

While Guilmon prattled on in his explanation Takato shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the cobwebs that had inexplicably entangled themselves inside his head. What had just happened to him? The last thing that he could remember was…

…A feeling of increasing uneasiness…

…A thought of Rika because of the message from Jeri…

…Trying to call Rika and not getting an answer…

…Leaving the Hirayama apartment…

…Darkness…and… _Sakuyamon?_

_I saw Sakuyamon…_ thought Takato before he frowned in contemplation.

_Hold on. No I didn't. That digimon…it looked like Sakuyamon but…something was different. Her armor and hair colors were different. And her staff…her staff was…_

…Shining silver…reflecting like moonlight as it traced a path through the air. Black hair tied into two fox-like tails with white tips…blue, silver, and purple body armor and gloves adorned the shaman's body.

_Whatever it was, it's not Sakuyamon. Not even her Mode change. I've seen her before though…on a card, but I don't know where. Not that it really matters but…why did I feel like I was still seeing Rika? What's going on with her that could cause her to be like that? Is she in trouble? Is that why she biomerged?_

Realizing that he wasn't going to be getting anywhere by constantly asking questions Takato decided that now was the best time to get moving.

"Um…guys?" Takato began to say to his two friends, Kazu and Kenta. "Guilmon and I have to go take care of something. Do you mind if we catch up with you later?"

"What?!" Exclaimed Kazu. "What could you possibly be needing to do at a time like this? We still don't even know what the heck happened to you…!"

_Really don't have time for this…_ thought Takato as he grabbed hold of Guilmon's paw and promptly took off in a run, waving one hand over his shoulder.

"Thanks Kazu! Thanks Kenta! I knew I could count on you guys! We'll be back!"

"Yeah!" Supplied Guilmon cheerfully, simply jumping into the swing of things.

"What? Hey! Get back here you Goggle-wearing doof-!"

"Kazu," interrupted Kenta softly as he interposed himself between his two friends, allowing Takato and Guilmon their chance to slip around a corner and disappear from their sight entirely. "I think we ought to let them go on this one."

"What?! Kenta! Have you lost your marbles?! Something's going on and I want to know what! Takato could be in trouble…"

"And that's why I'm going to be following them to make sure that everything's all right. You should make sure that Impmon's Tamers and their mom get to Hypnos."

"But…"

"I'll explain it to you later Kazu," interrupted the dark haired boy, looking at his friend with surprising fierceness. "I think I already know what's going on. Takato and I were talking about it before you showed up at Hypnos for that meeting."

"But…"

"Don't worry Kazu," said Kenta as both he and MarineAngemon took off, leaving the visor wearing Tamer alone with Guardromon, Ai and Mako, and Mrs. Hirayama while they all just watched incredulously.

"Kazu?" Began Guardromon after a moment. "Perhaps it would be best to leave this in the hands of those who are most knowledgeable about the situation. They don't seem concerned enough to have anyone else involved."

"Ah…" Kazu lowered the hand that he had raised in an attempt to stop Kenta before scowling. "But…"

"And we _should_ escort this family unit to Hypnos, as they're expected…"

Kazu sighed.

"I know Guardromon. It's just…"

"Just what?"

Kazu sighed again.

_It's just…why does everyone keep leaving me in the dark about stuff all of a sudden?_

* * *

A flash of light filled the air and the triumphant form of Gallantmon surged down the streets before leaping up into the air, making use of his newly acquired ability to fly. Takato had to admit that he rather liked his new form. It may have taken off the classical 'knight' look that he enjoyed having before, but the new look Takato felt gave him a kind of 'razor edge' like appearance to his armor, which, when combined with his new 'light saber' weapon, was just too good to resist admiring. And then of course there was the added ability to fly without having to Mode change…

_I wonder what my Crimson Mode will be like. Come to think of it, I wonder if Guilmon and I can even still Mode change at all._

This was followed by the memory of his and Guilmon's friend and steed, Grani, who in a final act of sacrifice and friendship had grafted himself onto Gallantmon to provide him with the power that he, with his own systems failing, was unable to give. A part of him would always be with them Takato had said then. Now, with all the changes that had been going on Takato couldn't help but wonder if that would continue to hold true.

Deciding that now was not the time to worry about that Gallantmon searched the landscape around him, intent on looking for any sign Rika and Renamon. Something bad was happening. He could feel it in his now digital bones and he had to help her before things got even worse.

_There!_ Thought Takato and Guilmon as one as they caught sight of a bright, shining light off in the distance. Turning in the direction of the light Gallantmon quickly flew towards it, his mind already racing as Takato's imagination tried to envision any and all possible scenarios that could be occurring at that very moment.

* * *

"There goes Gallantmon," said Ryo as he peered at the flying form, catching sight of the familiar red cape that was the Royal Knight's trademark. "I gotta say he looks pretty good out there. I didn't get to see his Mega form properly during yesterday's battle."

Cyberdramon grunted.

"He does look like he'd be a more formidable opponent in this new form."

"Yeah, but we're not fighting him, remember?" Ryo then turned to Jeri. "Okay. It's a safe bet that Takato got your message if he and Guilmon biomerged, but I gotta say don't you think that biomerging is a little extreme for just talking with Wildcat? I know that I joke about how tough she can be but I don't think that it's worth going Mega over."

"Maybe he's trying to save time," supplied Cyberdramon while Ryo looked down at Jeri.

"Well…I've followed your lead this far," said the Legendary Tamer to the girl that was nestled in the clutches of his partner. "What do we do now?"

"Ah…um…do?" Asked Jeri meekly, rather surprised that Ryo had dropped the ball in her court all of a sudden. "Well…" Jeri scratched her cheek absently as she asked herself what the appropriate thing to do was. So far she had merely been going on what her instincts were telling her, but she wasn't one for taking charge in any kind of situation unless she was absolutely pushed into it or let go of her inhibitions.

_What to do?_

Once more Jeri consulted her interior processes and asked herself that question. In the end there really only seemed to be one option available to them.

"We should follow him and see what happens."

"Good enough for me," said Ryo as he patted Cyberdramon on the shoulder, urging him to comply with the request. Growling slightly the Vaccine Ultimate flapped his wings and took off through the air.

* * *

Crusadermon came to a landing on top of a building facing the spectacle that she had detected. Quickly taking stock of the situation, its potential repercussions, not to mention the incoming red caped, knight digimon that was the X-Antibody equivalent to her comrade Gallantmon, Crusadermon took a step back and folded her arms across her chest. Her instincts were urging her to rush in and attempt to load the data of the shaman that she saw standing at the center of the Mandala seal, but something else, something deeper told her that it wouldn't be within her best interests to do so. There was something here that she felt that she had to see… _needed_ to see. And then there was that strange feeling in the air as well…

_Like something breaking,_ thought the pink armored Royal Knight as she clenched one hand to her chest. Yes, there was definitely a sensation of something breaking in the air. There was a strangely familiar feeling to it, one that she associated with what she had felt when that D-Arc appeared in Ayaka's hand, only in the reverse fashion. And there was something more…a kind of pain that wrenched at the heart of her being causing her to want to gasp in spite of the distance that was between her and the fox styled shaman digimon.

_Ugh…wha…what is this?_

Staring at the shaman digimon warily Crusadermon leapt back into the air to observe the situation from an aerial point of view. Crusadermon had the distinct feeling that this was going to require quite a bit of observation.

* * *

Gallantmon came crashing down on top of the roof, breathing heavily as a sudden surge of energy ripped through his body, and it was most definitely not a good kind.

_"Takatomon…"_ Guilmon groaned pitifully from the darkness surrounding Takato's orange sphere. _"What's going on? What's Rika doing? She looks awfully scary right now…"_

Wincing, Takato glanced up at the dark priestess that stood at the center of the Mandala. Blue flames were now coating the shaman's body, obscuring her form from his view but he knew that it was still there and what it looked like. He even knew what the digimon was now having finally remembered its card from the digimon card game that he and his friends enjoyed so much. There was a kind of irony in their present situation he felt. He and his friends had all gone down to the card shop once and he had pointed the card out to Rika as it was a part of Renamon's evolution lines. Rika had gotten a little angry with him then, as she was something of a purist regarding her Renamon to Sakuyamon evolution set. Talking about it with Henry later revealed to him that the reasons why Rika wouldn't have wanted the card could be related to something that his teacher had once told him about how in older times, the sword of the Samurai was a reflection of the Samurai's soul and as such it reflected a piece of who they were. While the sword may not play as big of a role as it once did in Japanese society that basic philosophy still applied to just about anything that a person did and acted whether you were an accountant, computer geek, or even a Tamer. What you select to help you becomes an extension of who you are, and it will be a manifest of your real self. While the card Takato had pointed out wasn't necessarily 'evil' its skills and powers were not directly associated with the healing and light properties that Sakuyamon stood for, and following their adventures from their first year as Tamers Rika had definitely changed. While she still remained battle oriented in her thinking those qualities of her personality became more toned down, traded off for more kindness and understanding in spite of her cynical, grouchy self. But that was one of the things that Takato liked best about Rika, despite the fact that it made her rather prickly to be around.

And now, here she was, having transformed from what she had been before into something that she had told Takato that she didn't like, for reasons Takato could only begin to wonder about.

_"I don't know boy. I really don't. But one thing's for sure, we're going to find out! Are you with me?"_

_"Yeah!"_

_"Okay…then here goes…"_

Taking one step forward Gallantmon set a foot down on the edge of the Mandala. Energy crackled and ripped up the Royal Knight's body, eliciting a cry of pain from both Tamer and digimon, but they pressed on and took another step forward. More crackling of energy, but this time less intense.

_Okay…that's a good start. Man, I hope that that wasn't just the tip of the iceberg…_

Takato gave a _woof_ of surprise as something white and fiery collided with his helm, nearly knocking him over. Shaking his head Gallantmon looked up and saw a white, burning fox flying in an upward ark through the air before entering the pillar of blue flame that stood at the center of the circle. With a slash of a silver staff, the blue fire dispersed, revealing the figure for all to see.

A blue fox styled facemask adorned the shaman's face, flanked by two long ponytails of black hair with white, fox like tips. Blue armor so deep that it was almost purple replaced the golden armor that Takato normally associated with Sakuyamon, and in place of a bronze vajra staff was one of moonlight silver. What was visible of the shaman's face was a strong chin and purple lips, and skin that was so pale that it nearly chilled Takato's blood seeing it.

_Kuzuhamon…_

"Don't interfere Takato," intoned the shaman with both the voices of Rika and Renamon. "It will all be over soon. You being here actually accelerates the process so if you don't mind…"

"Rika!" Interrupted Takato. "What's going on?!"

"A correction of something that shouldn't be," replied the shaman simply. "The dissolving of the link we made."

"Wha…? Dissolvement? Rika! Wha…" Gallantmon took another step forwards on the mandala and suddenly cried out as more electricity surged up his body. In his sphere of data Takato felt as though something were being _pulled_ out of him. Gasping fearfully Takato clutched onto whatever that something was and held onto it for dear life.

"Ah! R-Rika…w...wha…"

"Our connection," said Kuzuhamon in a dull voice. "The one that we made with each other during yesterday's battle. I'm dissolving it."

"But…why?" Rasped Gallantmon as he heaved back up to his feet.

"It causes… _conflict,"_ said the shaman, this time in just Renamon's voice now. "Conflict that threatens to tear apart a friendship…"

"…And that I cannot allow," finished Rika.

" 'Threatens to tear apart a friendship?' What do you…? Wait. Do you mean _Jeri?"_

The shaman nodded, leaving Takato stunned.

_She's doing this…because she thinks that what happened between us threatens the friendship that I have with Jeri? Why would she even think that?! Jeri's one of the strongest and most understanding of people I know! Why would any of us lose our friendship with her?_

In a flash Takato realized something that he hadn't quite thought of himself, even despite the rather short 'talk' that they had following his return to Shinjuku. He and Jeri cared about each other a lot, and while he never quite knew where he stood in Jeri's eyes if there was ever one thing that he knew about her it was that she would never want to lose a friendship no matter what the situation or circumstances. She had lived through too much already, had even _promised_ to Leomon, that no matter what she wasn't going to let go of the connections that she shared with her friends regardless of how she felt about them or vice versa. She was the sort of person that, even if she wasn't able to return the feelings that he had for her, she wouldn't want to see their friendship ruined because of that and would strive to keep it as best as he could…and himself? Takato would do the same thing. He loved her enough for that just as she loved all of her friends. And now Rika was casually turning her back on all of that, whether or not she knew it.

Anger then awoke in Takato and he pushed his and Guilmon's Mega form forward. Before he could even say anything lightning ripped forth from the seal beneath him, dancing along Gallantmon's metallic armor, forcing him back down to his knees as pain assaulted both partner's nerves. Kuzuhamon pursed her lips into one thin line as she bore witness to this scene, clearly not liking it.

"Just…stop Takato," said Kuzuhamon in Rika's voice now, in a soft, almost tender tone. "Just… _stop…please…"_

Gallantmon forced himself back up with a heavy groan.

"Rika…I…I don't get it. You told me that we would always be there for each other…because that's what friends do…"

"And we will…as friends. Nothing will change between us."

"Except it will," Takato rasped from within his data sphere. "Don't you get it? Do you think that everything that you've done doesn't mean anything? That it hasn't touched me in some way? In ways that have nothing to do with our friendship but instead go beyond it? You can't change what's happened…neither of us can go back to the way things were. All we can do is move forward…like we've always done…supporting each other. You can't throw that away and act like nothing's happened…like it doesn't mean anything because…because it does mean something Rika! _You_ mean something to me! A friend; a Tamer; a sister I never had...and a whole lot of other things that I really can't think of right now…"

For some reason Takato couldn't help but give a light laugh at that. It was there and gone in the space of a second though, and soon enough Takato grew serious again, his eyes rising to meet Kuzuhamon's as he strove to reach his friend.

"You mean a lot to me Rika. Sure, you've got some quirks that get on my nerves sometimes…but I wouldn't trade any of the experiences we've had together for the world. Not a single one."

Kuzuhamon took a step backwards uncertainly.

_"Shut up,"_ the dark shaman said in a harsh whisper that bordered on trembling.

"I'm not going to stop Rika," said Takato as he hefted his shield. "I'm not going to fight you, but I'm going to keep coming, and if our friendship or whatever we have with each other means anything to you…well…I guess that we'll just let fate decide that, huh?"

Kuzuhamon raised her staff. "I decide my own fate."

"Yeah…" said Takato with a small, tired, but happy smile on his face. "…I know. I really do."

_Because that's kind of what I was referring to…_

_"Sorry to have to put you through this boy,"_ said Takato to Guilmon.

_"Don't be sorry Takatomon! I'm right here with you! I'll always be with you!"_

_"Thanks Guilmon…you don't know how much that means to me…"_

"Ready or not, here I come…"

"Sorry Gogglehead," said Kuzuhamon with a sad shake of her head before continuing in a sorrow filled whisper. "Sorry… _Takato."_

Energy clashed against Gallantmon's armor as he strove against the seal that threatened to tear at the bond that he shared with the shaman at its center. Takato bit his lip to keep himself from screaming and focused on putting one foot in front of the other, forcing himself to block out the pain as best as he could. The energy intensified with each step that he took that drew him closer to Kuzuhamon, and with it the pain also increased. He ignored it though, and with Guilmon's strength aiding him he was able to keep himself going in spite of the strain that his struggle was putting on him.

_Man…Rika really is a strong Tamer,_ Takato thought lucidly before he felt a crack splinter its way across his chest. Ignoring it Gallantmon pushed forward, and with his step another slash of lightning whipped across his body, forcing its way through the crack in his armor and attacking the vulnerable digi-core that lay within. Pain streamed through Takato's consciousness now until it became all that he knew. Losing his focus Takato felt a scream rip itself free from his throat, and with the sound of metal shattering and data breaking apart Takato found himself landing heavily on the hard rooftop beneath him, separated from a groaning and battered Guilmon. Looking at him worriedly Takato was relieved to see the dino crack open his golden eyes and give him a reassuring smile.

"I'm…okay…Takato…mon…" the crimson raptor wheezed before attempting to give him a 'claws up' to signify this fact. It didn't work out so well as Guilmon's paw promptly fell to earth the second he tried to lift it up, but with the complaining whine that immediately followed afterwards Takato had the distinct feeling that his friend was going to be all right.

"Don't worry Guilmon…when this is over…I'm going to get you the biggest piece of Guilmon bread money can buy…"

"As much of it as I can eat too?"

"I'm not sure that my pockets are _that_ deep," said Takato, chuckling painfully. "But I'll see what I can do…"

Pushing himself up to his knees Takato turned his attention to Kuzuhamon. She was staring at him with an expression that he couldn't quite place. It looked more angry to him, but with the tears that were running down her face and the way that she clenched her silver staff it was rather difficult to tell.

"What does it take to get you to leave me alone?!" Kuzuhamon rasped in a half sob, this time only in Rika's voice.

"Remember what I said to you on Locomon?" Wheezed Takato. "That we can make it so long as we work together, right? No matter what we'll find a way out of anything so long as we're there for each other. You've…you've given so much of yourself to me these past few weeks…I don't want what happened between us to just be your burden…"

"You can't do that! Not to her! You're just saying that! You're just _saying that!"_

Takato got to his feet now, and a spark of lightning flew into the air in front of him as though in warning. Takato focused on Kuzuhamon, words now beyond him. All he knew was that he had to reach Rika. He didn't want to lose her. He didn't want to lose their friendship.

_…Love…friendship…or anything. I just…don't want to lose her. Whatever it takes…even if it's the last thing I do…I won't lose her._

Gathering what strength remained in him, completely disregarding the danger of the seal around him, Takato took a step forwards.

* * *

_"He can't mean anything that he's just said! He's only saying it for my sake!"_

That thought ran through Rika's mind again and again in the time space of scant seconds, though to her perspective it might as well have been hours, days, or even years.

When it came to Takato, she had been well aware of his feelings for Jeri. Not right away, but during the first few weeks following their separation from their partners she had come to be aware of it. It wasn't something that she thought about much, except in amusement when watching Takato fumble over himself whenever the puppet loving girl was around. It got so at times where she had considered just telling the two to just get together already (as it was plainly clear to her that Jeri felt much the same way as the goofy Gogglehead did for her), or try something to at least set them up.

_Yeah…Rika the matchmaker…that'll be the day…_

Her own feelings for him…that was complicated. Obviously she had never expected him to 'ask her out' for her birthday and it had left her puzzled a bit during the days that followed

afterwards. Her grandmother had often claimed that she was too mature in her thinking for her own good and as such she would take meanings from words or actions that were often unrelated or had no such meaning to them. Taking into account Takato's many embarrassing actions and 'slip-of-the-tongue' sentences towards her she could easily say that she often wondered what his intentions were. Was he just being stupid? Or was he…?

The situation just seemed to fall into her lap when Guilmon had died, and due to her already close friendship with Takato she had found herself caring for him even more. Right up to the point where events came to a head, and whether it was because of some link that they shared that gave them those dreams that they both had about each other Rika discovered that 'close friendship' no longer quite described what she felt towards him. All she knew was that she wanted to protect him and to be there by his side. Only there was Jeri to think about, and Takato's own feelings for her that so far remained unanswered. Jeri was also her friend…why should she lose someone she cared about? Why should she even sacrifice it for the sake of another? That was the rationale behind Rika's thinking. Try to return things back to normal between herself and Takato so that Jeri didn't have to do that. Simple right?

Only as usual Takato refused to make it simple. In fact, he was putting himself in danger, again, just to prove it.

_"Let go! If you don't we'll both go…!"_

_"Idiot! I_ know! _Why do you always have to be like that?! Don't_ give up!"

_"Rika…"_ came Renamon's voice through the darkness of her data sphere. For the first time the fiery haired Tamer noticed that she sounded…different somehow. As though she were fighting through some fog in her mind. It was then that she also noticed that Takato really _was_ moving towards her without the protection that Gallantmon's armor provided him.

_Takato…no…TAKATO!_

* * *

Takato shielded his eyes as a blinding white light erupted in front of him. The light swiftly died down as the form of Kuzuhamon shrank and parted into the familiar forms of Rika and Renamon, the shaman's disappearance swiftly erasing the Mandala symbol beneath them. Takato lowered his hands and looked at both Renamon and Rika. The vulpine digimon looked tired and weary, as well as uncertain as to what was going to happen. Rika, for her part, hung her head down, hiding her face behind the long strands of crimson hair that trailed its way towards her shoulders. Through them Takato could see the tracks of tears that ran down her cheeks as she fought to hold them in and keep them hidden. Her shoulder's shook with her struggle. Not saying a word Takato continued to walk towards her until he was about a foot away from her.

"Rika…?" He said tentatively.

"…pid…glehead…" came the mumbled reply.

"Rik…?

CRACK!

In a flash Rika's fist smashed into Takato's left cheek, almost knocking him over. A hurt and surprised look crossed his features but before he could even say anything Rika pulled him close to her in a powerful hug, gripping his shirt tightly beneath her fingers.

"Stupid Gogglehead…stupid…stupid…Gogglehead!" She repeated more forcefully. "Why do you always have to be like this? Why can't you ever just let things go?"

"Because…" said Takato softly as he brought his arms up and wrapped them around his friend, gently smoothing her back. "…Because I care about you. And I don't ever want to lose you."

Rika tightened her grip on the boy before speaking again in a hushed tone of voice.

"…Stupid Gogglehead…"

* * *

"Whoa…" began Ryo, feeling rather surprised by what he was witnessing. Even with Jeri's explanation after they had arrived there to see the fireworks the Legendary Tamer was still having a hard time believing it.

_Can this be happening? Rika…? And…Takato? I knew that they were pretty close as friends but I didn't know that…whoa…_

Ryo looked over at Jeri, feeling a new level of respect for the girl, and the instincts that had made him hold back in spite of everything that they saw Takato go through…in spite of watching what the two Tamers were doing to each other. To want to help someone, but to stay out because it's in their best interests…that was a hard thing to do and very few people that Ryo had known in his life in both the real and digital worlds quite understood that.

_Looks like Jeri is an exception,_ thought Ryo with a small smile at her. Upon noticing him looking at her Jeri returned the smile and Ryo nodded before looking back over at the sight in front of them. Before he could comment on it his D-Arc suddenly gave a cry of alarm.

Before anything could be said…before any action could be taken, a digital field burst into existence right where Takato and Rika were standing.


	96. 95: Light and Artifice

Lightning flew every which way through the air, narrowly missing Noriko Nakata's hair as she strove to find some sense of direction in the void that surrounded her. Unfortunately for her, her struggles merely worsened the sensations that were already proving to be taxing on her stomach and she found herself dry heaving in mid-air, her stomach clenching and twisting in a desperate bid to empty the contents of her stomach. Light burst across her eyes in one long, raggedy stream and an inhuman scream rent itself upon the air, echoing as a thousand voices. An explosion soon followed, rocking the girl like a wave…

Noriko closed her eyes, trying to preserve what little sanity she had left.

Nothing but the crackling of raw energy and the sound of explosions and screaming could be heard now. It was all becoming too much. Noriko soon began to add her own cries of horror to the mix, but they were drowned out completely, lost in the chaos that continued to slam about her like a series of great beasts fighting over a great prize.

_And what a prize it is,_ thought Noriko with a touch of delirious sarcasm as she clutched her hands to her ears in an effort to block out the noise. It was to no avail however. She could still hear the ruckus, however muffled, and it pained her ear drums to degrees that she never thought possible, leaving her to wonder if she was going to even have any hearing left if she ever got out of this in one piece.

An explosion ripped through the air behind her, the force of the blast resonating through the air and sending Noriko flying through the air. Her crimson colored eyes flew wide open in an attempt to track her course, and upon seeing that her flight path took her on a head on collision with a giant, moving cable that was easily as wide as her body Noriko found herself cursing for the first time in her life.

_Oh shit…_

Noriko impacted with the cable brutally, and before she could even properly scream from the pain that now assaulted her nerves electricity burst forth from its surface and wrapped around her like a coiled snake, adding a whole new dimension of pain to what she was already feeling. She tried to howl, only to be horrified to find that she was unable to do so thanks to the current of electricity that was running through her body, forcing all the muscles in her body to clench up.

_"Cross Guard!"_

"Uh!"

Noriko gasped as all of a sudden her contact with the cable was abruptly cut off by another explosion. The feel of firm, yet gentle hands wrapping themselves around her waist brought her back down to reality and she shuddered as she all but melted into them. She felt extremely weak right now…tired. No…more than tired. _Exhausted._ She was struggling to keep her eyes open so as to see who it was that had rescued her. For an instant, the image of a certain, half-Chinese Tamer with a long eared dog bunny came to mind but upon swiveling her head around she saw that she was mistaken. In the place of the Tamer that she had thought of was instead a boy of much lighter complexion with brown hair instead of black, a roundish head, and grey colored irises. A pair of wings flapped behind him as he adjusted her body so as to hold her more comfortably. As he did so a name suddenly flashed across Noriko's vision, and she narrowed her eyes in an attempt to figure out what it was she was seeing.

Lumemon…

…Lumemon…

…Processing Data…

…Lumemon…

_W-wha…? What's…going on…here?_

No answer came to her darkness shrouded her vision and the bone deep weariness that she was feeling suddenly intensified beyond her ability to endure its pull.

The explosions, and the roar of anger, suddenly seemed a whole lot more distant than she knew them to be…

* * *

Darkness…darkness lay everywhere in Noriko's field of vision, yet it wasn't the frightening kind of darkness. It was more of the kind of darkness that came with rest and it covered her as though it were a heavy blanket, welcoming her within its embrace like a loving parent. Sighing softly Noriko shifted, feeling her body sway in seeming nothingness. Wincing slightly at the discomfort brought onto her by tense and bruised muscles Noriko reached out with her fingers and upon clasping them around a soft fabric she pulled it closer and gave another, tired sigh. She frowned slightly beneath her closed eyes, wondering why she felt as though she were being watched before shrugging mentally and allowing herself to drift in her rest. It felt…it felt so very good to be sleeping, not to mention having a blanket around her as well; especially after that madhouse that she had just gone throu…

_Wait._

_Hold on._

Sitting up with a gasp Noriko flung aside the blanket that was wrapped around her, and before she could even take stock of her situation and her surroundings her sense of the world was suddenly and completely upset by the hammock that she was laying on as it showed her its distaste for her movement and spilled her out of it. Noriko gave a surprised shout as the ground rushed to greet her and white soon lights exploded across her vision.

_Owww…_ thought Noriko as one of her legs hung dangling in the air for second before joining the rest of her body with a dull thud.

Noriko lay where she landed for a few moments, groaning slightly as she tried to get her bearings and recover from the impact. Soon enough Noriko pushed herself up from off the ground, blinking blearily. Looking around her revealed nothing that looked particularly special about her surroundings, save that it looked like a half spherical hut, was dark, and was most definitely not the void that she last remembered herself being in.

_That's a plus,_ thought Noriko as she brushed her hair out of her eyes and got to her feet. Looking down at her Noriko was pleasantly surprised to find that her clothes, which had gone missing when she first woke up in that bizarre, zero gravity place, had been replaced by a long, simple, brown colored dress that went down past her knees, restoring to her a small sense of safety and privacy. Though it did bring the thought to mind as to who was responsible for doing such a thing for her.

A picture of a brown haired boy with grey eyes and angelic wings flitted across her mind and Noriko immediately found herself blushing furiously. She didn't know who that boy was (although for some reason she felt that she should), but she seriously hoped that he wasn't the one responsible for her change of clothes, if only because she found it embarrassing.

_Come to think of it though I doubt that it matters now,_ thought Noriko as she shook her hair away from her burning skin, remembering how things had ended off with her passing out in the angel-boy's arms. Staggering forwards through the dimly lit hut that she was in Noriko tried to figure out where she was by the objects that were in the room with her. Not that there was really much for her to go on. A simple table sat in the center of the room with a pile of strange, brown colored balls sitting on it with empty chairs gathered around it. Over towards one end of the room was the hammock that she had been sleeping in, swinging lazily in the air with the ends of the blanket dangling off of its edges. And there were the walls, which were studded with various odds and ends that resembled pipes and television boxes.

If Noriko didn't know any better she had ended up in some corner of the digital world.

A surge of panic made itself known in the young girl's heart as she continued to carefully make her way through the darkened room, aiming towards the outline of a door at one end. She had the distinct feeling that it wasn't a good idea to go outside if she really was in the digital world, but she also knew that the first step to trying to get home was to literally take a first step into finding a way out of the digital world.

_Sink or swim,_ thought Noriko as she swallowed audibly, continuing to creep towards the door.

There was the sound of a creaking coming from the door and Noriko froze up all at once. Squinting in the dim light the dark haired girl saw the door knob twisting, and panicking Noriko sped over towards the table, giving a half suppressed bark of pain as she stubbed her exposed toes into a chair leg before grabbing one of the strange, dark, ball things. Noriko grimaced at their feel. They were soft and had quite a lot of give to them, and from what she could feel they were also sticky.

The sound of the door clicking open alerted Noriko to the fact that she did not have the time to find a more suitable weapon and quickly turning she hefted the strange… _thing…_ in her hand, preparing to throw it at the intruder.

The door opened and light spilled into the room, momentarily blinding Noriko and obscuring its figure from her sight once she recovered. What she could make of it was that it was large, and unusually fat with large feet and hands, as well as having a teddy-bear like head.

After a moment the figure spoke up in a kind voice that left Noriko stupefied.

"Excuse me miss," said the brown colored, giant, teddy bear like creature at the doorway in a female voice. "But I heard a strange sound coming from this house. I did not realize that you were up. May I get you anything?"

Chuchidarumon

Stage: Champion

Type: Data

Special Attacks: Heavy Punch, Mud Ball, Mad Rocker, Armor Coating

Noriko blinked at the words as they suddenly appeared in her eyes and she felt her grasp on the brown ball in her hand loosen to the point where it dropped out of her hands and hit the ground with a soft _plop._

* * *

_Who am I?_

That was the question that went through the angel child's mind as his grey eyes stared at his hand and he flexed it, wondering at the feeling of muscles pulling each other together as easily as clockwork.

_Whose hand does this belong to? Whose eyes is it that look out at this hand? This stranger's hand…_

These had been the concerns of Lumemon that had been on his mind ever since he, carrying Noriko arrived in this desolate part of the digital world. It wasn't the most ideal place to be, he knew, but considering where they had been before and Noriko Nakata's condition at that moment the angel could not afford to search any longer for a better place of refuge until he himself was strong enough to continue the journey. And that therein lay the reasons behind his worries.

Reaching up Lumemon closed his hand around the silver crucifix that hung around his neck and he heaved a nervous sigh.

_When a digimon digivolves by way of a human partner, or even DNA digivolves, at some point when the digimon has exhausted his or her energy they'll revert to a lower level or separate back into their respective forms. Before…before what I became what I am now I was two separate digimon…a Lucemon and a BlackGuilmon. Now I am something else…something new. A combination thereof of those two digimon. The data of a Lucemon that had been dying and a BlackGuilmon who had revealed his true nature, and the result is…me. Lumemon._

Lumemon raised his other hand and looked down at it, frowning curiously at it. It was a strange thing. In the other cases where he had encountered jogressed digimon they tended to speak with two voices as one. Not so in his case. Instead he spoke with one voice that sounded a little bit like the Takato Matsuki of the real world, only with a cool, calculating, and mature tone that was quite unlike the aforementioned goggle-wearing Tamer. His thoughts were his own, with his own voice, and were not disturbed by the voices of others. And his memories…

Lumemon's frown deepened.

His memories were scattered at best since he had evolved, taking on the more recent events that he had experienced as Lucemon and BlackGuilmon respectively, more specifically the events surrounding his entry into the real world as Lucemon and his attack on Guilmon, and his experiences as BlackGuilmon, both of which felt as though they were in conflict with one another due to their dual perspectives in addition to remembering having been killed by Lucemon…or rather _himself,_ something that Lumemon did not at all feel comfortable with remembering, and wasn't quite sure what to make of it himself. He felt as though he were two separate digimon, but he knew that he wasn't. He didn't _feel_ as though he were two separate digimon. He felt that he was one and one only, and yet...

_Yet I'm still a combination of two separate digimon by way of a jogress evolution. Eventually I'm going to reverse digivolve and my form is going to be split apart into a dead angel and a dying child. That's how it always is with digimon. I'm not going to be anything different…am I?_

Lumemon sighed and crossed his legs together as he sat atop of the hut that contained the human girl that he had brought to this village of Chuchidarumon as uncertainty filled him, an uncertainty that only now, without any serious interruptions to take place to distract him, had been able to plant its seeds and grow. Closing his eyes Lumemon breathed a sigh and enjoyed the feel of cool, crisp wind as it blew over him, rustling his light brown hair.

_Perhaps this is something that I shouldn't think about until I get Noriko back home, but…what if I end up devolving at the wrong time, like when we're in the middle of a battle. That creature that tried to kidnap Noriko…he looked as though he was ready to murder the whole universe. I may have left him to the mercies of that cable entity but judging from what I saw I don't think that it's going to be able to hold him off. That creature is something else entirely, and it's been possessed by my two halves of the Digital Hazard, and that's already bad enough as it is. And even this village, as close to a place of haven as I could get here, even this village isn't safe. Not if what the Chuchidarumon told me is correct, though I'm surprised that Noriko and I didn't encounter any of those thi…_

A shrill scream of surprise broke Lumemon out of his thoughts. Quickly recognizing the owner of the scream the angelic child flapped his four wings and quickly flew down to the entrance to the hut, fists glowing with white light before he even came to a landing. Bursting into the building, fists illuminating its dark interior Lumemon looked back and forth inside, his grey eyes searching for any sign of an intruder.

All he saw so far was a Chuchidarumon waving its overly large paws in front of her in a placating fashion and Noriko cowering behind the table of food, looking for all the world like a cornered animal ready to fight or run at a moment's notice.

"What's going on here?" Demanded Lumemon, wondering what all the fuss was about.

"I'm sorry," said the female Chuchidarumon turning to face the angel apologetically. "I was coming to check on your friend and I heard a strange noise. It seems that she woke up and I…ah…startled her…"

"Oh," said Lumemon as the light around his fists died down and a look of relief spread across his face. "Noriko…it's all right. You have nothing to fear from this digimon, or any of the others for that matter. It's me…Lumemon. I brought you here after we had that…um…well…"

Noriko poked her head out from behind the pile of brown balls that served as the Chuchidarumon's food, her crimson eyes looking over the angel curiously.

"It's you," she breathed as she visibly relaxed and stepped out from hiding, but still keeping a wary eye on the massive, mud-like teddy bear. "I remember you. You…you held me when I was in that void place…"

Lumemon nodded and then looked away sheepishly before he scowled, appearing to do so more at himself than at anything else.

"Yeah…I have a lot to catch you up on."

* * *

Noriko gulped down the last piece of her 'mud ball', as she had affectionately named them after learning about the Chuchidarumon's composition as digimon (though the meal itself tasted nothing in the least like mud) and wiped her mouth, attempting to get rid of the dark smudges around her mouth before she could continue their conversation.

"So let me get this straight," said Noriko, shifting uneasily in an attempt to maintain her balance on the rooftop that Lumemon had insisted that they sit on if they were to continue talking. "You're now called _Lumemon_ , and somehow you combined with Lucemon and…um…Taka-chan because some strange girl helped you after what happened in that crazy dream?"

"It wasn't a dream," said Lumemon sternly. "I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it has something to do with the nature of that void that lies between the real and digital worlds and the presence of two Digital Hazards within it. Thoughts just became more of a reality and because we were being held stationary we caused a greater spatial warp to occur. Because of that warp many things were allowed to occur that I don't think otherwise would have. I'm willing to bet that the affects are going to be felt for quite a while for both worlds, though what that could be I can't even begin to guess."

"I…see," said Noriko uncertainly as she wiped her fingers together obsessively, an annoyed look crossing her face over the stickiness of the mud balls that she had eaten. "So…who are you then?"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself."

"You mean…you don't know? Which one of you am I talking to? Taka-chan or Lucemon? Or is it both?"

Lumemon sighed.

"I really don't know Noriko. I have memories, and I have my own thoughts, but the memories aren't my own. My thoughts are, but not my memories…"

"I don't understand."

"When two or more digimon evolve together to the next stage all their thoughts are usually present as separate voices speaking as one. When digimon of the same species evolve together this becomes different as the evolved form lacks that distinct separation that other digimon do when they evolve from different species. I…I came from two species, one who was dead…"

"Dead?" Said Noriko in a low voice, causing Lumemon to scowl at his slip of the tongue.

"Yeah…Lucemon. His body…it disintegrated before merging with _Taka-chan._ He was also dying by the way but the addition of Lucemon's data allowed him to survive…after a fashion."

"What do you mean?" Asked Noriko, tilting her head to one side and raising an eyebrow at her.

"I'm not him," replied Lumemon. "I have his memories, and his voice, but I'm not him. Lucemon and Taka-chan's personalities, I think, fused together during the evolution process. I think I'm someone completely new and different. I just…don't know who I am really. Which parts are me and which are… _them."_

Noriko looked away and cupped her hands together, for once able to ignore the stickiness of her fingers.

"This is a lot to take in all at once."

"Yeah," said Lumemon quietly, deciding not to tell her about his concerns about how long he had to live. "Yeah, it is."

"So…um…what do we do now? And where are we exactly?"

Lumemon noted that Noriko hadn't asked about what had happened during the fight after she had passed out outside of 'he got her out of there'.

_Perhaps she doesn't really want to know,_ thought Lumemon to himself. _I know that I wouldn't._

"We are currently in the upper most layer of the digital world, Southern Quadrant. This is the village of discarded data. Leftovers that don't get absorbed. The Chuchidarumon make a living off of them and try to survive as best they can. They were under attack about a year ago by a deranged motorcycle but some humans managed to defeat it. I think that would be the Tamers, and I think that's why they allowed us to rest here because you're also human. Then again, they seem like a nice group of mons anyway so I think we can give them the benefit of the doubt. As for what we're going to do next…I thought that we might stay here and rest up for a little bit before moving on. It might be a good idea as I'll need some time to familiarize myself with the terrain. Apparently there's some trouble going on around here again."

"Um…" began Noriko nervously. "What kind of trouble?"

Lumemon shrugged. "The Chuchidarumon didn't say exactly. Just that there's been strange happenings going on. I'm going to question the village elder about it later though so as to get a more accurate picture about what we may end up expecting once we get moving. That is, if you want to get moving…"

"I would like to go home again," said Noriko in a quiet voice, wondering if she sounded selfish for saying that.

"I heard a 'but' in there…"

Noriko frowned at the angel, but before she could say anything a strange set of words flashed across her eyes followed by the digimon's name.

Lumemon

Stage: Rookie

Type: Vaccine

Special Attacks: Cross Guard, Holy Shield, Shining Wing

_What the…?_

"Noriko?"

"Ah! Um…no! No. There isn't a 'but' in there. It's just…well…I really don't want to inconvenience you or anything…"

"That's not something that's going to happen," said Lumemon calmly, a smile appearing on his face as he said that. It felt strange how natural it felt to him. He couldn't remember having smiled in any of his previous two lives. "Last I checked we became partners, remember? Back in that cave when that digivice first appeared in front of you?"

"Oh!" Noriko blinked as she remembered the arc shaped, silver trimmed device that had fallen into her hands and eventually replaced her reflection in the strange 'dream world' that she had found herself in with Lucemon and Taka-chan.

There was so much that she had to think on now. So much had happened to her in such a short time that she didn't know what to think anymore, especially in regards to herself. That bit with the digivice replacing her reflection, that especially…what had that been about? Did it have anything to do with the fact that BlackGuilmon had killed her and loaded…

Noriko shivered unconsciously as she remembered that day in the digital world. It hit her unusually hard in fact, a strange occurrence given how easily she had accepted it in that other world. Noriko had to wonder about the sudden change, and if there had been some special property of that other world that allowed her to become more brave and quick reacting to how she had been before. She had still been scared but at least then she was able to think more clearly and move with more purpose. Right now she didn't feel any of that. Instead she just wanted to find a small corner and fall asleep until the storm or whatever it was that was going on in her life had passed her over. Right after she checked out a mirror that is…

"Huh?" Noriko looked up surprise as Lumemon placed one hand around her awkwardly and hugged her close to him.

"Um…Don't…uh…worry about it, all right? I'll do all I can to get you home. I promise."

Noriko shifted beneath his embrace, feeling a strange sense of discomfort as well as relief flooding through her. What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? Lucemon she at least knew, and understood after a fashion. Ditto for Taka-chan as he was more of a child who needed her help, but this digimon…this _Lumemon…_ she didn't know him at all. He had some quirks about him that reminded her of the other two but she knew, and could feel that he was neither of them.

_He's a stranger to me now. It's like we're having to start all over again…actually we_ are _having to start all over again, only we're supposed to already know each other._

Searching for something to say that would break up the awkward silence that she felt developing Noriko looked out over the vast expanse of desert.

"Um…it's…uh…it's so barren out there," she blurted out before mentally kicking herself for even saying such a thing. Lumemon followed her gaze and nodded.

"Yeah. The upper most layer of the digital world is always like this. It has something to do with the lack of vegetation I think. There's nothing around for absorbing excess data; no recycling or anything that could provide a regular means of sustenance. It's probably why this place is so much more violent than the other layers. Digimon are forced to cannibalize each other or live off of scraps of useless data in order to survive."

Lumemon glanced over at Noriko, who was grimacing at his words.

_Whoops,_ he mused, flushing slightly in embarrassment. _Probably would be a good idea to not talk about loading again…_

"Anyway," Lumemon continued. "I don't think that we're going to have anything to worry about today. The Chuchidarumon said that today's been pretty quiet, so there shouldn't be any trouble from…whatever it is that they get trouble from. Hopefully."

_Oh great,_ thought Lumemon angrily at himself as he glanced at Noriko again, noticing that she didn't look at all comforted by his confident words. _Way to reassure her doofus. All I need now to make this picture of idiocy complete is for something explosive to happen and a giant dragon to appear out of nowhere or something like that._

Suddenly a loud explosion roared just on the edge of the horizon, catching both Noriko and Lumemon's attention. Cries of surprise and fear suddenly rose up in the villagers all around them and Lumemon practically wilted at the timing.

"Stupid!" Exclaimed Lumemon angrily at himself as he smacked one fist into the side of his head. "Next time keep your thoughts to yourself!"

Noriko just stared at the angel in surprise.

_Oookaaay…what's wrong with him?_


	97. 96: Dimensional Chaos

Aiko, Henry, and Terriermon all looked up at the massive, double bladed, black colored spear that continued to remain imbedded in the ground despite the attempts of Hypnos and the Japanese military to remove it. Presently workers were milling around it, trying to attack the ground that held it so that they could at least loosen it up but so far they didn't seem to be making any more progress than they did with anything else that they had tried concerning the weapon. Henry unconsciously rubbed his left arm, remembering his battle with a Noriko possessed ChaosGallantmon as she, or rather more importantly, the digimon that she shared her body with, drove its weapon into said arm in an effort to keep him from getting back up. Terriermon tilted his head to one side, allowing his ears to flop against Henry's face as he too observed the weapon.

"You know," Terriermon began from his spot on top of Henry's head. "No matter how many times I look at it, that's still one really big spear…"

"Terriermon…"

"What? It is! It sure hasn't changed in the time that we last saw it except that it's got more people."

"Sounds as though someone's getting restless," commented Aiko as she continued to observe the spear. Henry sighed.

"Sorry. He's like that. I think he does it just to get attention…"

"More like to get _you_ attention," said Terriermon, crossing his arms over his chest and giving himself the appearance of a teacher explaining something to a slow student. "Face it Henry, if it wasn't for me you'd probably still be standing here wondering how you were going to start a conversation."

"Terriermon…I wasn't even thinking about starting a conversation."

"My point exactly! You're such a quiet guy! You need a little bit more going on in your life than just the next big computer program. And no, battling digimon doesn't count."

Henry raised an eyebrow.

"And why is that?"

"Because it's too static. It works for a little while until you get into a regular pattern. What do we do nowadays? Find the digimon and beat on them until they no longer blow stuff up. Seems pretty straight forward to me."

"You make it sound like protecting two worlds is a bad thing," grumbled Henry.

"Whoever said it was?"

"Yeah, but you were just saying something that made it sound like I'm standing in one place all the time."

Terriermon giggled. "Just trying to get a conversation started Henry. Momentai already. But I was kinda using it as a metaphor for our just standing here and watching these goofballs try to remove ChaosGallantmon's spear thingy from the streets. Kind of makes for a bad thing if people notice that I'm here and they start calling the cops or something. Not that I'm worried or anything…"

Aiko looked at the two partners with a questioning gaze.

"Do either of you have to worry about such a thing?"

Henry shook his head.

"No. At least I don't think so. But I guess that we should be a little bit cautious since there's an anti-digimon rally going on over there. They might cause some trouble."

Henry indicated the other side of the construction site where a group of about a dozen men and women were standing, waving signs and shouting angry words towards the workers. Terriermon shook his head and groaned.

"Not that I'm complaining but I sure am glad that they haven't noticed us. I do kinda stand out."

"And it's a good thing that they're so few in number too," said Henry with an agreeing nod.

"I can see your point," said Aiko with a nod. "Kazu had an unfortunate encounter with one such person earlier today and the person physically threatened him."

"Kazu was attacked?!" Asked Henry in surprise. "Why didn't he say anything?"

Aiko shrugged.

"Perhaps he felt that the primary meeting was more important."

"Still," continued Henry slowly. "If people are actually going to go that far…what about my sister? She has a partner too and she's only eight!"

"Momentai Henry!" Exclaimed Terriermon cheerfully. "You don't really think that someone would go after Suzie because of that do you?"

"I don't know Terriermon. People do strange things when they're scared or upset by something. They become irrational and they'll do things that you wouldn't expect from them."

"Way to be a downer Henry…"

"And someone's forgetting the way Yamaki acted back when the Deva invasions began. He wasn't exactly our number one friend back then you know."

"Oh…" Terriermon's long ears became limp at the memory of the sunglasses wearing head of Hypnos attempting to throttle his partner. "…Yeah. That's right."

Terriermon then crossed his arms over his chest again and pouted, waving his long ears irritably in the air as he began to make a large amount of fuss.

"You just _had_ to shoot some holes in my theory didn't you?!"

"Terriermon…would you calm down before you draw attention to us?"

"Let 'em see us. I don't care. I just wish that they didn't have to give us grief for something that we're not responsible for. It's not our fault that digimon show up here and wreck havoc every now and then. I just want to be with Henry. Where's the crime in that?"

"Where indeed?" Asked Aiko thoughtfully as she pulled away from the spear and began to walk again. Henry fell into step behind her a second later. Aiko glanced at him over her shoulder.

"You know Henry…you didn't have to come along just to escort me home."

"I know. I just…wanted to anyway."

Aiko gave him a slim smile.

"I hope that this isn't because you feel obligated to do so because of what's going on with my daughter."

Although neither Henry nor Terriermon said anything in response, the way she noticed the half-Chinese boy's body tense up was more than enough answer for her.

"Henry. I don't blame you or your friends for what happened to Noriko. I told you that before. She just involved herself in something and she got caught up in it more than she should have at the wrong time."

"In a nutshell that's how it is," said Terriermon. "But I don't think it's really that simple, especially with you being Noriko's mom and all."

"I don't deny that," said Aiko with a sigh. "I am upset, there's no question about that, and I'm…not happy that Yamaki refused me the right to go with you to find my daughter, but I trust you to find her and bring her home safe and sound. I just want to do something more to help. I'm her mother. I should be out there looking for her!"

Henry nodded in understanding.

"My dad was like that a lot after he found out that I was a Tamer…"

"Which wouldn't have been an issue if it weren't for Impmon coming around looking for a fight," mooted Terriermon.

"You don't know that Terriermon," said Henry frowning up at his partner. "But I'd say that we can both agree that if it weren't for him my father wouldn't have known when he did. He told me a lot about how he hated just standing on the sidelines while my friends and I were out there fighting. Yamaki had to rein him in once to get him to stay behind and use his skills as a computer programmer to help us instead of throwing himself into the fighting."

"Sometimes you're like that with Suzie," noted Terriermon. "Even when she's shown herself to be more than capable of helping out in a fight."

"Terriermon…we've had this discussion before and you've even agreed with me on this one. She's too young to be involved in what we do."

"I know Henry. But at what point do we cross that line? She is a Tamer after all and it's not like we can keep her from being one all her life."

"I have to agree with your partner on that," said Aiko. "There are just some things that parents and siblings can't shield their loved ones from. After all, sooner or later the bird must leave its nest and it has to know how to fly. I just thought that would be something that I wouldn't have happen so soon, even with everything that happens in this city."

_Imagine how I felt when I found my sister Suzie stuck in the digital world, partnered to a Deva. And only minutes after that we were attacked by Beelzemon who was intent on killing all of us. That battle didn't do my nerves any favors, especially since I almost lost Suzie a few times during that fight. I'm her older brother. I'm supposed to watch out for her. If anything happened to her because she's a Tamer I'd never forgive myself._

_"Momentai Henry,"_ came Terriermon's voice from a memory of a conversation that they had shortly after the Parasimon invasion had ended. He and Suzie had come home from Rika's birthday party and Suzie went on to detail her adventures after Henry had 'left her at the train station' and was inevitably attacked by one of the marauding Parasimon. Though Beelzemon had gotten there in time to rescue her it didn't stop their parents from scolding him for leaving his little sister alone in the middle of a crisis. Henry could easily admit that hadn't been his most well thought out plan even though he had left Terriermon with her (by mistake, which he had quickly corrected once Guardromon got them moving after Locomon and he swapped the mouthy long eared rabbit digimon with Lopmon, Suzie's partner), and it served to bring back to mind the dangers that they all faced as Tamers, none of which were suitable for a girl as old as Suzie. Discussing it with Terriermon in greater detail afterwards Henry had relayed his fears and concerns to his partner.

_"I just don't know sometimes Terriermon. This just isn't safe for Suzie. I can see how being a Tamer is good for her, but you heard what nearly happened to her out there. Do you have any idea what those Parasimon would have done to her because I wasn't there to protect her?"_

_"I don't but I'm sure Rika would since she had one of those things sticking out of her back on top of Locomon. Momentai Henry. Suzie came out of it okay and Beelzemon kicked that Parasimon's booty for just trying to get near her. In the end what counts is that she wasn't alone."_

_"That's not the point Terriermon. I'm her brother. I'm not supposed to just leave her alone like that. She could have been really hurt out there because of me."_

_"That's not to say that she wouldn't have been hurt anyway because last I checked those Parasimon were everywhere. She had Lopmon there to protect her. All she had to do was digivolve and that would have taken like two seconds. Those Parasimon aren't all that tough on their own. Even Guardromon took out his fair share of them and he's two levels below them!"_

_"She was in danger…"_

_"So were all of us. There wasn't a safe place around when those Parasimon started swarming. Henry…what is this really about? You don't usually beat yourself up so hard because you made a mistake…well, actually yeah you do but that's beside the point…"_

_"Terriermon…"_

_"Do you think Suzie blames you for what happened?"_

_"You know she doesn't. She was supposed to get on a train and get to Rika's house while we investigated the digital zone. Things just didn't work out the way I planned them too…"_

_"Since when do they ever? C'mon Henry. Momentai. Why do you always have to act like it's your fault that she became a Tamer in the first place?"_

_Isn't it?_

Well, actually he hadn't _said_ that to Terriermon but it was something that made him wonder. After all, in the TV show all it took for a child to become a Digidestined was exposure to a digimon. It could have been anything, like being involved in one of the major battles or even a mere sighting of a digimon. Whatever the case was it didn't take much for Digidestined to appear all over the world in short order. Granted, it was all a TV show but so far the reality that he and his friends had experienced followed it pretty close to what was publicized, and his sister did happen to be in the presence of Terriermon for almost the entire time that he had lived with them, playing with him and calling him 'Princess Pretty Pants'. Was there something to that thinking? And now Noriko, someone he knew who had been exposed to a digimon was in a similar situation.

Was it his fault?

_If Terriermon knew that I was thinking that he'd say 'no'. And I know that everyone would agree with him too. And...so would I. Maybe the digital world chose her to become a Tamer because of her close proximity to me and dad, or maybe it did so for a completely different reason._

_Sometime it's tough being a brother…_

Henry took note of the way Aiko's hand pulled into a trembling fist, and he remembered the words his mother spoke to him when he sought her permission to go and do battle with the D-Reaper.

_…And I_ know _it's never easy being a parent._

"Ms. Nakata," began Henry in a solemn voice just under his breath. "Whatever it takes, I will bring her back for you. I swear it."

Aiko, having just barely heard the boy's words looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow while Terriermon, who had heard him more fully flapped his ears slightly. But before anyone could even say anything more the sound of Henry's digivice shrieking cut through the air.

"Awww…can't those things just give it a rest for once? We just had a fight yesterday!"

"Terriermon…" Henry sighed and shook his head before bowing slightly at Aiko. "I'm sorry Ms. Nakata, but I have to go."

"Duty calls," said Terriermon raising one ear at her."

Aiko nodded at the pair and bowed in return.

"Just take care of yourselves out there."

"We'll do our best," said Terriermon as he rubbed the back of his head in pretend nervousness. "But no promises."

"Terriermon…" began Henry as he turned and with one last wave over his shoulder, took off towards the source of his digivice's signal.

"I know, I know. _Learn tact._ C'mon already! We've got another digimon to fight!"

"You want to do the running? I'll ride on your head!"

"I don't think so Henry! I swear, with the weight you put on…"

"Terriermon!"

Aiko watched the pair go for a moment before turning away and glancing at the angry crowd of protesters at the other end of the massive sword imbedded in the ground. She frowned at them, thinking about the incident that had occurred between them, Kazu, and Gaurdromon earlier that day. To think that someone could do something like that, especially to a child, when they weren't causing harm to anyone (quite the opposite in fact). She could see their point of view. Digimon and Tamers seemed so caught up with each other that one could not have appeared without the other, providing an argument that digimon did not appear, and would not have if it weren't for the Tamers to begin with. Of course, that wasn't the truth, but so many people were caught up in the aftermath of the D-Reaper and Parasimon invasions and the various cover-ups that were thrown up by the Japanese government that any and all information, even the truth ironically enough, was open to suspect and constantly debated. Hence, as a result, those unfortunate souls who were more fearful and irrational in their thinking clung to whatever pushed just the right buttons.

_A pity. The Tamer's have done so much to protect our world and everyone in it. It just doesn't seem fair that a group like theirs should be threatened by those that they're trying to protect._

With a rueful shake of her head Aiko turned and left to finish the trek home.

_If only there was some way that I could do something but I'm out of my depths here. I want to find and rescue my daughter but I can't. I have no way of doing so to begin with. And then there's the fact that in order to survive in the digital world I would need a partner digimon like the Tamers do._

_And unfortunately, that is something that I do not have._

_Still…there must be some way that I can do something._

No answer came to Aiko Nakata as she made her way down the crowded streets.

* * *

"We've gotta get in there now!" Exclaimed Ryo to Cyberdramon as he clambered onto the Ultimate's back. "Rika and Takato are vulnerable right now to whatever digimon it is that's bio-emerged!"

With an acknowledging growl Cyberdramon leapt off the rooftop with his charge before Jeri could even say a word about joining them. Jeri reached out towards their rapidly moving figures, opening her mouth to call out to them before she suddenly remembered that there was very little that she was going to be able to do in this situation. She didn't have a partner and while she still carried her cards and her digivice on her at all times just like the others this was the Legendary Tamer, Ryo Akiyama who was heading towards the digital field. There wasn't a card or strategy that he didn't already have and mastered, and to date (as far as she knew) no opponent had ever defeated him in battle no matter how powerful. With the others she could serve as support and offer them extra cards in the event that they had exhausted their own (provided that biomerging or mode changing didn't solve the problem first) but when it came to Ryo, while he did need help every so often, there was very little that he couldn't handle on his own and not walk away from.

And not only that, Jeri knew that she couldn't risk him getting distracted by trying to protect her from whatever it was that was on the other side.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught Jeri's attention, and turning her amber colored eyes Jeri saw the incoming figure of Crusadermon as she flew towards the digital field at full speed.

"RYO! LOOK OUT! CRUSADERMON! SHE'S…"

Lightning suddenly flared at the edges of the digital field and struck Ryo and Cyberdramon just as soon as they touched the cloud of data and energy, causing them both to cry out in surprise. Before Jeri's surprised eyes the Legendary Tamer and his partner both vanished from sight, and the digital field appeared to contract in upon itself, as though absorbing them caused a change in its structure. The clouds of digital particles began to swim beneath its surface at a highly accelerated rate, no longer just drifting like a fog. In fact, it was starting to appear as though there was a _storm_ held barely in check within. More lightning crackled as the cloud spun like a miniature hurricane and began to lash outwards. Jeri screamed and jumped back as a bolt of lightning struck the building that she was standing on, digging a slim scar of a trench within its surface just above a window. Another bolt of lightning snaked outwards like a whip and struck Crusadermon before she could even make contact with the digital field. Unlike Ryo and Cyberdramon however Crusadermon did not disappear but was instead thrown into a building as though she were a rag doll, shattering glass and concrete with her body as she impacted it with tremendous force.

The storm was not yet done with its electrical show though, and continued to spit forth bolts of lightning in every direction. Jeri crouched down on the roof, continuing to watch the spinning digital field for any signs of her friends.

_What…what's happened to them? Where are they?_

Jeri forced herself to calm down. A major undertaking considering what was going on around her and the lack of any visual of her friends and their condition, but she knew that she needed to be thinking clearly if she was to figure out a way to help them. There really wasn't much that she could do unfortunately as she no longer had Leomon by her side… _wait…unless…_

Blinking past the strands of hair that blew into her eyes Jeri frantically dug into her dress's pocket, producing both her orange trimmed digivice and the SolMilleniummon card that she had received from Ryo. She stared at the card for a moment, contemplating what she was about to do.

_Well…it worked once before. So why not now?_

Jeri raised her D-Arc and the SolMilleniummon card above her head just as she had seen Takato do so many times before. As soon as the card made contact with the digivice's card slot, sparks flashed.

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Jeri called out as the data coursed through the card and into the D-Arc as its statistics were read. But before Jeri could finish slashing the card through the slot, the digital field now turned vortex flashed once and a bolt of lightning burst forth and collided with the girl's digivice, sending surges of electricity flowing through her arms. Jeri's eyes widened in shock as she found herself unable to move or speak. Unable in fact to even comprehend what was happening to her. It was as though her mind had hit the pause button on the remote control. She was aware of what was happening to her…aware of the pain that ripped through her lithe body, but it was as though she had forgotten how to react to it.

A smoking, orange trimmed digivice and a crisped, blackened SolMilleniummon card fell at Jeri's sides, hanging there for a moment as the electricity flowing from them finished dancing up her arms before her grip on them loosened and they fell to the ground beneath her. Jeri's body wobbled slightly. Her eyes appeared dazed, as though she were seeing something else in front of her. Her legs trembled, trying their best to remember to do their job and keep her standing up.

Unfortunately it appeared that something was distinctly wrong and soon enough Jeri's legs gave out from beneath her and she collapsed to the ground, her eyes still open but unseeing to the world around her.

She didn't even hear Kenta calling her name as the world faded from her view.

* * *

_Slowly, very slowly, Ryo opened his eyes to the blackness around him. Glancing around him didn't reveal anything all that different from what he had seen initially, except that Cyberdramon was floating next to him, suspended in the same darkness as he was. The vaccine, Ultimate level digimon didn't look all that good either, and his lack of reaction caused Ryo to wonder as to how he was doing. He wasn't dead, as his body hadn't disintegrated as digimon tend to do when that spark of life vanishes from their digi-core, but if Ryo knew anything about his partner he couldn't have been feeling good. Anything that had enough power to make Cyberdramon so out of commission was something very heavy duty, as it often took a lot of punishment to get him to just wince in pain. Unconsciousness or anything of that sort required even more, if only because the Vaccine warrior was often too stubborn to admit when he was injured._

_"C-Cyberdramon…?"_

_"Nnnggrr…" came the muted reply as the cyborg dragon stirred, flexing his claws painfully. Ryo breathed a sigh of relief._

_"Nice to see you too, pal. How're you doing?"_

_Cyberdramon grunted at first, and then threw his head up as the grunt transformed into a groan. His entire body tensed up suddenly and a blue aura surrounded him. Instinctively Ryo reached for his gold trimmed digivice, only to have it snatched away by the Ultimate. Ryo got into a defensive posture as Cyberdramon now leered over him, a wicked looking, and most uncharacteristic grin appearing on his face._

_"Hello Ryo," spoke up Cyberdramon in a strangely smooth toned voice. "Enjoying the ride?"_

_"Milleniummon!"_

_"Guilty as charged_ partner. _You needn't worry about defending yourself from me…_ yet," _The Ultimate then snickered, as though at a joke. "But I am curious as to what you think of this little setup here. An incoming digital field and I managed to twist it around for my own purposes."_

_"What is this about? What do you want?"_

_"What do I want? What do I want? What is it that I've always wanted, Ryo? You. So you have the answer to both of your questions, but the time is not quite right for our final tango. What I do here and now is for all of our benefits, especially considering what's coming. I'm not strong enough to affect much directly, as you know, but I can do some things. This just happens to be one of them and in order to pull of the totality of my plan I need an anchor to be in the digital world for the rest to follow when I need them."_

_Ryo shook his head, not really understanding what it was that his_ partner _was getting at. He hadn't really understood much at all what Milleniummon's goals were ever since he had insinuated himself into his life once again._

_'At least on one or two occasions he sounded remorseful for everything that's happened between us, but now it's like he's back to his old ways. I don't get him! What is he up to?'_

_"Having inner doubts Legendary Tamer?" Sneered Cyberdramon in Milleniummon's cold voice. "You really need to learn to trust others more. I assisted you in your fights with the Royal Knights and Argus, and what I intend is for the good of all the worlds that exist. I…"_

_Cyberdramon paused in his speaking and tilted his head to one side, as though listening to something that only he could hear. After a few moments he chuckled to himself and waved one finger in front of him, not at Ryo but to some invisible presence, as though he were scolding a naughty child._

_"Ah, ah, ah. No hitchhikers. Maybe when you've grown up some more Crusadermon you can join us. For now though you're stuck on earth side. Enjoy."_

_With a snicker mixed with the sound of something exploding Cyberdramon returned his attention to Ryo._

_"Now, where was I? Oh yes…"_

_"Let me out of here. And let go of my partner! That's his body you're controlling!"_

_"I'm your partner too Ryo," scoffed Cyberdramon in Milleniummon's voice. "Something that I know that you've never forgotten. And lest we forget, what belongs to Monodromon also belongs to me since we share the same body."_

_"I don't have time for you! My friends are in danger!"_

_"Awfully demanding aren't we? And you don't even have the high ground…or your whip for that matter to keep me in line." Cyberdramon gestured with the hand that held the gold trimmed digivice. "You shouldn't be so concerned about your two friends. You are, after all, heading where they're going. That should be more than enough for you. And trust me. None of you are in any danger…"_

_Ryo was just about to ask what it was that he meant before a bright light enveloped his eyes. A second later the feel of hard earth impacting his body further interrupted his questions._

* * *

Ryo coughed harshly as he pushed himself up from off the strangely warm ground that he, and the now devolved Monodromon, lay on. Rika, Takato, Renamon and Guilmon lay next to him, both of them in similar modes and attempts towards recovery. All around him Ryo could hear whispers of surprise. Looking up the Legendary Tamer spied a series of familiar, purple colored, knee high boots standing all around him and his friends.

_Something's not right here,_ thought Ryo as he fought to keep his cool. The sheer number of digimon surrounding them did not boast good news, and if what he saw was any indication he had even less reason to feel comfortable.

_"…None of you are in any danger…"_

_None of us are in danger?_ Thought Ryo as he remembered Milleniummon's parting words to him prior to landing wherever it was that he and the others were. _When you're surrounded by this many Mega's I'd say that's open for debate…_

A fox styled, blue and purple clothed shaman digimon that resembled the form Rika took during her altercation with Takato stepped forward, her lips pressed into one thin line as she hefted her silver staff.

"Someone get the high priestess," she said sternly, not deigning to look at her companions behind her.

* * *

Crusadermon ripped herself free from the rubble surrounding her, rage pulsating in her digital veins.

_Just…_ what _…was that?!_

A very good question. In all of her experiences Crusadermon had never actually encountered a digital field, but she did know of them via the various reports that had been gathered on the digital world's interaction with the real world. From that information there had been no records of a digital field acting in the way that this one did. True there had been the digital zone that had prompted the invasion of the Parasimon but that had been due to the forces exerted upon the dimensional barriers by Locomon's continuous looping around the city (Yggdrasil had been most thorough with his documentation). There was also the human made program, the Juggernaut, but it was designed to operate in that manner by manipulating large amounts of data in the digital world. To have it develop suddenly from a natural digital field was something that was meant to be an impossibility.

_Unless a digimon has sufficient power and control over data surrounding it,_ thought Crusadermon as she recalled the voice that had spoke to her before that blast of lightning brushed her aside. Snarling beneath her breath Crusadermon flew out of the hole in the building and fixed her attention on the digital vortex before her.

_Wait a second,_ thought Crusadermon as she pulled to a halt in front of the field. The data particles were now slowing down and returning back to a normal digital field. There was no longer any electrical interference surrounding it either. Instead there was…

_There!_ Crusadermon surged forward, breaking into the digital field and slashing her yellow ribbons around her like a tornado, dispersing the digital field rapidly until not a single sign of it remained. Looking from one side to the next revealed nothing and once more Crusadermon felt a new sense of fury brewing within her.

_Where is it?! There was a digimon in here! Where is it? For that matter where are the Tamers that were…AAAGH!_

Crusadermon gave a cry of surprise as she felt something like a rod slam into the back of her neck before shifting up and down, sweeping her off her feet. Crashing to the ground Crusadermon rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding getting skewered by a curved blade attached to a spear. Getting into a battle position Crusadermon looked up and finally saw the face of her attacker.

Two fox tails flowed behind its white and black colored kimono. Baleful eyes glared out from beneath an armored mask as it tugged its spear out of the rooftop and pointed it at her. Crusadermon instantly recognized the warrior.

_Gyōjamon…_

"Royal Knight," said the fox styled digimon slowly and menacingly. "Prepare to meet your end for all of your crimes against the Seer Council."

And with that, Gyōjamon rushed towards her, spear extended forward.


	98. 97: the Spear of Fate

_"Spiral Masquerade!"_ Shouted Crusadermon as she slashed her yellow ribbons at Gyōjamon relentlessly, employing them as swords. The fox styled warrior deftly deflected the rigid ribbons to the side, ensuring that their razor sharp edges would not damage either him or his spear before counterattacking with a quick thrust forward. Crusadermon moved to dodge and sparks flew through the air as the curved blade nicked her shoulder. Not perturbed by this 'miss' Gyōjamon threw one arm into a full circle, and a flurry of yellow, blue, red, and green energy knives flew through the air, impacting with Crusadermon's body before she could even react, causing another shower of sparks to fly through the air, obscuring the image of her opponent as he rushed towards her, spear extended for another strike. Growling angrily beneath her breath Crusadermon spun on her heels and slashed her ribbons around her body, sending the remaining sparks flying around her like a tornado of fire before stepping to the side and grabbing hold of the staff portion of Gyōjamon's spear. The Royal Knight tugged on the weapon, attempting to remove it from her attacker but as soon as she did so a blindingly golden light burst forth from it and raced up Crusadermon's arms, searing her body with such intense pain that she was forced to let go of the weapon with a cry. Giving her no time to recuperate Gyōjamon leapt into the air, twisting his body before bringing his staff down upon the Royal Knight's vulnerable head, smashing into the armored limb brutally. For an instant, the fox styled characters that ran along the spear's curved blade glowed with that same golden light that had torn into Crusadermon earlier before unleashing itself upon her like strands of string, binding themselves around the pink knight's limbs and sending jolts of electricity into her body, forcing her to curl up into a ball and fall down to the ground beneath her.

Crusadermon breathed heavily as she tried to fight through the pain and exhaustion that now permeated her mind. The attack had all been so sudden; so swift that, even despite her speed, she had not been able to compensate. Her injuries hadn't helped all that much either. She could definitely feel the difference. Her strength and speed were terribly compromised and she hadn't allowed herself much time to recuperate and heal enough where she could put up a proper fight against this digimon. Truth be told though she'd be amazed if she would have been able to keep up with Gyōjamon even at full strength. From all of the reports that she had heard about prior to her arriving in the real world Gyōjamon was an exceptionally powerful digimon and an extremely rare evolution among the Renamon line. Myths often revolved around it and any information about its full capabilities and powers were sketchy at best save that it was fast and was much more heavily battle oriented when compared to its Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon counterparts, who were more vested in magic than actual combat.

_Must…get a hold of myself. Got to break free…_

_"Amanonuhoko!"_

Crusadermon cried out as Gyōjamon again smashed his spear into her, sending her flying backwards, with the movement providing added shock from the strands of energy that remained wrapped around her. Crusadermon bit the inside of her mouth, preventing herself from crying out as rivers of pain and electricity ripped through her body. Forcing herself to her feet Crusadermon pushed the anguish that her nerves were being made to endure to the side long enough to leap into the air and take flight. Gyōjamon hefted his spear and regarded her escape beneath his masked gaze.

"Do not think that you and your kind can be so quick to escape your punishment," he said in a low voice.

Blue fire flashed at the edges of the spear's blade before rearing upwards like a flickering serpent. As if it had a mind of its own the flame appeared to take aim of its own accord at Crusadermon. The flames beat in time with the fox warrior's words as he chanted a spell.

_"Battlefields littered,_

_Friends fallen,_

_Hallowed graves of victory…"_

_"Amanonuhoko."_

The blue flames roared off of the kitsune warrior's spear, burning wings sprouting from its back as a face appeared at its front and opened a fiery maw. Sensing the oncoming attack Crusadermon coaxed even more speed from her body and readied her _Scarlet Tempest_ attack in the hopes that she could use it to shield herself should she not be able to outrun what was coming. Unfortunately for her the threads of energy that remained bound to her form once again blazed brightly, flooding her mind and body with such an intense pain that it caused her to all but stop in the air as she attempted to bring herself back under control. The scant few seconds that it took her to try and get a hold of herself were all that was needed for Gyōjamon attack to hit home, impacting with her body with tremendous force and sending her hurtling towards the streets below.

* * *

"Report!" Exclaimed Yamaki angrily as he entered the main control room of Hypnos, for once wishing that his former 'associate', Itokawa was there for him to knock to the floor again as this latest interruption from the digital world had now proven to be more than what his nervous habit with his lighter could handle. Unfortunately the man was no longer a part of Hypnos due to his disastrous use of the Argus system, so there wasn't a chance that he could vent his frustrations on him. Not that he would of course, unless it turned out that Itokawa was behind this, in which case he would promptly be feeling considerably better and Itokawa would be thrown back out onto the streets again. Such was not the case however, and Yamaki highly doubted that Itokawa would be behind anything of this sort again.

He had gotten the distinct impression that after his last incident, Itokawa would never try anything of that sort again, regardless of whether or not he was working at Hypnos or in the civilian field.

 _At least we were able to repair the detection equipment,_ thought Yamaki dryly as he awaited Riley's report.

"We are currently receiving reports of a heavy disturbance in the downtown area," said Riley as she read off the information that was being fed to her. "Two high level wild types, one of them matching the data profile of the Crusadermon that appeared in Shinjuku yesterday. The other is an unknown. There were also unusual energy spikes in the digital field that the unknown emerged from."

Yamaki raised an eyebrow.

"Unusual? In what way?"

"Difficult to tell sir. But the sensors indicate that the digital field had been _inversed_ prior to the bio-emergence of the Unknown Wild One. We're still gathering data on the anomaly."

"Is it important?"

Riley met Yamaki's gaze.

"Sir. All unknown anomaly's emanating from the digital world must be catalogued and studied. Also, we have lost three digivice signals that were in the area when the digital field appeared."

"What?! _Lost?!_ What do you me...?"

"No signals from three of the four primary Tamers are being detected," supplied Tally as her fingers flew across her keyboard. "Two of them belonging to Takato Matsuki and Rika Nonaka were at the epicenter and the last one belonged to Ryo Akiyama."

Yamaki scowled darkly as he clenched his lighter in one hand, growling beneath his breath.

_Lost? This…can't be. Are they dead? No…it can't be. It…_

"Riley. Did you say that there was a reversal in the digital field's normal operations prior to the bio-emergence of the Wild One?"

"Yes sir. There was a reverse feed of digital information crossing from the real world to the digital world. We're still processing the data now but we won't be able to get any accurate information soon."

Yamaki nodded.

"Continue analyzing it then. Tally. Direct a scan of the digital world's upper-most layer and scan each successive layer after it. Look for any signs of a digivice signal or human lifesigns."

"Yes sir!"

"Riley. What's the present status of the two Wild Ones?"

 _"One_ Wild one signal sir."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm reading only one Wild One signal. That's the Unknown. For some reason Crusadermon is emitting a different signal that's similar to the Tamer's partner digimon."

"Are you certain?"

"Quite certain. The signal's very clear. At any rate, the two digimon are presently fighting it out, but Crusadermon is losing…badly. We have two Tamer signals approaching the area of disturbance as well as two more already there, but for some reason they are not moving in on the scene. Neither partner is moving at all and one of the signals is extremely faint." Riley frowned beneath her visor. "Sir. The signals belong to Kenta Kitogawa, MarineAngemon, and Jeri Katou. Jeri's signal is the one that's faint and I'm detecting a decrease in her digivices functions."

"I've cross referenced the decrease as having occurred around the time that digital field went nuts," said Tally, slipping into a more informal mode of speaking. Yamaki nodded.

"So…they're may be a chance that she's been injured. Riley. Get the crews to their copters now and get their vehicles prepped for launch. I have the distinct impression that the Tamers are going to need our help in a more 'hands on' fashion."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

"Jeri!" Shouted Kenta as MarineAngemon's heart bubble popped and deposited him on the rooftop. "JERI!"

 _Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman…_ Thought Kenta as he ran over to his fallen friend, the words hammering in his mind like a broken record. Getting down on his knees next to the girl Kenta reached down to try and shake her before suddenly remembering that, in the event of injuries, moving someone was by far _not_ the correct thing to do unless there was no other alternative.

"Jeri? Jeri?" Asked Kenta, trying to stay as calm as he could while his partner floated on over to him. Kenta patted her cheek gently to wake her up, only to receive no response. "C'mon already, this isn't funny. Jeri! You've got to wake up!"

MarineAngemon looked at the bespectacled boy with concern.

"Pih puh pih?" The pink fairy digimon asked. Kenta shook his head fiercely.

"No!" He exclaimed loudly. "She's okay. She's got to be okay! Jeri's tough! She's been through a lot so something like this shouldn't be a problem. I've… _we've_ …just got to make sure that she's okay."

 _After all, she's just been electrocuted,_ thought Kenta as he desperately tried to recall anything that could help him in this situation. Although his medical skills were rather lacking, he did know some basics in first aid. Unfortunately he hadn't really studied it in any great detail beyond bandage wrapping as he had been taught it sometime before his adventures in the digital world, and he hadn't thought that he would ever need it. And since he had MarineAngemon, whose first aid skills were second to none when compared to most doctors the thought of actually learning anything further never really occurred to him. At least, not until recent events that is when he had found out about his partner's limitations when it came to human tissue that hadn't retained or held any digital properties to it (such as the Tamers and their partner digimon). And then, there was the memory of what had happened to the Zephyrmon following his climactic battle with DinoRexmon. The helplessness that he had felt then in trying to help her was all too real, and it became even worse right now. He and MarineAngemon had to save Jeri…but would they have time to do it?

 _Really,_ really _wish that there was a real doctor here,_ thought Kenta as he laid his head on Jeri's chest and pressed one ear to it, listening for a heartbeat. _But there's just us right now._

Kenta listened carefully for any sign of life from his friend, but the lack of sound coming from her chest didn't do his nerves any good.

_She's not breathing…_

The realization almost sent Kenta into another panic but with a determination he didn't know that he had he quickly clamped down on it. His memory tracked back to what he had been taught concerning CPR. He almost found himself recoiling at the realization that he didn't remember enough where he would be able to help her, but the knowledge that if he didn't do something put him in a difficult position. Jeri could die either way, because he didn't help her when she needed him or because he didn't help her in the right way. A quaint 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' scenario but there was very little choice in the matter. He'd never be able to live with himself if he let Jeri die. There just wasn't enough time to find someone with more knowledge.

Kenta looked up at MarineAngemon and the two shared a nod.

"Okay MarineAngemon," said the bespectacled Tamer. "I'm going to need your help on this one. I know that your hearts can heal people, but I'm not sure that they're going to work in this case unless I can get Jeri breathing on her own."

"Pihpihpih!"

"I know. That's why you're going to be in support. You won't be able to perform mouth to mouth or chest compressions because you're so small. What I _do_ need for you to do is maintain a steady stream of hearts while I'm working." Kenta winced as he looked at her hands, noting that they were burned badly enough to actually _blacken_ the skin of her palms and fingers. Kenta hoped that she had enough data stored in her for MarineAngemon's healing abilities to work on her. "And I want you to let me know when her chest rises."

"Pih!" MarineAngemon nodded his head in understanding. Looking back down at Jeri Kenta reached down and carefully tilted her head back. He quickly checked a second time to confirm her lack of breathing before proceeding to the next step: breathing into her mouth.

Blotting out the implications that the act involved from his prepubescent mind Kenta opened up Jeri's mouth, cursing himself for not remembering to check it for anything that could be blocking the air passages to begin with Kenta pressed his mouth to Jeri's and breathed.

"Pihpihpihpih!"

Kenta smiled mentally at MarineAngemon's informing him that his actions so far were going right, that he was getting oxygen into her lungs. At least, that's what he hoped. Breathing into her mouth once more Kenta pulled back and then placed his hands on her chest, at the point where the chest bone began to split off towards the stomach. Kenta almost froze in hesitation. This was the correct spot, right? Or was it supposed to be higher? Or maybe it was lower? A thousand images from television shows where he had seen the act dominated his mind over what he had actually been taught but he knew that he couldn't rely on them to get by. He knew that television didn't portray the method properly. Something to do with the risk of damaging the organs as those were what you had to reach to maintain blood circulation and oxygenation to the brain. Deciding that he was on the right track (and hoping that he really was) Kenta pressed down, counting to himself each time that he did so, dearly hoping that he had the number of compressions that he was supposed to make right. Upon reaching thirty Kenta once again placed his mouth against Jeri's and breathed, counting 'one-Mississippi, two Mississippi' as he did so. Upon reaching two he went back to compressing Jeri's chest. Jeri's body was glowing in alternating colors of pink and blue, signaling that the pink fairy digimon was doing his part of the job. Kenta sweated as he continued. He couldn't stop until either she woke up or he passed out from exhaustion, and although he refused to even entertain the possibility that the latter might happen, he prayed that the former would occur soon.

The sounds of battle and engines roared in his ears, but he paid them no mind. He had to focus everything on saving Jeri and keeping her from dying. It didn't matter to him if he was being targeted by an attack. He had to keep going.

For Jeri's sake.

One second, one breath…that was all it would take.

_One Mississippi…breath…two Mississippi…_

* * *

Rapidmon flew towards the busy crowds of Shinjuku, ignoring the number of stares that he and his partner were receiving as they made their way towards the sight of the disturbance, guided by the ever reliable compass function of the digivice that connected them together.

"Control tower, this is Awesome Rapid One. Where'd you say that bogey was again? Over."

"Rapidmon…"

"Momentai Henry! But seriously, where's the digimon? From the signal that you have and the sense that I'm getting it's supposed to be a big one, but I'm not seeing it. You'd think that we'd see it by now. I mean, wild digimon tend to stick out quite a lot, even in this town. I don't care how many digimon we saw get sucked into that Juggernaut portal back when the Deva invasion started, they don't exactly go to a whole lot of trouble to make themselves subtle and none-noticeable you know."

"I can hardly argue with you on that," said Henry as he checked his digivices readings again. "Now by the looks of things we're almost there. We should be seeing something…"

An explosion suddenly rocked the side of a building as the lithe form of Crusadermon was forcibly ejected from it.

"…Soon," finished Henry as he watched the Royal Knight plummet towards the streets below.

"Don't you just hate it when you're right?" Quipped Rapidmon.

"Never mind that! Catch her before she injures any civilians by landing!"

"I'm on it!" With a roar of his rockets Rapidmon flew forward, angling his arms as best as he could so that he could catch Crusadermon with as little effort as possible. The fact that he and Henry were 'rescuing' Crusadermon was not lost on the mechanical Ultimate, and the danger that she posed was keenly on his mind as she could turn on them without warning. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to biomerge to MegaGargomon so that they could match her in level and strength, and the streets were too crowded for their Mega level's size to be able to use comfortably whether or not things became violent for them. They were just going to have to move quickly. Catch her, get her to ground level, and back off before she knew what was going on.

 _Yeah, right,_ thought Rapidmon as he closed in. _And I'm the Easter Bunny. We're talking about a Mega who can move as fast as me on reflexes and is even more maneuverable than I am! I have to rely on my jet pack to provide me with the same speed but it's not always useful when it comes to regular maneuvers. Too much speed in two directions and not much else!_

Rapidmon narrowed his eyes as he drew nearer.

_Funny…is it just me or is Crusadermon tied up?_

Rapidmon slammed into Crusadermon's body, cupping her as best as he could in the crook of his arms as he brought them all down to the ground safely. As the Ultimate Vaccine digimon landed he noticed the jolts of electricity that jumped around the Mega's armored form, playing from the strands of golden energy that wrapped around her.

"Hu-wha…? What the heck is this?"

"Looks to be some kind of binding mechanism," said Henry as he slid off of Rapidmon's back and stepped around him to get a closer look. Rapidmon placed the battered knight on the ground gently, and with as much skill as he could muster considering his lack of fingers to guide her downwards. Crusadermon groaned as she touched down on the hard pavement below.

"I don't remember any of us using something like this," said Rapidmon.

"I wonder who else it could be then. We detected a bio-emergence, but with what Kazu told us about Crusadermon still being loose in the city I doubt that it's her that we're looking for."

"She looks pretty banged up too Henry," said Rapidmon. "My onboard sensors tell me that most of what we're looking at isn't recent injuries."

"Than what…?"

A shadow fell over the pair, causing them both to look up at a two tailed, fox styled warrior with a long, curved bladed spear hovering in the air above them. Instinctively Henry pulled out his digivice and scanned it. A halo circle materialized above his digivice's screen, giving him the image of the digimon and available statistics.

Gyōjamon

Stage: Mega

Type: Data

Special Attacks: Amanonuhoko, Spirit Blades, Golden Shine, Will of the Gods

"Step away from the Royal Knight Tamer," spoke up the kitsune warrior in a cold voice as he slowly lowered his spear point towards the ground. "I am to deliver justice to this Royal Knight as I see fit for the crimes her and her group have visited upon my people. I shall speak to you afterwards."

Henry took a step forward and raised his digivice.

"Hold on. She's already defeated…"

"Henry?" Began Rapidmon as he warily shifted his eyes back and forth between the two Mega digimon. "As much as I like your philosophy of not destroying digimon unless we have no other alternative, can I point out the long term affects of Crusadermon _not_ being around in the future?"

"Rapidmon!"

"It's just a suggestion Henry! Besides, these Royal Knights have been a pain in our butts ever since they first showed up, and Crusadermon has been one of the worst! Did you forget that she attacked Kazu at the first opportunity she had? And it's not the first time either that she's gone after him…not to mention Guilmon."

"I know that Rapidmon, but," Henry glanced down at the fallen Royal Knight. "She's out cold. She doesn't need to be destroyed now that she's helpless. We can just call Yamaki and have him send her back to the digital world."

"How're we going to do that? Last I checked Hypnos's systems were damaged, and the last time that we tried to send a wild digimon back to the digital world…"

Rapidmon trailed off as he saw the look of hurt in his Tamer's eyes as he remembered Sangloupmon's attempt at 'escape'. He knew what Henry was getting at, and that he meant well, but there were always the problems that came with allowing a wild, not to mention violent and out of control digimon, to run free in the real world. Some digimon were able to live without bothering anyone, partner or not, but there were others that were just like this. Violent and they had to be deleted because all too often they refused to just give up and surrender while they could. It was something that Henry understood all too well, having learned that lesson since their early days as Tamers and had acknowledged it fully during their many battles with the D-Reaper. An enemy that refused to be reasoned with while still callously causing destruction was one that could not be allowed to exist for the safety of everyone and everything that existed. With the D-Reaper there had been much reason to follow through with that philosophy, and due to the sheer numbers and the persistence of the Parasimon during their invasion there hadn't been time to find a better alternative.

But here, Rapidmon knew that they had time to find an alternative. Crusadermon was, as Henry pointed out, helpless and so was no longer a threat to anyone. While he wasn't too keen on the idea of Crusadermon still running the risk of escaping and causing trouble for them later, could either he or Henry just step aside and let someone else just kill another being in cold blood because of this?

Henry sighed and narrowed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Terriermon. But I can't let this happen. I don't want to just sit back and watch another digimon butcher another when it's helpless."

"Let me make this simple for you Tamer," said Gyōjamon as he hefted his spear and settled down on the ground. "That digimon is part of a group that has recently attacked my home and caused immense damage to it. She may not have been a party to this group's attack upon my home and my people but this one will most certainly join the others once they arrive here."

"Wait. Hold the phone for a second," said Rapidmon in surprise. "There are _more_ Royal Knights coming? Are you kidding me?"

"I do not _kid_ ," said the fox styled warrior, glowering at the cybernetic dog bunny beneath his mask. "And I would most certainly not do so about this. The Royal Knights attacked my home and the digimon Sovereign, Azulongmon because they desired the keys to gain access to this world…"

"Azulongmon?! Keys? Hey! Whatever happened to ol' Zhuq's? I thought he was supposed to be in charge of the digital world that Shinjuku leads to."

Henry raised an eyebrow and looked at his partner.

"How do you know that? I thought all four Sovereign digimon ruled the digital world."

"It was just something that Lopmon told me when we were separated from you guys. Something to do with the quadrant theory that you and the others banter around every now and then…"

"I do not have time for this," growled Gyōjamon, raising his spear. "My mission was solely to come to this world to warn you about the oncoming invasion of the Royal Knights and assist you as needed. Eliminating this lone member of the Royal Knights is a part of my mission. Step aside. I do not want to fight you."

Henry hesitated. This changed everything. If there was another war brewing between the real and digital worlds should he help a digimon that was only going to end up fighting against him and his friends? His conscience didn't want to harm Crusadermon since she no longer appeared to be capable of fighting on her own, but he didn't want her to be able to be a difficulty later, especially at an inopportune moment.

Step aside? Or…?

_"Guardian Barrage!"_

A twin set of cartoonish missiles with whistles in their mouths streaked towards Gyōjamon and slammed into him full force, eliciting a cry of surprise from the Mega's mouth as he stumbled backwards to regain his balance.

"Who…?" Began Gyōjamon as he batted away the smoke that surrounded him and glowered at the two figures that were charging forwards, ready to do battle. One of them was large, and unmistakably a Guardromon unless his eyes were deceiving him, while the other was a human, significantly smaller and wearing a visor on his forehead as well as a plain, dark green t-shirt. The pair came to a stop a short ways off from where Henry stood and the Guardromon raised his massive arms to take aim with his missile launchers.

"Oh yeah!" Called out the human. "Time to face the awesomeness that is BlackWarKazumon and his sidekick Guardromon!"

"Surrender or face utter annihilation!" Ordered Guardromon as he narrowed his eyes dangerously at the Mega. Gyōjamon, Henry, and Rapidmon just stared incredulously at the duo before Henry and Rapidmon just looked at each other and shrugged, a small smile appearing on Henry's face as they turned back towards their soon to be opponent. It looked as though their decision had been made for them.

* * *

_Where…?_

_…Darkness…_

_Where am…?_

_…Shadows…_

_Where am…I?_

_Blackness…cold…the touch of the grave…_

_"Hello Jeri…"_

Jeri Katou awoke with a start; her eyes snapping open and raw sunlight assaulted her senses, driving off the coldness that had enveloped her young body scant seconds ago. Rolling to the side with a groan the brown haired girl felt around, desperately trying to find her digivice, remembering that she had dropped it after she had been…

Jeri paused and frowned. She couldn't find her digivice. And not only that she couldn't remember what it was exactly that had happened to her.

_The last thing that I remember is seeing Ryo and Cyberdramon disappearing after being struck by lightning from that weird digital field, and I was going to slash his SolMilleniummon card. And then…_

Jeri closed her eyes as she struggled to remember what it was that had happened that had caused her to fall on the ground.

 _Hold on a second,_ thought Jeri as her eyes shot open once again and she took a look around her. Fields of grass with a cropping of trees a short ways off in the distance. Flowers of blue and gold dotted the landscape all around her and a soft breeze blew across them, creating a wave like motion across the field that took Jeri's breath away as she watched it go. Brushing aside a strand of hair Jeri took in everything that was around her. This was most definitely _not_ where she last remembered being. A quick check up at the sky revealed that there was only a sun hanging above her and not the digital world's representation of the earth so wherever she was she couldn't be in the digital world.

 _Unless I somehow ended up in the TV show,_ thought Jeri in a faint attempt to joke about her situation but it didn't quite work out the way that she hoped it would. Getting up from off the ground Jeri took another look around her as she continued to recall what had happened to her and if it had any bearing at all on where she was.

" _DIGI-MODIFY!" Jeri called out as the data coursed through the card and into the D-Arc as its statistics were read. But before Jeri could finish slashing the card through the slot, the digital field now turned vortex flashed once and a bolt of lightning burst forth and collided with the girl's digivice, sending surges of electricity flowing through her arms. Jeri's eyes widened in shock as she found herself unable to move or speak. Unable in fact to even comprehend what was happening to her. It was as though her mind had hit the pause button on the remote control. She was aware of what was happening to her…aware of the pain that ripped through her lithe body, but it was as though she had forgotten how to react to it._

_A smoking, orange trimmed digivice and a crisped, blackened SolMilleniummon card fell at Jeri's sides, hanging there for a moment as the electricity flowing from them finished dancing up her arms before her grip on them loosened and they fell to the ground beneath her. Jeri's body wobbled slightly. Her eyes appeared dazed, as though she were seeing something else in front of her. Her legs trembled, trying their best to remember to do their job and keep her standing up._

_Unfortunately it appeared that something was distinctly wrong and soon enough Jeri's legs gave out from beneath her and she collapsed to the ground, her eyes still open but unseeing to the world around her._

_"JERI!"_

Jeri clutched her hands to her chest and fell forward, breathing heavily as the memory suddenly took life in her mind.

_Ah…ah…wha…? Did…did I…die?_

" _No. At least, not exactly,"_ spoke up a voice in Jeri's mind, causing her to gasp and look around frantically to locate its source.

"Who's there?" Jeri called out, her voice quavering slightly, nervous about facing whatever was out there as she had no immediate means of protecting herself. A shadow fell over her from behind and turning slowly and carefully Jeri looked to see what it could be. It was a tall figure and humanoid; its appearance at first looked to be obscured by the sunlight that shone down from above but Jeri soon realized that this had more to do with the fact that the armor that completely covered its body, save for the pair of humanoid eyes that looked out at her from beneath a lion shaped face mask, was completely black with only a few gold and red trims here and there. Lion emblems decorated the figure's shoulders chest, shoulders, and knee guards, giving it the appearance of a warrior of some type, making her think for an instant that she was looking at Leomon, but a continued look at the warrior quickly told her that was not so. Although Jeri found the figure to be somewhat intimidating there was something in its stance and in its eyes that left her at ease in its presence. Why that was, she didn't know for sure, but it was something that her heart told her. That, and the warrior's eyes. Its… _his…_ eyes especially were not threatening in any way, and were instead warm and inviting.

Although the eye color was wrong, they reminded her of Takato's eyes whenever she had seen him contemplative and smiling. Something that she missed most about him.

"Hello Jeri Katou. I am Loewemon."

"Um…hello?" Jeri glanced around her before refocusing her attention back on the digimon in front of her. "Can you tell me what you mean by…uh…my not being dead? And where am I?"

"Your mind is in shock," said the dark warrior simply as he got down to one knee in front of her so that they could be more level with each other. Although he had spoken in a tone that sounded like an animal growling Jeri couldn't help but continue to feel comforted in his presence. "As you remembered now this is literal in more ways than one. Two of your friends are trying to save you. In the meantime you are caught in between the borders of life and death. There is very little time available for you unless you cross back over to the other side. Ultimately that is determined by your will to live and how well your friends are able to perform their tasks to resuscitate your body." The dark armored digimon shook his head with a sigh. "The spirit can be willing, but the body can be stronger than the spirit. The soul is often times too dependent on being anchored to something that obeys a set of rules."

"Um…okay," said Jeri, feeling a little bit uneasy. "I'm not sure I really understand exactly what's going on. And…why are _you_ here? Are you… _Enma?"_

The dark warrior raised an eyebrow at the mention of the Japanese _Judge of the Dead_.

"I thought I told you that I'm…"

"Sorry! I'm sorry. I know what you said, but are you some kind of digimon equivalent to him?"

"No," consoled Loewemon. "Although I share the same element I am not a judge of the departed. For digimon that title along with the power falls to Anubismon. And if he were to judge one such as you, I am fairly certain that he would smile upon you."

"Then why…why are you here?"

"I don't have much time to explain it in full detail," said Loewemon. "Suffice to say that I am an acquaintance of one that Ryo knows quite well. One that you've only just become aware of yourself."

Jeri blinked. "You mean…SolMilleniummon?"

"No…at least not yet. Jeri, I am here to tell you that there is something happening in the digital world. Something terrible. Events have been set in motion and because of that powers are gathering to ensure their survival in the storm."

"But…but why tell me this?" Asked Jeri, blinking in confusion. "Why me and not one of the others? I…I'm not useful like they are…"

"That is not so Jeri," said Loewemon. "You have a gift inside of you that will enable the digital world to survive."

"I…do?" Jeri blinked in confusion as she tried to remember a time when she had displayed any unique trait that had helped her friends. Not a single one came to mind.

"Yes. In due time you will know what it is. My mission here is to make you aware of that gift."

"But what is that gift?"

Loewemon looked fully into Jeri's eyes before speaking.

"You care," was all he said, and then the world suddenly burst into white light and all further noise was drowned out by a loud, electronic, whining sound.

* * *

Jeri suddenly burst upwards, her hands clutched tightly to her chest as she breathed heavily, pulling air into her lungs as quickly as she could. Before she could say or do anything she was suddenly crushed into a bear hug by one extremely exuberant Kenta Kitogawa.

"We did it! MarineAngemon! We did it! We saved her!"

"Pihpihpih," piped in the miniature, pink fairy digimon.

"Okay, so her digivice also helped out but that was at the last minute! It didn't kick in when she was first out anyway. Last I checked it was all burnt out!"

Feeling a tad bit self-conscious, not to mention curious as to what was going on Jeri began to untangle herself from her friend and looked around her in confusion. Kenta was sitting next to her, tears of relief streaming down his face and a wider than life smile beginning to bloom, looking for all the world as one who had just had a close brush with death and was able to rejoice about it.

"Kenta? What's going on? The last thing I remember is…" Jeri paused and then blinked. Before she knew what was happening an answer came to her unbidden in her mind.

"…You…you saved me. I was electrocuted by the digital field and you saved me."

Kenta bobbed his head up and down as he wiped his eyes of his joyful tears.

"Well…actually your digivice saved you when it did its light show, but MarineAngemon and I helped out a little before it did that. Man, you don't know how much it freaked me out seeing you like that. I thought you were a goner for sure but you pulled through. I was so afraid that I was going to mess up and a-a-acci-d-d-dently… _hurt_ you…"

Kenta burst into tears again, but this time his joy was completely overwhelmed by the fear that he had experienced over seeing her the way she was. A series of images flashed through her mind of her body lying prostrate on the ground, unmoving and not breathing; showing no signs of life. And Kenta, trying to resuscitate her. The information came to her faster than she could grasp onto it, but it was there clear as day. And not only that there was the strange dream that she had before waking up. The dream where she had spoken to a dark armored warrior that reminded her faintly of Leomon.

_I…I died…or at least came pretty close to it._

Jeri raised one hand to her chest and slowly closed it as she contemplated the thought for a moment but in the end shook it off. She felt that there was something that she needed to do, somewhere that she had to be at that moment. Pushing aside all other thoughts Jeri pulled Kenta to her in a hug, smiling warmly as she patted his back.

"Hey. It's okay Kenta. I'm fine now…"

"I-I know," replied Kenta as he pulled away from her and wiped his eyes, forcing himself to laugh a little at himself. "It's just…it was really freaky the way you looked. I…"

"I know. But you saved me. Thank you Kenta."

Kenta took a shaky breath, but didn't quite appear to calm down yet. Impulsively Jeri reached out and placed one hand on his shoulder, and for some strange reason felt a stream of warmth flow from her to the boy, and he began to visibly calm down. In Jeri's mind she felt something that she could only call an 'echo' but there was nothing else to it that she could discern. Deciding to forget the strange feeling for now Jeri gave Kenta's shoulder a soft squeeze before releasing her hold on him.

"We'd better get going. I'm sure the others are going to need our help. We've also got to get a hold of Yamaki as soon as we can. I've got some things that I need to talk to him about."

Kenta fixed the girl with a curious look, as though wondering how she could shake off her brush with death so quickly and easily before deciding that now wasn't perhaps the best time to be worrying about that. Getting up to his feet Kenta pulled out his digivice and called up the compass function.

"Right. Um…well, I'm picking up four digimon signals not too far away from here. I'd wager two of them are Crusadermon and whoever it is that she's fighting with and two of our friends. I'd say there's as good a place as any."

Jeri nodded and then reached down to pick up her digivice and the SolMilleniummon card that she had dropped. She winced slightly upon picking them up, as though her hands were tender in some way but upon inspection she couldn't find anything wrong with them. Deciding that it wasn't important Jeri inspected her belongings. The SolMilleniummon card was blackened and crisped. Most of the picture was obscured by burn marks and its edges were frayed. Jeri frowned at it, wondering how this would affect things before looking over to inspect her digivice. What she saw made her jaw almost drop in surprise.

Clean, white plastic marked its surface, unblemished by any mark that she had expected as the SolMilleniummon card had been (and after what she remembered Kenta saying about it being 'burnt out' she fully expected to see it shatter before her eyes upon touching it). It was immaculate and looked brand new.

And as though to complete the image of 'newness' that her digivice now had, a shining golden ring now encircled her digivice's screen.

 _No way…_ was all Jeri could think as she took in her digivice before a far off explosion caught her attention.


	99. 98: Reaching Out

_"Well?"_

_"She's almost ready."_

_"It's going to have to be better than 'almost'. The time draws near and Oni…"_

_"I think we're all well aware of that. His affects are just beginning to be felt throughout the digital world now. Nothing serious so far but with the Digital Hazard combined with his powers that's going to going to change rapidly. Ms. Katou will be ready though."_

_"Quite an awful lot of faith in this one girl…"_

_"She's been through many ordeals and endured them all. Given that, I have plenty of reason to have faith in her."_

_"More so than Ryo?"_

_"That's stretching things. Ryo's a special case. An enigma among humans and one that can alter my powers. Jeri on the other hand can unify the Tamers using that property. Each of the Tamers has their own gifts that grow as their bonds with each other and their partners increase. Jeri is just a late bloomer. Don't underestimate her just because she lacks a digimon partner like the others."_

_"At any rate, there's nothing we can do for now but sit back and wait. You know, your faith doesn't make things easier for us. We're not used to sitting on the sidelines."_

_"Unfortunately my dear Beetlemon, that's where we are for the time being. And that's where we must remain until all the cast is gathered in one place."_

* * *

"You're going to want to back off bud," said Kazu as he raised his fists determinedly at Gyōjamon, who merely regarded the visor wearing Tamer in a bored fashion. The masked vixen styled digimon shook his head.

"I am not here to fight you boy. Merely to bring justice to this Royal Knight and her fellow comrades."

"I can get that," said Rapidmon underneath his breath, earning him an annoyed look from Henry as he took a step forward, his hands spread wide in a placating manner.

"Look; I'm sure that we can settle this peacefully. Crusadermon's helpless…"

"Face facts Henry," said Rapidmon. "If this guy didn't see your point of view the first time what makes you think that there's going to be any difference now?"

"Duh!" Answered Kazu in Henry's stead. "Because if he doesn't we're going to fight him that's why. Clean his digital clock! Because we're definitely not going to stand by and watch him take out one of our own."

Henry raised an eyebrow.

"One of our own? Kazu what are you talking about?"

"I'd like to know that too," said Rapidmon tilting his head to one side before glancing at Gyōjamon nervously. "Preferably before this guy gets any bright ideas about tearing up the streets with us still on them."

"Rapidmon…" Henry glared slightly at his oversized, mechanical partner before looking back at Kazu. "Kazu, what do you mean 'one of our own'? Did something happen between you two when she attacked you?"

A troubled look appeared on Kazu's face and he looked at the unmoving form of Crusadermon uncertainly.

"It's…kind of difficult to explain. When she jumped Guardromon and me she was going on about wanting me to tell her how to break the bond between a Tamer and a partner digimon. And then…after we had our meeting at Hypnos…"

"It appears that Crusadermon has become partnered to young Itou," said Guardromon, deciding to take over for Kazu due to his failure to simply get straight to the point. "Kenta had observed an altercation between them that indicated as much prior to receiving a favor from the fair maiden."

Henry blinked in confusion as he digested that information.

"Uh…what?"

"You know Guardromon," said Kazu as he turned on his partner angrily, pumping his fists in front of him in annoyance. "I was getting around to telling them that Ayaka is Crusadermon's partner.

"Well it didn't look like you were having an easy time with it so I went ahead and did it for you."

"Funny how you never use that reasoning whenever I have trouble with my homework. And how come you had to throw in that last part about Ayaka kissing Kenta? That really wasn't necessary you know."

"Why not? I think it's something to be proud of. Even if Kenta isn't a knight he still did a knight's duty for the fair maiden."

"That's not the point you big lug nut!"

Henry turned to Rapidmon, his gray colored eyes questioning.

"Do you have any idea what it is that they're talking about?"

Rapidmon just shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me. I got lost after Ayaka becoming a Tamer. And how come no one mentioned any of this during the meeting?"

The sound of Gyōjamon loudly clearing his throat interrupted the Tamer's respective conversations and returned their attention back to the matter at hand.

"As _interesting_ as it is listening to you bicker amongst yourselves, I must insist that you vacate this area so that I may tend to the Royal Knight with a method that is fit for her kind."

A sharp gust of wind blew at the kitsune warrior's robes as he hefted his spear and began to walk menacingly towards the battered knight as she lay prostrate on the ground. Henry's eyes narrowed as he pulled his hands into fists. Gyōjamon did not so much as bat an eye as he hefted his spear.

"You know what she is child, and I sense that she has caused you and yours much grief. This Royal Knight is known as the _Indifferent Warrior_ , and is known for being a sadist. She doesn't care for anyone's wellbeing except her own and will use the power that was granted to her as an excuse to cause injustices against digimon. Would you lay down your life and body in defense of a being who will not lift a finger for yours?"

"Dude," interceded Kazu. "If the digi-dudes upstairs thought that she was okay enough to make her a partner digimon than I'm pretty sure that says something about her."

_Maybe it does,_ thought Henry as he glanced down at the battered Royal Knight and then looked up at Gyōjamon, seeing his eyes burning crimson behind his fox styled facemask. _But then again, maybe it doesn't._

"I don't know what her history is," began Henry, "or anything about her for that matter, and I don't know what her connection is with you. What I do know is that what you're talking about doing isn't justice but is revenge. And when it comes to revenge…" Henry's fist shook slightly as a slew of images flashed through his mind of him nearly killing Sakuyamon to get at Lucemon for what his nearly killing Takato just to delete both Guilmon and BlackGuilmon. "…I do not hold to it. I can't accept it. It doesn't accomplish anything except cause more pain and suffering. It doesn't set right what was wrong, and it only hurts the person who resorts to it as well as anyone who happens to get caught in the crossfire. And also…if Crusadermon is actually partnered with a human then there's even more reason to keep you from deleting her. I've seen what happens to a human when their partner is killed. I will _not_ let you do anything like that to anyone I know. _Ever._ "

"As much as I hate to agree with you on this Henry," said Rapidmon as he got into a crouch and raised his arm cannons. "I'm going to have to. I don't want to see Ayaka like that either." Rapidmon narrowed his eyes as he remembered Jeri's horrified scream from witnessing Leomon's death.

Gyōjamon regarded the two Tamers for a moment as he contemplated their words and his own mission against his feelings of anger and hatred towards the Royal Knights. Emotions aside, common sense dictated that it was practical to simply eliminate Crusadermon before she became a problem for them later, because he knew that she would. Royal Knights were Royal Knights through and through, and were unlikely to change their proverbial 'leopard spots' no matter what was put in front of them or what digimon pleaded to them to hear their cries. Their oath to Yggdrasil ran deep, as had been proven when the X-Virus was unleashed upon the digital world. Not even their home world commanded their hearts, Crusadermon's least of all.

But still, he had a message to deliver to the Tamers, and he had been tasked to not stir up any trouble with the humans as most digimon tended to do upon bio-emerging. What was he to do? Crusadermon would merely turn on them later, and whether or not she was in the real world or the digital world, as long as she lived she was a threat to all that lived. Crusadermon was a rabid dog that needed putting down…but if these four stood against him…

_Tamers…or Crusadermon? Which shall it be?_

The tip of Gyōjamon's spear dipped a little and the Tamers tensed, anticipating an attack. However, before anyone could make a move a loud cry rang upon the air, quickly snagging everyone's attention. Looking up Gyōjamon saw a heart shaped bubble containing two humans and a pink fairy digimon, approaching the scene of battle at a fast pace that soon landed next to Henry and Rapidmon. Bursting, the forms of Jeri Katou and Kenta Kitogawa landed with MarineAngemon giggling happily and saying many a _pih_ and a _puh_ as he did cartwheels in the air. Kenta and Jeri in the meantime watched Gyōjamon guardedly before turning to Henry for answers.

"Henry?" Began Jeri. "What's going on?"

_"Amanonuhoko!"_

Taking advantage of the distraction Gyōjamon charged forward, spear raised into the air and blade burning with a ghostly fire. Deciding that it was best to take care of the digimon partners and to dispose of Crusadermon as swiftly as possible and then relay to them his message. After that his business with them was finished and he could return to the temple and continue to assist with the reconstruction.

With this thought in mind Gyōjamon charged forwards and swiftly leapt up, bringing the shaft end of his spear crashing into the side of Rapidmon's armored head, sending him toppling backwards with a groan thanks to the Mega level strength that flowed through the fox warrior's body, earning a surprised gasp from the brown haired girl that stood next to Henry. Slashing his spear behind him Gyōjamon deftly cut a swath through the heart bubble that had been fired at him by MarineAngemon, and seconds later batted the pink fairy away. Quickly catching the sound of Guardromon's massive form crashing towards him Gyōjamon spun around and parried the android's massive arm with one hand. Latching hold of it Gyōjamon lifted Guardromon and brought him down heavily on a recovering Rapidmon, the sound of metal clashing against metal drowned out only by the cries of the two digimon as well as the Tamers gathered.

_Why didn't the Guardromon just simply strike me with his missiles from a distance?_ Wondered Gyōjamon as he watched the two android digimon attempt to recover. _He should have known that he wouldn't be a match for me._

Gyōjamon looked up at the Tamers and the answer soon came to him.

_Ah. Of course. They were too close to me to risk using them._

Smiling slightly beneath his mask at the digimon's loyalty and concern to those other than whoever they were immediately partnered to the vulpine warrior walked over to where Crusadermon lay, not hurrying in his steps as though he were not at all concerned with the humans or digimon that surrounded him on all sides. Coming to a halt over Crusadermon Gyōjamon looked at the battered and broken Royal Knight before raising his spear over her breast.

_This is for each and every life you took in the service of your master. This is for my home, my sisters and the lives that your fellow warriors disrupted. And most of all, this is for the mother. This is your end._

The curved blade of Gyōjamon's spear glinted slightly in the sunlight as it descended towards the Royal Knight's chest.

* * *

Ayaka sat on the corner of her bed, holding her digivice in one hand while the other caressed its curves. Her eyes were distant and thoughtful, and her mind was as ever on the Royal Knight that had made her way into her mind and heart. She wondered where Crusadermon was, and what she was doing. Although she had seen the Tamers use their digivices a few times none of what she had seen told her how she could use hers to track down her 'partner'.

_Not that I think I should,_ thought Ayaka sadly with a mental sigh. _And I don't even know why I should even care. I don't want to be a Tamer and Crusadermon doesn't want to be a partner digimon anyway. We don't want anything to do with each other so why should I care?_

Ayaka knew that she was kidding herself though. As much as she didn't like the idea of being a Tamer she couldn't just brush it, or Crusadermon off that simply. It was just how she was. For an instant when she had first seen Crusadermon injured in that battle her heart had reached out to another and she wanted to help them in any way she could. She had been able to do that too and she had to admit that even though she was confused about what her role was, the very knowledge of knowing that she had done something good that helped another had felt good to her. Cleaning Crusadermon up in the tub had had a similar affect on her. She had been _needed_ (although Crusadermon never admitted to such a thing) and what was more she had felt a part of something that was bigger than she was and had completed her in some way. It was big, and frightening, what she felt, but it still felt good and held an allure to it that drew at her.

Idly pressing at the button on her digivice Ayaka flitted through the various screens of the Arc, not receiving anything that appeared to be useful in any fashion. It had done some beeping earlier and she knew what that entailed thanks to the Tamers that were in her classroom. A digimon had bio-emerged into the real world.

Only she couldn't do anything.

_I can't do anything. And this stupid thing won't show me anything. How wonderful. A Tamer that's absolutely useless at what she does and doesn't want to do anything._

_…Do I want to do anything? What do I want?_

Ayaka's eyes became crestfallen as she continued to stare at her D-Arc, hoping that it would provide her with an answer. Conflicting emotions went through her heart, colliding with each other. The desire to help against her fears. And there was the issue with Crusadermon to deal with as well.

_What's a girl to do?_ Thought Ayaka. _The others would probably just charge out and meet their fears head on. And me? I just sit here and hide._

Ayaka pulled her legs up onto the bed and hugged them to her chest as she continued deriding herself for her cowardice.

_Even Kenta would probably charge straight on in,_ thought the coppery haired, pig tailed girl as she remembered how he had looked when he and MarineAngemon fought with DinoRexmon. Ayaka blushed lightly as she thought of the dark haired, geeky looking boy, wondering not for the first time how much he had changed since he had become a Tamer even though he often acted contrarily.

_How had it happened?_ She wondered, remembering the way he had looked after he and MarineAngemon found themselves unable to help Zephyrmon. _How had he changed like that? He's always been a wuss before with an excessive love of digi…_

Ayaka scowled as a memory came to her. It had been shortly after the battle with the Parasimon. She and Miki had been hanging around with him, Kazu, and Guardromon the day following the invasion, trying desperately to catch MarineAngemon and giggling over the fairies extreme cuteness. Afterwards when they had to part ways she remembered looking over her shoulder and catching a look pass between Kenta and his partner that she couldn't quite place at the time. But now…

_Love. Maybe not the kind like what goes on between older people, or what Jeri feels towards that goofy Takato kid, but those two are definitely close. Is that why he's the way he is now?_

Of course, Ayaka knew that the only way to know for certain was to talk to the boy in person, something that she felt uncertain about doing considering what had happened between them in her front yard.

Another fierce blush spread across her face like wildfire and Ayaka buried her head in her arms as she fought it down. After a few minutes Ayaka raised her face and glanced at her digivice again, absently clicking the button that lay below its screen. A holographic circle suddenly materialized over the pink and yellow colored D-Arc, giving her a first person view of a fox like digimon towering over her with a spear raised and poised to strike. Suddenly, for reasons that Ayaka couldn't possibly begin to guess as to how it was possible, Ayaka knew that she was seeing what Crusadermon was seeing. Her back stiffening in shock, Ayaka felt her lips tremble as a scream began to build up in her throat. Crusadermon was in danger! She was going to die! She couldn't! She…!

"CRUSADERMON!"

* * *

"STOP IT! DON'T DO THIS!" Shouted Jeri. She had no clue what exactly was going on, or why this strange digimon was going to destroy Crusadermon. She did know that she had no real reason why she should feel so protective of the Royal Knight either as she had attacked her friends, namely Guilmon and Beelzemon, and of course Kazu and Guardromon, but all the same she didn't like seeing digimon butcher each other. She understood it when her friends killed digimon as these days they didn't do so unless there was no other alternative, but when it came to digimon that killed for no reason…

_Why should anyone hurt someone?_ Thought Jeri. _Why does he want to kill a digimon that's helpless?!_

She didn't understand anything about what was going on here. All she knew was that there was a digimon lying helpless on the ground, not resisting and it was about to be deleted. It smacked too much of Leomon, who had been killed without resistance, and Guilmon who had been killed over a mistake. Before Jeri knew what was happening her feet were starting to carry her body forward. She didn't even notice that Henry and Kenta grabbed hold of her by the arms and were struggling to hold her back.

"Jeri!" Exclaimed Kenta as he pulled on her arm. "Don't! You'll be killed!"

"Stop him!" Jeri shouted frantically, for some reason feeling as if something of extreme importance was about to be destroyed as she watched the spear descend slowly, ever so slowly towards its target. As she continued to shout Jeri felt as though her mind was growing larger, and she felt a presence in it that she couldn't quite identify but felt a familiarity to it that she recognized. Nonetheless, so caught up was she in the scene before her that it was all but drowned out by her pleas for action to be taken. "Please, someone stop him! SOMEONE! ANYONE! _STOP HIM!"_

Henry gritted his teeth as he kept a firm grip on Jeri, but her sudden surge of strength was making that surprisingly difficult. He glanced over at Guardromon and Rapidmon as they finally managed to untangle themselves from their pile. They weren't going to be fast enough however. Not even Rapidmon would be able to do anything…

Suddenly Crusadermon's body flashed with a blue aura and she brought her hands up and clasped them around the spear's shaft, her arms shaking from the strain that Gyōjamon was putting on them as he continued to force it downwards. Henry blinked in surprise as he felt the pressure of Jeri's arms against his grow slack. Crusadermon was alive, conscious, and for some reason she looked like she was getting strength from somewhere.

_I don't believe it,_ thought Henry as he watched the two combatants with growing amazement. _Seconds ago she looked too battered to even put up a fight and now…now…_

Crusadermon pushed Gyōjamon backwards, a low growl emerging from her throat as she strained against the warrior's might.

"Get… _off…_ of...me…" rasped Crusadermon as she forced the spear point back to a significantly more comfortable distance from her body. Like Jeri the Royal Knight didn't know what was going on, except that she too felt a presence in her mind, although she was much more familiar with this one as she had been connected with it in a much more intimate manner than the brown haired Tamer was. It was Ayaka. Her thoughts, her presence, her vitality, and her strength…Crusadermon could feel it all flowing through her. It had been strange. Mere seconds ago she had felt her, but the feeling had been weak and insignificant, but then it had burst forth in strength, making it feel as though they were both in the same body striving together against Gyōjamon's attack. That couldn't be the case however. There wasn't a way that it could have been, but the feeling of Ayaka's _closeness_ wouldn't leave her alone. Disregarding it for now and instead opting to focus on surviving Crusadermon strove to push herself to her feet, ignoring the injuries that screamed throughout her body.

_"Get off of me,"_ Crusadermon reiterated in a much fiercer voice but Gyōjamon scoffed at her.

"Not until you Royal Knights have been brought to justice for what you have done to my home."

Crusadermon growled as she tightened her grasp on Gyōjamon's spear. "I don't know what my comrades have done to you and your people, and frankly I'm surprised that they would even _consider_ attacking you. You don't interest my lord…"

"That changed _Royal Knight,"_ spat Gyōjamon, putting as much malice into the title as he could as he pushed forward. "Just like your attitudes towards the digital world have changed. Your master doesn't care about the lives of digimon that he governs. He destroys without mercy and you all follow him blindly. You _used_ to mean something to the digital world. You used to stand for its justice. Now you're all just callous murderers."

_I've never been one for justice._

That was what Crusadermon would have said, and had been prepared to say but something in her, something that was both Ayaka but at the same time wasn't, and was much closer to her heart than even Ayaka was at the moment, told her that saying such a thing was wrong. Instead a deep rooted fury burned within her heart and Crusadermon's grip on the spear tightened even further and then shattered the blade off at the base. The curved blade fell to the ground with a clatter, and Crusadermon stood there, breathing heavily as she felt her strength ebb a bit.

"I…am unrelated…to your misfortune," rasped Crusadermon angrily. "Do not _attempt_ to bring me into something…that I was not…a part of…"

Gyōjamon regarded Crusadermon for a moment before getting into a crouch, unmindful of the weapon that now lay in ruins between them.

"How easy that is for you to say," the vixen said in a low voice, and before anyone could react he shoved one hand forward, unleashing a blast of golden energy that struck Crusadermon and threw her backwards with a sharp cry, the force of her momentum smashing a parked car. Ignoring her groans of pain Gyōjamon lifted the broken off blade of his spear and reconnected it to the staff portion, a white glow appearing between them, sealing them back together.

"Whether you recognize it or not, because you are associated with them you are a part of and hence responsible for the actions of your comrades. Or do you deny that had you been there that you would have reacted any differently oh _Indifferent Warrior._ "

Crusadermon fought to push herself out of the shattered ruins of the car that she was in, but her strength had all but vanished now. She could still feel Ayaka in her mind, but it felt like such a distant thing. For some reason, Crusadermon felt… _hurt_ by the sudden loss, and not in terms of the strength that had briefly been a part of her.

_"Rapid Fire!"_

_"Guardian Barrage!"_

_"Kahuna Waves!"_

A series of missiles and red colored hearts surged towards Gyōjamon. Unmindful of them the Mega level digimon slashed his spear to the side, sending a wave of energy that clashed with the digimon attacks, forcing them to burst into data before they could even reach him. Leaping up into the air, Gyōjamon pulled his spear up over his head and spun it around so that its point was now facing his target. Crusadermon continued to struggle to rise from the wreck of the vehicle, but it was plain that she wasn't going to be getting out of it anywhere near fast enough to evade her oncoming fate.

_A sure kill,_ thought Gyōjamon with a sense of satisfaction right before a sudden burst of light cut across his vision.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

"TERRIERMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…MEGAGARGOMON!"

Turning to see what the cause of the light was Gyōjamon was surprised to see a massive fist with gun barrel like constructs built into its wrist suddenly appear before his eyes.

"Boom," spoke the massive figure of MegaGargomon right before a green flash of light burst forth from the wrist mounted gun barrel and slam into Gyōjamon's body. The fox styled warrior fell through the air, his body smoking and twisting in midair like a burnt ragdoll as he attempted to regain some sense of direction. He failed to accomplish it in time and Gyōjamon plowed into the streets below, digging up a trench through the pavement and sending rubble and clouds of smoke flying in every direction. Coughing and hacking Gyōjamon staggered to his feet and looked up as the ground shuddered beneath him. Before him the massive, fortress digimon known only as MegaGargomon stood tall and proud, all of his weapons loaded and locked on his very being. Gyōjamon frowned beneath his fox mask.

_This isn't good. I didn't want to start a conflict on this level with the Tamers. I was_ warned _not to do anything of that sort. It appears that I was a little too impulsive this time…again._

Gyōjamon tensed as the sound of gunshots resounded upon the air, but was pleasantly surprised when he found that they hadn't come from MegaGargomon, as he was presently staring behind him with a perplexed look on his face. Following the other Mega's gaze Gyōjamon's eyes came to rest on a pair of black colored, metallic vehicles hovering in the air with spinning blades keeping them aloft. In one of them a soldier pulled back on a bolt of a gun affixed to the vehicles side and took aim at him.

_That soldier's got a good aim,_ commented Gyōjamon, praising the human bemusedly. _He's aiming for my eye._

A blonde haired man wearing sunglasses pushed his head out from the helicopter's side and raised a bullhorn to his mouth.

"BY ORDER OF HYPNOS AND THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO STAND DOWN! FAILURE TO COOPERATE WILL END IN YOUR DESTRUCTION!"

Gyōjamon looked back and forth between Yamaki and MegaGargomon, a frown etching itself deeply into his face. After a few seconds of deliberation Gyōjamon rotated his spear upside down and stabbed it into the ground. He soon removed his hand from the weapon and took a few steps backwards, looking up meaningfully at Yamaki, his hands at his sides.

From within his emerald data sphere Henry could hear his partner chuckling lightly.

"What do ya know? The rest of us tried reasoning and wound up having to blow the guy out of the water. Yamaki gives him a warning shot and the guy surrenders. If this isn't a trick this is definitely going to look good on the boss man's resume."

"Terriermon…" Henry said with a groan.


	100. 99: Preparations: Part 1

_"…Thanks to the timely intervention of the government agency Hypnos, the combating digimon were taken into custody, a first in the long list of bio-emergences from the digital world…"_

_Click._

The screen on the TV monitor became dark as the Chief Cabinet Secretary to the Japanese government, Eiichi Nakazawa turned off the news report and turned to face Yamaki in the dimly lit meeting room.

"First indeed," commented Nakazawa in a bemused manner. "And difficult to believe. Of all of the reports filed by you and the Tamers not so much as one relates to an incident of a digimon surrendering, let alone opening dialogue with any human agency. That is to say, _untamed_ digimon."

"Regardless," replied Yamaki, his face as impressionable as a stone. "It has most certainly caught the eyes of the media. A digimon surrendering without further damage being dealt to the city is a landmark."

"I'll excuse the pun even if it wasn't intended Yamaki," said Nakazawa as he pushed his sunglasses back up on his face. "But I should warn you that whatever you may think about how this little incident is going to make Hypnos look, I doubt that we'll ever have any similar incidents again. That digimon…this _Gyōjamon_ , came here with a message to deliver and nothing else, which goes against the grain with how digimon tend to operate once they arrive in the real world. His little battle with the Tamers came about due to the fact that there was a high level and extremely dangerous digimon still living within the city and you were slow to apprehend it. A digimon who, by your report," Nakazawa picked up a folder from off Yamaki's desk and waved it in the air, "belongs to a group that has attacked our visitor's home and is coming here. This does not bode well for anyone Yamaki. Your team is already missing three of its core members. A battle is sure to erupt upon the arrival of these _Royal Knights_ and with our defenses so poorly undermanned I do not expect a good outcome from this. You may have good press now, but what's coming is going to sink you."

"I'm well aware of that sir."

"Then would you be so kind as to tell me what it is that you have planned to deal with this latest invasion?"

"We have the digimon, Crusadermon in our custody. In her current condition she's not going to be going anywhere. Her power levels are extremely low for a digimon of her level."

"Do you intend to interrogate her?"

Yamaki frowned beneath his sunglasses before answering.

"We're sending for her reported partner, Ayaka Itou. It's as good a place as any to begin with."

"I see," said Nakazawa with a frown of his own. "You do know that our government expects some results correct? There is talk about sending someone to handle this task due to your sympathies with digimon as life forms…"

"I'll get them their information. But there's only so many ways that we can take advantage of it, if at all. The Tamers are the only ones qualified to deal with any bio-emergences in any direct fashion…"

"…And with Hypnos's core functions damaged supporting them is a limited option," said Nakazawa with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Yes. I know. I've managed to persuade some key members of the government to rethink their position before involving themselves again. The incident with Argus is too fresh in everybody's minds, but if we're facing an invasion from the digital world there are plenty of people who are more than willing to declare war. You know that there's been a movement to transform the Japanese military back into an offensive force, correct?"

"Yes. I've heard that it's quite the touchy subject."

Nakazawa nodded. "It's a hot issue, and the issues regarding the digital world have made it all the hotter. Popular opinion is of course against the notion, but the weight is being swung in that direction now. The anti-digimon movement isn't making things easier either. All it would take is one, big enough incident to change everyone's opinion. They were already frightened enough by the Deva, D-Reaper, and Parasimon incidents…"

"A road that we've discussed more than enough times," said Yamaki sternly. "I know what I have to do and I will do whatever I can to protect this city and hold the status quo."

"Good Yamaki," said Nakazawa, grinning slightly at the blonde haired head of Hypnos. "As you know I'm more than content to leave the situation in your capable hands. The Tamer's recent activities, such as Kazu Shioda's lack of diligence in providing important information on Crusadermon, has given me reason to worry but I still like to believe that your project for incorporating them into Hypnos will work out. Don't make me lose my faith in you."

With that said Nakazawa turned with the report still in his hand and left the office, leaving Yamaki to his thoughts.

* * *

Agent Ishimoto did not so much as budge when the door behind him opened and Yamaki came to stand next to him. The two men stood in silence for a few moments as they both observed the garbed creature sitting at a plain table in front of them behind the viewing glass, completely unperturbed by the fact that he was their prisoner.

_Except that he's not really,_ thought Ishimoto as he looked the digimon identified as _Gyōjamon_ in the eye and shivered slightly as he realized that it was looking directly at him. _He surrendered of his own free will, and his stats indicate that he's a Mega class digimon. Despite Hypnos's defenses he can escape from our grasp any time he wants. Most of the technology we have available is good only for containing Champion and lower level digimon. Ultimate's and Mega's…they're something else all in their own right. This one digimon can level all of Hypnos without even batting an eye, and if it weren't for the Tamers there's nothing in this world that can hope to stop him. Not even Yamaki's prized Juggernaut system._

"Having negative thoughts Ishimoto?" Asked Yamaki suddenly, a tone of bemusement in his voice. Ishimoto chuckled a little at his commander's observation.

_Of course he would notice. We did go through training together…_

Ishimoto reached up and pushed his sunglasses onto his face in mock imitation of his superior.

"Not without reason," the agent said as calmly as though they were discussing the time it took for paint to dry on a fence. "We do have quite the catch here."

"Yes. We do, don't we? A Mega that surrendered of his own free will. Has he said anything?"  
Ishimoto shook his head.

"No. So far all he's been doing is just sitting there and staring at the observation mirror. He's pretty sharp. I'd wager that he knows that we're behind it keeping an eye on him."

Yamaki nodded.

"Even though he probably hasn't seen one before I wouldn't be surprised if you were right. Digimon have often shown themselves to have powers beyond that of any ordinary human, even exceptional ones. Their acuity of their senses is but the least of their abilities and we have quite the list as it is. Are any of the Tamers still here?"

Ishimoto nodded.

"All the ones who were involved in today's incident are all up in the cafeteria now. Henry, Kazu, and Kenta."

"And Jeri?"

"She's there too."

"I see." Yamaki was silent for a moment, his mind contemplating something before he spoke again. "What's the status on our newest Tamer, Ayaka Itou?"

"We have an agent monitoring her home. Per your instructions we haven't brought her in yet due to the presence of her family. I don't think that I need to remind you that they will find out about her _occupation_ eventually…"

"This is just so that we can ascertain that her bond with the digimon Crusadermon will develop into a stable one," interrupted Yamaki. "If it doesn't pan out and Crusadermon either turns against us or returns to the digital world then there's no reason for her family to find out. This is a delicate situation. Remember the old saying: _'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'"_

"I don't dispute that sir," said Ishimoto.

"What about Miki Nakajima and Dracmon?"

"One of our agents has ensured that they are on route to Hypnos as we speak. I have to say though, that if the information that we have received based on the Tamer's report I do not feel comfortable leaving the world in the hands of your most unseasoned Tamers."

"Unfortunately it can't be helped. Three of our best have vanished and the only one remaining is the one who has the best shot at finding them due to his experience. I've already made a few calls and pulled in a few favors, not to mention made more than a few concessions, to get military support…"

"…Which you'd think would have been granted by default," said Ishimoto in an offhand manner. Yamaki grunted.

"Rather it's more to include the Tamers in their operations and view them as advisors, support, and primary combatants. I don't want anyone brushing them off because their children, or mistaking them for the enemy during the heat of battle. Too many soldiers were trigger happy during the D-Reaper invasion. We were lucky that there weren't any mistakes then and I'd like to keep it that way."

"I see. Should I ask what kind of concessions you had to make to get that?"

The clicking open of Yamaki's lighter was the agent's only answer.

"I'm going to get Henry and have him talk to Gyōjamon. If he hasn't talked to anyone that we've sent in there by this point I think it's time we bring in our _specialists_ to see what they can dig up."

"Understood," said Ishimoto. "I do have one question sir. It's about Henry Wong…or rather his younger sister, Suzie. Given that you're bringing in all the other Tamers I would have thought that you would want her here as well, but so far you haven't given any orders regarding her."

Yamaki opened the door to the observation lounge and paused.

"That would have to depend on how bad things get," said Yamaki without missing a beat before he left.

* * *

"Royal Knights," said Kenta as he took a swig from his drink and wiped his mouth. "I just can't believe it. Royal Knights… _again._ When are they going to just leave us alone? We've already gotten into enough trouble as it is these past few weeks."

"Hate to point this out to you Kenta," said Kazu as he used his chopsticks to fish out some ramen from his soup bowl. "But those guys got their own agenda. Whatever it is they're after they don't care about whether or not we get grounded for trashing a mall trying to stop them."

"Gotta agree with Kazu on that," said Terriermon from atop Henry's head, for once his playful disposition replaced by worry. "The Deva's didn't when they showed up. In fact, I don't think we've ever met a crazy, out of control digimon that did. Well…except for Guilmon whenever he's not trying to invade a food store…"

_Just when you think he's taking things seriously…_

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai Henry! I'm just trying to lighten the mood here. You guys are so nervous about this stuff you're creating your own atmosphere. You need to lighten up!"

"It's kind of hard to do that when Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Renamon, Ryo, and Cyberdramon are missing," commented Jeri as she thumbed the side of her bowl, worry quite apparent in her expression. "We don't know what happened to them."

"Yeah. They could be dead you know," said Kazu pointedly, to which everyone frowned at him. Even MarineAngemon sent a _puh_ at him in such a way that Kazu didn't need Kenta to translate for him that the pink fairy didn't like that kind of thinking.

"Yeah, I know. That's not the kind of positive thinking that we need right now, but Jeri did point out that they just disappeared off our radar, both figuratively and literally. Okay, Yamaki _did_ say that their detection equipment hasn't been up to snuff lately because of all the attacks that have been going on but for them to just disappear like that without warning, and in such a weird way, not to mention at such a bad time…you gotta admit that it has a way of bringing you down a bit."

Jeri opened her mouth to protest about the fate of their friends before quickly clamping it shut. Although for some reason she felt with a strange sense of _certainty_ that their friends were still alive she had no way of explaining it. It wasn't just any normal sense of certainty either. In the past they had all run on the hope that even when they didn't know where each other were they were all alright. Jeri could account that there had been a few occasions where she _knew_ it for a fact without having to see any of them, but those feelings were always faint and difficult to determine if she scrutinized them. And that was where the difference lay this time. There was no second guessing this time. Something within her told her that their friends were fine, and wherever they had ended up they were safe…for the time being anyway. But how to relay that to the others in such a way that they could believe her in the same way that she believed that feeling? A feeling that confused her to no end no less…

Jeri clutched one hand into a fist and bit her lip. She felt such a mess right now. So many thoughts were going through her mind right now that she didn't know what to think. She had died…actually _died_ and would still be dead if it weren't for Kenta and MarineAngemon reaching her when they did, and on top of that her friends had disappeared, and yet for some reason she felt a powerful connection with them that went above and beyond anything that she had ever felt before. And it wasn't only with them that she felt it with…it was also with all the other people that were gathered around her.

If asked, Jeri could tell that the man sitting at a table behind them was extremely worried about recent events and stressing over the work that came with it, just as she could pick up the same feelings from her friends gathered around her. There wasn't anything definite. No thoughts could be picked out; just a general sense of darkened, gloominess emanating from each and every person around her. It had actually taken her some time to notice it, as she felt that way herself and had always been an empathic person, able to read the emotional weather of other people even when they were trying not to look that way on the outside, but she had been picking up on it gradually. To Jeri it was like watching the waves of water rise and fall with the pull of the moon, and every now and then she would feel someone move like a wave with their emotions. They would rise or they would fall, or they would feel like an oncoming tidal wave. Jeri sighed mentally and hung her head, pushing the strange feeling away for the time being while wondering if she should talk about it with Henry as he was the most logical one in the group and would be the most likely to believe her about what she was feeling.

_It is kind of distracting though,_ thought Jeri as she absently continued to rub her thumb against the surface of her bowl. _But if it helps us find Takato and the others than I'll live with it._

Jeri forced a small smile on her face at her tiny, inside joke, but it didn't feel as though it belonged there, and soon enough it vanished.

"I'm sure Takato and the rest are fine though," said Kazu as he pushed some confidence into his voice. Terriermon raised an eyebrow at the visor wearing Tamer.

"Oh? Why the sudden change of attitude? Just two seconds ago you were planning their funerals."

"Terriermon," groaned Henry. "That's _not_ what he was doing."

"He was being a fatalist," pointed out the dog bunny.

"True…"

"C'mon," began Kazu in an irritated fashion. "Someone here has to at least get rid of this dreary mood. I'll admit things don't sound too good right now but this is Takato that we're talking about. He has a way of getting out of things that no one else can. Call it 'dumb luck' if you want, but when was the last time you saw a kid trip over himself and still manage to throw a beat down on all the tough digimon we've met so far?"

Kenta chuckled. "Well, Rika does call him a 'walking accident waiting to happen…'"

"And how often has it yielded positive results?" Asked Kazu with a grin.

"Well there was that time in the first grade where he mistook the girl's washroom for the boy's…"

"It was positive for us Chumley since we got a good laugh out of it. It works out."

"Boy. I'd hate to think of any other examples you guys have," mooted Terriermon in a deadpan fashion. "Although I have to agree with you that Takato hurting himself always makes things better for the rest of us…"

"Terriermon!"

The long eared rabbit-dog digimon made an _eeping_ sound when he saw Jeri's expression become further depressed at his joke.

"Ah! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"

"Dude," said Kazu looking at Terriermon oddly. "Take it easy or you'll hyperventilate."

The mood was promptly interrupted when the shadow of Yamaki, head of Hypnos, fell upon them. All eyes turned towards the man as he pushed his sunglasses up on his nose and nodded to them in turn.

"Sorry to intrude," the blonde haired man said, "but I would like for you to accompany me in the interrogation of the captured digimon."

"Not being talkative, huh?" Asked Terriermon sardonically. "Or did he say that he considered us being the only ones important enough for that?"

"Terriermon…" Henry sighed and shook his head at his partner's antics before pushing his seat backwards and standing up. Kazu and Kenta soon joined him. Jeri remained seated, looking down at her hands wrapped around her soup bowl. Yamaki looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Ms. Katou?"

"Um…I'm sorry but…I don't see what use I can be in there…"

"Jeri…" began Kenta only to be overridden by Kazu's own outburst.

"Aw…c'mon Jeri! Don't put yourself down like that. You're one of us! You always pick up on stuff that the rest of us don't always think of!"

"You mean what _you_ _two_ don't always think of," chided Terriermon, only to cry out as Henry reached up and gave the long eared dog-bunny a rap on the forehead.

"Terriermon…" the half Chinese Tamer said warningly, and Terriermon grumbled in annoyance for a couple seconds before quieting. Jeri sighed and continued to look down at her bowl, not wanting to meet the eyes of her friends.

"I'm sorry. It's just…I'm very tired right now and…and I'm sure someone is going to need to tell Takato, Rika, and Ryo's parents what happened to them…unless Yamaki did that already."

Yamaki frowned. They hadn't gotten around to that yet as Hypnos was presently investigating the situation concerning those three Tamers in the hopes that they could get some promising leads before apprising their respective families of the situation. The last thing he wanted to deal with were hysterical parents on top of everything else.

"I would advise you to not do that just yet," said Yamaki sternly, but not unkindly to the young girl. "As it stands we don't know much about what happened to them and more information is going to be needed, and I would prefer that we keep such knowledge within Hypnos for the time being."

"B-but Yamaki…"

"I understand your concerns Ms. Katou, believe me I do, but I don't want their families to be concerned until we absolutely have to inform them. As things stand at present, this city in preparation for the oncoming invasion from the Royal Knights is going to have to be evacuated. As far as their families are going to be concerned Takato, Rika, and Ryo are staying behind to help with the defense as would be expected of them."

Henry frowned. "Is that what you told them? Or what you're going to tell them?"

"We haven't said anything to them yet and hopefully it will stay that way until we locate them. The military will be informing the public soon about the evacuation procedures that they'll need to take. Hopefully Shinjuku will be cleared out before the Royal Knights get here but I have the distinctive feeling that's going to be wishful thinking."

"With a city this size I don't blame you," said Terriermon. "I take it that Gyōjamon didn't mention when they'd get here, did he?"

"As I stated, Gyōjamon hasn't been very forthcoming with any information since he arrived here outside of the fact that the Royal Knights are coming. Perhaps he merely wants to relay that information to you as he feels that he can trust you with it, or perhaps he doesn't know anything else."

Yamaki glanced back at Jeri.

"At any rate, perhaps it is best that you returned to your family and left with them once the evacuation begins. As you have no partner…"

"I know," said Jeri sadly. "I'd only get in the way."

Yamaki grimaced mentally, not liking seeing any Tamer under his charge, even former ones take to such an attitude, but when you boiled right down to it that was what they were left with. Jeri's partner Leomon had been destroyed and loaded into the digimon who was now being treated by Shibumi for a Viral infection. Without him there was only so much that she could do, and as her arsenal only consisted of cards now, her ability to provide support was extremely limited.

"Jeez," muttered Terriermon beneath his breath. "You don't have to be so blunt about it."

"Terriermon!" Whispered Henry harshly as he again rapped his knuckles on his partner's forehead.

In a show of understanding that was rather out of place for the normally distant head of Hypnos Yamaki placed a hand on Jeri's shoulder. Jeri looked up at the man in surprise, and he nodded at her.

"I'll have an agent drop you off at your home. Be sure to let your parents know what's going on."

Jeri nodded back, her expression becoming firm and determined, though disappointment directed towards herself still hung in her eyes.

"I will."

Jeri paused for a moment before speaking again.

"Um…could I see Impmon before I go?"

Yamaki gave the girl a silent affirmation as he removed his hand from her shoulder, and Jeri's eyes visibly relaxed at it.

"Awww…" began Terriermon with a giggle. "Yamaki. You _do_ have a heart!"

Cue the sigh from Henry.

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai! C'mon, you were all thinkin' it!"

* * *

"Hmmm…let's see…" muttered Shibumi under his breath as he analyzed the equipment that was monitoring Impmon's vital statistics.

_Still no change,_ thought the Monster Maker, a frown furrowing its way across his brow. _I don't understand it. Why isn't the X-Antibody taking? Is there something missing? Some kind of code that Guilmon had that responded positively that Impmon lacks? I've had the computer run an analysis of all the old information that I had on Guilmon but there's nothing to show that there's a difference between him and Impmon where the X-Antibody shouldn't work. It should be doing something, but for some reason it's not. Why…?_

A knock at the door interrupted the man's thought process, and turning Shibumi saw Jeri Katou open the door with a soft click.

"Um…I…I'm going to be going home soon so I can't stay for very long, but I was wondering if I could check and see how Impmon was doing before I left."

A small smile bloomed on Shibumi's face and he nodded at the brown haired girl in response to her request.

"Sure thing."

Jeri pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped into the room, looking a bit calmer than she had been a second ago and after quietly closing the door so as to not disturb the Monster Maker's work Jeri walked up to the table where Impmon lay and looked down at him. Wires were placed on numerous locations on his body and were connected to various monitor equipment that continuously processed information on his vitals. As Jeri watched she saw the diminutive imp's body blur slightly.

"Ah! Mr. Mizuno!"

"It's perfectly all right," said Shibumi as he began to type away at his computer. "That's his body interacting with the X-Antibody and the X-Virus. Both are in conflict with each other and as a result he's in a state of flux, bordering between deletion and holding itself together. He's been like that for a while now."

Jeri looked at Shibumi, worry apparent in her face.

"Is he…?"

"Unfortunately there's not much that I can tell you right now. He's let the virus run rampant in his body for too long, and as I'm not entirely familiar with the ins and outs of the X-Antibody it might be possible that it's destroyed too much of his data for it to allow him to survive its incorporation." Shibumi leaned back in his chair, sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand. "At this stage I'm afraid that I can't give him good odds. A part of me wonders if he's resisting the X-Antibody."

Jeri raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you say that?"

"When I revived Guilmon his data responded automatically to the X-Antibody, and that was what was able to bring him back all the way. Impmon, though he's not deleted, has no serious differences in his code outside of body structure and personality, and by my calculations neither should affect the X-Antibody. And yet, for some reason I'm not getting the same response that I did with Guilmon. The only x factor remaining is the digimon's mind itself.

"Digimon, despite being made up of data instead of organic matter are very similar to living creatures that you find today. When in battle a digimon can focus to the point where the bonds between their data are actually strengthened, enabling them to resist damage that they receive that much more easily, but when they're caught off guard and their concentration snaps they can quickly become vulnerable to even low powered attacks unless they already have a naturally high defense or storage of data. It's actually an inverse of the human 'fight or flight instincts' where your body tenses up in preparation for impact, except that ironically the human body actually takes more damage that way whereas the digimon body decreases it. I imagine that's one of the reasons why Guilmon, Terriermon, and Renamon defeated all those Devas despite being inexperienced with their Ultimate level forms."

"So you're saying that Impmon's doing something like that with the X-Antibody that you gave him?"

"I'm not really saying that's what he's doing, but it's possible that it is. Digimon, like most living organisms will react to danger. I suspect that digimon have a program of sorts in their bodies that's much like our immune system to keep out foreign invaders like computer viruses. Guilmon technically didn't have one when I uploaded the X-Antibody into him and as you can see because it drastically altered his appearance his body may have treated it like it was already a part of him, although we may have to keep an eye on him for a while when we find him again in case there's a program rejection. Impmon on the other hand is a different case. His body wasn't destroyed or reduced to a digi-egg. He's just infected, and at this point his body may be viewing anything that comes in as an attack just like the X-Virus."

Jeri's eyes became downcast as she returned her gaze to Impmon's sleeping form. As she watched the ex Demon Lord's body became blurry once more before resettling back to its original form, as though it were pulsing like a heartbeat.

_Impmon…_

"Oh," spoke up Jeri, as she realized something. "Where are Impmon's Tamers, Ai and Mako?"

"I had their mother take them to go get some snacks since they looked like they needed to have their minds taken off of Impmon's condition. Of course they wanted to bring some food back for Impmon to eat when he wakes up, but as you know it's a rule around here that food isn't allowed near the equipment. I hope that the Hypnos's chef's cooking will cheer them up. They looked pretty out of it."

Jeri offered the man a small smile as she thought back to her own meal. While it had been good it had for once found its limitations in lifting anyone's spirits. Hopefully Ai and Mako would have a far different reaction.

_Especially seeing as how Calumon is still back there,_ thought Jeri, her smile growing as she remembered seeing the little creampuff digimon helping out in the kitchen, carrying what he could while wearing a tiny apron that the cooking staff had apparently chipped in to make for him, laughing and having the time of his life.

_I wish that we could all smile as easily as he could,_ thought Jeri as she turned back to Impmon and placed one hand on Impmon's face, stroking his cheek gently.

_Please get well Impmon. We all care about you so much..._

* * *

Yamaki watched the three Tamers as they sat at the table across from Gyōjamon, conversing with him. It had been as he had suspected. The fox styled digimon's orders had been to relay his information directly to the Tamers, and the Tamers alone and consequently refused to deliver it to anyone else but them. A little annoying from Kazu's point of view (as the Tamer had himself voiced most vehemently upon finding out this little tidbit) but for Yamaki it ensured that it was getting to the right people, and in his eyes that showed quite a level of dedication to his cause. As things stood they were getting statistics on the Royal Knights who were most likely to pay a visit to the real world (though that by no means meant that there wouldn't be others) and what measures they could take to confront them, and were even gaining Gyōjamon's assistance for the duration of this invasion, a most welcome addition that much was for certain due to their extreme manpower shortage.

_Now all we need is to find out where Takato and the others are and we should be all set…_

A buzzing sound emerged from Yamaki's pants pocket. Taking out his cell phone the blonde haired head of Hypnos flicked it open and brought it up to his ear, flicking his lighter open and closed at a slow, steady pace.

"Go ahead Riley."

_"Sir. We've completed an analysis on the digital field that Takato, Rika, and Ryo disappeared into. I think you'll be interested in seeing the results."_

_How nice,_ thought Yamaki, a grin materializing on his face. _I wish and they deliver._


	101. 100: Preparations: Part 2

_"The anchor has been placed. Now all that's left is for the chain to lead the others to it…"_

* * *

Jeri closed her amber colored eyes to the thrumming of the shower's water as it cascaded all around her, soothing her in all the places that counted except that which could not be reached. Leaning forward and placing her hands on the bathroom wall Jeri took a shaky breath, letting her damp hair fall over her eyes. It hadn't been too long ago that she had gotten home that she had informed her family of the most recent development with the digital world and how a general evacuation was going to be sounded soon in preparation for a possible digimon attack. Needless to say her father was not in the least bit happy to hear about this.

_Angry is hardly the word that I'd use for him right now,_ thought Jeri glumly as she wiped one hand through her hair, brushing them away from her eyes and sending a stream of water spilling towards the bottom of the tub, joining the rest as it made its way down the drain.

It was true. Although her father didn't show it, or voice it (at least not while she was around) Jeri knew that he was greatly upset by this turn of events. She could hear her parents arguing, her father rather loudly and her step-mother in a hushed tone of voice as she attempted to calm him, while she got undressed to take a shower (as she had arrived looking more than a little bit unkempt from her escapades, something that she hadn't quite noticed until it had been pointed out to her). It was an argument that didn't quite surprise her, as she had heard it once before following the Parasimon invasion and one that had been in the back of her mind quite a bit of late. She had once overheard her parents talking about it in whispered voices shortly after she had gone to bed and had subsequently snuck out to get a glass of water to drink. Her father had advocated that due to the danger that being in Shinjuku posed as it was often a sight of digimon bio-emergences and battles it would be best to relocate their business and their family to a much safer place. At the time though her step-mother had managed to put him off of the idea, citing the expense that it would cause not only to their family business, but also to Jeri as she would end up losing all of her friends and connections…people that the woman knew the girl needed desperately following the trauma that she had been dealt by being the captive of the D-Reaper program.

Jeri could certainly understand his reasons for wanting to move. She could even sympathize. Shinjuku had become quite a dangerous place, and any father that truly loved his family would want to protect them from danger at any cost. The man had more than proved that fact when he sent a van crashing into one of the D-Reaper's agents and demanded that it free her from its clutches, risking life and limb, quite literally, in his mad attempts to rescue her. Consequently after she had been rescued the two of them grew even closer as father and daughter, but he also became just a little bit more protective of her. While her father trusted her and her friends to stay safe he always wanted to make sure that she would remain so and often worried about her well-being. The very idea that yet another invasion of the digital world was once again coming to disrupt everyone's lives was not something that the elder Katou enjoyed dwelling upon, especially where his daughter was concerned.

_I can only imagine how he would have reacted if I told him about my... 'dying',_ thought Jeri as she raised one hand to her chest and placed her fingers upon her skin, tracing one finger upon it as though by doing so she could confirm that everything she was seeing around her was in fact reality and not an illusion.

Yes. Jeri had the distinct feeling that if she told her father about what had happened to her following Ryo, Takato, and Rika's abrupt 'departure' there would be no contesting her father's desire to pull up stakes and leave Shinjuku for greener pastures. If he knew just how close he came to losing his daughter today, after everything that had happened between them following the defeat of D-Reaper…

Jeri didn't want to even entertain the thought.

In spite of the warm water that washed over her body Jeri shivered. Removing her hand from her chest Jeri looked at it. Light pink colored skin stood out in her vision, and if it had eyes she was sure that they would be looking right at her. Warmth clouded the air around her and pulsed within her body. Although this wasn't the first time she had been faced with death, this was most definitely the first time that she had ever experienced it. True, she didn't actually remember it. She didn't remember seeing a 'light at the end of a tunnel' or any other common cliché that came with death. One moment she was 'there', standing on a rooftop, her mind struggling to focus yet somehow unable to do so, let alone comprehend the pain that lanced through her body, leaving her to wonder if she had been too badly shocked to even feel anything. And the next moment…darkness. A great nothingness in which she experienced just what that darkness promised. Nothing. No memory. No sensation. To her it was as though she were one of the many rocks staring out at the desert of the digital world. And then Kenta pulled her away from all that, returning her to a world of sensation and life.

She hadn't thought about it much as events continued to progress from there but now, even knowing that her family was getting ready to leave the city until the 'all-clear' was given and it was safe to come home, Jeri had a moment to think about what had happened to her.

_This is who I am,_ thought Jeri as she looked at her hand, taking in every measure of its surface. The water that poured over its smooth surfaces, the intertwining and curving patterns that made up her distinctive handprint; the pink of her skin reddened ever so slightly by the heat of the shower. _This is me._

_This is me. There will never be anyone like me, and I came so close to losing that today._

And yet, oddly enough, Jeri did not feel in the least bit afraid, and that confused her.

_I hear in stories about how people are always afraid of death, or dying. I know that I'm a little bit afraid of it myself, but why don't I feel anything from this? I feel like I should, but nothing is coming to me._

Jeri sighed and turned off the shower head. As she allowed the last vestiges of water to drip onto her body Jeri leaned forwards and rested her forehead against the wall.

_Why do I feel so calm? It's not that I'm feeling empty or anything, I'm just not…it's like dying didn't even touch me._

No answer came to Jeri as she stood there a few moments longer. Finally, pushing her head away from the wall Jeri looked up at the ceiling, blinking as a few droplets of water splashed onto her face. Jeri stood there for a few moments more, letting her mind drift over her experience, her family, and her friends. Most prominently Takato, Rika, and Ryo's faces came to mind and with another dejected sigh Jeri pushed open the slide door to the tub, wincing as a blast of cold air caressed over her wet and heated skin, welcoming her as a friend in spite of its harsh approach. Stepping out Jeri looked over to where she had placed her clothes and immediately walked over to them. As she picked through her clothing and began to slip them on Jeri's eyes strayed over to her now gold rimmed digivice and the burnt SolMilleniummon card that lay next to them, very visible reminders of the day's events.

_It's like Takato's and Ryo's digivices now,_ thought Jeri as she remembered the two Tamers D-Arcs. She didn't know what significance the change in trimming played, especially since it seemed like such a moot point now that Leomon was gone. Takato had never thought much about it back when he received his except that it seemed to confirm the strength of the bond that he and Guilmon shared with each other, and she had never gotten the chance to question Ryo about his. Jeri though could see that it marked them as being special in some way. A visible sign that they had achieved something as a Tamer, and that left her feeling more than a little bit confused.

It seemed to be something that was going around a lot lately.

_Too much happening and not enough answers for any of them,_ thought Jeri, her eyes coming to rest on the burnt and damaged SolMilleniummon card that lay next to the digivice. Looking at it she wondered how Takato, Ryo, and Rika were doing; if they were all right or if they weren't. Somehow Jeri felt that they were fine, but the lack of visible evidence of this left the seed of doubt to grow within her heart. As she continued to stare at the card and digivice one of Jeri's hands drew up into a tight fist and her face set itself into a frown. Once more she was reminded of her own lack of ability to help anyone, and not for the first time did she find herself hating her helplessness. She had come to terms with it for a while following her rescue from the D-Reaper program and she had continued to do what she could in spite of this, but the loss of Guilmon, however brief, threw it all back into her face. For a time she thought that she was able to get through that when she stood by Takato and tried to help him only to find that Rika had been able to pull him through more than she had been able to. Afterwards she had acquired the SolMilleniummon card and it seemed that she had been able to help once again but now even that was gone.

_I can't help the ones that I care about,_ thought Jeri in frustration as she slipped her dress on. The image of a bolt of lightning lashing out and striking her flashed through her mind. _I can't even protect myself either._

_I just want to be able to help the others…but how can I?_

Strangely enough, a memory from the day's battle came to her. When she had come back to consciousness following her 'death' Jeri had felt a strange sense of _expansion_ and _connection_ with the others. Even now she felt as though she could look over her shoulder and expect to see one of her friends.

Jeri paused in her thinking.

_That feeling…just what does it mean? Why do I even have it? It's not the first time I've felt something like this, but…_

Jeri paused once again and reached out tentatively with her mind, feeling as though an invisible hand were touching some thread. The _hand_ struck a chord and a sense of feeling and familiarity flooded through her. It was a vague sense, and she couldn't make out much more than an increased sense of presence, but there was definitely something there. Something…or someone…

The silence in the bathroom grew heavy; almost _pregnant_ as Jeri once more reached out in her mind towards that feeling of connection. Another chord was struck…

"Jeri!" Called out the voice of the girl's little brother, Masahiko from the other side of the bathroom door, causing her to jump in surprise as she was broken out of her concentration. "Are you done yet? You've been in there forever and Dad wants us to get going soon!"

"I'll be right out!" Called back Jeri, scrambling to put on the remainder of her clothes. As she pulled on her socks Jeri's eyes looked over at the two hair bands that sat side by side with each other; the one that she had given Rika after her old one had broken and the one that she had used to replace it. Reaching out to Rika's Jeri brought it up to her hair and tied it around a small piece of hair, forming her usual, small, side pigtail that she was accustomed to wearing her hair in. Jeri took a moment to look at it in the mirror. Although it had been hers from the start Jeri had come to see it as Rika's, and as the red haired girl was currently missing, she was going to hold onto the hair band until she saw her again.

_Knowing Rika, wherever she is she's going to be angry that she can't tie her hair back,_ thought Jeri with a slim smile as she thought of the easily frustrated, fiery haired Tamer. Thinking of Rika quickly made her smile drop as she remembered the scene between her and Takato prior to their disappearance.

_Rika…wherever you guys are, look out for each other. Don't push them away because of what happened. Don't push Takato away…_

"Jeeerrriii!" Came the impatient voice of her little brother, snapping Jeri back to attention. Quickly grabbing the last of her things, Jeri headed over towards the door to give the boy a talking to about interrupting a girl's 'business' while she's in the bathroom.

* * *

"Royal Knights," said Yamaki in a low voice as he looked at the projection on the screen that showed a series of cards from one of the many digimon card sites that populated the Internet. The cards portrayed were a group of warrior-like digimon styled loosely after knights, though many had a great emphasis on a dragon appearance. Yamaki glanced at each card in turn, wincing at the numbers that were indicated on their statistics. Although he didn't know the rules to the digimon card game, from what he had seen so far the numbers represented indicated a very high degree of strength.

_Omnimon, Duftmon, UlforceVeedramon, Dynasmon, Crusadermon, Magnamon, Craniummon, Sleipmon, Alphamon, and Examon. This is, of course, not counting Gallantmon if what Dracmon has told us has any bearing._

Yamaki scowled beneath his sunglasses as he took another look over the cards.

_We've already seen Craniummon and Dynasmon. The former was last seen as being destroyed and so far no sign of Dynasmon has been sighted. He may very well have been destroyed during yesterday's battle but we can't be sure of that. We also have Crusadermon in custody. That leaves us with another ten unaccounted for, and that's assuming that Dynasmon had been deleted._

"All right," said Yamaki as he turned to his resident 'experts' on digimon, or rather what remained of them; Henry, Kazu, Kenta, and Miki along with their respective partners minus Guardromon due to his size and weight disagreements with the building. "I'm open to suggestions as to how to how to deal with these digimon."

Henry raised a hand to his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully.

"A strategy would definitely be good for this. All the Royal Knights are Mega class digimon…"

"Not to mention powerful to boot," said Kazu as he leaned back into his chair. "In fact, most of those digimon are among the most powerful that we've ever seen. Omnimon on his own would take us to the cleaners. In the second digimon movie he tore through hundreds of Diaboromon…"

"That _was_ a movie Kazu," said Terriermon from his spot on the meeting table next to Henry. "It wouldn't be a story about the good guys if they didn't wipe out the bad guys in the time that was remaining for a nuclear missile to hit Odaiba. Dramatic purposes you know?"

"Except that Omnimon _is_ that powerful," said Dracmon with a scowl. "I've never seen him up close mind you. I wouldn't be here if I did, but armies of digimon don't hold a candle to him. It's easily the same for any Royal Knight actually. There are usually two things that you can do when confronting a Royal Knight. Use sheer, overwhelming power against them that is beyond their own, or run like crazy."

"We have three Megas with us still," mentioned Miki, reminding everyone that she and Dracmon had biomerged into Lilithmon, a Mega level Demon Lord. "Not to mention Gyōjamon since he said that he was going to help. That has to count for something, right?"

Henry frowned.

"Omnimon's is a DNA digivolved digimon composed of _two_ Megas; powerful ones at that and as Kazu pointed out, he easily destroyed an army of Megas with ease. And if half of the rumors are true, Alphamon is even stronger than he is."

"He just doesn't get out that much," said Terriermon. "But we're assuming that all of these guys have the same kinds of power levels that we saw in the TV show."

"Given what we've already seen of the similarities between what's been marketed and what the reality is," said Yamaki, "I think that it's safe to make assumptions. Now, when Gyōjamon was giving you his information he mentioned that only two Royal Knights, the UlforceVeedramon and Duftmon, were the only ones who attacked his home. Given that the Royal Knights have been arriving in small groups coupled with the information that Dracmon has given us about the digital world's present political situations, it may stand to reason that they may not be able to bring the totality of their remaining strength on us. Of course, we can't rely on that possibility occurring at all, which is why it's imperative that we locate and bring Takato, Rika, and Ryo back to the real world."

Henry looked at Yamaki more intently.

"So you definitely know where they are?"

"We have a basic idea," supplied the blonde haired man as he raised his hand and clicked the projector control and changed the image from the digimon cards to a composite map of the digital world's first layer. "Due to recent events we weren't able to get an accurate position pinpointed, or even what specific layer it is that they're located, but the signals that we're receiving indicate that this is the area where they've ended up."

"So what's stopping us from going there and getting them?" Asked Kazu as he leaned forward in his seat and set his hands on the table, giving him the appearance that he was prepared to pounce on Yamaki and wrestle the information out of him. Kenta and Henry gave the visor wearing boy a bemused look.

"Unfortunately," began Yamaki. "Most of our systems are still down. We won't be able to use Juggernaut to create a stable portal to the digital world or even utilize it as a weapon for the Royal Knight's arrival. Due to our low processing power we won't be able to construct another Ark system to retrieve them either. For now they're trapped in the digital world."

"Well it wasn't as if that Juggernaut thingy would be able to do a whole lot of good anyway given its track record," quipped Terriermon as he hopped up onto Henry's shoulder and used his ears to clamber on top of his head. Henry looked up at his long eared partner in annoyance.

"You know Terriermon, you really need to watch what you say around people…"

Terriermon giggled lightly as he looked at Yamaki. "No offense, but that thing only worked right once. Every other time it's either working for an enemy or ripping holes in the sky. Not to mention that it came close to deleting Renamon and me once. I don't think I want to put my trust into it right now."

"It helped get you and the others home, didn't it?" Asked Kazu pointedly.

"Okay, so that's twice." Terriermon shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm still remembering getting smacked by a certain kitty's tail and thrown off a building because a certain someone's program got turned into a doorway."

"Terriermon…"

"Juggernaut was still in its initial design phases," said Yamaki. "What we have now is a little bit different and incorporates the 'doorway' system that the Devas created so that we can send digimon back to the digital world, or even bring them from the digital world. But we need a lot more processing power to use it, and even more to target specific individuals or objects there, and due to the already sensitive nature of the barriers between the two worlds it's not something that I would attempt."

"But if you could," began Kenta, "why don't you just connect all the computers in the world like you did when you guys were trying to bring us home?"

"Yeah," chipped in Kazu. "That's what you did when you created Grani? What's stopping you this time?"

"As stated, damage to our systems and infrastructure is preventing us from utilizing the totality of Hypnos's capabilities. A lot of information was wiped out or simply misplaced during the Hazard storm. Essentially we were scrambled, and that is making things difficult for us to compensate."

Henry's eyes became downcast at the mention of the 'Hazard Storm'.

"What about Noriko?" He asked, looking back up at Yamaki. "Has there been any progress with finding her?"

Yamaki shook his head.

"We haven't found anything on her digital profile when we first made a scan of the digital world. She may be in a level too deep for us to scan with our current capabilities. There may also be another factor involved in detecting her. Shortly after we detected Takato, Rika, and Ryo's signals we picked up a mild distortion in the digital makeup of the digital world. Although it hasn't given us any trouble that I can see it should be noted that the distortion has a very wide range. Right now the others are a fair distance away from it, but it's definitely expanding."

"Is there anything to worry about?" Asked Terriermon.

"At this point anything is up in the air. I imagine that if the distortion continues to increase its range over the digital world, locating Noriko or any of the other Tamers will become increasingly difficult. It all depends on what's causing the distortion and what its source is."

"Could it be the Hazard?" Asked Kenta.

"The signature is different, but it does bear some similarities. With our systems the way they are right now we can't get an accurate reading. Nonetheless, if it was the Hazard, I'm sure we would know, and quite quickly at that."

"No disputing that," muttered Terriermon as he flopped his ears slightly.

"So what about Crusadermon?" Asked Kenta. "What are we going to do with her?"

"Her partnership with Ayaka complicates matters. For now she is to be held for observation. We may be able to use her for leverage against her comrades, but somehow I doubt that it'll make much of a difference. With the power levels of the Royal Knights we're not in much of a bargaining position."

"I'll have to agree with you on that," said Dracmon. "They might simply attack us for holding one of their own prisoner, not to mention the condition that she's in. If nothing else they would view us as dishonorable and deal with us accordingly." Dracmon took a moment to scoff. "As if honor even means a thing to them anymore."

Yamaki nodded. "For now, all we can do is evacuate the city and prepare for any hostile action for when the Royal Knights arrive. Gyōjamon has offered us his aid in the place of the others so that evens the score for us a little bit more. I want all of you to stay close to Hypnos and wait for orders. Should the Royal Knights arrive and you do happen to be out, do not engage them until you have sufficient backup or have no other alternative."

Yamaki's eyes took in each and every one of the Tamers in their turn. Henry nodded in understanding, as did Miki and Kazu, although these two a bit more reluctantly. Miki due to her inexperience and so far having only biomerged once, and Kazu having the severe handicap of never having biomerged or achieved Mega evolution in his partner once. Kenta had a clear understanding of his position as well. Although his partner MarineAngemon was at the Mega level his powers were more defensive in nature, and while his size was an asset he was not built for fighting against an aggressive opponent like a Royal Knight.

_Both he and Kazu are going to need to be in support. Henry and Terriermon are really the only major powerhouses that we have with sufficient firepower and battle experience. Gyōjamon appears to be pretty powerful in his own right but we don't have any real information on him. Still, he fights and he's offered us his aid. That's two fully combat capable Megas available. Three if Miki and Dracmon can biomerge again, but her lack of experience makes her a liability. If Crusadermon fought on our side then…_

Yamaki scowled mentally.

_I can't include her and Ayaka into our calculations. Crusadermon is a Royal Knight and it's not yet been determined if their bond is stable enough to trust them to function together even if she was disposed towards helping us. I can only hope that when her allies get here that they don't come looking for a fight._

Yamaki turned towards Henry.

"Henry. I hate to ask this of you…"

"You want me to go get my sister and bring her here," Henry finished with a frown.

"Given the odds it is necessary. As you are not under my employ I won't order you to bring her in, but we need all the help that we can get. It's also possible that a digimon with the former standing of a Deva in the service of a Sovereign might be able to negotiate with our enemies, which would be preferable to having another pitched battle being waged in the city."

Henry nodded and got up from his chair. "I understand."

* * *

"You took that pretty easily," said Terriermon as they stepped out of the front doors of the Hypnos government building.

"You know just as well as I do what it is that we're up against. Those Royal Knights are going to play for keeps. As much as I don't want to bring Suzie or Lopmon into this we don't have a choice. Takato, Rika, and Ryo are missing in the digital world and we don't know what to expect from here on out."

Terriermon furrowed his brow in agitation.

"Sure wish that there was another way out of this one."

Henry looked up at his partner in surprise.

"You're hoping that there's another way? That's not like you."

Terriermon huffed.

"Hey, just because I happen to be an action junkie doesn't mean that I don't like getting pounded on by overstuffed dudes in metal armor. I know _I_ don't want to see Suzie get involved in something like this and I know you don't, and I'd hate to see something like this get out of hand while we're understaffed to boot. Somehow visions of this city being leveled into a parking lot just doesn't appeal to me."

"Eloquent metaphor Terriermon," said Henry with a humorless laugh as he crossed the street and took a shortcut that would take him towards the park. Although the majority of it was still closed off he still wanted to get home and get Suzie as quickly as possible before anything else happened.

_Mom's not going to like this,_ thought Henry as he remembered her reaction when he sought her permission to go fight the D-Reaper almost a year ago. _And I can't say I blame her. It's bad enough that I'm going to be there, but Suzie? I can't even believe that I agreed with Yamaki on this one. She shouldn't even be a part of this._

Even so, Henry knew that with Takato, Rika, and Ryo gone and missing with no way to rescue them there was, as he told Terriermon, little choice in the matter. They needed every digimon capable of digivolving available, and Lopmon was one of them. As noted by Yamaki, the possibility of her using her former Deva status as a bargaining chip with the Royal Knights could easily spell the difference between having a battle occur or finding a non-violent solution to the situation.

_Here's hoping,_ thought Henry as he finally came to the edge of the park and began walking down its paths, slipping underneath a _do-not-enter_ line of yellow tape and hoping that he wouldn't be spotted before he had a chance to get home. As he made his way down the familiar pathways Henry's thoughts wandered this way and that, not once settling on anything in particular for any significant length of time.

_I have a lot on my mind,_ thought Henry distantly. _We're facing an invasion while we're at a weak point, I'm worried about what'll happen to Suzie once everything gets started; worried about Takato, Rika, Ryo, and Noriko._

Henry frowned when his thoughts settled on Noriko. He had promised the girl's mother that he would bring her home. Now it looked as though he wasn't going to be able to keep that promise.

_Too much on my mind,_ thought Henry once again. Really _on my mind…_

Henry looked up at his partner, who was still presently clinging to the top of his head and for a moment Henry found himself envying his partner's ability to make a joke out of just about any situation that the world threw at him. He couldn't remember the last time Terriermon hadn't gone into a battle without a smile on his lips or even a good old fashioned 'Momentai'.

_I'd like to have that same kind of confidence right about now,_ thought Henry as he cast his eyes back towards the path in front of him. As he did so, something caught his eyes and made the half-Chinese boy draw up short, causing Terriermon to look at him strangely.

"Henry?"

"You know…I wonder…"

"Wonder what, Henry?"

As though in response Henry broke into a jog and began racing up a series of concrete stairs that were just off to their right. Before Terriermon could say anything else the pair found themselves in the all-too familiar concrete hut that had once been Guilmon's primary abode during his first year in the real world.

"Um…Henry?" Began Terriermon in confusion. "What…?"

"I'm checking something out," said Henry as he opened the metal gate and stepped inside, smiling fondly at the creak that it made as it swung open as it brought forth many good memories.

The hut was still as it had been the day that the digimon appeared, which resembled in essence the way it had looked before the digimon had even departed, primarily due to the massive hole that lay in the ground. When Takato had discovered the portal to the digital world two months after their victory over the D-Reaper Yamaki had gone to great lengths to make sure that it couldn't be used, going so far as to pour concrete over the hole. Not that it did much in the end. The little Juggernaut program that had been initially imbedded in Terriermon served to allow the digimon to use the portal to find their own way back whereupon Guilmon's prodigious digging abilities did the rest, all but restoring the concrete hut back to the way he had it months before.

The portal had long since disappeared since the day that their partner's returned and had never once showed any sign of appearing since then. Every now and then though Henry had to wonder if there was something about that particular area of space (if not something about Takato that enabled him to find a portal in a place like that) that enabled a portal to appear.

_I'm probably just fooling myself,_ thought Henry as he came to a stop in front of the hole and squatted down, peering within for any telltale sign that might cast light on its presence.

"You're probably just fooling yourself, Henry," said Terriermon as he lowered himself onto his partner's shoulder.

"You can read minds now?" Jested Henry.

"I don't have to. This place has a lot of meaning to you guys and it's where a digital portal appeared twice. Process of elimination. You're looking for a way to the digital world so that we can find the others."

"It's not bad to hope Terriermon," said Henry as he lifted a small pebble and tossed it into the hole absentmindedly.

"It's not. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if a portal appeared right now, but I have to ask you, what would you do if one did show up? Would you go in right away without telling anyone? Or would you let Yamaki know?"

"I'd still need to know if one is there to begin with. At any rate, even if a portal was there we don't have a way of using it to our benefit. It's difficult just making the trip back and Hypnos isn't able to handle helping us on that end."

"Point."

"Point," Henry agreed. "I'm probably just wasting time but…" Henry frowned at the hole, as though by doing so he could wish a portal into existence. After a moment, Henry sighed. "C'mon Terriermon. We'd better get goi…"

Henry was cut off by a beeping sound being emanated from his digivice. Unclipping it from his waist and raising it he looked at it curiously.

"Wha…?"

"Henry," Terriermon said as he pointed at the hole. "Tell me you didn't just do that."

Following his partner's gaze Henry looked back into the hole in the ground and saw a light coming from it. A light that was fast becoming stronger as the beeps from the boy's green trimmed digivice increased their agitation.

Before Henry could even say anything the light suddenly burst forth in such great intensity that Henry threw his hands over his eyes to protect them. For a brief moment Henry felt as though he were levitating. The bright light quickly dissolved to an ocean blue and electric pops and crackles made their presence known in the air around the two partners. The feeling of levitation grew stronger and Henry's stomach suddenly heaved in protest to the lack of gravities presence.

A second later gravity reasserted its control, and Henry's stomach found something else to protest over.


	102. 101: Mysteries

"Terriermon… Do me a favor. Don't say a single word about Murphy being right."

Terriermon looked up at his partner from his spot by the boy's ankles as they both surveyed the landscape around them. It was a harsh, desert area eerily similar to the spot that they and their friends had found themselves in the first time they had gone to the digital world. Given the barren nature of the first level of the digital world however much of the land looked alike, with the only exceptions being the odd, antennae shaped rock or village that occasionally dotted the place, but other than that there was little else to distinguish it from any other place that was lay in three hundred and sixty degrees of empty land around them.

"Well, he is," replied the long eared dog rabbit, to which Henry groaned.

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai Henry."

Henry sighed. His partner had a defeated sound to his words, which was by far not typical of the rather rambunctious digimon. Hardly surprising given that they had just been inexplicably dumped in the middle of nowhere, with an accent on _middle of_ with no supplies or even an idea as to where exactly they were and no way of contacting the real world to let them know what had happened.

_Not that we have to worry about supplies,_ thought Henry as he again surveyed the area. _When we're in the digital world we can eat whenever we feel like it. But everything else is definitely a problem._

Even so, although it wasn't in the least bit surprising that his partner was out of it, the very fact that he was like that was considered a nigh impossibility and considered a major undertaking as he was known to keep a laugh even while being cooked alive by a phoenix styled god ruler of the digital world.

_Of course, it can easily be said that he at least knew that was coming. This one we didn't._

Turning Henry looked behind him at the two craters that he and Terriermon had made in the sand upon landing. They were both deep and well imprinted to the point where Henry was sure that it would take quite a lot to bury them again. Although he knew it wasn't necessary Henry flexed his arms experimentally, checking for any sour muscles or broken bones. Seeing this, Terriermon chuckled.

"As if climbing out of the hole wouldn't have been a dead giveaway for that kind of thing," he said.

"Just a habit," said Henry with a smile.

"I think we can dispense with the usual rules of the human universe Henry," said Terriermon as he shook his finger at Henry like a teacher towards a particularly slow student. "You're not in Kansai anymore, remember? This is the digital world. Rules are made, broken, and pretty much tossed out the window on a regular basis."

"That doesn't make it any less dangerous for us vulnerable humans though," said Henry. "We may not have to worry about physical dangers as much except when it comes to digimon, but I'm sure that there are other things that can affect us. The digital world is connected to human dreams and desires. Who's to say that the right nightmare could…?"

"Now you're over thinking it Henry," said Terriermon as he put his tiny hands on his hips. "Come on. Let's focus on what our priorities are now that we're here and worry about everything else as they come along. It's not going to do us any good wondering about every possible pitfall along the way. Not that we should be careless of course, but we gotta focus on what's in front of us."

"Terriermon," Henry said with a growing smile on his face as he shook his head. "It's amazing how you sounded right now. If I didn't know any better I'd almost swear I was talking to my Sensei."

"I'm not just all looks you know. And on the part with being compared to your teach I'll take that as a compliment."

"How humble of you Terriermon," quipped Henry as he raised his digivice in his hand and began fiddling with its central button, flicking through the various screens in an effort to find a program that would assist him. Like most of his friends he had experimented with the D-Arcs various functions to deduce if they were capable of doing anything more than the typical ones that involved detecting digimon, scanning cards, identifying digmion, digivolving, and biomerging. He had witnessed them being capable of doing other things, such as projecting images, sending signals, and creating energy fields (such as during the final battle with the D-Reaper when he created a zone of digital space to act as the meeting point for the group before they made their attack) but such events did not come by easily and were rare even when he knew how to produce them.

_I hope that this is one of those rare moments,_ thought Henry as he continued to press the button on his D-Arc.

Terriermon glanced around him, feeling a strange sense of foreboding fall over him. He couldn't explain why he felt this, as there wasn't anything other than themselves, sand, and rocks stretching unimaginably far in every direction. Absolutely nothing at all that needed to be concerned about.

_Unless you count being choked by motionless sand and inert rocks as being something to worry over like Henry. Either that or there's a Drimogemon running loose beneath us or something, but I don't sense any digimon nearby. I just feel like I'm being watched._

Terriermon frowned. He knew that it wasn't just his regular precautions for being in the digital world, a place that was renowned for being particularly violent and brutal, especially on the first level where the order of the fittest was the prevailing law year round. The last time he had paid a visit to the digital world he had gotten a pretty good sense of his surroundings when it came to creatures other than digimon. Although he never developed such senses to the same degree as Renamon, who was a master at such things, he was counted by that very same vulpine digimon as being good enough to not be taken unawares easily. It wasn't paranoia that he felt, but a distinct impression that someone or something was watching them, perhaps considering what to do with them but so far remaining motionless; bidding its time for a more opportune moment to strike should it be necessary.

"Hey Henry," said Terriermon as he reached over and tugged on the boy's pants with one tiny paw. "Can't you mess with that thing later? I'm feeling kind of exposed here, not to mention the fact that I'm boiling in the sun here."

"Terriermon…there isn't a sun in the sky."

"You're right. There's just a big, glowing ball that looks like the Earth hanging up in the wild blue yonder. I'm still cooking though and there's still light…"

"…Which may be reflected off of the actual Earth and into this world," said Henry as he continued to experiment with the button on his digivice. 'Although that doesn't explain why nighttime happens so quickly around here…"

"Henry! Save the boring science lecture and just digivolve me already! I want to get out of here and find a place that's _reasonably civilized_! And if failing that a place that has shade and cover!"

Henry looked down at Terriermon with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't often that the long eared digimon used a tone like that, but when he did it signified that he was serious about something.

_Is there a digimon nearby? The digivice didn't show anything when I first took a look at the scanning program and neither did Terriermon…_

Henry looked out towards the expansive desert and in spite of the heat felt himself shudder. Suddenly the place looked that much more foreboding than before. He couldn't explain it, but the sand looked as though it had suddenly developed a _presence_ to it that looked out at him hungrily, as though aching to devour him body and soul.  
 _'Won't you come in?' Asked the spider to the fly,_ thought Henry feeling a sense of dread. Reaching into his back pocket Henry withdrew a blue card and slashed it through his D-Arc. A second later he climbed aboard the broad shoulders of the emerald form of Rapidmon and together they rocketed off into the air, looking for a decidedly better looking place to figure out their next move.

As the sand began to calm down from the force of Rapidmon's take off a curved, scar like line appeared in the spot where Henry and Terriermon had stood scant seconds earlier and began to expand like a shadow crawling across the face of the moon. Soon enough a great, black, empty circle looked outwards from the barren land, following the retreating form of the Tamer and digimon like an eye before it closed shut once more.

The sand shifted again and began to move in the direction of the duo.

* * *

_Takato shielded his eyes as a blinding white light erupted in front of him. The light swiftly died down as the form of Kuzuhamon shrank and parted into the familiar forms of Rika and Renamon, the shaman's disappearance swiftly erasing the Mandala symbol beneath them. Takato lowered his hands and looked at both Renamon and Rika. The vulpine digimon looked tired and weary, as well as uncertain as to what was going to happen. Rika, for her part, hung her head down, hiding her face behind the long strands of crimson hair that trailed its way towards her shoulders. Through them Takato could see the tracks of tears that ran down her cheeks as she fought to hold them in and keep them hidden. Her shoulder's shook with her struggle. Not saying a word Takato continued to walk towards her until he was about a foot away from her._

" _Rika…?" He said tentatively._

"… _pid…glehead…" came the mumbled reply._

" _Rik…?_

_CRACK!_

_In a flash Rika's fist smashed into Takato's left cheek, almost knocking him over. A hurt and surprised look crossed his features but before he could even say anything Rika pulled him close to her in a powerful hug, gripping his shirt tightly beneath her fingers._

" _Stupid Gogglehead…stupid…stupid…Gogglehead!" She repeated more forcefully. "Why do you always have to be like this? Why can't you ever just let things go?"_

" _Because…" said Takato softly as he brought his arms up and wrapped them around his friend, gently smoothing her back. "…Because I care about you. And I don't ever want to lose you."_

_Rika tightened her grip on the boy before speaking again in a hushed tone of voice._

"… _Stupid Gogglehead…"_

_They stood like that for a few more minutes, neither one quite willing to let the other go. Takato held onto Rika tenderly yet carefully, as though the slightest movement would cause her to push him away while in stark contrast the girl kept a fierce grip on him, clutching him closely to her as if she were afraid that he would try to escape from her. While they stood there Takato marveled at how strange it was, yet natural to hold onto his friend and feel the drum of her heart beating against his chest._

_'Rika…' thought Takato as he listened to her struggles to hold back tears and felt the tremors within her body. After a few more seconds Rika finally pulled away from him but still maintaining the connection that their arms had around each other and looked into the young boy's eyes. Violet met crimson as she looked at him, her face set into a half-frown, and her lips pursed into a grimace._

_'Oh man…what do I do now?' Thought Takato as he looked back into Rika's eyes, faintly aware of the way Renamon was looking at him right now. 'I hate seeing Rika like this. It's so different. She usually looks so strong and confident that I can feel easy when she takes the lead, but when she's like this…I want to help her, the way she did me, but when it comes to her I just don't know what to do. What do I do?'_

_Takato's body, as usual operating independently of his mind reached up instinctively, detaching itself from her shoulder and brushing lightly against the fiery haired girl's cheek, causing a sharp intake of breath to whisper its way from her lips and her face to violently blush crimson._

_'Actually 'violent' is a pretty good way to put it,' thought Takato with a faint sense of sarcasm as he saw a familiar fire awaken in Rika's eyes, punctuated by the fact that her earlier 'half-frown' had suddenly and drastically transformed into a full-fledged one that easily bordered on baleful glare. Before either of them could say or do anything both of their digivices went off at once with a loud, shrieking beep that tore through the air at the precise moment that a heavy fog burst forth from the ground beneath them. Instinctively Takato pulled Rika close to him once again to shield her from whatever digimon was coming through._

_Except that something was most definitely off in that particular department. And no, it wasn't just because Rika pushed him away from her in almost the same instant._

_Lightning crackled around the walls of the digital field and darkness quickly descended upon them, obscuring their view of each other, their partners, and their surroundings. In the next instant Takato felt his stomach heave as his body dislocated itself from off the ground. Takato felt his skin tingle as something that he could only associate with a wall pushed up against him. He could hear Guilmon's cries of surprise mixed with Rika calling for Renamon with the kitsune's own calls joining hers._

_"Guilmon!" Takato called out as he grabbed his digivice from off his waist, hoping that the crimson reptile would hear him through the chaos that had enveloped them. His digivice clicked and beeped as he raised it upwards. Even though both he and Guilmon were worn out from their earlier exertions he was going to try to biomerge, and through that hope that he could get them all out of this mess before whatever was going to happened…happened._

_Lightning rocketed out from one of the walls just as he was about to call the activation words that would enable his and Guilmon's merging and struck the hand holding the digivice. Takato cried out as he felt pain sear their way through his nerve endings like a wild fire. For an instant it felt as though the whole world was balancing on a needle fine pin and that it would all come crashing down on him._

_'I-I failed…'_

_At that Takato fought his way through the pain, refusing to let it defeat him. He had already faced failure on more than one occasion, and he had allowed it to lay claim to him in the wake of Guilmon's death. Because of that, people that he cared about had suffered._

_'No…not this time. I can't lose again. I_ won't!"

_A bright light suddenly burst forth from his digivice and Takato roared his defiance to the heavens as a sign of his continued resistance in spite of the odds._

* * *

"Ah-choo!"

" Gesuntight."

_Wha…?_

Takato blinked in confusion as he breathed heavily beneath the blanket of a futon. Looking up Takato found himself staring at a plain ceiling that reminded him of the one he saw at Rika's home, only much more traditional in appearance and lacking many of the modern construction techniques that were put into it. Blinking his eyes once again Takato took a second to register that there was someone else in the room with him and he sat up, only to falter as he felt a pain shoot up from his left hand.

"Ah! Wha…?"

A hand clamped down on Takato's arm and helped him redistribute the weight of his body. Looking up Takato found himself face to face with one Ryo Akiyama in a dark blue kimono, a bemused smile making its way across the boy's features.

"Ryo!"

"Hey Takato," said the Legendary Tamer as he helped the other boy settle into a seating position on the futon. "You might want to take it easy with that hand there. You got singed during the transition between worlds."

"Huh?" Takato raised his left hand and noted that it had been carefully and professionally bandaged up. A sharp tingle made its presence known within the white clad appendage, scolding him for being so reckless with it in its condition.

"Uhhh…" Takato shook his head, allowing some hair to fall over his eyes. Absently he brushed it aside and looked back at Ryo. "What happened? The last thing that I remember…"

"…Was you biomerging. That's what Rika told me while you were being tended to. Didn't quite work out right…"

"Rika!" Exclaimed Takato as he once again tried to force himself out of bed, putting his weight on his injured hand in a record breaking minute and nearly making him collapse just as quickly. With a sigh and a shake of his head Ryo helped Takato lie back down on the futon.

"You really need to think more about what you're doing, Takato," said Ryo. "You can't always be reacting at every little thing that gets your back hair up. Rika and the others are fine by the way. Rika and Renamon are currently meeting with the people who brought us here and Guilmon and Cyberdramon…"

"TAAAKAAATOOOMONNN!"

Ryo was suddenly pushed aside by a large red mass of excited and joyful reptile and Takato found himself the recipient of an equally powerful hug followed up by a series of ferocious licks from a reptilian tongue. Needless to say, Takato's hand found a whole new reason to complain to its owner about his lack of care for its safety.

"AAAH! GUILMON! CUT IT OUT! C'MON! GUILMON!"

"Ohhh…but Takato…you're awake! It seems like it's been forever since you went sleepy-bye nappy-time. I was worried."

With a wry chuckle Ryo looked over his shoulder in the direction that Guilmon had come barreling out of and found Cyberdramon pushing aside the main entry to the room. Although half of the Ultimate's face was obscured by his faceplate, it didn't take a mind reader to know that he was a tad bit miffed towards the smaller Rookie concerning his rather abrupt entrance. Cyberdramon had tasked himself with guarding the main entrance during their stay in their current abode, and to have himself shown up by a mere Rookie in a compound full of Megas must have been a serious blow to his pride.

_Oh well,_ thought Ryo with a shrug of his shoulders as he turned to look back at the pair in front of him. _Nothing gets between Guilmon when it comes to his partner. Now if only I could find some time to talk to Takato and fill him in on everything that's been going on without there being any interruptions…_

* * *

_"These are the ones?"_ Spoke a female voice from the darkness. A whisper of wind blew through the air and brushed against Rika and Renamon, moving across them like a soft caress. Rika's violet eyes narrowed against the intrusion upon her being as her hair was blown through the air. _"The ones who will succeed?"_

"Watch it," Rika growled in a warning tone towards the unseen entities gathered around her and Renamon.

_"It seems that way,"_ spoke up another female voice, chuckling lightly at the human girl's brazen attitude. _"The Mother was like her once when she was a Rookie."_

_"True…"_

Renamon scanned the blackness that surrounded them with her azure colored eyes, trying to find some sign of what lay past the small circle of light that surrounded herself and her partner. The darkness gave away no secrets, but Renamon was certain as to the nature of the identities of this particular group of digimon. She had caught a glimpse of them before she passed out with the others following their abrupt landing in the middle of an encampment. It was all too easy to recognize who they were. After all, she shared her Mega form with them.

Renamon frowned as she searched her memories of the digital world for anything that involved a large group of shaman, kitsune digimon. She was quite well traveled and knowledgeable about many factions that existed within the digital world, although there were a few exceptions here and there, such as her lack of knowledge pertaining to the Sovereign digimon Zhuqiaomon, which was something of an oddity in her mind as she had never heard of him before and would have been certain that a digimon who was that high in stature wouldn't have escaped her notice (or the notice of _any_ digimon that she knew of). So far she was coming up with nothing on this particular group, and that worried her. Any group that was an unknown was a possible enemy that would be difficult to defeat should the need to fight arrive. However, given how well they had been treated since their arrival Renamon did not think that they meant any ill will.

_They have been kind enough to provide us with food and a place to rest, as well as bandaging Takato's hand._ Renamon turned one eye to look at her partner, allowing a small, but invisible smile to grace her features as she took in Rika's appearance. _Not to mention loaning us some clean clothes._

Renamon chuckled beneath her breath over the light blue kimono that the red haired girl wore. Given the battered state that their clothes were in since they arrived Rika and Ryo were all too happy to allow the kitsune digimon a chance to repair them and lend them something to wear until they were finished. Unfortunately for Rika it meant that she had to deal with Ryo's 'Princess' jokes much more than usual.

_To say nothing of how Takato will react when he sees her,_ thought Renamon, allowing herself a rare moment of amusement in a tense situation.

_"Renamon,"_ came Rika's voice through the bond that they shared with each other. _"Don't you think you could be doing something other than laughing at me?"_

_"My apologies Rika. I did not mean to draw your attention to it,"_ replied Renamon as her smile dropped and she returned her gaze back to the shadows around them.

_"Never mind. Is there anything that you can pick out from around us? I can't see a thing."_

_"I'll have to offer you my apologies once again. Their shrouding abilities are impeccable. I cannot detect them by any of my usual means."_

_"Terrific…"_

_"Indeed it is,"_ intruded one of the voices from the darkness. _"Why don't we dispense with the formalities and cautions then? It must be so troubling for you."_

The darkness around them lifted and Rika and Renamon found themselves in a large room that resembled a court room. Seated in towering court benches were a series of Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon with some Taomon mixed in, each and every one of them focusing their attention on the two partners.

"That's better," said Rika, brushing off the fact that they had been able to not only eavesdrop on her telepathic conversation with Renamon but were able to send their own thoughts into it as well. "Couldn't you guys have just done this to begin with? It would have saved a lot of time if you didn't have to try and make yourselves look so impressive just to get a point across about how powerful you are."

"It is not in our nature to deal with unknowns in a direct fashion," spoke one of the Sakuyamon. Unlike her other counterparts, this one had a much more soft spoken voice with more color in her skin so that she didn't look pale, and had some minor cosmetic armor differences in that there was silver mixed into the bronze in addition to there being silver trimming on her purple gloves. If it weren't for Rika's immediate scanning her with her digivice she would have sworn that she wasn't a Sakuyamon at all but a different variety of kitsune shaman like the Kuzuhamon.

_Must be a variation in form,_ thought Rika as she lowered her digivice back down towards her waist, the long sleeve of her kimono quickly engulfing it within its depths.

"All right," said Rika, looking back at the gathered shaman digimon. "Do you mind telling us what this whole meeting is about and why the others aren't here? And just who are you guys anyway?"

_"We_ are the Seer Council," answered one of the other, more standard looking Sakuyamon firmly. "We are one of many groups that function to protect and balance the digital world. You are the digimon Tamer known as Rika Nonaka, chosen partner of the Renamon standing next to you…"

"…One of the lost ones," commented a Taomon from at the end of the bench, causing Renamon's ears to rise upwards in curiosity.

"Pardon?" Asked the vulpine digimon. "What did you mean by 'lost one'?"

"You guys seem to be in on a lot of information about us," said Rika, scowling at the Seer Council while mentally filing away the Taomon's words for a later topic of discussion.

"Our vision sees far," said one of the Sakuyamon. "But only the Mother sees all."

"Enough with the riddles already!" Exclaimed Rika, feeling her patience reaching its end. "What is _with_ you guys?! Why did you bring us here? And don't tell me it was just so that you could bore us to death with all of your _mysterious, wizard talk_ because if you are…"

Rika halted in her ranting when she felt her partner's paw come to rest on her shoulder. Looking over at Renamon she saw the vulpine shaking her head at her. Remembering their current predicament Rika frowned and began to reign in her temper, knowing that it would not serve anyone right now.

"We were not responsible for your arrival here," said the central Sakuyamon, the one who had spoken earlier in a firm voice. "Our intention was to send one of our own to warn you of an impending danger that is approaching your world. No more; no less. However it appears that some power had hijacked our sending spell for its own uses to send you and your friends here. For what purpose that could be is not within our realm of knowledge however."

Rika grated her teeth, feeling a sense of annoyance fall over her.

"All right then, fine. How about you send us back then instead of keeping us here? If there's trouble going on in the real world then shouldn't we be there putting a stop to it?"

"Impossible," intoned two Sakuyamon at once.

"Distortion," continued a Kuzuhamon.

"What?" Asked Rika in confusion.

"A distortion in the fabric of the digital world's structure is causing difficulties in our abilities to send objects and individuals to the human world. Furthermore due to recent events our power is not what it should be, and that further limits sending's."

"Great," grumbled Rika, feeling ready to throw her hands up in disgust. "Not only do we have to deal with a weird bunch of digimon but on top of that they're like a digital version of Hypnos right now. More baggage than we need."

"Rika!" Scolded Renamon, shocked at hearing such words coming from her partner. Strangely enough Rika's words did not garner any anger from the assembled digimon around them, but instead invoked more than a few light hearted chuckles.

"Yes," said one of the Kuzuhamon. "She will do quite nicely."

Rika and Renamon both fixed the Seer Council with a questioning, and on Rika's part suspicious, look.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"There is another way of returning to your world," spoke the Sakuyamon with the silver and gold armor.

"Hey! Don't just ignore my question like that. What did you mean when you said that?"

The Sakuyamon chuckled.

"Which answer would you rather hear more?"

Rika halted, feeling anger and frustration seethe within her.

_What is this? A test or something? These guys are getting on my nerves! All I want is to get some answers and they're turning it into some kind of game! This is crazy! But…_

"All right," said Rika, pulling back her temper once more with visible effort. "To start things off, how do my friends and I get back home?"

"The way home is at the heart of the distortion. The barriers are weaker there; easier to penetrate. There is nothing we can do to use them to our advantage from this distance however due to the distortion's affects…at least, not without a medium. We will have to prepare a guide for you to lead you to its center where you will be best able to make use of it."

"What? A guide? You can't seriously mean that you're sending us out into the middle of…"

"Beware," interrupted the Sakuyamon as she and the rest of the Seer Council stood up as one. "Watch where you step. The sands hold many surprises and dangers for you."

"What kind of cryptic warning is that?!" Shouted Rika, no longer making any attempt at holding back her frustration with this group. "Can't you give us a straight answer for once?! What do you mean by _anything_ of what you were talking about?!"

"This meeting is adjourned for the time being," said the silver and bronze Sakuyamon. "Rest for now. Your journey will be a long one _Shaman Queen."_

Before Rika or Renamon could even say anything more in response the hall went dark and the shamans of the Seer Council faded from view, leaving the red haired Tamer fuming.

"Just… _what…_ happened here?" Asked Rika, frustration plainly evident in her voice.

Renamon shook her head.

"I don't know Rika. Although I wish I did."

"You don't know these guys right?" Asked Rika, not moving once from her spot and clenching her hands tightly into fists beneath her kimono's robes. Renamon heard an accusatory tone in her partner's words, and she frowned slightly.

"Rika, I may not have told you much about my life before meeting you, but you already know that I spent the majority of it being on the move and having no ties to anyone. This is just as much a mystery to me as it is to you, if not more so since one of them called me a _lost one._ That is a title that I don't remember carrying once during my entire life."

Rika sighed, allowing her shoulders to sag as she let go of some of her tension.

"Sorry Renamon. I didn't mean to sound like that just now, it's just…" Rika paused. "…This meeting wasn't in the least what I expected. I was expecting something a little bit more…I don't know, 'formal' I guess. In most stories a group like this would give us a much more clearer picture of what's going on or at least make an attempt at it. I didn't expect to be led around by the nose like this as if I were blind folded and being given vague clues by people who already sound like they know what they're talking about." Rika scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "I'll bet that they don't even know what they were prattling on about."

"That sounds like it's your temper talking."

"I'm in a bad mood. The only things that I got out of this clandestine meeting was their names and how to get back home which sounds like a suicide run if you ask me." Reaching up Rika rubbed her fingers against her temples and groaned. "Really stupid but for lack of anything better to go on I guess we don't really have much of a choice. Getting back home is pretty tough even on a good day in this place."

"There are good days?" Quipped Renamon with a small smile on her face. Despite her own misgivings Rika felt a similar smile creep onto her own face as well.

"Very funny Renamon. That reminds me that I still need to get you that stand-up comedian upgrade card." Rika shook her head. "We might as well head back to the others and brief them on the situation." Rika growled a second later. "Great. I totally forgot to ask what danger it was that was coming that they had to bother sending a messenger in the first place. And _don't_ tell me how that's the kind of empty headed mistake that Takato would make. I don't need to be reminded of him right now."

Renamon hesitated before nodding.

"Very well Rika," said the vulpine before continuing in her mind, _though I doubt you'll find it easy to not be reminded of him…_

* * *

From within the shadows two Sakuyamon watched the pair as they left the council meeting chamber. One of them appeared as the more traditional version of the Mega level shaman while the other held the distinction of silver glove trimming and silver markings on her body armor.

"You're certain that she'll do?" Asked the more traditional Sakuyamon, while the other nodded.

"Yes. Once she grows a little bit more she will do quite nicely. The Mother would have approved of her…and still will."

"That remains to be seen. She still needs to awaken and how she'll be then is impossible to surmise at this point."

"The same holds true for our mighty Sovereign…"

"He is a Sovereign however. His duty is to the digital world, and thus his fate is tied to it. Our kind however…as powerful as we are we are as dust before its relentless tides. We fade where others do not. This is no more or less true for the Mother. You know this as well as I do. It is our fate."

"Not so for some," said the silver clad Sakuyamon as she smiled at the retreating forms of Rika and Renamon. "Some are destined for higher things."

And with that the pair faded from view once more, allowing darkness its solitary dominion over the halls of the Seer Council.


	103. 102: Desert Rose

"Sumimasen," spoke up a dark haired, pale skinned woman with dagger-like tattoos on her face as she approached Rika and Renamon. "I was told to escort you two back to your rooms and to help prepare your supplies for your journey ahead of you."

Rika blinked at the digimon, somewhat taken aback by her unusual appearance given that all the ones that she had seen so far tended to have more animal like appearances. Even the most humanoid versions retained something from their digivolution that connected them to something a little more 'primal', though in the case of the Mega level Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon this was restricted to body armor and tattoo markings. To see one of them lacking many of the traits that set them apart from a normal human was rather unusual. Out of habit Rika raised her digivice to scan the newcomer and was quickly rewarded by a holographic circle appearing above the Arc's screen.

Kuzuhamon: Standby Mode

Level: Mega

Type: Data

Special Attacks: N/A

"It would appear that this is a form designed more towards a civilian appearance," commented Renamon eyeing the dark haired woman. "Though I find it hard to believe that there would exist a Mega digimon that lacked any attack capabilities."

The Kuzuhamon shrugged.

"This is just my original form from before I unlocked the normal Kuzuhamon abilities via slide evolution," the Kuzuhamon said with a smile. "It's the main reason why I'm not seated on the council like all the other Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon. Most of my sisters call me _Little One_ because of this. I'm a late bloomer." The Kuzuhamon shook her head in bemusement. "But enough of myself. If you two would please come with me…"

* * *

"So it's like that, huh?" Asked Takato as he fidgeted with the crimson colored kimono that their hosts had been kind enough to provide him in the absence of his usual clothes due to their having been taken for cleaning and repairs.

"Pretty much," said Ryo as he stuck some rice in his mouth from his meal bowl and chewed methodically. "You, me, Rika, Renamon, Guilmon, and Cyberdramon are all in the digital world. More specifically we're stuck in a compound that's filled to the brim with all of Renamon's evolved forms, which is a little bit weird but when you're in our line of work that sort of line for that sort of thing gets tossed out the window. Still, they seem like a friendly group. I imagine that we'll get a more detailed story from Rika once they're done talking to her and Renamon."

"Why'd they only call for them? Shouldn't you be there as well?"

"Actually I was the one who suggested having someone stick with you. Since you were out at the time Guilmon wouldn't be able to digivolve in the event that these guys decided to do something nasty to us. Not that I think we were in any danger, but it is something that we ought to watch out for. You know that Rika and Renamon will do fine on their own…even when they're outnumbered twenty thousand to one."

"Don't say it like that," said Takato with a frown.

"Sorry. At any rate, I wasn't invited to their meeting anyway. Rika and Renamon were invited 'specifically'. Presumably we'll all be seeing the leaders later, but at that time they wanted Rika and Renamon and _only_ them. I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with their evolved forms and partnership. It must be quite the unique thing for them, especially since Rika has been growing stronger lately."

"There is that," said Takato in a low voice as he remembered everything that had gone on recently involving the fiery haired Tamer, more specifically his last experience with her. A memory flashed through his mind of Rika, in a biomerged form that was unlike, yet similar to how she usually appeared. And the pain that was in her voice…

_I sure hope that she's doing okay,_ thought Takato with a sigh.

Takato brushed one hand through his hair and his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Um…where are my goggles?"

Ryo chuckled.

"You're just noticing now?"

Takato sighed. "Sorry. I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Not to mention Guilmon crushing your body."

"Hey!" Decried the crimson reptile, looking up from his bowl, spraying bits and pieces of fried rice into the air. Not in the least bit affected by this sudden display Ryo reached over and patted the dinosaur on his head.

"Take it easy Guilmon. I'm not making fun of you or anything, but you really shouldn't jump on Rika's ol' Gogglehead when he's just come out of a heavy sleep like that; especially when he's still recovering from his injuries."

Guilmon looked down and pouted, scratching one finger idly against the rim of his bowl.

"I know. But Takato's like food to me. Whenever I see him my head gets all funny on me."

"So…you want to eat Takato?"

Guilmon's gold colored eyes shot open in shock and he sat up, looking back and forth between the Legendary Tamer and Takato worriedly.

"No! I couldn't eat Takatomon! 'Cause if I did I'd…ah…ah…oooh…"

Guilmon's eyes whirled about in his head and his back soon found itself crashing into the floor as confusion swept through his mind. Takato smiled worriedly at his partner before looking over at Ryo, who shook his head in amusement at Guilmon's antics.

"You know," began Takato as he moved over to go see if Guilmon was all right, "if I didn't know any better I'd say I was dealing with Terriermon just now and not Ryo."

"I have my joking side," commented Ryo casually as he helped Takato sit Guilmon back up and brushed off his scales for him. "Seemed like a good way to break up the mood. You looked like you were getting ready to go back into deep thinking mode again. I've noticed that you've been doing that a lot these past couple weeks."

Ryo glanced over at Takato and sighed mentally as he took in his friends thoughtful expression.

"And there you go again."

"Well…it's like I said…"

"You have a lot on your mind. Yeah. I know, but you can't let it drag you down, you know? Here we are in the digital world and the team needs its Gogglehead up and at full strength you know." Another smile grew on Ryo's face as he looked at the boy. "And I'm sure Rika does too."

"Hu-w-wha…?" Stammered Takato as his cheeks took on a cherry red discoloration to them. "What's this abou…?"

"Takato? Why do you think I wound up here with the two of you?"

Takato stared at the Legendary Tamer for a few moments. He had been just about to make a comment that Ryo had the tendency to go off into the digital world on his own as he had done twice before his own adventures as a Tamer started and prior to the Parasimon incident, but as he looked at the other boy it suddenly occurred to him what it was that Ryo was getting at. He quickly looked away from Ryo with an expression of shame on his face.

"How?"

"Jeri and I were looking for Rika after she ditched us at Hypnos. We came across you guys while you were 'talking'. It didn't take much of a genius to figure out what was going on."

A look of alarm crossed Takato's face as he looked back at Ryo.

"Jeri was there? Did she get pulled in after we…!"

"Relax," said Ryo, waving his hand at him with a smile. "She was still a fair distance away from everything, and I saw Kenta and MarineAngemon coming up from behind us so you can be sure that he'll keep her safe. Besides, she's pretty tough on her own and she's got a good head on her shoulders. I give her pretty good odds of being safe and out of danger right now. You should have faith in her. She doesn't always need rescuing you know."

Takato's frown did not go away and he held Ryo's gaze for a few seconds before looking away.

"I hope that you're right, Ryo. But you don't know that for sure. We're stuck here and it's not easy getting back to the real world. If something's going on there right now we won't be able to do anything about it."

With a nod of understanding Ryo reached over and clasped one hand onto Takato's shoulder.

"I know where you're coming from Takato, believe me. But right now all we can do is deal with what's in front of us and hope that things go well on the other side. If there is something happening in the real world, we'll settle it when we get back. Cheer up though. Given that we were brought here I think it should be pretty easy for these guys to send us back. From what I heard before Wild Cat got whisked away to her meeting these guys were trying to send someone to the real world and we just somehow got pulled into their spell and it got set on reverse."

"Maybe," said Takato uncertainly. "But do you feel confident about trusting someone with someone like this? I mean, they did mess up their own spell…"

Cyberdramon grunted.

"The incident with their sending spell had nothing to do with anything _they_ did," said the Ultimate dragon in his usual gravelly voice. "An outside source intervened to make sure that we would come here."

Takato looked up at Cyberdramon questioningly.

"Um…what do you mean? Ryo? Does Cyberdramon know something about all of this?"

Ryo kept his gaze fixed on Cyberdramon, pondering what to say in response to the boy's questions. Unlike Takato he had absolutely no confusion as to what Cyberdramon was talking about, or rather _who._

_Milleniummon. He's been dodging us and pursuing us for so long now, always trying to stay out of the loop so that we can't catch him in the act with whatever it is he's up to, but he makes certain that we know that he's playing cards in our direction. This is not good. I don't want to drag Rika and Takato into my problems. I'm pretty sure that I can trust Takato with something like this on the chance that he does get involved but Rika's like a loose cannon. She always knew that I was holding back from her and the others and that hasn't exactly endeared her towards me much. Why get close to someone when they won't get close to you, right? When they won't trust you with what's on your mind?_

_There may come a time when I will have to tell Takato and the others about my past, and about Milleniummon like I did with Jeri. For now though, as long as there is a chance that I can keep them out of this, then I should try to do just that._

_But is that the right thing?_

Ryo thought about Jeri, and her sincerity about listening to him and wanting to help him. He felt that the other Tamers would certainly not hesitate with that (Kazu and Kenta would most likely jump at the chance to help him). They were good people, one and all. So why was it so hard to trust them?

_I guess some habits are just too hard to break…_

"Nope. This is news to me," said Ryo finally, giving his partner a false, scrutinizing expression. Takato looked at the Legendary Tamer with one of his own. Before Takato could open his mouth to speak again the door to their room slid open and all eyes immediately came to rest on one Rika Nonaka, Renamon, and a strange, dark haired woman. Rika was presently frowning at the boys and Renamon appeared impassive. _Appeared_ being the key word here as she normally looked like that and few could ever guess accurately what was going through her mind. For a moment though Takato could have sworn that the vulpine's blue eyes had come to rest on him with a look that he could have taken for sympathy before it was gone, replaced by the same mysterious, and unreadable expression that she always wore. All three of them appeared to be carrying something, but in his excitement Takato didn't get a chance to see what they were.

"Rika!" Exclaimed Takato as he began to scramble to his feet. He didn't get very far before something soft and cloth like hit him full in the face, muffling his cry of surprise.

"Hey!" Began Takato as he pulled the fabric away from his face and glared at Rika. "What was that for?"

The red haired girl merely glared back at the brown haired boy for a few seconds before folding her arms across her chest, _hmmphing_ loudly in his direction and indicating with a nod of her head that his clothes were now mended and ready for use.

"Just hurry up and get dressed already. Kuzuhamon here is going to help us get ready for our trip so we can't afford to be stalling."

Renamon looked at her partner out of the corner of her eye and frowned as the girl turned and left.

_Rika…_

_What is she mad about now? And what does she mean by 'trip'?_ Thought Takato as he stood up, one hand holding onto his clothes in a detached manner, as if he hadn't yet registered their presence. A second later he dropped them to the floor and began to pursue the girl, only to be stopped by Renamon stepping in front of him. Takato's crimson irises met Renamon's azure ones and for a moment the world seemed to come to a halt around them.

_"Takato? Can you hear me?"_

_"Renamon? How are you…?"_

_"I'm communicating to you using my bond with Rika as a medium to connect to you through the bond that the two of you now share. I wasn't sure that it would work."_

_"Renamon…what's wrong with Rika?"_

_"She is upset, as you have noticed, and for many reasons. Right now you are the cause of this."_

_"Why? Is it…is it because I stopped her from…from breaking the link she made with me?"_

_"She hasn't told me if that is the case, but I would surmise that it is so. Everything that has happened between the two of you has left her very confused. It's complex, but I believe that she views her link with you as a betrayal of Jeri. As such, as long as it continues to exist it will always remind her of her actions, and her failure to erase it makes it more difficult for her to bear."_

_"Then shouldn't I be talking to her? I know that there are times where she should be left alone…"_ Takato's expression softened when he remembered the last time Renamon had stopped him from going to her. At first he hadn't been happy about it, but as he thought about it, he had come to feel that Renamon had been right to let her be. Rika's greatest strength was her ability to rely on herself, and while she had come to learn that she could rely on others as well there were some battles that had to be dealt with alone, and if she needed help she knew where to look. And if there was anything Takato knew about his relationship with Rika it was that there was an unspoken agreement that she would go to someone when she needed and was ready to accept help.

Yet Takato could not believe that this was a time where he should be waiting for her to go to someone for help.

As if sensing his feelings Renamon spoke in his mind.

_"Choose your words carefully then Takato. Bonds can be surprisingly fragile at times like this."_

_"Yeah,"_ thought Takato back grimly. _"Don't I know it?"_

* * *

_That idiot…_

"Rika!"

_That stupid,_ stupid, _idiot!_

"Stop following me, Gogglehead!" Growled Rika beneath her breath as she continued to storm down the hallway. "Stop following me and go get changed!"

Takato fell into step next to the red headed girl, breathing a little bit heavily as he had had to run to catch up to her. Through the link that they now shared Rika didn't need to look at him to tell that he was feeling more than a tad bit edgy around her.

"We need to talk."

Rika half paused in her step before continuing onwards.

"No. We don't. _We_ have to get home."

Rika felt a flash of irritation coming from Takato.

"Rika…about what happened…"

"What did I just say? We are _not_ talking about that now."

"Then _when?!"_ Demanded Takato as he placed himself in front of Rika, forcing her to come to a halt. Rika's violet eyes flashed as she glared heavily at him, as though just by doing so she could make him disappear from her sight. To her own surprise Rika found her own fire returned with equal measure from his crimson eyes. There followed a brief moment of silence between them before Takato resumed speaking again.

"Rika…what happened between us; what you tried to do before we came here… Why did you do that?"

"I don't have to explain myself _Gogglehead,"_ grated Rika, putting every ounce of anger and frustration into her words.

"Why? I'm really trying to understand you Rika, but I just don't understand why you would even do something like that. You went out of your way to hurt yourself back in the real world. I saw how it was affecting you. I _felt_ it! You know what it's like to watch a friend hurt themselves, so _why_ would you do that to yourself?"

Takato looked Rika full in the eyes, searching them for anything that could give him an answer; some sign that he was getting through to her. All he saw was the same, stubborn fury that often shut him and the others down when confronted with it.

"I hate seeing you like this," continued Takato, his expression softening. "You're one of my best friends. I want to help you, but you never let me in."

Silence hung between the two for a moment before Rika spoke, her words weighted with anger.

_"Friends?"_ She began slowly. "Is that what we are, Gogglehead?"

"Um…" Takato blinked, for the first time becoming uncertain. "…Aren't we?"

Rika's eyes flashed angrily and she stepped up to Takato and forcefully pushed him away from her, nearly knocking him over and rendering him speechless.

"You just don't get it! We _aren't_ friends anymore! I don't even know _what_ we are now. What are we Takato? You wanna help me so much then tell me that! What… _are…_ we?"

Takato opened his mouth to answer, but quickly shut it when he found himself unable to answer Rika's question.

_What are we?_ He asked himself, the question resounding quietly in his heart, but within it nothing came to him except that feeling of questioning. Seeing this Rika stepped back, a hurt expression on her face.

"Just like I thought," muttered Rika angrily with a touch of sadness in her voice. "How can you give me an answer if you don't even know yourself? I'm sorry Takato, but I don't know if we can be friends anymore."

"Rika…" began Takato, only to be stopped by the memory of Renamon's words.

_"Choose your words carefully then Takato. Bonds can be surprisingly fragile at times like this."_

_I'm losing her,_ thought Takato, feeling as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest. _In spite of everything that's made us closer we're further apart than ever. I'm losing Rika, and I don't know how to fix this. I've got to do something…but what?_

The thought drifted in Takato's mind, unable to find anywhere that it could take root. Seeing that Takato had nothing more to say to her Rika stepped to the side and resumed walking, her hair flowing behind her as Takato watched her go.

_This…can't be happening,_ thought Takato, feeling as though his whole world was becoming unhinged around him. _I can't just let this go. I don't want to lose her. I…I…_

"R-Rika! Don't…!" Takato bit his lip as Rika hesitated, but did not look back at him.

"Stupid Gogglehead," she whispered throatily.

A loud cough resounded upon the air, catching both of their attentions. Looking ahead of them the two Tamers temporarily forgot about their present quarrel as they both saw a figure cloaked in shadows step towards them. Rika and Takato both frowned as they the shadows surrounding the figure dispersed, revealing its form for them to see. It was fox styled in much the same way as Renamon, although built slightly smaller than even they were and not quite as graceful appearing. Orange colored arm guards were strapped to his forearms with a Yin Yang symbol imprinted upon their surfaces. Silver fur shone against the darkness of the hallway and golden eyes shone like coins. A single, solitary, silver tail shifted as the fox digimon fixed them with a calm, curious gaze.

"So these are the Tamers," said the digimon in a calm, and decidedly male voice. "Looks like you're having a little trouble in paradise. Not that I'd call this paradise that is…"

"Did someone give you permission to eavesdrop on us or are you just being a freak?" Demanded Rika, clenching her fists in a threatening manner. The fox digimon merely folded his arms over his chest, and although he was smaller than Rika by a full head he did not look in the least bit intimidated by the Digimon Queen's fierce personality.

"I'm just here under orders. The Seer Council has assembled again and is waiting to see you. _All_ of you."

Rika tilted her head back in confusion. "Didn't I just get done talking to them?"

The fox digimon shrugged impassively and twitched his tail.

"Don't look at me. I'm just the messenger. I never understand half of their motives anyway."

Takato walked up next to Rika to inspect the kitsune more closely, raising his digivice and scanning him only to receive no appreciable results.

"Um…if you don't mind my asking…who are you?"

A small smile crossed the fox's face, nearly invisible beneath his pointed snout.

"Me? No one special. Just a Urocyomon passing through. Best to not be late to the meeting."

And with that, Urocyomon's body became shrouded in shadows again and disappeared, leaving behind a bewildered Takato and Rika alone in the hallway.

* * *

Henry held on tightly to Rapidmon as the two of them flew across the desert, the former of whom was squinting his eyes against the harsh glare of the sun that beat down on him and simultaneously rebounded off of his partner's green colored armor with equal intensity.

"Rapidmon…you're armor's heating up under the invisible sun…"

"Really? Must be true if you're saying it like that. Well, that and the fact that I'm also starting to feel a little bit hot myself."

"Think we ought to land?" Asked Henry.

"I'm getting the feeling that we don't have much choice in the matter," said Rapidmon. "We've been flying for a while now. Besides, my onboard sensors are telling me that there's an oasis nearby that we can use."

"That's good. Wait. You have sensors?"

"I'm a machine when I'm in this form Henry. What do you think I use to aim my missiles with? Just my eyes?"

"Well, that would explain your aim…"

"Hey! I'll have you know that my aim is fine! When was the last time I missed a target in this form?"

Henry chuckled and rapped his partner on the head with his knuckles, the sounds echoing on the air from the armor.

"Relax. I didn't say that your aim was at all bad, just that your sensors explain your aim. You really ought to learn to not jump to conclusions Rapidmon."

"You got me there, Henry. My mind must be going from the heat."

"You mean it hasn't gone already?" Henry quipped.

"Very funny Henry, and I can tell that time was meant to be obvious as to what you were aiming towards. Maybe when I get to the oasis I'll drop you in the water. How would you like that?"

"Hmmm…very tempting all things considered…"

"Ugh. You're impossible."

Rapidmon flew across the desert, listening to his partner's laughter until they finally reached their destination. Setting the boy down carefully on the ground Rapidmon's form regressed and grew smaller until he was finally back in his smaller form of Terriermon, panting heavily and eyeing the pool of water and trees surrounding it greedily. With very little prompting the long eared dog-bunny burst into a run and dove into the water, rapidly going into a dog paddle and spouting water into the air, giggling like a mad mon that was seeing water for the first time.

_And he gives me such a hard time about baths at home,_ thought Henry with a chuckle as he bent down on his knees and splashed water on his face, his disposition practically the exact opposite of his partner's more chaotic approach. _Maybe I should stop letting Suzie clean him then. I let her do that back when he was pretending to be a stuffed animal. It was either that or the washing machine. That wouldn't have gone over too well._

"Make sure you get behind your ears Terriermon," joked Henry, his laughter punctuated by Terriermon sending a spray of water at the boy with his ears and continuing to giggle.

"I know, I know. You don't need to tell me Henry, sheesh. I took a shower by myself back when we went with Takato to Okinawa didn't I?"

"Hmmm…point. I think that was the only time you actually cleaned yourself willingly…"

"You obviously haven't been nearly drowned by the terror that is Suzie," said Terriermon raising a finger and winking. "You know that I like playing around with water Henry, but the mood definitely gets spoiled when you're suddenly dumped underwater by a hyperactive little girl who thinks that you're a doll. And she said that she always knew that I was real. I'll believe it when she's not strangling me or trying to pull my face off."

"Terriermon…"

The beeping of Henry's digivice cut into their conversation. Unclipping his digivice from his waist Henry brought it out and looked at it.

"What's up?" Asked Terriermon as he settled for floating on his back, using his ears to propel him through the water.

"Not entirely sure," said Henry as he fiddled around with his D-Arc's solitary button. "It looks like I'm picking up a digivice signal, but it reads rather strangely. It's like it's 'off' or something."

"Off? You mean like it's been turned off or that it's being weird?"

"Being weird," said Henry. "It doesn't look like its Takato, Rika, or Ryo's signal but someone else's. I wonder if one of the others were pulled into the digital world after we ended up here."

"Won't know until we check it out," said Terriermon as he pulled himself out of the water and proceeded to shake himself off.

"What do you say then Terriermon? Ready to head out?"

"Awww…but we just got here…"

"Terriermon…" began Henry warningly.

"Momentai! I didn't mean it. Besides, we can always just bring whoever it is back here and rest up for a bit. I'm sure wherever it is that digivice signal is it can't be any better than here, right? I mean, we _are_ in the middle of a desert."

"Can't argue with you there," said Henry, eyeing the trees and the coconut like seeds that they held, wondering if they were at all edible. "Right now this place is paradise."

"Unless that is the place where the digivice signal is happens to be a giant mansion with air conditioning, food by the truckloads, and three dozen pools…"

"Aren't you being a little too optimistic Terriermon?"

"I've been out in the heat for too long. My brain's feeling funny."

"You really do take after Guilmon now don't you?" Chuckled Henry as he reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a blue card. "All right. Let's get ready to…"

Henry paused and looked around him, his brow quickly settling into a frown.

_Wha…?_

"Yo. Henry. You oka…?" Terriermon halted in his speaking and quickly glanced around him.

"You feel it too, Terriermon?" Asked Henry and Terriermon carefully nodded.

"Yeah. It's the same thing that I sensed earlier. Whatever it is, it sure moves fast. Not to mention that it's persistent."

"Doesn't look like it's going to leave us alone easily," said Henry. "Looks like we just lost the oasis."

"No way!" Exclaimed Terriermon as he puffed out his chest. "I'm sick and tired of running from this thing, whatever it is. This place is the only one around for miles and we could use a place to rest for a while. A place that's _not_ all desert, sand, rocks, and a lot of sunlight to cook us alive three times over. Plus we got one of our friends out there. You want them getting mixed up with this thing too? I say we fight whoever or whatever it is now and scare them off while we have the chance."

"Terriermon. The first time you sensed this thing you opted for beating a retreat and that's not something that comes from you often."

"Well I'm sick of this thing now. I say we fight. C'mon Henry! Lemme comb the desert with this guy! I can take 'em!"

"I'm pretty sure that you're not using that phrase right…"

"Well I can hardly _mop the floor_ with this guy, now can I?"

Henry frowned and looked back towards the empty desert that surrounded them. There was nothing that indicated that they were being followed but Henry still could not shake the feeling that they were being watched, and watched by something _big_. Having been trained by his sensei and having survived multiple digimon attacks, as well as merging with his partner Henry had gotten a pretty good sense of picking up another being's 'killing intent', be they digimon, human, or animal. Because of this he had become an even better judge at determining the odds of confronting an enemy and coming out alive.

As Henry looked out at the desert Henry got the distinct impression that their odds weren't as good as Terriermon's confidence believed them to have. Even so, Terriermon did acknowledge that whatever creature it was that was pursuing them, it was certainly persistent. It's trailing after them this far and this long was more than enough proof of that.

_One shot. We'd better make it count._

"All right," said Henry as he raised his digivice, a soft glow coming from its screen. "You ready?"

"You even need to ask?"

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

_"TERRIERMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…!"_

A green light washed around Henry and Terriermon and began to fuse the human and digimon together. As their bodies united into one and began to grow in size a great roar split across the air, echoing with the voices of the damned. A second later sand exploded into the air, blotting out the light of the digital world's day.


	104. 103: Chaos's Legacy

Sand tore through the air as MegaGargomon's engines roared to life. From within his data sphere Henry winced as he tried to push his now massive body upwards into the sky but for some reason found himself unable to do so.

_"It's all the sand! We're too heavy for it to hold up our weight! I can't believe that I didn't think of that before biomerging! If we don't get out of this and soon we're going to sink and be trapped!"_

_"Relax Henry!"_ Exclaimed Terriermon, trying to calm his partner. _"We've got our engine thrusters, remember? As long as those stay above ground we should be okay!"_

_"Terriermon…hate to break this to you but we're giving it everything we've got but we're not moving anywhere except downwards. I don't think they're going to be doing us any good. Something's wrong."_

Straining his legs against the sand MegaGargomon looked downwards to see that the desert was actually _crawling_ up his legs like snakes, grasping tight to him and pulling on him. As the two partners watched an empty, black eye that looked as though it had been filled with a pool of ink opened up within the mass of sand and looked right at them.

_"Something's_ really _wrong…"_

Raising one massive fist MegaGargomon brought it crashing down on the ink filled eye, kicking up a cloud of dust into the air as it smashed into the earth. Jets of compressed air shot out from the gun barrels that were affixed to the Mecha's wrists, adding more force to the blow. As if in response a number of smaller black eyes shot open from the sand and a shrill shriek rent the, causing Henry to cringe within his sphere of emerald data and push his hands against his skull to blot out the noise.

_It's no use,_ thought Henry sarcastically as he gritted his teeth against the pain that surged through his skull. _I can't keep it out! If this keeps up my brain is going to liquefy._

_"Henry?"_ Spoke up Terriermon's voice from the darkness surrounding the Tamer. _"It doesn't look like it's letting go of us. Mega Barrage?"_

_"No. We're too close to ground zero for it to work without taking on any damage ourselves. We've got to think of something else to get out of this one. Quick! Reverse digivolve!"_

_"What?! Have you gone nuts, Henry?! The second we do that, that thing is going to be on us!"_

_"Not quite. There's going to be sand displacement from where our legs have been. We'll have only a second or two to digivolve you to Rapidmon and try to get out of this mess before that thing comes after us. This is our best chance!"_

_"… All right,"_ conceded Terriermon as they felt another sharp yank on their legs. _"It's your call, but if we get eaten I'm going to haunt you in your next life."_

_"Oh momentai already."_

A wave of light washed over Henry and soon enough he found himself tumbling through the air with Terriermon at his side, both of them hurtling towards the crater of sand beneath them. As he had expected the sand creature had been caught off guard and had hesitated. Knowing that the affect wouldn't last for much longer than a second Henry pulled out a card from his pants pocket and quickly morphed it into the familiar blue card. Electricity crackled upon the air as he slashed it through his D-Arc's slot and a sphere of data materialized around Terriermon's body.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

_"Terriermon! Matrix digivolve too…Rapidmon!"_

Bursting free from his shell of data Rapidmon quickly grabbed hold of Henry with his arms and fired the jet packs on his back, working to gain as much speed as he possibly could before their quarry could do anything to them. With a shriek of panic the series of black eyes followed their flight path and the sand suddenly began to surge upwards as though it were an underground volcano erupting. Within a frightening time space of a few seconds a mountain had formed where none had been before with black eyes popping open all over its body. Arms ripped free from the main body and a massive maw stretched open from its center and with one mighty swipe of its hand, the creature knocked Rapidmon and Henry out of the sky before they could even get an appreciable distance from the monstrosity. Henry felt the air rush out from his lungs in one swift 'whoosh' as he and Rapidmon impacted with the desert, Rapidmon rolling over his partner by accident. Henry felt something in his side snap as his partner finished passing over him and pain flared throughout his body, threatening to overtake his mind and shut it down. He fought against it though and rolled with the impact as best as he could. The movement merely served to aggravate his injuries and Henry let out a scream as he flopped down on his back.

"HENRY!" Shouted Rapidmon as he pushed himself back up to his feet. His cry was drowned out by the triumphant roar of the beast that was approaching them, anxious to get to its downed prey.

"Not so fast," said Rapidmon as he brought up his arms and sighted on the sand creature. "I've got some friends that would like to meet you first. _Rapid Fire!"_

With a burst of flame, twin rockets roared forth from their housings in Rapidmon's forearms and streaked towards their target, impacting with tremendous force. The creature did not appear in the least bit perturbed by this act of defiance and continued to encroach on the pair, sand-like fangs appearing in its mouth and lengthening.

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me…" groaned Rapidmon as he cycled through his ammunition and reloaded his rocket launchers.

"Rapidmon…" rasped Henry as he rolled onto his side and pushed himself onto his knees. "We've…we've got to biomerge again…"

"But Henry! You just got banged around! Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Won't know until we try," grunted Henry as he forced himself onto his feet and gripped his green trimmed digivice tightly in one hand. "Besides, from what I saw I have the feeling that we're going to need a _lot more firepower, and if I'm stuck out here I'm an extra target that you're going to have to worry about protecting. I'm exposed out here."_

"Oh, all-whoa!" Quickly firing his engines again, Rapidmon leapt forward and barreled into Henry, pushing him out of the way of the oncoming sand creature's grasp. Unfortunately the maneuver elicited another cry of pain from the half-Chinese Tamer as his injured side was jolted by the impact.

"Sorry Henry," Rapidmon apologized. "I'm trying to be as careful as I can but this guy just won't…uh, oh. Hang on a second."

Taking a peek over his shoulder Rapidmon felt his mechanical equivalent to adrenaline kick into high gear as he saw that their attacker hadn't relented in its pursuit. Tendrils of sand poured out from the creature's body and rushed towards them. Firing a number of missiles from the side openings on his jet pack Rapidmon managed to hit most of them but there were far too many for him to take down.

"HENRY! BIOMERGE US NOW!"

"R-right," Henry wheezed as he clasped his D-Arc close to him. "B-biomerge…"

_"Shining Wing!"_

Without warning a series of glowing, white feathers ripped through the air and cut across the path of the tendrils, ripping them to shreds. Henry quickly scanned the skies for any sign of their mysterious rescuer, finding an obscure, childlike figure flying through the skies on four, birdlike wings. Little else gave Henry an idea as to what the nature of its identity was however, and Henry quickly realized that at this very moment it didn't matter. All that did matter was that they defeat their mutual enemy and get out of the fight alive.

With the screen on his digivice glowing once again Henry raised it to the sky.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

_"Terriermon! Biomerge tooo…MegaGargomon!"_

The sphere of data that had surrounded them shattered and the massive form of MegaGargomon rose upwards into the air, his engines already firing so that they wouldn't sink into the ground again. The sand creature was swatting at the air, attempting to dislodge the annoying gnat of a digimon that was attacking it, zipping in and out of the monsters attack range and slipping back in to deliver an attack of its own. As fast as it was though, the digimon couldn't keep ahead of the sand creature and soon enough its luck ran out as a tentacle of sand slammed into its side, sending it careening off to the side where it slammed into the ground below. Seeing an opening now that the digimon had been thrown safely out of the path of his weapons (leaving Henry to wonder if it had been purposefully done so as to prevent the creature from attempting a pursuit) MegaGargomon cycled through his weapons and brought them all to bear on their target.

The sand creature had no chance of escaping.

_"Mega Barrage!"_ Shouted the giant mecha as he unloaded his entire salvo on the creature. Missiles streaked from their housings in his chest, legs, and shoulders and lasers burned the air as they fired from the cannons mounted on MegaGargomon's wrists. Explosion after explosion flared as each attack hit home, kicking dust, smoke, and fire into the air like confetti.

_"Did we get him?"_ Asked Terriermon as he reloaded his magazines. _"It looks like we got him."_

_"Can you actually tell that for sure or are you just guessing?"_

_"Uh…guessing accurately?"_

_"Terriermon…"_

MegaGargomon narrowed his eyes as the smoke finally began to clear, revealing a pitted landscape of craters and sand fused into glass by the intense heat of the giant digimon's Mega Barrage. Huge chunks of broken glass littered the landscape where the creature had once been, glinting brightly in the sunlight.

_"It looks like we got him,"_ said Henry as a relieved smile appeared on his face. _"I wonder what that thing wa…"_

Henry's words were cut off as a torrent of sand burst forth from beneath the broken glass, incorporating the razor sharp shards into it and forming a serpentine body that reared upwards and focused on him with black, sightless eyes that were without pity or mercy. Sand shifted throughout its entire body and the sound of glass cracking and scraping against it and each other filled the air until finally a mouth restructured itself on the creature's face and open itself, revealing a mouthful of serrated death that grinned with a demonic eeriness.

_"We didn't get him,"_ said Henry, stunned at this turn of events.

_"Awww nuts!"_ Exclaimed Terriermon in annoyance. _"What's it take to put this guy down?!"_

Raising their merged arms once again, MegaGargomon began to unload their arsenal into the reincarnated sand and glass creature who this time took their attack without even batting an eye. Glass shattered and sprayed into the air, raining down on MegaGargomon's body as the creature slammed one fist into him and threw him to the ground. Henry and Terriermon both cried out as pain from Henry's side flared up. Seeing their moment of weakness the creature began pressing down on them, forcing them into the sand. Leering over the giant Mecha the creature's mouth opened once more and for the first time spoke words to them.

"Da…t…a…"

_"Terriermon! We've got to break loose!"_

_"I know that but none of our attacks are even touching this guy! I mean, they are touching him but we might as well be shooting spit wads for all the good they're doing us!"_

_"We haven't tried our Gargo Missile attack. That should shake things up for this thing."_

_"At_ this _range?! Are you nuts?! We'll be fried along with this guy!"_

_"Maybe…but considering our odds right now we don't really have much to lose."_

_"Death by weird, sand monster or death by our own attacks. Tough choice."_

_"This from the guy who took on Zhuqiaomon when he was injured. No momentai?"_

_"Not funny Henry. All right. Target locked. Here's hoping that there'll be a better way out of this one."_

_"Cross Guard!"_

A shining ray of energy in the shape of a pointed crucifix suddenly cut into the field of battle, slicing clean through the sand creature's arm and cutting its hand off at the wrist. The creature then turned on its attacker as its now separated hand dissolved into its component parts. Wasting no time MegaGargomon forced his way through wall of sand that remained on him and slugged the creature hard, blasting pressurized air into its face from its wrist cannons. The creature barely budged under the blow and soon enough it returned its attention back to MegaGargomon, who came in for another punch, this time firing off its lasers at point blank range, this time burning holes in the creature's body. The smiling face that made up the cover of its right shoulder missile tube opened and a single, small missile sped forth from one of the many tubes that encircled its interior. Fire appeared once more as the missile struck head on with its target, this time staggering its opponent. Twisting in the sand MegaGargomon forced his legs free and fired his rockets before executing a spinning kick that impacted with the creature's body and sent it falling to the ground. Shards of glass, shattered from the force of the blow flew into the air. Quickly taking stock of the situation MegaGargomon increased the power of his engines and set them in reverse.

_Gotta get some distance,_ thought Henry as he pushed his engines to their limits and prepared to fire his missiles.

With a growl the sand creature began to get back up, and as it did so it began to shift its form. Fused glass began to make its way out from the softer sand that acted as the main body. It didn't look all that impressive from Henry's point of view if it was intending to act as a defensive shield, but if it was a weapon…

As though to metaphorically and literally drive the point home the shards of glass suddenly stood straight up and then shot out from the creature's body like a hailstorm. Henry grunted as he felt the glass impact his armored body and shatter immediately upon contact. Although the attack wasn't especially devastating, from the very force of the blows and the pain that he could feel he knew that it wasn't something that he could take lightly.

_"Gotta end this now,"_ thought Henry. _"Gargo Missile…!"_

The sound of metal tearing filled the air as an especially large and long piece of glass impacted his right shoulder missile tube, piercing right through its casing and setting off one of the missiles that were housed inside. Feeling his arm going numb as it drowned in pain MegaGargomon toppled over and crashed to the ground.

_"AHHH!"_ Screamed Henry from within his data sphere as he clutched onto his shoulder tightly, trying to staunch the flow of data that was spraying from it. It shocked him that he was actually able to bleed in this environment. In all the previous battles he had participated in he had never experienced such an occurrence, not even during the fights he had with D-Reaper's agents and those had been particularly rough ones. Then again it could easily be stated that he had never been injured in so serious a fashion as his body armor tended to shrug off most attacks. He didn't know how bad it would be when he and Terriermon separated, but from the looks of things he could not count on it being at all good.

_"Holy Shield!"_

Looking up MegaGargomon saw the digimon that had come to his aid earlier throw himself in front of him and with a clap of his hands throw up a blinding wall of light and lightning that, true to its name warded off another volley of glass spikes and daggers. Apparently unwilling to stand for this continued defiance the sand creature lashed out with one massive hand and sideswiped the winged digimon, disintegrating the wall of light and throwing him to the side.

_One shot._

_"Gargo Missile!"_

Taking advantage of its moment of distraction MegaGargomon fired the last remaining heavy missile that he had from his left shoulder. The giant, smiley faced weapon rocketed forth from its casing, a frown appearing on it as it surged towards the creature. A second later it struck its target and detonated with explosive fire, forcing MegaGargomon to raise one hand in order to protect his face as best as he could. When the smoke and fire finally cleared MegaGargomon lowered his hand and surveyed the situation. It was the same scene that had been there when they first thought that they had defeated the creature. Glassed and blackened sand lay all around them, tumbling off of a shattered mountain of the material that looked like the burnt out remains of a volcano. Experience however told him that appearances could be deceiving.

MegaGargomon waited. He was exhausted, and that coupled with the throbbing pain that he felt emanating from his shoulder where the smoking remains of his missile tube lay he did not feel that he could stand to put up with another bout with whatever it was that this entity was.

_Hopefully that won't happen this time,_ thought Henry wearily as he panted within his data sphere. _It looks pretty finished now. I don't know anything that can go through that and survive._

One sand claw twitched on the ground, causing Henry and Terriermon to groan in horror. As they watched sand and glass began to crawl up the mountain, reforming themselves into the same serpentine shape that had been there before. Soon enough the creature was once again towering over its prey, a glass toothed smile of satisfaction crossing what passed for a face as a black eye watched them coldly.

_"Dataaa…"_

_It can't end like this,"_ thought Henry as he raised one arm and targeted the creature. _"We're too low on energy. I don't think that we'll be able to do much more than fire a few bursts of lasers. And that's_ if _we're lucky._

"MEGAGARGOMON!" Shouted a voice from off to the side. "DEDIGIVOLVE NOW!"

Although Henry found himself questioning the logic behind such a command the body apparently was more than willing to comply and soon enough a glow cascaded over the Mega's body, quickly reducing it to its component lower level forms of Terriermon and Henry Wong, lying on the ground battered and helpless. Before anything else could happen a winged figure swept in and quickly grabbed both of them, hauling Henry up onto one shoulder while tucking Terriermon beneath an arm. Henry gritted his teeth as his side, aflame from its earlier injury pulsed angrily.

"Sorry," murmured their rescuer as he kicked his feet upon the ground and took off into the air. Looking bewilderedly around him Henry could see four, bird like wings pumping for all they were worth, trying to gain as much speed and altitude as possible. The creature would have none of this though, not after striving for so long to capture its prey and it stretched its long neck after them, its mouth snapping open and closed as it reached upwards.

_It's no good,_ thought Henry as he felt himself beginning to fade in and out of consciousness. _We're just too heavy. We'll never get away at this rate. We're fi…_

And then, before Henry's amazed eyes the sand creature's face cracked, and looking into its eyes Henry could have sworn that he saw a light go out in them, as though whatever force had been animating it had suddenly lost all of its strength. Within seconds the creature's body disintegrated and fell apart, leaving only a smoking ruin of what it had once been as it crashed back down to the earth.

Henry, Terriermon, and their rescuer all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

* * *

"That was close," said Henry as he balanced himself precariously against one of the only oasis trees that had managed to escape unscathed by the fearsome battle that had erupted around it. Next to him, also laying against the tree and for the most part unresponsive due to his sheer level of exhaustion was Terriermon.

"That it was," agreed a voice approaching the boy. Turning his gray eyes Henry found himself looking at his and Terriermon's rescuer. He was human like, with light skin, dark brown hair, and a roundish face that was reminiscent of the chaotic Tamer known as Takato Matsuki, only with gray colored eyes instead of crimson. Henry looked at those eyes for a moment, faintly curious about them as they reminded him of storm clouds for some reason before letting his own fall to the four, angelic wings that were folded against his back. The 'boy' came to a halt next to Henry and his half asleep partner and dropped down to one knee and offered the Tamer one of the tree fruits that resembled a coconut. Inside the fruit was filled with water. Henry accepted it gratefully and drank a little bit from it before attempting to coax his partner to have some as well.

"Thanks for the save earlier," said Henry once Terriermon signaled that he had had enough. "It was a good thing that we met you when we did. Things weren't looking good out there for us."

"I was in the neighborhood," said the angelic digimon as he crossed his legs and sat down in a more casual fashion. "Coming here actually to get some of the fruit here." The boy's eyes became downcast as he eyed the ruins of the oasis. "It doesn't look like I'll be coming back here anytime soon now."

"My name's Henry," said Henry and then indicated his long eared partner. "And that's Terriermon. You'll have to forgive him. Usually he's a lot louder than this, even in polite company but he's pretty out of it right now."

"Mmmbbblgggiii," muttered Terriermon drowsily and Henry and the angel chuckled lightly.

"My name's Lumemon. A pleasure to meet you."

"Just what was that thing? I've been in this part of the digital world before but I don't ever remember seeing something like this at the time."

Lumemon frowned as he looked over at the still smoking remains of the creature that had attacked them.

"I've only encountered them recently myself. They're something… _new._ A thing that has come into existence since the Chaos was defeated. They thrive in desolate areas such as this and create their forms out of whatever malleable materials are available for them, in this case," Lumemon gestured around him with both arms to signify the great expanse of desert around them, "sand. I don't know where they came from however or what caused them to come into being but as I'm sure that you've noticed they are quite dangerous and difficult to defeat. This one appears to have been an old one to have fought with you and your partner at the Mega level and last this long. Fortunately whatever it is that animates them has difficulty in lasting long in an active state. From what I've seen before they seem to require a steady diet of digimon data in order to maintain their shape."

"I…see." Henry set his head down against the tree trunk behind him, pondering this turn of events, wondering what kind of new danger this signified for the digital world and what the repercussions were.

_Could this be leftover data from the D-Reaper? No. That can't be true. The Juggernaut's affect reduced it to its original form which is virtually harmless to modern day digimon even at their lowest form. But…is there a chance that some part of it managed to escape being reformatted?_

"It's not the Chaos," spoke up Lumemon suddenly and Henry looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Huh?"

"I said, it's not the Chaos if that's what you're wondering."

"How can you tell?"

The angelic child frowned, and once more Henry was strongly reminded of Takato, only there was a sense of seriousness in his eyes that surpassed Takato who, even at his most mature always maintained a sense of childishness in the way he expressed himself.

_Or maybe that's because I know him too well,_ thought Henry as he watched Lumemon carefully.

"I…don't remember," the boy admitted finally. "It was something that I had learned a while ago, but I seem to have forgotten it now."

"That's real convenient," murmured a sleepy Terriermon, bringing a dejected sigh from his human partner.

"Terriermon…"

"Again and again with the 'Terriermon'. You really need a new catchphrase. And you need to momentai."

"You're starting to sound better already."

"Mmmnnn…just give me five more days of sleep…"

Henry smiled at the long eared rabbit dog before turning back to Lumemon.

"By the way; I know that this may sound strange but you don't seem all that surprised to see someone like me here, or that I'm a Tamer."

Lumemon shrugged.

"That's because we already met before," the angel said frankly and with no expression in his eyes."

"Huh?"

"We've met before Henry. That's why I knew to tell you to dedigivolve earlier."

"I don't understand."

"Join the club. Let's just say that it was another life and leave it at that. At any rate, you might want to rest up a little bit more. There's a village not too far from here and I suspect that now that you know about it you'll want to head there as soon as you're able. Seeing as how I'm going to be going there too we might as well stick together." Lumemon threw a glance at Henry and the boy took note of the companionable smile that bloomed on the child's face, completely erasing the serious and mysterious look that he had held earlier. "There's also someone there who's going to be quite glad to see you too."

"Who?" Demanded Henry as he attempted to sit up, only to wince from the pain in his side and right shoulder.

The angel chuckled good-naturedly.

"I think I'll leave that as a surprise for now. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment…"

And with that the angelic digimon stood up and with a light flap of his wings flew over to the pile of sand and debris that had made up their attacker's form. Henry watched him go for a few seconds, a thousand questions flying through his mind but no answers coming to him.

_An angel digimon who says that he knows me…if it weren't for the hair and eye color, not to mention the wing count I would have sworn that I was talking to Lucemon just now. Except…he's not quite like him. When he looks serious he sometimes sounds like him, but there are other times where I could almost swear that I was talking to Takato. Weird. If I wasn't feeling so exhausted I would press him for more information rather than play the waiting game._

Henry breathed a sigh of relief, wincing tenderly at the strain that his expanding chest put on the pain in his side.

_No doubt about it. A rib's been broken. At least it's not as bad as it feels. I could have punctured a lung and probably be dead by now. I was lucky._ Henry took a glance over at his right shoulder and grimaced at the massive black and blue bruise that sat exposed through the tattered remains of his shirt and vest. _Very,_ very _lucky. It's definitely a good thing that Terriermon are well armored even against something like one of our own missiles exploding on us. I'd hate to think what would have happened if it were otherwise. Although I imagine that I probably would have lost my arm, and that was if I was as just as lucky as I was today even without the armor._

Henry looked up at the clear blue sky, his eyes coming to focus on the digital world's representation of the earth hanging in the sky. A data stream swept around somewhere off in the distance and Henry eyed it for a moment before sighing, briefly lamenting on how Terriermon was now fast asleep and yet it wasn't even nighttime yet.

_I wonder the others are doing,_ thought Henry as he closed his eyes. _Takato, Rika, Ryo, Renamon, Guilmon, Cyberdramon…please be okay…_

* * *

Lumemon lighted on the surface of the shattered and fallen sand creature and looked at it curiously, pressing his memories for anything that could help him during the time that he had been here. He had mentioned this to Noriko the other day when they and the Chuchidarumon had fought off that one attack on the village, but unfortunately knowledge continued to evade him.

_A sacrifice for a new life,_ thought Lumemon as he closed his gray colored eyes. _For however long that lasts._

Reopening his eyes Lumemon looked into the still and featureless pupil that stared out aimlessly at the sky. Emotionless; dead to the world where before there had only been a single, overwhelming hunger that had driven it on. A hunger to…to…

_A hunger to what exactly? What kind of creature are you? What kind of digimon made you? What were you…before?_

Lumemon blinked his eyes at that last thought, wondering where it had come from before frowning at himself, not sure if he liked what the thought entailed.

_So it looks like I still do remember. Just none of the details remain. I know what this thing is…and yet at the same time I don't know._

Lumemon's frown deepened.

_This is all getting pretty existential. I think I need to go lie down for a bit. My body still hurts from all the fighting._ Lumemon looked out over at the resting figures of Henry and Terriermon. _As much as I would like them to take their time to recover I can't afford to wait for too long. I don't know how many more of those things are out there and I don't want to leave Noriko alone any longer than I have to, even if she's in good hands._

Looking back over at the fallen remains of the creature Lumemon placed one hand on top of its shattered head and a look of sympathy crossed his features.

_Hopefully you'll find rest this time,_ thought Lumemon although he didn't know the meaning behind it. After another moment Lumemon turned away and headed back towards where Henry and Terriermon lay.


	105. 104: Guides: part 1

Alice McCoy's feet gently padded upon the wooden floors of the temple hallway, her blue eyes distant and directed inward, with only the small, but fierce frown indicating her current emotional state. Alice McCoy, in spite of her calm, measured movements and lack of outward body tension, was angry. _Very_ angry though even that description failed to convey just how furious she actually was. For those that dwelt in the grounds of the Seer Council's temple they would have an excellent idea as to the extent of her present ill temper even if it weren't for the fact that they shared the same experience that she did to provoke such an emotion. Alice wore her fury like a shroud, and few needed any visual cues to know that it showed. It was as though one could just breathe it in through the air it was so strong.

She had good reason to be angry. Earlier that day two Royal Knights by the names of Ulforce Veedramon and Duftmon had appeared at the temple grounds looking for Azulongmon due to his presence there and demanded that he give them the key to the human world that was linked to the Southern Quadrant of the digital world. Needless to say when Azulongmon refused he had been attacked and conflict ensued, damaging the temple grounds and deleting many digimon along the way. Stepping outside Alice surveyed the damage to the temple grounds and crossed her arms over her chest. Her face increased its frown tenfold when she saw that small particles of broken data from the deaths of many a Renamon, Kyubimon, and all of their evolved forms continued to float in the air, sparkling within the light of the digital world's day.

_Unforgiveable,_ thought Alice as she clenched her eyes shut, forcing back tears that threatened to well up in her eyes. _This is…unforgiveable. Why? Why did this happen? Why did they do this? We had nothing to do with them and they still…they…oh God. Sakuyamon…the Mother..._

Alice quickly realized that her breath was coming out in short gasps now and she fought for control. After a few moments she managed to push down her pain and reopened her eyes, allowing them to drift over those digimon who were working to rebuild the destroyed areas of the temple. Life moved on and they moved with it. It was an accepted fact of life for those that existed here, but for Alice McCoy, granddaughter of Robert 'Dolphin' McCoy of the Monster Makers, it was a bittersweet truth that she often had trouble accepting herself. She detested the thought of having to simply accept something simply because she had no control over it, but what could she do?

_What can I do?_ Thought Alice as her blue eyes softened.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Not even bothering to look over her shoulder Alice closed her eyes and frowned.

"Shouldn't you be helping with the rebuilding efforts, Urocyomon?" She asked pointedly. Next to her a fox-like form stepped out of the shadows and came to a halt next to her. The fox figure stood at her height with his ears and had a silver fur coat with orange colored arm guards. For some reason whenever Alice saw those armguards she thought of autumn back at her home in the United States.

"The Seer Council had sent me to fetch the Tamers and inform them that they are to meet with them. After that I am to stand by and await further instructions."

Alice took note of a small, complaining tone in his voice.

"Not happy with that?"

"I just don't like having unnecessary free time," said Urocyomon with a shrug. "You could be helping yourself you know."

Alice's frown now turned into a scowl.

"The others won't let me. They say that I'm too young for this sort of thing or that I'm not strong enough."

"Why do I get the feeling that's not quite how they phrased it?"

"They didn't have to say it like that. A simple 'go fetch us some water' was more than enough."

"I see. Did you at least get them their water?"

Alice grumbled. Of all the digimon gathered here, Urocyomon, the remaining male Renamon type digimon currently residing in the temple grounds was decidedly the one that irritated her the most with how he carried conversations, which were sometimes evasive or pointed and blunt. At least when it came to her person or his elders.

_Kuzuhamon says it's because he's so much shorter than the Renamon that he trains with. Funny how he's never like this when he's with them. I understand that they tease him quite a lot._

Urocyomon cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, clearly indicating to Alice that she had yet to answer his question.

"Yeah," she relented rather bitterly. "I got them their water."

"Then be happy that you did them a service. They respect you for that you know."

"I'd rather that they let me get involved and get my hands dirty just like everyone else. The mother let me go on that mission for that girl earlier…"

"Weren't you uniquely qualified for that mission though?"

"Yeah, but…"

"To each their attributes then."

"Don't sound like you know what you're talking about _Kit_ ," poked Alice as she turned her head to face the vulpine digimon more fully. "Your teacher's are always telling you that you're too big upstairs for your own good and it keeps getting you into trouble. And last I checked _you_ were complaining just like me about not having anything to do."

"Well…yeah…but…" Urocyomon's voice drifted off into a series of incoherent mumbles before he finally crossed his arms, _hmmmphed,_ and turned his head away from the blond haired girl. "I was just trying to comfort you, you know. And don't call me _Kit._ "

"You're not exactly doing a good job at comforting anyone with your _high and mighty_ one-liners. And I call you _Kit_ because you not only act like one but because you _are_ one. How's training with the Renamon going? Do they still brush their tails at your nose? Or are they grooming you now and trying to make you look pretty?"

"This conversation is taking a decidedly embarrassing turn," grumbled Urocyomon as he shifted in agitation from one foot to the other.

"Ha! That's because you don't know how to handle women, and _that's_ why everyone calls you _Kit._ You're a newborn in more ways than one."

"You're awfully precocious aren't you?" Jested Urocyomon drily.

"And you're immature."

A pall of silence fell between the two for a moment before Urocyomon spoke up again.

"Feel better?"

"No. Not really, but thanks for trying. Or are you just saying that to make it look like you didn't fall into the mud by accident?"

"I'll leave you to figure that one out. More fun for both of us I think. What do you intend to do?"

"Do?" Alice tossed her head angrily, sending her hair from over her shoulders to down her back. "What can I do? The Mother's out of commission, same thing for Azulongmon. Gyōjamon's missing and Kuzuhamon is with the Tamers right now who are going to see the Seer Council. There's nothing that I can do right now."

"You're a human and yet you seem capable of doing things even in this world where you shouldn't be able to do anything. Isn't that why you were selected as a guide for the Sovereign's messenger?"

Alice's eyes narrowed as she recalled her friend Dobermon. Instinctively her hands reached up for the crucifix that was no longer around her neck and she bit her lip when they clasped around nothing.

"I don't like talking about that. I still couldn't do anything then."

"You took him to where he needed to be. That's 'doing something' in my book."

"But not what I would have wanted to do," rebutted Alice stiffly as she lowered her hands back downwards and hugged herself. "I'd rather that he still be here with me but he's not. I can't do anything about that."

Urocyomon glanced over at the girl and noticed the absence of her crucifix.

"I see," he said. "But that doesn't have anything to do with the here and now you know."

"It doesn't? I couldn't do anything for the Mother or for Azulongmon."

"To each their attributes, remember? I wouldn't have been able to do anything either and I'm more capable then you are with this kind of thing. Not even Kuzuhamon would have been able to do anything and she's even stronger than me. Much stronger, even in her Standby Mode."

"You're not helping."

"Fine then. Answer me this: what are your intentions now?"

Alice turned to Urocyomon with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"  
"I'm going to be blunt about this. Right now all you're doing is complaining about how you can't do anything and as such that's precisely what you're doing. Nothing. What are you going to do now? You've been hurt emotionally. Are you going to stand up on your own two feet and do something about it, or rue about how you 'can't do anything'?"

Alice glowered at the male vixen before looking away.

"You really are too big upstairs aren't you?"

"That's the popular opinion. Look, I know that I'm not fit to give out advice or anything; that's what the elder's are supposed to be for but with everyone busy except the two of us there's not really much for us to go on is there? And you _do_ need something to push you forwards. You don't look pretty when you're moping."

A sliver of a blush appeared on Alice's cheeks and she began to grow flustered.

"Just when I think that you can't get any weirder."

"What's that look for?" Urocyomon tilted his head to one side, honestly perplexed by the girl's reaction and somewhat alarmed by the sudden redness of her face. "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," grumbled Alice as she brushed off Urocyomon's hand as it rose towards her forehead. "I just need to go and think for a bit. _Alone."_

With that said the blonde haired girl turned and headed back into the main compound. Urocyomon watched her go for a moment before a female voice called to him from outside.

"Ohhh Kiiit! Are you just going to stand there gawking or are you going to lend us a hand like you're _supposed_ to?!"

_Whoopsies…_

Urocyomon disappeared in a shroud of shadows, leaving an annoyed Renamon to fume at his escape.

* * *

Alice grumbled incoherently to herself for a few seconds before lapsing back into her accustomed silence, deftly ignoring the clamors of righteous anger as Urocyomon escaped from his 'pursuers'.

_He does have a point though,_ thought the blonde haired girl as she walked down the hallway of the temple's living quarters. _What am I going to do now? Everyone's busy doing their part except me, and I don't really have a part right now. I want to do something…_ Alice balled one hand up into a tight fist as her eyes narrowed. _…I want to do something about those Royal Knights that attacked us. They're going to be going after the real world too. I can't let that go. Not after what they did to Azulongmon and the Mother._

Alice paused in the hallway and looked down it, her eyes drawn in deep thought as she contemplated her options.

_That's it,_ she thought as she made a heel turn and began heading towards the temple proper. _I know what I'm going to do._

* * *

Takato, now dressed in his usual clothes and sporting his yellow rimmed goggles on his forehead, tried very hard not to look at Rika as they, Guilmon, Renamon, Cyberdramon, and Ryo followed Kuzuhamon to the main temple. A thousand emotions were clashing inside of his mind but he could not afford to be distracted by them right now as they were about to have a meeting with Kuzuhamon's leaders, the Seer Council. A strange name Takato felt, but perhaps appropriate after a fashion considering the digimon that it consisted of. In an effort to distract himself from his worries Takato took the time of their journey to survey their surroundings and noted that the area was in a state of reconstruction from what appeared to be a fresh attack.

_I wonder what happened here,_ thought Takato as he watched a Kyubimon rush past him with a Renamon following closely behind; the Kyubimon carrying what looked to be building supplies strapped to its back. _Ryo didn't exactly tell me what the situation was here, just that we were brought here by accident and that the Seer Council wanted to see Rika while I was knocked out. And Rika didn't exactly get a chance to tell us what they talked to her about either._

Takato's eyes softened as for what had to be the hundredth time these past few weeks his thoughts drifted towards the red haired girl that he was walking next to. The very same girl who was radiating frustration and anger towards him like a hot iron. Looking up in another attempt to distract himself Takato saw a Sakuyamon fly towards the roof of the temple that they were walking towards and light upon its surface, the outline of her figure clearly visible against the bright sunlight that poured down on temple grounds.

_This…is a nightmare,_ thought Takato as he scratched the back of his head anxiously. _Everywhere I go here there's always something that reminds me of Rika and what's going on between us. And with her here too but not wanting to talk to me…_

Something caught at Takato's eye, causing one foot to catch on the ground and nearly make him stumble. The group paused and everyone turned to look at him. Rika took a moment to glower at his clumsiness before _hmmmphing_ and looking away.

"Do you _have_ to be constantly tripping over your own feet, _Gogglehead?"_

"Sorry," said Takato apologetically as he righted himself. "I just thought I saw someone familiar."

Ryo chuckled. "We're in a town full of Renamon's and all of her evolution lines. I think that everyone around us qualifies as _familiar."_

"I don't mean that kind of familiar. I could have sworn that I saw a girl."

Rika's eyes flashed dangerously as she returned her baleful gaze on the hapless boy. Feeling the pressure of his friend Takato did his best to not squirm uncomfortably.

_I really need to think about how I word things before speaking…_

"Well," began Rika in a measured tone, "you certainly have an eye for that sort of thing don't you?"

"Hey!" Exclaimed Takato, feeling more than a little bit irritated by the accusatory tone she was using towards him. Even Renamon and Ryo were taken aback by it.

"Rika!" Scolded Renamon as Ryo stepped forward.

"Rika, this is Takato that we're talking about. He's always sticking a foot in his mouth." Ryo looked over at Takato with an apologetic expression on his face. "No offense."

"Ah…sure, no problem. I guess."

Ryo looked back at Rika with a stern look.

"Anyway. I'm pretty sure that Takato wasn't saying what you were thinking."

"And just _what_ do you think that I'm thinking, _Ryo?"_ Asked Rika, glaring at the Legendary Tamer. "You don't know anything about us."

"Except that something is definitely going on between you two," said Ryo. "I saw what was happening between you two before we all wound up here. Jeri didn't seem all that surprised about it either."

Rika's eyes widened at that, but they quickly narrowed and she took a threatening step towards Ryo. Ryo, to his credit didn't even budge and instead matched her glare for glare.

_This doesn't look too good…_ thought Takato as he worriedly looked back and forth between the two. Next to them their partners likewise watched the scene with equal amounts of worry.

"Yeah. That's right," said Rika. "She isn't surprised at all. But while we're on this subject why don't we talk about how you're suddenly taking more of an interest in what the rest of us are doing in our spare time? You never used to really hang out with us much except when a digimon was wrecking havoc…"

"Train fair costs money Rika," commented Ryo dryly.

"And you have Cyberdramon to fly you around so don't give me that excuse."

"I'm getting the feeling that this is going somewhere, and that 'somewhere' is a not-so-good direction."

"Got that right hotshot. You want to explain to me why it is that you're hanging out with Jeri so much now?"

Ryo's eyes widened slightly at that, and though no one noticed so did Renamon's. Clearly whatever it was the Legendary Tamer had been expecting it certainly hadn't been that. His surprise was quickly replaced by an emotion that Rika was unfamiliar with seeing from the older boy. Anger. When Ryo began to speak again his voice was cool and measured, but behind it lay the threat of the oncoming storm.

"Rika; I don't know what's going through your mind now, but that's crossing the li…"

_"STOP IT!"_

All eyes jerked over to Takato, who was breathing heavily from his unexpected outburst. With a flushed face Takato turned angrily towards Rika.

"What is _wrong_ with you?! Why are you acting like this? We're all supposed to be friends here but you're lashing out at everyone just because of something that I did! How can you accuse Ryo of something like that? If you're mad at me fine but don't you _dare_ go bringing someone else into this! I just…" Takato shook his head hard, trying to comprehend how things between them had disintegrated so rapidly in the scant time that they had been here. Unable and unwilling to accept how things were turning out Takato spun on his heel and raced off. Guilmon giving a cry of surprise immediately bounded after him with cries of 'wait up'.

_I was only trying to keep us from breaking apart as friends,_ thought Takato as he raced away from his friends. _And instead I only made it worse._

Shock was written on Rika's face as she raised one hand to try and stop the goggle-wearing boy from taking off, wondering just how it was that things became like this before Ryo's hand clamped down on top of hers. With a renewed spark of anger Rika turned on the older Tamer before she got a look at his stern expression and the fires evaporated as the boy shook his head.

"Better let him go for now," Ryo said as he deftly let go of her hand. "The both of you need to cool off your heels for a while before you think about going at it again." Ryo turned towards Kuzuhamon apologetically. "Sorry about that. I don't suppose that we can postpone this meeting for a few minutes can we?"

The Kuzuhamon blinked, apparently bewildered by this unexpected turn of events before looking over her shoulder at the main temple.

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Takatomon…slow down!" Called out Guilmon as he raced after his partner, unmindful of the strange looks that they were garnering from the residents of the temple as they went about their business. Finally, much to Guilmon's relief, Takato slowed and quickly came to a stop. Guilmon came abreast of him and looked at his partner worriedly. "Takatomon? Are you okay?"

Of course Takato looked far from okay, even for Guilmon's optimism. Takato's face was downcast and flushed, and his body was trembling with unresolved anger and frustration over the situation.

"I just…don't understand her, Guilmon," Takato finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. "One minute she's telling me that she cares about me and the next it's like she hates me just for even existing. It's like she's trying not to be friends with me and I just don't understand that. After all that we've been through…after everything's said and done she just…she just wants to break things off like we were enemies again." Takato wiped his arm over his eyes and sniffed. "And that…I never thought that this would hurt like this. I mean, sure Rika was always a bit difficult to deal with but after we became friends I always felt that I could count on her, but now…"

Takato trailed off as he lowered his hand to his side and took a shaky breath. Guilmon watched him with wide eyes for a moment before speaking.

"People don't always mean what they say when they're angry Takato."

"Not this time," said Takato with a shake of his head. "You've seen the way that she's been acting. Everything that she's said she means. This…" Takato raised one hand to his chest and for a brief moment he felt the connection that he shared with Rika. "She doesn't want this anymore. I'm such an idiot for trying to stop her. Why didn't I just listen to her and let her do it?"

"Takato…I was biomerged with you. I know what you were feeling. It was as if something important was going to get broken, like that time I accidently knocked over the cookie jar back at the bakery…"

Takato raised his red eyes and looked at his friend questioningly.

"You remember that?"

Guilmon blinked. "Um…I think so. I remember a really loud voice and seeing a broken jar…um…anyway. Yeah, it's like that. Remember how your mom was really angry with me that day? She said a lot of things that she didn't mean either. But we made up later."

"Guilmon…this… _isn't_ just something that can be fixed like that. This is a lot bigger."

"Can't you come up with a bigger 'I'm sorry' then? Calumon told me once that if you wanted to really say you're sorry all you have to do is kiss and make up."

Takato gave his partner an incredulous look whilst trying to ignore the memory of Rika's lips pressing against his own from all those weeks ago.

"Uh…Guilmon," began Takato as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "That's kind of what started the whole thing, and right now I don't think Rika would appreciate my even doing that." Takato sighed. "I'm starting to think that I made a mistake…"

"Giving up on her already?"

"Huh?" Takato blinked in bewilderment as he turned to see Ryo approaching him, a serious expression on his face. "Ryo!"

"Hey. You doing okay?"

"Well…that's certainly the question," said Takato heaving a sigh. "I don't mean to sound rude but…what are you doing here?"

"Figured that I'd check up on you. You looked really out of sorts. Can't say I blame you though. There was a lot that got said back there that wasn't all that good to hear."

Takato frowned as he recalled some of the things that Rika had said, particularly what had been directed at Ryo. A part of him wanted to ask him what she meant by Ryo's 'hanging out with Jeri so much' but another part of him, the part that wanted to trust his friends no matter what caused him to hesitate.

_To ask or not? That is the question…_

"Um…Ryo? I…uh…"

"You want to know what Rika was talking about with me and Jeri."

Takato paused before finally nodding. "Yeah."

"Jeri and I…there's nothing going on between us if that's what you're wondering about. She's just been talking to me a bit more, lending a listening ear for some of my troubles. It's kind of complicated."

"Well, things are pretty complicated already, what's one more?"

Ryo frowned at the boy's sarcasm, and he noted that even Takato didn't look too happy with it either, as though he regretted his words. Ryo didn't blame him though. He had been under quite a bit of stress these past few weeks from Guilmon's death all the way to his own trouble regarding a certain fiery haired girl who had quite accidently made her way into his heart and mind. It certainly wasn't the sort of situation that Ryo would have wished upon himself that much was certain.

He had more than enough of his own fair share of problems without getting tangled in a love triangle.

"I'm just going through some troubles regarding my partner," Ryo said indicating his partner who was standing a short ways off, growling at the digimon that bustled about them. "She's got it into her head that she can help me out with them. She seems like she's the kind of person who would try to help someone no matter what."

"Yeah," said Takato quietly as he thought of the brown haired girl that had held his heart and continued to do so for so long now. "Yeah she is."

"Look Takato, I know how much she means to you. Jeri that is. It's been pretty obvious that you've been hung up on her for a long while now. I don't intend to come between you two or anything, and while I'm not the best person to be saying this right now you shouldn't let Rika's words get to you about her or me. That card is in your deck right now so it's up to you to figure out what you're going to do with it."

"It's not that that's bothering me though," said Takato. "It's Rika. I just don't understand why she would be saying any of those things. It's like she's trying to get me to hate her or something."

"I had a talk with her once, back when we all thought Guilmon was gone for good. She cares about you a lot, and she was easily one of the most affected out of all of us by what you were going through. In case you didn't notice she's been looking out for you a lot. Now I don't know much about what's going on between you two but I'd say that I can comfortably lay money down on her having fallen in love with you. Or maybe she's confusing her feelings for love…"

"She…um…she kissed me Ryo," Takato admitted, looking more than a little uncomfortable and nervous at having said that. Ryo blinked in surprise and almost against his will he felt a small smile begin to form on his face at the thought of the 'Wild Cat' showing that much affection and care to someone. He quickly suppressed the smile though and pushed onwards.

"Okay. So it looks like she's in love with you. The point is, she cares enough about you to the point where she's starting to worry that she's coming between your relationship with Jeri. You stopping her from doing whatever it was that she was doing when you two fought, to her, might look like she failed and now she's taken something that she feels belongs to one of her closest friends. I'm just guessing at all of this of course but she might be lashing out because of that. Love isn't an easy thing to deal with. Especially with someone as popular as you it seems."

"Huh?" Takato blinked. "What's that mean?"

"You've got two, pretty girls setting their sights on you," said Ryo, forcing a small grin on his face. "What do you think it means?"

"A-Actually…ah…Jeri hasn't really said anything yet…"

"Stop that thought right there bud, because depending on how things go you'll probably end up convincing yourself out of liking Jeri and go to Rika out of convenience. I may not be an expert on romance but I do know that's not a good thing to have in any relationship."

"I'm not sure I really understand but…aren't I supposed to only like one of them in that way?"

"How do you feel about Rika right now?"

"Um…ah…well…I…" Takato stammered, rubbing the back of his head nervously as he struggled to find an answer that would satisfy both himself and Ryo. One hand told him that he only saw her as a friend but the other, the one that had been touched by everything that she had done for him…

Ryo nodded, as though he had been expecting Takato's hesitation.

"See? Already you're up against a wall there. You like Jeri but you don't know where you stand with Rika now that she's shown you her feelings. Eventually you're going to have to choose but right now it's probably a good idea to keep a middle as best as you can until you know for certain how you feel for each girl. It's not going to be easy for you, you know."

"No it's not," Takato agreed before reaching over and patting Guilmon gently on the head. The crimson dinosaur gratefully nuzzled his partner's leg.

"You better now, Takatomon?"

"Not really. But I think I've got my feet on the right path now. Thanks for helping you guys."

"Don't mention it," said Ryo. "You still have to face Rika though. Are you ready for that?"

Takato frowned. "I don't know. I didn't look so good running away like that, did I?"

"You're worried about how you looked to her?"

"I am! Well…no…I mean…I don't know. I don't mean it in 'that way', it's just I've gotten used to charging headlong into battles. Running away from Rika like that…seems wrong. Like something a kid would do."

"You are a kid, Takato. Rika's only just turned thirteen herself. Looking at it from a romantic angle though, yeah you probably didn't look to good to her just now. She's got her own expectations same as anyone. Whether or not you grow into those expectations is all up to you, but I'm not going to fault you for taking off like that. The way that conversation was going someone needed to cool off and you know enough that when your temper runs hot you can't really let it keep running."

Takato was silent as he remembered his explosive unleashing of Megidramon upon Beelzemon. Unfortunately, that hadn't been the kind of fight that he could just call a timeout on to 'cool off' from.

"And to be honest Takato, if you hadn't stepped in when you did I probably would have done the same thing if it kept going. Even I know enough to walk away from something like that if it's going to get too ugly. Friendships and romances are too important to lose over something like this."

Ryo reached over and clapped Takato on the back.

"C'mon. We've still got that meeting to go to and we can't have the team leader absent you know, and certain Royalties needs their knight by their side."

Takato chuckled lightly though he didn't really feel like it.

"You know, I really don't know what you're talking about."

Ryo smiled.

_That's our Gogglehead. Modest to a fault or just plain clueless. All things considered, I can see what it is that Rika and Jeri see in him._

"Say," began Ryo. "Just out of curiosity who _did_ you see right before Rika went off?"

Takato's brow furrowed in deep thought.

"I didn't exactly get a good look at her, but she did look familiar…"

* * *

"I sure stepped into it this time, didn't I?" Asked Rika as she leaned her back against the wooden railing on the stairs leading up to the entrance of the main temple. Leaning casually against the same railing Renamon looked down at her partner with a sympathetic gaze. Sensing it Rika sighed.

"You don't have to sugar coat it or anything, Renamon. Just tell me if I'm right or wrong."

"I'd say that you definitely stepped into something," commented Renamon, turning her gaze up towards the sky. "If that's the metaphor you choose to use that is."

Renamon waited a moment to see if her partner would have anything else to say on the matter before speaking.

"Rika, you knew that you only saw Jeri comforting Ryo. There was no way that we could be certain from just that one scene that there was anything more going on between them then just mere friendship."

"I know Renamon. I've just been so frustrated lately that I let my words get away from me. I know Ryo's not the type of person who would do that kind of thing. I can't believe that I actually accused him of that. Ugh. I had to sound like the biggest heel just now. I'm not one for apologies but I'm going to have to pull out a whopper of one for this."

"Not just to Ryo either I suspect," mentioned Renamon as she folded her arms over her chest. Hearing the not so subtle message in her words Rika wrapped her arms around one of her legs and pulled it into a hug, her expression becoming uncertain. She had to admit that Renamon was right. She hadn't been expecting Takato to freak out the way that he did, but in hindsight she realized that she should have expected it. There had been a few times early on in their 'association' prior to them becoming friends and colleagues that he had lost his cool with her whenever she got his back hair up too much.

_But those were pretty small things compared to this,_ thought Rika as she looked down at the stairs, feeling the strands of her hair, no longer tied back in its usual ponytail tickling the back of her neck. _I was rough with him then but I definitely didn't treat him like this._

"Why did I have to fall in love with that stupid Gogglehead?" Rika whispered to herself. "All I wanted was to see him smile that goofy smile of his like he used to and not act so down all the time. I wanted to be there for him and help him through his problems but…" Rika sighed. "…I didn't want to be the cause of _more_ trouble on top of everything else."

"Your heart has always been more sensitive then you like others to know," commented Renamon. "I know that better than anyone."

"I guess it wasn't sensitive enough after that little episode earlier. It's funny. Takato was right about one thing when he stopped me from breaking our link. If I had followed through on that our friendship would have been changed. Probably for the worst. The link we have now," Rika took one hand off of her leg and pressed it to her chest, at the center of the full heart that was emblazoned on her T-Shirt, "it goes pretty deep, and it had already been getting deep before I made it. Funny thing is, even though I'm afraid about how it will affect things between him and Jeri I'm actually happy that I made it. It feels a little bit like how close we are, only different. I can only begin to imagine how things would be if I did get rid of that. Especially if what I feel right now is any indication."

Rika's eyes softened as she held her fingers to her chest for a moment longer before letting go and draping her arm over the top of her knee.

"Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but I think I'm the one who's stupid this time around."

"Rika…" Renamon sighed and closed her eyes, trying to find a way to express her next words. "Perhaps your actions were… _misjudged._ "

"As I recall, you were also against them."

"I'm not saying that you're wrong in your assertion of your actions Rika. You let your fears control you, and as a result they created the situation that you and Takato find yourselves in now. But now that you recognize those emotions you can get a better idea as to how you should conduct yourself in the future."

A small smile appeared on Rika's face and she nodded in agreement.

_How many times have I been down this road already? Wondering what to do, wanting to not do anything and keep acting as if everything were normal, and wanting to do something at the same time. To have some kind of closure to everything. Now I'm seeing the bad side of that kind of thinking. I guess I already knew that from the beginning too but I didn't want to see it. I shut Takato out just as I was opening up to him…as we were opening up to each other. And that's my fault. All Takato wanted was to keep us together and I hurt him for it. I just hope that Takato is willing to give me a second chance here. As uncomfortable as this has all been for the two of us, I don't want to lose his friendship._

Brushing aside her hair Rika stood up and dusted off her jeans. Renamon looked at her curiously and tilted her head to one side questioningly.

"Rika?"

"C'mon Renamon. Let's go look for Takato. I've got a few things that I need to say to him."

Renamon pushed herself off of the railing, a small smile on her face, glad to hear her partner's choice. As she did so her azure eyes caught sight of something and she frowned. Rika, noticing her partner's expression raised an eyebrow at the vulpine digimon.

"Renamon?"

"Rika…didn't Takato say earlier that he had seen someone familiar?"

"Yeah. He said it was a girl. That's kind of what set me off then. Why? What are you…?"

"Look Rika."

Frowning Rika followed her partner's gaze and suddenly froze, her eyes going wide as they settled on the figure that had come to a stop before them.

Blond hair neatly touched the girl's shoulders, which were covered in a black colored kimono. Blue eyes looked out from a pale faced girl whose expression appeared empty and without feeling. At least that was how it looked on the surface. Rika, who had learned to look past appearances, saw a deep rooted anger and a lack of surprise at the sight of the Tamer in front of her as well as towards those digimon that were around her, something that Rika found odd considering the fact that this girl was in a hospital bed, and in a coma the last time she had seen her.

As if to announce the girl's identity to the world Takato's voice cut through the air, showing just as much surprise that Rika was feeling herself right now.

"ALICE!"


	106. 105: Guides: Part 2

Takato would have liked to imagine that a sharp breeze had just blown over the courtyard of the temple, as it would have provided a rather dramatic setting for what he and his friends were being made witness to. Unfortunately, no such thing occurred. The wind remained calm and still; without any more energy beyond the gentle breezes caused by the passing of various digimon as they went about their business.

_It's probably for the best,_ thought Takato absently as he looked at the blonde haired girl that stood in front of him, her face looking over her shoulder at him with indifferent, blue colored eyes. _If nothing else it probably would have been distracting._

Next to him Ryo frowned.

"This…how is she here? Isn't she in a hospital room right now? In a coma?"

"I'm just as surprised as you are Ryo," said Takato, shaking his head in an attempt to see if this was all just an illusion caused by his overworked mind. No such luck. The blonde haired girl remained, only her look of indifference was now replaced by faint irritation at his and Ryo's antics.

_Can she blame us though? This is definitely a surprise that I don't think any of us saw coming._

Alice McCoy. That was the name of the girl that he and the others were seeing right now. Except by all rights her very presence here in the digital world was an impossibility ignored completely by the fact that she really _was_ standing in front of them, breathing like a living human being and frowning at them. And it wasn't the first time that such an impossible thing had occurred either. Almost a year ago the girl had arrived in the real world with the digimon known as Dobermon looking for the Tamers while being pursued relentlessly by agents of the D-Reaper as they laid waste to everything in their path, all to deliver to the Tamers the ability to biomerge in the real world in order to defeat their common foe. They had been successful at the cost of Dobermon's life, but his death hadn't been in vain and there wasn't a day that went by that the Tamers weren't thankful for the sacrifice that had been made on his and Alice's part. Takato still remembered how the girl had looked when she acknowledged that Dobermon was going to give up his existence for the sake of two worlds. He never found out what had passed between them that brought forth such emotion but he recognized it all the same.

It was but the first mystery about Alice that he and the others discovered. After the D-Reaper had been defeated and they had related their experiences to Yamaki and the Monster Makers Rika had taken note of Rob 'Dolphin' McCoy's photo of his granddaughter and it had been then that they learned that there shouldn't have been any way that they could have met Alice. According to Dolphin, his granddaughter had been in a coma for some time now and that she presently resided in a hospital being cared for. Hearing this had been rather unnerving for all of the Tamers that had met her, and it brought forth many questions about who it was that they met on that fateful day, and it became all the more troubling when they considered the similarities between the two girls and that Dobermon had explicitly called the one who had been with him 'Alice'.

_That was probably the only time Rika didn't yell at me for coming up with the idea that she might have been a ghost,_ thought Takato as he looked at Alice in stunned amazement.

Alice's frown narrowed considerably, apparently finding the awkward silence and staring unnerving.

"Well?" Began Alice in an annoyed tone of voice. "How long do you guys intend to stare at me like a bunch of monkeys?"

That did it. Takato snapped out of his trance.

"You're…you're Alice, right? The girl from before?"

"Yes. I'm the one who was with Dobermon back in the real world."

"No way," said Rika as she took a step forward. "How is this possible? You…you're still in the real world. You're in…you're in a hospital for goodness sake! How can you be in two places at once?"

Renamon frowned as she looked at Alice.

"I do recall Takato mentioning the possibility that what we encountered was her spirit."

"Do you have to be so blunt about it Renamon?"

"That's fine with me," said Alice with an annoyed sigh. "That's probably the best explanation that you're ever going to get. Everyone else around here views me the same way anyway. That's what the Mother called me anyway."

"The 'Mother'?" Asked Ryo, raising an eyebrow at the girl. Even though he had never met the girl the way Takato, Rika, and Henry did he still found the whole situation more than a little bit interesting. During his last trip in the digital world he had kept an eye out for any sign of her, but had come up with nothing and even digimon didn't seem aware of her presence. "It looks like we have quite a lot to catch up on."

Alice turned her frown on the Legendary Tamer and held it for a second before her expression softened and she turned away.

"We don't have anything to talk about," said Alice as she stormed up the stairs towards the main temple only to have Rika step in front of her.

"Hold on there, Blondie. I beg to differ. You've got a _lot_ of explaining to do, like why you're here when you're also in the real world. And what about your family? Why haven't you gone home or anything to let them know that you're okay? Do you know how worried your grandfather is about you?"

Alice met Rika's angry expression with one of her own before stepping forward and, much to Rika's own shock and surprise actually walked _through_ her. Rika's eyes flew open and she turned to look at Alice as she continued to walk up the stairs.

"You sure have quite the effect on people Rika," chuckled Ryo as he and Cyberdramon appeared next to the red haired girl. Rika glowered at him.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I'm just making an observation. At any rate it looks like we're all heading in the same direction, and now that we know where she is we can ask around about her and get some information. Hopefully we can have a conversation with her under more pleasant circumstances later. I get the feeling that she's upset about something."

"No really, Sherlock," said Rika as she returned her gaze to Alice's retreating back. After a second her eyes softened and she spoke in a much more concerned tone. "Do you think that it has anything to do with the condition of this place when we got here? When I was at that meeting I was told that there was an attack heading towards the real world. I wonder if part of that hit this place first for trying to warn us."

"Sounds like we've got a _lot_ to talk about," mused Ryo as he scratched at his chin with one hand.

"There's quite a lot going on, isn't there?" Asked Takato, remembering the arrival of the Royal Knights into the real world followed by the strange cable creature and Noriko's merging with BlackGuilmon to create ChaosGallantmon. "But we're not going to find out anything if we're just going to stand around here. We were asked to attend a meeting so we might as well go there now."

"Better late than never," chirped Guilmon from by Takato's side and with that the duo quickly headed off in pursuit of Alice McCoy. Rika's eyes moved over to Takato and she raised a hand towards him, looking as though she were about to stop him before halting. With an uncertain expression on her face Rika lowered her hand back to her side, frowning as she felt her partner place a hand on her shoulder in sympathy.

Ryo stepped forward and glanced at the red haired Tamer.

"C'mon Rika," spoke the Legendary Tamer with a comforting tone. "You can sort things out with Takato later. We've still got some things to take care of."

"Yeah," replied Rika thoughtfully, though it was clear that she wasn't too happy with the idea. "Um…Ryo? About what I said earlier…about you and Jeri…"

Ryo flashed Rika his famous grin.

"Don't worry about it Rika. I know that you didn't mean it. I'm a little bit surprised that you thought that there was anything going on between her and me though but I'm not going to hold anything against you for it. Look; we'll talk after this meeting is over. We can't let Takato and Guilmon get too far ahead of us. Who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into if we don't watch his back?"

Rika nodded half-heartedly, not at all responding with a typical quip about how people like Takato were the type that needed watching as she normally would, and instead merely moved on ahead to join the goggle-wearing child while he waited by the door leading into the temple, waiting for his friends to catch up. Ryo sighed and let his grin drop into a smile, once again marveling at Rika's reactions towards her feelings.

_I have to admit, it's unnerving to see her acting like this. She's usually so decisive and just as liable to charge into the unknown as Takato was every time he ran off to rescue Jeri. I just hope that everything goes fine for all three of them in the end._

* * *

Takato and the others stepped into the entrance of the temple and followed Alice as she made her way inside, not in the least bit concerned with the darkness that surrounded them on all sides and threatened to swallow them whole. Guilmon sniffed the air nervously before pressing into Takato's leg and giving a small whine.

"Takatomon? I don't like this anymore. Can you have someone turn on the light switch?"

"It is kinda dark in here, isn't it?" Asked Takato aloud. "Why is it like this? Was it this way when you were in here, Rika?"

"Sure was," she replied. "I think that the Sakuyamon who run this place have a thing for trying to creep out visitors."

"Guess that means you fit in rather well, huh Wildcat?" Jested Ryo with a teasing grin. Rika shot him a glare but otherwise did not reply to the older boy.

"So where do we go from here?" Asked Ryo when he didn't get the expected reaction from the fiery Tamer. In front of him Takato shrugged.

"I guess for now the best thing we can do is follow Alice. She seems to know her way around here…"

"Of course I do," interrupted Alice. "I've been here on more than one occasion already. It also helps that our goal is the same right now so you don't need to worry about being led to the wrong place. Besides," Alice glanced over her shoulder for a moment before coming to a halt, "there's always been just one meeting place for the Seer Council."

Light bloomed around the group as everyone came to a stop behind Alice, revealing the interior of the temple. Takato, Guilmon, and Ryo's eyes widened in amazement as they took in the sheer number of Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon that surrounded them. Unconsciously Takato gulped, feeling as though he were in a courtroom getting ready to hear how he was to be judged for all those times he had skipped chores or homework.

_There's my overactive imagination again,_ thought Takato sarcastically. _At least I returned all of my library books. My parents won't have to be burdened with paying off any overdue charges._

"Um…hey there guys…" began Takato only to be overridden by Alice as she spoke up in a clear and firm voice that was full of intent.

"I'm going back to the real world."

Silence resounded in the council room as all eyes turned towards the blonde haired girl as she stood firmly, hands on her hips and blue eyes flashing dangerously, practically challenging any of the shaman digimon gathered to voice an opinion that was the opposite of her own, not noticing the surprised and somewhat hurt look that an unmasked Kuzuhamon had on her face in a corner of the room. It wasn't long until a Sakuyamon with silver trimmed gloves and armor spoke up.

"The council does not recognize Alice McCoy at this moment," said the shaman, "although I must say that it does come in a timely fashion."

"Now hold on just a minute," began Alice. "I'm going back home and you…wait." Alice frowned. "What do you mean _timely fashion?"_

"All will become clear," said the Sakuyamon with a wave of one hand. "One of these days you must learn patience."

"Don't play with me," said Alice angrily. "What did you mean by…?"

"Alice McCoy," spoke up another Sakuyamon from next to the one Alice had addressed who, unlike her counterpart, bore more standard Sakuyamon colors and designs."Please remember that you are only a guest within these walls and that you have not been called before us as the others have been."

Alice scowled.

"I…"

"Geez," commented Rika from behind her. "You couldn't have said that more easily?"

"Um…Rika?"

"What? Don't tell me, Takato. Because we're on their home turf we have to be respectable? I get that, but I don't like seeing our hosts be rude either."

"It's all right," said Alice, though to all who heard her they would have been hard pressed to believe her. "There's a certain procedure that has to be observed during these meetings. I forgot about them. My apologies." With that Alice gave a slight bow towards the Seer Council, to which they inclined their heads towards her in turn.

"You may stay young Alice," said the silver Sakuyamon. "After all, your reasons for returning to the real world are the same as those of the Tamers, are they not?"

"Huh?" Asked Takato, looking over at Alice in confusion. "What do they mean?"

"Maybe we should listen to the Seer Council first," said Ryo. "That's what this meeting is for, right?"

"Quite correct Lord of the Thousand God," said the Silver Sakuyamon, causing Ryo to frown and Takato, Renamon, Guilmon, and Rika to look at him in confusion.

_"Lord of the Thousand God?"_ Asked Rika. "What's that mean?"

Ryo took great pains to not look away from Silver's scrutinizing gaze as he answered the Digimon Queen.

"I wish I had a clue."

"Well, if there's one thing that I know for certain, it's that these guys like to banter around fancy titles like there's no tomorrow and expect us to understand them. It's as though they can't be any more clearer or something."

"That's because they can't," said Alice. "It's part of their nature to speak in riddles. Even the Mother could be like that. Not always, but sometimes. It has to do with the degree of their ability to 'see' the world around them and how much of an affect they're allowed to have on it. The Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon gathered here have a greater degree of movement in this world than the Mother did, and as a result while they can affect things more, their degree of sight requires them to not interact in too direct a fashion. The results could be…disastrous."

"I don't get it," said Rika. "Renamon and I have always been able to see just fine when we were biomerged…"

"I don't think she's referring to 'physical sight', Rika," said Renamon calmly eyeing the Seer Council, "but rather the sight that allows a person to see more of the world than they would otherwise be capable of. The past, the future, or even another person's heart. To see those things means to affect them, and thus the consequences are even greater."

Rika looked at her partner as she thought it over.

_'The past, the future, or even a person's heart. To see those things means to affect them, and thus the consequences are greater.' Is that what Alice meant?_

That last part about being able to see into a person's heart especially had caught her attention, if only because she recognized the subtle emphasis that Renamon had put on that particular word. Even without it though it wouldn't have been necessary.

_I sure know the consequences of being able to see into a person's heart, that's for sure,_ thought Rika as she pulled one hand into a tight fist. _My and Renamon's power as Sakuyamon has been growing quite a lot these past few weeks. I remember when I first began sensing Takato's feelings whenever we were biomerged, and that came before he and I even made that link between us._

Rika sighed mentally and unclenched her fist, letting her fingers relax.

_Still can't believe that I tried to break that link and then got mad at Takato for stopping me. I guess that I still have a lot to learn about things like that. I've definitely got quite a lot to think over after this is all over, that's for sure._

"That's pretty much the basics of it," continued Alice, ignorant of Rika's inner thoughts. "All the Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon here have some measure of clairvoyance which is only achievable when they've reached a certain point of experience with their form. Sometimes they can specialize in what kind of things they can see like the truth, the past, visions from the future…that kind of thing but it's always limited and limiting for them because it puts a stop on how much they can touch in the digital or real worlds without causing trouble. Trying to alter or force something that's 'seen' only makes the problem worse rather than simply letting it resolve on its own or try to guide it towards a resolution. It was even worse for the Mother because she sees…well, _everything._ "

Ryo frowned.

"Who's this _Mother_ you keep talking about?"

"She is a specialized type of Sakuyamon," replied the silver Sakuyamon this time. "A type that is connected more fully with the Light of the digital world. I believe you are already familiar with her form. She has, if I recall correctly, appeared most recently within your own ranks."

"You mean the Shrine Maiden version of Sakuyamon?" Asked Takato with wide eyes. Rika snorted.

"Do you _have_ to call it that?"

"Well, she does kind of look like she's from a shrine…"

"She is the Kabuki Mode," continued the silver Sakuyamon. "She stands among the strongest forms of the Sakuyamon species and, as stated, the one that is most closely connected with the Light that connects all worlds together granting her a high degree of sight into their workings and even the past and future."

"So where is she?" Asked Takato. "I mean, if we're here talking to you shouldn't she be here also?"

"Unfortunately therein lies the reason behind our attempt to contact you. While we don't fully understand the reasons as to why you were brought here we can only acknowledge that you are here now and send you back to the real world as soon as possible. As I'm sure you have surmised from your surroundings, there has been an attack upon this place. This was done by a group of digimon that you have had reason to become familiar with of late."

"The Royal Knights," said Ryo with a nod. Seeing the others looking at him Ryo continued. "They're the only digimon that have been coming after us lately. That cable thing…"

"Isn't related to the Royal Knights," said the shaman priestess. "But it is they who have attacked us. The Royal Knights came here, seeking out Azulongmon who had been entrusted with the key that allowed access to your world. When Azulongmon refused to give into their demands they assaulted us and took what they desired. Both Azulongmon and our Mother…"

"They were deleted," said Alice, one hand shaking in barely checked rage. That got a look of surprise from the Tamers.

_Deleted? But…_

"The Mother held on for a time," continued the silver Sakuyamon. "Long enough anyway to facilitate the discovery of the location of her fellow sister in your world," the shaman indicated Rika and Renamon with a nod of her head, "and use it as a point to send one of our own to deliver a message to you that the Royal Knights would be coming to your world and that battle was to be expected. Afterwards however she ceased to be."

"That…can't be." Takato lowered his face and allowed his hair to cover his eyes. "Azulongmon…" After a second Takato raised his face again, and Rika took note of a familiar fire awakening within him. The same fire that she had seen when Takato had sworn to rescue Jeri no matter what the cost; the one that she had been trying to coax back to life prior to his battle with the DexDoruGreymon. At another time she would have smiled seeing it back again, but right now she couldn't help but feel a little uncertain about it. The fire was familiar but…

_…Which one is it?_ Wondered Rika, remembering Megidramon. Tentatively Rika reached out with her mind, trying to find the bridge that connected the two of them together. For a moment she feared that she wouldn't be able to find it due to recent events but after a couple seconds her fears were alleviated and she breathed a silent sigh of relief before continuing onwards.

_"Takato?"_ She whispered in her mind and she allowed a small smile to cross her face when she saw him jerk slightly in surprise. She had to admit that she was a bit surprised herself over being able to communicate without being biomerged, but she was grateful all the same for seeing something of a response from the boy. Takato looked over his shoulder at her and Rika could feel a slight trickle of thought trying to make itself known in her mind.

_"…Ka?..."_

_Guess it's not going to be as easy as I thought it would be,_ thought Rika, remembering that communication had been difficult, if not impossible when she wasn't biomerged with Renamon. At the same time she couldn't help but wonder if her earlier actions had succeeded in weakening their bond as well, leaving her unsure as to how she felt about that thought. Feeling that such worries weren't important at the moment Rika tried to send a 'calming' feeling to the other Tamer in the hopes that he wouldn't get himself worked up over what they had just learned, a task that was made difficult by the fact that she felt the same way.

_Even so, if and when we end up fighting these guys, we can't let ourselves lose our heads out there. These Royal Knights are tough and we need to be in top form to fight them. I just hope Gogglehead remembers that._

Whether or not Rika had managed to make an impact on him she didn't have time to tell, as the meeting continued on regardless of their mental connection.

"Do you have an idea as to what it is that these Royal Knights want?" Asked Ryo. "If we can figure that out we might be able to end this without a fight."

"Last I checked Ryo they weren't so keen on talking so much as they were steamrolling through us even when presented with an easier way," said Rika.

"Discussion with the Royal Knights is difficult," said the silver Sakuyamon. "Their actions of late have been erratic of late and without regard for the lives of those who are caught in the middle. Were the Mother here I am certain she could provide you with an answer but unfortunately such is not the case."

"I wonder if it has anything to do with that X-Virus stuff that Drakemon had been talking about before," wondered Takato aloud. "I think he mentioned that it's connected to the Royal Knights."

"They are," said Ryo. "But even so there's not a whole lot that we can do about it right now. We've got a problem heading towards our home and we have to put a stop to it as soon as we can." Ryo turned towards the Seer Council. "How long until we can expect the Royal Knights to reach the real world?"

"Unknown," said the shaman. "They have cloaked themselves to our sight. There is little that we can do to aid you beyond this point except show you the route towards your home. Alice? You said that you had a request to return with them?"

Alice's eyes blazed now and she nodded fiercely.

"Yes."

"What are your intentions?"

"I wish to help stop the Royal Knights from harming any more lives."

"You are not a digimon Alice. You realize that the things that you are capable of doing will be of little value in combat against them."

"I'm still going all the same," said Alice, not losing the steely edge of determination to her tone. "Those Royal Knights took away something that was important to me and to you. I may not be able to do much but I still want to find a way to stop them."

The silver Sakuyamon sighed.

"The Mother did not desire that revenge be the driving force behind your journey home."

Alice frowned and looked down at the floor, remembering what the Sakuyamon had said to her during that ill-fated battle with the Royal Knights Duftmon and UlforceVeedramon.

" _Don't let the darkness cloud your heart. It would be a waste of a beautiful thing, to let the waters drown something so precious in this world."_

_Oh, Sakuyamon…_

"Even so," said Alice, her face softening as she looked back up at the Seer Council. "I've been here longer than I should have. I thank you for your hospitality, but it's time that I took my leave of you."

_Besides,_ she thought to herself. _There's nothing to keep me here anymore._

She didn't once notice Kuzuhamon watching her with sorrowful eyes.

"Very well then," said the silver Sakuyamon after a couple seconds. "You may go with the Tamers Alice. But be warned; peace cannot be found in fire. Not without a price."

With that she and the rest of the Sakuyamon all stood up.

"Preparations shall be made for your journey home. Until those preparations are completed you are all to retire to your rooms and wait. You are allowed the freedom to move about the temple grounds, but I ask that you remain close to your living quarters until we are ready for you. Until the 'morrow."

With that said, the assembled Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon bowed and darkness once again flooded the room.

* * *

"Well…that was different," said Takato scratching the back of his head as he followed the others outside.

"They're certainly quite the interesting group aren't they?" Said Ryo, sounding more as though he were stating a fact rather than a question.

Rika didn't contribute anything to their conversation as she was too far in deep thought about the day's events to really pay any attention to them. Eventually her gaze fell on Alice as she made her way down the stairs, ignoring the Tamers behind her.

"Alice," began Rika, calling out to the girl. Stopping Alice turned and looked at the group.

"Yes?"

"What happened?"

Alice raised an indifferent eyebrow towards the red haired Tamer.

"What do you mean?"

"What happened to you? What happened _here?_ And…well, a whole lot of other things. We don't really know you all that well you know, and the last time we saw you we didn't get a chance to say thank you or anything."

Alice looked at the Tamers, her expression giving away nothing before she turned away.

"A lot of things happened to me," she told them, gripping the sides of her kimono. "That's what happened. I came here looking for peace and quiet and now I've lost that. Not much to tell after that."

With that said Alice resumed walking, ignoring the Tamers now as she headed towards her home, the form of Kuzuhamon materializing next to her and falling into step with the ease of long companionship. The Tamers watched her go, uncertain as to what they should do. Takato looked back and forth between his friends, feeling a sense of awkwardness falling among them. Of all the things that they had ever prepared for finding Alice alive and well in the digital world had not been one of them, and right now no one really knew how to approach the girl. This was made more complicated by the fact that she didn't seem to disposed towards striking up conversation with them either.

_Can't say that I blame her,_ thought Takato. _But there's got to be something that we can do to help her._

The question remained though as to what it was they could do.

After a few moments of them doing nothing but standing there the sound of Guilmon's stomach growling broke the silence, causing the dino's eyes to widen in surprise and embarrassment and he clutched his claws over his abdomen in an attempt to silence it.

"Oroooh…Takatomon, I'm hungry."

Takato sighed in exasperation. "Guilmon…you know that we don't need to eat while we're in the digital world, right?"

"I know, but my tummy's making hungry noises anyway. I always get like that when big things happen or when something bad happens."

"Right, right. I forgot the number one Guilmon rule. Where there's bread there's happiness. Or at least in this case, food."

"What's the difference if both happen to be food?" Asked Renamon. Takato chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Not much, but with Guilmon, bread is an extra special comfort meal, especially when made with Peanut Butter. He's obsessed."

"Indeed. Perhaps one of the digimon here can direct us to a place where we can get something to eat."

"We have a kitchen in the northern end of the temple grounds," spoke up a voice behind them. Turning in surprise the Tamers all came face to face with the silver clad Sakuyamon, and she smiled at them warmly. "It even has equipment and supplies available for you should you choose to fix something of your choosing." Silver looked over at Guilmon and her smile became ever so much wider. "Including for certain digimon's appetites."

The sight of Guilmon's eyes lighting up with happiness clicked on the warning light in Takato's mind too late, and soon enough he became the recipient of one crushing hug from the crimson reptile.

"Yaaay! Takato! We can make bread! Guilmon Bread! Guilmon Bread! A loaf of bread shaped like my head! Guilmon Bread! Guilmon Bread!"

"Guilmon," wheezed Takato as he struggled for breath. "Do you remember how long it takes for bread dough to rise?"

"I don't think starvation is anything you have to worry about," said Renamon. "And besides, it will give you something to do while we wait for everything to be readied."

"Can't argue with you there," said Takato as he pried himself loose from his partner and laughed lightly. "Besides, it's been a while since I last made Guilmon Bread. This would probably be a good chance to get back into practice."

"Perhaps so," agreed Renamon before glancing over at her partner. "Rika? Would you like to help him?"

Rika blinked in surprise at the suggestion and suddenly became very flustered.

"Wha…? Why would…I…uh…ah…"

Ryo had to fight to keep himself from grinning.

_Very smooth Renamon. I didn't know that you could be like that. Very smooth indeed._

Takato likewise looked as tense as Rika did, no doubt because their argument was still very fresh in his mind.

_Well, this'll be a good chance for those two to patch things up…_

"Um… If she doesn't want to…"

"No! It's okay. I'll help out." Rika blushed lightly in embarrassment before sending a glare at Renamon, who took it impassively. "But you're joining in too."

"Of course Rika. As always."

"What about you, Ryo?" Asked Guilmon, looking over at the Legendary Tamer. "Do you want to make Guilmon Bread with us?"

Ryo chuckled. "Sorry bud. As much as I'd like to there are some things that I want to check out first. Besides, I don't think Cyberdramon is going to stand for being in a kitchen and having to wear an apron or anything. He might decide to wreck the place."

"Ohhh…" Guilmon sounded disappointed. "Okay. More fun for us then."

"Okay then. I'll take your word for it."

As the group parted ways, albeit reluctantly, Ryo allowed a moment of silence to fall between himself and Silver, waiting for his friends to get out of earshot before speaking.

"So…you know."

"We know many things Ryo. Milleniummon's influence in your being brought here is certainly among one of them. It's quite difficult to miss actually."

"That's what Cyberdramon said too," said Ryo with a frown. "Is there anything that I should be worried about?"

"When is there never?" Asked the silver Sakuyamon with a light chuckle. "The digital world has changed since you were last here. New creature's walk the land. The Chaos's affects are far reaching."

"Karma just keeps coming back doesn't it?" Mused Ryo with a frown. "I don't suppose that you guys, with your 'sight' can tell me what Milleniummon's plans are can you?"

"He has hidden himself, Legendary Tamer. I doubt even the Mother could ascertain anything about his motives, save that they revolve around you."

"Hmmm…the _Mother._ All this time that I spent in the digital world and I never once heard about her, or you guys."

"We're on an isolated level of the digital world, and with good reason. Zhuqiaomon and the other Sovereigns did not desire that any of their foes could find us with ease, especially after the Dark Masters temporarily sealed them. Such foresight has the unfortunate side effect of blinding allies as well as enemies, but it cannot be helped. Would you like to know how things would have gone if the Dark Masters had gotten a hold of our power? Or even wiped us out? There would have been no way to predict that we would need Armor evolution to free the digital world, or to reconstruct the Crest of Kindness into the Digi-Egg of Miracles in preparation for the battle with Kimeramon and the Seed of Milleniummon."

"It's rather unnerving that Milleniummon was working to recreate his body, even when he was by all rights dead. He wasn't the mastermind behind everything but still…"

"Who's to say that he wasn't?" Asked the priestess. "The Control Spires were capable of warping the fabric of reality of the digital world. He could easily have recreated his body when Myotismon entered that dream world."

"He didn't though."

"Because Kindness sealed him Ryo. We know that Myotismon was his tool, his puppet just as much as Ken was Myotismon's, yet he dropped the ball somewhere down the line and allowed Myotismon to be reborn instead of himself."

Ryo frowned. "Somehow I don't expect Milleniummon to just 'drop the ball' when he has all the cards going for him."

"So why are we here Ryo? You had your adventures and that was it. Milleniummon didn't stand in that other world. MaloMyotismon did. You know better than anyone that it could have been the other way around. Very, _very_ easily."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you should consider things carefully. Your partner has spoken to you did he not?"

"I don't believe him."

"Trust…it's not an easy thing to earn, is it?"

"Not when someone tries to kill you and take over the universe a few times. For him, there is no redemption."

"I thought only angels made that call," said the shaman. "Or at least the master that they serve."

Ryo sighed.

"This whole business frustrates me. Is there anything else that you can tell me?"

"Only to trust that things will work out in the end Ryo. My sight, at least, sees that far."

* * *

Kuzuhamon watched Alice as she made her way through her room, packing the small number of personal possessions that she had built up during her stay. A white rose, a rock, a couple pictures she had drawn, a piece of writing that had been given to her from a young Viximon…just a few to be named and a few was all there was. Alice didn't keep much around her unless they had some special significance to her. What they were Alice never said and Kuzuhamon never asked, preferring to contemplate their mystery rather than ask outright and get an answer. It was something of a habit that was engrained in almost all digimon born of the Renamon line. She herself was no exception, but for once she wondered if it that was a mistake.

_All this time that Alice and I have been friends I never pushed too hard to finding out anything about her. And now she's going to leave and I…don't know anything about her._

Kuzuhamon's face became downcast as she considered that.

"Alice. Are you sure that this is a good time for you to leave?"

Alice did not so much as pause as she finished placing the last of her belongings in the knapsack that had been provided for her and pulled the strings taught, closing it.

"There's nothing left for me here, Kuzuhamon."

Kuzuhamon scowled. "Surely you don't believe that."

"I've spent more time here than I should have anyway," said Alice with a dismissive shrug. "That Tamer from earlier…she's right to ask me about how my family feels about me not being with them. I shouldn't keep them waiting."

"Now it sounds like you're jumping to whatever subject is going to let you break away from us cleanly, Little Sister. Do you really want to leave things like that?"

Alice furrowed her brow but did not raise her eyes to meet Kuzuhamon's. Instead she kept her gaze fixated on her knapsack, blue eyes appearing as chips of ice in the light of the room.

Alice bit her lip and stood up.

"I need to change, Kuzuhamon."

"What's your point? It's not about being modest is it? I was of the opinion that we were already past that. Well, more or less anyway. It's not the first time that one of us has changed in front of the other while carrying on a conversation. I may not be as wise as those who sit on the Seer Council, but I do know enough to know when a person's trying to avoid facing something. What are you running from Alice?"

"I'm… _not_ running from anything. In case you didn't notice I'm going home and heading into danger."

"There are different ways to escape the world Alice. Even I know that. Some digimon I've known have felt it easier to throw themselves headlong into the unknowns of a data stream then to confront the unknowns of their emotions. You say that you have nothing left to keep you here but I know that's a lie. We may not talk much about you, but I still know you."

Alice clenched one hand into a tight fist and she hung her head down, allowing her bangs to hide her eyes.

"Kuzuhamon…I just…I didn't…I just don't want you to see me…cry."

Her complexion relaxing Kuzuhamon stepped over to Alice and wrapped her arms around the young girl, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"Alice…"

"I thought that I had something here," choked out the young girl. "That I had found a place where I could be at peace. When I came here, for the first time since Dobermon died I had a place where I wasn't haunted by him; by his voice. I was starting to think that I wasn't cursed at all like I used to when you first found me. Cursed to always have bad things happen wherever I go. And then the Royal Knights came here, and they killed…" Alice suddenly threw her arms around her friend and buried her face into her kimono. "Kuzuhamon!"

The shaman priestess gently massaged the top of the girl's head, pressing her chin against it as she closed her eyes.

"Alice. Remember when you asked me to call you my 'Little Sister'?"

Alice nodded numbly while she fought to keep her tears from escaping her eyes.

"You wanted me to call you that because everyone else referred to me by that name because I was an underdeveloped Kuzuhamon before I met you. Thanks to you I was able to slide evolve into a stronger form. Since then we've become family and you've insisted on helping me with the temple chores even when your ability did not match the task. You understand what I'm getting at don't you? Despite what you think, you do have things that still tie you here. You're fooling yourself if you think otherwise."

A small smile graced Kuzuhamon's face.

"You need someone to look out for you if you're going to do foolish things."

* * *

Kuzuhamon shut the door to Alice's room behind her, allowing the girl her privacy so that she could change. With a bemused smile on her face the shaman digimon trailed down the hallway, her footsteps not making so much as a sound as they fell upon the wooden floor beneath her.

"Are you going to come out now, Urocyomon?" She asked the hallway. The air shimmered behind her and a fox-like figure with silver fur appeared.

"And I was doing such a good job at hiding," he grumbled.

"You're easy to spot when it comes to your elders. We're old hands at the art of illusion and teleportation. We've long since learned to trust senses other than our eyes. Now, aren't you supposed to be doing something? Like helping your fellow sisters?"

"All they do is make fun of me," said Urocyomon with a frown as he fell into step with the shaman priestess. "I have no time to listen to them talk about me like I was some animal in a petting zoo."

"A shame," said Kuzuhamon. "The elders tasked you with aiding them and yet you avoided your duties. Even lied to Alice about them…"

"Wha…?! How did you…?!"

"You just confirmed it just now," Kuzuhamon grinned. "Of course I also happened to have quite the long talk with dear Alice and you cropped up in the conversation. Very smart of you to give her something to fire her up and help her move forward, but that's no excuse for you to neglect your duties or deceive others."

"All right, so I lied. It was either that or listen to her get on my case about not pulling my weight, which I'll have you know that I do."

Kuzuhamon chuckled.

"The elders won't see it that way though. I wonder what your punishment will be."

Urocyomon glowered at the shaman. "Something tells me that you've already got an idea to pitch. Knowing the council they'll go for it too just to have a good laugh at my expence."

"Perhaps not so much as a laugh this time around but it will still be a learning experience for you nonetheless. You're aware that Alice and the Tamers are going to be returning to the real world, correct?"

"Yeeesss…" Urocyomon drew the word out as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I take it that you're going with them?"

"I am the girl's caretaker. The very least that I can do is ensure that Alice gets home safely. To help make the journey as quick and as safe as possible we're going to be in need of someone who has some skills in tracking and knows the surrounding environs and levels well."

"Somehow I don't think I'm going to like where this is going…"

"Why not? You have talent in that area correct? Or has Gyōjamon's training been wasted on you?"

Urocyomon huffed. "That depends on who you ask. This is pointless though. Why would I even need to go at all? Those kids have shown themselves to be pretty capable on their own."

"Simple. First The Tamers don't know how to get around in the digital world properly, and even though Ryo has the most experience among them even his knowledge is going to be of little use in the area that they have to go to. Second, while Alice has some _gifts_ of course they only go so far and she doesn't know the digital world layers like you and Gyōjamon do. Third, my experience only takes me to the mountains surrounding the temple so I lack experience as well. And lastly, it's either this or you're going to have to clean the bathing grounds again."

Kuzuhamon flashed the young Urocyomon a small, knowing smile as she watched his fur stand on end and his tail poof out just a bit.

"This is blackmail," he groaned as he palmed his face into one hand, his tail growing fuzzier as though he were tormented by past memories. "Extortion!"

"Which is it going to be?"

"You know, you don't have to resort to such underhanded tactics. If you asked I would have said 'yes' right from the get-go."

"This is supposed to be 'punishment', remember? This is just me looking out for my little brother so it's at least got to look credible in the eyes of the council. Besides, you look funny whenever you get frustrated like that. You just get all… _poofy."_

Urocyomon sulked.

"Gyōjamon is right. Your cute side is dangerous."

"And _that's_ why the elders will let me take you along. I get a good guide; you get out of this place and only suffer mildly. Deletes two Biyomon with one Rockfist. Or would it be three?"

Urocyomon groaned.

_This is going to go just swimmingly…_


	107. 106: Guides: Part 3

Night fell over the digital world in one swift rush, not taking so much as a moment to glorify its approach with a blazing sunset. Instead dusk advanced like an oncoming wave. Turning his blue eyes up towards the now star-filled sky Ryo gazed at the digital representation of the earth that hung above the compound of the Seer Temple. Next to him stood the silver clad Sakuyamon and his partner Cyberdramon, both watching the Legendary Tamer with expressions that were hidden by the eyeless masks that they wore over their faces.

_I'll never get used to how this place does that 'no sunset' trick,_ thought Ryo. _Azulongmon's kingdom made a whole lot more sense than this place, random vending machines lying around and bizarre factories notwithstanding. At least there was always something that corner of the digital world a bit more like home. Here it's just…so alien._

Ryo scowled as he watched the rotating rings of data that surrounded the digital Earth, crackling and buzzing in their respective journeys. A pink beam of light shot forth from one of the antennae shaped objects imbedded in its surface and traced a path across the landscape off in the distance, searching for data that it had been tasked to find.

_No doubt shuffling around data and digimon from the digital world as well,_ thought Ryo.

"Hey Silver," began Ryo to the silver Sakuyamon. The Shaman raised one eyebrow beneath her facemask as she looked at the Legendary Tamer.

"Yes?"

"What will happen to the digital world that Azulongmon protects?"

"It will exist as it always has," said Silver with no hint of concern at all in her voice. "Guardians rise and fall. It's not the first time that the East has been bereft of its Sovereign you know, and not the first guardian that has fallen either. There will always be others to take up the reigns, just as there will always be darkness that threatens its light. That will never change."

"I see," said Ryo, unable to shake the sense of disquieting discomfort that he felt in his heart. "Funny. Out of all the Sovereign digimon I was certain that he was going to be the one who would outlast all the others. Well, with the exception of Baihumon but there was a kind of essence to him that went beyond what the other Sovereigns had. A kind of timelessness."

"Do you say this because you believe him to be gone forever?" Asked Silver.

"Well, a little bit I guess. I didn't appreciate how he tricked me into that tournament so that I could fight Milleniummon but he had his reasons. Considering how powerful Milleniummon is even when he's disembodied I can't really blame him for his actions." Ryo chuckled ruefully. "After all, I really _am_ the only person who could face him and defeat him."

Ryo didn't notice the slim smile that had appeared on the silver Sakuyamon's face.

"I see," was all she said. Another moment of silence passed between them, broken only by Ryo's words as he spoke once again.

"Silver…you say that you and the Seer Council can see far, right? Just what are your upward limits?"

"We cannot see the future," said the shaman priestess. "That is barred to us. In some cases we can see intentions, shifting of bonds, thoughts, emotions, sometimes even the past. As we said before, our strengths are determined by what we specialize in and our strength. Only the Mother had greater strength, and as you know she is no longer with us."

"But you can see some things, right?" Pressed Ryo as he turned his azure gaze on the Sakuyamon. Silver nodded.

"Then can you see Milleniummon?"

Although he would never see it, the silver Sakuyamon's eyes widened in surprise beneath her mask.

* * *

Ryo's hair blew in the wind as he, riding Cyberdramon's shoulder followed the silver armored Sakuyamon. The Legendary Tamer brushed a strand out of his eyes and frowned. Off a short ways in the distance was a tall mountain with its top neatly shaved off, appearing as a meeting place of sorts or perhaps where divination was conducted. He had to admit to some confusion, and even a little bit of uncertainty as to where they were headed, especially since his silver companion didn't say anything beyond 'come with me' in response to his question. And then there was the fact that he and Cyberdramon were leaving without telling Takato or Rika about it…

_But then, it's not like I can tell them without having to fill them in on everything else as well,_ thought Ryo darkly. _This may be the stupidest thing I have ever done. I can already hear Rika telling me how idiotic this is, and knowing her she'd be able to find five different ways to say it too._

_It could be worse though. If I was Takato she would have found ten different ways to call him an idiot right before she hit him. Or kissed him, depending on how angry she is. Then again…for a kiss from Wildcat it might almost be worth the abuse._

Ryo chuckled mentally and berated himself a bit for having such thoughts. Hearing this Cyberdramon glanced over at his partner beneath his eyeless helmet. Ryo patted his partner's shoulder and grinned.

"Just thinking about how lucky Takato is, buddy. Nothing to worry about."

Cyberdramon grunted noncommittally and returned his attention to the Sakuyamon that Ryo had taken to affectionately calling _Silver._

"Are you certain that this is a good idea?" The cybernetic warrior dragon asked. Ryo raised an eyebrow at his partner. It was uncommon that Cyberdramon ever voiced a doubt about anything, especially if it lead him to having a fight with the one being that Ryo had come to believe was his 'ultimate opponent'. Himself.

"Probably not," said Ryo in a half-joking, half-serious tone. "But right now there's a lot that we don't know and like it or not we _need_ to know something even if it's only a little bit. Everything that's been going on with Milleniummon lately…I just don't get what his angle is. He's helped us out in just about every one of our battles, sent Rika and Renamon to Okinawa to help Takato, snuck his card into my deck and then altered it after Jeri slashed it through her digivice. And then," Ryo unclipped his digivice from his belt and brought it up, looking at the gold ring that surrounded its screen with digi-code engraved upon its surface, "there's this. I have no idea what this is about."

"Doesn't the Matsuki Tamer have one as well?"

"Yeah, he does. What's your point?"

"That if you want to know what lies behind that particular aspect of your digivice, you should consider talking to him."

"Good call, Cyberdramon but I doubt that he knows any more about it than I do. Besides, he got his as a replacement for when his digivice was destroyed. At least, that's what I've heard anyway. I'm sure that you're right in that I'll have to talk to him about it, but then I'd have to explain everything else too."

Cyberdramon grunted and flexed his claws.

"Katou mentioned that you should talk to your allies and trust them more."

Ryo raised an eyebrow at his partner in surprise, and a flash of memory from when Milleniummon had spoken to him through Cyberdramon came to him.

_Which one of them is talking to me right now?_ Wondered Ryo. _Milleniummon? Or Cyberdramon? This is just great. It's getting so that I can't even trust my own partner anymore. I can't afford that here. Not now._

"Touché, Cyberdramon. Touché," said Ryo. Cyberdramon frowned beneath his helm, catching a note in Ryo's voice that sounded like a finalization on their conversation. Growling beneath his breath Cyberdramon returned his focus on simply following their guide to the mountain, flexing his claws in agitation as he, on a _very_ rare occasion that seemed to be becoming less rare as time went on, wished that he was in his lower stage form of Monodromon. Despite the fact that his Rookie level personality was rather immature in his development, Cyberdramon knew that there were just some things that Ryo could talk to him about much more easily than in the wild, barely in control fighting demon that was his right-hand partner.

_I remind him too much of Milleniummon,_ growled Cyberdramon mentally. _And with everything that's been happening lately I wonder how well-placed his trust is in me. Can I even trust myself right now?_

Not used to having such thoughts while in his Ultimate form Cyberdramon beat his wings much more fiercely than normal, nearly upsetting Ryo's balance in the process. Clutching at his partner's shoulder guard Ryo gave the digimon an odd look before falling back into his thoughts, troubled by the doubts that he felt growing within him.

_I wonder how Jeri's holding up,_ the Legendary Tamer wondered as they continued their journey through the sky.

* * *

"This place just gets weirder and weirder," murmured Takato as he flicked a button in awe, earning him one raised, crimson haired eyebrow.

"It's just a stove Takato," Rika commented.

"Well, yeah, it's just…it's not the sort of thing that I would have expected to find in the digital world. At least one that works for its intended purpose, is in a building, is modern, and isn't filled to the brim with Numemon. Did I mention that it works?"

"That you did," said Rika as she folded her arms over her chest and closed her eyes, feeling slightly annoyed by the situation that she found herself in. "While I'm sure this must fascinate you to no end I'm more of the opinion that we should just count our blessings and just fix something to eat before Guilmon decides to eat himself."

"Oooh!" Chirped Guilmon suddenly as his ears perked up. "I wonder how tasty I am…"

"She's just joking Guilmon," said Takato, tilting his head to one side in disbelief. Guilmon giggled childishly.

"I know. I just thought that Rika was making a joke so I was adding to it."

"Whatever," said Rika, rolling her eyes as she began to open up cupboards, her eyes scanning the shelves for anything that they were going to need to get their job underway. "Well, it looks like they're all pretty well stocked. Kind of surprising seeing as how digimon don't even need to eat anything when they're in the digital world."

"Food does serve to repair broken or damaged data, and in more _civilized_ areas of the digital world they're an easier way to grow stronger without having to delete another digimon," commented Renamon as she appeared next to the red haired girl and began taking out some of the required ingredients for bread making. A small smile appeared on Renamon's face as she looked down at her partner. "Normally simple data packets will serve, but they're not quite as pleasing to the taste or as appetizing."

"I can understand that part," nodded Rika in agreement as she continued to open up cabinets, her brow furrowed as she continued her search. "C'mon…" she muttered angrily. "Where are those stupid hairnets? I'm not going to be doing any cooking with my hair still down…"

"Found 'em!"

Glancing over at Takato, Rika found him hauling out a small container filled to the brim with various colored bandanas. As he picked through them Takato marveled at the various makes, shapes, designs, and sizes that populated the container.

_I guess even Sakuyamon have their own preferences,_ thought Takato as he gave up on taking out one particularly long bandana. _Then again, with hair like what they have I guess I can hardly blame them._ Takato smiled as he pulled out a much smaller, blue and white one with wavy, plant-like patterns on its surface that reminded Takato of bamboo trees. _This one's pretty nice._

"I'll be taking that," said Rika as she reached out and plucked the cloth from out of the boy's hands and raised it up to her forehead, brushing back the long strands of hair that had found their way past her shoulders. Calmly Rika pressed the cloth against the skin of her forehead and wrapped it around her head, knotting its two ends around her hair and turning it into a makeshift pony tail, albeit one that didn't stand up as she was normally accustomed to but at least for now she was satisfied.

Rika noticed that Takato was staring at her and she felt a small blush creep its way onto her face.

"Well, what?" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest. Takato jerked slightly and he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Oh…nothing. I was just thinking about how…um…you know…ah…well…on second thought maybe I should just…"

_Oh for goodness sake,_ thought Rika as she felt herself blush all the more at Takato's half-hearted attempts to tell her what was on his mind.

"You really need to stop being so wishy-washy, Gogglehead," grumbled Rika. "It's not attractive."

Now it was Takato's turn to blush, though for his part he couldn't tell if she was complimenting him or insulting him.

_More likely both,_ thought the goggle-wearing Tamer as he rooted through the container of bandanas and pulled out a red colored one with a solitary black line cutting across its center that caught his attention. Briefly he pondered it for a moment before deciding to go with one that stood out less, not wanting to give Rika the wrong impression.

"I was just…ahem…thinking about how that bandana really suits you," said Takato as he stood up and removed his goggles, allowing his light brown hair to spill down over his eyes. "I just don't know if you want me saying things like that."

"… Where are the aprons?" Grumbled Rika, sounding quite uncomfortable now.

"In here," said Takato as he rooted around in the back of the cabinet from where he had gotten the bandanas. Taking a bunch of them in his arms he stood up and placed them on the center table of the kitchen and began sorting through them. Takato was relieved to see that the styles were of a far plainer, and more standard appearance with nothing that would clash with his, or more importantly Rika's, taste of style. Choosing one at random Takato handed it over to Rika and began looking through the others. A second later a soft _ahem_ caught his attention. Looking up Takato saw Rika scowling at him and pointing at the apron that he had given her.

A small teddy-bear icon was printed on its front.

"Ah…oops?"

"You're wearing this one," said Rika, her eyes narrowing dangerously, causing Takato to groan.

_This is going to go well. I can tell that already._

The next few minutes were spent in a silence that was occasionally broken by one of the Tamers or Renamon asking for a particular item that was needed and when it was given the work continued. Renamon eyed the two Tamers curiously. Normally she was used to silence, having spent a vast majority of it in Rika's presence though that had more to do with the depth of their bond than anything else. After a certain point, words became useless and silence prevailed and they could both exist comfortably inside of it without feeling any kind of pressure to say or do anything to fill that quiet.

_Unfortunately here we have the opposite,_ thought Renamon as her eyes drifted back and forth between her partner and Guilmon's. _There's a tension in the air and neither one is quite willing to break the ice that lies between them. They need to talk and yet…_

CRASH!

Bewildered, Renamon spun about, fists raised and half expecting a foe to storm into the kitchen, attacks bristling at its claw tips. When none appeared Renamon cocked an ear and took a more careful look around her. It didn't take her long to find the source of the disturbance.

"Ohhh…gh…" came the sound of Guilmon moaning from the floor, the scene of his accident presently hidden by the table. Within a second Takato raced over to where the crimson lizard had fallen and was helping him get back up to his feet. Renamon's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the former hazard digimon who was standing rather unsteadily. A thick, oatmeal like paste covered his chest and shoulders and dripped down on the floor below where a much larger degree of the mess resided. Resting idly, appearing like some kind of bizarre hat was the mixing bowl that Guilmon had been entrusted with. With no sense of self-consciousness Guilmon laughed childishly and licked at his lips and smacked them together happily.

"Are you all right, Guilmon?" Asked Takato worriedly as he removed the mixing bowl from off his partner's head. Guilmon vigorously shook his head, sending a small spray of bread batter flying in all directions, earning him a particularly venomous look from Rika for the discharge.

_"Guilmon!"_ Exclaimed Rika angrily, fists on her hips as she towered over the hapless reptile. "Would you _please_ keep an eye on what you are _doing?_ We don't own this place you know. We're _guests!_ You can't go damaging it as if you…"

"C'mon Rika," pleaded Takato as he tried to elate her frustration. "It's not like he meant it or anything. And it's hardly the kind of mess that _damages_ a kitchen."

"That's not the point Gogglehead. When you're in someone else's home you should at least show a bit of respect for it and be more careful about your surroundings. And just _how_ did Guilmon manage to mess up _this_ badly anyhow? I know that you two are hardly the most graceful duo around but," Rika's eye twitched as she noticed some spattering of batter on the wall and ceiling, "even _I_ can tell that it takes real effort to mess up this much."

Her blue eyes narrowing, Renamon looked over at the crimson dinosaur, a thought making its way through her mind as she did so.

_I wonder…could he have…?_

"I can agree with you there, Rika, but I don't think that it's anything to be so upset about. Well, maybe a _little_ upset but not…um…I'll…uh…just see if I can't find Guilmon a place where he can get cleaned up."

"Actually Takato," spoke up Renamon as she took off her apron and placed it on the counter. "If it's all the same to you I think I should have that honor. As a Renamon I have a better chance of finding what's necessary. Your skills are needed here."

"Um…" Takato blinked while Rika frowned at her partner. "…Okay." Takato turned to Guilmon and gave him a stern look. "Don't get her into any trouble, boy. And try not to make any more messes."

"Okay Takatomon!" Guilmon chirped happily as he padded out of the room. Renamon's eyes followed him for a moment, catching sight of the look in his eyes. Renamon felt a small chuckle develop in her chest at the rather mischievous sparkle held within them.

_Guilmon…so you_ _**can** _ _be stealthy when the need calls for it._

With that, Renamon vanished from sight as she went in pursuit of the reptilian digimon.

* * *

"This is where the Mother would hold commune with the essence of Light," said Silver as she touched down on the ground of the mountain top. Ryo glanced around him as he hopped off of Cyberdramon's shoulder, taking in the scenery. It looked fairly plain from his point of view, with not even a shrubbery in sight. The only thing that really stood out as significant was the pool of water that lay at the center where Silver was walking to.

"Essence of Light?" Asked Ryo with a slight frown. Silver nodded as she came to a halt in front of the pool and bent down in front of it, touching its surface with one finger.

"Essentially the counter-balancing force to Darkness. It's not at all dissimilar to your relationship with Milleniummon."

"Good versus evil then. I've been down that road before."

"Except that's not what the relationship is supposed to be," said Silver as she looked into the murky depths of the pool. "Opposition, yes. That is a fundamental aspect of life that drives creation, but it's no more or less indifferent than any other force of nature. A volcano erupts and destroys the land around it but in the process recreates it. Volcanic areas on Earth are among the most fertile lands correct? And yet they're among the most dangerous. Good and evil are different from the natural forces that they represent. Conscious beings create them, often because they become lost in those forces and the boundaries that they set for their egos. Desires intrude and intermingle with the well of being and then something different from the original purpose is created."

"Pollution?" Asked Cyberdramon, surprising Ryo.

"An apt metaphor," said Silver with a nod. "But perhaps not a wholly unnatural one. Even the Mother was certain that everything had its place in existence, and everything teaches us something. What does good and evil teach us?"

"I don't know about good when it comes to teaching," said Ryo. "But evil, from experience, is an excellent teacher on the fine points of being good or trying to survive by any means necessary. But you didn't bring us all the way out here for a question of philosophy, did you?"

"Indeed I did not," said Silver, "but it's still a thought worth mentioning all the same. Now, you asked to 'see' Milleniummon in order to ascertain his purpose. That is your desire, is it not?"

"It is," said Ryo with a nod. Silver looked out over the pond.

"This place is called 'the eye', but it is only one part. Only one corner of the digital world is seen here and all hearts within from the past to the present can be viewed." Silver glanced at Ryo from out of the corner of her eye. "It is a dangerous thing, and not one that should be entered lightly. Not even the Mother would have attempted something such as this."

"Attempted?" Ryo raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow. What is it that I'm supposed to do?"

"Whatever you wish," said Silver as she placed one finger on the surface of the water, sending ripples flowing along its surface before she vanished from view. Ryo blinked, startled by this act.

"Cyberdramon…?"

"She has disappeared," growled the dragon warrior, his body tensing up in expectation of an ambush. "I cannot detect her."

"That probably won't mean anything when it comes to her," said Ryo as he raised his digivice and activated the scanning function. A quick sweep revealed no sign of the silver clad shaman. "Digimon of the Renamon line are notorious for being elusive. For all we know she could still be around."

Cyberdramon growled and straightened his back, trying to get a clearer view of the area around them. Ryo patted his partner on one arm and replaced his D-Arc back on his belt.

"Relax, Cyberdramon. If there was going to be trouble I'm sure she would have done something _long_ before now."

Cyberdramon _hmmphed_.

"You don't believe that and we both know it."

"Fine. So I'm fooling myself, but this could also be a test. It's how quest things like this work. We've both seen _that_ enough times already. Now Silver said that we can do whatever we wish, and that pretty much includes leaving this area. It's all about what we think is important and right now we ought to be thinking about what's important in the here and now as well as the long run."

"Milleniummon," responded Cyberdramon as he forced himself to relax, all the while maintaining a battle-alert readiness in case things did take a turn for the worst.

"Exactly," replied Ryo with a nod. "If we don't find out something about him then we stay in the dark. I admit, this probably isn't the best of ideas but right now my instincts are telling me that staying here is the best thing we can do right now, and you know how good my instincts are."

"Yes, I do. But does your invincibility extend only to combat with Milleniummon?"

"Well…we've come this far. Live every day as though it were your last. Isn't that how we've done it so far? If we have knowledge as to the cause of it then we might be able to extend our lives just a little bit longer. Whatever Milleniummon's motives are we can't let him get away with them. We've seen what he does far too often. The irony to it all is, is that as long as I exist so does he, and both of our power is…"

"…Eternal."

"Well, that's how Milleniummon put it, yeah.

Cyberdramon growled.

"Well, best to get this over and done with," said Ryo as he took a step towards the pool and looked into it. The surface had become still since Silver's disappearance and all he saw upon it was that of his reflection. Just the same features that often melted the hearts of girls he knew back home. The same, focused, sometimes penetrating, steely-hard look that had won him many a tournament and matched only in strength by his rival Rika Nonaka. Blue eyes, clear orbs; the flickering of light across the water, appearing as a dancing flame of sparkling white light.

_Orbs…flames of white light…_

Ryo jerked suddenly in surprise, catching Cyberdramon's attention and causing him to tense up and become ready to spring at a moment's notice. However the Vaccine Ultimate remained firmly rooted in place and silent, not as yet desiring to interrupt his partner in his mission to uncover Milleniummon's plans.

_What was that?_ Wondered Ryo as he shook his head, feeling as though his thoughts had become rather muddled. Once he felt a little bit more clear-minded Ryo refocused his attention on the water.

_What could be so special about this that the Sakuyamon here say that this is where some 'Essence of Light' is held? It doesn't really look like much._

Ryo slowly, cautiously, reached down and dipped one finger into the water, feeling the strangely pleasant decrease in temperature around his skin.

_Doesn't even feel like there's anything…dif…fere…nt…_

Ryo furrowed his brow, wondering at how slow his thoughts were just now…how _slow_ the rest of the world around him seemed. And heavy. In fact, everything seemed to be slow and heavy all of a sudden. _Unnaturally_ so. Why? Why was it…?

Before Ryo knew what was happening he noticed that the surface of the pond was suddenly a lot closer than he remembered it to be. Clear, cool water cascaded over his face. He didn't even hear Cyberdramon's roar of fury and surprise.

* * *

_That's the last of it,_ thought Takato as he rinsed out the sponge that he had found beneath the kitchen sink. _It's not pretty, but at least the stains are gone._

Takato whipped one hand over his brow and breathed a sigh of relief.

_Can't believe that Guilmon actually did that…got his claw caught beneath the mixing bowl the way he did. I know that he gets over excited at the thought of bread even when he's lacking in memories but that seemed just a little…I don't know. A little strange. Rika and Renamon like to think of him as being careless sometimes…okay, a_ _**lot** _ _of the time but it just doesn't make sense in this case. I mean, aside from that one time back home where he sneezed in the bread dough and the occasional broken cookie jar or bread rack he tends to be pretty careful. So why…?_

Takato sighed once again.

_Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much._

Squeezing the last bits of water out from the sponge Takato set it aside and promptly began drying his hands, allowing his thoughts to drift a bit and take in the sounds around him. Not that there was much going on that is. There were only two people in the kitchen, and at the moment only one of them was being active. Rika's pounding of the bread dough served as a constant reminder of that.

The air between them was tense. Takato didn't need Renamon's keen sense of observation to tell him that much. He had always been rather perceptive of the emotions of those around him, and when it came to Rika he couldn't help but be aware as one false step could land him in a heap of trouble. This time at least he knew the reasons as to why. Looking over his shoulder Takato took in Rika's frustrated turning of the bread dough and forceful kneading, something that put him on edge. As far as he knew there wasn't any set method for kneading bread dough, but his parents, or more specifically his mother, had taught him that one's actions when making bread often told them what was going on in their heart, especially when the final product came out. In Rika's case it didn't appear that she was actually trying to make bread so much as she wanted to have something to pummel and vent her frustrations on while trying to not be at all obvious about it. While he watched, Takato felt a sliver of irritation slip through his mind, and before he could even question where it came from Rika spoke up.

"I can feel you watching me, Gogglehead," said the red headed girl as she paused in her kneading. "What is it?"

Takato opened his mouth to say that it was nothing but then closed it, knowing that Rika wouldn't be at all satisfied with a copout answer like that. And then there was the fact that they were linked now. If nothing else Takato knew that he couldn't hide anything from the girl anymore even if he wanted to.

_We've got to break the ice sometime,_ thought Takato, unknowingly repeating Renamon's thoughts from earlier. _And there's just so much that I want to know…_

"Rika? About what happened earlier today…why did you say those things?"

Takato saw Rika's hands tense up on the bread dough, clenching it tightly between her fingers before she forced them to relax.

"I was wondering when you were going to get around to asking me that. You're hardly the type of person who'd just let things go."

Takato frowned and he walked over to the table to stand next to Rika.

"This isn't the kind of thing that _anyone_ can just let go, Rika. This…I don't even know where to begin. These past few weeks, ever since you…ever since you kissed me it's like the whole world's been turned on its end. You say that you care about me, and I care about you too, but this…what you did today, even after our talk in the park…I just don't understand why you would even do half of the things that you…"

"Because I'm _afraid!"_ Exclaimed Rika angrily as she interrupted Takato. Takato's mouth became one big 'O' at this unexpected admission. Rika herself was a little bit stunned as well, but continued onwards, pressing all of her frustrations into her words as she fought to get Takato to understand her.

"Yeah. I'm _afraid._ Afraid of coming between you and Jeri, but you already know that, and if Jeri doesn't then I'm sure she's guessed. You know how she is just as well as I do too. She doesn't like seeing people being unhappy about anything! After the meeting at Hypnos…I saw her… _together…_ with that _Mr. I'm-so-perfect_ hotshot of a Tamer, Ryo, _holding hands!_ And I overreacted to it! I made a mistake and because of it I thought that if I broke our bond than she wouldn't have to worry about me being _unhappy!_ And then you had to go and throw a monkey wrench into the works, and I…"

Rika growled in frustration and turned her back on the boy, crossing her arms over her chest, breathing heavily for a few moments as both she and Takato collected themselves. Takato stood there, watching his friend pull herself together. His hands ached to reach out and hold her, comfort her, just as she had done for him so many times in the past, yet months of engrained instinct kept him from doing so. To him, Rika had always been unapproachable, disdainful of anything that looked like she needed someone to support or comfort her with the only exception being Renamon or her mother and grandmother. She had never been much for the sort of emotional displays that she had shown him. It was a rather strange side to see coming from her, but comforting all the same as it affirmed the strength of the friendship that she shared with him.

_She went out of her way to help me,_ thought Takato quietly to himself. _I should do the same._

Takato, fighting against all of his instincts raised one hand and placed it lightly on Rika's shoulder. He felt her stiffen beneath his touch and for a second he thought that he had made a mistake, but the thought disappeared when he felt her own hand join his on her shoulder.

"Of all the stupid, Goggleheaded things that you've ever done," she said, laughing harshly in a choked fashion, leaving Takato to wonder if she was crying.

"I can't help it," said Takato quietly with a soft smile. "You bring that out of me."

"Hmmph. You're just saying that. You were a Gogglehead before you ever met me, remember? Even in your dreams."

Another pall of silence fell between them.

"You know," began Takato, "it's weird. I feel that I should have said something…I don't know. Awe-inspiring I guess. Like in all of those TV shows, you know? This scene just feels like it calls for it but…nothing's coming to me."

"Probably a good thing too," said Rika with a chuckle. "You'd just goof it up. Takato…I'm sorry for what I did earlier. Sorry for getting after you for just wanting to keep our friendship and our link. It was stupid of me to jump to conclusions like that."

"Yeah," Takato agreed, a small smile making its way onto his face. "Yeah it was. It could be worse though."

Rika craned her head to look at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"How so?"

"You could be like me. I'm lost without Guilmon."

Rika _hmmphed_ in a sarcastic fashion.

"Looks to me like you're lost with him too."

"Told you it could be worse."

"How sweet, Takato. You're really going all out on making me feel better when it should be the other way around." Rika turned around to look more fully at Takato, removing his hand from her shoulder as she did so but still keeping it clasped within her own. "Promise me something, Takato. Whatever happens, don't let your knowing how I feel about you get between you and Jeri."

"Rika…"

_"Promise_ me, Takato," said Rika with a sense of urgency in her voice as she tightened her grip on his hand. Takato looked into Rika's violet eyes, seeing the intensity that was in them and he finally nodded.

"If you promise me something too. Don't hold back on my account."

"Wha…?" Rika gave her friend a perplexed look.

"Don't hold back because of me. If you need to get something off of your chest…" Takato's words came to a halt as he realized the double meaning of his words and a bright blush suddenly materialized on his face. "…Um…hang on. Let me rephrase that…"

"Smooth, Takato," said Rika with a shake of her head and a smirk on her face. _"Very_ smooth. Anything else that you'd like to add to that?"

"That's _not_ what I meant, Rika," said Takato, now getting terribly flustered. "All I'm saying is, if you need anything…need to talk about anything, I'll be there for you and if there's something I can do I'll help you."

Rika and Takato stood there, looking at each other. Unconsciously Rika brought up one hand and brushed her fingertips against Takato's cheek.

_Stupid Gogglehead…_ Rika thought to herself, though for some strange reason the thought itself sounded distant and disjointed from her body. Through the connection that they shared Rika felt Takato's flurry of emotions and saw the honesty in them. If he realized the full impact that such a promise he wanted from her entailed she didn't know…couldn't tell. That sea of emotions was all she knew right now, and she was lost in them. And unknowingly to her, Takato was just as lost in her sea as well.

_Funny…I don't remember it being this intense before,_ thought Rika as she felt herself leaning forwards, her hand now pressing against Takato's cheek. The thought felt even more distant than the previous one, and she soon found her eyes sliding shut as her lips parted slightly. All she knew at this moment was that she felt… _close._ She didn't know any other way to describe it.

_Takato…I…I…_

Suddenly Rika felt something…some kind of _awareness_ flash through her mind, and all at once she felt as though the others, the other Tamers and their partners, were there with her in her mind. Jerking back suddenly Rika banged her hip against the table, startling Takato, though from what she could sense from him it had more to do with what she was feeling than anything else because she _knew_ beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was just as aware as she was. The feeling vanished almost as quickly as it had come but from it Rika picked up something. Some kind of knowledge or a sense of trouble coming from one of them close by. Focusing on that sensation Rika furrowed her brow, remembering some of the feelings that she had as Sakuyamon whenever she cast a spell. Using that experience Rika concentrated on what she had picked up from…whatever it was that had just happened. An image came to her, and with it came the sensation of cool water pressing against her body. Opening her eyes Rika looked at Takato, momentarily pushing their near _moment_ out of her mind. As if he knew what she was thinking Takato nodded to her.

"We've got to find Ryo. _Now!"_


	108. 107: Crossing the Bridge

"Nnngh!" Henry grunted in pain as Lumemon finished tying the torn off piece of his white robe around his chest. Frowning the angel pulled the knot tight against the half-Chinese Tamer's body and gave his handiwork a scrutinizing gaze before glancing up at Henry.

"How's that?"

"Looked slightly more comfortable than a bed of needles…"

"Terriermon…" Henry groaned, though truth be told it was hard to tell if he was groaning over his partner's antics or out of pain from his injury.

"Seriously Henry," said the long eared digimon as he looked worriedly at his partner. "Momentai already. You've just been badly injured…partly because it's my fault…"

"It's _not_ your fault Terriermon," said Henry with a pained smile as he picked up his black T-Shirt and began to tug it on. "We've been through this sort of thing plenty of times. It's the risk that we take every time we enter a digital field or biomerge. I thought we discussed this already."

"We did. Only you haven't been living up to your end of the bargain lately."

"What're you talking about?" Asked Henry, perplexed. "I haven't tried to get out of fighting other digimon…" Henry stopped as a string of memories came to him over his actions following his last battle with Lucemon from almost a month ago.

_The danger that I put my friends in,_ thought Henry as he remembered Sakuyamon interposing herself between him and his target. _How close I came to killing them, and it was…my fault…_

A rueful, reflective smile grew on Henry's face and he shook his head.

"All right; you got me there, Terriermon."

"Don't I always?" Asked Terriermon with a giggle as he hopped up onto his partner's shoulder and latched onto his head with his long ears. "This is why I can't ever leave you alone. You'd just take all the responsibility for the world on your shoulders and cut out the middle-man-er, mon."

"Funny. You'd think that the world would thank me for cutting you out…"

"Hey!"

Lumemon shook his head at the two, trying to keep himself from grinning at them. He didn't know why but there was just something about the way that they got along that made him want to laugh. There was a strange sense of _familiarity_ to it that he couldn't quite pin down about it, but all the same it made him feel relaxed and at ease in their presence.

_If nothing else I know that they're okay,_ thought Lumemon. _Still…this feeling. I wonder if it's something that I picked up when I was 'born'. Residual memories from my merging with Noriko? Or Taka-chan?_

Lumemon frowned, not liking where his thoughts were starting to go as they only served to remind him of the oddity that was his existence. Glancing around Lumemon's frown darkened as he took in the shattered palm trees and the half spoiled water of the oasis.

_One less spot of peace in the digital world,_ reminisced Lumemon dourly. _Even more of a shame too. The only trees that happened to survive are lacking in the fruit that I came in search for. I'm going to have to take a look through the destroyed ones and hope that some can be salvaged. Noriko's going to need them. Come to think of it, so does Henry, though I can't be certain as to what affect it will have on him. Henry's a human, while Noriko…well, she's… 'different'._

_Still. The Chuchidarumon assured me that there won't be any negative side affects…_

Deciding that he had had enough of thinking on the matter Lumemon wandered over to the shattered remains of the oasis trees and stopped in front of the nearest one. Clapping his hands together a bright aura of white light surrounded his body and he closed his storm-gray eyes in concentration.

"Levitation," the angel murmured beneath his breath and the light burst forth from his body, wrapping themselves around the broken wood and sifting through the endless sea of sand and glass that had been sprayed from the destruction of their earlier opponent. Slowly, ever so slowly, the contents of the oasis began to lift into the air.

"Um…" came a surprised tone from Henry. "Nice trick…"

"Yeah," followed Terriermon's deadpan comment. "At least now we know we can lug all that water around with us. Not that it'll do us any good since it's got all that stuff in it…"

_Water?_ Opening his gray colored eyes in surprise Lumemon noticed that the water from the oasis was now hovering in the air, wrapped securely in a ball of light, leaving behind a mud packed crater. Lumemon blinked at the aquatic ball of wonder suspended in mid-air before it came crashing back down into its accustomed location, splashing against its shores as though in irritation. This was quickly followed by everything else that Lumemon's light had picked up, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand into the air.

_Didn't mean to do that…_

"Terriermon…" coughed Henry as he staggered to his feet.

"What?"

Frowning once more Lumemon once more pressed his hands together and shut out the two bickering partners. Once more light flared around his body and reached out, reasserting their control over the field's inanimate objects and lifting them into the air. Lumemon scanned them for a few moments with his eyes before his gaze finally came to rest on what he was searching for.

"Ah. Here we go," said Lumemon with a relieved smile as he walked over to a trio of dark colored, coconut shaped objects and took two of them into his hands before letting the last one, as well as the remainder of the oasis fall carefully back down to the ground. Still smiling Lumemon walked back over to Henry and placed them down on the sand before looking at Henry and Terriermon.

"Well, that's one job finished…" the angel boy said with a satisfied sigh. Terriermon tilted an eyebrow at Lumemon.

"Couldn't just bring those two over to you, could ya? You had to _walk_ to them?"

"Terriermon…"

_I guess this is something of a game between them,_ thought Lumemon to himself.

"Now that that's settled I guess the only thing that's left is to work out a mode of transportation to get to the village that I told you about. I don't suppose that your partner can evolve right now?"

"Afraid not," answered Terriermon in Henry's stead. "And the least you could do is ask _me_ that question since I'm here and can speak for myself."

"I would," said Lumemon in a flat tone of voice. "But your mouth is like a buttered knife. It slips as well as stabs."

Terriermon's mouth fell open in surprise at that one while Henry raised an eyebrow at the angel, trying to decide whether or not he should be offended over the remark towards his partner or laugh at it. Under normal circumstances, such as the case with one of his friends he would have just laughed it off, but in front of strangers…

_So why am I having a hard time fighting off a smirk?_ Wondered Henry to himself.

Lumemon on the other hand scowled at himself before looking at Terriermon.

"My apologies," he said to the dog-bunny. "It appears that remark is two-edged."

"Uh…don't worry about it," stammered Terriermon, somewhat irked by the fact that he didn't have a proper comeback prepared. Lumemon, for his part, took no further notice of Terriermon's awkwardness as he furrowed his brow.

_Just where did that come from?_ He wondered, feeling rather disquieted about what the answer could be.

_Lucemon?_ He called out mentally, the thought echoing within the corners of his mind. No reply came to him however, though that hardly made him feel any less comfortable. If anything it made him feel _more_ so.

_Still…what would I have done if I heard his voice asking 'yes?'_

Seeing Lumemon's troubled face Henry placed a hand on his shoulder, snapping him back to reality. Frowning at the half-Chinese Tamer Lumemon brushed his hand off and raised one of the coconuts.

"It looks as though we don't have much of a choice then," said the angel. "We're going to have to use one of these."

"What are they?" Asked Henry.

"This is a special kind of fruit. It's the same thing as a data-packet, only of an evolved form. Data packets tend to tumble around aimlessly in the digital world. At least that's how they appear to be. They're primitive Artificial Intelligence life forms of the most basic level predating even the evolution of digimon. Their purpose is that of a structural one; repairing broken or damaged data, and as such they are far too valuable a resource to simply be absorbed in the same way that digimon do to each other. For the most part, digimon on this level of the digital world, due to their raw savageness are unaware of this property, but those that are, cultivate them."

"I see," said Henry, stroking his chin with one hand. "That reminds me of something that my friends experienced once when they rescued an injured Andromon. Some Gekomon used some data packets to heal him."

"Yes," said Lumemon with a nod of his head.

"But this doesn't look anything like a data packet."

"As I stated," said Lumemon as he reached over his shoulder and plucked one of his feathers with a wince, "this is an evolved form of the same data material. As there are variations in digimon, so are there variations in any kind of life that you might find around here. Dispersed data on most levels is absorbed by base A.I. that has rooted itself to a stable digital structure or landscape, using it to survive like any living thing. The area of this oasis contained all the necessary ingredients that such a data packet, a living entity, needed to set down, evolve, and survive. It may even have picked up some residual digimon or plant data and assumed this appearance in order to better adapt and protect itself from elemental extremes."

"And the seeds themselves?"

"They hold the essence of the data packet, much like a digimon's digi-core, thus they are the main body rather than the tree itself like it would be in your world. The reason for the additional seeds must mean that this place has become viable enough to allow for a community to have been formed. Data from sunlight, the ground, and water sources may also have been being converted to create additional data packets. Almost a form of reproduction. These data packets are more intelligent than I thought to have learned that kind of behavior. I wonder if that means that they're aware of how they're used."

Lumemon shook his head in quiet amazement.

"It's not the sort of behavior that I'm familiar with seeing from these creatures. Many things have changed since the end of the Chaos War. Changed and still changing."

"Is that why do you're so reluctant about using them?" Asked Terriermon pointedly.

"It has been some time since I've had the chance to utilize Data Packets, and my memory from working with them is hazy at best though I do believe that one should be sufficient for the both of you given your low level and your partner's lack of attributes. However, this behavioral change is outside of my experience. The village digimon, the Chuchidarumon, told me that there is nothing to be concerned about when it came to applying it to digimon, and perhaps even digital life forms, but I have no idea what kind of affect it will have on a human. And since this is occurring after the war against the Chaos, how eager would you be to be testing experiments?"

Terriermon scowled.

"Yeah, I can sorta see your point in all of this. What do you think Henry? Is your side bothering you enough where you want to get devoured by something that may have been made by the D-Reaper?"

Henry started, and immediately regretted the action as pain flared in his side. Clutching at his side Henry grimaced. Even with the makeshift bandage there it wasn't quite the same, and he knew that it would only serve to slow them all down.

_I can't afford to be a liability. Takato, Rika, and Ryo are out there somewhere. And so is Noriko. I promised her mother that I'd bring her home. I can't afford to be slowed down like this._

"G-Given that, when a human is transported to the digital world," began Henry as he pushed past the pain, "they are converted to data, why shouldn't the data packet take?"

"You're not a natural part of the digital world," stated Lumemon flatly.

"But I can also evolve with Terriermon to achieve the Mega level. Digimon are also partially created by human dreams and emotions, as well as human made data. I've learned a thing or two about what a human can do when they're in the digital world. One of them is about having the belief in making things come true."

"Very dramatic, Henry," giggled Terriermon as he clapped his little paws together. Henry scowled at his partner but before he could say anything Lumemon took the feather he had plucked from his wings earlier and placed it on top of the hard shell of the coconut. The feather glowed briefly for a moment and Lumemon lowered it. Before Henry and Terriermon's startled eyes a white line appeared around the coconut and the fruit split apart, revealing a glowing white sphere of crackling electricity. Reaching out Lumemon cupped it into his hands and stood up, his storm gray eyes meeting Henry's firmly.

"This is something that I would have rather left to the Chuchidarumon. They have experience with this new form of Data Packet. I came all the way out here for these to help a friend. I have no way of knowing what kind of affect this will have on you. Do you understand the risks involved?"

Henry furrowed his brow before nodding and lifting his shirt.

"First me, and if everything goes right, then Terriermon."

"Henry?" Asked Terriermon worriedly. "Are you sure about this?"

"Guess we're going to have to wait and see, aren't we?"

"You know, Henry. You're not exactly the most comforting guy to be around sometimes."

"Even so. If any more of those creatures show up, we're going to need to be in top fighting form to deal with them." Henry turned to Lumemon and nodded. "I'm ready."

Lumemon returned the boy's nod.

"There may be some slight discomfort," he warned as he walked over to Henry and pressed the data packet against his side.

* * *

"…Just a little?" Came a pointed, deadpan tone of voice. A loud sigh greeted it.

"Not this again."

_Who?_

"He _passed out!_ I didn't do that when you used it on me! Come on! What was that all about?! I'm surprised that he's still even alive!"

"Terriermon…I feel the need to point out that he's a _human._ _Not_ a digimon. The structure of his body is completely different even if it's been converted to data. Our internal structure is simplified with a digi-core that regulates data circulation, thoughts, behavior…we don't have a need for all the varied components that humans have."

"Great. Now you're starting to sound like Henry, only with a doctor's degree instead."

_Henry? Who's Henry?_

The dark haired boy stirred against the smooth surface that he was lying against, presently unmindful of the blowing wind that gently caressed his body, or the sense of floating that was billowing throughout him.

The boy felt a pair of tiny feet press against his back and something long grip against his neck. For an instant he thought that they were going to choke him, bringing forth an image of a blonde haired man wearing sunglasses, but the image disappeared just as quickly as it came, along with the thought. For some reason he felt that he could trust whatever it was that was touching him. It was as though he recognized them from somewhere. But…from where?

"At any rate," spoke up the second voice, this one more mature sounding than the earlier, more sarcastic one, "your partner is still alive. And on top of that his injury has been healed, as have yours. What more do you want? I can't help it if his biology has strange side affects to digital based matter."

"I'd rather that Henry be awake rather than hitting the snooze button. He makes for better conversation than you do."

_Henry? Is that my name? Oh yeah…that's right…Henry Wong…son of Janyu Wong and partner to…_

"Nnngh…Terriermon…"

Blinking his tired eyes, Henry shifted his head and looked up just in time to see a pair of round, black eyes looking back at him, a grin dancing behind them.

"Wakie, wakie Henry…"

In spite of all of his many months of dealing with bizarre occurrences and near death experiences, the young Tamer known as Henry could not help but jerk upwards in surprise from his position on Lumemon's back, his body tugging against the robes that served to tie him to the angel as they flew across the desert.

"Hey!" Squawked Lumemon as he flapped his wings irritably, trying to maintain his orientation and loft over Henry's unexpected movement. "Would you two take it easy up there? I'm _trying_ to get us to safe haven with our package _intact!_ Are you trying to send us to deletion?"

"Sorry," relented Terriermon while Henry fought to catch his breath. Forcing himself to relax the boy took a look around him, noting that he and Terriermon were currently tied to Lumemon's back using the torn off piece of the angel's robe.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We're flying back to the Chuchidarumon village and you and your partner are currently riding stage-coach. Seeing as how you were passed out you couldn't make Terriermon digivolve so we had to make do with what we had available, namely me."

"Sorry about that," said Henry.

"Don't worry about it," said Lumemon.

The pair continued on in silence for a few moments before Henry spoke up again.

"Earlier…you said that we met before…"

"I don't want to talk about that right now," said Lumemon firmly. "If we're going to have that discussion I'd rather that we have it when we're at the Chuchidarumon village and secure."

"What about this _friend_ that you mentioned to me before?"

"You'll find out in due time," said Lumemon. "If nothing else it should make everything clear when you two meet, though at present I don't believe that you two will be able to say anything to each other for a while yet."

"What do you mean?" Asked Henry with a frown.

"Remember the properties of the fruit from the oasis? There's a reason why I went there for them."

"Wait. Are you saying that whoever this person is…?"

"…Is injured. Yes."

"Who is it?" Asked Henry, attempting to sit up once again. Grunting Lumemon flapped his wings, trying to stabilize himself.

"Would you just _stay still?_ We're not going to be getting there any faster with you squirming about like that!"

"Why should we even be staying like this anyway?" Asked Terriermon. "Henry's awake, so that means I can digivolve. You don't have to have us play piggy-back anymore."

"True, true," said Lumemon as he flapped his wings, trying as best as he could to use them properly with the weight of a human child and a digimon tied to his back. Reaching around in front of him the angel undid the knot that tied the two together, freeing Henry and Terriermon. In surprise Henry lurched backwards and would have fallen off if it were not for Lumemon grabbing hold of him at the last moment.

"Sorry about that," said Lumemon. "It seems that I cannot land easily. You were pressing down my wings."

"I'm amazed you could even fly, let alone take off," said Terriermon.

"Some things are different for digimon compared to other creatures. At any rate, I have more control now so we can descend with little trouble."

Upon landing Henry dusted himself off and looked at Lumemon. The angel looked back at him impassively.

"I really don't understand you," said Henry after a couple seconds of silence. "For most digimon I understand that there are some things that just aren't my business, but you claim to know me, and have one of my friends under your care but you won't tell me anything."  
"I never said that I wouldn't tell you anything," said Lumemon, raising a hand in a placating gesture. "Just that there is a time and place for that sort of thing, and that time is for when we reach the village. A life is on the line and I'd rather not have the journey complicated by anything."

"You sound as though you're expecting trouble from me," said Henry with a frown.

Lumemon merely gazed at Henry with a stone cold, unreadable expression before turning and flapping his wings, allowing his body to lift into the air.

"We're almost to the village now. We have to hurry and get there so you'd better digivolve your partner as soon as possible. Night is going to be coming soon. It's best if we don't get caught outside at that time."

As the angel began to fly off Henry and Terriermon watched him go for a moment before turning towards each other.

"That is one, really weird guy," said Terriermon. Henry nodded.

"I'll have to agree with you on that. He's helped us, says he knows us, but he's keeping secrets from us. I feel really in the dark about this and I don't like it."

"So why are we still following him?"

Henry frowned.

"He says that one of our friends is in the village that we're going to. I don't get the feeling that he's trying to mislead us on anything, especially that. But I just can't pin down why he would be keeping any secrets if he knows us."

"Which is just as weird. I don't remember meeting an angel kid that we were on good terms with. Certainly not one with brown hair. In fact, the last angel that we saw we were trying to delete. Hmmm…" Terriermon tapped one paw against his chin in contemplation. "I wonder…his name…"

"Terriermon?"

"Just thinking out loud Henry, but…Lumemon. Sounds about the same as _Lucemon_ don't you think? Do you think that there's a connection?"

"I…" Henry's frown deepened and he clenched one hand into a tight fist. Terriermon watched it with a curious gaze before looking up at Henry.

"Ah. Now I think I understand."

Henry unclenched his fist and took out his D-Arc along with a blue card from his pocket.

"Let's just get a move on. We're not going to find out anything if we just stay here. Are you ready?"

"I'm just waiting on you, Henry."

Sparks flew as Henry slashed the blue colored card through the slot of his digivice.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX-DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

* * *

Lumemon and Rapidmon with Henry sitting on top of the latter's shoulder touched down in the Chuchidarumon village at the precise moment that dusk fell across the landscape in its familiar, swift motion, covering the desert like a blanket. Henry looked around him as he hopped down, mildly surprised at the Chuchidarumon that crowded around the three of them.

"Ah. Tamer," spoke up an elderly looking Chuchidarumon resting on a cane. "So good to see you again."

Henry blinked.

"What? Have we…? Wait. Are you the same Chuchidarumon village that my friends and I saved from that out-of-control motorcycle from a while ago?"

"The very same," said the elder Chuchidarumon with a nod of his head, and although he had no mouth with which to smile, Henry could tell that the old mud digimon was doing just that. "We have been doing rather well since your departure. Well, as well as one can considering everything that has happened."

Henry breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad that you guys made it out all right. I was afraid that the D-Reaper had destroyed you."

"The Chaos very nearly did," said Lumemon. Henry raised an eyebrow at the angel, to which Lumemon simply shrugged. "That's just what they told me when I got here. Now," Lumemon turned to the elder. "Where's Noriko? Is she still where I left her?"

Henry's eyes flew wide open.

_Noriko?_

"She's here?! Noriko's _here?!"_

"If you would kindly let go of me, Henry," said the angel, brushing the Tamer's hand aside. Henry blinked in surprise. He didn't even remember crossing the distance between them, let alone grabbing hold of Lumemon's arm. Lumemon returned his attention back to the village elder, who regarded Henry warily before nodding and stepping to the side, one hand gesturing to the buildings behind him.

"Noriko is currently resting. Her condition hasn't changed since you have left, which for the time being is for the best as she hasn't gotten any worse."

"I have the Data Packet," said Lumemon. "Though I can't say that we're going to have an easy time retrieving any more. My companions and I were ambushed by one of the sand creatures and we fought. Only one of these Packets remains there now."

"Then hopefully it will carry on and rebuild the oasis," said the Chuchidarumon sadly. "Times are indeed becoming harsh here, but in the end nature takes care of its own. Come now, all of you. We must prepare this Data Packet for your friend."

Lumemon and the village elder, followed by Henry and a now regressed Terriermon walked off through the parting crowd of Chuchidarumon. Whispers flooded through the village, but for the time being Henry ignored them as he caught up with the angel that had led him here.

"What happened?" Asked Henry in a low voice. The four stopped in front of one of the homes and the village elder carefully knocked on the front door and called out to the occupants within to be let in. While they waited for a response Lumemon looked at Henry.

"There was some trouble here," the angel said in a voice that was as brisk as the breeze around them. "Much the same as what we encountered at the oasis."

"Well, you're just full of comforting news, aren't you?" Quipped Terriermon from his spot on Henry's shoulder. Henry glowered at him but before he could say anything the front door to the house opened, flooding them with bright light. At the entrance was another Chuchidarumon, though this one was not stooped or relying on a cane.

"Greetings Elder," said the Chuchidarumon in a decidedly female voice. "And greetings to you too Lumemon and…" The Chuchidarumon's eyes widened as they settled on Henry and Terriermon. "…Tamer! Oh my…this is unexpected!"

"But not unwanted," said the elder. "But we don't have time for idle chit-chat. How is our patient?"

"Resting comfortably," said the Chuchidarumon with a bow. "Do we have the medicine?"

"Right here," said Lumemon, presenting the tall digimon with the seed he had been carrying. The Chuchidarumon took it carefully and stepped aside, gesturing with her head for them all to come inside. Lumemon, Henry, Terriermon, and the elder all did so, Henry and Terriermon glancing furtively around them, feeling a sense of unease about what they might find. Their fears were founded when they finally spotted the still and sleeping form of Noriko Nakata, resting in a hammock and covered in a blanket. For an instant, Henry stood there, unable to say or do anything.

_Noriko…_

As he watched, Noriko shivered uncomfortably and her form blurred slightly and in response Henry whirled about on Lumemon.

"What happened?" He started to ask, anger and fear flooding his veins. However he didn't make it past _ha-_ before he was suddenly overtaken by a strange sensation. His vision blurred as he felt the muscles in his body suddenly grow taught and seize up. Feeling as though a surge of energy was roaring through his body Henry felt himself falling towards the ground, the world around him now being swallowed whole by a burning, bright light.

The last thing he heard was Terriermon and Lumemon's surprised voices calling out to him. And strangely enough…Noriko's.


	109. 108: Forging the Chain

_Falling…falling into the darkness while streams of burning white light surrounded him on all sides…_

_'Wha…what's going on?'_

_The streams of light flew by him all the more swiftly, churning around him like liquid fire, threatening to burn him with every whip-like motion that they made towards him._

_"Henry!"_

_Henry Wong's face whipped around at the sound of the voice calling out to him. A voice that sounded strangely familiar to him._

_'Who…?'_

_The burning river of light that surrounded Henry flared, forcing the boy to close his eyes lest he be blinded by its searing intensity. When the light finally dimmed he cautiously opened his eyes before they widened, perplexed at the sight in front of him. A small ball of light was floating towards him, glowing softly in the darkness that surrounded the two. A soft voice came from the ball of light, further increasing Henry's confusion._

_"Henry?"_

_'I know that voice,' thought Henry, straining his mind to recall the identity of the person that it belonged to. For some reason it was difficult to think in this place. It was as though the darkness around them was oppressive enough to keep him from recalling such important information. The light around the ball pulsed but once as if in response to his struggle, and as though it had been a key opening a locked door, memories flooded back into Henry's mind and the shadows retreated a bit._

_"Noriko?" The boy asked. Once again the ball of light pulsed, but this time the light expanded, for an instant taking on the familiar form of a D-Arc before extending limps of light, fleshing out its form as the energy flowed outwards until a female figure of silver, glowing light stood before him, eyes matching the same color of the aura that surrounded her staring back at him. In his daze, Henry didn't notice that a similar, emerald colored aura likewise coated his body._

_Before Henry could say or do anything else, the girl that stood before him suddenly cried out his name and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him as she pulled herself tight against him. Henry blinked in surprise at the shuddering girl currently hugging him, sobbing onto him as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. As he tried to make sense of the situation Henry could hear the voice of a certain, long eared digimon making a sarcastic crack about the situation that he was in._

_'Terriermon…' Henry scolded the thought habitually, a small smile tugging at the corners of his face as he slowly brought his arms up and returned the girl's embrace._

_"H-Henry," gasped Noriko. "You're all right. I thought…I was worried about…after that fight we had…"_

_"Don't worry about it," said Henry, understanding what Noriko was trying to say to him through her broken words. The memory of his defeat at the hands of ChaosGallantmon in his 'Azure' Mode remained quite fresh in his memories, but not in any way where he could blame his fellow classmate. If nothing else, he held himself more responsible for not putting up the fight that was needed to stop her when she was unable to do that for herself._

_"Don't worry about it," Henry repeated as he unconsciously brought one hand up to Noriko's head and stroked her hair gently, trying to calm her in the same manner that he had done for his little sister Suzie whenever she had gotten too worked up about something. "I'm here."_

_Noriko clenched her hands at their places on his back before relaxing them, but Henry got the feeling that she was not in the least bit comforted by his words._

_The two held each other for what felt like an eternity before Noriko pulled away from him, glancing at Henry in a shy fashion before taking in their surroundings. For some reason Henry felt as though he should have said more, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what to say._

_"Um…" Noriko gazed around at the void that surrounded them. "This is familiar."_

_Henry cocked an eyebrow at her, clearly not anticipating such a reaction. 'Where are we?' was more along the lines of what he expected given that she wasn't used to the kind of lifestyle that he himself had been exposed to these past few months._

_'Then again, she's been through enough where she's probably used to it by now.'_

_"What do you mean 'familiar'?" Asked Henry. Noriko jumped slightly in mid-air, something that Henry found somewhat amusing due to the lack of solid ground beneath them, and she looked over at Henry, holding one hand self-consciously close to her chest._

_"It's…um…something that I got mixed up in earlier. Lumemon tried explaining it to me before, but I'm not sure I really understand it. Something about a 'Digital Hazard' interacting with…um…a spatial warp and a living wish granter…"_

_'A living wish granter.' Henry frowned. 'Does she mean a Digignome? Those guys show up just about anywhere don't they?'_

_"That's a story you'll have to tell me about sometime," said Henry. "But for now we should probably figure out a way to get out of here. Since you've already been in a similar situation, getting out should be along the same lines as before."_

_"That's just the problem," said Noriko. "I don't really know how I got out the first time. I remember that there was a weird, dark colored thing with wings that looked like hands…"_

_"Oni?!" Asked Henry in surprise. Noriko jumped again unconsciously, an uncertain expression crossing her face._

_"Ah…who?"_

_"You said something about a black colored creature with hand-like wings. Did it also have a pair of antennae on its head?" Henry pointed one hand to his head to illustrate his description. "And did it also have long, thin arms? White eyes too?"_

_"Yeah. That's it. It even had a weird smile too. Looked kind of like a scar on its face."_

_Henry frowned and placed one glowing, green colored hand to his chin in contemplation._

_'Oni…what is it that he's up too? Just what is he exactly? Dracmon said that he was very involved in the X-Digimon group that he worked with, as well as being responsible for implanting Argus, a program harvested from the spirits of departed digimon, into the Hypnos systems, though for what I can't even begin to imagine. And when Terriermon and I encountered him…'_

_Henry paused as he finally noticed something amiss._

_'Where_ _**is** _ _Terriermon?'_

_"Henry? You okay?"_

_"Hmmm? Sorry, Noriko. I'm just thinking about how we could get out of here. It's strange." Henry looked down at his body, taking note of the light that surrounded his body. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that we've somehow been converted entirely into pure data. I've also been in this situation before. Even though it wasn't exactly like this I don't think that we have anything to worry about. As goofy as this may sound I think this is more of our subconscious selves taking on a digital form and communicating with each other like I do with Terriermon whenever we biomerge. What's around us is just the space that's defined by our perceptions."_

_Noriko glanced around at the darkness and scowled at it._

_"It's not exactly welcoming."_

_"Well, don't take my theory as gospel. I don't know for sure. The appearance of this place might be a result of our perspectives interfering with one another, kind of like destructive interference between wave patterns that have similar sources or frequencies. As we're digital patterns now our thoughts about what the world around us is like are interfering with each other and preventing it from taking a form that we'd recognize and feel comfortable with. Either that or this just happens to be what represents our inner selves in its truest form without everything else attached."_

_Noriko looked at Henry for a few moments before returning her gaze back to the darkness around them._

_"You sound like a bizarre mix between a computer geek and a psychiatrist."_

_Henry chuckled._

_"I kind of need to think outside the box when it comes to the digital world. It's made up of people's dreams as well as digital information after all. At any rate, previous experience has taught me that we can get out of here on our own, but the how is just a matter of discovery."_

_"I see," said Noriko, lowering her hands to her sides. "So you can figure out the means, but we still don't know how to get out."_

_"It's just one step towards getting out," said Henry. "Usually we have to make a discovery of some sort."_

_Noriko grimaced and folded her arms beneath her breasts._

_"I don't want to make any discoveries," she said quietly to herself. "I just want to go home." Noriko sighed. "Can't be helped though, can it?"_

_"Nope," came a new voice from out of the darkness. "It can't be helped. But that's what makes people like us special."_

_Looking up, Henry and Noriko saw a dark, almost purple colored light shrouded figure floating towards them. Looking into the light Henry found a familiar suave looking boy with a friendly grin on his face that bespoke of a most supreme confidence tempered by the steely wisdom of experience to prevent boasting and promote modesty. The appearance, and the personality were immediately recognized by Henry as the boy came to a halt in front of them and gave an amiable salute to the couple._

_"Ryo!" Exclaimed Henry in surprise._

_"Hey there you two. Fancy seeing you here. What's up?"_

_"I could ask you the same thing," said Henry, growing serious. "Are you, Takato, Rika, and the others all right?"_

_"They were the last time I saw them, which wasn't too long ago," said Ryo, his grin growing even wider. "They were off making some dinner together to kiss and make up. That qualifies as good in my book."_

_"Uh…" Henry looked at the Legendary Tamer oddly, wondering what it was he was saying before deciding that for the time being it was best to not dwell on it. "…Okay then. So what happened? Where are you guys?"_

_"We're definitely in the digital world. We're currently hold up at a temple run by the same guys that Shibumi talked to earlier today. The Seer Council. I was with one of their leaders before I showed up here." Ryo looked over at Noriko and nodded to her. "I see that you got home safely."_

_Noriko frowned and looked away, looking decidedly uncomfortable with Ryo's words. Seeing this, Henry spoke up._

_"Actually Ryo, she didn't. She and I are also in the digital world right now."_

_"You're here too? Heh." Ryo rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I take it a lot has happened in the time I've been gone?"_

_"It's definitely worth a story and a half," said Henry with a nod. "Right now though we're trying to figure out how to get out of here."_

_"Isn't this one of those 'self-discovery', mindscape dimensions?"_

_"That's the leading theory," said Noriko in a low voice, indicating Henry with a nod of her head._

_"Hm. Never been in one with other Tamers before. Usually it's just me, Monodramon, and…well, me. I'm willing to bet that this isn't your average dimensional mindscape."_

_"Maybe. Did anything happen on your end that could cause something like this to happen?"_

_"I was being shown a pool that supposedly could see everything. You?"_

_Henry blinked at the Legendary Tamer's frankness, but he pressed onwards._

_"No, nothing that I'd say stood out like that, though…" Henry looked over at Noriko with a concerned look on his face. "Noriko was injured. A digimon named Lumemon was delivering some medicine to help her, and then, the next thing I know we're in this place."_

_"So, barring any other intrusions from anyone else it's safe to say that I'm most likely the cause behind this."_

_"You sound pretty certain of that."_

_"I've found that when it comes to digimon who have their hands on something that can be called 'magic', things like this happen. Plus it's kind of the process of elimination. I felt something weird when I looked into the water and here I am. If the pool is able to see 'everything', as I was told then could it be possible that it can also cause people to communicate like this?"_

_"If that's true…" began Henry._

_"…Then does that mean we can contact everyone else back home?" Finished Noriko. A second later she frowned. "But that leaves us right back at square one though, doesn't it? How do we do something like that?"_

_Ryo chuckled lightly to himself._

_"In the words of a certain Digimon Queen, the same way we do everything. We wing it and see what happens. What do you think Henry?"_

_"We're digital information right now," said the half-Chinese Tamer. "More importantly we're digital information that comes from the digital world and interacts with the real world. It's surprisingly malleable to our thoughts. You only eat when you want to and you can breathe under water. I wonder if we can even use this to return to the real world."_

_"It's possible, but let's try things in small steps. Just because our thoughts allow us to influence our environment might not necessarily mean that we can pull rabbits out of our hats. Metaphorically speaking."_

_"So, how do we get in touch with the real world?" Asked Noriko._

_"I think the good old standby is going to be enough for this one," replied Ryo, looking over to Henry, who nodded._

_"Shibumi did say that the digital world is all about communication and bringing things together. Our digivices are built along the same lines. Even our brains after a fashion. If we concentrate hard enough, we might be able to communicate with someone."_

_"I'm willing to give it a try," said Ryo._

_"I'm sorry," said Noriko. "But I don't think I really understand. I get the concentration part, but who am I supposed to send this message to? I don't know what to do."_

_"That's okay," said Ryo, holding out a hand to her and Henry, never once losing his confident smile. "Neither do we. We're like this all the time. Just concentrate. We'll take care of the rest."_

* * *

_The three children stood in a circle, each of them holding each other's hands as they closed their eyes to the world around them, banking all of their hopes on a crazy, outlandish idea that they had conjured up from out of the blackness of the void around them. Noriko clenched her eyes shut as she held onto the two boy's hands. She stroked her thumb against Henry's hand for comfort, and she felt herself relax as he squeezed hers in return._

_'Concentrate,' she thought to herself as she devoted herself to her task. 'But concentrate on what?'_

_Henry had made it sound so simple. Focus. Breathe in. Breathe out. Send out intention with her mind while they focused on the image of the person that they were going to send their message to. A man by the name of Yamaki, who apparently was in charge of a government agency that they worked with. She vaguely remembered someone by that name being mentioned on the news back during the Deva and D-Reaper attacks, but she had never seen the man. She could concentrate all she wanted, but did that mean that she would be able to help Henry and Ryo? Especially if she didn't know who they were aiming for?_

_'Henry and Ryo seem to think so," thought Noriko to herself before frowning at her lapse in concentration. She was letting herself get distracted by her doubts._

_'It's not as though I can help it,' thought Noriko. 'I'm not really good at this sort of thing. Why am I even here to begin with? Why am I being dragged into this? Even though this Ryo guy says that they don't know what they're doing they still know more than I do. I'm just a passenger along for the ride.'_

_Noriko sighed mentally._

_'I shouldn't be thinking like this. Henry's counting on me to lend him a hand and…' Noriko felt her body temperature go up as she realized the literal manifestation of that thought. 'Um…right. Great. This is really distracting…'_

_In an attempt to force such thoughts and feelings out of her mind Noriko bent herself to the task of focusing on her breathing, slowing it with an effort and relaxing her body once more. Oddly the warmth that suffused itself through her body did not die down, but instead intensified ever so slightly. Noriko ignored it for the time being._

_Time came and went, barely touching them yet Noriko was painfully aware of its presence. Nothing was happening as far as she was concerned other than that they were just standing around, holding hands and looking for all the world rather foolish. Was this all there was? Was this how they did things as Tamers? It sure seemed that way, at least when it came to this particular situation._

_'Who am I to complain though?" Thought Noriko to herself. 'They're the ones with all the experience.'_

_Noriko's mind drifted back. Memories came to her bit by bit, starting from the first moment she and her brother Daisuke encountered Lucemon in the park, badly injured and seemingly barely alive. How strange it was that such a single moment of contact had changed her life so much. She had seen the dark side to the lives of digimon and after a fashion even some of the Tamers who lived with their duty. She had gone to an alien world that was harsher than the one that she grew up in, and had experienced one incident after another, right down to being absorbed into a digimon's body over which she was allowed occasional moments of control until the dark dragon inside of her became too much for her to hold in. Him, and the angel that dwelt alongside him, both of whom were more different from each other than she had originally thought. Lucemon, in spite of his appearance did not wield many of the notable angel qualities such as kindness and mercy, though it could be said that he had learned those qualities after the time he had spent inside of her. And Taka-chan? A lonely, separated fragment of a young child who had lost his best friend and tried to bring him back, only to meet with disastrous results, with neither he nor his creator fully understanding what it was that had brought them to that moment in time when he came into existence._

_And ultimately, denied the existence that he had been created for; denied of the void to fill._

_And Noriko herself? She hadn't thought much about digimon, other than that they were creatures that came to the human world and caused havoc. The Tamers and their partners she knew were the 'good guys'. The protectors of the city, but her interest in them wasn't of the same level as others, who either envied and admired them or regarded them with disdain and anger, viewing them as responsible for the digimon threat. She had been somewhere in the middle, wanting to stay out of interfering with the private lives of the Tamers and wanting to keep her own life as relatively 'normal' as she possibly could. The fact that she once had a crush on one of the Tamers during her younger days was not lost on her, but that too wasn't something she thought about much, if at all. Thoughts of young Takato had gone out the window quite rapidly when her father died, and they had been in different classes as well. The need to focus on something else to move past her grief left the small crush a moot point and it soon vanished, but it did have one side affect that she hadn't thought of. While she didn't feel anything for Takato beyond a faint curiosity and a memory of another time, her brief acknowledgement of his importance in her younger life had made him into something of a focal point that she was more aware of than usual, and his role as a Tamer served to increase that focus._

_And as a result, she became more aware of those who were around him. More importantly, she had become aware of the one and only Tamer in her class._

_Noriko wondered if that was when she had become more involved in digimon matters. When she had first gone up to him and talked to him; listened to him. Lucemon had come and gone as he pleased while he healed, getting into scuffles with the Tamers without her being aware of them, and had he gone permanently at that time she would have accepted it and moved on. But once she made contact with Henry as a person and an individual, it was as though she had become more intricately involved. She had learned about Lucemon's actions towards the Tamers, and how by proxy she was involved as well._

_'I couldn't just let it go,' thought Noriko as she gripped Henry's hand all the more tightly. 'Funny the things we think about when there's nothing better to do. I didn't want anything to do with this kind of thing, but here I am, and if I can't do something to pull my own weight than what good am I? I want to go home. I want my life to be back to what it used to be, but it's not.'_

_Noriko furrowed her eyebrow as a memory of a searing pain burning through her chest came to her, and the muscles in her body tensed up in response to it. The memory of her 'death'. With it, another memory quickly came to her, this one of a more recent vintage. The warmth in her body increased suddenly, and Noriko groaned slightly in response to it. She suddenly realized what this warmth was. It had been there earlier today, back during the attack on the Chuchidarumon village. With a sense of sorrow growing in her heart, Noriko had one last clear thought before the warm feeling reached a crescendo and sent her over the proverbial cliff._

_'Nothing's going to be the same anymore.'_

* * *

_Henry jerked suddenly as he felt Noriko's grip on his hand become vice-like and something that he could only describe as a surge of electricity burn its way up his arm from the connection he had with the girl. From the sounds of it, he wasn't the only one either. Ryo Akiyama made a slight grunting sound and Henry felt the other boy's hand stiffen up in surprise. Opening his eyes Henry turned towards Noriko to see a bright light spreading out from the center of her chest._

_And within the focal point of that light was a shining, silver-trimmed D-Arc, pulsating like a heartbeat._

_Noriko gasped in surprise as the light around her intensified for a moment and then flew outwards, engulfing all three of them in its brilliance, forcing the two boys to shut their eyes against it to keep themselves from being blinded. Henry fought to break free from Ryo's grasp so that he could try and do something for Noriko, though what that could be he didn't know as the situation was outside of his knowledge right now. From the feel of things Ryo was making the same effort that he was, but for some reason neither of them were able to let go of each other. It was as though whatever energy that passed through them was connecting them together in much the same way as electricity would and they couldn't let go._

_And then…almost as quickly as the lightshow began, it vanished. Noriko's body became limp in the void and Henry felt Ryo's hand leave his, a groan escaping his lips as he did so._

_"What…just happened here?" Gasped out the Legendary Tamer in surprise. Henry shrugged as he opened his eyes. Ryo's guess was as good as his at the moment. Whatever it was that happened it clearly left Noriko exhausted and…_

_Looking up, Henry saw two luminous figures standing above him. The boy's eyes grew wide upon seeing them, unable to comprehend or even understand what it was he was seeing, nor did he know which one surprised him more. One of the figures he could understand, given their attempt to make contact with the real world, but the other…_

_Perhaps a little clarification would be necessary._

_Standing above him was the ghostly figure of Jeri Katou, although 'standing' could not be called quite the right word as she appeared to be more in a sitting position, only with nothing beneath her. Jeri looked at Henry and Ryo with an expression that could only be described as shock and surprise. She_ saw _them. Correction, could see them! Her mouth opened and Henry and Ryo's names spilled forth, asking them if they were all right. Henry wanted to respond, but at the moment, the figure that towered above her, a massive, dragonic creature with two cannons affixed to its shoulders and a glowing energy field surrounding its upper half took up a fair amount of his attention. The creature looked menacingly down towards the children, and a grin spread across its reptilian face._

_"The first step begins here," boomed the creature as three spheres of light descended from his body and towards Henry, Noriko, and Ryo. Before Henry could even do anything one of the spheres of light made contact with him, suffusing its brilliance throughout his body. A wild surge of energy roared through Henry and he felt himself gasp in surprise, but strangely enough there was no pain as he had been expecting. The surge quickly tapered off, leaving him feeling strangely energized._

_"Henry! Ryo!" Cried out the ghostly image of Jeri as she tried to reach out towards him. As she did so, another sphere of light descended from the dark creature's body and made contact with her body, causing her to cry out in surprise and vanish a second later, air warping around where her body had been. Henry cried out his friend's name, and above him the creature continued to smile._

_"Not time yet, Ms. Katou," said the dragon creature in a voice that chilled Henry's blood before it turned to Ryo. "The first links to the chain have been forged, my partner. I shall rise again, very soon."_

_Henry could hear a choking sound coming from Ryo's mouth…no, a name._

_"Mill…enium…mon…"_

_The creature turned back towards Henry._

_"The chain, the anchor, and now the arc. Almost finished. You had best take care of things on your end, Mr. Wong. That arc has an important task ahead of her."_

_Darkness swiftly blotted out Henry's vision, until the last things he saw were the shining eyes of the creature above him._

* * *

Twin lights appeared in Henry's vision as he slowly, but surely woke up.

"Uhg…" the boy groaned as he attempted to lift one arm to wipe it across his face, only to meet with failure as he felt something that was attached to it by his hand weighing him down. Looking over he saw Noriko's hand wrapped firmly around his. They were both lying in separate but close lying beds, their hands conjoined together in the space between. As though sensing his motion Noriko frowned and shifted beneath her blankets, moaning slightly as a grimace appeared on her face. She did not let go of Henry's hand though and soon became still.

"It's about time you woke up!" Exclaimed an all too familiar and altogether irritated voice as something with weight landed on his stomach, eliciting a grunt from Henry. Looking up in annoyance, Henry's gray colored eyes met that of Terriermon as he walked up onto the boy's chest, arms folded together like a teacher about to scold a misbehaving student.

"Do you know how worried I was about you?" Asked Terriermon, not once losing his composure. "You pass out on the floor for no apparent reason, leaving us having to scramble around to help you and Noriko, without so much as a word or a warning that you were going to do something like that. Sheesh. If I knew you acted that way around sleeping girls in hammocks I would never have let you go in. I tell ya…gleep!"

Terriermon was suddenly and abruptly cut off as Lumemon came over and clamped one hand around the dog-bunny's mouth, giving him a warning glare before looking over at Henry.

"How do you feel?" Asked the angel calmly. Henry coughed and took in his surroundings. The memories from his strange _dream,_ if he could call it that, came to him, offering him no sense of comfort.

_Was it real?_ He wondered to himself, raising his free hand to massage his chest where the sphere of light had touched him. So far he didn't feel anything to indicate that it had at all touched him. _I'm going to have to ask Noriko when she wakes up. If that dream did happen…_

Henry swallowed unconsciously. Terriermon and Lumemon exchanged looks, wondering about the boy's lack of response.

"Anyway," said Terriermon with a frown. "After you passed out we got you into a bed and looked you over. The Chuchidarumon and Angel Boy here both gave you a clean bill of health and decided that all you needed was rest. Then they moved Noriko to another bed so that they could help her more easily and, uh, for some reason you two started holding hands in your sleep. Got something to tell me that I should know about?"

Again, Henry didn't reply. Instead the faint beeping of the boy's digivice broke the silence of the Chuchidarumon house. Giving the two digimon an apologetic look Henry looked around for his digivice and upon quickly finding that it was still fixed to his waist he took it out and looked at the screen. What he saw caused him to frown in confusion, and by the same token further increase the confusion of the two digimon in front of him due to his lack of verbal response over their questions and what he was seeing.

Emblazoned upon the screen of Henry's green trimmed digivice was a strange symbol consisting of a vertical line, crossed by two horizontal ones, connecting to a circle with a smaller one sitting inside.

The sound of thunder beat in the drum of the sky somewhere off in the distance as a storm drew closer to the Chuchidarumon village.


	110. 109: Darkness before Light

"RYO!" Shouted Cyberdramon as he pulled the Legendary Tamer from out of the pool of shimmering water. No response came from the teenage boy as the cybernetic dragon turned him around and looked him dead in the eyes. As a matter of fact, _dead_ appeared to be more the case of Ryo Akiyama as his eyes looked outwards with a vacant, empty look within their gaze; seeing but not registering anything around him. This sight was not helped by the fact that the boy's head fell backwards, hanging listlessly in the air and not showing any sign of effort of being pulled back up by its owner. That, and there was the fact that he wasn't breathing, something that Cyberdramon did not like at all, and with that knowledge Cyberdramon felt something else that he did not like to experience. Fear.

It wasn't as though he did not know fear, or that he had never once felt the emotion. Far from it, it was more that he was unaccustomed to experiencing fear over anything, whether for himself or for the safety of another. For the vast majority of his existence since arriving in the Southern Quadrant was defined by his insatiable lust for battle and the power of evolution. When the latter could no longer be met following the Catalyst for digivolution being transformed into the 'enigmatic (to use the term loosely) digimon named Calumon Cyberdramon had sought out the assistance of the one power that he knew could help him: Ryo Akiyama.

There were times where Cyberdramon wondered why he had sought out his old partner. When they had parted ways after the final defeat of Milleniummon he, as Monodramon, had decided to let his friend live the life of piece that he so richly deserved. Looking back on the past though, he noted how he became increasingly violent and aggressive with each level of evolution that he took, departing from the heroic path that he had taken and as such he often became as much of a threat to the innocent he tried to protect as those he protected them from. When he finally digivolved to Ultimate his anger and frustration reached new levels previously unachieved as his Champion form of Strikedramon and had been virtually nonexistent as Monodramon that for at least one moment of crystal clear thought he had given pause to wonder what dangers his Mega form would wrought. Cyberdramon distinctly recalled at least one pang of terror, but it had been so miniscule that he discarded the emotion as nothing more than his overactive imagination and continued as he always did. Find an enemy and destroy it. Download their data and repeat; all in the name of becoming stronger. And that thought of fear? Cyberdramon had to wonder if it had really disappeared then or if it simply buried itself and influenced his actions.

After all, why else would he go and call up a human who continued to reign him in like a wild animal? Power? Yes. Cyberdramon was more aware than any of the Tamers how powerful a human could make a digimon, but was there something else?

Did he fear Milleniummon's return if he digivolved to Mega without Ryo?

The question certainly begged, and following his brief devolution back to Monodramon it grew to prey on his mind at times, and if Ryo ever knew he never acknowledged it. As Cyberdramon he would never admit it, but in the here and now that had very much altered. Cyberdramon felt fear towards his partner's condition and felt fear for the possible ramifications thereof. And what made it all the worse for him was the knowledge that he had no idea what to do in a situation like this. Fighting and death was his way of life, but this…

_I am supposed to protect Ryo,_ growled Cyberdramon in his mind. _What can I do against an enemy such as this?_

Cyberdramon reflected rather sardonically over how human tales saw the elemental force of death as an actual existence. An entity. Cyberdramon wished that such were the case so that he could tear into the specter and set Ryo free from its bonds. Such as it was however, human death remained of a far different order for digimon and as a result Cyberdramon came up blank on how to combat this opponent himself.

_I'm going to need help…_

_"Did it ever occur to you,"_ came a slightly amused, female voice in his mind, _"to simply ask?"_

Turning in surprise Cyberdramon saw the Sakuyamon that Ryo had named _Silver_ step up to the dragon and place a hand on his charge's chest. Reflexively Cyberdramon made as though to pull away and growled threateningly at the shaman priestess, but Silver kept pace with him, shooting him a firm look beneath her mask that even though Cyberdramon could not see it, the sense of its presence was more than enough for him to stop.

"You really should calm down more," said Silver as she returned her gaze back to Ryo's unmoving form. "And take your own advice while you're at it and trust people more."

"You led us here," grated Cyberdramon angrily. The shaman pursed her lips into one thin line, hearing the blame in the dragon's words.

"This is not my doing though," said Silver in a tone that sounded like a mother scolding a child. "The way that the water communicates manifests in different forms at times, usually in accordance to the essence of the person who looks into it. In the case of the Mother it availed itself as little more than a seeing tool, offering clues to the future and images of the past and present. For Ryo it simply chose to communicate in a far more direct fashion."

A bright light then appeared around Silver's hand and flowed into Ryo's body, suffusing it with light that caused the Tamer's body to clench and his chest to heave as he gulped in air. The Legendary Tamer's body shuddered once and he groaned. Silver nodded, the tension in her face dissolving ever so slightly and she stood up.

"Come," said Silver as she took a step backwards and hefted her staff. "We should bring him back to the temple. Rest is going to be very important for him right now."

* * *

Rika and Takato had just burst out onto the temple grounds, both of them looking for their respective partners and for one of temple occupants to help them when the massive form of Cyberdramon along with the lithe figure of the silver Sakuyamon came to a landing in front of them, the former bearing Ryo's limp form. Both Tamers looked at Ryo as he was held in Cyberdramon's claws, going in and out of consciousness and muttering something under his breath. Her violet eyes flashing at the sight Rika fixed the two with a hard glare.

"What happened here?" The red haired girl demanded with more than a little bit of irritation.

The silver Sakuyamon looked at Rika for a few seconds before turning to Cyberdramon.

"Get him to his room," Silver said simply. "I'll send for someone to check up on him in a few minutes."

"Hey!" Exclaimed Rika angrily. "Don't just ignore us! You owe us an explanation here! What's going on here?! Why did Takato and I…?"

"All in due time, Princess," said Silver calmly. "Suffice to say that it is enough that Ryo will recover shortly."

"That is _not_ enough," supplied Takato, entering the conversation now. "Rika and I felt something going on with him, and when we get out here looking for him, you and Cyberdramon show up with him looking like this. We're his friends. If there's something that's happened to him we need to know what it is so that we can help. Why won't you at least tell us?"

Silver paused and glanced at the two Tamers.

"Ryo went looking for answers," she told the two Tamers simply. "This is the result of his receiving them. Now, if you will excuse me…"

"Hey! Wait!"

Rika's call fell on deaf ears, as the shaman digimon vanished into the night, leaving Rika to fume over the situation and Takato to frown at Cyberdramon's retreating back before he too disappeared into the main compound.

"This is really weird," the boy muttered to himself.

"Got that right," agreed Rika as she stormed off after the lumbering dragon. Takato's eyes followed her with a look of concern before falling into step next to her.

"Uh…Rika? What are you…?"

"Can't you tell, Gogglehead? I'm going after those two. I'm going to get some answers from them. I don't know about you but I _really_ want an explanation. Ryo may be a lot of things but he doesn't do anything stupid. You felt the same thing that I did, right? Ryo _willfully_ put himself in danger back there. And don't give me any lectures about how we do that sort of thing every day, because this was different from the usual."

_I wasn't going to say anything about that,_ frowned Takato before quickly berating himself for it. He did after all, think it.

_This link is going to take some getting used to._

"But didn't that Sakuyamon say that Ryo needs rest right now?" Asked Takato as he began following the fiery haired girl. "I mean, I can agree with you on wanting to get answers but shouldn't we wait until he's ready to talk?"

"There's his partner," said Rika without missing a beat.

"Oh, right," said Takato, rubbing the back of his head as he contemplated the one in their group who tended to be of few words.

"What do you mean _'oh, right'?"_ Asked Rika, giving him a suspicious look.

"Oh…nothing," was Takato's reply as the two of them entered the temple and began heading towards the living quarters of the compound.

_"Nothing?_ Gogglehead, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that _nothing_ is usually _something_. I don't need a link to you to know _that_ much."

"Well…I was just thinking, what are the odds of Cyberdramon actually saying anything without Ryo telling him that it's okay? Ryo's usually a pretty private person."

"I'll give you that, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. As long as there's a chance that I can get something out of 'mon-of-few-growls' than I'm going to give it a go. As I recall, you used to be like that too."

Takato scowled at his friend.

"I'm just trying to be realistic," he said to her. "But you're right. We should at least talk to Cyberdramon. Besides, even if Cyberdramon doesn't give us any answers we might still learn something."

Rika raised an eyebrow at him. "Like what?"

"Um…that there's something worth hiding?"

"Just when I thought that you had something that we could go on," muttered Rika loudly enough for the boy to hear.

Takato was just about to make a response to that when his foot impacted with an object on the floor, sending it scattering into the wall next to them. Looking down in confusion, Takato's eyes widened as he saw a familiar, blue colored D-Arc lying against the wall.

"Hey! It's Ryo's digivice," said Takato as he bent down to pick it up. "It must have fallen when Cyberdramon was carrying Ryo." Takato gave a small laugh as he lifted the D-Arc and stood back up. "Kinda surprised that he didn't notice. He's not usually the kind who lets things get past him like…"

Takato's words came to a halt as he turned the digivice over, his eyes once again widening in surprise before furrowing in concentration. Noticing his lapse in the conversation Rika paused in her stride and looked over her shoulder at him.

"What's up?"

"Ryo's digivice…it's the same as mine."

Rika had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"Of course it's the same as yours, Gogglehead. Did you drop your brain when you picked that thing up?"

"No! I mean…" Takato turned the D-Arc towards Rika and she stepped forwards to get a closer look.

_What is he going on about? It's just Ryo's stupid D-Arc. It's hardly anything to…hold on._

"…It's _exactly_ the same as mine," finished Takato as Rika's eyes finally registered the gold ring that encircled the digivices screen.

And as Rika watched, the digivice's screen flickered to life, showing a strange symbol of two circles connected together as though they were a figure eight and surrounded on three sides by interconnecting straight lines, with a solitary black dot resting in the lower half of the 'figure eight' design. The symbol pulsated but once before vanishing.

* * *

_"Greetings Ryo,"_ spoke a voice from out of the dark corners of the boy's mind. _"Resting well?"_

_"You again,"_ came the Legendary Tamer's rather annoyed response. _"Just what is it that you want?"_

_"You still can't guess? What is it that I've always wanted, Ryo Akiyama? This should be real easy for you. You know me quite well after all."_

_"Sometimes I feel as though I don't know you at all. When we first met you had plenty of opportunities to wipe me out but you never took them. Instead you just settled for toying with me, attacking from the shadows until I became too strong for you to toy with. At first I thought that you were making a typical bad guy mistake, but then you started going on about taking me to be your partner…"_

_"We are connected, Ryo. Do you deny that?"_

_"We have too much history for that. What I can't figure out is why you've come back now. You got what you wanted in the end."_

_"But you didn't."_

From within the darkness of Ryo Akiyama's mind, the Legendary Tamer frowned.

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"How's your life of peace, Ryo? Oh, wait. I forgot. It doesn't exist. Your destiny is tied up with the digital world, and me, from here to eternity, no matter what incarnation the two of us take. Have you ever considered your ultimate destiny, Akiyama? We dance our dance, and the world burns each and every time. I've had my time in the shadows, but that side of the coin is soon to flip. Are you prepared for that?"_

_"I don't understand."_

_"Darkness before Light, Ryo. Darkness before light. For us, there must be one as the sun, and another as the night. There can be neither of both. Very soon, you will have to make another choice that will involve the salvation of the digital world, and you will have to pay a very heavy price for it. Are you prepared to make that decision?"_

_"DAMN IT, MILLENIUMMON! JUST WHAT IS YOUR GAME?!"_

_"This time? Just a word of warning and of caution. You won't be hearing from me for a while after this, but when the time comes, you'll need to decide. You've hated me for this long, and in spite of having merged with Cyberdramon to create Justimon there's always been that one part of you that has wondered about me and what I could do once I got out. As long as I've been silent you've never had to worry that much, but now…_ now _the situation is drastically altered and you recognize this all too well. Doubt shall grow in you, and that doubt will gnaw at you incessantly, and a rift will be formed between you and those close to you."_

_"Milleniummon…"_

_"Hope may not have been your crest, but that flame burns in you all the same. Remember the lessons that its bearer learned through his adventures, and think on this as well. At what price, is safety worth?"_

_"Milleniummon…MILLENIUMMONNN!"_

* * *

Jeri Katou awoke with a start, a small but audible gasp escaping her lips, looking around her with an expression of panic on her face before realizing that she was with her family in their car, presently driving on a road that would take them out of Shinjuku as per the orders of the government broadcasted message. There were vast numbers of other vehicles on the road as well, and as a result things were now being slowed down considerably. Jeri cast her amber eyes out of the window and towards the surrounding traffic, hanging upon the numerous tired, disheveled, and otherwise irritated faces as they inched ever so slowly out of the constraints of the city before lifting upwards towards the night sky. Instinctively Jeri gripped her olive green dress, her fingers touching the outline of the digivice and card that lay tucked tightly within.

_That dream…Ryo, Henry…and that girl, Noriko. What…what was that all about? Especially that last part involving Ryo. It sounded as though the voice that came from the card…Milleniummon…was talking to him, and that whatever it was they were talking about Ryo didn't like it. Why…?_

Jeri let the thought drift for a moment and glanced at her parents from out of the corner of her eye. Both of them were intensely focused on the traffic and hadn't yet taken notice of her abrupt awakening. She had fallen asleep quite some time ago along with her brother, and as such they had decided to afford her some peace and quiet. At least, as much as there could be in this situation.

Jeri's eyes drifted back up towards the night sky, and for a brief moment she thought she could see the outline of her missing friends within the stars. She wondered how they were doing, and if they were safe. Oddly enough, from her dream she felt as though she didn't have much to worry about in that regard, but she worried all the same. After all, her friends were missing.

_And I…can't do anything to help them,_ thought Jeri, instinctively raising one hand to her chest and bringing it to rest there. _Even when I saw them in my dream, being struck by those orbs of light there wasn't anything that I could do to help them. Instead I only got hit like they did and…_

Jeri closed her eyes as she remembered the strange sensation that she felt occur within her body the moment that the orb of light had touched her. It hadn't been painful so much as it was surprising… _jarring_ even, as for a moment it had brought to her a far greater sense of connection with her friends than she had ever thought possible. Now all that remained was a faint echo of that feeling. Yet…

_…I still feel so close to them, almost as if I could turn around and point them out. But they're still so far away. I wish that there was something that I could do to help._

Lowering her hand from her chest, Jeri turned her gaze back up towards the night sky as the traffic crept forwards once more.

_Ryo, Takato, Rika, Henry, Noriko…please. Be all right, wherever you are. Look out for each other._


	111. 110: Crusades Beginning

Calumon floated from the direction of the Hypnos mess hall, a loud yawn escaping from his mouth as he did so. Continuing to glide on his long, wing-like ears, Calumon's eyes drooped ever so slightly and he almost let them slide shut before realizing that if he did so he was going to collide headlong into one of Hypnos's many employees. After swerving to avoid the person Calumon hovered in the air for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief before continuing on his way. For once, the young In-Training level digimon was bone-tired and it showed. Helping out at the Hypnos Mess hall was certainly tiring work even if the chef went easy on him due to his size and relative age, and he had been at it for most of the day.

_There's just so much good food,_ thought Calumon wistfully, allowing a small, tired smile to creep on his face. _And so many fun people to talk to. They all talk about so much, like that Takahito who's always going on about this receptionist from downstairs. Listening to that story is waaay better than TV._

_If only the chef didn't tell me to go home. I wanted to hear if those two were at 'third base' yet. I'd like to know how they can play a baseball game and work at the same time. That would be_ real _fun. I'm sure everyone here would like to learn how to do that. They're all so uptight…_

As Calumon lamented the loss of his proverbial 'golden opportunity' he wondered about where he should go now. Normally he would have gone to Jeri's home, but she had stopped by earlier to let him know that such was not going to be the case tonight as her family was going to have to leave town for a little while. Along with almost everyone else in the city it seemed, although Jeri hadn't given him any details beyond 'make sure that everyone stays safe'. Calumon himself had no idea how to do that, but regardless he would try all the same even if it meant giving a wild digimon a taste of his super, powerfully explosive, atomic, space noogie.

_I wonder if it's too long a name,_ thought Calumon, tapping one tiny paw against his mouth before shrugging and continuing on.

Still faced with the question of where he should go, Calumon floated down the hallway, eventually dropping down to the floor in front of an elevator just as its doors opened with a ding. Feet by the dozens poured out, instinctively making way for the little digimon to walk inside with very little trouble. Although Calumon remained a strange sight for anyone who worked at Hypnos, his presence had become one of familiarity that everyone learned to work around and get along with, even for those who weren't all together on good terms with digimon as a whole. Even Yamaki tolerated the little digimon, but only so long as he provided him with a detailed report on how he got inside the building during each of his visits. More often than not this task would be delegated to the young receptionist down at the main entrance due to Yamaki's many tasks and Calumon's lack of ability to write anything that could be qualified as a 'report' (particularly with anything other than a blue or purple colored crayon). Such reports were placed in a file in one of the girl's drawers where they were affectionately named the 'Calumon Protocols', with a security threat range of one through five.

It was, rather correctly guessed, that anything that allowed a childish digimon like Calumon to breach Hypnos security with next to no effort could not possibly be adequate protection from the outside world, and as such all security was upgraded according to the details of each and every report that came in.

Hopping up, Calumon pressed a random button on the floor selection and then waited, hovering in midair as the doors slid shut and began its descent downwards, confirming to Calumon that he at least was headed in the right direction. In spite of all the time that he had spent at Hypnos he had yet to remember which buttons took him where, and as a result it was often that he spent much of his time in Hypnos going up and down to get to the first floor, and if failing that at least an open window. Yamaki and Riley had tried at one point to teach him the 'ways of the elevator' but they hadn't met with much success. In the end it was decided that Calumon had to have someone press a button for him at any point where he was to use an elevator, though it was by far preferable that he use stairs.

Only he forgot this time around.

_Oh, well,_ thought Calumon, perking up a little bit now. _More fun for me._

If Impmon were there, he would have thrown his hands up in disgust and muttered something about how the little creampuff could get lost and still consider it the greatest ride of all time.

_And he'd be right,_ thought Calumon with a smile as he hopped out of the elevator upon the opening of its doors and took a look around him. _But speaking of Impmon, I wonder how he's doing? And if he's even on this floor._

His eyes lighting up with a sparkle within their emerald depths Calumon hopped off, eager to find Impmon and check up on him. As the little digimon ran, the red, triangular symbol on his head, so long dormant since he had returned the light of evolution to the digital world lit up but once, catching his attention. Looking around with a look of confusion Calumon's eyes fell upon a corridor. Feeling as though he were being pulled in that direction the little creampuff of a digimon set off with a faint sense of curiosity. After a few minutes of bouncing around and riding air currents Calumon came to a halt in front of a door.

"Ohhh…" Calumon moaned as he saw the security level that the door had on it. "It's got one of those card swipe thingies. I'll have to find another way in."

The Calumon protocols were about to have another addition added to them.

* * *

Ayaka stood in front of the secured form of Crusadermon, taking in each and every inch of her battered form as it hung suspended in the liquid prison that had so often served as containment unit for digimon. According to Yamaki the prison wasn't one hundred percent fool proof, especially given that Sangloupmon had broken free of it with seemingly very little effort (with Crusadermon having a vast difference in level and power to boot not really helping things much), but the Royal Knight's condition was such that there was very little that she could do if she wanted to. For the technicians that monitored the digimon's vitals and the sensors on her prison, this came as a welcome relief and did Yamaki's own nerves quite a bit of good as he didn't have to worry about any further damage to Hypnos occurring from within. For Ayaka however…

…That was a complicated question.

Following the episode in which she felt as though she had all but merged with Crusadermon in her battle with the digimon known as Gyōjamon, she had spent some time at home, feeling as though she were being watched and dodging her parents inquiries about her health due in no small part to her apparent exhaustion before Hypnos agents came knocking at the door, asking to see her.

Needless to say, in the tumultuous chaos that followed, Ayaka's parents were not in the least bit thrilled to find out that their daughter had become a Digimon Tamer.

On the matter of being a Tamer, Ayaka could easily say that she wasn't happy about the matter either, but when it came to Crusadermon as an individual Ayaka had grown to be confused. She wasn't happy about being partnered with a digimon that did nothing but cause trouble for her friends, going so far as to assault either their partners under the pretext of absorbing them or going after the Tamers themselves when they clearly lacked any means of offense or defense. Crusadermon had shown little to no mercy towards those that she attacked and did not show even the slightest hint of caring about others beyond herself. The brief conversations that they had together revealed that much. Strangely enough, Ayaka couldn't bring herself to actually hate Crusadermon for her vices. Far from it in fact, the digimon had actually grown a bit on her heart, thanks in no small part to the link that they had shared with one another. She had seen Crusadermon's inner-self, felt her pain and her strength. She had even seen her weak self; the part of her that she refused to show to the outside world. The part that was just as uncertain about where she fit as Ayaka herself. Where did they fit now? Just what was their place?

_I wanted a cute partner like Kenta does,_ thought Ayaka sardonically to herself before scowling, hating herself for even having such a thought. Of course, it was true but that didn't change the fact that she had thought it while her 'partner' was injured and imprisoned against her will by the humans that she detested so much. With Ayaka, the cause of her troubles, as a spectator no less.

_I hate seeing her like this,_ thought Ayaka as she unconsciously took a step towards the glass tube that held the Royal Knight and placed one hand on its surface.

"Careful," came a voice from behind Ayaka, startling the poor girl and she jumped back reflexively. Turning Ayaka brought a fearsome gaze to bear on the source of the voice. A rather rugged, handsome looking technician came to a halt beside her, offering a small smile and a nod before looking up at Crusadermon.

"You shouldn't touch the glass. The liquid inside is very sensitive right now due to the amount of energy that we have to put into it to keep her like that. Your body's natural electromagnetic field might cause a disruption in the matrix."

Ayaka fixed the technician with a blank stare before the man chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Just kidding. There wouldn't be any trouble, but it's still a safety precaution all the same. This digimon, even if it's partnered to you, is still dangerous even in this condition. Regulations. It's not unlike the rules for not feeding animals at the zoo, you know."

"Crusadermon is not an animal at the zoo," grumbled Ayaka as she returned her gaze back to the tube containing her partner.

"No offense intended miss. I was just using that as an example. You're free to stay here and keep an eye on her if you want. Yamaki gave you enough clearance for that, but I still have to point out that there are still limitations to that freedom. For your safety you can't get close enough to the container to make contact with it. Normally you're not even supposed to get close to it at all, but…"

_I insisted,_ Ayaka finished in her mind as the man let his voice trail off. A few minutes of silence passed during which nothing more was said and the technician simply sauntered off back to his post, allowing Ayaka to return to her thoughts and her silence.

"Oooh…she looks very pretty…"

Ayaka blinked as she felt the pressure of a small figure's weight settle squarely on her right shoulder. Turning her head ever so slightly Ayaka found herself staring into the large eyes of Calumon as he awed at the floating figure of Crusadermon. It took approximately three seconds for Calumon's presence to register in the girl's mind before she gave a panicked squawk and jumped to the side, throwing Calumon off of her shoulder as she did so. Calumon tumbled through the air for a few seconds as he struggled to right himself with his ears.

"Whoa! Hey! That wasn't very nice!"

"Well, neither is sneaking up on people like that!" Bawled out Ayaka, putting her hands on her hips with an indignant expression on her face. "And what are you doing here anyway?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing," said the technician as he got up from his desk. "This place is supposed to be off-limits for you Calumon. How'd you get in here?"

"I dunno. I just came. I saw that there was a slide thingie on the door and then I started looking for another way in…"

"Forget it!" The technician gave Calumon and then the door a strange look as though to confirm to himself that the lock hadn't been blasted off without him knowing it before searching the room for any other entrances that could have been used. So far, there were none to be found. The technician groaned and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Calumon…go see Taeko Endo before she leaves today. You have to file _another_ report with her."

"Okay," said Calumon cheerfully, with no more worry than if he were being asked to attend a birthday party. From his perspective, he might as well be. Everything was fun as long as he was there, even if it involved the threat of death.

_Hyperactive child personified,_ thought Ayaka as she relented in her glowering at the little digimon and folded her hands across her chest. She gave a slight, noncommittal huff. It was just so hard to stay angry at the little guy for doing what he did best. Only Yamaki could be that heartless.

Calumon looked up at Crusadermon.

"So how come she's in the big tube thing?" Asked Calumon. "Is she taking a bath? It sure looks like she's been beaten up, but wouldn't a Band-Aid be better for her?"

"I…don't think that there are enough Band-Aids for her," commented Ayaka in a lull voice. Ayaka's arms shifted slightly, giving her a more uncertain look about her. One that was not lost on Calumon.

"You really care about her, don't you?"

"I…" Ayaka looked flustered for a moment. "I don't know."

"How come?"

"Because…we were just sort of thrown together," said Ayaka, not sure why she was even telling this to the little In-Training digimon. "I didn't even have time to adjust to it. I know that she's not too happy about our being partners either…"

"Wow! You two are partners?"

Ayaka nodded a little regretfully.

"So how come you two aren't happy? You two are supposed to be the best of friends!"

"It's just…complicated…" _Why_ am _I even telling him about this?_ "We both have our own things going on, especially her, and, well, like I said. It's complicated."

Calumon blinked at Ayaka before looking back at Crusadermon.

"Seems kind of silly. You two are supposed to have all kinds of fun together, like the way Guilmon and Takato do. Those two are really close to each other. So close that Takato made bread shaped like Guilmon." Once again Calumon turned his face towards Ayaka and beamed happily at her. "Maybe you should make bread shaped like your friend. I bet that would help make her happy."

"You're just one silly ball of cute happiness, aren't you?" Asked Ayaka sarcastically with a shake of her head, unable to see how a digimon like him could possibly be like this.

_I think I've just seen too much,_ thought Ayaka to herself. _A couple weeks ago I wouldn't have thought much about it. I know that Miki wouldn't have._

Calumon smiled and nodded in response to Ayaka's question, not noticing the sarcastic tone that she had taken with him.

"Yup. You two should be happy together, and I'll bet that baking a piece of knightmon bread would _really_ make her happy. Oooh! You could use cinnamon for her color." Calumon paused and tapped on his chin in contemplation. "Or would that make her look too much like Guilmon?"

With a shrug towards his own question Calumon hopped up into the air, spreading his ears wide as he did so and flew up to Crusadermon's tank and smiled happily at her.

"Hiii! You hear that? When you get out, your partner is going to make you the biggest piece of bread shaped just like you! Won't that be fun? You just wait. We'll-hey. Can you hear me in there?"

Calumon tapped on the glass before being snatched out of the air by Ayaka, who promptly began to scold him for violating Hypnos regulations. Unbeknownst to either of them, the fingers on Crusadermon's hand twitched ever so slightly, as if in thought about their words.

* * *

Yamaki was not happy.

Quite a bit of time had passed since Henry had left Hypnos with the promise that he'd be back with his little sister to act as backup for the expected invasion of the Royal Knights. During the time that the Tamer had left Yamaki had busied himself with getting in touch with anyone and everyone who could help facilitate with the evacuation and defense of Shinjuku in the fastest way possible. He had met with success on all fronts so far in his requests, but it still took time making all the contacts, and would take still more time getting everything prepared, and as a result he had promptly forgotten about Henry until he had noticed the color of the sky as the sun began to set. It had been at that moment that he had realized that he hadn't been informed of Henry's return. A quick check with Riley, Tally, and Taeko had revealed that neither Henry nor Terriermon had been seen since they had left Hypnos grounds. Calling Janyuu's home revealed to him that the boy had never even gotten there, giving the man even more cause to worry in addition to the family members concerned.

Not good at all.

Yamaki had dispatched some agents to comb the city for any sign of the Tamer, but so far they had turned up nothing.

_Granted, they haven't had enough time to search, even with the aid of the local police force being brought in as well, but they're badly undermanned right now._

Yamaki rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed in exasperation. This was not good. Having yet another Tamer turn up missing had been the last thing that he needed.

A knock at the door interrupted the blonde's musings. Looking up, Yamaki saw Riley poke her head in before opening the door more fully.

"The latest network scans have come in, sir," said Riley. "It looks like Gyōjamon's information is correct. Our sensors are indicating two, high level anomalies entering the warp between the real and digital worlds."

Yamaki's lighter let out a soft _ka-chink_ as he flicked it open and closed.

"I see. Estimated time until they breach?"

"The firewall that we set up since Gyōjamon's arrival is slowing them down," said Riley as she raised a folder and opened it, flipping through several pages as she read off the information contained within. "But it's not looking good. Depending on their persistence, we can hope for the two Wild Ones to bio emerge tomorrow morning at six to seven O'clock. And that's being optimistic."

"And at worst?"

Riley shrugged.

"It's a tossup, but we're looking at the possibility of a bio emergence before midnight."

"I see," said Yamaki, glancing superciliously at the clock on his laptop. The time was now twenty minutes after seven.

_Nice to know that our attempt at evacuation is for all intents and purposes, pointless._

From behind him, Yamaki heard the sound of helicopters flying by Hypnos. He didn't need to look to know that they were the militaries. Per his request the Japanese government was in the process of fortifying the city in the event that things took a road for the worst and battle broke out. He didn't expect that they would have any more affect on what was coming than they did during the D-Reaper invasion, even if anti-digimon technology had been improving since that near disastrous conflict occurred. Digimon, Yamaki knew quite well, had the unnerving ability to adapt to anything that was thrown their way.

_Just because you think something is all powerful doesn't necessarily mean that it's so,_ thought Yamaki.

"How are the repairs on Juggernaut going?" Asked Yamaki.

"If everything goes well, we should be able to have it up and running by tomorrow and ready for testing."

_"If,"_ said Yamaki. "Wasn't that the reply that the Spartans sent to King Phillip of Macedon when he informed them what he'd do to them _if_ he defeated them?"

"Greek history isn't really my forte, sir."

"It's not really important," said Yamaki as he turned his chair to allow him a view of the outside. Numerous helicopters were flying through the air now. "Any further news on Henry and Terriermon?"

"Nothing from the ground troops, sir, and the police force has their hands full as it is though they are keeping an eye out for him."

Yamaki heard a note of hesitancy in Riley's voice.

"But…?"

"Tally, sir. While she was going through the scanning logs she noted an unusual spike in the digital world and real world matter and energy exchange ratio in the barriers. It came from the same place where Guilmon used to live. Where the first and second portals appeared."

Yamaki swiveled his chair around to face Riley more fully.

"Are you telling me that Henry stumbled across another portal and was sent to the digital world?"

"Tally's running a diagnostic on the digital pattern and cross referencing it. Given the timing I'd say that it's probably too close to be a coincidence. That's just my personal opinion, sir, but we should hold out for any other possibilities just in case."

"I don't know which would be worse," said Yamaki as he flicked his lighter open. "The possibility that Henry's in the digital world or…"

"…Or if he's ended up like we initially feared?"

"Never underestimate what people can do when they're scared. The anti-digimon movement is proof enough for that, especially considering what Kazu Shiota told us about being attacked by one of them."

"You're worried that they've been too quiet, aren't you?"

"You would think that they'd be all over this business, decrying about how digimon put such an immense disruption on people's lives and advocating a more aggressive stance towards their bio emergences. Aside from that sole incident with Kazu they've been awfully quiet since the disaster with Argus."

"I seem to recall that they wanted Argus to be put forth. I can't imagine that they'd take too kindly to its running rampant and then disappearing from Hypnos systems."

"It's a good thing we've managed to cover up the fact that the Argus programs were actually digimon captured by Kuroda and reformatted. That would only have served to fuel their fire."

"Speaking of Kuroda," said Riley, "he reports that he's experiencing some difficulties with his assignment."

"He has all the information that he needs to build a new Arc, right?"

"It has more to do with the server problems that we've been having since Noriko's escape. He doesn't have the necessary processing power to make it work within the expected timeframe."

"I see. There's not much that can be helped in that regard. Be sure to let him know that we're doing everything we can to accommodate his needs."

"Yes sir."

"Anything else?"

"Besides the several hundred inquiries from the government that require 'your-eyes-only' the Wong family has arrived as requested."

The _ka-chink_ of Yamaki's lighter closing was all but deafening in the quiet of the office.

"I'll start with the Wongs first."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Anger and frustration seemed to be the emotion of the day, because that was the feeling that he got upon seeing Mayumi Wong, surrounded by her family as he came down to the lobby. Not that he could blame her of course. Her husband had been injured and was presently confined to a wheelchair, her youngest son was presently missing with no explanation as to where he was, and her youngest daughter was now being drafted to help combat an oncoming digimon invasion. Many would claim Yamaki as the sort of person who did not recognize emotion but the truth was actually quite the opposite. Yamaki was quite aware of the emotions of people around him. It was just that his job demanded that he focus on his goals with such hair fine precision that it excluded almost everything else. He had changed his perspectives a bit as time had gone on, coming to care about the well-being of the Tamers under his care much more so than he previously had done before and had worked to balance it out with the safety of the world. At times he would wonder, if presented with the choice as to what he would sacrifice to save, which would he do? The safety of the world versus that of a Tamer. The answer seemed more difficult to reach with each month that went by.

In the case of Mayumi Wong, he understood her feelings very well.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Yamaki began as he greeted the family.

"Cut it out, Yamaki. What about my son?" said Mayumi harshly, earning her a raised eyebrow from the blonde haired head of Hypnos. Yamaki quickly took an assessment of the woman's physical condition, noting the redness of her eyes and the anger in her voice. It was plain that Mayumi's nerves were frayed and that she was close to her wits end. Again, he couldn't blame her.

"I'm sorry," said Yamaki without losing a beat. "We still haven't located Henry or Terriermon. We are however pursuing a lead…"

"A _lead?_ Is _that_ all you have? You've had this much time and all you have is a _lead?"_

"Mayumi," broke in Janyu, shifting uncomfortably in his wheelchair. Reaching over his shoulder the man took his wife's hands into his own and massaged them soothingly in an attempt to allay her of her fears. "Yamaki's doing the best that he can, right now…"

"I _know_ that Janyu," said Mayumi with a shudder. "It's just…our son has gone _missing_ and all he can do is tell us that that's all he knows and that he wants our daughter to go out there and fight for him! Our _Suzie!"_

From the look on Janyu's face, Yamaki got the distinct impression that they had argued about this quite a lot in between their arrival here and his initial call. Subtly looking over at the older children, Rinchei and Jaarin, Yamaki wondered why they were here rather than having been sent off to live with relatives. Even with the delays from congested traffic this was not the place for them to be.

_That's something that I'm going to have to discuss with Janyu at the first opportunity,_ thought Yamaki.

"I apologize for the inconvenience. At present I must ask that your daughter be allowed to be brought to where the other Tamers are so that she may be prepared for the possible battle coming."

Mayumi looked at Yamaki in horror.

"How can you say that?!" She exclaimed loudly, whatever comfort that her husband had given to her evaporating all at once. "She's just a little girl!"

"I'm well aware of that, Mrs. Wong. However the opposition is quite powerful and we'll need every hand available if things get out of hand…"

_"If?"_ Mayumi scoffed at the man. "Do you honestly believe that there even is an _if_ at all when it comes to digimon?" Mayumi clenched her eyes shut and tears began to run down her cheeks. "There never is. All that these digimon do is fight when they arrive here…"

"But…what about Wopmon?" Came the voice of Suzie from next to her mother's leg, as she clutched at her long eared partner tightly. As though finally registering the presence of the girl and her partner Mayumi looked down at her, and bit her lip when she saw the hurt expression that the girl's partner was trying to hide.

"Oh Suzie…Lopmon…" sobbed Mayumi as she got down on her knees and pulled the pair close to her into a tight hug. Lopmon returned the hug with just as much measure as Suzie with her ears, trying to comfort the older woman as best as she could.

"Suzie," said Yamaki. "Although you will be participating in this battle you will be conducting yourself as you did during the D-Reaper crisis by observing and aiding your partner through your digivice. Understood?"

"Yes Mistuw Yamaki," replied Suzie in a muffled voice. Yamaki nodded.

"We have a shelter for you all to be in until this crisis is over. I'll detail someone to show you to it so that you can get settled."

For the first time since they had arrived, the atmosphere seemed to lose just a little bit of its tension. But only just a little.

* * *

"How is your wife holding up?" Asked Yamaki as he closed the door to the living quarters that had been built beneath Hypnos. The room was empty save for himself and Janyu. Mayumi, Jaarin, and Rinchei had gone up to the mess hall to get something to eat, and Suzie was with the remaining Tamers, preparing herself for the danger that lay ahead for her partner. Janyu sighed.

"Not too good. You saw how she was when we got here. She was even worse back home when I told her that our youngest son had gone missing and that you needed Suzie to…" Janyu paused and let out another, heavy sigh. "I can't say that I'm too happy about the thought of sending Suzie into battle myself."

"That is one thing that we can both agree on. However…"

Janyu raised an eyebrow. _"However?_ I don't like the sound of that."

"All four of the core Tamers have gone missing," said Yamaki flatly. "Three of them we have traced to the digital world following an incident earlier today with a digital portal. We are attempting to bring them back as we speak, but with all the damage that Hypnos has suffered the process is slow going. As for your son…we have reason to believe that he may also be in the digital world. We registered an abnormal amount of matter exchange between the worlds at Guilmon's former home where the first and second portals appeared."

"But…didn't both portals disappear after they had been used?" Asked Janyu, turning his wheelchair around to face Yamaki more fully. Yamaki nodded.

"Yes. But it stands to reason that the barriers there may be weakened enough to allow another one through. I imagine that the entire area of Shinjuku is one giant weak point that digimon can use to cross over. At this stage anything may be able to come and go. Especially after D-Reaper had eroded the barrier following its appearance in our world."

Janyu looked away.

"It's going to get worse, isn't it? This is just the beginning. Shibumi believed that this is how it would go. I was a fool to believe that I could put a stop to it by sending the digimon back to the digital world. All I did was postpone the inevitable."

"Hitsuzen notwithstanding, I don't think that you were foolish in trying. Our world isn't quite ready to deal with the power of digimon just yet. With the help of the Tamers, we can become ready, but right now…"

Yamaki let his words drift off and the two men shared a moment of silence for a few minutes.

"Yamaki," said Janyu, breaking that silence. "I know that I'm not much use as I am right now, but is there something that I can do to help? If there's something that I can do to keep my children safe, even if I can't fight alongside them, I would like to do it. I _need_ to do it. For their sake. For my family's sake."

Yamaki considered the other man's request before nodding in affirmation.

"One of our… _employees,_ Kuroda, is working on a project as we speak to retrieve the Tamers from the digital world. He's currently experiencing complications on that front. Can you work around them and lend him a hand?"

A visible weight appeared to lift from Janyu's shoulders and a relieved smile grew on his face.

"Yes. Yes I can."


	112. 111: Apocalypse Landing

"I wonder how she can sleep like that," mused Kazu to himself as he watched Suzie softly snoring away, her face resting on top of her arms with a pile of digimon cards sitting scattered around her on the table. Next to her, Lopmon patted the young girl on the back gently with one, long ear.

"She's just a kid, Kazu," said Kenta with a smirk and a shrug of his shoulders before he went back to the cards that were also scattered in front of him. "Not that we're really any different you know. Besides the fact that we're only a few years older than she is."

Kazu snorted, but otherwise did not respond to his friend's comment and instead settled to taking after his bespectacled friend and prepare himself for the battle that lay ahead. Kenta looked up at Kazu, slightly surprised by the boy's lack of response. Having been friends with him since the first grade he had long gotten used to Kazu's antics; almost to the point where he could predict the proper response that he would make to any situation, regardless of whether or not it was appropriate to the situation. In the case of his comment on how they were hardly any different from Suzie, he expected Kazu to make some noise about how they weren't 'children' and expound from there about how they were 'Tamers' or 'superheroes', and that they did not fit into such a mediocre classification as 'children'.

_I can't imagine that he'd agree with me on something like that,_ thought Kenta as he scratched his head in confusion. _I mean, I know that he's been acting kind of weird ever since Guilmon had been temporarily deleted but I wouldn't have thought that…_

"Yo. Chumley," said Kazu as he looked up from the cards that he was holding and fixated his friend with a questioning stare. "Your hands growing roots or something? Or are you done getting ready for the fight?"

Kenta looked down at the deck that he had prepared for himself and MarineAngemon's use before casting his eyes at the massive amount of cards that lay on the table with no discernable rhyme or reason to their placement. The cards that they _hadn't_ yet gone through. And that was to say nothing of the ones that were still stored in the boxes on the floor next to the table.

Shortly after having heard the news that Gyōjamon relayed to the Tamers Yamaki, with a keen sense of awareness for the Tamers that he had remaining under his command, had dispatched some agents to every local game shop that could be possibly reached within the expected timeframe before the Royal Knights showed up and purchased every single box of digimon cards, with accompanying display cards and stock cards that were to be had, and had them transported back to Hypnos for the Tamers uses. Naturally, for Kazu and Kenta, they were both thrilled at the prospect of having so many cards at their disposal and tore into them immediately, planning their strategies on the most effective methods that they could use against the Royal Knights. Miki arrived in short order to join in on the fun, but due to the limitations of her digivice, as it lacked a card slot, as well as her own ability to biomerge it quickly became a moot point. And in spite of her wishes to stick around and provide whatever insight that she could possibly muster, her lack of experience with the card game and how its mechanics applied to the real thing was something of a severe handicap for her, so for now she concentrated on sorting the cards that they had broken open to make things easier for them.

Kenta glanced over at Miki's empty chair, silently pondering on how long it was taking the girl to use the bathroom before returning to the cards at hand. Reaching over to a rather messily stacked deck of cards at Miki's spot Kenta began fanning through them, recalling everything he could about how the D-Arcs operated the data in the cards and applying them to how he was to construct a backup deck should things go wrong. The key to a good Tamer deck, Kenta had quickly learned from Rika, was that its strength relied on being well-rounded and quick to respond to a new twist in a fight. The battlefield was a far different place compared to the more user-friendly matches between kids. Most of the cards, it turned out, were rather useless; particularly any cards that granted digivolution unless they were blue in origin or the ability to reach Champion had already been achieved. Mega level digivolution, by any card means, had so far proven impossible. In addition, cards that affected the field in the game did nothing due to the severe limitations that the physical world imposed upon itself and the amount of power available to the digivices themselves (something that Henry, if Kenta remembered correctly, had said had to do with something called 'entropy') unless the effect itself had more to do with the individual digimon that the digivice was connected to. Furthermore, the digivice could create items represented on the cards themselves, though not necessarily the same affects that were written. Up to this point, the only things that the digivices could do with the card game was to boost any attributes that a digimon had when the appropriate cards were used, or mimic another digimon's attacks when a digimon card was slashed. With the last, even though attacks could be copied, it did not necessarily mean that the power was also, as ultimately the technique's execution relied on available energy that its user had.

_Which makes using high level attacks kind of useless unless you're already a high level digimon. If your partner is already strong enough at a low level you might get a couple shots. And that's if you're lucky._

Kenta glanced over at MarineAngemon, who was presently watching him from by his shoulder. Seeing this, MarineAngemon closed his eyes tightly and smiled.

_Fortunately MarineAngemon's already high enough for that to not be a problem. What is is that he's so small. I don't know if he'll be able to use some attacks because of that. I remember Shibumi mentioning something about that once too. Something to do with mass I think._

Kenta's expression became pensive as he picked up two cards from off the pile and looked at them.

_Which pretty much means that I can't use Machinedramon or Omnimon anytime soon._

"Hey, Kenta," spoke up Kazu as he finished placing a card on top of his newly built deck. "Do you think that this is enough?"

Kenta raised an eyebrow, curious as to why the visor wearing boy was asking his opinion.

"Um…I don't know," he replied carefully, leaning his head on one hand as he glanced at the deck of cards. "Seems kind of big, and you know what Rika and Ryo say about keeping a battle deck small."

"I know. But these are Royal Knights. We need to be ready for anything that they're going to throw at us, and Beelzemon still hasn't woken up so we're left with only three Megas and two Ultimates."

"And only one of them is a real fighter," said Kenta, earning him an apologetic look from MarineAngemon, to which Kenta replied with one of his own, and a gentle pat on his partner's head. "Sorry about that buddy. I know that you're strong, especially since you scared away the D-Reaper, but these Royal Knights are different."

"Yeah," said Kazu dryly. "You're like a bug on a windshield to them."

"Hey!"

"Pihpihpih."

Kenta looked at his partner in aghast. "MarineAngemon…don't say that about yourself. You're strong…"

"But he lacks offensive power," came the voice of Dracmon as the door to the room clicked open and said digimon with Miki walked in, carrying some bags of chips and some drinks.

"Dracmon, you really need to learn not to enter a conversation when you haven't heard the whole thing," said Miki with a shake of her head as she walked up to the table and began passing out the chip bags to her friends before heading to her own seat.

"Don't need to," said Dracmon without missing a beat. "Everyone's talking about either those M.I.A. Tamers or the Royal Knights. Therefore I have a fifty percent chance of hitting it on the button." Dracmon fixed Kenta and his partner with a smug look. "Well? Was I?"

Kenta sighed.

"Yeah. You are."

"There. See? Everybody's happy."

"How does that qualify as 'everybody's happy'?" Asked Kazu, raising an eyebrow. Miki sighed.

"It's just something that he heard while we were out. He's been using it ever since. Sorry I'm so late coming back by the way. I thought that I should pick some stuff up for us since we're here." Miki glanced over at the sleeping form of Suzie and gestured to her. "Um…"

"Let her be," said Kazu with a wave of his hand as he picked up one of the soda bottles that Miki had brought in. "She does kinda need it. More than we do anyway. Kenta and I made a couple decks for her for when the action starts. One is made for quick response and the other is more strategy based. We're going to have to give her a tutorial when she wakes up though…"

"Assuming that you even have that much time," snorted Dracmon derisively.

"You're just a regular sunshine, aren't you?" Glowered Kenta. Dracmon waved a hand at the boy.

"I'm just pointing out the flaw in that part of your preparations. Don't mind me. I'm just tense, and when I get tense, I get snarky. Feel free to ignore me. I won't be insulted."

"Which translates that you will be," said Miki, not in the least bit fooled.

"Hey. I just said that for moral reasons. We can't have depressed fighters out there even if they don't stand a chance."

"Tidings of comfort and joy to you too, _Beanie,_ " muttered Kenta in a deadpan tone before the group returned their attention to the cards, leaving Dracmon to sputter and scowl at the hated nickname before finally falling into a huff. The room swiftly became silent, and with that silence came an uncomfortable atmosphere that everyone felt all too readily. Kazu grimaced in response to its pressure and although he tried to ignore it, he found himself unable to do just that. In the past he would have been overjoyed at the prospect of finally being able to get out onto the battlefield and walk on his own two feet without one of the core Tamers having to be around to pull his proverbial bacon out of the fire if things went awry. However, having taken a couple defeats under his belt in defense of a friend had gone a long way towards changing his attitude. More than once Kazu had been called upon to defend someone close to him and on both occasions the enemy had laughed both him and Guardromon off, beating them into the ground with seemingly little effort. First Lucemon, and then Crusadermon, the latter of whom had gone after him _twice_ and showed him how powerless he was fighting her. Defeat was not something he was accustomed to, and know how powerful Crusadermon could be even when injured did not help his nerves knowing that this time two Royal Knights, well rested ones at that, were on their way to the real world while its resident heroes were out of town.

_I'll bet Yamaki's really thrilled to know that the safety of Shinjuku is in the hands of the backup squad. A backup squad that barely holds a candle to the real heroes. I wonder what Takato would do in a situation like this. I'll bet he'd be trying to cheer everyone up…even though he'd do a terrible job doing it._

Kazu looked around, frowning.

_The atmosphere here is way too tense. If we're going to get any preparations done, we need to do it with less dark tones in our brains. Let's see. Where should I begin…?_

It can be said, that when it comes to Kazu, there are certain habits that will not go away, no matter what he goes through. No matter how much he grows or changes, he will always come back to some of the most basic aspects of his personality. In the future, this would come as something of a comfort for his friends (however reluctantly on some parts), and it would serve him well today. It was out of this habit that Kazu's eyes settled on Kenta, and sure enough he had an answer to his dilemma.

"So…Kenta. Tell me something. How was that kiss you had with Ayaka? You got a date set yet for your wedding?"

Kenta's spray of cards from his hands, followed by the look of shock that became etched on Miki's face like a stone carving spoke volumes and the tense atmosphere from before evaporated, becoming swiftly replaced by a new one. Whether or not it was any better though, was up to the audience.

"You're all insane," muttered Dracmon in annoyance as he picked a fallen card from off the top of his head.

* * *

The spear spun through the air above Gyōjamon's head before coming down into a guard position and stabbing outwards. Gyōjamon held the position for a few seconds before relaxing out of it, tapping the bottom of his weapon on the rooftop of Hypnos. Casting his eyes out towards the distant horizon the warrior kitsune, not for the first time, reflected on how the sky looked when this world's source of light set it ablaze with its falling. Of course, he knew about sunsets. There were some alternate versions of the digital world that contained such a phenomenon, most notably the kingdom of the Celestials and Azulongmon's empire, but it wasn't something that he saw often due to his home's location in the Southern Quadrant. Sunsets there were nonexistent.

_A certain firebird has no sense of beauty and aesthetics,_ thought Gyōjamon to himself as he took in the night sky, hearing the not-so-distant sounds of the human helicopters and other assorted vehicles moving about. Even now, with all the people that were evacuating, the human city of Shinjuku still looked alive with its many lights; the marvel of human ingenuity.

_The very same that gave birth to digimon. And to the Chaos. And to so many things that exist within the digital world. They are as gods to our world, yet seeing them here, in this world, they are so fragile and helpless. It's amazing that such creatures could create beings that are much more powerful than they are. Given the accidental nature of our birth one could almost wonder if humans are trying to commit suicide as a species._

Frowning beneath the scarf that made up his mask Gyōjamon shrugged off the thought and resumed going through his practice. The time for battle with the Royal Knights was almost nigh, and he had to ensure that he would be at the top of his form for his rematch with them. As to which one he would combat, Gyōjamon had to admit that he had mixed emotions on that front. Duftmon had humiliated him in their battle; forcing him to stay away from aiding the Mother in her time of need. How the thought burned him, knowing that he had been far too occupied with keeping himself alive that both she and Azulongmon were forced to contend with AlforceVeedramon on their own. AlforceVeedramon, on the other hand, had far more reason to have it coming as he had dared to lay hands on not only a digimon Sovereign, one of the appointed guardians of the digital world, but also the mother of his clan. Such an affront could not be forgiven. Even if the Mother did not approve, he would be more than happy to carve his anger on the Royal Knight's armor.

_Even if it's not the way,_ thought Gyōjamon with a sense of frustration. _We of the Seer Council must walk such a fine line, but there are times where I feel that line is far too difficult to walk. More so than it's worth._

Once again Gyōjamon halted in his practice and released his battle stance.

_How ironic. All the things that I teach Urocyomon and I still find those same weaknesses in me. No matter how long I've lived, they're still there. We males are always so hot tempered and impulsive that it's disturbing. How can I presume to teach Urocyomon that which I have not fully mastered myself?_

Gyōjamon knew the answer to that question of course, but he still wished that things could be different. Things would be far easier if that were the case. At least then he wouldn't have the desire to delete the Royal Knight who was now, conveniently, partnered to a human and now beyond his reach. On the subject of Crusadermon he still felt that her death was something that she deserved. Even though she hadn't been a part of the Royal Knights that had attacked his home, the crimes of the self appointed 'indifferent warrior' were far too long to dismiss just by simple partnership, no matter what the motives the essence of the digital world had for making such an insane decision.

Clenching one hand into a fist Gyōjamon resumed his practice once again, moving through the familiar patterns as he did so. Within moments he was calm and at one with the world around him. The movement and the blade became all that he knew. For a brief period of time, all of his worries disappeared and he could focus on the here and now. Time was but a drop of water in a vast ocean where its ripples touched all and echoed endlessly.

Gyōjamon's senses snapped to attention all of a sudden as he felt what he could only describe as something 'tearing' in the walls that separated the two worlds.

_It's time,_ thought Gyōjamon, narrowing his eyes beneath his mask. _They're early._

A split second later the kitsune digimon leapt into the air and flew toward the source of the disturbance.

* * *

The technician sat in the room where the Royal Knight, Crusadermon, was held, calmly going over the data that his computers fed him, glancing up every so often at the digimon to make sure that her physical appearance were what the information was telling him. Satisfied with each visual inspection the man would return his attention back to his computers and continue working. The room, save for the digimon's presence and that of the technician, was otherwise empty as Ayaka and Calumon had left earlier to go get something to eat with the promise that they would return. With the absence of the two, the room was exceedingly quiet; a silence that was broken only by the technician's typing on the keyboard.

Once again, Crusadermon's fingers twitched, as though in response to that silence.

* * *

"I... _don't_ believe this…" gasped Talley as her fingers flew over her keyboard at a rapid pace, trying to keep up with the massive influx of information that she was receiving. "The signals…their power has increased exponentially. They're breaking through the firewall! I can't stop them!"

"Use Yuggoth!" Commanded Yamaki, though in his heart he already had the distinct feeling that it was an exercise in futility. Previous uses of the Yuggoth application, even with its many refinements and modifications, ended almost entirely in failure, with the only notable exception being when it had been utilized by Gallantmon and the AI program 'Grani'. Digimon were not the sort of creature that could be easily defeated by a simple blast of energy no matter how powerful.

Yamaki, Riley, and Talley's eyes were all drawn to the view screen as the icon for the Yuggoth program flew towards the incoming signals with its payload. As expected, Yuggoth burst into shards of data, annihilated before it could even make contact. Yamaki's face became as hard as stone as he nodded, not in the least bit surprised by this occurrence.

"Very well then. Have someone get the Tamers. Talley; Put me through to the commander of the defense forces."

"Yes sir."

A blinding column of light tore its way from out of the sky, impacting with the ground with tremendous force that blew a crater in the streets, sending debris flying in every direction. The light quickly vanished, revealing two armored figures standing amidst the rubble. Both were tall and proud in their bearing, but the expressions that they bore, all but hidden by their helmets save for what could be seen by their eyes, told the difference between their personalities. One, garbed in dark armor fitted with a sleekness to give him the appearance of a dancer, looked around him with a sense of amusement, appearing as a mischievous child who had found themselves locked in a toy store after closing hours and fully intended to enjoy himself to his heart's content. The other, dragon-like in appearance with blue armor and white with gold trimmings surveyed the landscape with an expression of complete and utter boredom. For all the world could guess, he might as well be engaging in the world's most distasteful activity and couldn't wait until it was over.

And behind it all, there was a power that could not be denied. They carried it about them like an invisible aura that all but the most ignorant could not ignore.

"So… _this_ is the human world, neh? Not what I expected."

UlforceVeedramon scowled at his comrade. They had all seen the images of the real world and had been given extensive knowledge of its technology and history by their lord, Yggdrasil. For there to be something that they _shouldn't_ expect upon first entering the human realm was an impossibility. Nevertheless, this was not the time to be making comments about their surroundings; nor was it the time to be sightseeing. They had a job to do, and UlforceVeedramon fully intended to carry it out. No matter what it took.

"Just focus on our mission, Duftmon," berated UlforceVeedramon as he extended his wings and looked up at the sky.

"Spoilsport," replied Duftmon, a grin appearing on his face beneath his helm. "This is the first time we've been allowed to set foot in the human world. At least allow me the honor of savoring the feeling of real matter around me. Of all of us, only Omnimon came this close. To think that we would one day walk the world of our creators."

UlforceVeedramon continued to frown, adding a disgusted _hmmmph_ to his disposition before flapping his wings and lifting off into the air. Duftmon shook his head in amazement at the attitude of his comrade.

"You really _are_ a spoilsport. Oh well. To each their attribute. Now…let's see here. Royal Knights, Royal Knights…comrades in arms. Wherever art thou…?"

_"Attention!"_ Boomed a voice suddenly, interrupting the two Royal Knights from their task. Both quickly looked towards the source of the voice, quickly finding a helicopter hovering in the air before them. _"You are in a restricted area. By order of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces you are hereby ordered to surrender quietly!"_

UlforceVeedramon simply stared back at the helicopter, the bored expression never once leaving his face. With a light flap of his wings the Royal Knight lifted further up into the air, earning him an irritated glare from the human soldiers that lay inside the helicopter.

_"I repeat! You are ordered to surrender…"_

"Duftmon. Shut them up."

"With pleasure."

Faster than the eye could follow the graceful hunter of the Royal Knights rushed forward, quickly taking flight and grabbing hold of one of the rotary blades that kept the vehicle aloft. Steel shrieked as the motors that drove the blades were suddenly torn asunder by the abruptness of their stop and the helicopter lurched, startling the occupants within. Duftmon smile beneath his helm widened as he took in the terror of the humans, looking at it as though it were an art form to be admired before he flapped the wings on his shoulders and descended towards the ground. Upon touching down with the city street Duftmon shook the helicopter, dumping two of the humans inside out of it.

"Funs over," Duftmon told the humans promptly. "Everyone out of the ride."

In a panic, the remaining soldier that stayed inside at the cockpit drew a pistol and fired it at the Royal Knight. The crack of the bullet exiting the gun barrel and piercing the windshield could be heard distinctly upon the air. Duftmon's expression didn't change at all in the scant seconds that it took for the bullet to clear the distance between him and the gun. Still smiling with a sense of smugness Duftmon casually raised his left arm, shifting the weight of the helicopter and caught the oncoming projectile deftly in the palm of his hand.

"I do believe I said, 'ride's over'," said Duftmon, looking the soldier clear in the eye. "It would be prudent to get off when told, don't you think?"

With a cry that came out as little more than a whimper, the soldier quickly unbuckled himself from his seat and jumped out to join his comrades before they unceremoniously retreated. Duftmon laughed lightly as he watched them go. For some reason they reminded him of little children who had been caught up in something that proved to be far too big for them.

Setting the helicopter down on the ground with a loud 'clank', Duftmon turned towards UlforceVeedramon and opened his hand, revealing the mashed bullet that lay within.

"Well? What do you think? Am I fast enough for you?"

"You couldn't defeat a Ravemon," scoffed UlforceVeedramon, causing the hunter warrior to laugh out loud before tossing the shell off to the side.

"As you're the foremost expert on speed I can believe you on that front. Now, about our comrades…"

"While you were busy contending with the humans, I have pinpointed Crusadermon's location. It appears that she's being restrained, and her energy levels are low. That, and for some reason 'Yggdrasil's call' is having difficulty reaching her. We'll have to reach her if we are to be able to…"

The shriek of something flying through the air at high speed broke through UlforceVeedramon's words. Reacting on pure instinct, the azure dragon of the sky reached up with one fist and batted aside an incoming, massive shell, sending it into a nearby building where a powerful explosion sent shards of glass and concrete flying through the air. Snorting in disgust, UlforceVeedramon's gaze fell upon the originator of the offending weapon and saw a large, wide vehicle moving them; a massive gun barrel sighting on them as it prepared to fire. Neither Royal Knight needed a Tankdramon to know what sort of weapon this was supposed to be. Flapping his wings once more, UlforceVeedramon set himself down on the ground and began to calmly walk towards the tank, completely uncaring about the barrel and its destructive purposes.

A second later the barrel roared as it discharged another shell towards its oncoming target. The shell crossed the distance in the blink of an eye…

…Only to get snagged out of the air by UlforceVeedramon as deftly as though he were playing a game of softball. Quickly flipping the weapon around in his hand UlforceVeedramon sent it flying towards its original sender, uncaring about any occupants who might lie within. All he saw was an obstruction that had to be removed. That was all that mattered.

_"Amanonuhoko!"_

Before the shell could even reach its target, a blue surge of crescent shaped energy tore across the battlefield, obstructing the path of the weapon and causing it to explode prematurely. All eyes turned upwards towards the source of the attack and UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes as he saw the form of Gyōjamon flying towards him, spear extended like a deadly fang.

"ROYAL KNIGHT! THIS IS WHERE YOU MEET YOUR JUSTICE!"

"Foolish fox," said UlforceVeedramon in response. "The Royal Knights decide the justice of the digital world. The Seer Council is no exception."

Stepping aside with an eerie casualness, Gyōjamon's spear surged past him. Grabbing a hold of the fox digimon's cloak, the Royal Knight hoisted the shaman warrior over his head and threw him in the direction of the tank with enough force to actually push it backwards, rocking the vehicle. Gritting his teeth, Gyōjamon forced himself to keep from crying out in pain and he quickly pushed himself back up, raising his spear to greet his opponent.

He was one second too late unfortunately as UlforceVeedramon had already crossed the distance between them and brutally brought his fist smashing into Gyōjamon's face, plowing him once again into the tank, rending and shattering the armored frame with incredible ease. Before Gyōjamon could even recover UlforceVeedramon grabbed the bottom of the tank and lifted it upwards, throwing it down onto its top, trapping the kitsune digimon beneath its crushing weight.

"Well done," cheered Duftmon as he clapped his hands in applause. "Very well done."

"He's not done yet," said UlforceVeedramon with certainty in his voice. "This is but a setback for him. Duftmon, see to it that he stays occupied while I work to complete our mission. He is not to disturb me, understand."

Duftmon bowed in a dramatic fashion before summoning his sword.

"But of course," Duftmon said, saluting UlforceVeedramon with the blade. "He shall not leave this area.

With a nod of his head, UlforceVeedramon flapped his wings and took to the air, aiming for the twin towers that housed Hypnos, and Crusadermon, within.


	113. 112: Clash!

UlforceVeedramon tore through the air at a rapid pace, becoming a blue and white streak against the night sky of Shinjuku as he aimed towards the building that contained his fellow Royal Knight, Crusadermon, imprisoned. Suddenly, all at once a number of spotlights lit up on him, making the dragon warrior aware of the number of obstacles that lay in his path. Forcing himself to come to a halt UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes against the light that threatened to render him blind and surveyed the situation. Multiple flying vehicles similar to the one that Duftmon had taken down hovered in front of him, weapons locking on target.

_"By the authority of the Japanese Defense Forces, and the Japanese government,"_ boomed a voice over a loudspeaker. _"You are hereby ordered to surrender yourself. Remove all weapons from your person, land, and place your hands above your head!"_

UlforceVeedramon snorted derisively at the human pilots.

_To think that beings such as they have the audacity to order a Royal Knight such as myself. A servant of the great Yggdrasil, lord and god of the digital world. They aren't fit to even be in his service. Surrender to them? If it's an answer that they desire, I shall give it to them._

A blue blade extended itself from the silver bracelet affixed to the Royal Knight's right arm, humming and crackling as it made contact with the air. A small smile grew on the dragon warrior's face as he took in the looks of fear from the humans within their vehicles. Yes. They knew perfectly well that they didn't stand a chance against him. They were still going to battle him, a courage that he could admire, but that did not change the fact that the outcome of their engagement was going to end in defeat for them.

_Oh well. The Goddess of Battles smiles only on those who have the power to gain victory. I shan't disappoint her._

UlforceVeedramon slashed his arm blade downwards and flew towards the gathered helicopters, and in response he was met by a hailstorm of bullets and missiles flying free from their owners. Faster than the eye could follow the azure digimon sliced his blade through the air in a series of wide, angling arcs all around him. Explosions ripped through the air as missiles were segmented and their payloads detonated. The scream of metal being pierced and glass being shattered followed a second later as the previously fired bullets were sent on a return course towards their owners. More explosions followed and burning helicopters with their crews either trapped inside or in the process of bailing out began to fall towards the streets below. UlforceVeedramon watched them fall for a moment apathetically before returning his attention to the helicopters that had survived his 'counter attack'. They were now in the process of maneuvering around him, both trying to gain some distance and get a better position to combat him from. Clearly, the machine guns that they sported were going to be out of the question seeing as how he had made use of them earlier, but they still had their remaining weapons. Missiles flew free from their wing mounts and streaked towards their target. Chuckling darkly under his breath UlforceVeedramon folded his wings inwards, and allowed the missiles to strike them dead on, kicking up a cloud of smoke and debris that shrouded him. UlforceVeedramon's laugh became louder as he overheard the human's confirming their having struck him this time and in response he unfolded his wings from his body and blew the smoke away. His blade shining the Royal Knight sped towards the helicopters and in each of their turns sliced through their tails, effectively crippling them and sending them careening towards the ground. UlforceVeedramon took no pleasure in hearing the screams of their crews, but he felt no need to pity them.

_They knew the risks when they engaged me. This is the result. No more. No less. Should any of them survive, they'll know what not to do._

A loud whistling sound made itself known to the azure knight, and looking up AlforceVeedramon saw a pointed shell just like the one that had been fired from the human tank from earlier flying towards him. Making an annoyed _tsking_ sound, AlforceVeedramon raised one arm and deftly caught it in his hand.

_Why do they continue? They should know that their weapons don't affect m…_

UlforceVeedramon frowned as he looked at the shell. For some reason, their appeared to be a dot of red light hovering on its surface.

_"Warning Laser!"_

In a rather ironic twist to the attack's name, a crimson beam lashed out from atop the twin towers of Hypnos without warning, swiftly drilling a hole through the shell and causing it to explode in UlforceVeedramon's face. Crying out in surprise the Royal Knight flapped his wings to clear the smoke away from his body. Glaring upwards to find the source of the attack UlforceVeedramon had just enough time to register that there was a very angry looking Guardromon flying towards him before its mighty fist impacted with the side of his face, sending him careening through the air with a grunt of surprise before, with a shout of _Guardian Barrage_ resounding on the wind, a pair of whistling missiles crashed into his armored body, giving him all the more reason to become a victim to that ever present force of gravity with every intention of giving a greeting to the pavement below.

The pavement, for its part, was all too eager to reciprocate the feeling.

* * *

"DON'T LET UP ON HIM GUARDROMON!" Shouted Kazu from one of the shattered windows as he fanned through the cards that he had collected for this battle. "YOU CAN'T LET HIM RECOVER!"

The rust colored digimon gave Kazu a snappy salute before returning in his pursuit of the falling UlforceVeedramon. Kazu quickly tossed a look over his shoulder to check up on his friends. His expression was a mixture of grim hope and a fervent, barely hidden fear as his eyes lighted on Kenta as he kneeled next to a fallen Miki. The girl lay with her back against a bullet riddled wall and was moaning softly with one hand pressed to the back of her head."Kenta? Talk to me here. What's the situation?"

"I think she's going to be okay," said Kenta as he tore off a piece of his T-shirt and, after removing Miki's hand with only the faintest effort, pressed the cloth to the wound. "She was really, _really_ lucky that bullet only just grazed her and that she was at the tail end of that blast. Otherwise she'd be…" Kenta's voice trailed off as he took a look Miki's hand, revealing the crimson blood that stained the surface of her palm. The girl was making a low, keening sound now, and appeared to be in the midst of a battle of holding back tears. Neither Kazu or Kenta could blame her. It didn't take much of a twist of the imagination to guess how much pain she was in. Even if they were sure that they'd be wide off the mark, just looking at the wound was enough to know that on a pain scale of one to ten, it had to hurt _a lot._ Next to her, Dracmon was staring, a look of shock and something else that he couldn't easily identify, perhaps horror, painted on his facemask.

"Pihpih," said MarineAngemon in a tentative voice as he floated over from behind Kenta's shoulder and blew a healing heart at Miki. Kazu glowered, hoping that the little pink fairy would be able to do something for the Tamer. Kenta had made it known that his partner's healing abilities were extremely limited with anyone who didn't have even a little bit of digital information absorbed into their body from exposure to the digital world or biomerging. Miki, fortunately, had managed to biomerge with Dracmon before so that at least offered good odds that MarineAngemon's abilities would be able to affect her to their fullest, but it wasn't something that anyone could be sure of at this point.

"Red…" Suzie whispered, and Kazu couldn't help but cringe inside. God…Suzie! Fortunately she hadn't been hit. Most of the bullets had gone wide when they were deflected and Suzie, with her short demeanor had managed to escape completely unscathed while everyone else had to duck, but they still scared her quite a bit.

_It sure doesn't help things that she saw one of us get hurt from all that. I'm glad that she's not going to be in the middle of this, but still. She shouldn't have had to see this._

Kazu's eyes narrowed dangerously as he followed Guardromon's form.

"Kenta. Have MarineAngemon put me in a bubble and get me down there. I'm going to help Guardromon kick that mon's butt."

Kenta's eyes widened beneath his glasses, and he stared at his friend as though he had lost his mind.

"Are you nuts? There's a battle going on out there, and with the military involved I'm pretty sure that things are going to be even less safe. You saw what just nearly happened now right?"

"If you're not going to get me down there now I'm going to take the stairs," said Kazu in a voice that left no room for argument, leaving Kenta with a chilled feeling crawling down his back with the utterly cold certainty that was in it. "I'm going to help Guardromon and we're going to take that creep down. You get Suzie and Miki to the Hypnos shelter and then come and back me up. This guy's going to be tough. I can feel…"

The sight of an explosion detonating in the streets below, followed by Guardromon's body lifting out of the smoke cloud under what was decidedly _not_ his own power cut across Kazu's words. The robot's body, despite the fact that his engines weren't firing continued to gain altitude before he finally began to descend into an arc. An arc that was aimed right towards Hypnos, and on the same floor and location where they themselves were all standing.

_Oh, shit,_ was all Kazu had time to think before he dove to the side, tackling Suzie and Lopmon and pushing them out of harm's way as Guardromon's body smashed through the already ruined window, shattering the wall and crashing to the floor.

"Ohhh…" groaned the battered, rust colored digimon as his heavy body came to rest on an already protesting floor. "…My poor bolts…"

"Guardromon!" Shouted Kazu as he got up to his feet. Blood was now streaming from his arms and the backs of his hands from where they had been lacerated by the broken glass that lay scattered on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" Came an unfamiliar cold voice. Kazu didn't need any visual confirmation to know that it came from their opponent. Sure enough the blue armored, dragon form of UlforceVeedramon stepped through the hole in the wall, his shadow falling heavily over the fallen robot like the pronunciation of a death sentence. Off to the side, Kazu saw that Kenta, Miki, MarineAngemon, and Dracmon were protected by a hastily raised heart bubble. UlforceVeedramon surveyed each of the Tamers and digimon in their turn, looking not in the least bit impressed with them. In fact, he looked more than a little disappointed.

"Did you really believe that you actually stood a chance against me? And with a _Champion?_ I have heard that you _Tamers_ were stronger than this, especially the _Crimson Knight._ Sadly it appears that I was given poor information in that regard. The files are going to be in need of an update it seems."

"Back off," growled Kazu as he dug one hand into his back pocket and raised his D-Arc. "What're you doing here anyway? And where's your partner? I thought two of you came through."

UlforceVeedramon _hmmphed_ at the visor wearing Tamer, as though insulted by his having deigned to ask him a question. Nonetheless he obliged the boy with a response.

"My partner is dealing with a Gyōjamon as we speak and will be here shortly. As for why I am here…" UlforceVeedramon raised a hand and pointed accusingly at Kazu. "Allies and comrades of mine have come to this world and have gone missing. One of them is currently being held prisoner within your custody. I'm here to bring her back."

Kazu stood there for a moment, completely at a loss for words.

_T-this is the reason why he went all out like this?_

Kazu _tsked_ and glowered at the Royal Knight. "You know…you could have just asked first."

"You humans attacked us first," replied UlforceVeedramon coldly. "And to be honest, I could care less about your kind. My duty is to Yggdrasil and the digital world. Not to you. _Especially_ not to humans who seek to turn digimon into their _pets!"_

"You're wrong!" Exclaimed Lopmon, coming out from behind Kazu's leg, a fierce expression on her face. "There is nothing…"

_"Be silent treacherous Deva!"_ Shouted UlforceVeedramon, silencing the long eared, rabbit digimon. "The very fact that you are here, in the service of a measly human child is proof that contact with humans carries a stain that corrupts digimon. You yourself swore an oath of allegiance to the Phoenix Lord of the South, Zhuqiaomon, and you _betrayed_ him! The measure of a warrior is not whether they are able to serve a just and virtuous lord but one who has _none_ of those qualities. Your bond with Zhuqiaomon was to be eternal and you defied him! You are without honor and don't deserve the right to speak to _any_ lord of the digital world, let alone their servants. Were it not for the Southern Lord's blessing I would delete you all without a second thought this instant! I have come here to reclaim my comrade and that is what I shall do regardless of what obstacles get in my way." A gleam suddenly shone in UlforceVeedramon's eye now. " _Any_ obstacle. And let me tell you something _Deva._ If I find that Crusadermon has been tainted as well, you shall pay for it with the life of your _partner!"_

"NO!"

Without warning Kazu leapt forward, and with no thought as to his own safety or even the intelligence behind his action threw his fist towards the azure colored Royal Knight. Red colored the boy's thoughts. There was no time to think about the consequences. All he saw in his mind's eye was Henry's little sister being threatened. A little girl who shouldn't have been caught up at all in this fight, and who was not to blame for what had happened to UlforceVeedramon's partners. It reminded him too much of every single digimon who had come to the real world, spoiling for a fight because they hated something about humans or feared what they could do. The Devas, Zhuqiaomon, D-Reaper, Lucemon…it wasn't fair. Not one bit of it. Why did his friends always end up being targeted? All they were doing was trying to protect the real and digital worlds. Was that so wrong?

Kazu felt the world around him lurch suddenly and an explosion of pain suddenly tore through his body as UlforceVeedramon slammed a fist into his side, catching him on his left arm and propelling him into the right wall. He slammed against it hard, knocking the wind out of his lungs, and he slid down to the ground, fighting for breath. UlforceVeedramon looked at the visor wearing Tamer disdainfully.

"By your actions I can only presume that such corruption has already occurred with Crusadermon. Very well." The bracelet around UlforceVeedramon's right arm hummed to life and a crackling energy blade extended outwards. "Let us end this."

Before UlforceVeedramon could make a move, the crushing weight of Guardromon fell heavily over his body, massive mechanical arms struggling to find a hold on him to prevent the Mega from causing harm to the young girl that cowered beneath him.

"That's uncalled for! A just knight does not harm an innocent child! I, Guardromon the Just, stand ready to protect her!"

"Protect her?" Snarled UlforceVeedramon with no sound of strain coming from his voice. "Protect yourself fi-!"

A split second later, the floor that had been protesting beneath the weight of Guardromon gave away with a series of snaps and the two digimon collapsed to the floor below.

"G-Guardromon…" wheezed Kazu from his spot on the wall as he strained to recover. His body felt like one gigantic bruise, especially his arm. In fact…come to think of it, his arm felt particularly ba-

Kazu bit his lip when he tried moving his arm, fighting to keep himself from crying out as bone ground against each other.

_Arm's broken…_ thought Kazu as he gritted his teeth. _…Just…perfect. I won't be able to use my cards all that easily now. This is bad. The only real card that we have left is MarineAngemon and Lopmon. Impmon still hasn't woken up yet and Miki's out…I think. And now…so am I. Damn it. Why…why can't I ever just be of some help to my friends…just once?_

"…Azu? Kazu!" Came the panicked voice of Kenta through Kazu's drifting consciousness. Hearing it, the visor wearing boy fought to focus on it and he directed his eyes towards the boy, finding him kneeling in front of him with an expression that looked far too fearful for him to be comfortable with.

_Plus he's too close,_ thought Kazu distractedly, his thoughts feeling sluggish for some reason.

"Back off Kenta," mulled Kazu, his words coming out slightly slurred. "Are you trying to kiss _me_ now?"

"Shut up, Kazu," said Kenta, his voice trembling as he fought to keep his emotions in check and failed. "You're going into shock…"

A loud explosion rang out from beneath them, causing Kenta to throw a look over his shoulder, expecting the worst.

"They're both outside again," said Miki dully as she staggered over to the window, one hand still clutched to the back of her head. MarineAngemon began making upset noises at her but she shooed him away with a nod and a frown.

"Uh…Miki? Shouldn't you be…?"

"I'll be fine," Miki grimaced. Scowling, Dracmon walked up next to her and tugged on her skirt.

"No, you're not. You just got brained there by a flying projectile. There's no way that you're _fine."_

"MarineAngemon took care of the worst of it…" began Miki, only to be interrupted by her partner.

"But you're still not fully healed. You shouldn't be up right now."

Miki stared at Dracmon for a moment before allowing a sly smile to grow on her face.

"Why Beanie…if I didn't know any better I'd say that you sounded worried."

Dracmon's scowl deepened at the use of his nickname but he bore through it and folded his arms over his chest.

"I'm a lot more softhearted than I let on. So sue me. Now go sit down before I make you sit down."

Miki shook her head, and then instantly regretted it a second later.

"Sorry," said Miki, wincing. "But Guardromon's out there, fighting that guy alone. He's going to need help, and I don't know how I can digivolve you with this thing," Miki indicated the digivice that was in her hand, "without biomerging. And last I checked this guy was a Mega."

Dracmon snorted. "Figures. DinoRexmon just _had_ to give us a digivice that can't do that _digi-modify_ stuff even though it looks just like the others. Well, with the exception that it doesn't have the slot thing…"

"Look," interrupted Miki. "Are we going to help Guardromon or what?"

"Fine," sulked Dracmon. "Even though I'd rather that you not exert yourself any further it doesn't look like we have much of a choice even if we stayed out of it. But you'd better just leave the fighting to me."

"We'll be in the same body. I don't see how that's possible."

"Just biomerge us already, would ya?" Grumbled Dracmon. "I want to put a hole in that Royal Knight's sails, both figuratively and literally."

Miki nodded and she raised her digivice to her chest. A bright glow began to emerge from its screen and a second later it washed over their bodies, merging them into one.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

"DRACMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…LILITHMON!"

The light swiftly died down, revealing the highly attractive and voluptuous figure of the Demon Mistress known as Lilithmon. Pale skin glimmered in the moonlight that flooded in through the hole in the wall, framed perfectly by the purple robes that surrounded her skin tight, leather clad body. The grim determination that she had on her face looked strangely unnatural to the two boys that looked at her, as though they expected to see her glance over her shoulder at them with a saucy look and lick her lips hungrily. It did not happen though, and the demon extended her bat wings from her back and quickly took to the air, aiming for the sight of the battle. Once she was gone, Kazu and Kenta both released a breath that neither of them realized that they had been holding.

* * *

Yamaki was furious.

No. Furious did not quite describe how he was feeling right now, but for all intents and purposes furious was the best that he could come up with. And who could blame him. For once again a battle had been unleashed within the confines of the Hypnos building. Fortunately the damage had been confined to the outer hallways of two floors and remained far enough away from any important equipment so as to prevent any further mishaps of the kind that had been plaguing Hypnos this past week. But that was not all there was to his anger. Not by a long shot.

"Who gave your men the order to engage the Royal Knights?" Asked Yamaki, measuring his words carefully so as to not betray so much as the slightest hint of his rage towards the military commander who looked back at him from the view screen. "I thought that you were given explicit instructions to _not_ confront them without backup from the Tamers and that you were to retreat should you be in a position where you were without them? What happened out there?!"

"My apologies, Yamaki," said the image of the General on the view screen. "someone must have been antsy with the gun trigger. Regardless, we now have a situation on our hands here, and the enemy isn't going to hold back or acknowledge the possibility of negotiation with us. It is time that we bring the full strength of our might to bear against this enemy."

"Digimon are _not_ an enemy that we can fight with conventional weapons!" Exclaimed Yamaki, losing some of his composure now. "I would have thought that the conflict with the D-Reaper should have been evidence enough of that! And without Argus, the only affective method we have of fighting wild digimon are the Tamers!"

"I'm well aware of the Tamers capability of combating digimon, but according to your reports, your best ones are currently missing in action and are presumed trapped in the digital world, leaving us with the most inexperienced ones remaining to combat an enemy that you've already admitted is extremely powerful and likely beyond their capabilities. We are not ignorant of the vulnerabilities that our country has depending on just the Tamers to defend her citizens. That is why Kuroda was commissioned to develop Argus and integrate it into the Hypnos system. Nonetheless, Argus was not the only system that was under development since the D-Reaper invasion. I believe that it's time to show the digimon the strength of our _hammer._ "

Yamaki's eyes widened beneath his sunglasses. _"What?"_

* * *

Guardromon's body phased in and out of stability as he groaned in pain. An oddity, the android felt no matter how many times he had been in such a compromising situation. Robots, you would think, were not built to experience pain and yet he felt it all the same. Why? Who knew? A little quirk of evolution he supposed, or maybe it had something to do with him being a digimon being destined to become partnered to the hyperactive boy by the name of Kazu.

_Or perhaps it has something to do with my being injured so badly,_ thought Guardromon as he closed his eyes, as though by doing so he could lessen the pain in his body. No such luck, but he felt more comfortable all the same. At least in spirit.

_Although…if this pain is because I was destined to be Kazu's partner…I wouldn't mind it. I could not ask for a better sign of our destiny together…or for a better partner…_

His mechanical hand clenched into a fist and the android attempted to sit up, only to be crushed back to the ground by the sparkling blue, dragon foot of UlforceVeedramon. The hum of the dragon's blade as he raised it into the air filled the air, and Guardromon's cybernetic eyes followed it. Briefly he wondered how many times he had been on this side of an enemy's death stroke. Far too many it seemed, and now it looked as though all of his luck had now come to an end.

_I believe this is what humans refer to as 'living on borrowed time'. A pity. I would have liked to continue being a partner with Kazu for a while longer, but it looks like this is the end for me. Kazu…I hope that you don't take my death hard. I…I wouldn't have traded our time together for the world…_

Guardromon frowned now. No…that didn't sit right with him. He never quit back when he had been just 'Andromon the Just' trying to free a village of Gekomon from the clutches of Orochimon, and had continued fighting even when he had been downgraded a level. And Kazu…well, to sum it up in his own words…

_"If somebody like Takato, who hardly ever knows what he's doing half the time, doesn't quit even when all the chips are down then why should I?"_

Chuckling beneath his breath and feeling refreshed by the words of his partner from the past, Guardromon raised one arm and aimed it at UlforceVeedramon. A compartment slid open, revealing a missile held within…

Guardromon suddenly cried out in pain as UlforceVeedramon lashed out with his energy blade and slashed at the missile as soon as it raised up from its storage area, causing it to detonate prematurely. Guardromon's arm fell with a crash to the ground.

"Stubborn," said UlforceVeedramon, more to himself than to the android trapped beneath him. "A pity that one such as you has been tainted by humans. I would have considered you worthy of becoming a servant of the Royal Knights. You show devotion and a willingness to fight even when your body has been broken. Perhaps that is the only thing about the Tamer and digimon partnership that is worth complimenting on. Nonetheless," UlforceVeedramon raised his arm and the energy blade flashed brightly in the night, "your time is done. Accept your fate."

"Oh, shut up."

A black leather clad boot slammed into UlforceVeedramon's face, sending him flying to the side and crashing into a parked car. Steel shrieked as the vehicle was crushed beneath his weight from the force of the impact. Nonplussed, the Royal Knight dug himself out casually and brushed shattered glass from off of his body before glancing at his new opponent.

"So," he said slowly as he took in the form of Lilithmon, a look of disgust on his face, "more evidence of the corruption that Tamers hold within them. You have taken on the body of a Demon Lord; a sworn enemy of the Royal Knights. Is this supposed to be a mockery? If it is, I'm not in the least bit laughing."

"You've got some issues," said Lilithmon in the twin voices of Miki and Dracmon. "But then, so do I. For example, I have issues with you kicking the partner of one of my friends around."

"As if I care what you think or feel, tainted one," said UlforceVeedramon as he pointed his blade at her. "All that remains now is the execution of my lord's judgment upon your kind. Yggrasil has long been concerned about the partnership of humans and digimon, believing it to cause an unbalancing affect in the digital world. I believe that it's time to render such worries nonexistent."

"Some god," muttered Lilithmon in Dracmon's voice as she raised her right arm, revealing the decayed, demonic claws that her purple robes hid. "Worried about something like that. I'd think that a god wouldn't have to have _anything_ to _worry_ about. But whatever. You're causing problems. Time to rectify that."

"So be it," said UlforceVeedramon. "Accept your fate."

Slashing his sword to the side, UlforceVeedramon dashed forwards. Out of reflex, Lilithmon leapt up into the air in an attempt to buy some distance, only to be yanked back downwards by the Royal Knight as he grabbed hold of her ankle, smashing her to the pavement with tremendous force. Lashing out with her claws, Lilithmon parried UlforceVeedramon's blade and spewed a black cloud from her mouth and at the dragon knight. Taken aback, UlforceVeedramon let go of Lilithmon's leg and raised his left arm. A shining white light of holy energy sprang forth from the bracelet mounted on it and deflected the attack. Taking advantage of the moment of distraction, Lilithmon swept her feet beneath the dragon digimon's, tripping him up before bringing the heels of her feet into contact with his body, kicking him backwards and sending him crashing into yet another parked car. Anger flashed in the blue dragon's eyes as he got back to his feet and glowered at the demon mistress.

"You…you forced me to use my Tensegrity Shield to defend myself. You…"

UlforceVeedramon's halted in his words as his eyes snapped up. Lilithmon likewise froze up as she felt the hair on the back of her neck starting to rise. Something in the air was crackling, as though a great amount of energy was being unleashed…

As though to confirm her suspicions a torrent of golden energy flew through the air over her shoulder before taking shape as a trio of energy spheres connected together by electricity. The spheres impacted with UlforceVeedramon's shield with tremendous force, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris. Taking a quick look over her shoulder, Lilithmon saw a tank making its way down the street with what looked to be the largest gun that she had ever seen mounted on it.

"Remarkable," said Guardromon as he lumbered back to his feet, one hand cradling the shattered ruins of the other. "I recognize that energy signature. A human vehicle with a Yuggoth Cannon attached to it. I wasn't aware that something like this had been produced."

UlforceVeedramon's roar of rage caught their attention and Lilithmon looked back just in time to see the Royal Knight blow the smoke away with his wings. He looked more than a little bit disheveled, but still relatively unharmed by the attack.

_His shield must have taken the brunt of it,_ thought Lilithmon to herself. _He wasn't expecting something like that._

Lilithmon gulped nervously as she tightened her human hand into a fist and raised her demonic claw in a defensive stance.

_This is where things are going to get interesting…_

A second later she was proven right.


	114. 113: Hammer and Anvil

Duftmon lazily watched the unmoving, upturned tank for any signs of life from the Gyōjamon trapped underneath. Shifting from one leg to another impatiently, whilst wondering what was taking the kitsune Mega so long to recover from such a simple attack the Royal Knight turned his gaze away briefly and looked over towards the twin towers of Hypnos, listening to the sounds of weapons being fired and attacks being pronounced before breathing a dejected sigh.

_Sure sounds like he's having fun,_ thought Duftmon to himself. _I wonder how much resistance he's met up with? I wouldn't think that the fighting would have lasted quite this long with just the human soldiers. This world's Tamers must have gotten involved. I've heard that some of them are quite powerful. I wonder if it was a good idea to have me stay behind and keep an eye on Gyōjamon. I don't know why I'm still here. He hasn't made a move since he got cru-."_

The sound of metal creaking snagged Duftmon's attention. His eyes narrowing, the Royal Knight had just enough time to take notice of the fact that Gyōjamon was standing once again, holding the tank above his head before said military vehicle was brought smashing downwards with crushing force. Taken slightly aback, Duftmon caught the massive tank before it could land on him, utilizing both hands to ward it off.

"It's about time you woke up," Duftmon quipped. "I was starting to get bored waiting for you to recover."

Gyojamon didn't reply with words, but instead snarled as light extended itself from his hands and flowed out over the body of the tank like water. Duftmon's eyes widened in surprise as the light grew in luminosity and the top section of the tank holding its barrel began to make a grating sound as it turned in his direction.

"Interesting," said Duftmon. "Impressive command over program languages and electrical energy. _This_ should get _very_ interesting."

"Shut up," said Gyōjamon in a low, dangerous voice before the tank cannon, now sighted on its target, cut loose with its primary weapon with a loud 'bang'. The shell slammed into Duftmon's chest at point blank range, knocking him backwards and landing him flat on the ground. Before the Royal Knight could recover Gyojamon slammed the back end of the tank into him, the force of the blow, combined with the vehicles incredible weight, creating a good sized indentation in the ground, pinning Duftmon. Frowning, as though he were experiencing a minor inconvenience, the Royal Knight strained against his imprisonment, only to pause as the crunch of Gyōjamon's boot on the pavement next to him reached his ears. Glancing over at the fox warrior, Duftmon smiled beneath his helm.

"It would appear that you have me at a decisive disadvantage," commented Duftmon heartily, sounding as though he were not on the verge of being deleted. Gyojamon again did not comment, and instead extended his hand to the side. The outline of his bladed spear appeared to _melt_ from out of the shadows of the night and the kitsune lowered it to the ground, the tip of its curved point making a light 'clinking' sound as it pressed against the pavement's surface. Duftmon's smile grew even more. Yes, _here_ was an opponent that was going to be worth fighting. An enemy who was cold and efficient very rarely held back and as such always pressed him to his max in order to defeat them. Though he did not share Crusadermon's bloodlust they still had one thing in common, and that was the thrill of battle. Battle was what he lived for, and he enjoyed the 'hunt' with every fiber of his being. Having a worthy adversary, particularly one that did not hold back, was the ultimate test of his metal.

_So long that is, that the opponent does not hold back…_

The curved, half-moon blade of Gyōjamon's spear glowed brightly as the shaman warrior drew it upwards, preparing to deliver the final blow to the Royal Knight.

"This is where it ends, Royal Knight. For all the injustices that you and your comrades have visited upon the digital world; for Azulongmon and the Mother…"

"And what about those poor humans trapped inside this vehicle?" Asked Duftmon, grinning beneath his helm. "Or did you forget about them when you used this against me?"

Gyōjamon's spear hesitated ever so slightly, and the red haze in the kitsune's eyes shifted ever so slightly.

_Got you._

With a renewed burst of strength Duftmon pushed his arms against the tank that held him against the city streets and threw it into the air. In the short time space that the tank spent suspended in midair Duftmon leapt up to his feet and brought one arm to his chest.

_"Aussterben!"_ Duftmon called out, and a long rapier appeared in his hand. Slashing it to the side Duftmon unleashed a torrential wave of destruction that slammed into Gyōjamon's body, throwing him backwards into a nearby building, smashing through a window with the force of the blow. Smirking, Duftmon raised his free hand and caught the tank as it came down and promptly threw it into the building where Gyōjamon had been blasted into, sending shattered fragments of concrete flying into the air. Duftmon took a step towards the broken building, his eyes peering into the rising smoke to find some sign of his quarry.

_"Spirit Blades!"_ Came a voice from within the smoke and a series of golden energy blades tore through the air. Duftmon deftly parried them to the side with his sword before bringing his blade up to clash with Gyōjamon's spear as it rushed towards him. The sound of steel clashing upon steel could be heard in the night. Duftmon laughed as sparks flew through the air every time their weapons met. However, as much as he enjoyed the swordplay it was not how he was meant to conduct himself in battle. He was a Royal Knight caught up in a war for the survival of the digital world and the successful completion of his master's project 'Arc'. War was not a sparring practice or a duel. War, Duftmon knew quite well, was dirty and lacked any and all sense of the word 'fair'.

_"Ernste Wehr!"_ Shouted Duftmon as he leapt backwards, using his shoulder guard mounted wings to give him some loft as he fought to gain some distance from his opponent. Dark energy gathered around his rapier as Gyōjamon charged forward, intent on staying with the Royal Knight. Never once losing his smile Duftmon lashed out with his sword and slammed its aura-ridden blade into Gyōjamon's spear. Bright light exploded from the spear as the darkness made contact with the weapon, catching Gyōjamon by surprise. With a huff of supreme superiority Duftmon kicked the spear out of the light blinded warrior's hand and delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to his head before following up with a second _Ernste Wehr_ attack. Data flew through the air as the blade sliced neatly through the folds of cloth and the metal mask that hid Gyōjamon's face. Grunting in pain and surprise Gyojamon rolled away from the Royal Knight and attempted to regroup, tearing off the remnants of his now ruined facemask. Duftmon paused for a moment as he took in the warrior's expression, now no longer hidden behind its armor. Baleful blue eyes stared out at him, glimmering dangerously in the moonlight on a strong, powerful face that looked as though it could have been hewed from stone with smooth, straight angles reminiscent of his Sakuyamon cousins, containing the same pale skin that was their trademark. Silver hair flowed down the warrior's back and in front of his face. Sparkling data flowed from a thin, crimson line on Gyōjamon's face from where Duftmon's sword had cut.

"Well…" began Duftmon, chuckling lightly to himself. "I always wondered what you looked like beneath that mask. Now if only the Sakuyamon would afford me with the same luxury."

"As if that would happen," growled Gyōjamon. "We turned our faces away from our identities in order to become a part of something greater. You and yours trampled over that, making a mockery of your own duties and conflicting with our own divine mission."

"Your 'divine mission'?" Duftmon shook his head and sighed before fixing Gyōjamon with a weary look. "Yggdrasil was responsible for giving that to you, remember? He ordered the powers of the digital world after all. Even the Demon Lords after a fashion until their ambition grew beyond their assigned roles. It is not for you to decide how you conduct your mission, or when it should end. That belongs solely to Yggdrasil and no other. If it is his decision to destroy the old world and create a new one, that is how it shall be. Everything else is secondary to Lord Yggdrasil's wishes."

Gyōjamon _hmmphed_ and closed his eyes briefly before fixing Duftmon with a disdainful look.

"While it is true that Yggdrasil gave us our role, it was not he who made that decision. You know just as well as I do that Yggdrasil is just like us. Stronger, yes, but just like us; a program. We have seen the past. We know where he got his power from. Yggdrasil only pretends that it was his from the very beginning. He's nothing more than a caretaker in the place of a much larger entity."

Raising his hands Gyōjamon swiftly ran through a series of hand signs before finally clapping his palms together. Electricity ran up the lengths of his arms and his twin tails flared with flame as two more tails sprung forth into existence. For the first time, Duftmon began to look uncertain, not expecting this display of power. Gyōjamon smiled mentally upon seeing this.

_There are reasons why my kind and the Sakuyamon are made to hide our faces from the world,_ thought the shaman warrior as the flames from his tails began to crawl up his back and ignite his hair, transforming it into a blue and silver bonfire.

_"Amanonuhoku!"_ Shouted Gyōjamon, and with that, blazing chains ripped free from the fire behind him and wrapped themselves around Duftmon's wrists and neck, causing the Royal Knight to gasp as the flow of air was abruptly cut off. Separating his hands from each other a ball of flame materialized in the palm of one of them. Focusing on it, Gyōjamon formed an image in his mind and the flame began to transform into a series of characters taking the appearance of digi-code, the native letters of the digital world. In response to this transformation a surge of electricity lashed out and flowed over the burning chains like the legs of an errant spider, slamming into Duftmon's body, for the first time tearing a scream from the Royal Knight's throat; a scream that quickly died down as the much needed oxygen required to deliver the sound ran dry and left Duftmon stuck between trying to draw in breath and continue giving voice to his pain filled anguish.

Gritting his teeth Duftmon collapsed to the ground, fighting to maintain consciousness while trying to figure a way out of this situation. The chains kept him imprisoned, preventing him from getting away, and the electricity sapped at his strength, keeping him from trying to shatter them. How was he supposed to…?

Duftmon's eyes snapped open as an idea came to him. Forcing himself to his knees, the Royal Knight's body began to warp, becoming increasingly cat-like in appearance.

"DUFTMON! MODE CHANGE TOOO…DUFTMON, LEOPARD MODE!"

Snarling, Duftmon charged forward towards Gyōjamon, leaping into the air. The grip that the fiery chains had on him slackened considerably, causing Gyōjamon to back up in an attempt to formulate a defensive measure.

_We'll have none of that,_ thought Duftmon, grinning as he opened his mouth, baring his fangs hungrily.

_"Wokenkratzer!"_

With that cry a pillar of stone ripped free from the street, cutting off Gyōjamon's retreat. Electricity crackled around the ball on Duftmon's tail as he drew closer.

_Victory is mine,_ thought Duftmon smugly.

Then came the turnaround.

The fire around Gyōjamon's body intensified suddenly and a fifth tail sprung free from behind the vixen's body. Flame erupted at its tip and flowed up the digimon's back and down his arm, tracing a serpentine-like, black marking as it went. Upon reaching the warrior's hand the marking spread outwards like a gripping fist, sending tendrils of fire through his fingers. The blue flames extended outwards and took shape, solidifying into a spear with a long, curved blade. Quickly whipping the spear around, Gyōjamon slashed its blades edge into Duftmon's side, carving a trench into the Royal Knight's armored side. Again Duftmon screamed in pain as the heat from the weapon seared into his body and into his very _soul._ Not yet finished with the Royal Knight, Gyōjamon grabbed hold of the flaming chains that were still wrapped around Duftmon's body and gave them a powerful jerk, sending the warrior-turned-cat flying backwards a short ways before he pulled on his bindings with all of his might like a whip, sending him careening towards the ground. An immense explosion ripped through the streets as Duftmon hit the ground _hard_.

Groaning, Duftmon struggled to get to his feet, swiftly morphing out of his leopard mode and back to his warrior form. He rapidly set to work on removing the chains, knowing full well that if he couldn't get them off he would essentially be at the mercy of Gyōjamon's attacks due to the restrictions they placed on his mobility.

"Enjoying your _battle?"_ Came the voice of Gyōjamon through the thick smoke and wavy heat that surrounded the battlefield. For the first time that Duftmon could remember, he cringed at hearing his enemy's voice. He had faced many enemies in the past, some of them being quite powerful, but never before had he encountered an enemy who escalated the conflict so swiftly with each successive moment that went by. It left him wondering why Gyōjamon hadn't unleashed this power during their first encounter. He would easily have defeated him and rescued his _Mother_.

_The masks…_ thought Duftmon frantically as he recalled some information that he had read on the Seer Council back when it was first being formed. _It's got to be the masks. The data indicated that the masks that the Sakuyamon wore not only enabled them access to a vision of the world that could not be seen normally, but was also meant to be a seal that protected_ others _from seeing what they could see. If it follows that Gyōjamon's mask follows the same principle, then…it allows him access to incredible power…as well as protecting others from being harmed by it when he uses it._

_I'm in deep…_

A sharp gust of wind blew the smoke away from the battlefield, revealing Gyōjamon in all of his blazing glory, his original spear back in his grasp. He fixed Duftmon with a hard glare and began to speak.

"You fight for glory and you fight for Yggdrasil. Today, the time has come for you to fight for something else. Today, it is time that you fight for the same thing that so many other digimon have spent their lives doing when your master unleashed Project Ark upon the digital world. Your life."

Duftmon growled and staggered to his feet. Returning Gyojamon's glare he was about to shoot back a snappy reply when he smelled something strange in the air. Glancing around him and sniffing, Duftmon's gaze fell to the crater that he stood in and came to focus on a broken, exposed pipe. As he watched, somewhat perplexed by the rather nauseating smell, a spark fell from the molten chain that remained affixed to his wrist like a manacle and towards the pipe's opening.

A second later the city added its own rage to the inferno that was the battlefield.

* * *

"Jeez, what the heck is going on out there?" Grimaced Kenta, looking away from Kazu as the floor shook beneath him. Glancing out of the hole in the wall made courtesy by UlforceVeedramon Kenta took note of an eerie orange glow topped by black, choking clouds of smoke billowing up towards the sky.

_Digimon never do anything small when they fight, do they?_ Thought Kenta sarcastically before turning his attention back to Kazu, who was presently being tended to by MarineAngemon's healing hearts.

"How're you holding up, buddy?"

Kazu grimaced. "In the words of Jeri: 'Peachy'. But I'm feeling a whole lot better than I was a second ago. It's a good thing that I got some of that data stuff stuck in me from when we went to the digital world, otherwise healing a broken arm would be next to impossible."

"Yeah," Kenta agreed, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. He had been extremely afraid that, given the limitations that the real world so often imposed on digimon bodies and abilities that they wouldn't be able to do anything for Kazu's injury like they couldn't for Henry's father.

"Does…does it huwt?" Asked Suzie tentatively from her spot next to the visor wearing boy, hugging Lopmon tightly to her chest, the digimon looking decidedly uncomfortable with the position but not making any complaints about it. Lopmon was quite aware of the distress that Suzie was under right now, and any amount of comfort that she could give she would, even if it was rather problematic for her digital bones.

Kazu flexed his fingers and moved his arm, grimacing at the stiffness that his muscles had to them, a faint reminder of the pain that they undoubtedly had. Fortunately for him MarineAngemon's healing hearts doubled as a highly affective painkiller. He didn't feel anything now, and according to Kenta's translation of the pink fairies 'pih's' and 'puh's' he wouldn't feel anything by tomorrow morning except what passed for normal for him.

"Nope," said Kazu as he got to his feet and dusted his shorts off. "I'm fine. Though I can't say the same thing for Mr. Personality out there when I get through with him…"

"We still have to find Guardromon and Lilithmon," reminded Kenta.

"Like it's going to be tough to find them. All we gotta do is follow the trail of destruction, right? It's a pretty handy roadmap if you ask me, only without the getting lost part if you make a wrong turn."

"I doubt that things will stay that way if this keeps going on," said Kenta, jerking one thumb over his shoulder and indicating the rising smoke a ways off in the distance. "It looks like a gas main went off down there between Gyōjamon and UlforceVeedramon's partner in crime. They're ruin our 'road map' if their fight gets too close to where we are."

"That's why we have to stop chatting and get down there!"

"But what about Suzie?" Asked Kenta, looking over at Henry's little sister with a concerned look. "We can't take her with us with the way things are going, and we can't leave her behind either, even with Lopmon sticking around…"

"And we're going to need Lopmon in this fight too," mused Kazu, his expression souring rapidly. Seeing this Suzie stepped forward with a determined look on her face, pushing her way through her earlier shock with a speed and force that young children everywhere were known for.

"I can fight! I'm a big giwl! I'm a Tamew just like you!"

"We know that Suzie," said Kenta in a placating tone, bending down so that he was more at eyelevel with the young girl. "But Henry wanted you to stay out of this and stay safe. Same thing for your parents. They wouldn't want you to get hurt, and we wouldn't be very responsible if we let you run around out there with digimon and the army fighting with each other."

Kazu clenched his fists tightly against each other, staring worriedly out through the hole in the wall.

_We don't have time for this,_ he thought. _We've got to do something and fast!_

"Okay Kenta," Kazu began. "This is the plan…"

"What… _happened_ …here?" Cut a voice over Kazu's words. Blinking, all three Tamers looked towards the source of the voice and saw Ayaka, with Calumon flying through the air in front of her.

"Wow," said Calumon, awed at the scene of destruction that littered the ground around the Tamers. "You guys sure are messy when you have fun. Isn't this too rough for a game?"

"Sorry Calumon, we're not playing," said Kazu with a frown before turning his gaze on pig-tailed girl behind the In-training digimon. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Calumon and I were getting something to eat," Ayaka paused as she gave the little digimon a curious look, perhaps wondering how the creampuff could be so perpetually hungry with such a small stomach, "and then my digivice went off and we started hearing explosions. Calumon just _had_ to go investigate and I just went with him."

Kenta and Kazu both exchanged glances.

"Without your partner? Or better yet, a partner that can and _will_ protect you?" Said Kazu without a hint of tactfulness. Ayaka glowered at him.

"So sue me, but I didn't want this guy to get in trouble."

Kazu began to groan audibly before stopping. Taking another look at Ayaka a glimmer of thought made itself known in the boy's eyes.

"Actually this works out pretty good, Ayaka, even if it's my level of dumb."

"Gee…thanks a lot," said Ayaka in a sarcastic tone.

"The thing is, we need someone to get Suzie to her folks. We're…uh…going to be tied up in a few moments and we can't let Suzie get involved in this."

"Sure thing," said Ayaka, nodding in understanding and looking over to the little girl who was looking rather upset with her having been pushed to the sidelines. Giving the girl a sympathetic smile Ayaka walked on over to her and held out one hand for her to grab onto. "Come on, Suzie. The big boys have to go to work."

"Ohhh…" Suzie whined, squishing Lopmon to her body all the harder and eliciting a squeak of discomfort from the rabbit digimon. Hearing this Suzie pulled her from her chest and held her out like one of her stuffed animals and looked at her straight in the eye.

"Lopmon," Suzie said, her face becoming serious. "You'we going to take cawe of Kazu and Kenta out thewe, okay?"

Lopmon bowed her head in formally, almost reverently before replying.

"I will protect them with my life, Suzie. You can count on me."

Returning the rabbit digimon's nod Suzie set Lopmon down on the ground and dug her digivice out of her small handbag and gripped it determinably. A soft glow began to emerge from the digivices screen.

_Looks like we're getting somewhere,_ thought Kazu. _But this fight is still going to be a tough one. We're not out of the woods yet. Gyojamon's holding down the other Royal Knight by the sound of things and Miki's not completely up to snuff either. If only Impmon were here but he's out like a nightlight because of that stupid viral infection he picked up! Man, of all the times for the big enemy bosses to show up when the heroes are out of town!_

Berating himself for such thoughts Kazu turned towards the hole in the wall and a gust of wind blew over him. Clenching his hand into a fist Kazu pumped the air.

"All right, guys," he said in a strangely calm and collected voice. A marked difference from his normal demeanor. "Let's go take down a Royal Knight."

"Go for it Suzie!" Exclaimed Lopmon as she leapt towards the hole and out into the open air in front of Hypnos. Suzie watched her partner go into free fall for a moment and a surge of excitement washed through her young body. Gone were the earlier thoughts and memories that had frightened her. The scared little girl who depended on her older brother to keep away all the dangers of the world gave way to the child who had less than a year ago been the quickest to accept her fate as a Tamer and the role that she was meant to play in the shared fates of the real and digital worlds. Lopmon was the super hero who was going to save the world for them all, and she had to be at her best to do just that.

And how could Suzie let her partner go off to save the day without being properly dressed for the occasion?

The light emanating from Suzie's digivice broke through the girl's fingers, illuminating the night with its intensity and swallowed Lopmon in all of its shining glory. Words instinctively came to Lopmon's mouth as she felt power surge through her body like a dam and her body began to lengthen, once more becoming the rabbit Deva known only as…

"…ANTYLAMON!"

With a grace that befitted her former title and position as a servant of one of the digital world's rulers, Antylamon somersaulted through the air, landing on the ground with ease and causing only minor cracks in the pavement before she bounded off, in search of their allusive adversary.

"Okay," said Kazu turning to Kenta. "Your turn, Chumley. MarineAngemon's going to have to fly us there with one of his hearts."  
Kenta nodded first to Kazu and then to MarineAngemon, who gave a determined 'puh'. Before the little fairy digimon could do anything though Ayaka called out to them.

"Kenta!"

Blinking in surprise, the dark haired, bespectacled boy turned his gaze over at the coppery haired, pig-tailed girl with a questioning look.

"Uh…yeah?"

_Nuts…_ Ayaka cursed herself, her words becoming caught in her throat as she realized that she didn't know why she had called out to him. All she knew was that she felt a great amount of worry for them.

_Only…it…doesn't really look like that, does it?_ Thought Ayaka as she looked away uncertainly, a bit of crimson coloring her cheeks before she finally spoke again.

"Um…be…be careful out there."

Kazu looked back and forth between the two and shook his head mentally. He still had a hard enough time believing what he had been told about what happened between the two, but the way that Ayaka and Kenta were acting he had no choice but to believe it. The blushing, and awkward glances more than drove that point home.

_Don't really have time for this,_ thought Kazu, feeling uncertain as to how to deal with this situation and call attention back to the matter at hand. As in most situations, whenever Kazu felt uncertain about something, turning to bluntness and absurdity became his only refuge.

"All right; let's go, Kenta. Enough with the mushy stuff. You two can carry on with it _after_ we've saved the world, and no I'm not letting you two have a last kiss in case things go down the tubes. Just think of it as a reason to _not_ mess things up during the eleventh hour rescue…"

"Kazu? What are you…?"

"Get a move on Chumley! Later Ayaka. I'll be sure to keep this bum safe for you, though seeing as how this is Kenta we're talking about I make no promises about him not looking embarrassing doing it. MarineAngemon, time to go 'pooh'…"

Ayaka stared in bewilderment at the two boys as MarineAngemon spat a pink colored heart with a giggle and enveloped them in it. The trio pushed off a second later, and Ayaka waved her hand at them, still feeling worried about them but at the same time confused over Kazu's words. Deciding that it was best to just ignore the boy's antics Ayaka took Suzie's hand into her own.

"Come on. We'd better get you to your folks."

"Okay," said Suzie, disappointed that she was being left out of the loop again. "I just hope that my pwayews can help Lopmon fight the big meanie."

Ayaka gave the little girl a small, comforting smile.

"Don't worry. She's going to get help from Kenta and Kazu, so I'm sure that she'll be fine."

Ayaka's gaze softened as she looked over her shoulder, memories of Kenta's battle with Argus and later DinoRexmon playing through her mind before finally coming to a pause on his standing up to Crusadermon when she threatened her.

_You just come back safe you blockhead. You'd better make sure of that or else._

"Um…oldew giwl?" Began Suzie, causing Ayaka to blink as she was broken out of her reverie. Unmindful of Suzie's lack of proper addressing (and the fact that Suzie didn't really know who she was anyway) Ayaka looked down at the girl in surprise.

"Uh…yeah?"

"Whew did Calumon go?"

_Calumon?_

Looking around her Ayaka frowned. The little creampuff of a digimon was nowhere in sight.

_Oh, you have got to be kidding me…_


	115. 114: In the Depths of Inferno

Calumon floated down the hallways of Hypnos, unable to shake the strange feeling that he was feeling in his head that he was being led somewhere, as if he were holding onto one end of a rope in a game of Tug-o-War. The pressure that he felt in his head was something along the lines of being pulled, only lacking in the same forcefulness that the game itself had, though the association was not lost all the same. Passing by a nearby window Calumon saw that the red triangle on his forehead was glowing and he tilted his head at it. It had been quite some time since the triangle had given off any light. Once it had been the symbol of his status as the catalyst of digivolution until the digimon Sovereign Azulongmon and the digignomes restored its power to the digital world. Since then he had been just plain old Calumon; a fun loving, In-training digimon with no attacks and a larger-than-body appetite. With an emphasis on all of these traits. Not that Calumon minded of course. He remained as determined as ever to find the ultimate game of fun in the world, spread joy, and keep Jeri company in spite of his missing catalyst powers. After all, he himself hadn't been aware of them in the first place and had only really discovered them after he had been kidnapped by the Deva Monkey, Makuramon. Their loss, as a result of his ignorance, did not affect him all that much.

Of course, Terriermon would have pointed out that Calumon was just that simpleminded. The little guy had a low attention span for anything that wasn't fun or didn't make him immediately concerned for his friends.

Calumon did get the idea that what he was feeling wasn't some remnant of the Catalyst. That aspect had been removed from him when he had been granted the life of a normal digimon. He had felt this strange, 'tugging' feeling before, back during the D-Reaper attack when he had been overwhelmed by an indescribable urge to investigate the D-Reaper's core; its cornel of consciousness. Back then, Impmon had told him that not everything was what it looked like, more as a warning against entering the D-Reaper's danger zone than anything else but Calumon had been proven right in his investigation. He had discovered Jeri held imprisoned within. Since then he had always felt a close connection to Jeri, but never anything that felt like what he was experiencing now, as though whatever power he had picked up had disappeared.

Until now that is.

Fluttering his ears ever so slightly Calumon resumed his journey down the hallway, the noises of the battle that was raging outside echoing upon the air. A part of him wanted to go out there and give his friends a hand, but another part of him, something deeper, told him to continue looking around until he came to the end of his search. Whatever it was that he was being led to, the creampuff digimon felt, was going to be extremely important for the others.

_I sure wish I knew what it was that was so important,_ thought Calumon as he turned a corner, deftly avoiding one of the many technicians and security personal who were racing down the hall to wherever it was that they needed to go, all of them unmindful of Calumon's presence due to the severity of the situation.

Finally, Calumon came to a halt in front of an open doorway and he tilted his head to one side. Looking inside Calumon found the unconscious form of Impmon lying on a bed with a number of wires connected to his body. His breaths were slow and shallow. In spite of his weak appearance, Calumon gave an excited cry and flew into the room, landing roughly on Impmon's bed.

"Impmon! Wake up! Why're you still sleeping? The others need you and…and… _you're missing out on a fight!_ " Calumon scrunched up his face into a frown when Impmon didn't respond to his urgings. "You know Impmon; it's not nice to ignore people like this. I know that you're not feeling good and everything but you should at least wake up when people try to get your attention. You did this back when the bad D-Reaper gobbled us up too."

Impmon still made no signs that he had heard Calumon and continued to breathe slowly. Making a frustrated sound Calumon looked around him to see if there was anything or anyone that could tell him what he needed to do to wake up the diminutive and highly rebellious digimon. Unfortunately no one was around to help him in that regard and what there was that could have told him anything were the random beeps on the monitor screen containing symbols that he did not understand at all. He didn't know what they were but they sure weren't the Japanese hiragana signs that Jeri had been trying so hard to teach him.

Scowling Calumon returned his attention back to Impmon.

_I've got to wake him up somehow. But how?_

Hopping over to the side of Impmon's head, Calumon placed one paw on one of Impmon's eyes and poked at it, eliciting a groan from the diminutive digimon, but not much else.

_Maybe if I take these wires off,_ thought Calumon and he shifted over to Impmon's shoulder to get a better reach towards the wires that dotted his chest. It was at that moment, when his tiny paws made contact with the wire that the triangle on Calumon's head took on its familiar, crimson glow once more, and a loud buzzing sound filled his ears.

* * *

Thunder cracked upon the sky as lightning traced a burning path through blood red clouds. Impmon lay sprawled on the ground, his body aching in more places than he knew existed. How long had he been there? Hours? Days? Weeks? Or had it only been minutes? Time seemed to have lost meaning ever since he had come here…wherever _here_ was. Impmon had a faint idea, but a part of his mind decried against it, not wanting to recognize it for all the implications that it had. In so many ways, this place was where he began, and where he had begun to take the path that lead him to what he became.

"Pathetic," came a disdainful voice from nearby. Turning his head, Impmon's green eyes fell upon an achingly familiar purple colored horse wearing gold armor and a red colored scarf wrapped around its neck standing on its two hind legs with its front forward ones, absurdly long, hanging casually at its side. Slung behind the horse's back was a massive sea shell.

_Indramon,_ thought Impmon dazedly, not at all surprised by the digimon's presence.

"Have you accepted the truth yet, weak one?" Taunted the horse Deva known as Indramon.

Impmon made a wheezing sound and coughed.

"What…what truth is that?"

"That you are unworthy of the power that had been bestowed upon you by my master. You have squandered it in pursuit of power, and ultimately becoming a slave to those humans that drove you to my Sovereign."

"…I…don't get why you're here…" said Impmon, turning his head back towards the blood red sky. In his heart though, Impmon knew perfectly well why he was seeing Indromon. He was a much more perceptive digimon than most people gave him credit for. He knew perfectly well that everything that he saw around him was taking place in his mind. The scene shifts were too quick and rapid for it to be anything else. That, and the sheer number of 'death experiences' that had taken place in each scene were far too frequent for him to still be alive even with the possibility that he was being reformatted if his data not being downloaded. How many times had he gone through this scene? Too many. How many faces had dealt him the final death blow? Up to this point his subconscious wasn't showing him any mercy. Gallantmon, himself, Leomon, Catsuramon, Makuramon…even the Tamers themselves. _His_ Tamers included.

And that was just for starters.

"My reason for being here is the same as all the others," said Indramon in the same mocking tone that he had from the first moment Impmon had met him. "Your pain. Your nightmares. All of them we will take. You…are…ours. And we will not let you escape."

Towering over Impmon, the horse Deva raised his massive hooves, giving Impmon the impression that he was staring into the maw of a black hole. As their shadows fell over him, Impmon felt strangely translucent in his mind. No fear entered his mind. Was he just too used to the abuse that he had been taking ever since he had entered this place? Or had he given up?

_This is just so stupid,_ thought Impmon as the foot began to descend. Right before the horse's foot came down, Impmon found himself wondering if this would be the last time. For a brief moment, Impmon wondered if he'd be able to rest at last.

The ground shook as Indramon's hoof crushed Impmon's body, shattering it into black shards of data particles.

* * *

Calumon blinked his wide eyes as he looked around him. For most people, digimon included, they would have been quite startled to find such a sudden change of scenery, particularly one that left them in such a desolate looking area with a rather disturbing sky color. Even more so, Calumon had more than enough reason to shrink at the color of the sky and the landscape around him as his last experience in such a place, namely the land of the Sovereigns, had not been one of the most pleasant of experiences. However, Calumon was not like most people or like most digimon for that matter. 'One-track mind' summed him up the best as far as descriptions go, and Calumon had the unnerving ability to become distracted and find anything that happened to him 'fun' be it subtle, gross, or sublime. Such as it was, Calumon's first thoughts were not 'where am I?', nor was there even a hint of panic in his mind reaching out from his memories of imprisonment in the digital world.

Far from it in fact. _Very_ far from it.

_That cloud sure looks awfully red. I wonder if it's related to Guilmon._

In other situations, both heroic and villainous digimon would have been perplexed by such a reaction while those tending towards their more animalistic passions would have simply tried to devour him right away. Those who knew him would have been less surprised, and by the same token given a reminder as to why Calumon needed protection as well as lessons in 'keeping away from giant, rampaging digimon'. The crimson clouds however remained ignorant of the little digimon who stared at them with such fascination and took no action towards him, neither knowing nor caring about his existence. Calumon, for his part, pondered cotton candy filled dreams involving the clouds shaped like Guilmon for a moment before shaking his head, deciding that such angry looking things might not taste good in the end. With that thought now out of his mind Calumon scanned the terrain surrounding him and quickly took note of Indramon grinding his foot into the ground.

Once more, Calumon's sense of self-preservation was overridden by his sense of fun and he quickly bounded over to the giant horse Deva.

"Um…excuse me Mr. Horsemon," began Calumon as he came to a halt in front of Indramon and looked up at him with his wide, green colored eyes. "Can you help me? Just a second ago I was in a room with a friend and when I touched a wire that was stuck on him I ended up here."

No response came from Indramon and a crisp breeze blew over the two. Within seconds Indramon's body disintegrated in the wind, becoming as a cloud of data that was swiftly scattered. Calumon blinked in surprise.

"Wow. I guess he's just not very talkative. All I wanted to know was where Impmon was and now I'm all alone."

Lowering his head Calumon retracted his ears into his head and moaned in disappointment.

"Where is everybody?" Calumon asked quietly. The wind carried his words with them. In the desolation that lay around him the tiny In-training digimon felt all the more lonely for having said them. This place was just so… _empty._ So barren and without a single fun thing in sight.

Calumon squawked suddenly as a piece of cloth that was being blown about by the wind landed upon his face, obscuring his vision. His tiny hands scrambling up towards his face, Calumon pulled the cloth down and was elated to see the familiar images of Takato, Rika, Renamon and Guilmon, or rather crudely drawn versions of them, on a torn piece of white fabric.

_Takato's flag! I haven't seen this in a while. I thought I lost it after Rika found me. Maybe it's a sign._

Smiling happily to himself Calumon wrapped the fabric around himself and tied it like a cape, just as he had done when he first came upon the item all those months ago. Upon finishing the knot Calumon took a look around him and this time he frowned. The landscape had altered considerably once again. The crimson sky was gone now, replaced by a heavy darkness that hung above him like the gaping maw of a cavern.

And through it all was the all too familiar mass of writhing, blood red cables stretching in every direction as far as the eye could see. And at its center stood a tall, single, armless figure with cables overlapping its body like a gown, a golden face mask with a large eye like structure at its center, and a curved crest sitting at the top of its head. Now Calumon felt a sense of dread worm its way into his digital heart as he recognized the entity. It was the Mother form of the D-Reaper. The creature that had imprisoned both him and Jeri and had tormented them for so long.

_But what's it doing here?_ Wondered Calumon as he gulped and pushed his fear down. _Takato and the others blew it up and managed to reverse evo-whatever-they-did to it. And the dark glasses man said that it wasn't coming back. That it couldn't. So why?_

Realizing that he wasn't going to get any answers by just standing there and staring, Calumon swallowed and firmly grabbing onto his courage, as well as his Tamers cape he began to carefully make his way towards the dark, ominous creature that surveyed the landscape around it. Even after all this time, it was still as unnerving as ever. He wasn't sure as to why he was heading towards the Mother Reaper tower, but what he _did_ know was that he felt like he had to go there. Such a feeling had so far served him well in the past, and as such he trusted it.

_I just hope that this time I don't end up getting eaten because of it._

No sooner than the little digimon had taken a couple hops the ground in front of him erupted and a series of wires burst up towards the sky, wrapping around each other and melting together, forging themselves into a new shape in response to the intruder. Calumon cried out in surprise and quickly turned to go the other way, only to be cut off by another volcanic explosion of cable matter. More and more appeared all around him, blocking the In-training digimon and boxing him in. Falling backwards Calumon cried out in surprise and fear as the masses of red wire transformed into liquid and began to alter their shape. Calumon steeled himself for the fate that was sure to follow.

But no amount of preparation could have prepared him for what he was about to see.

Before Calumon's wide eyes, the misshapen coils collapsed in upon themselves and took a shape that caused Calumon's eyes to widen even further and, for the first time in his life, find himself at a loss for words. The agents stood there, tall and of proud standing, with body structures that boasted of hard earned power and scars that told more stories than words could ever do. Silken hair, stained red like blood spilled out over their shoulders and stopping just above a fanged necklace. And strapped to a belt hanging behind the behemoths waists was a leather wrapped hilt belonging to a sheathed sword.

"Ah…ah…" gasped Calumon. "L-Leomon?"

There was no denying it. No matter how many times he looked at them, Calumon found himself looking at scarlet colored versions of Leomon. Although Calumon didn't have many opportunities to see the proud, lion digimon, the tall warrior had been impressive enough upon their first meeting to have been ingrained in his memory with little trouble. Only there was one problem here. Leomon was dead.

_M-Maybe they're like zombies,_ thought Calumon, feeling a renewed sense of fear surge through his tiny body. This was not helped by the empty, _dead_ look that the group of Leomon were giving him. If it weren't for the fact that they were all looking at him he would have thought that they didn't even notice his existence. Calumon gulped audibly.

_If they are zombies…does that mean that they want to eat my brain?_ In his mind's eye, Calumon imagined the Leomon charging towards him, mouths slavering as they reached towards him with their massive hands. The In-training's mind made a small, teddy-bear like roar, applying it to the Leomon as they began their imaginary assault on him, fully expecting the lions to unleash a far more realistic, and wholly more terrifying version to supply his already overactive imagination in the moments he had remaining.

As one, the Leomon reached behind them and drew their blood colored swords, creating an unnerving grinding sound as they were unsheathed. Raising the swords above their heads, blades held so that their points would skewer Calumon upon landing, the Leomon spoke as one as they pronounced their judgement on the poor In-training digimon.

"Intruder," they echoed, and Calumon shivered as he realized that they were all speaking with Jeri's voice. "Destroy."

The swords descended and Calumon cried out. The red triangle on his forehead flashed once and words came involuntarily to the digimon's lips as a white light burst free from his body.

_"Crystal Matrix…Protection!"_

The swords impacted with the white light, rebounding off of it as it solidified into a barrier. As if in response to the contact with the D-Reaper bodies, the white light quickly lashed out in response, tearing into the Leomon constructs. Red fluid burst free from them as they became unraveled and collapsed to the ground, falling silent.

Calumon trembled for a few minutes, his hands clasped to the sides of his head as he waited for the death blow that was no longer coming. Finally, upon realizing that death wasn't being quite so eminent for him he gathered his courage and cracked open one eye and gasped at the broken and torn bodies of the D-Reaper made Leomon.

_Wha…what happened? Did I…did I do that?_

A footstep fell on the ground behind him, and Calumon looked over his shoulder to see yet another Leomon walking towards him. Only this one did not have the blood like color to his body that the others had. That, and there was a warmth in those clear blue eyes that surveyed the battle scene around him. A warmth that Calumon's heart went out to almost immediately. There was a pause though, but upon hearing the proud lion warrior speak all doubts were dashed aside.

"Hmmm…" began Leomon in a studious tone. "I had believed that you were in need of my assistance. It would appear that I was mistaken."

"LEOMON!"

His ears expanding Calumon leapt at the lion warrior with joy in his voice and tears in his eyes. Taken aback by the unexpected action, Leomon held up his hands and caught the tiny digimon in his massive hands, closing them carefully around him as he brought Calumon in for as close of a hug as he could approximate with the differences in their size.

"It is good to see you too, Calumon," said Leomon, chuckling lightly.

"Leomon! What are you doing here? I thought that…I thought you had gone away and couldn't come back!"

Nodding Leomon knelt onto the ground and placed Calumon down.

"It is true," said the lion warrior without pause. "As much as I would wish it otherwise, this is my fate."

"Huh? Why would your fate have you in this scary place? And why with the D-Reaper?"

Getting up Leomon looked off towards the distance and focused his attention on the Mother Reaper.

"Because," said Leomon carefully, "this is what Impmon created for himself."

"I don't understand."

"Impmon is going through a trial right now," clarified Leomon. "This has come about through a variety of factors, mainly due to the responsibility that he shares in the events that caused Guilmon's death at the hands of Lucemon. He feels immensely responsible for the creation of Megidramon and the release of the Digital Hazard's affect upon the digital world that prompted Lucemon to search for Guilmon and destroy him."

"But Guilmon came back."

"And because of that he tried to bring me back as well. The difference is that he met with failure. Despite the fact that Jeri forgave him for his actions he still hasn't forgiven himself, and his chance at 'redemption' was taken by his own hands. On his own he would continue on with his life as he always has, however his infection of the X-Virus has left his data highly unstable, breaking him down on multiple levels. What you see around us is merely the mental breakdown that comes with the physical."

Calumon furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of what he was being told. He didn't quite understand it but…

_Oh!_ A light bulb switched on in Calumon's head as understanding finally washed into his mind.

"I get it! I saw this on a TV show once. This guy got all sick and weird acting, and he was having funny dreams in his head. Is it like that?"

"It is close," said Leomon with a nod of his head. Calumon beamed at his sharp mind.

"So all we have to do then is just snap him out of, huh?"

"It won't be that easy, Calumon," said Leomon. You have already seen a taste of what lies ahead. This world…Impmon designed it with the intention of keeping himself prisoner. All of his innermost fears are in here, and will no doubt be powerful. It will not be easy to retrieve him."

"Hmmm…made to keep Impmon inside?" Asked Calumon. "But…we aren't Impmon."

"Even so. That doesn't make it any less dangerous. Particularly since we're so close to Impmon. Because of the proximity of our bond with him, this place will alter itself accordingly in order to keep us from rescuing him."

"I don't care," said Calumon in a determined voice. "I'm going to get him out of that D-Reaper thing and bring him back home."

"Very well then," said Leomon with a nod. "But we must hurry."

Picking up the former bearer of the Catalyst Leomon rushed towards the figure of the Mother Reaper at a rapid pace. In response, crimson cables picked themselves up from off the ground and formed a barrier in front of them. Snarling, Leomon drew his sword from his sheath and cut a swath through the barrier, causing the cables to fall to the ground like severed snakes, where they writhed upon the ground before dissolving into red liquid. Undaunted, more cables flew upwards, entangling themselves with Leomon's feet. The proud lion warrior continued to hack and cut at them as they came but they swiftly became too much for him to handle, overwhelming him and impeding his forward momentum until every foot was as a crawl. More cables ripped free from the ground, grabbing hold of Leomon's arms and pulling him forward towards the ground. With a cry Calumon tumbled out of Leomon's hands and into the mess of cables. Sensing his presence the D-Reaper cables reached towards him, electric death sparking at their tips.

"NOOOO!" Shouted Calumon as he shut his eyes tight. The red triangle on his forehead glowed once more and a white light burst forth from it, lashing out at the cables around both him and Leomon and causing them to disintegrate into red liquid that quickly degenerated.

_There it is again,_ thought Calumon in surprise. _How did I do that?_

"Excellent work, Calumon," said Leomon as he got to his feet. "You have more power in you than I had first believed. However, it would be foolish to believe that the enemy would be intimidated into leaving us alone after such a demonstration."

"Um…yeah," said Calumon uncertainly as he touched his head with his tiny paws.

_What did I do? I thought that I was just a normal digimon now, but I've never been able to do any attacks no matter what I did. Not even my super-awesome-poke-you-in-the-eyeball-thingie did anything like the others._

A flash of a memory made itself known in Calumon's mind. An image of him and an unconscious Jeri, floating away in a bubble of light and himself commanding desperately to himself to think of 'happy thoughts'. He felt so close to an answer, and yet…

"Leomon?" Came the faint whisper of a timid voice. Both digimon turned towards the source of the voice and found Jeri Katou, her face drowned in the deepest depths of sorrow, standing a short ways off. There was a tremor in her voice as she spoke, as though she wanted desperately to hope…no, _believe_ that the Leomon in front of her was the one that she had known since becoming a Tamer and not just an illusion.

"Jeri?" Asked Calumon tentatively. "What are you doing here?"

Unmindful of Calumon's question Jeri took a step forwards, one hand pressed against her chest.

"Leomon…is that you? You're…you're back! Leomon…I've missed you so much. I…"

With a heart wrenching sob Jeri broke into a run. Calumon's mouth broke into a smile seeing that at long last two partners were reunited.

_"Fist of the Beast King!"_

An orange aura flickered around Leomon's arm as he thrust his fist forward, and a burning fire shaped in the image of a lion face flew forward with a loud growl. In surprise Jeri sped to a halt before being struck full on by the attack. Jeri's body flew backwards, crashing brutally on the ground, her arm twisting behind her at an impossible angle before finally falling still. Calumon, shocked beyond all comprehension just stared at Jeri's unmoving form before looking over at Leomon.

"Wha…Leomon…wh…"

The sound of Jeri's dark laughter cut across Calumon's words like a knife. Turning towards her Calumon's shock increased to phenomenal levels as he watched her rise from off the ground, a crimson glow emerging from her eyes before her pupils spread outwards over her eyes like a black liquid.

"Very good, Leomon," said Jeri in a cold, echoing, mechanical voice that was made all the more disturbing by the hint of amusement that danced within it. _"Very_ good indeed."

Taking her uninjured hand Jeri grabbed hold of her now misshapen arm and twisted it. Popping sounds could be heard as bones reset themselves. Flexing her fingers Jeri dug into her dress pocket and pulled out a familiar yellow and orange colored sock puppet and placed it over her hand. Smiling widely Jeri woofed at Leomon and spoke.

"But very, very _…bad!"_

Her fingers curling in the sock puppets mouth bone white fangs burst free from the cloth and the sock puppet snarled hungrily.

_"Jeri is very, very angry now,"_ said the sock puppet as its fangs clicked together. _"Time to teach the naughty kitty a lesson."_

Jeri turned the sock puppet to her and nodded at it in approval.

"Yes. It is."

"J-Jeri?" Whispered Calumon fearfully.

"It's not her," said Leomon firmly, gripping his sword. Leomon's blue eyes narrowed dangerously, not taking his eyes off of the horror that looked like his partner.

"Do you mean…?" Began Calumon, remembering how the D-Reaper had sent an agent that looked just like the girl out into the human world and eventually evolved it into a horrifying monster.

"Yes," said Leomon. "Yes I do. Calumon. You must hurry and get into the core of the D-Reaper. Free Impmon and get out of here. I shall hold this creature off for as long as I can."

_"We'll have none of that,"_ said the sock puppet as cloth around its entryway suddenly closed up around Jeri's arm, fusing seamlessly to it. Snapping angrily the sock puppet then extended itself outwards like a snake, aiming towards Calumon. Fangs glittered in the darkness as it howled at its prey.

The sound of cloth being severed resounded upon the air as Leomon's sword cut through the sock puppets body, sending it to the ground with an airless flop, its body reverting back to normal as it collapsed. The sock puppet squirmed but once, gasped and then became still. Jeri's howl tore through the air as she clutched at her arm.

"GO _NOW!"_ Shouted Leomon at Calumon as he charged towards Jeri, a pained look in his eyes. Calumon hesitated for but a moment, caught between the desire to stay and help Leomon and to do as he had been bid. The sight of a long, black colored, clawed arm bursting free from the remnants of the sock puppet that was still attached to Jeri's arm snapped Calumon back to reality and he soon leapt into the air, Leomon's roar ringing in his ears as he sped towards the towering figure of the Mother Reaper.


	116. 115: Rise to Heaven

_"Death."_

_"Deletion."_

_"Pain."_

_"Suffering."_

_"Humans desire their own destruction. They destroy their environment. They destroy themselves. Humans kill each other. Humans created digimon, an uncontrollable species whose materialization into their world causes immense damage. Digimon become weapons. Digimon becomed 'tamed' by humans and the cycle repeats. Tamers have fought each other…"_

_"…Caused destruction."_

_"And even without an external source, humans will turn upon themselves. Their own bodies become subject to their need for destruction."_

_"Aggressive…"_

_"Adversarial…"_

_"Digimon…born from human needs and emotions, embody these traits. Should the next step in evolution occur, the level of destruction will exceed all known parameters."_

_"Exceeding of limitations. Cannot be allowed."_

_"Cannot be allowed."_

_"Limitations must be placed."_

_"Humans must not be allowed to thrive."_

This was what Calumon heard as he floated up the height of the Mother Reaper's body and he shivered unconsciously. Those words dredged up far too many memories that he'd sooner forget. They were not fun times, and Calumon knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if Jeri were here with him, the _real_ Jeri and not the pale imitation that Leomon was presently fighting, she would definitely agree with him.

_I hope that Leomon's going to be okay,_ thought Calumon as he came to a halt in front of the Mother Reaper's golden mask. Looking into the orb that made up the Mother Reaper's 'eye' Calumon sought desperately for anything that looked like an entryway. Unfortunately no such thing seemed to be handy and…

_Uh, oh. She's looking my way._

Calumon pushed himself backwards in the air as a series of red cables detached themselves from the Mother Reaper's body and immediately began seeking him out. As the cables drew near Calumon let out a shout and once more the blinding white light lashed out from the red triangle on his forehead, causing the cables to melt and fall towards the ground. Calumon watched them plummet for a moment before looking back up at the Mother Reaper, who likewise returned it with a wary look. Picking up his courage Calumon dove towards the eye of the Mother Reaper. As expected her cables rose up to stop him, but Calumon continued onwards, unmindful of them. White light spilled out from his red triangle once more, cascading over his body as he streaked forward, giving him the appearance of a blazing star shooting down from the heavens. Calumon sliced through the wires like a hot knife through butter before slamming dead center in the Mother Reaper's crystalline eye, eliciting a cry of surprise from the creature at this unexpected act. Calumon grunted as he poured all of his might into the light around him, burning away at the facemask and the eye to reach what lay beneath. Cables streaked up by the hundreds in a desperate bid to stop him. Each and every one of them failed, and soon enough the Mother Reaper's mask melted away, revealing the central core of the D-Reaper for all to see. Seeing this Calumon pushed forward and his body quickly passed through the orb, its material giving way for his presence seamlessly, as though it wasn't there and into whatever dangers might await for him on the other side.

* * *

_"Beast King Sword!"_ Shouted Leomon as he slashed through the air, narrowly missing the Jeri Reaper's head as she ducked underneath the massive blade and counterattacked with a vicious kick to the ribs. Leomon grunted as he fell back and rolled with the blow, abating as much of the impact as possible before getting back up in time to ward off Jeri-Reaper's claws. Steel clashed with talons and Leomon felt sweat roll down his face as he strained beneath the pressure. She was too strong for him to handle on his own. Growling beneath his breath Leomon thrust his fist forward, an orange flame materializing around the appendage before he unleashed a _Fist of the Beast King_ attack on his adversary at point blank range. Due to the Jeri-Reaper's committing to a full on attack, Leomon's counter caught her off-guard and knocked her back, allowing the lion warrior the few precious seconds he needed to regroup.

_She's strong,_ thought Leomon as he held his sword in a guard position. _Too strong. I don't have much of a point of reference to go on, but I'd say that she could be on the verge of an Ultimate…possibly Mega in power. This is not good. I don't have the strength to take her on and win._

_Fortunately, Winning is not my intention. All I have to do is keep her busy for a while._

But Leomon knew, even though delaying the Jeri-Reaper was his strategy it was easier said than done. Nonetheless, he was the only one available who could keep her busy long enough for Calumon to find Impmon and free him. Granted, he knew that with the power that Calumon had exhibited the Jeri-Reaper would have been little more than just a bad dream long ago, but then something new would have manifested in her place, and odds were it would have been something far worse than this.

Leomon had found, during his travels in Impmon's mind ever since this world of punishment gained form, that though Impmon's so-called 'mental defenses' were powerful and amazingly adaptable, they tended to only stick around until they were either defeated or won at which point they would take a new shape. Until such an end occurred they were effectively stuck in the form that they had.

Looking over at the Jeri-Reaper Leomon narrowed his eyes, feeling the embers of fury glow dangerously within him to see his partner's body, even a duplicate of it, become warped and ruined in such a way, twisted by self hatred and buried sorrow. He had to remind himself that this wasn't Jeri, and that his partner had left this part of herself behind a long time ago, in order to keep on fighting. But it wasn't easy. Not by a longshot.

Chuckling darkly, the Leomon-dubbed _Jeri-Reaper_ raised her clawed hands and waved them in the air playfully, long talons singing as their razor edges cut through the wind ever so slightly. The Jeri-Reaper had changed quite a bit since the two of them had begun their battle. Her skin had paled noticeably, becoming almost corpselike in appearance and her eyes, once a warm amber color had taken on a much deeper, red color within her irises. Her hair lost their smooth, silky look and was replaced by a number of deadly looking spikes. Long, gray colored wings had torn free from her back at one point in the battle and were presently folded in. An insane glimmer of light danced behind her eyes as she surveyed Leomon, and a wide, murderous grin spread across her face.

_"What's wrong, Leomon?"_ Asked Jeri-Reaper as she clicked her talons together. _"You're moving so slowly. Not at all the 'great warrior' that I remember you to be."_

"You _don't_ know me," said Leomon, gripping the hilt of his sword more tightly. "You know nothing of Jeri. You're just a mental projection of Jeri warped to ridiculous degrees by Impmon's psyche. To think that something like you could still find life somewhere in our nightmares, even after your defeat is beyond comprehension. As Jeri's partner it falls to me to finish the job that Takato started."

_"Do you think you're mon enough for it?"_ Taunted Jeri-Reaper as she got into a crouch and licked her lips. _"Well…maybe you are. You did attack me first after all, even though I was well disguised at the time. And who knows what kinds of things that you had to do in the digital world before you met up with Jeri. You digimon are well known for being such savages. How many digimon have you uploaded during your lifetime? Or is that on a 'need-to-know' basis only?"_

"Say what you will about me," growled Leomon, glowering at the imitation of his partner, "but mark my words. One way or another I will finish you. You will no longer plague the dreams of my friends."'

Jeri-Reaper chuckled.

_"We'll see,"_ she said before she unfolded her wings and surged forwards with a burst of speed. Sparks flashed as Leomon's sword once more met with Jeri-Reaper's claws.

* * *

Calumon landed on the floor of the D-Reaper sphere and took a look around him. It was different from what he remembered in that it lacked the numerous red colored cables that had been present the last time that he had been in this place. Instead crystalline light glowed from the walls, illuminating the chamber with a soft, almost comforting glow that was quite unlike what he had experienced inside the D-Reaper. In addition Calumon did not sense any kind of malevolence emanating from his surroundings. It was a strange departure from what past experience had taught him to expect but it was one that Calumon welcomed. Taking a step forward Calumon glanced around his surroundings before his green eyes finally came to rest on the unmoving figure of Impmon, lying spread eagled in the center of the sphere. Moving with no thought about any possible traps that might lie ahead Calumon bounded over to Impmon, only to cry out in surprise as a surge of electricity leapt up between them and struck the In-training digimon. Calumon shivered as he recovered from the unexpected shock before stumbling back up to his feet and blinking blearily at Impmon.

"Oooh…that wasn't very nice…" Calumon wavered slightly on his feet before frowning at Impmon.

"IMPMON!" Calumon shouted, cupping his little paws around his mouth to amplify his voice. "WAKE UP! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE SLEEPING!"

Calumon waited a moment and huffed in annoyance when he received no response from the unmoving digimon.

"IMP-MOOONNN!"

"Would ya keep it down," mumbled Impmon in a low voice and Calumon shouted in surprise and relief at his friend's waking.

"Impmon! You're okay!" In his glee Calumon bounded forward, only to quickly stop himself when he remembered the last time he had attempted getting close to the diminutive demon lord. Not noticing this, Impmon furrowed his brow and spoke, still not making an attempt to move his body from off the ground.

"Not if you keep making all that noise. Not that it matters anyway…"

Calumon cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"He's given up," came a rough voice that Calumon knew all too well. Phasing into view from across from Calumon was the leather bound, shotgun toting figure of Beelzemon, crimson eyes aglow and burning with unsheathed fury.

"How come there's two of you here?"

"There isn't," said Beelzemon. I'm him, and he's me. He's the image of himself as he is right now, and me? I'm just the side of him that he expresses the most. The side that's desired power for myself and forgiveness from Jeri."

"Like split personalities?" Calumon tilted his head to one side in confusion and Beelzemon sighed in irritation.

"No. I'm not…" Beelzemon hesitated. What was he going to say that could get Calumon to understand what exactly he was? In essence he himself was just an expression of Impmon as he always presented himself to the world; confident, quick to anger, ready to boast on a moment's notice, and always spoiling for a fight. But that was but a part of the real Impmon and the mask that he face that he chose, and enjoyed wearing in both his public and private life, and not the totality that made Impmon who he was. The _him_ that was lying on the ground right now made up that totality whereas he, Beelzemon, was the one that refused to give up no matter what happened or what obstacles he faced. Both of them were what Impmon wanted and at the same time…not. How could he communicate that idea to a little digimon whose mind revolved around food and play with the mentality of a three year old?

Beelzemon had severe doubts as to Calumon's ability to comprehend any of that.

"Yeah…" said Beelzemon in a dry tone, deciding that for now simplification was the best path to take. "I'm a 'split personality'…"

"Wow! That's cool! My name's Calumon! Pleased to meet you."

"Trust me," Beelzemon said wryly, feeling the faint beginnings of a headache growing in his head, "the pleasure is all mine."

"So…what do we do about him?" Asked Calumon, looking back over at Impmon. Beelzemon snorted disdainfully.

"You mean that you haven't figured that part out already? We rescue him. Plain and simple."

"But there's a force field around him."

"Is that so?" Asked Beelzemon, grinning devilishly as he withdrew a Berenjena from its holster and took aim. "Guess we'll have to see how tough it is."

Calumon's ears all but shot out of his head at the sight and he hopped up and grabbed hold of Beelzemon's shotgun, struggling to push it out of the way. Unfortunately, due to the sheer difference between their respective strengths Calumon's efforts went to naught while Beelzemon just looked at the creampuff with a disparaging expression before shaking his head in disgust.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't let you just shoot Impmon!"

"I'm _not_ shooting Impmon. I'm not the type of mon to hurt myself you know. I just want to blow apart this force field that you're talkin' about."

"But what if you use too much power and Impmon gets caught in it? What then?"

"You're askin' me?" Beelzemon tsked. "I don't intend to hurt him. I kinda need him around in order to live you know. Besides, he's been getting deleted left and right ever since that Shibumi fella put that program in him."

"Wha…?" Calumon blinked his wide, green eyes in surprise.

"Yeah. That's right. He's been getting' tormented ever since he showed up here. Remember what I said that _I_ wouldn't hurt myself? Well, it's kind of a lie because that's exactly what I'm… _he's_ doing. He's separated himself from everyone and everything and got stuffed into this world whose only purpose is to remind him of all the awful things that he's done to other people and to himself."

"But…why would he want to do that?"

"Why? Because it makes him feel _vindicated!_ Like he's being punished for what he's done! He thinks that if he feels for a moment what he did to Jeri and the rest then he's giving restitution! The thing is he knows that there's nothing that he can do to give back what he took away so there's no end to it! He's stuck in a well of darkness, creampuff and he doesn't want to walk back into anything that will give him comfort because he doesn't think he deserves it."

"But Jeri forgave him…"

"Forgiveness means nothing if all it ever does is make you hate yourself even worse. It wouldn't have mattered before all of this, but it's something that gnaws at him all the time. Takato's losing Guilmon was just the sort of thing that gave his guilt a new breath of life."

Calumon glanced over at Impmon with a look of sympathy, at a loss for what to do. It hurt him to see the guy blame himself this much for his deletion of Leomon. He could see plenty of reasons why Impmon would do such a thing, and why the Tamers had every right to hold a grudge against him, but the hatchet had long been buried when the former Demon Lord realized the massive extent to what he had done, and what he had accidently unleashed as well. Why did Impmon continue to carry his guilt? The others, Calumon felt would have been able to answer such a question but for the moment it was beyond his comprehension.

"What do we do?" Asked Calumon as he pulled his ears back within his head. Beelzemon pulled out his other shotgun, cocked it and took aim.

"I'm thinkin' joltin' him awake is a good place to start," said Beelzemon easily and Calumon's ears once more expanded as he began to panic.

"Ah! Beelzemon! Don-!"

As though in response to Calumon's words, or rather to something far more sinister, red cables shot out from the curved, crystalline walls and wrapped themselves around Beelzemon's arm, jerking it to the side just as he pulled the trigger. Twin bullets exploded from the Berenjena shotgun and slammed into the wall harmlessly, away from their intended target. More cables emerged now, this time from the ground and immediately set themselves to wrapping themselves around Beelzemon's body, entangling his legs and his remaining free arm. In one last, desperate bid Beelzemon threw his body against the wires, only to succeed in dislodging Calumon, with his shotgun firmly gripped in his tiny paws, and sending them both tumbling towards the ground.

"BEELZEMON!" Exclaimed Calumon in a panic. Seeing the trouble that the ex Demon Lord was in Calumon quickly began fumbling around with the shotgun, trying to turn its large frame into a position where he could use it to free its owner. It was to no avail however as more D-Reaper cables struck like cobras and quickly immobilized both weapon and wielder, separating them from each other. Calumon cried out in frustration and anger as he was pulled away from both Beelzemon and Impmon.

_This_ isn't _supposed to be how it goes!_

* * *

Leomon panted heavily as he barely blocked another one of Jeri-Reaper's attacks and leapt backwards. In response the Jeri-Reaper merely laughed as she surveyed the lion digimon's actions, taking in his exhaustion and weakness, confident that her victory was soon to be complete.

_"Tiring out?"_ She taunted. _"Poor, poor Leomon. Ever vigilant guardian, but in the end he can't save anybody. You couldn't protect me when Orochimon took me and you couldn't save me from the D-Reaper."_ Jeri-Reaper's voice then dropped an octave and took on the more warm, human sounding tones of Jeri Katou, tipped with sorrow and despair that did not belong on the upward curve of the Reaper's smiling lips. "Leomon…where are you? Why couldn't you save me? Why did it have to be… _him_ who came for me?"

_"ENOUGH!"_ Exclaimed Leomon, feeling his mental defenses shudder as the Jeri-Reaper finally dug into his skin. "If you're going to fight, then fight! But leave Jeri's voice out of this!"

_"Why?"_ Asked Jeri-Reaper, returning to what passed for a normal tone for her. _"Can't take it? You attacked me when I looked like your partner. I was certain that her voice wouldn't affect you."_

"That's because you're _not_ her."

_"But I am, Leomon. I was created using all of Jeri's memories and personality traits. Everything that is Jeri…her happiness, her joys, her…_ sorrows _…they're all in me. I'm everything that Jeri is and more. The difference between us is that I'm more honest with myself."_

"No…just less human," retorted Leomon as he lifted the flat of his blade to eyelevel, reflecting the Jeri-Reaper's image right back at her. "You can look and sound like Jeri all you want, but you've distorted who she is when you took in her anger. You've distorted yourself as well as you evolved and grew. Digimon have a name for such an act. _Dark Digivolution_. It occurs when a digimon absorbs nothing but negative energy when they evolve and becoming consumed by it."

_"I'm not a digimon, Leomon."_

"No," said Leomon, and for an instant his eyes flickered between blue and red before returning to blue. "You're something else entirely."

_"Have a touch of Beelzemon in you? Just how much of you has he assimilated? You don't have much time remaining in you."_

"Neither does he," said Leomon as he pulled his fist back, an orange aura flickering around his curled fingers before he thrust it forward, unleashing a flaming specter of a lion's face, snarling as it surged through the air. Jeri-Reaper merely sighed and cut the attack in twain with her clawed fingers.

_"Must we continue to do this? Why don't you just accept yours and Impmon's fates? You're soon to vanish and not long for this world. He's soon to follow."_

"My fate is why he must live," said Leomon firmly as he got into a battle stance. "My time has come. That is my destiny. I showed him how a warrior dies for what they believe in. Now I shall show him how to live for that belief. Calumon will rescue him. Stopping you is all I need."

_"All you have left you mean,"_ grinned Jeri-Reaper, raising her claws and flexing them. _"Very well, Kitten. Embrace your fate. You've more than earned what's yours."_

Leomon began to circle the Jeri-Reaper slowly and carefully, eyeing her for any sign of a hole in her defenses that he could exploit. He knew that he couldn't just rush in carelessly as so many digimon tended to do when offered a challenge. If he did that the game was over and he had to hold on for as long as he possibly could to buy Calumon the time that he needed to rescue Impmon. Looking into the demon woman's eyes Leomon could see the madness and depravity that danced with fire within them. Even he had to admit that he found the sight rather... _disquieting._

_Just what is she?_ Wondered Leomon. _All of this…Jeri's, sorrow, rage and anger given physical form. Ironic that such a creature all but made itself her partner, using her energies and her lion heart to accomplish its goals…_

Leomon's eyes narrowed for a second before widening in surprise, flickering once more between red and blue before returning to normal.

_Except…that's just it. It's_ not _Jeri that I'm facing. Not at all. This isn't the D-Reaper or any part of Jeri that escaped its destruction._

_No. I'm not fighting the D-Reaper._

Leomon tightened his grip on his sword and growled beneath his breath.

_I'm fighting Impmon._

* * *

"Imp…mon…" gasped Calumon as he felt the D-Reaper's cables tighten around his body like a noose. "…Help…"

"He ain't listenin' to ya, creampuff," grunted Beelzemon. "Well…he sorta is, but he's out of it."

The larger Demon Lord was indeed correct. Impmon had returned to a state of unconsciousness, unmoving and unaware of what was happening in the world around him.

"No…it _can't_ be! IMPMON! _WAKE UP!_ YOUR FRIENDS ARE IN TROUBLE!"

"Don't waste your breath. He can't hear ya, bub. And if he could…I doubt that there'd be anything that he could do."

"What do you mean?" Asked Calumon, feeling shocked to hear such a thing coming from Beelzemon. "I thought you said that you weren't going to quit! That you were going to keep right on fighting until the very end!"

Beelzemon glowered and pushed against his bonds.

"Don't you tell _me_ who I am or what I intend! I'm _Beelzemon!_ "

"Well you sure aren't acting like it."

Screaming with rage Beelzemon threw every ounce of his strength at the bonds that held him. Claws gleamed with a murderous red light, matching the cables and the glint in his eyes. Blue lightning danced upon the surface of the D-Reaper's cables, but Beelzemon paid them no mind as he reached towards Calumon, tearing at them.

"You think you can _stop_ me!?" The Demon Lord exclaimed as cables began to snap and tear under the strain of trying to keep him still. "I've eaten _tougher_ digimon for breakfast! You're _nothing_ to me!"

Howling with fury a blue light cascaded over Beelzemon's body as black, burning wings tore free from his back, shredding the cables behind him and causing them to fall limply to the ground. Smirking with approval and satisfaction Beelzemon took his now free hand and raised his other Berenjena shotgun and began blasting away at the D-Reaper. Crimson liquid flew through the air as cables disintegrated under the fire and through it all Beelzemon laughed, his trigger claw never once resting as it pulled the trigger. This was it. This was where he was going to face up to everything that had been thrown at him and he was going to…

_"Hrrk!"_

Beelzemon grunted in surprise as a series of cables slammed into his stomach. Looking down Beelzemon found data seeping out of a massive hole with a scarlet spike embedded within it. The blazing wings behind his back flexed but once, sending down a rain of ember-like feathers to the ground before they disintegrated. Dropping his shotgun Beelzemon grabbed hold of the spike and began to pull it out, only to be stopped as wires ripped free from the weapon and wrapped themselves tightly around Beelzemon's waist.

_This can't be happening…_ thought Beelzemon as shock settled heavily over his mind. His denial did not change the fact that the reality remained what it was. His crimson gaze turned towards Calumon, and his vision of the world began to grow dark as his body broke into fragments. Forcing a smirk onto his face, Beelzemon tried to say something to assure Calumon that this was not the end for him.

However, his face shattered before he could even get the words out of his mouth.

"BEELZEMON!" Screamed Calumon as the last remnants of the Demon Lord's body floated off into the air and disappeared. Renewing his struggle against his bonds Calumon called upon every last remnant of power that he within him. The red triangle on his forehead glowed, and in response the cables that held him tightened their grip on him and sent surges of electricity ripping through his system, eliciting another scream from the In-training's mouth. Calumon tried to block the pain but he failed utterly. Trying desperately to hold onto his collapsing strength Calumon took a deep breath and called out to the last person that could possibly hear him.

"IMPMOOONNN!"

The electricity that tore at the young digimon's nerves finally ground to a halt and Calumon slumped forward, smoke rising from his body. With a stubbornness that had been engrained into him from his countless escapades Calumon raised his head and looked over at Impmon.

"Impmon…" the In-training Creampuff wheezed. "…You know…that you don't have to do this…right? You told Jeri that…you were sorry. She…forgave you. The other you told me that you hate yourself because of what you did but…" Calumon coughed once before letting a small smile grow on his face. "…Don't…don't you see that we all love you anyways? We're your friends and we forgive you."

Impmon made no response save for the slight twitching of one eye.

"Impmon… _please…_ it hurts…"

"Calumon?" Whispered Impmon as he cracked open his eyes.

The sound of cables slithering over each other was the only answer that Impmon received from the creampuff loving digimon.

* * *

Leomon dodged to the left, missing getting burnt to a crisp by an energy blast that had been winged at him by the Jeri-Reaper. The attack however, Leomon quickly realized, was but a feint as one of the Jeri-Reaper's claws extended itself at a rapid pace and buried itself deeply into his shoulder. Not wasting any time, Leomon brought his sword up and shattered the claw. Screaming in pain the twisted visage of Jeri Katou charged towards him, lashing out with her claws as she went. Rolling to the side Leomon brought the flat of his sword up and slammed it into Jeri-Reaper's face, sending her flying away from him like an errant baseball. Unlike said projectile however the demonic program flapped her wings and quickly reoriented herself before charging forward, kicking up a gust of wind so strong that Leomon found himself unable to raise his arms in his defense. Throwing himself backwards Leomon kicked upwards and into Jeri-Reaper's stomach, once more throwing her to the side. Nonplussed by the attack, Jeri-Reaper slashed one set of claws to the side and sent a stream of energy blades flying towards the lion warrior just as he was getting up. The blades tore into his back and into the old scars that he bore with almost surgical precision and Leomon cried out in pain as he felt data fly free from his body. Falling towards the ground, Leomon rolled with the attack once again so that he was now facing his opponent.

_I'm on my last breaths,_ panted Leomon heavily as he raised his sword. Leomon winced noticeably when he saw that his arm was shaking from its weight.

_I don't know how much longer I can last here. I've tried every trick I know to extend this battle for as long as I could, but I'm running out of time. She's too strong for me to fight. It's no wonder Impmon is in the condition that he is. But then, it_ is _a part of him…the part of him that seeks self-destruction and atonement._

Leomon's eyes narrowed and he glanced subtly over at the Mother Reaper tower.

_Calumon…_

_"It's not easy, is it?"_ Asked Jeri-Reaper, forcing Leomon to return his gaze over to her. _"Fighting someone who looks like someone you care about?"_

Leomon scowled. The Jeri-Reaper had lost the vast majority of her similarities to his Tamer by now, maintaining only just enough to keep him on edge psychologically. For an instant Leomon felt a swell of admiration for Takato and Guilmon to be able to combat such a creature. It _was_ difficult, there was no denying that. But as long as he reminded himself that this creature was not Jeri, then he would fight until his last breath.

_Easily accomplished. But the fact that this is more Impmon in the guise of the D-Reaper is still troubling. But for Impmon to live, this must be done._

_"Why do you fight, Leomon?"_ Asked Jeri-Reaper. _"Why must you struggle so much to save a digimon that has brought nothing but misery to everyone and everything around him?"_

Leomon paused for a moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"So…that's the crux of the situation. I had thought as much, but to hear the question coming from your own lips is more than proof enough now."

_"What are you talking about?"_ Asked Jeri-Reaper, for once sounding curious about the digimon's response.

"In your present state, the answer wouldn't matter. You've taken on the elements of the D-Reaper in order to find the answer that you seek because you could not find it on your own. Were you afraid to find it? Afraid that you wouldn't find forgiveness? I don't know for certain." Opening his eyes, Leomon locked eyes with the Jeri-Reaper in front of him. "You ask why I fight for Impmon. I have been within him for many months now. I have seen the essence of who he is and have born witness to his heroism and his spirit. He may have fallen in the past, and hurt others, but there is no one who is beyond salvation when they see their own actions reflected within them. Impmon has experienced mercy and friendship and he takes strength from that. He creates life with them. I have _every_ reason to defend that."

With a snarl Leomon again raised his sword into a battle position.

"You spoke of destiny before, creature. Now come. Let us see what destiny has in store for us both."

Jeri-Reaper looked at Leomon with a mute expression before raising her claws.

_"Very well. Die then."_

With that, Jeri-Reaper leapt forward, claws extended and charged towards Leomon. Leomon stood his ground for a moment and shifted his grip on his sword. His expression was as firm as his grip, showing no hesitation or doubt. Pointing the sword towards Jeri-Reaper's eyes Leomon waited patiently for her to get closer. And then he threw his arms wide and received the totality of her attack, her claws breaking through his stomach and out of his back. Leomon gasped as the familiar pain tore through his body and he struggled desperately to hold on for as long as he could. Continuing to look into Jeri-Reaper's eyes Leomon was pleased to note the look of shock that had quickly formed within them following her successful attack, and even more so when her appearance shifted to that of a crimson eyed Beelzemon.

"Wha…?" Beelzemon stammered, but was interrupted by the staggering of Leomon's body as it attempted to right itself. Reacting on reflex Beelzemon grabbed hold of Leomon's shoulder and laid him gently on the ground.

"Leomon…wha…? What's going on here? How did you…?" Beelzemon paused and took a look around him, confused to note that the terrain had changed quite unexpectedly, becoming a space of pure white all around them. Calumon floated tiredly a short ways off in the distance but was gradually making his way closer to the pair. Reaching up Leomon settled his massive hand on Beelzemon's shoulder.

"Now…" he whispered, "…do you see? Do you understand now?"

"Understand _what?"_ Exclaimed Beelzemon angrily. "Why'd you do it? You let me kill you _again!_ This isn't what I _wanted!"_

"We don't always get what we want," said Leomon in a low voice as the hole in his stomach began to spread throughout his body. "My life is mine to give as I will to whatever I believe in. This…is my destiny just like this is yours. Would you be where you are now if it weren't for your actions?"

"You don't know that for sure," grated Beelzemon. "And _don't_ talk like you know what could happen! This didn't have to be necessary you know! _Jeri_ didn't have to go through that hell with the D-Reaper just to learn not to be sad about losing people close to her!"

Leomon simply smiled, unmindful of the fact that his chest and legs were now vanishing in a cloud of sparkling light.

"She didn't have to," agreed Leomon, "but she did anyway. She at least can say that she's a more understanding person for her experience. She has continued to live and be happy in spite of it and my absence."

"That's _not_ enough," spat Beelzemon angrily.

"It is…to her. That is her choice. Now it's time to make yours."

Leomon's body disintegrated into a stream of light that coalesced together, forming a blue sphere of energy with an _X_ within its center. The sphere pulsated once and as Beelzemon looked at it he felt as though he were being regarded by some presence lying within.

_"Life…or death. Happiness and memories or none at all. This is my gift to you."_

_Leomon…_

Closing his eyes Beelzemon raised one clawed hand to his face and covered it. Seconds ticked by during which nothing happened until finally, as though by some unseen signal, particles of light reached forth from the sphere of light and connected with Beelzemon's body.

Calumon slowly opened his eyes with a groan and looked over in Beelzemon's direction just in time to see two spheres beating as one, as though they were a single entity.

* * *

"Uh!"

Impmon sat up in surprise, accidently knocking Calumon off the examination table and causing the little In-training digimon to squawk in surprise at the unexpected movement.

"Hey!" Called out Calumon as he righted himself and glared up at Impmon. "Warn someone before you move like that! Sheesh!"

"Eh? Creampuff? What're you doin' here?"

Calumon blinked as his expression changed from irritation to confusion. "Huh? You mean you don't remember?"  
Raising one gloved hand Impmon flexed his fingers carefully.

"I remember having some weird dream. For some reason I was fighting in the D-Reaper zone…"

"I know," said Calumon, his eyes brightening up now. "I was there. You were in trouble and Leomon had to help you out. I also met your twin brother."

Impmon looked at Calumon with an uncertain expression as he sifted through his memories. Had the little digimon been there? Or…

"Nah," said Impmon, deciding that remembering was more trouble than it was worth and turned his attention to peeling off the sensors from his body. "I don't remember you bein' in there."

"What?!" Exclaimed Calumon hotly. "But I _was_ there!"

"This ain't no 'Wizard of Oz' Creampuff. I don't remember you at all. Too bad it didn't transfer over to the real world too. Not that it would really matter in the end I think."

As Impmon finished removing the last of the sensors he looked down at himself, for some reason expecting as though he were supposed to look different but he looked the same as he always did. There was something different about him though. He could feel it.

_It's like some weight has been lifted offa me,_ thought Impmon to himself as he got up and hopped off of the examination table.

"You're so mean, Impmon," huffed Calumon, still focused on their present conversation.

"Never said that I was all cotton candy. Someone's gotta not be taken in by your cuddly cuteness you know. So; what's been going on since I've been out?"

A loud explosion boomed through the hallways and the floor beneath the two digimon shook in response to it. After a second of silence had passed Impmon sighed.

"Never mind," he said. "I can guess already what's been going on. I really can't leave you guys alone for even a _few_ minutes can I? All right…time to go take out the trash."

* * *

Lilithmon groaned as she struggled to get back to her feet, her body phasing in and out of stability and she soon collapsed back down to the ground. Rolling over to her back, Lilithmon's eye caught the oncoming form of UlforceVeedramon as he strode towards her, energy blade charged and his steps measured and unhurried. The smoking remains of the tank that had taken a shot at him blazed behind him, silhouetting his body. Just scant seconds ago the tank had unleashed a furious attack on the Mega level Royal Knight the likes of which Miki hadn't seen since the battle with the Cable creature. The power that had been unleashed by the tanks cannon had been quite impressive, blowing holes in the ground, tearing trenches in the ground with no interruption and plowing through buildings with frightening ease. It was all for naught however as UlforceVeedramon stood there and waited for each attack to come at him. And when they did he had used the energy shield on his left bracelet to protect himself before dispensing with it and using his blade to bat the blasts aside. Lilithmon herself had barely survived being caught up in that particular onslaught and one had managed to clip her on her already smarting head.

_I can't get up,_ Miki's mind echoed as she watched UlforceVeedramon make his way towards her. Swallowing Lilithmon took a shallow breath and tried to control her breathing so that she could think of a way out of this. Nothing came to her though, and no matter what she did she couldn't lift her arms. They, and the rest of her body, felt like dead weights to her.

_Come on…pleasepleaseplease just_ please _MOVE! If I can't move now it's all over! Movemovemovemovemove…_

Repeating the word like a mantra Lilithmon closed her eyes and swallowed again. Finally, the claws on her decayed right arm twitched in response and began to lift…

Lilithmon bit back a cry as UlforceVeedramon slammed one foot down on her arm, pinning it to the ground.

"It's over," said the Royal Knight in a cold, emotionless tone. "Prepare to meet Anubismon."

"Bastard," whispered Lilithmon bitterly as she strained against the boot that held her down. Not making any response UlforceVeedramon raised his energy blade over his head, preparing to deliver the final blow…

_"Double Impact!"_

The Royal Knight's arm whipped to the side fiercely as a bullet slammed into the bracelet causing it to shatter into shards of data. Before UlforceVeedramon could even react a black, leather coated figure rushed forward and delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to his head, sending him flying backwards. Landing deftly on the ground Beelzemon drew a Berenjena shotgun from his back holster and crossed it with his other one, held with its barrel smoking in his other hand, over his chest.

"Now, now. Is that any way for an exalted knight to treat a lady? You really need to take some lessons from a certain Gogglehead but since he ain't here I'll gladly do it in his place." Glancing over his shoulder Beelzemon looked at Lilithmon. "How ya doin' toots? You okay?"

"I could use something to eat after this is over," Lilithmon said in the dual voices of Miki and Dracmon as a relieved smile broke on her face. "So I think that's a good sign."

"Glad to hear it," nodded Beelzemon as he looked back at UlforceVeedramon as he began to get back to his feet. "You might want to get outta here and rest up for a bit. I'll handle this joker."

Not waiting for her response Beelzemon took a step towards UlforceVeedramon, the claws clicking ever so slightly on the triggers of his guns.

"UlforceVeedramon…I shall be your opponent."

UlforceVeedramon closed one hand into a fist and narrowed his eyes.

"So be it, Demon Lord. Come and accept your fate."

At those words Beelzemon couldn't help but smirk.

"Gladly."


	117. 116: Angels Grace

Ayaka coughed harshly as she inhaled a cloud of dust caused from an explosion that had torn apart a wall and part of the ceiling above them.

"S-Suzie…" She gasped as she sat up and looked down at the little girl that she had shielded. "Are you okay?"

Suzie Wong nodded carefully, looking up at the coppery haired girl with a look of awe as she clutched her digivice tightly to her chest. Ayaka breathed a sigh of relief, only to regret it seconds later as doing so started up another round of coughing.

"Awe you alwight?" Asked Suzie, sounding more than a little bit worried as she grabbed hold of Ayaka's forearms. Smiling weakly Ayaka nodded her head and got to her feet, trying desperately to ignore the panicked flutter that her heart was making in her chest. Ayaka was shaking badly; honestly more frightened than at any time she had been in her life up to and including the recent events that she had been through prior. Being in a tall building with a battle raging outside did not help things much as every explosion that rocked the area made her feel that everything was going to come collapsing down on her at any moment, and if she stopped to think about it for any significant length of time she would realize that there really wasn't a safe place that she could run to anytime soon and hold up until the crisis was over. And then there was the safety of Suzie to worry about. The little girl seemed more or less unaffected by what was going on around her, being more surprised or startled than anything else by every explosion that happened near them, but otherwise maintained a cool head. Something that Ayaka was grateful for, and could take some confidence from. If someone like Suzie could remain brave even in the face of eminent death, then why should she? Especially when Suzie was counting on her to get her to safety?

_Now if only the elevators were fine to use then we'd be set,_ thought Ayaka grimly as she scanned the hallway for the next available flight of stairs, hoping beyond hope that they weren't damaged in some way to make them impassible. _I've got to get Suzie to that shelter with her Mom and family._

Biting her lip and taking Suzie's hand, Ayaka resumed walking; taking care to make sure that the floor beneath them wasn't weakened by the fighting while trying to move as quickly as possible. She could hear Suzie's labored breaths as she tried to keep up. It was swiftly becoming clear that Suzie was getting tired and Ayaka cursed herself for not thinking about that earlier as she, being the younger of the two, was not quite up to par with the other Tamers as far as stamina went.

_If only there hadn't been a hole blown into that stairwell this wouldn't be as much of a problem._

"Suzie," began Ayaka. "Can you see how the others are doing?"

Suzie nodded and brought out her digivice, the familiar holographic circle materializing above its screen and showing them an image of what was happening outside via the 'rabbit cam' coming from Antylamon's perspective. Ayaka looked at it, hoping for the best that their side was winning.

* * *

"ANTYLAMON!" Called out Kazu as the heart bubble that contained himself, Kenta, and MarineAngemon burst and deposited them gently on the ground. Hearing their voices, the massive rabbit Deva forced herself to raise her head to their direction. Pain flared within the depths of her skull, as well as in multiple areas around her body, bringing bright spots of light to her vision that nearly caused her to collapse back down to the ground again. Blinking the lights away Antylamon focused on the two Tamers, fighting the wave of dizziness that caused the world to lurch around her.

_Wha…what happened?_ The Deva wondered, her thoughts sounding strangely slurred. She briefly wondered if this was what humans called a 'concussion' but she brushed the thought aside as unimportant for the time being. The sound of attacks being pronounced and unleashed swiftly took the first place prize for priority.

_"Double Impact!"_

Twin cone-shaped bullets surged through the air, leaving ripples in their path as they went brought Antylamon's attention to bear. Her eyes widened as she tracked their course and all at once her pain became an insignificant thing. Where once it had been a lead weight it soon became no more than a feather as she pulled herself off the ground in one smooth motion and dashed forwards, somersaulting through the streets with far greater ease than any Olympic gymnast and deftly, but carefully, grabbed hold of Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon and flipped out of the path of the oncoming bullets. An explosion rang out as the projectiles impacted somewhere off in the distance but Antylamon paid them no mind for the time being, intent as she was on ensuring that her charges were all right. After quickly taking a look around to make certain that there were no further, immediate dangers the rabbit Deva set the two Tamers and MarineAngemon back down on the ground.

"Are you guys all right?" She asked, taking in the rather startled figures beneath her.

"Could you give a guy some warning before you make them leave their stomach behind?" Gasped Kazu while next to him Kenta was currently hyperventilating. MarineAngemon for his part was simply giggling up a storm and beaming at his partner. It took quite a lot to ruffle his digital feathers.

"My apologies," began Antylamon before Kenta overrode her words.

"G-Give it a rest, Kazu," stammered Kenta as he caught his breath. "If it weren't for her we would have been blindsided back there. And by the way...tell me that wasn't Beelzemon shooting at us…"

"I hope not," said Kazu with a grimace. "The last thing we need right now is a psycho biker mon on top of the Royal Knights."

"I don't believe that it was his intention to shoot at you," said Antylamon calmly as she looked out towards the direction from where the bullet had come. "Rather, it was more that his attack missed his intended target and you three just happened to wander in the way."

"I'm so glad that our brush with near death was just a result of poor aim," said Kazu rather sarcastically. "Anyway, what's the situation down here? Besides being a total ruin by the way…"

"Pihpuhpuh," said MarineAngemon.

"You said it," Kazu said to MarineAngemon with a nod, prompting Kenta to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"You…actually understood that?"

"No, but given the situation we're in I'm pretty sure that I had good odds of guessing what he said. Was I right?"

"Uh…surprisingly, yeah." Kenta shook his head in stunned surprise as though pondering the wonders of the universe before returning his attention back to Antylamon. "So…how about it?"

A loud explosion off in the distance resounded upon the air, and the two humans and two digimon all looked towards the source just in time to see another fireball rise into the air. Gyōjamon, they correctly guessed, was apparently having quite the _fun_ time dealing with his half of the situation.

"Man, the city is not going to be happy about this…" commented Kazu ruefully as he took out his digivice. "Antylamon. Did you happen to see what happened to Guardromon when you joined in on the fight?"

"I'm sorry," apologized the Rabbit Deva with a shake of her head. "But I have not seen your partner. Given that I am outclassed by the Royal Knights perhaps I would be better suited to searching for him."

Kazu's face took on a stone hard expression as he drew one hand up into a fist.

"Kazu?" Asked Kenta, seeing the motion.

"No," replied the visor-wearing Tamer. "These Royal Knights are tough customers so we're going to need as much manpower out there as we can. Beelzemon's tough but Crusadermon slapped him around when she was injured and weak. The blue dragon dude…UlforceVeedramon is at full strength. He's going to need all the help he can get out there. I'll look for Guardromon."

"I'll help too," began Kenta only to be cut off by his friend before he even got halfway past 'help'.

"Didn't you just hear me right now? We're going to need all the power we can get to take on these Royal Knights? As much as I don't like the idea of MarineAngemon getting involved out there I know that he's probably the best chance we got to stay in the game against these guys! You know just as well as I do that even though MarineAngemon isn't much of a fighter he can still hold his own when it comes to it. Plus he heals digimon which I _know_ is going to be a plus for us out there. We can't afford to have you not out there doing your job as team medic!"

"I feel the need to point out that until you find Guardromon," said Antylamon, "you won't have any protection."

A strange smirk appeared on Kazu's face just then and Kenta felt his spine become chilled just seeing it.

"I won't be any good out there in a fight until I find him either," he replied coolly. "Now get a move on you guys."

"Kazu…"

"Kenta," Kazu fixed his bespectacled friend with a withering stare. "Don't make me give Ayaka a reason to hate me later."

Kenta hesitated before nodding reluctantly and grinning.

"You mean more than usual?"

"You're stalling…"

"All right, all right. I'm going. MarineAngemon? Antylamon?"

"Pih!"

"At once," said Antylamon, supplying Kazu with one last glance before picking Kenta and MarineAngemon up in one hand and bounding off. Kazu watched them go for a moment before raising his digivice and activating the holographic compass to find where his partner was located.

_If he's even alive at all,_ thought Kazu fearfully but he quickly squashed it. He was still receiving a signal on his digivice. There was no static on its screen. That was all the proof that he needed to know that Guardromon was okay.

_Besides; Guardromon's too dense to be deleted just like that, even by a Mega. And I'm not talking about how smart he is either._

The arrow on the holographic circle swung wildly at first before settling in a direction off to his right. His eyes becoming firm Kazu quickly ran in the direction that the arrow indicated hope and fear seesawing back and forth in his heart as he hoped that his partner had managed to pull through and would be all right when he found him.

_He's gotta be all right. He's just gotta be!_

* * *

A motorcycle came careening out of the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris from the force of its impact. Within seconds the machine, with Beelzemon sitting astride it with one of his Berenjena shotguns out and training on UlforceVeedramon, rocketed out of the cloud like a great behemoth, engine roaring like an untamed animal that was finally being let loose into an unsuspecting world. Beelzemon let loose a roar of his own, the two of them blending together seamlessly as though they were made as one; a single entity that would ride together until the end of time. The blast of a single Berenjena shotgun provided even further volume to their unified voice, screaming defiance in the form of a twin pair of bullets as they rocketed towards their target leaving ripples expanding outwards through the air.

UlforceVeedramon _hmmphed_ as the Demon Lord sped towards him and raised his right arm. Shining particles of data congregated about it, reforming the V-Bracelet that had previously been destroyed, and a blue blade of energy shimmered into existence.

"Fool," UlforceVeedramon muttered as he slashed the blade to the side, sending out a stream of energy surging towards Beelzemon. The blade tore towards the Demon Lord, tearing a path through the road as it went. The air around Beelzemon rippled as the force of the attack drew near…

…And Beelzemon vanished from sight.

_What…?_ Came the surprised thought from UlforceVeedramon as his attack passed over the demon bike known as _Behemoth_ , not touching its intended target in the least. A second later a hailstorm of bullets rained down on the Royal Knight, slamming into his body and almost forcing him to fall to one knee in surprise. Looking up UlforceVeedramon had just enough time to register Beelzemon reappearing on his bike before the behemoth slammed into him at full force, staggering the Royal Knight.

_"Double Impact!"_ Shouted Beelzemon as he leapt off his bike and fired at its gas tank, igniting the fuel within and causing the machine to explode in UlforceVeedramon's face. Beelzemon continued to rain a hailstorm of bullets down on the Royal Knight as he drew himself forwards, narrowing the distance between them so as to decrease the amount of distance that UlforceVeedramon would have to dodge the attack. In response the azure dragon rocketed forth from the blazing inferno and charged towards Beelzemon, forcing the Demon Lord to duck and roll to the side to avoid the blow. Spinning on a dime far faster than he anticipated UlforceVeedramon stabbed downwards with his energy blade, imbedding it into Beelzemon's leather jacket and the streets beneath him, preventing him from escaping as intended. Reacting on pure instinct Beelzemon brought his shotgun up to UlforceVeedramon's face and let him have it with _both_ barrels at point blank range before delivering a powerful kick for added measure, throwing him off.

Getting back to his feet Beelzemon pulled out his second Berenjena shotgun and quickly added its firepower to the mix. Although he would rather tear into the Royal Knight and fight it out with him, experience had taught him that such combat was practically wasted on them. Takato and Guilmon were inexperienced with their form when they first biomerged into Gallantmon, accounting for much of their difficulty during their fight with him, but in spite of their inexperience they had emerged as an excellent, unified fighting force. Had the duo a little more time to grow accustomed to their Mega form, as Beelzemon did prior to their apocalyptic battle with each other outside of the Phoenix Gate of the Sovereign Zhuqiaomon, Beelzemon felt certain, although he would never admit it, that he would have lost quite quickly. And even though he and Takato and Guilmon were no longer enemies that battle had remained in the back of his mind as an experience to learn from, in more than one way as well. But in a situation such as this, it was the finer points of combat that would serve him.

_The joints, the eyes…anywhere where the armor is thin. That's where I've got to aim. And this guy's faster than Gallantmon too. I've got to take away that advantage somehow. Oh…and he flies. Well, nothing that a few bullets through the wings won't fix._

Beelzemon grimaced, getting the feeling that he was just fooling himself. If it really was that easy, UlforceVeedramon would have been riddled with holes long ago.

As if to prove the point UlforceVeedramon charged towards him once more, his body blurring in and out of view as Beelzemon fired both Berenjena shotguns at him.

_I can't track this guy!_ Thought Beelzemon desperately as his third eye widened in a desperate bid to get a hold of UlforceVeedramon's movements. _Why can't I…?_

"Counter Program activated," came the cool voice of UlforceVeedramon from behind the former servant of Zhuqiaomon. "Yggdrasil Sephirot protocols…initiated."

White light burst across Beelzemon's vision as a searing hot pain tore through his back and out through his chest. Crying out in pain Beelzemon threw himself forward, feeling a burning sensation tear itself free from his body as he did so. Firing blindly Beelzemon heard the sound of an energy field crackling as it deflected his attack. Rolling on the ground until he was facing the Royal Knight Beelzemon had only a second to register UlforceVeedramon's proximity to his body before the dragon delivered a brutal kick into his stomach, sending him flying into a nearby car. Shattered glass sprayed into the air as the force of Beelzemon's body smashing into it caused the vehicle to fold in on itself. Sliding ungracefully to the ground Beelzemon coughed painfully, data sparkling in the darkness of the night from his mouth.

_Guh…_ groaned Beelzemon as he raised one clawed hand to his stomach and touched it gingerly. His body tensed up reflexively and pain shot through him in response, serving to confirm his suspicions. _The guy tagged me…_

"Did you _really_ think that we wouldn't be prepared to combat one such as you?" Came the voice of UlforceVeedramon as he stomped towards the fallen Demon Lord. "Why do you think your comrade Lilithmon was in such a desperate condition when you joined the battlefield? We Royal Knights know _all about_ you Demon Lord digimon and how to combat you. Just now I have activated the Yggdrasil protocols, designed by my lord and master himself, to negate the vast majority of your abilities. You were a _fool_ to enter into combat with me."

Beelzemon didn't answer at first as two of his three eyes were closed in deep concentration. Within mere moments the flow of data from his injury slowed to a crawl and quickly stopped altogether. Touching the area where he had been stabbed carefully Beelzemon grimaced before getting back up to his feet.

_At least he didn't negate my 'Overwrite Sequence'; the natural digimon healing ability,_ thought Beelzemon to himself. As a rule digimon tended to heal quickly, and Megas far more quickly and easily than most digimon, though it couldn't be said that doing so was not cheap by any means. Not at all.

"You know…" began Beelzemon as he picked up his Berenjena shotguns in his claws. "I never did get what you guys meant by all this 'Demon Lord' stuff. You make it sound like an evil group bent on world domination. But you know somethin'…I ain't too big on that kind of thing. Right now, I'd rather be home with my partners playing some games. Maybe a prank or two, or three. Instead I'm right here, fighting you, and listening to you going on about how _prepared_ you are for _fighting me._ Well let me educate you on somethin' bub…" Beelzemon closed two of his eyes as a purple aura surrounded his body. Blood red irises transformed into green as the leather clothes that he wore lightened from a deep black to a mottled gray. Black wings tore themselves free from his back and a massive cannon materialized around his right arm, replacing the shotgun that it held. Opening his emerald eyes Beelzemon fixed the Royal Knight with a hard stare before continuing. "…Just because you can prepare for something doesn't mean you can prepare for _everything._ You can teach an old dog new tricks, and I'm definitely _not_ your run-of-the-mill Beelzemon!"

Bringing his arm cannon to bear, Beelzemon sighted down the barrel at UlforceVeedramon and the claws at the tip separated, and a sphere of purple energy crackled into existence between them.

_"Corona Blaster!"_ Exclaimed Beelzemon as he let loose a powerful blast at his opponent.

* * *

Duftmon panted painfully as he pushed his battered body off the pavement. To say that his side of the battle was not going well was a bit of an understatement, and in _extremely_ stark contrast to how his partner was doing. Specks of floating embers and ash, glowing blue from the intense heat that had given them birth, floated through the air like a ghostly Sakura tree within a demonic hell illuminated by the burning fires that surrounded him.

_Not that I wouldn't have this any other way,_ he laughed mentally, but within the Royal Knight's bravado was a sense of fear that he did not feel at all comfortable with. As stated, the battle had not been progressing well since Gyōjamon's mask had come off. With each successive minute that passed, the kitsune warrior's power increased exponentially, making it that much more difficult for him to land a hit that would have any lasting affects…and that was provided that he could actually _get_ close to the Mega level shaman warrior, never mind actually hitting him with one of his ranged attacks.

_And since he grew a fifth tail that has been steadily becoming a nigh impossibility…_

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Duftmon actually began to doubt that he could win this battle.

The blue light that illuminated the battlefield flared suddenly and Duftmon winced reflexively and looked up, already expecting to see Gyōjamon standing in front of him, still ready and able to deliver him the battle that he so eagerly desired at the beginning of their fight.

He was not in the least bit disappointed.

Shuddering Duftmon staggered to his feet, raising his saber into a defensive position. Before him, the blazing figure of Gyojamon, now stripped of his clothing and burning with the intensity of a dying star, shifted his grip on his bladed spear while behind him his five tails flexed, moving with the motions of the flames that made them. The air shimmered around the kitsune digimon and a deep, uncharacteristic chuckle came from the vixen's throat.

_"Had enough?"_ The blazing vulpine asked, his voice echoing upon the air with all the force of a death sentence and the subtlety of a light breeze. Hearing those words Duftmon actually paused in consideration, wondering if retreat would perhaps be the best option in order to survive the day. However, his pride as a Royal Knight swiftly kicked in and became hard as stone.

"Not… _quite_ …yet," he gasped painfully, and audibly as he shifted his grip on his sword. Gyojamon nodded as though he had expected no less. Moving his spear in long, slow, lazy motions the burning fox began to circle the battered Royal Knight. Although he couldn't be sure as the flames obscured his face, Duftmon could have sworn he saw Gyōjamon smiling.

_"Well then…we'll have to change that,"_ said the kitsune warrior, and in response a _sixth_ tail appeared amongst the others, its blue flames racing from its tip to join with his body. White runes now appeared on Gyojamon's chest and he crouched down towards the ground, like a predator preparing to spring upon its prey.

_By Yggdrasil…_ breathed Duftmon mentally as ripples began to appear in the air from the swaying of Gyōjamon's tails. He didn't have long to contemplate them because a second later the shaman torch leapt forward, spear lashing out amidst the blue flames that were already surging towards him.

* * *

Something was wrong. _Very_ _wrong._ It had to be a mistake of some kind. Some glitch in the systems from all the pounding that they had been taking during the past week. Something that the technicians missed while conducting their repairs. Yeah, that had to be it. Such things happened every now and then, right?

Except that this wasn't the case, and Tally knew that she was simply fooling herself.

Panic had quickly set into the atmosphere of the main control room as Tally, Riley, their superior Yamaki, and much to Tally's surprise Kuroda as well, fought to analyze the situation that had rapidly been spinning out of control ever since the fighting had started. At first it had started as a mere blip on their sensors but it had quickly become much more than that, spreading across the sensor grid like a virus running wild. Tally had quickly reported the situation while she began running checks and rechecks. It _couldn't_ be possible. More importantly it _shouldn't_ be.

The barriers that kept the real and digital worlds separated were eroding.

"Reapply the Firewall systems!" Barked Yamaki.

"I'm trying sir!" Exclaimed Riley. "But the erosion is spreading too quickly! I've pulled in as much processing power as I can but our systems can't keep up with it!"

"Kuroda! Can you isolate the source?!"

"Way ahead of you, sir," shot back Kuroda as his fingers became, metaphorically speaking, as a blur upon his keyboard. A second later he turned back to Yamaki.

"I've pinpointed the source of the disturbance! It's coming from Gyōjamon!"

* * *

"This…isn't good," observed Kenta as he looked up at the sky, taking note of the ripples that were appearing in the sky. "Antylamon? Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Just that there is a massive disturbance in the barriers between the real and digital worlds," replied the rabbit Deva. "Perhaps one of us should get in contact with Yamaki and apprise him of the situation."

Kenta shook his head. "He probably already knows by now. We've been making enough of a ruckus already. Besides…uh…I don't have a cell phone on me or anything. It'd take too long to get in touch with him, and UlforceVeedramon could still cause a lot of damage in the meantime."

Antylamon frowned, uncertain if she liked that line of reasoning, but nodded all the same.

"Very well. But we should keep in mind how the disturbance shaping up just to be on the safe side."

"Right. But let's let Yamaki worry about it right now. We have bigger…"

The sight of Beelzemon being blasted past them cut across Kenta's words and forced Antylamon to draw up to a sudden halt.

"…Fish to fry…" Kenta finished in a rather dull fashion as his eyes followed Beelzemon's forced 'flight path' all the way to the streets.

"Kenta," said Antylamon as she placed the boy and his partner down on the ground. "Back me up here. I'm going to need MarineAngemon for this one. Trouble's arrived."

"Got it," agreed Kenta as he quickly scrambled for cover, his hands already fumbling for his digivice and cards. Getting into a defensive stance Antylamon swiftly morphed her hands into a pair of axes and narrowed her eyes.

"Well?" She asked the shadows of the city, hoping to hide her anxiety with the bravado that her Tamer, and Terriermon, had been trying to teach her. "Are you coming or do we have to come to you?"

"Be careful what you wish for, Deva," came UlforceVeedramon's voice from the darkness. "And I thought that we had already settled who among the two of us was the stronger. Clearly another lesson is in order."

_I don't think so,_ Antylamon suddenly grinned as she felt a sudden change in her energy levels. Suzie was watching her, and she had just slashed a series of cards through her digivice to improve her speed and stamina. Say what you would about the young girl, but when it came to cards she could pick them with the best of them.

UlforceVeedramon charged out from the darkness and Antylamon deftly evaded him, catching the Royal Knight off guard and allowing her enough time to slash at him with one of her axe-like hands. Fast as she was however UlforceVeedramon was faster and he quickly blocked the attack with his left arm, using the bracelet to create a defensive shield. Quickly leaping backwards Antylamon laid into the Royal Knight by slashing her arms in wide arcs, sending twin energy blades rushing towards her opponent. These attacks met with the same level of success as her previous one however and the Deva fought back the urge to curse. She wasn't strong enough to…

_"The Ray of Victory!"_ Shouted UlforceVeedramon, interrupting her thoughts as the golden _V_ symbol on his chest suddenly glowed and let loose a surge of energy that slammed into Antylamon _hard_ , throwing her to the ground with enough force to cause several parked cars to rise slightly into the air. UlforceVeedramon was on her in seconds, blade extended and ready to deliver the coup de grace…

"DIGI-MODIFY! GARURUMON'S HOWLING BLASTER ACTIVATE!"

Only to be stalled by a blast of super cooled energy coming from a little, pink colored fairy as it flew up towards him. Taking advantage of UlforceVeedramon's distraction Antylamon slammed one of her axe hands into his side. Quickly recovering UlforceVeedramon grabbed hold of the rabbit Deva's arm and pulled her up, energy blade humming with power as he raised it to strike her.

_"Phantom Pain!"_

Without warning a gaseous cloud of pure darkness sprung up around the Royal Knight's body, moving about him like a vicious snake until it came between him and Antylamon. The cloud quickly solidified into a female shape before bursting forward, racking a clawed hand across UlforceVeedramon's face and slashing down the golden _V_ symbol on his body, causing a shower of sparks to fly through the air. UlforceVeedramon staggered backwards with a cry as he raised one hand up to his face, glaring venomously at the Lilithmon that now appeared before him, a grin growing on her bruised and battered face.

"You didn't…happen to…forget about _me_ did you?" She gasped as she raised her decayed, demonic arm. "We're not done with you either…"

"Thank you Lilithmon," said Antylamon as she raised the axes that were her hands and stepped forward.

"Don't mention it," replied Lilithmon. "Now what do you say about us taking this guy down?"

"Sure thing."

UlforceVeedramon glared at the two digimon as he lowered his hand down to his side. Although his armor, being made of Chrome Digizoid, negated the majority of Lilithmon's decaying ability there was still a very visible sign of its effects as the metal where he had been slashed had lost their luster and took on a 'stained' appearance to them.

_Despicable,_ spat UlforceVeedramon mentally. _To sully the armor of a Royal Knight…one of Yggdrasil's Chosen servants._

UlforceVeedramon's eyes narrowed dangerously as he took in the condition of his opponents. Although they appeared badly battered they looked quite willing to continue this fight for as long as it took until he had fallen. Beelzemon, by the same token was already flying towards them, this time carrying a sword that strangely resembled a Leomon's, and…UlforceVeedramon's eyes narrowed further. Was that a MarineAngemon he had seen earlier when he had been hit by that _Howling Blaster_ attack?

_That's not good,_ he thought to himself. _I can already see him using his hearts to heal them. Very clever. If this battle continues they just might very well defeat me by way of attrition. Hmmm…_

Raising one hand in front of him, UlforceVeedramon traced a series of symbols in the air.

"Sephirot Protocols, sublevels _Yesod, Hod, Netzach,_ and _Chokmah_ activated. Preparing binding techniques."

The armor on UlforceVeedramon's glowed with a golden shine suddenly, sending out strands of energy that reached out towards Lilithmon and Beelzemon, wrapping themselves around the two Demon Lords. Lilithmon shrieked as the bands locked her in place and smoke began to emerge from her body and she was soon forced down to the ground. Beelzemon quickly joined her as his wings were pinned to his body, leaving him victim to the ever present force of gravity.

"Fools," UlforceVeedramon said with a shake of his head. "I told you before that we Royal Knights know how to combat you _Demon Lords._ And that is but a taste of what the Sephirot Protocols have to offer. So do yourselves a favor and _stay_ _down!_ " UlforceVeedramon turned his head over towards Antylamon and MarineAngemon. Kenta, from his vantage point from behind a broken and shattered car, fancied that he saw the Royal Knight's eyes glowed red right before he charged towards the two remaining defenders of Shinjuku.

* * *

The girl's blue colored eyes opened ever so slowly from her position on the ground. One hand drifted lazily up towards the sky, blotting out the cloud covered moon that hung above her and she groaned, though not in pain.

_Where…where am I?_ The girl wondered, confusion abound in her mind as she lowered her hand and sat up, taking in her surroundings. It was definitely a human made city, and one that had most certainly seen better days that much was certain. Fires burned off in the distance and the distant thud of explosions could be heard upon the wind. The girl narrowed her icy blue eyes, glowering at the sorry state of the city that she had found herself in.

_Just what is going_ on _here?_ She wondered. _Did a war break out or something? How long have I been gone? The last thing that I remember…_

The girl's eyes traced up towards an ash blasted sign, taking note of the mixture of katakana and kanji that had survived the devestation.

_Japan. I'm in Japan. How did I…? The last place that I was in was the digital world! I was getting ready to bed down when I felt something weird in my head…like I was being_ pulled _somewhere and then…I'm here. And just where is here anyway? Could this…could this be…?_

As if to prove her suspicions the girl's blue eyes caught sight of some movement and she turned her head to follow it, sighting on a visor-wearing boy carrying an all too familiar digivice. Her breath catching in her throat in realization, the girl rushed to her feet, almost falling back down as she did so before taking off after the boy.

* * *

"GUARDROMON! _GUARDROMON!"_ Shouted Kazu frantically as he finally spotted his battered partner, his body a shattered mess, lying on the ground. It was plainly obvious that, judging from the cracks in his armor and the number of parts and oil that littered the ground like so much refuse, that the digimon was now no longer capable of walking, flying, or even being able to move, though certainly not for lack of trying as Kazu could see his partner shifting ever so slightly in response to his voice. In his rush over to his fallen partner Kazu collapsed to the ground, erasing a layer of skin from off a kneecap before getting back up to his feet. Finally coming to a halt Kazu struggled not to fall back down as he leaned forwards on his knees, gasping harshly for breath.

"K-Ka…zu…"

"Lug nut," Kazu gasped, forcing a grin to his face. "Don't try to talk. You're not in the shape for it."

"Oooh…" Guardromon groaned as he settled back down. "I'm afraid that I'm…forced to concur with you on this."

"Doofus…you _always_ agree with me on everything," Kazu said with a note of bitterness in his voice. "Even…even when I'm wrong."

"Eh?" Guardromon turned his eyes towards his partner.

"Never mind," said Kazu with a shake of his head. "How're you holding up?"

"Not too well, but I shall be better momentarily now that you're here."

"Somehow I don't think that a Recharge card is going to be of any help in this situation," said Kazu as he took out his cards and fanned through them. "And in the state that you're in I'm afraid to digivolve you."

"Where's MarineAngemon?"

Kazu scowled. "I sent him with Kenta off to throw down with dragon face. Feels like a bad idea now though…"

"No," interjected Guardromon carefully. "UlforceVeedramon is the greater danger right now. He needs to be taken care of. You made the correct decision."

"At least one of us has faith that I did," muttered Kazu beneath his breath as his search through his deck came up with nothing that could serve him. Attack cards, defense cards, options, modify…Kazu quickly realized that he outside of a couple Recharge cards he had mostly stacked his deck with cards that would strengthen his partner or swap out abilities during a battle. He hadn't had the time to find cards that could provide a healing ability.

"Kazu? What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing Guardromon," said Kazu, biting back a snapping reply as he felt his frustration edge its way into his voice. He began searching through the deck again in the hopes that he had missed something but so far it didn't look like there was anything. Kazu cursed himself for his lack of foresight in this manner.

_Depended too much on Kenta pulling medical duty for this fight that I didn't think that I'd need anything else…_

"It's not… _nothing,_ " continued Guardromon, his body creaking as he forced himself to sit up on his arms. Kazu cringed at the noise and almost dropped his cards in response.

"Hey! What are you doing?! You shouldn't be moving!"

"And you shouldn't be beating up on yourself, Kazu," replied Guardromon casually, as though he were ordering a cup of tea. "Especially not now. You've been like this ever since we thought Guilmon was deleted, and even during the time after he came back." Guardromon looked into his partner's eyes before continuing. "Do you blame yourself for what happened?"

"I…" Kazu was just about to snap at his partner for picking such a time to play psychoanalysis but something in the way that the robot was looking at him made him stop short. After a second Kazu hung his head and glared at the ground, his hands tightening around his cards and digivice in a viselike grip.

"I _can't_ do anything," he said finally. "I used to let the others tackle the bigger mon. It made sense since they were able to go Mega and had more experience than I did but when I finally got a chance to help out Takato and digivolve you back to Andromon…I lost. Lucemon kicked you to the curb and then went on to nearly kill Henry and Takato. Ever since then it was like whenever I got into it with a digimon I just kept losing. I nearly lost you to Crusadermon twice, Guardromon! And I…was helpless. I thought that I could make a difference when I became a Tamer but since then…" Kazu let his words drift as anger and frustration beat within his heart. After a few seconds the visor-wearing boy took a shaky breath and breathed out.

"So there you have it. Kazu Shiota. Tamer extraordinaire. Only he's extraordinarily good at not saving anyone."

Guardromon looked at his partner for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Humans…I don't think I'll ever understand them."

Kazu suddenly laughed at his partner's words, as though something in them had spoken to him in a way that only he could understand.

"Yeah. We have a hard time understanding ourselves too Chumley, so you're not alone there. You want to know something funny? While I was talking about how I couldn't do anything…about how I never save anyone…I remembered how we saved Chumley's butt when he was fighting Beelzemon. We thought he was a goner then, but all it took was a couple well timed rockets and then Takato laid Beelzemon out like broken lawn furniture."

"And who can forget how Ryo said 'thank you' for my blasting away a rock flying his way?"

"Yeah," said Kazu, a strangely humble smile appearing on his face. "Who can forget that? Man, what am I doing getting down on myself for? I'm not helping anyone like this. No wonder why I've been losing so much. Crusadermon must have slapped me harder than I thought if it's taken me _this_ long to realize what I already should have."

"She _does_ pack quite the punch…"

Kazu grinned. "Just like Ayaka. You know, those two really do fit each other well…when you get past the fact that Crusadermon is more of a psychopath then Ayaka that is. All right!" With renewed energy Kazu pumped his hands into the air. "Enough chit chat. We've got to get you moving again and jump into the fight, missiles blazing!"

Guardromon's body groaned as he shifted his weight, and a piece of his chest armor fell off with a loud clang.

"Uhhh…that's not good."

"Not very conducive for fighting is it?" Asked Guardromon.

"No, it's not," came a new voice from behind Kazu. Both Tamer and digimon turned their heads towards the source of the voice to see a blue eyed girl approaching them in a black colored kimono, blonde haired flowing freely in the wind and her skin slightly smudged by the dust and ash that floated in the air. Kazu frowned at the girl as something about her tickled his memory.

"Guardromon…have we seen her somewhere before?"

"That would be Alice McCoy," answered Guardromon easily. "She had been following you for quite some time."

"What? And you didn't _tell me?!"_

"You didn't ask."

Kazu groaned and slapped his forehead.

"Now I know how Takato feels whenever Guilmon does something boneheaded." Kazu turned back towards Alice. "All right. What are you doing here? Can't you see that we're kinda in the middle of something?"

"If I recall," began Guardromon tentatively, "she has that tendency."

"Are you sure you're not broken?"

"If you two are done," said Alice in an impassive voice, "I would like to get down to business."

"And what business is that?" Demanded Kazu. "Bear in mind that we're kind of on the clock here."

Alice frowned ever so slightly. The boy was, if nothing else, already annoying her.

"What city is this?"

Kazu blinked. "Shinjuku."

"Kazu," interceded Guardromon. "My data logs indicate that Ms. McCoy is not being cared for in Shinjuku. In fact, she's…"

"Yeah. I know, which leaves us with the question of how she got here."

"I'm…not certain of that myself," said Alice, her face returning to a neutral expression. "But that doesn't matter right now. Are you fighting Royal Knights right now?"

"Yeah. How'd you know about…?"

"You're not strong enough to fight them as you are now," interrupted Alice, her face frowning once more at the boy's incessantly moving mouth. "But I can give you the power that you need to face them."

Kazu and Guardromon exchanged glances uncertainly.

"The others are likely to be in need of our assistance," supplied Kazu.

"Yeah," said Kazu. "I know." Turning back to Alice his face hardened. "What do we have to do?"

"The last time," said Alice as she moved towards the Tamer, her eyes fixed on his, "a friend sacrificed himself to grant three Tamers with the ability to biomerge in order to fight the D-Reaper."

"Right. I heard about that from Takato and Henry. You wouldn't have happened to see them by the way have you?" Inwardly Kazu blinked at himself. That last he had just asked out of reflex. Yet for some reason it felt as though he could feel where they were, as though they were just a heartbeat away from him. And this girl was also in the same boat. As though…

Kazu's thoughts came to a standstill as Alice halted in front of him, her eyes never once leaving his.

"The Royal Knights took something very important away from me. Now I have only one last thing to give in order to stop them."

Alice's body took on a white, shining light as she lifted her hands and cupped Kazu's face gently. For an instant, her face softened ever so slightly.

"Please make sure that no one ever suffers because of them ever again."

_Wha…? What's going on?!_

Alice's body disintegrated into a series of white lights that encompassed Kazu and Guardromon in their intensity. Crying out in surprise Kazu covered his eyes with his hands as light flooded his vision. A surge of energy blazed a trail through his body, energizing him and comforting him at the same time, and in the moment that a shining cross appeared on his and Guardromon's chests, Kazu could have sworn that he heard his partner's heart beating as one with his own.

The feeling of power flowing through him reached a crescendo and finally burst forth like a dam breaking. Words involuntarily came from Guardromon's and his lips as their bodies began to merge into one being…

* * *

Antylamon crashed to the ground for what had to be the eleventh time in as many seconds. No sooner did she try to get up then was she crushed back to the ground by the boot of UlforceVeedramon. The sound of Kenta slashing a card through his digivice could be heard but with a cry of _Ray of Victory_ MarineAngemon went down on the ground before it could do him any good. Opening her eyes, Antylamon saw a bright blue blade descend towards her neck, tapping lightly against it to get her attention.

"It ends here, Deva," UlforceVeedramon said in a low tone. "Yield."

Antylamon could sense her partner's distress on the other end of their connection, but at the same time there was a grim determination in her to keep fighting no matter what. And what was more, Antylamon shared her sentiments. The battle was lost, but they could not afford to retreat before such an opponent. Not with the power that he had at his disposal.

_I only hope that Suzie does not take my death hard,_ thought Antylamon as she again morphed her hands into their axe forms. Seeing this UlforceVeedramon took this as an answer to his question.

"So be it," the Royal Knight replied as he raised his arm, preparing to deliver the final blow.

_"Atomic RAY!"_

Before the blade could even descend towards Antylamon a bright, crimson beam of raw energy slammed into UlforceVeedramon's body at full force, sending him flying backwards and into a building. Blinking in surprise Antylamon turned towards the source of the attack and her eyes widened as they fell upon a robotic, humanoid figure with dark gray, almost black colored armor with two horned, animal like shoulder guards; one red and the other blue. Long, powerful looking arms lowered to their owner's side, retracting two smoking cannons into their forearms before talon-like hands flexed and closed into fists. A face, half obscured by a smooth helmet nodded at the rabbit Deva before a strange grin, one that Antylamon would never have associated with such a cold, mechanical looking creature, broke across its face. Statistics flashed in Antylamon's eyes as Suzie relayed the newcomer's information to her.

HiAndromon

Level: Mega

Type: Vaccine

Special Attacks: Atomic Ray, Copy Paste

"Hey there," said the HiAndromon in the dual voices of Kazu and Guardromon as he saluted Antylamon, their voices and movements brimming with power and supreme confidence. "Did I miss anything?"

The roar of UlforceVeedramon as he broke free from the building's rubble was all the answer that he received.

"Let's get to it," said HiAndromon as he got into a defensive stance. _"Copy Paste!"_


	118. 117: Burning Heart

_This is it…_

Smoke rose into the air from a burning cigarette, courtesy of a blonde haired man wearing military styled clothing. Breathing in the smoke the man let out a shuddering breath as he felt the nicotine working its magic on his body before flicking the butt off to the side and setting his sights on the flash of light and cloud of smoke that was rising near the towers of Hypnos. It was but one of the many 'bonfires' that had recently infested the city, and a much bigger one was brewing a further ways off. The blonde's eyes narrowed dangerously as he took in the sight and he spat to the side disdainfully.

_Stupid Japanese,_ thought the man. _How can they even_ think _to let such freaks run loose like this? They're animals! No…animals have more sense than this. They're somethin' else. Monsters…_

The man almost wished that he felt like laughing at the word. _Monsters_ were what the card game for which the live thing was named after, called themselves. It was like saying a race horse was _tamed_ (which was a rather ironic comparison, the man thought to himself considering that was what some children did to digimon when they crossed over). He didn't feel like laughing though. Humor was missing from his mood right now.

Shifting the weight of his rifle in his hands the man checked the area around him for any prying eyes. Despite his appearance the man was _not_ a part of the Japanese military, and he had no intention of encountering any who were in the city. A difficult task to be sure, but considering how the city had just erupted into flames and had their best weapons smashed in short order the man felt fairly confident that a general retreat and regroup had been sounded while the digimon and the Tamers fought it out. That thought on its own burned the man; that humans would be made helpless on their own in the face of such entities and be forced to rely on them in order to survive. Why? No one knew, except that some scientists, the _creators_ of digimon no less, believed that it was necessary, and indeed something to be welcomed.

_Bull…shit._

Welcomed? When all that those creatures did was bring terror and left destruction in their wake wherever they wanted? It was because of them that the D-Reaper, originally mentioned as being a _harmless program_ by the documentary that had been made on digimon during the said program's invasion, had become what it did and so viciously attacked the real world. It had been a miracle that no one had been killed during that war.

_Although I'm sure that it won't be the case this time around,_ thought the man as his eyes wandered about the shattered ruins of Shinjuku. The city would be a long time recovering from this incident, that much was certain. It gave him all the more reason to follow through with his plan.

Another explosion erupted from near the Hypnos towers, and with it came the memory of a brown haired, visor wearing boy and a rust colored, massively built robot. Anger flared in the man's chest. The boy had tried to protect the digimon when he had attacked it earlier during the day. How could he be so blind to the dangers that the creature represented? The mind boggled, though the man was fairly certain that the kid, being one of those _Tamers,_ and quite possibly a digimon fanatic as well, had something to do with it. Digimon _Loved_ children after all; especially when they loved them back.

Well, whatever reasons he had, the man would not let children like him get in the way of what he had to do. Human or not, he wanted to prove what kind of monsters digimon were and make the world _see_ that once and for all. And what was more, he was going to make a stand for himself. A stand for everyone who ever felt helpless during a digimon attack. Even if he lost, he wanted to at least know that he could get others to open their eyes and see the truth about those monsters.

Shifting the weight of his rifle once more the man checked his gun for the millionth time to make sure that it was ready. Thumbing the safety off he took a step forward, ready to brave the inferno that he knew lay ahead of him.

* * *

HiAndromon deftly dodged UlforceVeedramon's _Ray of Victory_ attack, and with a speed that caught the azure dragon by surprise he quickly dashed towards him and began raining a series of blows against him. The Royal Knight staggered backwards a bit in surprise as he blocked each and every one of the blows that the android threw at him, straining to regain his composure. The HiAndromon that had appeared out of nowhere certainly threw him for a loop. He hadn't been expecting a Mega such as this to pop up and not only that to match him in his speed.

_I should have expected that much at least,_ thought UlforceVeedramon, chastising himself for his lapse in judging his opponent. _HiAndromon is the perfected version of Andromon. His 'Copy Paste' technique enables him to duplicate the attacks and attributes of other digimon. I should not underestimate one such as him._

Gritting his fangs UlforceVeedramon grabbed hold of HiAndromon's right arm as it swung towards his face and he quickly placed it in an arm lock. Thrusting forward with his own right hand the Mega level dragon knight ignited the bracelet on his wrist, activating the energy sword, intent on tearing into HiAndromon's armored face.

It didn't work out quite as well as he thought it would.

The energy blade cascaded off of an energy shield created by a sickeningly familiar bracelet affixed to HiAndromon's left wrist. Once more UlforceVeedramon cursed himself for not taking into account HiAndromon's _Copy Paste_ abilities, especially when they came to _his_ person.

"Presto," said HiAndromon with a grin, his voice speaking in duality. "Instant _Tensegrity Shield."_

"Insolence…"

"You said it. That's our job. Now, how about a little originality for our fight? How about… _Atomic Ray!"_

At the command energy poured out of HiAndromon's blue and red shoulder guards, combining together before shooting out and slamming into UlforceVeedramon's body. The dragon screamed in pain as the blast of energy drilled into him, smashing him to the ground and digging up a trench as the energy discharge drove him backwards. As the power in the shoulder cannons died down HiAndromon burst into laughter and pumped his mechanical hands in the air triumphantly. Within his rust colored data sphere Kazu Shiota let loose a _whoop_ of exhilaration.

_"AWESOME!"_ The boy exclaimed excitedly. _"So_ this _is what biomerging to Mega feels like! This is just…wow…oh man this is so…freakin'…COOL! Guardromon! We rock! We just laid the smack down on a Royal Knight!"_

_"Yes we did!"_ Guardromon with an equal amount of excitement as his partner, though it was more from the flow of emotions that came with being merged with the young boy. For the first time in his life he was experiencing what a human felt and it left him awed beyond all comprehension second only to Kazu's elation over the overwhelming feeling of oneness, unity, and dare I say _power_ that flowed through their combined body. Nothing in _either_ of their imagination ever compared to this. _Nothing._ They, in their eyes, absolutely and completely…

_"…Rocked! We rocked! Oh man…I can't wait to tell the guys about this one! Whoo-hoo! No one around kicks butt more than we do! Hey! Guardromon! Do you have any idea what happened to that girl…Alice? I've seriously got to thank her for this!"_

_"Last I saw she had disappeared into a number of sparkling lights."_

_"Yeah, I kinda saw that up close and personal bud. That doesn't tell me anything I don't already know. I mean, where_ _**is** _ _she now? Is she in my head? Or…?"_

_"Ray of Victory!"_

HiAndromon shouted in surprise as the golden blast struck him full in the chest and threw him backwards through the air, bringing him crashing to the ground with a brutal, sickening crunch that made Kazu clench his eyes shut as he awaited for the expected pain to assault his senses.

It never came.

_Wha…?_

Looking down Kazu was pleased to see that the _crunch_ sound that he had heard was not that of the bones in his body (or whatever equivalent they were right now in his present state), but rather was the street below him. In spite of the hilarity that Kazu found in his mistake and his forgetfulness in how durable his Mega form was over his human body he had enough humility to wince at the crater that he had made upon landing.

_Looks like Mom and Dad's tax Yen is going to be put to work this year…again._

_"Mental note…do not monologue while in the middle of a fight. Especially when there's a big ugly dragon barking at your front door…"_

_"Will do,"_ said Guardromon to Kazu's voiced thoughts.

_"Okay. We need a plan on how to fight this guy. Any ideas?"_

A blast of pure energy rocketed forth from the golden _V_ crest on UlforceVeedramon's chest, and HiAndromon leapt into the air, dodging it.

_"Not getting hit by that again is a good place to start,"_ mooted Guardromon's voice from the darkness surrounding Kazu's data sphere.

_"Point taken,"_ replied Kazu. _"But we can't play defense all the time you know. We need a good counter attack here, and a big one. What can we do?"_

_"We've already used both of our attacks, Kazu. Atomic Ray is pretty much self-explanatory. It fires concentrated nuclear and neutron energy, combining both at a focal point and throwing it at an opponent. Copy Paste enables us to duplicate digimon attacks and attributes."_

_"So…does that mean we can copy the attack of_ any _digimon? Kind of makes us like a living Modify card…"_

_"Unfortunately it doesn't quite work like that. While Copy Paste does duplicate a digimon's attacks it only works with digimon that we have encountered previously and whose vital statistics I've stored in my memory banks."_

_"What? You mean we can only use attacks from digimon we've seen before? That stinks!"_

_"I should point out that we've encountered quite a number of digimon in the past already, leaving us with extensive knowledge of their capabilities…"_

_"Huh? Oh yeah! Like when Calumon created all of those Mega digimon to take on the D-Reaper. Heh. We're going to have a field day with this body…"_

_"Um…Kazu? Perhaps a less destructive approach might be a more tactfully wise choice to make? I'm certain that the authorities would appreciate our doing our utmost to cause the least amount of damage."_

_"Hmmm…well…"_ HiAndromon leapt into the air once again as UlforceVeedramon fired another blast at him. _"…Try telling him that. But I'll think of something. Let's see…oh! How about…_ this?!"

_"Copy Paste! Parasimon activate!"_

A green colored tentacle shot out from HiAndromon's fingertips and surged towards the Royal Knight, eager to make contact with their target. The mind controlling connector sprouted at the tip of one of the tentacles, but UlforceVeedramon did not look in the least bit impressed by it. His armor took on a golden glow and a shining aura lanced out, shattering the tentacles into shards of data before they could even touch him. UlforceVeedramon snorted disdainfully at the android as he landed on the ground.

"Do not think that you can try such cheap tricks with one such as I HiAndromon," the dragon digimon said coldly. "As a Royal Knight in the service of Yggdrasil I am protected from such attacks. My lord and master is well aware of the threat that the Parasimon species has upon the digital world and those that live within it." UlforceVeedramon considered the android digimon for a moment. "You have a great deal of strength and variability, HiAndromon. I have taken you far more lightly then I should have. This battle is taking far too much time and I can no longer afford to allow you to delay me any further. Henceforth I shall now show you the true potential of the _gifts_ that Yggdrasil bestows upon those who are loyal to his cause."

The golden aura reappeared around UlforceVeedramon's body and a series of circles interconnected by lines appeared all over his body. Within his data sphere Kazu felt a sliver of worry worm its way into his heart as he watched the dragon transform.

_"Sephirot Protocols activate."_ UlforceVeedramon intoned.

* * *

Beelzemon bit his lip as the electrical bands of energy burned into his skin through the tough leather that made up his clothing. Gritting his teeth the Demon Lord tried to force himself off the ground and to his knees, but he quickly collapsed back to the ground as a series of sharp needle-like jolts flared through his body, eliciting a curse from his lips. This was not good. Try as he might, whenever he gathered his strength to get to his feet the bands that imprisoned him sent pain blazing a path through his body, draining his strength and ensuring that he stayed down.

_Whatever this thing is_ , thought Beelzemon as he strained against his bonds, forcing himself with varying degrees of success to block the pain from his mind, _I'd say that I'm actually impressed. This thing hurts me every time I move and drains my energy. If I didn't know any better I'd say that this thing is made to hurt guys like me._

Gasping in pain Beelzemon rolled over onto his side as the pulsating, piercing stings died down just enough to allow him a small measure of rational thinking. Raising his head he settled his pain filled eyes on the battle that was raging between HiAndromon and UlforceVeedramon. As much as he hated to admit it the battle had quickly become very one-sided in one heck of a hurry; HiAndromon's earlier, impressive performance dissolving into a desperate bid to stay alive and in one piece as UlforceVeedramon began railing into him with blast after blast of energy that quickly began to alter and change shape beyond what they appeared to be. Chains rocketed forth from one of the explosions, seeking to entrap the Mega level android within their grasp while another burst into small spheres of light that rushed towards their target before detonating like small mines. Continuing his attack on the hapless digimon UlforceVeedramon raised one hand and fired a volley of golden arrows from his hand. In spite of HiAndromon's best efforts and lightning-quick reflexes two of them smashed into his left shoulder guard while another buried itself into his chest plate, causing a spider web of cracks to form around the area. Ducking beneath another volley of arrows HiAndromon called out his _Copy Paste_ attack once more and used it to duplicate UlforceVeedramon's speed. Rushing forward at full velocity HiAndromon counterattacked, hoping to disrupt the Royal Knight's attack, only to be thrown back as the golden aura surrounding his body flared suddenly, becoming as an impassible barrier.

_Not good,_ thought Beelzemon as the sight stabbed at him, calling him to do something but finding himself unable to do so. _We're practically at the end of our rope here. Every time we come up with something that looks like we're winning this guy goes and does something that knocks us back on our butts! This guy is just too powerful!_

_"To have power is not to be strong…"_ came the ghost of the memory from his battle with Leomon all those months ago. Beelzemon grimaced. Leomon had been right then. Power and strength came in many different forms, which he knew quite well from experience, and Leomon had known it well before him. But this…

_This is different. I don't know what it is that this guy has, but it's on an entirely different order._

_"Bunny Blades!"_ Shouted Antylamon as she leapt forward to lend aid to HiAndromon, her hands transforming into axes as she did so. Slashing her arms in wide arcs the Ultimate level Deva smashed the blades of her weapons into UlforceVeedramon, only to have her axes repelled by the very same energy shield that had warded off her android teammate a few seconds earlier. Golden light lanced out and crashed into Antyalamon, throwing her to the side where she flattened a series of telephone lines that had been lucky enough to escape the ravages of their battle.

_Not so lucky anymore,_ commented Beelzemon as the energy bands around his body began to heat up on him once again. Crying out the former Demon Lord digimon pushed his arms against his bonds, striving to break them as a sense of urgency built up in him. He _had_ to get in there as soon as possible! The others needed his help!

His eyes, blue from his second, earlier transformation to his _Leo_ mode cast over to the long sword that had once belonged to Leomon. The blade glinted in the light that was cast by the fires around him.

_Leomon didn't quit even when he knew he wasn't a match for me,_ thought Beelzemon. _Calumon didn't quit trying to reach Jeri because he was just a creampuff. If I quit because of these stupid things then what does that make me?! I…will not…lose! I…will…not…_

"…LOSE!"

Beelzemon's sword suddenly burst into a bright, white light as Beelzemon flexed his arms one last time and shattered the energy bands with a loud and powerful battle cry. Almost without him noticing it, the crest-like mask that covered his face transformed from its standard gray and black color to blood-red as his wings took on a more demonic look with two additional, smaller wings tearing free from the confines of his back. Armor appeared on his shoulders as a heavy gauntlet materialized around his right hand. The feathers that sprouted from behind his face mask took on a golden hue and lengthened, showering down his back and shoulders and giving him a more wild, imposing look. Reaching down Beelzemon lifted his sword, now significantly larger both in width and length then he previously remembered it. The blade had a thick, look to it that made him think of a mountaintop, and the hand guard, which previously had been an absent feature of the weapon, had a powerful stone-like look to it that made Beelzemon smile. Hefting the blade thoughtfully Beelzemon turned his fearsome gaze at UlforceVeedramon just in time to see him belt HiAndromon across the face and send him flying backwards and into a building. Beelzemon glared at the Royal Knight and tightened his grip on his sword.

"All right bub," Beelzemon said with a tone of finality to his voice. "Game's up."

The symbols covering UlforceVeedramon's body pulsated in response to the Demon Lord's challenge. Looking at him, UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes in contemplation, perhaps wondering how it was that Beelzemon had broken free or what to make of his third transformation. Beelzemon didn't know, nor did he care. All he was interested in at this very moment was bringing the dragon down.

A gust of wind blew across the shattered ruins of the city, playing with Beelzemon's jacket as he got into a battle stance. A second later the wind died down, and as though it had been the proverbial dropping of the flag Beelzemon dashed forward, flapping his demonic wings to get himself airborne and to add as much speed as possible. Orange fire flared around his fist and crawled up his sword as he drew closer. UlforceVeedramon snorted, unimpressed with his opponents attack simply raised one shining hand and took aim at Beelzemon, firing a stream of pure energy at him. The blast surged forward with enough force to shatter mountains, and bolts of lightning crackled at its edges like an electrical knife. Beelzemon didn't bat an eye as he flew onwards, making no effort to dodge the oncoming attack. Again UlforceVeedramon snorted, unable to believe that such an insane, or perhaps idiotic, digimon existed in any world.

_The game is indeed over fool…_

The speed at which UlforceVeedramon's attack melted away into nothing caused the Royal Knight's eyes to snap open in surprise, but no sooner had he registered it then Beelzemon was suddenly in front of him, a flaming fist of orange, snarling fire surging towards his face. Air seemed to warp around him from the heat of the flames and then all vision was cut off as the fist smashed into his face.

_"Fist…of…the BEAST KING!"_

The fire detonated in UlforceVeedramon's face, sending him flying backwards into the air where he penetrated a building, smashing into its recesses with frightening ease before coming out the other end and plummeting down into the rooftop of a much smaller storage building, smashing through and kicking up a cloud of dust and debris before impacting with the floor. And then, as though eager to add a final insult to the injury, the building's foundations shattered, bringing the whole mess down right on top of the battered Royal Knight.

"Whoa…" breathed Kazu in awe as he watched the whole scene through the digital scanners of his and Guardromon's Mega forms eyes. "Talk about bringing the house down…"

"You said it," agreed Guardromon, lifting one hand to their damaged shoulder and tearing free one of the golden arrows that lay imbedded within. "And well timed as well."

"Can we fix that?" Asked Kazu, wondering nervously how their injuries were going to affect them once they separated.

"Indubitably, Kazu," replied the android in Guardromon's voice. "My Mega form has a number of systems dedicated to ensuring that we stay at the top of our form, and chief among them is a nanotech repair sequence that surpasses most digimon overwrite techniques. We'll be fine."

"In that case," said Kazu, wincing as he tore free another arrow and dropped it to the ground where it shattered into shards of data, "let's get back into the fight. Beelzemon's already gotten ahead of us. We've got to stop this guy before he causes any more damage!"

From within the darkness surrounding Kazu's data sphere Guardromon mentally nodded in agreement, though he was plagued by the question of just _how_ they were supposed to do that.

Not even waiting for any further words to be exchanged HiAndromon leapt up into the air, executing _Copy Paste_ to utilize UlforceVeedramon's wings to obtain flight.

* * *

With an enraged cry UlforceVeedramon burst free from the confines of the wreckage that had pinned him, sending rubble flying everywhere. His fangs ground against each other as he clenched them together, pain rocketing through his face from where Beelzemon had punched him.

_My vision…half of it is…gone…_

Raising one hand to his face UlforceVeedramon touched his face gingerly, hissing as his armored hand felt a spider web of cracks in his helmet, complete with something warm and sticky oozing out from between them. UlforceVeedramon did not take that as a good sign.

_My Overwrite sequence will take care of it,_ thought the Royal Knight as he pulled his hand away from his face, taking note of the small gray spot of light that was already starting to appear as his species high speed, healing abilities set to work on him. He was not concerned with any damage that his body suffered from combat. Royal Knights in the service of Yggdrasil were gifted with greater degrees of endurance, strength, and recovery compared to their brother and sister species, and those in even higher standings with their lord and master were granted additional abilities to aid them in their service. The mythical 'Alphamon' with his title 'Lord of the Empty Seat' and absent leader of the Royal Knights, was one such digimon, gifted with the 'Alpha Inforce' that enabled him to rewrite small segments of time during a battle. Craniummon was another, as his shield granted him the power of complete invincibility from any and all attacks for three seconds. Quick healing was his own specialty. No, he wasn't concerned with his body, but rather the condition of his armor.

_Beelzemon actually managed to damage my armor._ The thought reverberated through the Royal Knights mind, reeling at the impossibility of such an occurrence. _Damaged Blue Chrome Digizoid armor. One of the strongest grades of metals in the entire digital world…practically indestructible for all intents and purposes. The only other thing that could possibly damage it is Chrome Digizoid, and Beelzemon didn't even hit me with any…not even with his sword. So what…?_

"That looked like it hurt," growled Beelzemon as he slammed down onto the rubble and charged forward, sword tracing an arc through the air as it aimed for the area that connected UlforceVeedramon's head to his shoulders. Ducking beneath the blow the Royal Knight slammed his left fist into Beelzemon's stomach, igniting his energy blade at that same instant and swinging it towards the Demon Lord. In response, Beelzemon head butted UlforceVeedramon, interrupting the attack and followed up by a swift kick to the knight's chest. Although the attack didn't hurt it provided both combatants with some distance. Distance that both used to great effect as Beelzemon whipped out his Berenjena shotgun and pulled the trigger at the precise moment that UlforceVeedramon activated the symbols on his arms and fired a pulsing blast of energy. Beelzemon's bullets, much to UlforceVeedramon's dismay, easily tore through his attack and slammed home into his chest, shattering the _V_ shaped crest on his chest. Grunting in surprise the dragon staggered backwards and activated his left wristbands _Tensegrity Shield_ to ward off the next series of bullets as they came at him.

"How…?" The Royal Knight asked himself as he inspected the symbols that ran along his body. "How is he able to defeat the Sephirot Protocols so easily? Those protocols were designed by Lord Yggdrasil _himself!_ There are no flaws!"

"Do you normally talk to yourself this much?" Asked Beelzemon as he charged forward and slammed his sword against UlforceVeedramon's shield. Energy sparked as the shield strained against the weapon. UlforceVeedramon pushed against the weapon as he considered his opponent.

_The Sephirot is a powerful data manipulation code capable of rewriting and deleting layers of information. Its limitations is only that of whoever is using it, such as how much energy they have to put into its capabilities, the target that it's unleashed upon and the density of its data. Royal Knights aren't normally allowed access to it except in the most extreme cases such as combat against a Demon Lord, whom it was made to combat against when the Seven Great Demon Lords first appeared with their legions. And here is a Demon Lord, resisting it! How can that be pos…?_

UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes at Beelzemon as he kicked out the Demon Lords feet, sending him sprawling towards the ground.

"I see. That cursed _X-Antibody._ It also alters code. Gallantmon did believe that it did more than just alter a digimon's appearance and change their power levels. It must have rendered an immunity to the tools of Yggdrasil as well."

UlforceVeedramon glowered at Beelzemon as he flipped back up to his feet. Immunity to the works of Yggdrasil? The god of the digital world? How could such a thing be possible? It simply could _not_ be. There was _nothing_ in this world or _any_ world that was stronger than Yggdrasil. Right?

UlforceVeedramon discarded the thought as he blocked Beelzemon's sword, grunting in pain as the weapon smashed into his shield. The V-Bracelet that generated the shield sparked and the shield shuddered, straining to maintain its existence under the pressure that it was receiving. _Definitely_ not a good sign. Beelzemon had grown in power with this transformation…possibly becoming strong enough to actually oppose him. He had to end this quickly, but with the Sephirot useless now and the Golden Digimental of Destiny having been used up during his and Duftmon's attack on the Seer Council there was little that he could fall back on. The tide of the battle was turning…

_"Atomic RAY!"_

_Damnation…_

Reacting on reflex UlforceVeedramon slammed one leg into Beelzemon's side and used the force of the blow to propel himself away from HiAndromon's attack. A split second later his instincts were screaming at him about _another_ interloper and he soon found himself fending off Antylamon as she slashed downwards with her axes. Concrete and asphalt flew through the air as the weapons crashed into the ground. There were more coming. _Still_ more. MarineAngemon was flying at rapid speed towards him as well, bathed in a holy aura that UlforceVeedramon recognized as Seraphimon's _Strike of the Seven Heavens_ attack. And behind him, a weary looking Lilithmon, having somehow escaped from her own bonds, was charging dark energy around her demonic hand. And further off the humans were massing for another attack…

Gritting his fangs UlforceVeedramon leapt into the air and flapped his wings. The mission was rapidly falling apart. The humans he disdained and knew full well that they could not do anything against him, but all of these other digimon, all Megas save for one who was a Deva (a power in her own right as well) posed a significant problem. And then there was Duftmon and his battle against Gyōjamon. UlforceVeedramon sensed that things were not going well on his end. Not at all.

_It appears that the power of the shaman, the only male Kyubi of the Seer Council, has finally been unleashed. Yggdrasil will want to know about that…_

UlforceVeedramon grunted suddenly as the air buffered him, and looking with a frown he noted that a warp had appeared in the sky at some point during the fight. When? He didn't know. He had been too preoccupied to take much notice, but now that he did…

_I have to end this as soon as possible._

Casting out his mind, UlforceVeedramon again pinpointed Crusadermon's location in the twin towers and dove towards it at full speed. Igniting the energy blade on his wrist UlforceVeedramon glanced at the oncoming wall, calculating the cuts he would need to make and their timing in order to gain entrance. There was only one obstacle now…HiAndromon as he used his _Copy Paste_ abilities to catch up to the Royal Knight.

"Out of my way _pretender,_ " the dragon grated as he tried to kick HiAndromon out of the way. His attack didn't work out quite so well as the android digimon caught hold of his leg at the precise moment that it made contact, and their conflicting flight paths combined with the force of UlforceVeedramon's kick sent them both spiraling out of control and crashing into Hypnos. Brick, dust, and smoke flew in all directions as they broke through the wall and landed heavily on the floor of Hypnos. Both combatants were on their feet immediately and back to fighting. HiAndromon slammed his fist into UlforceVeedramon's stomach and butted him in the head with his own and the dragon sailed backwards. Not to be outdone the Royal Knight slashed his energy blade to the side, sending an energy boomerang flying at HiAndromon and catching him full in the face, sending him down to the floor with a loud crash. Scrambling back to his feet UlforceVeedramon raised his arm, only to see with dismay the blade flicker and die. Before he could even begin to rage about the loss of his weapon the sound of a rock tumbling, followed by the shifting of feet trying for stealth caught his attention. Whirling about the Royal Knight's eyes fell upon the two unwitting intruders on his and HiAndromon's battle. Two human children, one with long, coppery hair tied into two pig tails and wearing a striped T-shirt, and another, much younger and shorter with dark hair and wide eyes. The taller one stood over the younger girl, shielding her with her body. UlforceVeedramon stared at them in stunned silence for a moment before the sound of HiAndromon recovering snapped him back to reality. Quickly reaching out UlforceVeedramon snatched hold of the coppery haired girl, as she was closer, and held her in front of him, closing one hand around her neck tightly enough for her to cry out in pain and to get his opponents attention.

Although he disapproved of using such tactics, the situation was such that he had no time to think about the honor that lay in them. The mission came first, above all else save for his loyalty to Yggdrasil. His gambit was rewarded by HiAndromon's freezing at the sight of the young human girl, gasping within his grasp.

"This battle ends here," stated UlforceVeedramon firmly. "I _will_ accomplish my mission and you and your comrades will do nothing further to impede me if you value this human's life. I will find Crusadermon and bring her back with me to the digital world for questioning and you will _all_ stand down. Failure to comply will result in the extinguishing of this humans existence."

HiAndromon hesitated as he flexed his fingers, glancing furtively back and forth between UlforceVeedramon and the human girl.

"NOOO!" Screamed the younger of the pair as she threw herself at the Royal Knight, kicking at his ankles with her tiny feet. Cursing in annoyance UlforceVeedramon shoved the girl to the ground and ducked beneath HiAndromon's fist as he rushed forward before slamming his own into the androids stomach, sending him back down to the ground.

"So be it," said UlforceVeedramon as HiAndromon rolled over and got back to his feet. "You have forfeited this one chance. This human will now die, and unless you stand down the _other_ one will die as we…"

UlforceVeedramon was suddenly and inexplicably cut off as the floor exploded beneath him and a flurry of pink and yellow sliced through the air accompanied by a loud scream of rage and fury, sending both UlforceVeedramon and his captive flying out into the open air with it.


	119. 118: Rose Vine

_"Time…it's almost time…"_

_"I don't know about this. This isn't what I was expecting."_

_"I don't think_ any _of us were expecting anything like this."_

_"Admittedly Gyōjamon letting himself run loose like this was…unexpected, but it has made things easier for our cause."_

_"And for Oni as well…"_

_"That's too be expected, though he would have made things considerably more difficult if we had to wait for him to reemerge. For all of my powers I'm still limited in what I can do. Gathering all of you was difficult enough. Teleporting Sakuyamon to Okinawa even more so. The barriers are softening, and each time it becomes progressively easier, but still more dangerous. Oni…once he awakens could destroy all of the barriers just by existing. We would have only a split second to prevent him from accomplishing that, and that would be heavily dependent on everyone being in the right place at the right time. Too dependent even for my liking. Which is why Gyōjamon is a welcome turn of events. Once he unleashes his full power…"_

_"I still don't like it. We can't have something like that running loose. Not if the two worlds are too survive!"_

_"A shame. I've always been of the opinion that you Digidestined are nothing more than misguided creatures. True, you fight the good fight but I can't help but wonder how much you impede evolution. Every battle, every conflict returns you right back to where you started. A world reborn, the status quo returned…two worlds ultimately, and forever, separated by that one underlining border that keeps them apart. Human fear."_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"Isn't the digital world based off of human emotions? Only combined with data to give it form? True, the human and digital worlds are kept apart, with only occasional crossovers between them but I can't help but wonder just how much of a role humans play in that separation. They gave us the algorithm to evolve, but children are what really drive our evolution. You and I know that quite well. What is the limit to the human imagination?"_

_"… …None."_

_"Your little fight with the Royal Knights, Crusadermon and Dynasmon drove that home with you, didn't it? Humans are strange creatures. They can even fool themselves, however unintentionally with their emotions. Believe something is real when it isn't; distance themselves and deny their reality. Humans have always believed in creatures such as us at one time or another and now their dreams have found their reality. Only…only we have been around a lot longer than is believed. Humans shaped our world then, and they shape our world now. Why wouldn't they be able to keep our worlds separated? Why wouldn't they 'create' defenders to keep it that way? To keep their sanity? Ironic after a fashion. Humans dream the impossible yet have the common sense to keep them from happening beyond their own ability to tolerate it. Or maybe it's because they know that it shouldn't be. I believe this world's very own 'Dreamer' can attest to that…if he was aware of it, and wasn't 'damaged goods' now…"_

_"Don't say that…"_

_"Quite right. I shouldn't. After all, he's not out of the game yet, nor is the game over either. Time still has its say in things in the end; one way or another it will have the last laugh. Our time is almost here though. Darkness and Thunder have already found their keepers. The others await…"_

* * *

Bubbles floated upwards in the tank where Crusadermon lay within, the pain of her body a distant feeling…at least for the time being. Her eyes were closed beneath her helmet and for what felt like the first time in ages she was at rest. It felt strange though, to be resting when she was in such a situation; captured by humans and having been battered to within an inch of her life on multiple occasions, but there she was and she rejoiced in it gratefully. A welcome change even for one who rejoiced in the adrenaline surge of provided by battle.

_"Everyone will find their limit sooner or later,"_ Crusadermon remembered her comrade Gallantmon saying once. _"When and where you find it is merely a matter of circumstance._

_I never believed that I would be reduced to this state,_ Crusadermon thought to herself, clenching her fist tightly for a moment before relaxing it. She had been doing that for a while now. At first she had thought it to be in response to the presence of digimon that were outside fighting but as time went on she came to believe this less and less. And strangely enough she couldn't summon up any anger over this. In the past she would have been angry… _enraged_ that she would be reduced to such a state and she had even vented it on numerous occasions since reaching it, but not this time. Perhaps it was telling of just how far she had exhausted herself that she could no longer will herself to be upset over something like this. Though why her sense of urgency did not kick in, as it did for all digimon, she did not know and this at the very least did incite some worry within her.

But not _nearly_ enough…

Her mind drifting Crusadermon felt herself settle all the more fully into the promise of rest that the tank contained, feeling a strange, comforting warmth steal over her armored form. A flicker of light entered her mind after a few minutes, beating in time with the distinct, yet distant, thundering sound that shook her glass container and the building that it lay within. The sensation jarred her somewhat, and for the first time that she could ever remember, Crusadermon wished that whatever trouble was going on outside that it would just disappear and go away, leaving her to her rest.

_"Rest is not for you though,"_ spoke up a voice that Crusadermon hadn't heard in far more years then she dared to count. _"But if you're really hung up on it, why don't you do something about it?"_

Opening her eyes, Crusadermon winced against the bright light that suddenly assaulted her senses. A tall figure stood in front of the blazing light, obscuring its figure. Raising her hand to her face, Crusadermon narrowed her eyes, trying to see through the light in an attempt to confirm her suspicions.

_That voice…is it…?_

The light began to die down, revealing the figure in all of its glory and wrapping around it as though it were a blanket. The figure was garbed in white with a shapely, feminine figure. A pink, petal like cape ran the length of her body, contrasting the black colored leggings that covered her legs. Long, spindly thorn like whips, one stiff and rigid like a spear and the other flaccid and flexible, entwined themselves around her arms before meeting together between her breasts, joining against a bright pink jewel that sat upon her chest. Six orbs, mirroring the jewel, hung in the air around her, and although they stood motionless there was an attentiveness to them that Crusadermon found eerie to behold. Continuing to look up, the Royal Knight's eyes fell upon the woman's face, which was almost entirely obscured by the large, white colored rose bud that sprouted from it just above her nose. No eyes could be seen, but Crusadermon felt more than certain that the plant like female did not need them.

_She never needed them to know what happened,_ thought Crusadermon to herself before she named the entity standing in front of her.

"Rosemon…"

"Hello Crusadermon," the woman smiled gently. "Sleep well?"

"What are you doing here?" Crusadermon spat harshly before taking a look at her surroundings. She was lying on the ground in the middle of…a forest?

_What's going on here?_

"I just thought that I'd stop by and say 'hello' to you," said Rosemon, answering both questions at once. "See how you're doing. It has been a while since you left us and went over to the halls of Yggdrasil. I feel that it's my duty to check up on my charges at least once in a while."

Crusadermon felt her anger seethe for a moment, wondering if this was Rosemon's way of telling her just how badly she had messed up walking the path that she did. After all, Rosemon had changed quite a bit in comparison to her since the last time they had met. The Mode Change was a rather dead giveaway, and the power that she radiated…the _power…_

"I can't say that I'm in the best of conditions to _welcome_ _you,"_ replied Crusadermon sarcastically. Turning her head away Crusadermon continued. "Not that I'd ever _want_ to see you again…"

Rosemon's light, good humored chuckle filled the air.

"You always were a sensitive one, Crusadermon. Prideful too…"

Sunlight flashed on Crusadermon's armor as she snapped her blazing gaze at Rosemon.

"If you have something to say then out with it! I have no time for you!"

Rosemon continued to smile at her, and she placed her hands on her hips, looking for all the world like the pristine motherly figure that Crusadermon remembered her being.

"Even after all this time, you still haven't quite grown up have you? Evolving to the Mega level really hasn't done you any favors, has it?"

"What are you talking about old woman? I'm powerful…"

"I don't dispute that, but you always did have the tendency to leap into things that surpassed you. I remember how you were when you were just a Fresh level digimon. You were even worse as a Rookie. Remember how you picked a fight with a Garurumon? Do you remember how you were then? It was very much like how you are now, only you were in far greater danger of dying then. And now…" Rosemon looked the Royal Knight over and tilted her head to one side. "Well…at least now you have someone to look after you again. Perhaps that girl can finally do what I couldn't."

In a flash Crusadermon was on her feet and rushing towards Rosemon. The flower digimon did not so much as bat a petal at the oncoming force of destruction, and with a quick flick of her wrist she lashed out with her thorny whip, wrapping it around the knight's ankle and pulling her down to the ground with deft ease. Her breath rushing from her digital lungs as she landed flat on the ground, Crusadermon couldn't help but feel surprised at the speed of which she had been taken down. Even weakened she had never been put on the ground _that_ quickly, not even against Gyōjamon or Beelzemon.

_This fight isn't over yet,_ thought Crusadermon as she surged back to her feet and lashed out at her former ward with one fist. Rosemon merely moved her head to the side, allowing the attack to pass by her with little more emotion than a thin pursing of her lips, obviously disappointed in the Royal Knight's actions. Growling under her breath Crusadermon threw her other fist at Rosemon, and this time the female caught it in her hand. Before Crusadermon could try anything else the woman immediately tightened her grip, and Crusadermon went down on the ground with a cry of pain, trying desperately to free herself from Rosemon's grasp. Her attempts were in vain however, as nothing she did was able to remove her fist from Rosemon's hand.

"Let…me… _go!"_ Crusadermon howled, pulling against Rosemon's hand. A strange feeling invaded her heart, a feeling that was all too similar to what she felt with Ayaka. She recoiled from it, feeling as though she was being burnt by the feeling but it persisted and refused to be ignored. Letting out a sigh, Rosemon finally let go of the Royal Knight's fist, letting it drop to the ground with a dull thud before stepping backwards. Gasping in relief as the sensation vanished from her heart Crusadermon unconsciously curled up into a ball, clutching the arm that Rosemon had held in an attempt to find comfort. Rosemon looked at the fallen, battered knight for a few moments before speaking.

"You know what my power is derived from, don't you?"

"What is this?" Rasped Crusadermon spitefully. "Is this where you tell me what the power of love is capable of?"

"There are other powers out there, Crusadermon," said Rosemon softly, but firmly. "Each has its own source and strength. Love is but one power out there. It is not the sole one."

"Then why do you even bother to bring it up?"

"Because you are hollow. You have nowhere to turn to and nowhere to go. Your master Yggdrasil has granted you power, but he does not care for you. Both him and the power he gave you will dissert you at their discretion because you are little more than a tool. You could have defeated me just now…"

"Impossible! You've evolved past me!"

"Are you admitting that you can't beat me, then?"

Crusadermon halted, uncertain now.

"You are injured," continued Rosemon in a matter of fact tone, "but that has never been a barrier to you before when you had something to fight for, whether it is for yourself or for another. I have been keeping an eye on you, even from a distance, Crusadermon. I'm quite aware of how powerful you're supposed to be. You're only holding yourself back. The power you received from Yggdrasil when you joined with him grants great strength, but in the end it is only a hollow power, made even more so because of your new position with your Tamer."

"That… _human,"_ Crusadermon seethed, flexing her fingers with murderous intent running within them. "She has _damaged_ me…"

"From what I recall…she _healed_ you."

Again Crusadermon's words ground to a halt.

_That's right,_ thought Crusadermon as she thought back to the battle with the cable entity. _She did heal me. She used her digivice to repair my data patterns when I was on the verge of being deleted._

"But…why…?"

"You could ask her yourself you know," said Rosemon with a knowing smirk. "I'm not the one you should be asking that question too. I'm not her. I don't know what was going through her mind when she made the decision to help you."

"She had no reason to….!"

"She did it anyway, and this conversation is not getting you any closer to finding out why that human girl did what she did. And you may want to get around to asking it soon." Rosemon nodded her head off towards the sky where a digital representation of the Earth hung within its embrace, complete with its data stream scouring the surface of the digital world. It suddenly struck the Royal Knight that she was in the digital world, but how she had gotten there she did not know.

"Time is running out for her," finished Rosemon, and Crusadermon's head snapped over to the mistress of roses.

"What do you mean?" The Royal Knight demanded.

"Search your connection with her," Rosemon said with a smile, "and you'll get your answer."

Before Crusadermon could say anything more a green mist materialized around her body, and she could feel a strange electrical current travelling through her. She was being sent back to the real world, and in a surprisingly smooth fashion. It was almost seamless! Far easier than any method that she had used previously, even from her lord and master. If it weren't for the feel of electrical current running through her body, arranging the false proteins necessary for survival in the real world, she never would have known what was going on.

_Rosemon was capable of doing something like this?! Something that Lord Yggdrasil wasn't capable of?!_ Crusadermon shook her head, rather disturbed by the thought. _And she was the one who told me that I am capable of defeating her…even though I have lost confidence in that myself now…_

Raising one hand to her helm, Crusadermon touched her face, running her fingers across her armor's surface. So many questions…so few answers, and here she was expected to find them from the one person in two worlds that she had all the reason to _never_ approach under any circumstances.

_The universe is a cruel place,_ thought Crusadermon with a touch of quiet sarcasm.

The mist that made up the digital field broke apart, and Crusadermon found herself back in the lab where she had been originally, only this time standing outside of the glass tube that had contained her. Surveying her surroundings she found a human scientist, standing rigid and frozen into place with one hand cradling a phone. A voice was blaring on the other end, apparently wondering why its caller was being so unresponsive all of a sudden.

_Not that I can blame him,_ thought Crusadermon as she stared back at the human before _hmmphing_ and heading towards the door. _I imagine that if I were a weak, insignificant, carbon based meat sack such as himself I'd be a little bit worried about a digimon who disappeared and then reappeared so suddenly. Can't be good for the nerves._

While Crusadermon pondered this she cast her mind outwards, touching the now familiar lines that connected her to the human known as Ayaka Itou. She felt a surge of adrenaline flow through her body, agitating her digital core. Clearly the girl was upset about something. Frightened? That too, most likely, but from what?

As if in answer to her question the building suddenly rocked as something slammed into it full force. _Now_ her attention was snagged.

_That's right. I remember sensing a battle raging outside. Multiple digimon signals._ Crusadermon focused her senses and then narrowed her eyes. _Two of them are Royal Knights…_

Crusadermon thought for a moment, wondering whether she should join them or try to find Ayaka, her _partner_ before doing so. A split second later a _shrill_ sensation raced its way through her body and a feeling of _compression_ around her neck suddenly assaulted her senses. An image entered her mind of a blue and silver, dragon-like knight grasping firmly around an all-too vulnerable human neck. It didn't take but a second for Crusadermon to know who that neck belonged to.

Pushing off the floor with a speed she didn't remember possessing, Crusadermon was barely conscious of the floors that shattered and exploded upwards around her. The human cries of surprise likewise went unheard. All she knew was the image of Ayaka being held captive by her fellow Royal Knight, and the fear that pulsed within her breast. As she drew nearer to her target Crusadermon heard words, spoken with sharp anger and firmness, meaning every word that was spoken.

"You have forfeited this one chance. This human will now die, and unless you stand down the _other_ one will die as we…"

That did it. With a sudden burst of renewed energy Crusadermon tore through the floor beneath her former comrade, howling with a rage she never knew she had. The next thing she knew were the force of her fists slamming into UlforceVeedramon's face as he was catapulted into the air and thrown out of Hypnos.

* * *

From within his data sphere Kazu blinked in utter stupefaction at what he had just witnessed.

_"Guardromon…check my vision will ya? Did I just see Crusadermon deck UlforceVeedramon? I've gotta be seeing things!"_

_"Our optical sensors are operating at peak efficiency, Kazu. You definitely saw what you had seen. However, before we continue to discuss the accuracy of our vision and our memory files I'm afraid I must bring to attention the matter of Ayaka currently being airborne."_

Turning his head out of the hole in the wall, HiAndromon took notice of the coppery haired girl who was presently falling through the air, her body somersaulting like a helpless ragdoll.

_"That's our queue to make like heroes, Guardromon."_

_"Roger!"_

With a grace that Rika would have had to see in order to believe HiAndromon leapt up into the air, and easily snagged hold of Ayaka's lithe body, flipping once in midair before coming to a landing on a nearby rooftop.

_"Oh, yeah!"_ Exclaimed Kazu from within his data sphere as he pumped his cybernetic fist. _"Who's the man?"_

_"It doesn't appear to be you,"_ commented Guardromon. _"She's not showering you with adoration like the females in the manga you read…"_

_"Eh. She might still be too awed by our combined coolness to say anything. Then again, she's Kenta's girlfriend anyway, so her standards are probably different…"_

"W-Will you just shut up and put me down?!" Stammered Ayaka irritably as she breathed in and out at a rapid pace, her face looking like it couldn't decide to flush red or go pale from her near death experience.

"As you command m'lady," replied Guardromon as he set the girl down on the rooftop. From within his data sphere Kazu looked at the girl with a scrutinizing eye.

"You okay?" He asked, concerned.

"You mean besides almost having the life scared out of me and having a close brush with the pavement?" Ayaka asked sarcastically, ignoring Kazu's claims that she was nowhere _near_ the ground to even qualify as a 'close brush'. "I'm peachy. Now what the heck just happened? One minute I'm being held captive like a stupid damsel in distress with my life on the line and the next I'm learning how to fly."

"Uh…that's because Crusadermon showed up and rescued you," said HiAndromon in Kazu's voice, raising one hand to scratch the back of his head anxiously. The android's fingers made a low, grating sound against the cybernetic helm, causing Ayaka to wince at it. "Well…she sort of did anyway."

"She was rather intent on UlforceVeedramon," spoke up Guardromon now. "But I am certain that she felt confident in placing you in our capable hands."

"Right…hang on. Did she even know we were there?"

_Those two really aren't helping,_ grimaced Ayaka as she looked up into the smoke filled sky, trying to find a sign of the wrathful Royal Knight. She caught sight of two figures racing through the air, clashing against each other every so often before breaking apart and repeating the same thing. Ayaka watched them for a moment before her hands reached up and fumbled for the digivice attached to her waist.

* * *

_Just…_ what _…is going_ on _here?!_ Thought UlforceVeedramon as he blocked a rapid series of punches from Crusadermon, the pink colored Royal Knight surprisingly giving him very little slack to do more than defend at the moment. This was _very_ unusual. The digimon in front of him was most definitely his comrade, the very same Crusadermon that he had spent years fighting alongside, yet for some reason that he could not even begin to fathom she was attacking him with a fury that he had never seen in the self-appointed 'Indifferent Warrior'.

Finally seeing an opening UlforceVeedramon lashed out and grabbed hold of Crusadermon's arm, interrupting her next attack. Eyes blazing furiously he was just about to demand why she was attacking him when one of her yellow ribbons snaked around his wrist. With a casual twist UlforceVeedramon felt his mind go white as his fellow Royal Knight snapped his digital bones and then, as if to add insult to injury, moved the ribbon up into the air and then used it to hurl him into the streets below, setting off a shockwave that reverberated through the city as he impacted with the ground. As the pavement caved beneath him UlforceVeedramon had enough clarity remaining for one enraged thought.

_What have those miserable humans_ done?!

* * *

Duftmon struggled to get to his feet, every inch of his body screaming in pain from the heat that seared his body. All around him the air wavered, superheated by more than just the battle that had been raging within the city depths. Stone crunched beneath his hands as he pushed himself to a kneeling position, breathing harshly. The temperature of the air wasn't making things any easier. Normally it wouldn't be something that he would have to worry about, at least not when he was in the digital world but the real world forced extreme limitations onto the creatures that resided in it. _All_ creatures. As adaptable as digimon could be, even they had their limits and now his exertions were beginning to take their toll on him.

Fire crackled upon the air and Duftmon cautiously raised his head, gulping reflexively, for once afraid of what he might find. As expected, Gyōjamon stood in front of him, blue flames licking his body hungrily like a thousand tongues and a cruel smile on his face.

_Gyōjamon has changed considerably since he began unleashing his tails,_ thought Duftmon gazing at the fiery vixen warrior. _In more ways than one…_

Gulping once again, this time in an attempt to provide some relief to his parched mouth the Royal Knight rushed to think of a method that he could use to turn the tables in this fight. The Sephirot Protocols were mostly useless now. Ideally they were designed to channel the immense power of their lord and master Yggdrasil through his servants, who could use it to shape it as they saw fit and their primary design was to combat against the workings of the darkness that continuously threatened to consume the digital world. Unfortunately their drawbacks were that they saw extreme limitations in use when in the real world, and they consumed the user's energy at a rate far faster than their ability to keep up with it. Unlike most of his brethren UlforceVeedramon was more ideally suited for handling it as his Ulforce Ability which continuously rewrote and repaired his data, enabling him to regenerate the power necessary to utilize the Sephirot.

_But even UlforceVeedramon has his limits,_ thought Duftmon, blinking back spots of darkness that were now popping up in his vision. _Sooner or later his Ulforce ability will wear down and the power drain will be greater than his ability to regenerate. He'll achieve Entropy if he keeps using it while I…_

_…it's far too late for me to use the Sephirot now. I don't have the power to even activate it anymore._

"This is the end," Duftmon whispered to himself.

"So it is," said Gyōjamon, hefting his spear in his hands. "Your end was sealed from the very beginning. Whatever mission it was that you came here to accomplish, it was doomed to failure the moment you attacked the Seer Council."

"Maybe so," chortled Duftmon, raising his saber. His hand shook as he held the weapon. "But I didn't say that I was going to surrender."

A tail flickered ever so slightly behind Gyōjamon before arching up behind his back and taking on a flaming serpentine appearance. Fiery teeth gnashed against each other before lashing outwards like a coiled cobra and slamming into Duftmon before he could prepare himself for the attack. His body flew into the air as his breath left his body. Angling himself the battered Royal Knight strained the wings on his shoulder guards to put a halt to his flight path so that he could prepare a counter attack.

The disintegration of those wings into particles of sparkling data swiftly put an end to such a notion and gravity quickly laid claim to his falling form, bringing him to a crashing halt into the streets below.

_Ugh…_ Duftmon's body shuddered as he pushed himself up from the crater that he found himself in and looked around him for any sign of his attacker.

_Nothing…yet…_ Duftmon thought before wincing, nearly collapsing back down to the ground as the sheer extent of his injuries and exhaustion hit him full force.

_This battle has gone on for too long, and I still haven't found a way to turn the tables on Gyōjamon. My…apologies…UlforceVeedramon. I've reached the end of my tether…_

Even as Duftmon thought this he felt a strange sensation tugging at the corners of his mind. He couldn't quite identify what it was through his fatigued and pain filled mind but he was quite surprised that he had missed it during his entire stay in the real world. Whatever it was he was picking up…it felt as though something were trying to mask its presence from him. Getting shakily to his feet Duftmon took a look around him, narrowing his focus until he managed to pinpoint its location.

_It's nearby,_ thought Duftmon and he quickly took off at a run in the direction of the strange feeling, morphing into his Leopard Mode to hasten his journey.

* * *

Heat.

That was all he felt now, all he was aware of. A burning heat that enveloped every corner of his being; every cell in his body screamed in agony, every pump of his heart brought a surge of ecstasy…it pervaded his every thought. His motions danced in synch with the blue fires that covered his body. It had been a long time since Gyōjamon had rejoiced in the releasing of his power. It wasn't often that he got to cut loose like this. The last time that he did so was…

The flames that danced at the tips of Gyōjamon's tails flickered, as though in annoyance or fear at the long ago memory. He didn't like to think back upon that time. His first encounter with the Mother of the Seer Council was by far the least enjoyable memory that he had, to say nothing of what he did prior to meeting her. It was because of this memory that a small part of him cried out against his use of his powers, powers that he had sealed willingly all those years ago. That part of him however had a small voice compared to the roar of the fire that beat in his ears. So long…it had been so long since he rejoiced in the feel of his power, the caress of his flames. He wanted to rejoice in it and use it to its fullest extent against those that had wished his family and home harm. Raising his face to the sky Gyōjamon sniffed the air like a predator in search of its prey. A cruel smile appeared on his face and he let out a loud roar. As he did so his body began to alter, taking on a more fox like appearance to his face and legs while still maintaining his humanoid shape. And with the transformation a seventh tail sprouted and joined the rest in their fiery dance. Air warped around him as the fox digimon crouched down and gave a low, guttural growl. Sniffing the air once more Gyōjamon took off at a run, blazing a trail of fire and warping air behind him.

* * *

UlforceVeedramon narrowly avoided having his head separated from his body as he rolled to the side, dodging the razor sharp yellow colored ribbon that Crusadermon brought down on him, stabbing it into the street where his body had been. Lashing out with one leg the azure dragon warrior tripped Crusadermon off her feet, to which she responded by doing a flip in the air, recovering with graceful ease and slashing with her ribbons yet again, gouging UlforceVeedramon across his face. Sparks flashed as the ribbons razor edge scraped along the surface of his Chrome Digizoid armor. Giving a howl of rage the dragon knight rushed forward and slammed a fist into her stomach, catching Crusadermon off guard. Using his undamaged hand he grabbed hold of Crusadermon by the throat and glared venomously into her face.

"What is _wrong_ with you?! Why are you…?"

_"Shut up!"_ UlforceVeedramon's head rang as the pink armored knight brought up a fist and belted him across the face. In one smooth motion, as though she weren't being held by the neck, Crusadermon twisted her body around and followed up on the punch with a brutal kick. UlforceVeedramon felt something crack in his lower jaw and he quickly lost his grip on her. Taking advantage of this Crusadermon proceeded to pummel UlforceVeedramon, raining blow after blow on him as he tried and failed to assemble a proper defense. Surprise lit through the Royal Knight's mind with each blow that impacted with him until finally he was thrown to the ground. His defenses were shattered and his mind thrown into confusion, UlforceVeedramon could do naught but watch as Crusadermon stormed towards him, a yellow ribbon held in one hand like a spear, ready to finish him off.

_"CRUSADERMON! STOP!"_

UlforceVeedramon blinked in surprise as Crusadermon's ribbon suddenly, and inexplicably, came to a halt mere inches away from his face. Looking up at Crusadermon revealed her to be breathing heavily, her entire body shaking as though from some inner conflict. The ground shook slightly as a heavy figure slammed down into the earth behind her. Extending his senses, UlforceVeedramon found that the HiAndromon had arrived, and was apparently carrying a passenger.

The sound of a pair of feet touching down filled the air, echoing over the soft thumps of Duftmon's battle with Gyōjamon that occurred off in the distance. After a second, the voice of a young girl spoke.

"Crusadermon?"

"Get out of here, Ayaka," spoke the pink armored Royal Knight in a slow, measured tone that spoke of a conflicting number of emotions that UlforceVeedramon couldn't help but marvel at. There was something in her voice that he just couldn't quite place…

"No. Not until you tell me why you're fighting your friend!"

UlforceVeedramon couldn't help but give a small smile when he saw his former companion stiffen in response to that.

"Yes, Crusadermon," he said softly, almost mocking her. "Why are you fighting me? I am dying to know."

_"Shut up!"_ Crusadermon snarled angrily. "This has nothing to do with you! Why are you even here?!"

_Which one of us is she talking to?_ Wondered UlforceVeedramon.

"I, and Duftmon, came here to collect you and our comrades Craniummon and Dynasmon. You are both long overdue for a report and…things in the digital world are coming to a head. Lord Yggdrasil requires your presence."

"Do you think I care? We were investigating one of the rebel groups! You have your business in the Skuld Terminal! You have nothing to do with us, and Omnimon requires your presence even more so than mine!"

"You…that is true," agreed UlforceVeedramon. "However, the absence of three Royal Knights and in this world of all places, at such a critical moment necessitated further investigation while Omnimon, Gallantmon, and Magnamon continued to handle the Ark Project. Do you deny that?"

"I… _acknowledge_ it," growled Crusadermon reluctantly, but her ribbon remained fixed above her former comrade. "But that is no excuse for your coming here the way you did."

UlforceVeedramon raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Concern for the humans? This is not like you. Since when did you ever care for such creatures?"

"I…" Crusadermon hesitated, and for the briefest of instants she turned her face away to glance at the human girl behind her. Taking advantage of her distraction UlforceVeedramon grabbed hold of her ribbon and surged upwards, brutally slamming a foot into her stomach causing her to fold up like a house of cards before following up with a roundhouse kick to the head. Looking down upon her fallen form UlforceVeedramon clicked his tongue in disgust.

"So…this is what happens when digimon interact with humans. I have heard the rumors but I never expected such weakness in character to occur, especially from one such as you. And here I had been of the opinion that a human partner imparted great strength. Of course, it is as nothing compared to the power granted by Lord Yggdrasil. I can see that you no longer hold to the code of the Royal Knights, and as such you are now no longer of any use to our cause. Lord Yggdrasil has no use for the faint of heart in the new world that is to come. Prepare yourself Crusadermon," UlforceVeedramon raised his newly repaired arm and a series of symbols flickered across the surface of his palm, "for this is your end."

And before anyone could even react, the dragon knight stabbed his hand into Crusadermon's body, causing her to howl in pain as a white, burning light ripped through her being.


	120. 119: Spirits Rising

"Where is she?" Mayumi Wong whispered to herself as she clutched her two children, Rinchei and Jaarin close to her. Above them the lights flickered as the sounds of battle thumped from the streets above them. Mayumi gazed fearfully up at the ceiling, half expecting it to collapse in on her and her family at any moment in spite of the assurances of the Hypnos employees that the shelter that they had been taken to had been built to withstand even a nuclear attack. Hypnos had gone all out during the past few months to upgrade its facilities to defend against digimon rampages, but even all the preparations in the world couldn't make Mayumi feel any safer and even more so since her children and husband were out there and _not_ down in the shelter with her and the others.

_Where's my baby? Where's Suzie? First Henry and now…oh no. What if she's…? I was told that she'd be brought here at the first sign of danger but what if they couldn't get her here on time? What if…?_

A massive explosion suddenly shook the room and Jaarin and Rinchei both gave a small cry of surprise in response to it. Jaarin pulled even more tightly against her mother, which Mayumi returned with equal measure while Rinchei struggled to put on a brave face for them in his father's place. In another time and place Mayumi would have felt proud of her eldest child, but right now she couldn't muster up the emotion to do so. The room shook again and the family pulled against each other all the more tightly. A part of her screamed at her to run out of the room and try to find the remainder of her family and get them down here, but at the same time she knew that it was impossible. Yamaki had made certain that under no circumstances were the Wong family to leave the safety of the shelter unless it became compromised and they had to move.

As Mayumi held her two children tightly to her she prayed for the safety of her husband and her two, missing children.

* * *

"The distortion…" said Riley in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "…It's become even _worse!_ "

"Erosion affects on the barriers between the real and digital worlds have increased exponentially," supplied Tally as her fingers flew over her control panel. "If this keeps up we'll be seeing a complete breakdown of the dimensional walls."

"What's the status on Juggernaut?" Demanded Yamaki as his fingers rapidly flicked his lighter open and closed.

"Sir!" Began Riley with a touch of panic in her voice. "I do not recommend deployment of the Juggernaut system under these circumstances! The dimensional barriers…!"

"I'm well aware of what the risks are!" Exclaimed Yamaki furiously. "But at this point we don't have a choice! Gyōjamon's signals are running out of control! At least with Juggernaut we can contain the damage. Now what's the status?!"

"Juggernaut core is at thirty two percent and rising," said Riley, forcing herself to calm down. She knew that Yamaki was right, but still… _The risks that are involved. Is it really worth it?_

Deep in her heart, Riley knew that there was no other alternative. The Tamers were simply running out of time.

"Circumvent the safety protocols," said Yamaki anxiously. "We have to get Juggernaut ready before Gyojamon releases any more of his power."

Riley gritted her teeth, feeling Tally looking at her over her shoulder. She knew what her friend was thinking. Circumventing the safety protocols would make activating the Juggernaut even more dangerous. They hadn't used tried using the program since Sangloupmon had made his escape and caused damage to the systems, and the repeated damage that Hypnos had taken since then hadn't helped things much either. Juggernaut had always been risky to use even under the best of circumstances, and the safety protocols were to ensure that nothing would happen that would cause damage to either the real or the digital world.

As her fingers flew across her keyboard, Riley frowned beneath her visor. Something was wrong. Something on the scanner was…

_There._

"Sir. I'm picking up an unusual energy germination beginning to develop. It's breaching the barriers between our worlds."

"What?! Locate!"

"It's here sir! It's bio-emerging in Hypnos!"

* * *

Suzie Wong looked out the broken ruins of the wall of Hypnos, her digivice clutched tightly in her hand. She wasn't looking at the screen. She was afraid of what she might find. The ruins of the city that she was looking down on gave her plenty of reason to feel fear. Smoke billowed up from the fires and explosions rang out on a nigh regular basis, making Shinjuku appear like the smoldering embers inside a fireplace. Suzie shivered and raised her other hand and pulled her digivice close to her chest.

_Antylamon…are you all right?_

The urge to check her digivice was overpowering. A part of her felt ashamed for not keeping up with her partner, but fear pervaded her mind, preventing her from feeling the full force of that shame. Nonetheless, she knew that she had to do something, but what she could do was the question. Never before had she felt so useless in her life. She had been in plenty of dangerous situations before, but she had always managed to get through them one way or another. This time however…this time…

Suzie clenched her eyes shut as a flash of red, sticky liquid stained her vision of her memories. Miki…lying against a wall with one hand pushed against her head, trying to stop the stream of blood that was flowing from the graze of a stray bullet. And then later, Ayaka, held in the grasp of UlforceVeedramon as he promised HiAndromon that he was going to kill her for his continued resistance, and she…she couldn't do anything about it. She was too young, too little, and…powerless.

Needless to say, Suzie was getting a crash course in the life of the adult world. The hard way.

_I don't think that my pwayews awe going to do anything this time,_ thought Suzie, shivering once more as a gust of cold air blew across her body. Pulling her digivice away from her chest Suzie looked down at it, sniffing as tears began to creep their way into her eyes. A lone droplet splashed onto the screen of the D-Arc and she choked.

"A-Antylam-mon…" she moaned as she hugged the digivice close to her once again. "I'm so sowwy that you had to be in this…that you had to be huwt pwotecting me…that you have to pwotect me at all…"

Suzie continued to sniff and bent down so that she was resting on her haunches.

_Thewes nothing that I can do. I can't be a pawt of Antylamon like Henwy and Tewwiewmon. And none of the cawds that I put togethew do anything. That meanies just too fast and stwong…_

_"Whatever happened to the brave girl that was able to take a swing at that 'mean digimon' even though she knew she couldn't do anything?"_

"Huh?"

Blinking blearily to clear the tears from her eyes Suzie looked up and gasped. Hovering just outside the vicinity of the shattered wall were two, glowing, female figures, one of them with sparkling, fairy like wings and a thick visor covering her eyes. The other, with brown wings, crystal clear blue eyes, and blue hair with wings sticking out of her head. The fairy being looked at the young girl and tilted her head to the side, offering a small smile while the other simply looked on. No discernable expression could be seen on her mouth as it was covered by a metal, mask-like guard but the look in her eyes…they were open and understanding. And they reminded Suzie of the sky.

"Who…who awe you?" Asked Suzie as she stood up, looking at the two, glowing women. Her eyes spoke volumes of awe. So entranced was she by their appearance that she all but forgot about the danger that was outside.

_"I'm Kazemon,"_ said the fairy in a bright, cheerful voice.

_"And I am Zephyrmon,"_ said the avian woman with a slight, respectful incline of her head. Her voice held a much more mature tone to it than the fairy, as though she were 'older' somehow. _"We are the digimon spirits of Wind descended from the Legendary Warrior AncientKazemon. We bid you greetings young Suzie."_

_"Hello,"_ curtsied Kazemon with a smile.

"You'we pwetty," said Suzie, her eyes wide with amazement. After a moment, she remembered the situation that was going on outside and she took on a more anxious disposition. "Ah! Awe you here to help?"

_"You could say that,"_ said Kazemon, still smiling. _"But we need your help to be able to help your friends first."_

At that, Suzie hesitated, and became downcast. Looking down at the floor in shame, Suzie shifted uncomfortably.

"But…I can't do anything…"

Still smiling Kazemon reached over and patted the young girl on her head.

_"Sure you can. All you have to do is try, right?"_

"I did," said Suzie. "And I wasn't stwong enough."

_"Suzie…"_

_"Kazemon,"_ said Zephyrmon in a firm tone. Looking up, Kazemon gazed at the bird woman before removing her hand from Suzie's head. Zephyrmon floated forward and gazed at the young girl.

_"Suzie. Your friends need your help. Your partner needs your help."_

"But…"

_"Antylamon can't maintain her strength without your belief in her. Do you want her to be hurt?"_

"No…"

_"Then stand tall, Suzie. Your fear is Antylamon's fear. The friend of your older brother, Takato, knows this very well. You don't want to let your partner down, do you?"_

Suzie chewed her bottom lip and shook her head.

_"Then,"_ continued Zephyrmon raising her three fingered hand towards the child, _"hold out your hand Suzie."_

Four glowing orbs materialized around the two glowing digimon then.

_"We_ all _need your help to help you."_

* * *

_"STOP IT!"_

The sound of Ayaka's scream cut through Crusadermon's as a flash of golden light surged forth, slamming brutally into UlforceVeedramon's body, knocking him off and breaking his contact with his fellow Royal Knight. Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, UlforceVeedramon felt himself flying backwards before slamming hard into the ground. Stunned, the blue knight rolled his head towards the direction where the beam of light had come from and found himself staring into the sharp, amber colored eyes of one, extremely angry looking Ayaka Itou, who was presently brandishing her D-Arc at him like some sort of weapon.

_Certainly felt like one,_ thought UlforceVeedramon to himself as he got to his feet. Standing up at his full height he fixed the human child with a heavy stare.

"Get out of my way, human," he grated, his tone carrying the weight of a mountain slide. Ayaka simply returned his glare and gritted her teeth. Her hand that held her digivice remained steady. Next to her, HiAndromon looked at the young girl with an expression of awe and worry.

"Ummm…Ayaka…"

"I told you to stop it," Ayaka growled at UlforceVeedramon, ignoring HiAndromon. "What part of that did you not understand? You're hurting her!"

"That is the path that she chose when she sided with you," UlforceVeedramon replied coolly, casting a glance over at an immobile and heavily breathing Crusadermon. "By turning on one of her own she betrayed Yggdrasil and everything that he stands for. She is no longer deserving of the power that he has bestowed upon her. As my mission to find her and bring her home has ended in failure it is now my duty now to see to the removal of her power and the ending of her existence. I cannot allow someone with extensive knowledge of Yggdrasil's machinations to continue living."

"Since when do you get to make that kind of decision?" Ayaka furrowed her brow into a deep scowl. "She's a living creature. And more importantly…" Ayaka took a deep breath before continuing. "She's my _partner!_ I'm not going to let _any_ harm come to her!"

From over where she lay, Crusadermon felt her body stiffen as those words reached her ears. _Partners…_ the meaning of that word still eluded her. She still didn't even have a full understanding of why she fought in defense of the girl. She knew for certain that she had to _ask_ her some questions…questions in regards to their bond and what it meant to them, but was that all there was? When she had seen UlforceVeedramon holding onto Ayaka, preparing to kill her, something inside her had snapped and she let loose on her former comrade with every ounce of strength that she had remaining in her.

_It's not as though we even wanted to have anything to do with each other,_ thought Crusadermon as she forced her breathing to steady itself. _I know I certainly didn't. I was concerned with only one thing. Battle. Following Dynasmon and Craniummon to this world had simply been part of the job. Only, it's not just a job anymore. What…is it that I'm doing now? What is my mission? Why do I feel myself caring for the wellbeing of that human?_ Crusadermon brought one hand up to her chest and pulled it into a fist. _Why do I feel her heart beating in my chest? Why do I feel her happiness and her fear? Why?_ Why?

_"…_ _Don't you have some place to be?"_ Came the half-remembered voice of Beelzemon from one of their previous fights. _"…You think that you can ignore her forever? You need her just like she needs you."_

"Poetic irony…" she whispered to herself. "That's what he said when that Tamer of the Guardromon asked him what was going on. Did he mean that he went through the same thing that I am now?"

_"…You've become a part of something bigger then whatever mission you were sent here for, and you need to recognize it before you do something stupid. I made that mistake before and I pay for it every day because of it…"_

"My...partner. And…hers…"

Beneath her helmet, Crusadermon felt a tear emerge from one eye born from some half-forgotten emotion that she had not felt since she first laid eyes on her first keeper, Rosemon. As it slid down her cheek, Crusadermon remembered what it was like to be comforted and to give it to another. The warmth, the safety, and the trust…qualities that she had lost when she loaded her first digimon. Instinctive or not; accident or not, her fellow playmates had viewed her differently since then. Even she no longer recognized herself and somewhere down the years she had become the Indifferent Warrior, taking pleasure only in the deaths of her enemies, innocent or not.

"Do you think that you have the ability to stop me?" Asked UlforceVeedramon, returning Crusadermon's attention to the present.

"Hate to say this to you, bud," said HiAndromon in Kazu's voice as he stepped forward and took up a defensive posture in front of Ayaka, "but she knocked you for a loop with just her digivice alone. And let's not forget that you have a lot of Megas to go through. Plus you're pretty beat up. I don't think you're in much of a position to come out on top at this point."

UlforceVeedramon's body glowed once more and a series of symbols materialized all over his armor. Glaring disdainfully at the android, UlforceVeedramon raised one hand and pointed it at HiAndromon. Energy began to gather in the center of his hand and he spoke.

"Perhaps I won't be able to seize the day," he said coolly, "but let us see how your confidence holds out when you don't have your allies about you to back you up. I'm well aware of your ability to copy the attributes of other digimon. But don't think that you'll be able to copy this. This is a program that's far outside of your capabilities."

The energy that had been gathering in UlforceVeedramon's hand lanced out and surged towards HiAndromon. Reacting on pure instinct, HiAndromon pushed Ayaka out of the way and used 'Copy Paste' to summon a duplicate of UlforceVeedramon's Tensegrity Shield to protect himself. Unfortunately for him, the Royal Knight's attack treated the shield like so much wet toilet paper, smashing through it with frightening ease and sending him crashing into the streets. Snorting in half disappointment, UlforceVeedramon extended an energy blade from his right V-Bracelet and began to stalk forward towards HiAndromon as he struggled to get back to his feet. UlforceVeedramon's eyes flickered over towards the skyline, catching sight of HiAndromon's approaching allies.

_How unfortunate for him and the child that they will not be arriving in time to spare their friend from his fate…_

And that was when a yellow ribbon, glowing with mystical symbols, wrapped itself around his right wrist like a serpent and pulled sharply, forcing UlforceVeedramon to stumble slightly to prevent himself from falling.

"You _still_ persist?" UlforceVeedramon asked, somewhat surprised at his former comrade in arms. Looking at her, he found that she had activated her own Sephirot in order to combat his own.

Crusadermon grunted as she tugged on UlforceVeedramon's arm with the whip-like ribbon. Her body was shaking and shuddering with the strain and her breaths were coming out in harsh gasps. UlforceVeedramon _hmmphed_ and pulled against the ribbon with his captured arm, forcing her to stumble this time.

"You are a fool," he said to the other Royal Knight. "What did you expect from activating your Sephirot? You are far too injured and low on energy to execute it properly. The Sephirot will begin consuming you before too long in order to meet its energy requirements." UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Just _what_ is it about that girl that you feel is _worth_ dying for? What did she _do_ to you?"

"What does it matter to you?" Rasped Crusadermon. "Right now, I need her. That's all the excuse that I need."

"Very well then," said UlforceVeedramon in a tone that had all the finality to it as a coffin nail. "If that is your answer, then you can die with her."

The symbols on UlforceVeedramon's body flashed suddenly and he pulled sharply on the ribbon that was tied to him. Crusadermon squawked as she felt her body leave the ground and accelerate in the direction of UlforceVeedramon. Before she could even react, the blue Royal Knight's fist impacted with the front of her helm, causing a spider web of cracks to spread across her face and send her flying backwards. Slamming into the ground hard, Crusadermon rolled with the blow before finally becoming still. The strength that she had felt before was rapidly draining from her body. Clawing the ground beneath her, Crusadermon struggled to rise, only to fall back down to the ground as her arm gave out beneath her.

_No…_

Ayaka gaped at her partner as she collapsed to the ground unable to comprehend how things were falling apart this fast when she and Crusadermon were finally coming to grasp what it was that they shared. Although she was uncertain as to what that was herself a part of her was already rising, screaming at her to do something to back up her partner. Quickly, Ayaka dove her hands into her pockets and pulled out the deck of cards that she had bought all those days ago. Unfortunately the cards got caught in her pocket and spilled out onto the ground. Getting down on the ground rapidly, Ayaka began flipping through the cards hoping to find one that would turn the tide…

_I'm not going to make it,_ thought Ayaka as panic settled heavily on her mind. UlforceVeedramon was now towering over Crusadermon, one booted foot crushing her to the ground to make sure that she didn't try anything to escape. The blue energy blade emanating from the bracelet on his right wrist hummed as it rose into the air…

_Nonononononono…_

A sharp gust of wind suddenly slammed into UlforceVeedramon's body, throwing him off of Crusadermon. Running over to her fallen partner Ayaka grabbed hold of the Royal Knight and held onto her tightly.

"Crusadermon!"

"Child…" rasped Crusadermon harshly as she placed one hand on one of Ayaka's arm and carefully began to pry her off of her. "Will you _please_ , take your hands off of me? This is _unbecoming_ of a Royal Knight."

_"Even though you're no longer counted among their ranks?"_ Chided a voice playfully.

"Who?" Both partners looked up to see two winged digimon, a bird woman and a fairy both flying towards them, with the fairy holding Suzie Wong in her arms. It was the bird woman that grabbed Ayaka's attention though, as she recognized her all too well.

"Wha…? _Zephyrmon?!_ But…you…"

_"Now is not the time for explanations,"_ said Zephyrmon. _"Suzie, if you would…"_

"Um…" Suzie held up her hands and cupped them together. Four spheres of glowing light materialized within them. "What do I do now?" She asked, looking up at Kazemon. The fairy digimon smiled.

_"Just pray. Like you used to."_

Suzie closed her eyes and held her hands close to her body. A short ways off, UlforceVeedramon got back to his feet and took in the situation that stood before him, frowning as he saw the fairy and bird female digimon and the human child that the fairy held. There was something about them…

UlforceVeedramon's eyes widened as realization struck him. Igniting his energy blade once again he charged forward in a desperate bid to stop them from what he was sure they were going to do.

Light suddenly exploded from within Suzie's hands and cascaded over the shattered streets of Shinjuku.

Too little, too late.

* * *

Duftmon staggered to a halt and looked up. His breaths came into his lungs in deep, harsh breaths that wracked his body and sent a painful burning sensation crawling throughout him. It was all distant to him however as he took in the sight in front of him.

A midnight blue aura cascaded over the shattered streets and broken buildings that stretched all around it, emanating from the twin blades and spiked, ring shaped hand guard of the steel spear that lay imbedded in the ground. The translucent light rippled ever so slightly as the light pulsed around the azure colored blade, giving Duftmon the impression that he was standing under water and that the night sky wasn't being choked out by the black smoke that had been given life by the destructive fighting that was tearing the city apart. A strange calmness fell over the Royal Knight, and without a thought towards the enemy that he knew to be barking at his heels he took a step towards the blade.

_Beautiful…_ thought Duftmon distantly as he took in the elegant design of the glowing weapon, savoring every curve of its Chrome Digizoid steel; every edge that glinted within the warm embrace of the blue light. _This blade…it radiates_ power _unlike anything I've ever felt before. It's not as powerful or overwhelming as my Lord Yggdrasil, but there's something about it that's different all the same._

Raising one hand Duftmon placed one hand on the weapon's shining surface and he smiled softly beneath his helm.

_There is passion here. Passion and…tragedy as well. This blade is like a work of art. It has heart and it has meaning etched within its surface…_

As Duftmon stared at the blade, energy swirled about its surface and began to take shape. Before the Royal Knight's eyes the image of a nude boy with his eyes closed and arms hanging limply at his side appeared. Duftmon blinked in surprise, and then the boy was gone, as though he had never been. Frowning Duftmon leaned in closer to the sword, trying to confirm what he had seen. After a few seconds Duftmon shook his head and sighed.

_I must be more worn down than I thought. I'm starting to see things…_

A loud giggle broke Duftmon's concentration and turning his head sharply the Royal Knight was surprised to find a glowing white creature with long, fin-like wings and a single, coiled antennae sprouting from its head hovering next to his arm. Large, black marbles sitting above a wide, warm smile gazed up at him, and Duftmon found himself nodding at the creature's unexpected presence.

"So…the messengers of the gods are here as well, eh?" Duftmon asked, remembering a tale he remembered being told as a Fresh level digimon about the origins of the Digignome creatures that inhabited his world. "What business do you have?"

The digignome did not answer in words. They never did of course. Giggling or making excited chirps tended to be the only language that the creatures knew how to speak though they understood all other languages perfectly well.

_And of course they would,_ thought Duftmon. _After all, desire is the universal language that speaks to all creatures, great or small._

Flapping its 'wings', the Digignome rose up into the air and began flying around the spear. Following it with his eyes, Duftmon was surprised to see that seven more Digignomes had appeared to join it and they were now circling around the blade that was imbedded in the ground. Frowning Duftmon tracked their path, wondering how it was that the Digignomes had arrived here.

_They don't normally leave the digital world. How did they even get…?_

Duftmon's thoughts trailed off as his gaze slipped past a digignome and towards the sky behind it. Although plumes of smoke continued to choke the air Duftmon's vision was sharp enough to catch a glimpse of what lay behind them. A faint ripple that warped the light that came down from the half obscured moon that shone in the night sky…and a short glimpse of a green grid. But short or not, the meaning was not lost on the Royal Knight. His eyes widened in realization as the gravity of the situation settled heavily on his shoulders.

_This battle…it_ must _end, and it must end quickly! Gyōjamon's power…it's too much!_

_If this fight continues for much longer the barriers will be eroded and the human and digital worlds will collide! No wonder his power was sealed! By the Tree…what have we_ done?!

Realizing that such thoughts weren't going to go anywhere towards resolving the problem at hand Duftmon returned his gaze towards the double-bladed spear in front of him. The weapon radiated power in vast quantities, but it was dormant. Such power did not remain dormant forever though, especially where digimon were concerned.

_As I am now, I don't stand a chance, but with this…_

Raising one hand Duftmon reached out and grasped the handle of the spear. Blue electricity leapt out from the blades and attacked his wrist, as though the weapon were unwilling to accept him as its wielder. Gritting his teeth Duftmon tightened his grip and ignored the pain. Adding his other hand to the handle Duftmon heaved on the spear. His arms shook with strain. The spear grated against the street in which it was imbedded, resisting his attempts to remove it. The blue lightning that attacked his hands increased their intensity, surging past his wrists and over his arms. Serpentine tails of electricity leapt forth from the edges of the blades and coiled themselves around his body, neck, head, and legs. Smoke rose from his armor, but Duftmon ignored it. He ignored it all. He needed power if he was to survive for even a second longer against Gyōjamon and this was what he needed.

Giving an animal-like roar Duftmon gave one final pull and the street beneath him exploded as the spear was at long last ripped free from its embrace. The spears metal rang as it clove through the air and a great wind blew over the smoke blackened ruins of Shinjuku, snuffing out the fires that burned and dispersing the smoke. Breathing heavily on the now fresh air Duftmon hefted the spear and took a look at his reflection in the blade.

_Wha…? No change…?_

"That blade is not for you," came the low growl of Gyōjamon as he came to a landing behind the battered Royal Knight. "Did you think that you would be able to use it against me?"

"The thought did occur to me," admitted Duftmon, turning around so as to be able to more fully see the vixen digimon. "But this weapon isn't entirely useless to me you know. I am considered the master of arms amongst the Royal Knights."

"Funny," said Gyōjamon without humor, "it hasn't really been of much help to you today."

Duftmon shrugged his shoulders. "Then take that as a sign that you are a far worthier opponent then I had first believed. I can see why you had sealed your powers though, and why your existence is so rare. I'm certain Lord Yggdrasil has something to do with that. He always suppresses those most dangerous of digimon species unless they have some use to him. That's why creatures such as Megidramon are mere legends in the digital world."

Gyōjamon raised his spear and pointed it at the Royal Knight's eyes.

_Apparently he's not interested in holding a conversation._

Duftmon narrowed his eyes, wondering how he was going to be able to settle this battle without any further damage to himself or the boundaries of the two worlds. He didn't have much time to ponder the question much to his misfortune, as within seconds Gyōjamon was on him, slashing and stabbing away with his burning spear.

_It's all I can do just to keep up,_ thought Duftmon furiously as he leapt into the air and used his spear to bat away the oncoming, blue fireballs that Gyōjamon sent flying his way from the tips of his tails. _And since I'm exhausted I can't call upon my Sephirot abilities. How am I going to be able to…?_

Duftmon's thought process was suddenly and brutally cut off as one of Gyōjamon's tails surged towards him and transformed itself into a blade, smashing through the armor that lined his stomach and bursting out the other side. Duftmon made a series of choking sounds as he felt his body grow limp.

_This…this can't be… our mission is not yet completed and the boundaries… the…boundaries…_

As Duftmon turned his eyes upwards, his fading vision caught sight of the green network of gridlines that was now crisscrossing the night sky. A ripple passed through it, taking on a shape that the Royal Knight instantly recognized before disappearing from view. Horror filled Duftmon's core and he stretched one hand outwards, as though pleading for his distant master to hear his words before he expired.

_It can't be. It just_ can't! _My Lord! The creature…the distortion! He…_

Duftmon's body burst into shards of data that scattered throughout the city, taking with it the last fragments of his warning.

* * *

Gyojamon watched the blue, double bladed spear clatter on the ground uselessly before snorting derisively.

_Such a waste,_ he thought to himself as he retracted his tail. Turning his head away from where Duftmon had died Gyōjamon cast out his senses in search of the next available target.

_UlforceVeedramon…_

A flash of unbridled excitement surged through Gyōjamon's heart, and he clenched his spear tightly. Sensing the power that ran through the remaining Royal Knight Gyōjamon sent a trail of fire running down his back where an eighth tail sprouted and joined the others.

Above him, the sky trembled and cracked with thunder.


	121. 120: Bond of the Spirits

Thunder cracked in the smoke choked sky above Shinjuku, reverberating through the air like the roar of a lion. Lightning lashed out from the skies, but their source was not from any cloud that hung in the air, nor did it come from the digimon that rampaged throughout the city. A gap appeared in the smoke, revealing the starry night that had long since settled over the city. After a few moments, the sky, clearly illuminated by the light of the moon, warped ever so slightly and a massive figure could be seen moving amongst it before vanishing from sight. The warp remained however, and a second later a green colored grid materialized, framing itself perfectly against the stars.

_Just perfect,_ thought the blonde haired man as he took a stop in the middle of the street to take a look up. Shrugging his rifle onto his back, the man stuck a cigarette into his mouth and flicked open his lighter. The tiny flame hovered in front of the cancer stick before he brought it to the tip. A second later another puff of smoke was added to the air.

_Star light, star bright,_ thought the man, taking note of the bright blue ball of fire that flew through the air in a wide, arching path, carving a path through the smoke. He knew it was one of the digimon that was responsible for all of the carnage that was around him. The thought made him sick to his stomach and put fire in his heart. It gave him all the more reason to continue with his mission.

Having walked his way through the shattered remains of Shinjuku, he had gotten a _very_ good impression as to the sheer amount of danger that digimon presented to the real world. The whole world would know of it too once they caught wind of this evening's incident.

_But it won't end there,_ thought the man. _It never will…unless action is taken. For the sake of my home…I have to make a stand._

* * *

UlforceVeedramon raised his hands to guard his eyes from the blinding light that had burst free from the young human girl's hands. A feeling of intense power and presence swept over the shattered streets of Shinjuku with the light, and the Royal Knight had to do everything within his power to keep himself from fleeing in terror from the sensation of sheer, untamed force beating upon the air like a wild animal. It was most disturbing that it affected, a Royal Knight, in such a way that he felt the need to flee.

_I have faced the Seven Great Demon Lords and the forces of the Dark Ocean. I have encountered creatures that would have made angels quake, and I serve in the ranks of He who is most high in the digital world. I have been in the presence of power before so why do I feel so small and afraid? Why?_

Except UlforceVeedramon knew why. He was quite familiar with the many legends that pervaded the digital world. He had never really been one for believing in legends, but if there was one thing that he knew about the digital worlds it was that there were some that existed and walked tall. Yggdrasil was one such legend, and UlforceVeedramon had enough personal experience to know that his stories were true.

And now it appeared that this was another one that contained that most precious grain of truth to it.

_Such power,_ thought UlforceVeedramon as he steeled his soul for the battle that he was sure was to come. _Such strength. The harrowing roar of the wind, the shattering strength of the earth…I feel as though I am facing the might of the whole digital world. How…apt, considering the source of this strength…_

A sharp gust of wind blew over UlforceVeedramon's body, and all at once his vision was cleared. The digimon that he was facing looked the same as they did when he first began battling them, but there was a marked difference that set them apart. A shining aura surrounded them, radiating blistering strength, and their eyes contained within them a fire that far outmatched his own; a determination to win no matter what the cost. UlforceVeedramon knew that the battle was over now. Even with the Sephirot, he didn't stand a chance. He was far too exhausted to do anything, and as he was not in the digital world he couldn't call on any resources to regain his strength. The real world was far too limiting for him to use the full range of his powers.

_This is the end…isn't it?_ Thought UlforceVeedramon grimly. _Well…so be it. Even if I fall, I shall fall fighting in the name of my Lord, Yggdrasil. No one and no power shall ever persuade me otherwise. If nothing else, I shall try to eliminate that traitorous Crusadermon…_

Raising his right arm, UlforceVeedramon ignited his energy blade, preparing himself for his final battle.

* * *

Jeri got out of the car with her family and looked back in the direction of Shinjuku with a despondent look on her face. Behind her, her little brother Masahiko staggered out of the car, making a grunting, exhausted sound and rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Jeri, grab your little brother's bags," said Shizue, her stepmother as she popped open the passenger side door and stepped out. "Your father and I will get the rest."

Jeri nodded and without speaking she helped steady her little brother and reached into the back seat, retrieving his bag. Taking him by the hand, Jeri looked anxiously at her grandparent's home and they began walking up the path leading to the main entrance. A light was on inside despite the late hour, but that was hardly a surprise since her father had phoned ahead to let them know that they were coming up.

_I hope that the others are doing all right back home,_ thought Jeri to herself as she gripped Masahiko's hand tightly in her hand. The boy squirmed uncomfortably in her grasp.

"Jeri…you're hurting my hand."

"Sorry," apologized Jeri, relaxing her grip. She hoped that her anxiety didn't show on her face. She didn't want to worry anyone, but she felt that in spite of her hopes, she looked as nervous as she felt.

Walking up to the front porch, Jeri knocked on the door and waited for her grandparents to arrive. After a few seconds, during which she heard the pitter pattering sound of feet on the floor within, the door slid open and revealed an elderly woman with graying hair and strong features. The woman beamed at Jeri and Masahiko happily upon seeing them.

"Good evening," the woman said with a tiny bow towards the two children.

"Grandma!" Exclaimed Masahiko as he broke free from Jeri's grasp and threw himself against the elderly Katou's legs, wrapping his arms around them in a tight hug. The woman chuckled as she returned the gesture.

"Nice to see you too. And you as well Jeri."

"Hi Grandma," said Jeri. "Sorry to keep you and grandpa up so late waiting for us."

The woman laughed lightly. "Well, actually it should be that son of mine, your father, who should apologize to me, but we won't talk about that. Besides," the woman's face took on a serious look, "from what I've seen on the news, it's just as well that you did have us up so late."

Jeri shuddered and pursed her lips together uncertainly.

"Grandma. How are things back in Shinjuku? Did they say?"

"Why don't we get everyone settled before we discuss those things? I'm sure that you're all tired, and you and Masahiko need rest."

"No I don't!" Exclaimed Masahiko vehemently. "My eyes are always…droo…ping…"

Jeri giggled as her little brother fought to keep his eyes from closing and momentarily failed to do so, almost toppling over in the process.

"I see," said their grandmother with a look of bemusement on her face. "Then in that case I take it that you'd rather be standing on my porch all night?"

"Mother," came the voice of Jeri's father as he and Shizue came up the path behind their children, "stop teasing them and let them inside. It's been a long trip and I really want to know what's going on back home."

"Well…since you put it that way…"

* * *

Jeri sat on the couch watching the TV while her parents and grandparents discussed things in the kitchen. Her stepbrother was currently resting his head in her lap, sound asleep. Running a hand through the youngster's hair Jeri continued to focus on the news as it poured in. At the moment, there wasn't much to report save that the battle continued to rage in Shinjuku. The military had suffered a minor defeat at the hands of the Royal Knights when they broke through their defense perimeter before an exploding gas main forced a withdrawal and regroup. The Tamers had moved in short order and after that things got hairy enough that _no one_ could get close. That, and there was the fact that…

Well, perhaps the news report itself should suffice.

_"…All connections between Hypnos and the military have been cut off,"_ said the news reporter standing amidst the crowd of soldiers who were busy making preparations to move out, _"but according to some sources, the last transmission received indicated that there is some kind of spatial warp similar to the readings within the Digital Zone during the Parasimon Invasion, and that it is preventing the army from moving any closer."_ the camera panned over towards the smoking city off in the distance. A bolt of electricity crawled through the sky and the smoke pixilated.

Jeri pulled her brother's head closer to her, and the boy stirred ever so slightly in response, but soon stilled, mumbling something inaudibly to himself.

_I wish that there was something more that they could tell us,_ thought Jeri, as the news station shifted to a scientist who began explaining the properties behind the spatial warp that had now settled over the city. Jeri ignored it for the most part as she lost herself in her worries for her friends.

_It seems like it's been forever since the fighting started. Why haven't they won already? Are those digimon just that powerful?_

Clenching her eyes shut, Jeri once again cursed herself for not being able to help out in such a situation. But there was nothing that she could do but wait, and hope that her friends could pull through.

_But…without Takato, Rika, Henry, and Ryo…_

Jeri clamped down on that thought right away, not wanting to lose herself in any more thoughts of despair. She couldn't help it though, and in the end her mind turned towards her missing friends.

_I'm sure that they're okay,_ she thought desperately to herself. _Takato and Rika are together, so they'll be able to watch out for each other. Ryo's survived in the digital world for eight months on his own with Cyberdramon, and Henry has Terriermon. Plus, Henry has a good head on his shoulders, so he's sure to be all right. Well…so long as Terriermon doesn't talk too much…_

So distressed was she that Jeri couldn't even laugh at her own joke. 'Momentai' wasn't going to be of much help to her at a time like this, not while her friends were in danger.

"Something troubling you, little one?"

Jumping slightly in her seat Jeri's head snapped over to see her grandfather standing behind her, eyes closed and face focused on her with his mouth pressed into a small smile. Jeri held the man's gaze for a moment before turning away, swallowing her anxiety.

"Well…I…I'm just worried, that's all."

"There's no shame in being worried," said the elder Katou. "Everyone worries about the people they care about. I'd be worried too if my friends were down there, fighting such a terrible and powerful foe."

Jeri nodded reluctantly. Of course her grandparents knew that she had been a Tamer, and that she had lost her partner, as it was rather difficult to hide such information during the time that she had been off in the digital world, never mind the rather public return that the Tamers had while disembarking from the Ark. They didn't know all of the details, such as her role in the D-Reaper's appearance and attack on the real world, but they did know that it had imprisoned her for some reason that no one, not her stepmother nor her father, were willing to discuss.

"I know," replied Jeri, nodding slowly. "It's just so hard. I feel so useless sometimes. My friends are out there fighting, and I'm over here where it's safe."

"If you could do something, what would you do?"

Jeri gave her grandfather a quizzical look. The man was, if nothing else, peculiar. As far as she knew he didn't fit the traditional mold that most grandfathers were pictured as being. He had few concerns about propriety and the image of the family unit in the eyes of their peers, and took a far more practical stance towards how he went about in life. There were many times when she had been visiting that he had allowed her to get away with things that most children her age wouldn't have been able to do (though nothing that could be considered serious mind you). Sometimes this would occur with a mischievous look in his eyes, as though he knew something that no one else did, and at other times with a solemn expression. This time, the latter decorated the man's face as he turned his gaze towards the television. His brow furrowed and he folded his thin arms over his shrunken chest, no longer toned with the muscle that had decorated his body in the prime of his life.

"I lived through World War Two," he said after a few moments. "I was only ten during the final days of the war. I was lucky to have survived, considering how hard Tokyo had been bombed at that time. My own grandfather was not so lucky. And it was not just him, but many of my friends had been killed as well. My father, though he hadn't been in Tokyo at the time as he was serving in the Navy, wasn't any more fortunate. The ocean is an unforgiving place." The man shook his head and sighed before continuing. "Jeri…you know that I do not blame the Americans for their deaths. Men make war, and death is an expected result of it. I know that you, like many others, would desire that war never happen, but it does all the same. At that time I didn't have the power to do anything to save my family and friends, but if I did, I would have done something."

The old man turned his face towards Jeri.

"You have more ability to help your friends then I ever had. I don't pretend to understand everything that the news reports and documentaries said about digimon, but I do know that _belief_ is key to their strength."

Jeri's grandfather shifted slightly. "After all, that is what your digimon friend Calumon told me the last time he was here."

Jeri returned her gaze back to the television.

"Calumon can definitely say that's true," said Jeri, a small smile growing on her face. "He told me once that he got me out of the D-Reaper, while I was unconscious, thinking only happy thoughts."

The old man chuckled. "That sounds about right. Where is he, anyway?"

"Back there," Jeri indicated the image of Shinjuku on the television screen. "I wanted him to stay behind and help keep the others spirits up. Now I'm really regretting that. He's only such a little digimon…"

"If he got you out of that red demon from last year, then I'm sure that he's more than capable of fending for himself. I'm sure that you made the right decision about that. But if you're still uncomfortable with it…"

Jeri fixed her grandfather with a quizzical look.

"What are you saying?"

"You may not have a digimon to fight by your side anymore, but you still have a duty to them. You have a bond with them that transcends all others. I have heard soldiers speak of such a bond; a camaraderie that is forged in the heat of battle. Even those who could not fight would find ways to aid their comrades, even if it was through prayer."

The man glanced at Jeri out of the corner of his eye, and Jeri stared at him for a moment, allowing her mind to process what he had said. She frowned.

_He…couldn't be saying what I think he's saying…could he?_

Jeri shifted uncomfortably, feeling the presence of her digivice within the pocket of her dress.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Asked Jeri in a contemplative tone.

"Still in the kitchen, talking to your Grandmother," replied the man in a casual fashion.

"I see…" Jeri combed her hand through her little brother's hair in deep thought before lifting his head gently and standing up. Turning, Jeri bowed to her grandfather.

"Thank you. I know what I have to do now."

The old man smiled.

* * *

_I'm not much good when all I'm doing is beating myself up over what I can't do,_ thought Jeri as she slid open the front door and stepped outside of the house. Digging one hand into her green dress's pocket Jeri pulled out her digivice and looked at the gold ring encircling the screen. _I think that's what Grandpa was trying to tell me. Out of all of my family members he always let me do more than my father or either of my mother's would have allowed…even when it wasn't a particularly good idea. Well…he's right in this case. I do have a duty to my friends to stand by them even when there's not much that I can do, and I know that there is_ something. _I did it once before, back during the day we had that Hazard Storm. Now let's see…this is all I have. Well…this, and the SolMilleniummon card but I don't think that's going to be of much use right now._

Jeri's brow furrowed as she remembered the electrical storm that had destroyed both card and digivice. Between the two, only the digivice came out of it better than ever, complete with a gold ring around its screen just like Takato and Ryo's. It was a sign that she had attained something…something important following her near-death experience…

" _You have a gift inside of you that will enable the digital world to survive."_

_I can't believe that I had forgotten that in all the excitement,_ thought Jeri as she remembered her encounter with the digimon known as Loewemon in that strange dream world she had entered after being electrocuted. _And then there were all the things that the others have said to me…like how Rika said that I'm helpful in my own way. Even Ryo's 'partner' seems to think that I'm pretty important, even if I'm not so sure about that. I've just been so afraid after Takato, Rika, and Ryo disappeared and the fighting started that I didn't think that there was anything that I could do._ Jeri's amber eyes took on a steely light to them as she looked over in the direction of Shinjuku. A sharp gust of wind blew over her, playing at the edges of her dress and blowing her brown hair in her eyes. _But I know that I can do something…_

Jeri hefted her digivice, as though its presence was confirmation of that very fact. Closing her eyes, Jeri brought her digivice close to her chest. Briefly she was reminded of her final act of defiance against the D-Reaper right before she had dealt a devastating blow to her prison but she quickly pushed the memory aside, opting to focus on the here and now so that she might be able to lend what aid she could to her friends. She was peripherally aware that her grandfather was standing in the doorway watching her, but she ignored him. Her friends were all that mattered right now; all that was important.

A faint glow began to emerge from the screen of her D-Arc, causing the digital device to grow warm in her hands. Feeling the connection between it and her heart growing once more after so long of inactivity, Jeri moved her mind towards it. Faces and thoughts swam in her mind, broken at first, but they soon began to coalesce into a discernable whole.

_Kazu…you've finally grown up,_ she thought to herself as she saw the image of the visor-wearing boy surrounded by the light of his rust colored digi-core. A ripple moved over the surface of her consciousness and Kazu was replaced by Ayaka, clutching firmly onto the battered form of Crusadermon, who likewise returned the gesture though in a far more protective manner. Ayaka's eyes were no longer filled with uncertainty, but instead held a grim determination to stand by the Royal Knight's side at any cost.

Another ripple. Kenta and MarineAngemon. Both looked more than a little worn but otherwise still held a firm steadiness that was quite unlike what Jeri had been accustomed to seeing.

_Still…I always knew that it was there,_ thought Jeri, smiling warmly.

Another ripple. Beelzemon and Lilithmon. Jeri was glad to see that Beelzemon was back on his feet, though his appearance startled her for a moment as it was, well, _different_ (for lack of a better way to put it). The wings, with their more demonic appearance made him appear even more wild, but for some reason his sword, a rather large sword at that, gave him all the appearance of nobility in the same way that a lion did.

While Jeri's mind touched on that thought for a moment she soon turned her attention to Lilithmon. The girl inside the shapely woman's body had a strange presence to her that was similar to the others, as though a realization had been made at some point since the last time Jeri had seen her, but as to what that was she couldn't tell. And yet she recognized it all the same.

_That look in her eyes…it reminds me of Takato when I watched him fight the Devas. He was so serious…and mature…_

The thought of the crimson haired youth that had been on her mind so often of late made her mind move even deeper into her digivice, and it was at that moment that a well of power suddenly surged through her body. Gasping, Jeri's eyes flew open and her back arched. Her digivice flared with white light, making her appear to have translucent wings. Air began to warp around her as she felt the _essences_ of her friends flood into her. She…she _felt_ them! _Everything_ about them! Their thoughts, their hopes, their happiness, sorrow, and their anger. All of it washed up against her soul like the most intimate of driftwood blown in from a ferocious storm. It was all so sudden and unexpected that Jeri almost pushed herself away in panic, but at the last minute she clamped down on the connections that she felt and _pulled_ them towards her, her desire to protect her friends going beyond any fear that she felt. The warp around her increased in its intensity and her body began to fade from view. The last thing that Jeri heard over the roar of her father as he finally saw what was going on was the familiar voice of the dark god that Ryo had been so accustomed to, whispering within the depths of her mind.

_"Well done, young Katou. Well done…"_

* * *

"JERI!" Shouted Tadashi Katou as he burst out onto the porch and raced towards his daughter's vanishing figure. He was too late however, and his fingers passed right through her and the man collapsed to the ground, roaring in frustration and anger as his daughter disappeared from his sight.

"Jeri! No!" Tadashi slammed his fists into the ground in frustration as all of his emotions, already filled to the brim, at long last spilled over. "Why her?! Why now?! Why again?! _Why?!_ "

No answer came to the father of the young girl as he howled her name to the sky, beseeching the heavens to return his daughter safely to her that very instant.

The heavens, as usual, returned his pleas with their silence.

* * *

Time seemed to have been suspended for a moment as UlforceVeedramon and the Tamers prepared to do battle one last time. That moment ended as quickly as it came when a series of burning tails suddenly slammed into UlforceVeedramon's body, drilling him into the ground and shattering the streets upon which he had stood upon. A wave of fire swept over the area, and each of the Tamers took to their own devices to escape their searing heat before it could touch them.

Without even noticing, Crusadermon grabbed hold of Ayaka and rolled out of the path of the blue flames before leaping into the air. Gasping in surprise, Ayaka clutched tightly onto her partner and looked around her in bewilderment.

"Ah! Wha…?"

"Gyōjamon," responded Crusadermon as she cast a glance over her shoulder, wondering if they were now at a safe enough distance. HiAndromon, Beelzemon, and Lilithmon had all gone one way, while Antylamon, Kenta, and Suzie had all gone another courtesy of MarineAngemon's heart bubbles, narrowly escaping the lake of blue fire that had sprung up where they had all stood. The flames flared hungrily, as though eager to snatch hold of them.

_I don't think we're far enough…_

"Where are they?" Asked Ayaka, squinting her eyes as she tried to peer into the burning flames. "I see the others, but where did UlforceVeedramon and Gyōjamon go?"

"I would presume that they are under the flames," said Crusadermon as she continued to push into the sky. "Bad for UlforceVeedramon, as Gyōjamon is now in his eleme…UGH!"

Crusadermon gave a cry as she was suddenly slammed to the side, dislodging Ayaka from her grasp. Rolling with the blow, the former Royal Knight grabbed hold of her partner by the arm and quickly pulled her into a cradle position. Glaring around her, Crusadermon found a shimmering form flying its way through the sky. Although she couldn't see it particularly well, the outline was familiar enough for her to quickly apply a name to it.

"An Airdramon…"

"Wha…?"

"I was just blindsided by an Airdramon. Gyōjamon's powers are running loose, and now they're eroding the barriers between the worlds. We have to find a way to put him down before the barriers collapse entirely and our world's crash."

"I take it that I don't need to guess what'll happen, huh?"

"No, I imagine that you won't," replied Crusadermon. "Unfortunately I'm not in much of a condition to do anything about this situation, even with whatever it was that girl did earlier lending me energy. My defenses are just about minimal at the moment…"

Ayaka gulped as she saw a massive, shimmering figure appear in the flames, wading through the sea of fire before looking up at the sky and disappearing. Although Ayaka didn't have all that much knowledge about digimon, the outline was quite familiar as she had a card that bore its image.

_SkullGreymon…_

Pulling out her cards, Ayaka began to sort through them. "I wonder if I have a card that can help restore you…"

"You _don't_ _know?!"_ Asked Crusadermon incredulously.

"Hey! I only just got these things! I haven't exactly had the time to organize and memorize them you know. Unlike Jeri. That girl didn't even play the game and she went and alphabetized her deck…"

"I should think that we find a safer place to conduct that kind of activity," said Crusadermon before narrowly dodging a ball of fire that spat out from the lake below them. "Though I don't think that we have much of an option for that to occur any time in the immediate future. The barriers are fluctuating rapidly. They could collapse at any moment."

"So no matter what we do we're in trouble." Ayaka bit her thumbnail and frowned, her mind racing furiously. "Let's see…Kazu was able to biomerge with his partner…why can't we do the same?"

"I believe that requires a strong bond between both Tamer and digimon," said Crusadermon, a tense note in her voice. "I'm still…uncertain as to what you and I have."

"Well, at least you admit that you and I have something," grumbled Ayaka. "Look, I'll admit that you and I…we're probably not the best suited for each other and we both have our own lives, but we have a situation on our hands here that requires us to do our best no matter what. If you'll let me, I'll trust you with my back, and I'll do whatever I can to help you win this."

"Trust me with your back…" Crusadermon contemplated the young girl's words as she looked at her, her face illuminated by the azure flames below them. "Considering that I harmed you before," Crusadermon's eyes glanced down to Ayaka's neck, recalling their disastrous meeting at her house, "that's an interesting thing to say. Brave as well. But can I trust you with my back?"

"Duck."

"Wha…?"

And it was then that her instincts began screaming full power in her mind. Moving on a speed that had to be seen to be believed, Crusadermon somersaulted downwards in the air, moving closer to the sea of flames but narrowly avoiding the outline of an Okuwamon as it soared through the air. A claw swiped through the spot where they had been and Crusadermon _tsked_ as it sailed past them harmlessly.

"I see," said Crusadermon after a moment of thought. "Then…shall we trust our backs to each other?"

"Lets," answered Ayaka as she pulled her digivice closer to her chest. Darkness surrounded her vision as she closed her eyes and concentrated on her bond with the digimon that held her in a literal 'knight in shining armor' fashion. She had been quite aware of that connection for a while now, and for once she opened herself to it fully and willingly. In her mind's eye she saw a small, candle-like light appear in the midst of that darkness, offering warmth and fulfillment. Smiling, Ayaka moved towards it and in response the light flared, becoming brighter and more welcoming. Warmth diffused into her body and moved its way up her arms from where her digivice was held. Slowly opening her eyes, Ayaka saw that her digivice was clicking and beeping, and that both she and Crusadermon were both glowing. Ayaka looked up at Crusadermon's face and the Royal Knight nodded in response. The luminosity intensified and then burst forth like a shining star. Ayaka gasped in surprise at the flood of power that surged through her.

And then they were one.

* * *

Burning. That was all that UlforceVeedramon knew as the suffocating flames held him pinned to the ground like a living entity. And living it was, if the fox-like apparition had anything to do with it. The Royal Knight strained against his bonds, but the fiery tails of Gyōjamon proved to be unyielding in their strength and the flames continued to wash over him, heating his once blue armor to a bloody crimson, burning the scales that lay underneath. UlforceVeedramon gritted his teeth against the pain, refusing to cry out. However, the task was made exceedingly difficult with each second that passed by. Pride of a Royal Knight or not, the heat was well past the point of tolerable levels. UlforceVeedramon had to concentrate with all of his might to ignore the smell of burning flesh that filled his nostrils.

_"Enjoying the pain?"_ Came the sneering voice of Gyōjamon in his ear. _"That is but a fraction of what you and Duftmon had visited upon us…upon the Mother!"_

UlforceVeedramon continued to grit his teeth, shutting out the voice as he strained against the fox tails that held him down.

_"Nothing to say? A pity. I had hoped to at least hear you beg before you died. A shame. Oh well. Time to end this…"_

The tails tightened up, and UlforceVeedramon prepared himself for the finishing blow…

…A finishing blow that never came.

A powerful gust of wind blew across the streets, snuffing out the flames with frightful ease, revealing Gyōjamon's blazing, animal like form for all to see. Eight tails flexed and twisted like serpents, four of them pinning their prey to the ground like a hapless insect. His fox-like features, having long abandoned all human appearances, twisted into a snarl and he looked over his shoulder to find the source of the interruption. UlforceVeedramon was too tired and worn out to detect any other digimon presences, so he followed the kitsune's gaze where they settled squarely on the form of a Royal Knight.

The figure was immediately recognizable to him as Crusadermon due to the shaping of the armor and the presence of the Pile Bunker shield, but the resemblance ended there. Crimson replaced the golden shield that had once been her trademark and a solitary silver rose crest sat where the crucifix had been emblazoned, and white armor covered her entire body giving her already graceful appearance the look of a swan. Crimson ribbons replaced the yellow and a shining aura surrounded the digimon. UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes, trying to discern if he was actually seeing what he was seeing. He briefly wondered if his injuries were getting the best of him, but from the wave of power that he felt coming off of her…

"Enough Gyōjamon," said Crusadermon in a strange, dualistic sounding voice. "The battle is over. Any further attempts at using your power will result in the disintegration of two worlds. Your Mother would disapprove of your actions."

"My Mother is not here to do any disapproving because of you Royal Knights," seethed Gyōjamon, flexing his claws. "And I mean to exact my revenge from you all for your unwarranted attack."

"And perpetuate the cycle of violence?" Crusadermon shook her head. "Isn't that against your beliefs? Or are you just too caught up in your own power to care?"

"Enough of this," growled Gyōjamon, the flames on his tails flaring up once more. "It is time to end thi…"

Gyōjamon's words were cut off as his breath swiftly left his lungs. A small explosion detonated in the middle of his stomach from the blow that Crusadermon had landed on him via her Pile Bunker and he was sent flying into the streets behind UlforceVeedramon. Casually raising her shield laden fist Crusadermon began to walk forward with slow, measured steps.

"Ulforce," she said carefully. "You had best get out of here. You are his target, and he will stop at nothing to get his claws on you, and his presence is already disrupting the balance between the worlds."

UlforceVeedramon sat up with a groan, his armor smoking and still burning red. Crusadermon marveled at his tenacity. In spite of his injuries he was still able to move.

_"I remember that he was always able to accomplish his missions against powerful opponents just by pure willpower alone,"_ chuckled Crusadermon's voice from the darkness surrounding Ayaka's pink colored data sphere. _"That is why he had been granted the power that he has…"_

_"I…see,"_ said Ayaka.

"My mission is not…finished," rasped UlforceVeedramon as he struggled to his feet.

"It ends here," said Crusadermon. "So like it or not it is finished. Your missions do not precede the safety of the real and digital worlds. Besides," Crusadermon turned to face UlforceVeedramon, "you might get lucky. I might die holding off Gyōjamon while you retreat and recuperate. And there's nothing that says you can't come back later."

UlforceVeedramon nodded after a moment, not liking the notion of retreating.

"This is _not_ over…"

"Never expected it to be," replied Crusadermon.

A flicker of fire caught Crusadermon's attention, and the white armored Royal Knight dashed in front of UlforceVeedramon, blocking the attack with her Pile Bunker. Taking advantage of the distraction, UlforceVeedramon took to the air; his overwrite sequence repairing the damaged data of his wings to allow him to achieve flight.

"Now…it's just you and me," said Crusadermon to Gyōjamon, lowering her shining shield ever so slightly.

"Why did you let him go? He's a threat to you!"

"No more than you are right now. He would have continued resisting, and you would have continued to use your power to defeat him. I see that you have eight tails out already. I wonder what would happen if you unleashed your ninth?"

"Get out of my way," growled Gyōjamon, "and you won't have to find out."

_"Ayaka?"_ Came the questioning voice of Crusadermon from the darkness surrounding the girl's data sphere. The girl gulped and continued.

"Too late, Gyōjamon," said Ayaka. "UlforceVeedramon's made good his getaway."

Gyōjamon glared at Crusadermon for a moment, the fire over his body pulsating as though taking a deep breath.

"A pity for you," he said at last. His eight tails flexed and then surged outwards. Raising her Pile Bunker shield, the rose on its surface glowed.

_"White Rose,"_ she intoned.

* * *

Crusadermon, Rose Mode

Stage: Mega

Type: Virus

Special Attacks: White Rose, Spiral Masquerade, Eros

"Whoa," murmured Kenta as he lowered his digivice.

"You can say that again," said HiAndromon in Kazu's voice as he, Lilithmon, and Beelzemon approached him, Suzie, and Antylamon from behind. "I have to say Kenta you really knocked yourself out on this one. Man, how did you get so lucky to snag a girl like her?"

"Kazu…" Groaned the bespectacled boy, his shoulders slumping in embarrassment.

"What? Anyway, we'd better get in there and help her. I don't know what it was that Suzie did earlier but I'm feeling pretty refreshed."

"Yeah," nodded Kenta, glancing over at the little girl. "Suzie…just what was it that happened back there?"

The little girl looked up at the boy with wide eyes and tapped the bottom of her chin with one finger.

"You didn't see the fairy and the bird lady?"

"I did, but what was it that _you_ did?"

"They said that they needed my help, so I helped them."

"Well, that's real helpful…"

Beelzemon looked up at Antylamon. "Care to translate what she said?"

"It's difficult to explain fully, but I do remember one time where she had entered Zhuqiaomon's castle by having her digivice _fly_ her to us."

"That didn't sound so difficult to…hold on. _Fly?"_

"I know," said HiAndromon in Guardromon's voice. "I saw the whole thing. It was the strangest sight. I wasn't aware that humans were even capable of flying."

"Normally we're not," picked up Kazu, "but Suzie did it. And now she's pulled something out of her hat that went and bonded a bunch of weird orbs to us that makes us feel stronger…"

Beelzemon _hmmphed._

"Maybe you guys, but not me…"

"Uh…yeah, but that's not the point Beelzemon…"

"But what do these things do?" Asked Kenta, raising his digivice to look at the strange symbol emblazoned on its screen. A single line with a dot atop it like the letter I in the English alphabet, flanked by two curved crescents that turned abruptly straight towards the top.

_They sort of resemble the 'u' hiragana,_ thought Kenta with a frown.

"Who cares what they do?" Asked HiAndromon in Kazu's voice. "They gave us a recharge, didn't they? All we need to do is to take the fight back to the enemy and hope that we can get Gyōjamon to calm down."

"That doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon," noted Beelzemon as he saw Gyōjamon's blazing form crash into Crusadermon's body.

"So why are we still standing around here then?!" Demanded Lilithmon, her voice edgy.

"We don't know what these things can do," said Kenta, indicating his digivice. "They restored our energy, but what _else_ can they do? And is it good for us?"

"Why would biwd lady give us something bad?" Asked Suzie.

"No one's saying that she did," said Kenta, "but in a situation like this, what we don't know can be just as bad as Gyōjamon is right now." Kenta frowned. "And just what happened to him anyway? I thought he was on our side?"

"Hello? Earth to Kenta?" Said Kazu. "I hate to say this again, but who cares? We have a situation on our hands here, and we need to keep it from getting really out of hand. Come on. Do you think Ayaka is going to like a guy who's wishy-washy?"

"I'm not…! Oh, never mind! I guess we'll just have to do things the way Rika says we always do them: wing it."

"Quoting Rika now? That's disturbing…"

"Gotta admit that she's right," grumbled Beelzemon as he hefted his sword. "Now let's get this show on the road."

Flapping his wings, Beelzemon took to the air, and HiAndromon leapt towards Crusadermon's direction. Kenta exchanged worried glances with his remaining companions before they too took off towards the battle zone.

_I just hope that we're doing the right thing,_ thought Kenta. _No. Of course we are. Ayaka needs us and we've got to help her no matter what!_

* * *

Ayaka let out a grunt of pain as she erected a barrier of pink light to ward off Gyōjamon's blue flames. As powerful as she felt in her new form she was forced to admit that it wasn't sufficient enough to defend against Gyōjamon's brutal attacks. He was just too out of control.

_"Just how are we going to be able to defeat this guy?_ Thought Ayaka. _Crusadermon! Do you have any tricks like what you used earlier? Any of that Sephirot or whatever it's called?"_

_"Sorry Ayaka, but those abilities appear to be sealed in this form. I don't understand why, but we're left to our own devices right now. I think that if we could get close enough…"_

Crusadermon's musings were cut off as a stream of fire brushed against her side, melting through the armor in the blink of an eye and dripping molten metal on the unprotected skin beneath. Clapping one armored hand against the breach Crusadermon jumped backwards, barely dodging another burst of flame.

_"His attacks are getting hotter,"_ gritted Ayaka painfully.

_"To be able to melt through Chrome Digizoid like that…it's certainly an incredible feat. We're going to be hard pressed now. We can't even hold him down with our ribbons…"_

Ayaka groaned irritably. _"There's_ got _to be something we can do…"_

_"Not if all you do is complain and leave the thinking to me…"_

"HEADS UP!"

From within her data sphere, Ayaka squeaked as she was suddenly tackled to the side by HiAndromon. A stream of fire sailed over them and struck a nearby building, disintegrating its foundations within a matter of seconds.

_"Close…"_

"Okay, buddy," said HiAndromon as he got to his feet. "Why don't we all just calm down?"

"Get out of my way," growled Gyōjamon. "The knight is my prey. Do you desire to be added to the list?"

"What? Come on, Gyōjamon! What's with you? You know that she's on our side!"

"Any digimon or human that allows my enemy to escape is not someone I'd consider an ally. The same applies to all others who aid them. Now move aside."

"Someone needs to take a break," muttered HiAndromon. "Don't say I didn't warn ya. Get ready to face the wrath of BlackWarKazumon!"

"Do you even listen to yourself?" Chided Crusadermon in Ayaka's voice.

"Well it's got more of a ring to it than _MegaMightyKentamon_ …"

_"Corona Blaster!"_

A violet colored energy blast slammed into Gyōjamon's body, kicking up a cloud of smoke as the kitsune staggered backwards, cursing angrily. Beelzemon landed in front of the two bickering Megas and glared at them heavily.

"Hey! Get with the program already! I thought that you guys were supposed to be fighting this guy!"

"Oh yeah," chuckled Kazu from within his data sphere. "That's right."

"Fools…" growled Gyōjamon, blowing the smoke away from him with his tails. "You defend a criminal and allow him to escape. Why?"

"Maybe because some of us have walked down his road before," said Beelzemon as he sighted down the barrel of his cannon. "Or maybe some of us aren't so quick to kill and think that bums like him deserve a second chance. I don't know. Take your pick. But you really need to think about calming down before doing anything else."

"There will be _no_ calming down!" Shouted Gyōjamon angrily, and he lashed out with one of his tails, whipping it around and aiming for Beelzemon's head. Beelzemon ducked beneath the attack and rolled to the side, hoping to get to a better spot.

"That tears it buddy," said HiAndromon as he slammed one hand to the ground. "Get ready to be beaten down."

Without noticing, a green light cascaded over Kazu's arm and moved into the shattered streets. A second later the ground began to shake and rumble and a long, thick vine of gnarled wood burst free from the ground beneath Gyōjamon, twisting and wrapping around the kitsune and thickening as it crawled over his body, creating a powerful prison that snuffed out his flames as rapidly as they attacked the bark. Turning, Crusadermon and Beelzemon both looked at HiAndromon, who stared stupidly at what he had just witnessed.

"Whoa! Did that just come from me? I didn't know that I had such a green thumb!"

"You normally don't," said Ayaka. "You've killed every plant we've grown in class since the third grade."

"Hold on," said Beelzemon. "You mean to tell me that you didn't know that you could do that?"

"It's not catalogued as being a part of my abilities," said HiAndromon in Guardromon's voice. "And we didn't use Copy Paste either. Not that we've seen a digimon with those capabilities of course, but still…" HiAndromon frowned. "I did notice an unusual data anomaly when those spheres merged with us. Could it be…?"

Before HiAndromon could continue, a scream of defiance broke upon the air and the thick prison of wood exploded outwards as Gyōjamon let loose all his fury and rage on the unfeeling bark.

"I'd say that he's mad," observed Kazu as all three of them stepped back carefully.

"Nice to know that you're paying attention," said Ayaka. "Now how do we…?"

In what seemed to be the latest in the already long list of interruptions, a sheet of ice suddenly slammed into Gyōjamon's body, and a thick mist evaporating water filled the air as the frozen liquid made contact with the blue fire. The ice continued to pour onto the fiery kitsune, and the temperature in the air began to drop noticeably.

"Um…not for nothing," said Kazu, taking note of the ice particles that were now floating through the air, "but can someone explain to me what's going on?"

"Pihpihpuh," came a tiny voice in response. All eyes turned to see MarineAngemon floating towards them with a proud look on his face. However there was something noticeably different about the little fairy, and that was the fact that he was no longer the pink color that was his regular trademark, and that the heart on his chest was absent. A white symbol that looked exactly like the one that had appeared on Kenta's digivice stood in its place, and blue took over where the pink had been.

Within his data sphere, Kazu blinked.

_"Someone care to run that by me again?"_

_"I do believe that he said that the sphere that had entered Kenta's digivice has given him some form of elemental control over ice."_

_"Huh? You can understand him?!"_

_"My universal translator was substantially upgraded when we digivolved. I can now speak over six million dialects and…"_

_"Yeah, okay. Just say that you can speak a lot and let's leave it at that. But what does this mean? That little fairy can now use ice attacks without a Modify card because of that weird symbol he has?"_

_"I believe that it's connected with the spheres that we received earlier. Our 'green thumb' may also be similarly connected…"_

_"Huh. I wonder what Ayaka and Miki got then…"_

With the sound of shattering ice Gyōjamon staggered out of the fog, his flames greatly diminished but just by looking at him Kazu could tell that things wouldn't stay that way for very long. Not unless they made a stand and got to him right now.

"MarineAngemon! What do you say that we combine whatever it is that we got and take this creep out?"

MarineAngemon fiercely nodded. "Pih!"

"All right! Let's do this!" A green glow surrounded HiAndromon's body and he slammed his hands down to the earth. Within seconds vines by the dozens ripped their way free from the broken streets and raced their way up Gyōjamon's legs. Flames licked at their protective bark, but with another green glow their resistance toughened, and was swiftly added to by a sharp, arctic wind courtesy of MarineAngemon.

"This…this power…" Gyōjamon shivered as he fought to maintain his fire. "I…recognize this strength. Legendary Warriors…how… _how_ did you acquire their abilities?!"

_"Legendary Warriors?"_ Asked Ayaka to Crusadermon. _"What's he mean?"_

_"An ancient legend from one of the digital worlds. He thinks that we have their powers. Considering that the two digimon that bestowed those spheres on us are considered part of those legends he's probably not that far off from the truth. I wonder…"_

Lifting her Pile Buckler Crusadermon glanced down at it. A metallic, _mirror_ -like sheen appeared on it and within her data sphere Ayaka could have sworn that she felt her partner smiling.

_"You've got a plan?"_

_"Of sorts. I think this will do quite well…_ if _my theory holds true that is. Do you trust me to go through with it? We have no real way of knowing for certain until it's too late."_

_"I told you that I trusted you with my back. That also includes my life you know."_

_"Very well then…let's see how this goes."_

Lashing out with his tails, Gyojamon tore finally tore free from his restraints and intensified their flames, sending bolts of fire raining down on his adversaries. Her form blurring, Crusadermon received each and every one of the fire bolts with her shield, its mirror-like qualities absorbing them with little effort. Coming to a landing Crusadermon looked at Gyōjamon and raised her shield. A bright low emerged from its center, and with a flash the fireballs that Gyōjamon had sent at them were returned, slamming into his body with ferocious force and forcing him to topple down to his knees, gasping harshly.

"It's over, Gyōjamon," Crusadermon said simply. "Please, let us end this. It isn't like you to be this way. Return to your sealed form immediately."

"No…" rasped Gyojamon angrily as he dug his claws into the streets, digging scratch marks into their surface. "No more. I will _not_ return to my sealed form any longer. I will not hold back my true form or my power. This is my existence…my _destiny._ I will not be imprisoned any further."

"Is that your final answer?"

A trail of flame ran its length down Gyōjamon's back and sprouted into a new tail. The flames of the other eight pulsated excitedly before flaring brightly, welcoming their newest brethren into the fold.

"It is," Gyōjamon laughed harshly as the air began to warp around him heavily. "Time to end this battle."

_"No! He's unleashed all nine tails! This is…Ayaka! We've got to stop him!"_

Green electricity began to tear their way across the sky as more and more outlines of digimon began to appear. A section of the streets behind Gyōjamon sunk and shattered, forming the shape of a massive footprint while another building exploded outwards as the massive outline of a Mephistomon walked out of it and surveyed its surroundings.

In that moment, a strange sensation fell over Ayaka and Crusadermon; a feeling of _connection_ and _presence._ As though a dam were breaking, perhaps bearing some similarity to the breakdown between the barriers of the worlds, thoughts, feelings, and the presences of her friends flooded her being. A light began to emerge from her body and cascaded over the city streets around her, enveloping everyone and everything with its luminosity. Her legs trembled and Crusadermon fought to keep her feet.

_"Ah! Wha…Ayaka! What's going on?"_

_"I don't know! How can I know?! I've never felt anything like this before! We're…"_

Within her data sphere, Ayaka blinked.

_"Jeri?"_

Crusadermon didn't notice when Gyojamon had leapt at her and pinned her to the ground. She didn't notice when his claws raked over her armored form, tearing through the Chrome Digizoid metal with frightening ease. All she knew, at that moment, was her mouth moving involuntarily as they spoke a single word that felt as though it contained the weight of the whole world.

"Eros…" Crusadermon whispered, and a pink and white light burst forth from her body like a supernova.

* * *

Silence reigned in the city of Shinjuku as the sun began to rise, broken only by the faint crack of a piece of rubble being dislodged by its own weight. A wind blew through the broken remains of the city, disturbing the dust that had settled following the end of the battle. Sunlight touched each and every corner of the battle scene, revealing it slowly, gradually with no sense of urgency. Nothing moved to greet the rise of the sun. Nothing rejoiced in its golden touch. There was only the grim emptiness of the city, and nothing else. A silent monument, or perhaps a graveyard in the light of the day, that promised its skies to be filled with nothing but blue and the occasional white cloud. An attempt to pass for normalcy in the wake of the chaos that had preceded the new day.

The sound of a helicopter approaching finally broke the stillness of the city as it approached, its pilots looking for any signs of battle or its participants.

_"Contact with Hypnos reestablished,"_ came a voice crackling over the radio of the helicopter pilots. _"Yamaki's on the line now. Any sign of the Tamers?"_

_"Negative sir,"_ replied one of the pilots as he surveyed the shattered streets. _"No sign at all."_


	122. 121: Choices: Part 1

Renamon gracefully bowed to a Taomon standing in front of her while behind Guilmon, covered with the splattering of bread dough looked on with wide, childish eyes.

"Thank you," said the vulpine digimon to the elder Taomon as she straightened back out. The Taomon nodded and faded from view with a sound of a flute and Renamon turned to Guilmon.

"Wow," said the crimson reptile, his voice full of awe. "She's a lot like you, only quieter."

Renamon couldn't help but chuckle over Guilmon's observation. The Taomon was strangely quiet compared to her. It wasn't as though she rarely said anything; far from it in fact as she held regular conversations with Rika and her grandmother, or in other cases Henry, but often she spoke only when necessary. And far more often than not, that necessity was during battle.

_Then again, it can be said that I don't go out of my way to 'hang out' with Guilmon or Terriermon beyond when Rika meets up with Takato and the others,_ mused Renamon, her tail whisking through the air ever so slightly as she peered at the spot where the Taomon had been. Her senses told her that her presence no longer remained in the vicinity, but considering the camouflage abilities of her species Renamon wouldn't have put it past her to linger.

"To each their own I suppose," Renamon said to Guilmon. "Now, we have directions on where to find the bathing grounds. Shall we?"

"Uh-huh!" Guilmon bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically and together the two friends headed in the direction that the Taomon had silently pointed them to, unmindful of the silence that filled the hallways around them. As they walked Renamon glanced at Guilmon out of the corner of her eye, pondering about the crimson reptile, and not for the first time curious as to the state of his mind in the wake of all of his recent experiences.

_He seems to be the same as ever,_ she thought to herself. _Even taking into account the attacks from the Royal Knights, the strange entity, and…_ myself _as well. In spite of all of his injuries and pains he still laughs and smiles as though nothing had happened…even his lack of memories doesn't cause him any reason to be different. Such a difference from Takato, whose confidence was badly shaken when Guilmon had been destroyed and he had tried to replace him._ On this Renamon paused, remembering how the two had been so interchangeable throughout their partnership that it was almost impossible to tell them apart. Not so this time. _I can't say that I blame him, since it threw everything that he believed in back into his face. He'll get better though. However long and arduous the journey may be Takato will overcome it. His bond with Guilmon is still strong enough for the two of them to biomerge, and I believe that says something about the strength that they both have within them._

Turning a corner Renamon and Guilmon both found themselves looking into the interior of an expansive bath area, with a central pool stretching in all directions and various, smaller bath areas separated from the main area.

_Judging from the steam coming from off their surface I can only assume that those are hot water baths,_ mused Renamon as she took in her surroundings. Guilmon smiled gleefully, standing at Renamon's side for a second before dashing forward.

"Yippee!" He cried out playfully as he dove into the water, sending a great splash of liquid raining around him. Guilmon sunk downwards and touched the bottom with his feet before pushing upwards, throwing his arms around him to provide the thrust that he needed to swim back to the surface.

"Ahhh…" Guilmon gasped as he broke the surface of the water and looked at Renamon. "You should come in Renamon. This feels nice."

A small, nearly invisible smile graced Renamon's features as she took a step into the room.

"Perhaps another time," she said before switching to a playful, almost motherly tone. "Now be sure to clean yourself and don't dawdle. Our partners expect us to be rejoining them soon."

"Okay, Renamon," Guilmon laughed and with that he began to doggy paddle out towards the center of the pool. Renamon watched him go, wondering if she should have told him to stay where she could see him. Not that it made much difference as her eyes were quite sharp and weren't likely to miss anything, but even so. It would make things a lot faster.

_Perhaps if I washed him,_ she thought idly before shaking the thought loose. No. She didn't want to baby Guilmon, and he was more than capable of cleaning himself. At the very least he _should_ considering the number of times she had been in his proximity and never found an offensive thing about his scent to complain about. In spite of the fact that the reptile lived in a hole in the ground for the majority of his 'first life' he had always been strangely sanitary.

_At least it's something to be thankful for…_

Walking over to a nearby wall Renamon leaned up against it and returned her azure gaze back to Guilmon as he half-scrubbed, half-played in the water. She had to admit that she was a tad bit curious about Guilmon's actions back in the kitchen when he had dumped the bowl of dough all over himself. She knew Guilmon to be clumsy and over-enthusiastic when it came to food. She had gotten an excellent example of that herself during the D-Reaper crisis when he had stuck his nose in the flour that Takato was working with and let loose a sneeze. She couldn't say that such a similar situation as today would have surprised her but the timing…

_I suppose it's possible that Guilmon could be sly like that,_ thought Renamon as she closed her eyes in contemplation. _He's always been naïve and that only because he is young. Barely a year old for that matter, but he was never by any stretch of the imagination stupid. Some may think that upon first meeting him, but I've known him and fought alongside him. Idiotic he is not._

Renamon folded her arms across her chest and reopened her eyes.

_At any rate, planned or unplanned, the timing was perfect. It gave Takato and Rika some privacy to sort through their own affairs. And they need to sort them out. My and Rika's most recent actions have damaged our friendship with Takato and Guilmon. We should all do what we can to repair that damage._

_I wonder…_ Renamon narrowed her eyes in contemplation. _…What are his thoughts on our actions? Surely he must have an opinion on them._

Renamon waited for the dinosaur-like digimon to swim closer to the edge of the pool where she stood before calling out to him.

"Guilmon."

"Hah?" Guilmon shook his head loose of some water particles and looked at the vulpine digimon, a questioning look in his eyes. Renamon stared into those golden depths for a moment, searching them for any sign of an emotion that could tell her how he felt about what had happened in the real world. All she found instead was the warm familiarity that she always saw whenever he was with a friend.

"About what happened in the real world…"

"Yeah?"

Renamon hesitated, thinking about the best way she could phrase her question. "Why do you think Rika and I did what we did?"

Guilmon looked at Renamon for a moment before glancing up at the ceiling, tapping his chin thoughtfully with one claw, seemingly immune to the need to spread out his already massive bodyweight to keep himself afloat on the water.

_Yet another one of the great workings of the digital world._

"You mean, when you and Rika tried to cut off your connection with Takatomon?"

Renamon nodded gravely.

"Hmmm…" Again Guilmon tapped his chin. "I think I can sort of understand it. I mean, Rika did a lot of worrying about how she was affecting Takato and Jeri. I don't really understand why though…"

"Human relationships seem to be very complex," said Renamon with a nod of her head. "But in a way I can understand it through my partnership with Rika. We would not cast each other aside nor would we want more than one partner. I chose Rika, and she chose me. There can be no other Tamer, and there can be no other partner."

"I guess…but wouldn't having more friends make things even more fun?" Questioned Guilmon.

"There is a difference between friendship and the closeness that comes from intimacy Guilmon. From what I've observed with humans, entering into intimate terms with another means opening yourself in ways that is not to be taken lightly. Taking another 'partner' would be like saying that there is something about the other person that is not satisfying in some way. That you don't complete them. In a case such as ours, it would be like when Rika first viewed digimon as nothing more than a tool for battle. Had she not felt as strongly as she did about her partnership with me, she would have left me for IceDevimon."

Renamon watched Guilmon carefully for any sign of questioning about who IceDevimon was, but he simply nodded in understanding. Whether or not he was simply going with the flow or actually remembering that particular incident Renamon didn't know.

_I wonder if he feels Takato was trying to replace him when he created BlackGuilmon._ Renamon frowned. _No. I doubt that he would think that, knowing Guilmon. Besides, Takato wasn't actually trying to replace him so much as he was trying to bring him back. He simply forgot that Guilmon had a form and body all of his own and could not be simply recreated even if he did come from a part of his Tamer._

"Renamon?" Asked Guilmon, breaking the vulpine's thoughts. "Does Rika not like Takatomon?"

Renamon raised an eyebrow, rather surprised by the question.

"I'm certain that of all the things Rika feels for Takato, dislike is not one of them. However as I said, human relationships are complex. Rika feels that she is imposing on something that she feels doesn't belong to her, and she doesn't want to take away any happiness that Jeri might obtain with Takato."

"Because Jeri was sad?"

Renamon's eyebrows lifted slightly at that.

"Guilmon…just how much do you remember?"

"I remember a few things," admitted Guilmon. "Something that Dynasmon did to me when he grabbed me, and then when Takatomon and I became Gallantmon…" Guilmon furrowed his brow, concentrating on how he could best describe what he wanted to say. "…I feel like something woke up in me, and every now and then something _floats_ up in my brain." Guilmon looked back up at Renamon, his eyes thoughtful. "Sounds kind of silly, huh?"

Renamon shook her head and a small smile once again graced her features.

"No Guilmon. It doesn't sound silly at all. In fact it makes me happy that you are remembering your old life again. I know that Takato would be happy as well."

"Yay!" Exclaimed Guilmon as he lifted both arms in the air joyfully. His joy was abruptly cut short as he suddenly sunk beneath the water, having ceased completely to support his weight. Renamon eyed the sinking dragon worriedly but quickly relaxed when she saw him swim back up towards the surface. Breaking free of the water Guilmon gave Renamon a bashful smile before ducking back under, swimming as freely and easily as any fish or Whamon that had ever existed in the real or digital worlds.

_He is certainly a 'unique' individual,_ mused Renamon as she chuckled at Guilmon's childish antics. _But he wouldn't be the Guilmon we know if he were anything else…_

Renamon's ears twitched slightly as she detected a presence entering the area. Her muscles tautened instinctively in preparation for a possible conflict. The sound of the gentle padding of footsteps reached her ears and turning Renamon found herself looking at a fox-like figure similar to herself, but smaller in build and wearing grayish-silver fur and orange armguards in contrast to her golden fur and purple gloves. A solitary silver tail twitched in apparent annoyance, matched by the look of irritation in the other vulpine's gold-colored eyes.

"Hello," said Renamon warily, nodding towards the other vixen. No information came to her mind as to the digimon's identity, but a new voice quickly clarified her lack of knowledge.

"Hello," spoke up a Kuzuhamon coming up from behind the smaller fox. Renamon quickly recognized her as the Kuzuhamon who had attended them earlier following their meeting with the Seer Council. The dark haired woman bowed to Renamon. "You must be the tamed Renamon that came in earlier with the humans. You already know me, but this one…" Kuzuhamon glanced at the smaller fox with a critical eye and nudged him, to which he quickly responded with a polite, if hasty bow. "…Is Urocyomon, the male line of the Renamon species."

Renamon raised an eyebrow and looked at the smaller fox more fully.

"I did not believe that such a digimon existed," she said in response to Kuzuhamon's statement. "Especially since digimon aren't divided into genders."

"Digimon forms have evolved in tandem with human emotions and information. Our forms exist as they are because they exist in humans even if ours don't perform the same functions. Temperament and personality ultimately determine our genders upon our hatching from the digi-egg." A slim smile graced Kuzuhamon's features. "This one's kind is a rare breed. Urocyomon don't appear often in our ranks, and normally exist once per generation."

"I see," said Renamon. "I am Renamon. How do you do?"

Urocyomon's tail swished in response to her question and Renamon glanced at Kuzuhamon. The shaman woman chuckled.

"My apologies. He gets nervous around the females." Cupping one hand to her mouth she leaned towards Renamon in a conspiratorial fashion. "They intimidate him," she whispered gleefully. Hearing this, the fur at the base of Urocyomon's tail bushed ever so slightly and it swished again in a more agitated fashion.

"Kuzuhamon…" he growled angrily, paws clenching and unclenching.

"I see," said Renamon, an amused smile barely visible on her features. "Well, in that case I should probably be moving along. I take it that he has duties that bear his attention?"

"No need to worry," replied Kuzuhamon. "He's used to there being company while he works…"

"I'm afraid I must insist." Renamon glanced over her shoulder to see Guilmon pull himself out of the pool and shake himself off like a dog, sending water spraying in every direction. "We must return to our partners as soon as possible, and it would appear that my comrade has finished his task here."

Bowing politely, Renamon called for Guilmon and told him that it was time for them to leave. Guilmon acceded reluctantly, having seen that they had new visitors but he did not argue and the two quickly left the bathing grounds. Urocyomon and Kuzuhamon watched them go before looking at each other.

"How…refined," commented Urocyomon, carefully choosing his words. Kuzuhamon smiled at him.

"Renamon like her tend to be. The ones that live here in the temple grounds always lean towards the more playful side. I think that she's lived on her own for quite a while. I don't think she was even aware that the Seer Council's existed, never mind that of the Urocyomon sub species."

"Mmmnnn…I have to travel with her?"

"With me as well, by order of the Council. You should be grateful Urocyomon. You get out of the temple grounds for a while. Now…" Kuzuhamon lifted her hands towards the kimono that she wore over her body and undid the sash, letting her garments fall towards the ground, revealing her naked body for all to see without a touch of shame. "…I believe that you owe me a little compensation for convincing the council to allow you to tag along on this little trip in Gyōjamon's absence."

_This is why I hate being made to work the bath grounds,_ groaned Urocyomon mentally as he palmed his face in one hand. _So much for suffering mildly…_

"I'll find the soap…"

* * *

Kuzuhamon stretched her arms and gave a content groan as she felt her muscles pull tight before relaxing them. Shifting her kimono Kuzuhamon allowed a small smile to stretch across her face as she rejoiced in the last remnants of heat from the bathing grounds soothing her skin.

_Hmmm…_ she mused, _say what you will about Urocyomon but he's definitely good with his hands. I can see why the Renamon like to play with him so much whenever he's made to clean the bath area. Now if only he weren't so modest…_

Padding down the hall the dark haired shaman turned her thoughts away from her recent break and back to the subject that had been concerning her greatly of late; that being the human girl named Alice McCoy.

_She hasn't been the same since the Royal Knights attacked and deleted the Mother. Can't say that I blame her. None of us were happy, but we're more accepting of those kinds of things. Alice…she isn't used to letting go of things that matter to her, especially when they were as close to her as the Mother…and as Dobermon._

Kuzuhamon shook her head silently as she approached the door that led to Alice's room.

_Humans can be so fragile at times. It's amazing that they ever evolved to create creatures such as us. And yet…strangely I find that to be one of their most endearing qualities. They can understand vulnerability and be supportive of one another. Often, digimon aren't so merciful even when they live in the light of civilization._

Kuzuhamon stopped in front of Alice's room and slid it open, revealing the blonde haired girl sitting in the center of her room, staring out of a window absently, not taking any notice of her friend's presence. Kuzuhamon offered the non-responsive girl a smile and stepped inside, sliding the door shut behind her.

"Hello Alice," she said warmly as she walked freely into the center of the room, pausing to glance at the white rose that they had been growing together ever since they had become friends. Fond memories that were touched by the weight of Alice's sorrows.

"Hm."

_Not very talkative again I see,_ mused Kuzuhamon. _Well, it's not as though I'm not used to it._

"Things are almost ready now," said Kuzuhamon as she walked over to where Alice sat and placed herself on the ground, folding her legs underneath her and resting her hands on her thighs. "The Seer Council has approved of Urocyomon as our guide. We should be ready to leave tomorrow."

Alice nodded. "I'm all packed."

Beneath her fox-shaped facemask Kuzuhamon frowned.

"Alice… Are you sure that you want to do this? It seems a little sudden considering what you just went through."

Alice frowned, her light blue eyes becoming as jagged, flaming icicles in the candle light that lit the room against the night.

"The Royal Knights too something that was important to me…to _all_ of us…"

"You've said that before, but is that really what you want? It isn't right for you, Alice. You know I'll go with you whatever you decide, but you should really ask yourself if this is really how you want things to be for you. The Mother wouldn't have wanted you to do this. As I recall," Kuzuhamon reached over with one hand and brushed aside some of Alice's golden hair, "the last thing she said to you was to not…"

"I _know_ what she said!" Exclaimed Alice harshly, balling her hands up into fists tightly. Drawing her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them Alice glanced at her friend apologetically.

"There's not a second that doesn't go by where I can't help but think about what happened and what the Mother said to me. But those Royal Knights are still out there, and they're heading to my home world. They could already be there and I can't do anything about it! All I know is that I can't just sit here and wait any longer. Dobermon wouldn't want me to be doing that if there was something that we could do together. That's why we volunteered for the mission against the D-Reaper and give the Tamers the ability to biomerge in the real world. Everything was riding on that mission and if we failed or didn't do it than both worlds would be destroyed!"

"I know," said Kuzuhamon, nodding in understanding. "I just can't help but worry. You may be in a unique situation, considering your present state of existence, but you are limited in what you can do, which is why I can't help but wonder if this is more of a reaction rather than something that's thought out. Alice, the Royal Knights are extremely powerful. Just one of them was a match for a Sovereign. How do you think that you'll be able to…?"

Kuzuhamon paused and frowned at the blonde haired girl.

"You _do_ have a plan, don't you?"

Kuzuhamon scowled. "Sometimes you can be so perceptive it frightens me."

"What is it that you're planning?" Kuzuhamon asked, narrowing her eyes beneath her facemask. "Even with your abilities there's not much that you can do except…" Kuzuhamon paused, looking at the girl as her mind raced. "No…"

Alice looked down. "It's my choice."

"What you intend to do…Alice I can't even say if you'll be able to survive the process! Merging yourself with a Tamer or one of their partners to provide an extra power boost? Do you _want_ to die?"

"This isn't about what I want…"

"Oh no? You have been steeped in darkness from the moment you came here, but you at least showed a willingness to escape its grasp and move on. Now the Royal Knights attack us and you want to risk throwing away your life just so that you can get back at them? The Mother certainly wouldn't approve of this and I highly doubt Dobermon would either…"

"You didn't even _know_ Dobermon!" Alice shot back, her fury escalating now to intolerable levels. "He knew the danger, and even _he_ didn't want to leave me, but he did anyway. I knew it right from the start too! I hoped that the ones we ran across weren't the Tamers but they were anyway, and I hate them a little for that! Is that so wrong? I lost my friend, I lost my body, I lost _everything_ that I ever cared about because I wasn't able to do anything. Well just for once I'd like to do something and _not_ lose someone important!"

Reaching out Kuzuhamon grabbed Alice by the chin and forced her to look up into her face.

"Alice," she said in a low, firm tone. "Do you really think that sacrificing yourself will resolve anything? The other Tamers will be there to defend your home, and the ones that are gathered here will be returned to the real world as soon as possible to assist them. They have proven themselves to be powerful enough to defeat an enemy that not even the combined forces of the Sovereigns could combat. I am quite certain that the Royal Knights, though they will be difficult to defeat, will not be able to stand victorious. I believe this with all of my heart, and I believe it all the more because they have had faith in themselves and because Gyōjamon will be fighting at their side if additional power is to be needed. _Please_ Alice. Do _not_ take your life so lightly. You know that there are those who care about you. I know that there are times where a sacrifice is needed…our own Mother proved that on her own. Your friend Dobermon proved that, and for Dobermon it was worth it. The fact that you are still here and remember his sacrifice makes it worth it. If you throw that away just because you can't stand to see those you care about get hurt then you'll be doing him a disservice."

Alice chewed the bottom of her lip as she forced her face out of Kuzuhamon's hand and looked away.

"That doesn't help much," she said dispassionately, and Kuzuhamon sighed.

"I'm sorry Alice, it's just…can't you just think about it for a bit? Please? We still have some time before we have to leave…"

"Yeah…about that. _Why_ do we have to wait so long? If the Royal Knights are in the real world now we should leave as soon as possible!"

"I know," agreed Kuzuhamon. "It's just that there's something…strange about the dimensional barriers right now. They've been acting erratically ever since we sent Gyōjamon to the real world and the Tamers arrived here. The council doesn't dare sending us to the real world directly. There are other worlds out there than the ones we are accustomed to Alice. Some of them aren't as friendly as we would like, and with the disturbance we might end up in one of them. The best thing that we can do for now to be certain that we'll get where we want is to find a place where the barriers are weak and cross through them. That ability comes naturally to you, and Urocyomon will be able to get us there quickly and easily."

"Urocyomon is coming?"

"With Gyōjamon absent we have no other alternative. Besides, he _is_ skilled in finding the shortcuts we'll need to get to the weak points. You said that you needed Dobermon to get you to one such place so that you could open the way to the real world for him, correct? The situation is the same here."

"I see," said Alice. Kuzuhamon watched her carefully, her lips pressing into one thin line.

"Alice…just promise me that you won't throw your life away when we get to the real world."

Alice looked out the window of her room. Seeing the endless track of night her face became downcast.

"Alice?"

"Kuzuhamon? Have you ever seen a sunset before?"

"No, I can't say that I have…or even the knowledge as to what one is. Is that what happens in the human world?"

Alice nodded.

"It happens because my world is rotating while circling a star. The star sets slowly beneath the horizon and the sky changes color each morning and each night. During the day the sky is blue and night it's dark…pretty much like what we see every day but for a small amount of time, twice a day, the sky becomes golden." Alice sighed in remembrance. "I want to see another sunset."

Kuzuhamon smiled at her friend, but noted that she didn't answer her request for a promise to not sacrifice herself.

_Oh Alice…_

Before either of them could even say anything further Alice suddenly clutched the sides of her head and leaned forward, groaning as her body shuddered. Kuzuhamon reached out to her with her arms, only to hesitate as she gasped in surprise.

_Wha…? What's going on here?!_

Before the shaman's surprised gaze, Alice's body faded in and out of view.

_"ALICE!"_ Cried out Kuzuhamon, grabbing hold of her friend's arm. The girl's body snapped back to normal upon contact. The girl gasped and instinctively latched onto Kuzuhamon. "Alice. Wha…?"

"I _felt_ them," the girl said fervently. "I felt the other Tamers. Takato, Rika, Ryo…Ryo; he's doing something…it felt like he was being _pulled_ somewhere and," Alice paused, "and it felt like there was something with him…something _dark,_ and it was trying to pull me with him."

Kuzuhamon's body stiffened against Alice's as she pulled the girl tightly against her.

_Milleniummon? Could it be…? No. It couldn't be, but…who else could it be? And if it is, what could_ _**he** _ _possibly want with Alice?_

No answer came the shaman as she held Alice in her arms, glancing nervously outside the window as though for some sign of the darkness that Alice spoke of.

"We must see the council immediately," Kuzuhamon said firmly.


	123. 122: Choices: Part 2

The Sakuyamon, clad in her armor of silver that was her namesake, strode towards the twin, towering doors of the inner-most sanctum of the temple, her mouth pressed into one thin line. Stopping in front of it, the shaman dropped to one knee and brought one hand to her breast, her pale lips mouthing words silently, and as though hearing a prayer the doors began to open. Standing back up to her feet, the priestess watched them part for a moment, light flooding the room as a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as a comforting feeling washed over her. Nothing more than a comforting feeling came to her and the woman's smile swiftly returned to normal as she resumed her walk, the light dying down as she did so, revealing a room that shone like the silver that made up her armor.

_A source of the Light,_ thought Silver to herself as the doors began to close behind her. _A fragment that the Mother took with her when she was made to come to the Southern Quadrant to act as its priestess. It will speak to no one else but a Sakuyamon of the Kabuki Order. And unfortunately we no longer have one…unless the Princess reawakens. But that is…doubtful for the moment. She will have to repair her bond with the wielder of the Hazard before she can accomplish that and from what I've seen of her…_

The shaman sighed, ruing over how such a quality had been a part of the Mother's personality before she finally evolved to her Kabuki form, and even afterwards.

_For a human to take on this role, even with a digimon partnered to them…_

Silver came to a stop in front of a pedestal containing a pair of digi-eggs nestled comfortably within incubators; one golden and the other azure and white, making Silver think of lightning. Her face focusing on the golden egg, Silver pursed her lips into one thin line.

"Mother…I am… _uncertain_ about this. Events are about to come to a head and you are not here to guide them."

The shaman frowned beneath her fox-shaped facemask, not liking having admitted to having doubts. Her people were not supposed to have any; or rather that's how they were fancied to be by those digimon that knew them. Even their charges did not believe that the Seer Council doubted in anything that they did. However, she knew better. She had walked with the Mother enough times to know that even she had doubts every now and then, but even so she at least had confidence that things would work out because her sight saw further than any of the other Sakuyamon.

_Perhaps it is the weight of leadership. Even if it's temporary, I can feel its weight. Others depend on me to provide guidance and I am unfit to give it to them._

Raising one gloved hand, Silver placed it on the surface of the incubator of the golden digi-egg, her fingers caressing it soothingly.

"I can sense the disorder that is spreading…and not just from Yggdrasil. The war in his world is nearing an end, and it will soon spread over to this world as well. And the Hazard…the demon, _Gehenmon,_ " Silver spoke the name with a shudder as a violent, burning chill traced its way down her spine, "he will soon be made manifest. After so long…and Milleniummon…"

Silver raised one hand to her face and touched a cheek, fingering the fearful tear that trickled a path down from her hidden eyes.

_"I am not ready,"_ she whispered in the quiet of the room. _"I am not prepared for this."_

Within her heart, Silver asked the occupant of the golden egg why she had to be deleted at such a pivotal moment. True to form however the egg did not speak to her, and try as she might, Silver did not see so much as a change in its color or luminosity to indicate some sign of comfort. Even so, she believed that were the Mother able to, she would inform her that there would be hope in the future, even if all looked to be lost. Even if that hope was not what Silver herself believed it to be.

_A human will cling to driftwood in the midst of the ocean rather than drown in the vain hope that they will find land. Perhaps I should be as the human, and hope vainly. It has been said to be one of humanities greatest powers. Certainly certain angels can attest to that._

Gripping her staff all the more tightly, Silver took a step back and bowed politely to the two digi-eggs, ignoring the single tear that fell from her face and onto the ground.

"I shall do what I can to hold onto the light for you both," Silver said to the digi-eggs. Others would have felt foolish in talking to objects that did not, _could not_ respond, but Silver knew better. The essences of a Sovereign and the Mother of the Seer Council lived within, and even though they slumbered they remained very much aware of their surroundings. Turning Silver prepared to head towards the doors, only to stop when she heard a faint, humming sound. Frowning, Silver glanced around the room to find its source, and they fell upon an outline of a figure, graceful and feminine, standing in front of the digi-eggs like a watchful guardian. Silver's mouth opened slightly and she blinked in surprise, only to find that the figure had vanished, and the humming had disappeared as well.

_Could it be…? No. It couldn't. The Light only reveals itself to the Mother and those who are its keepers. I…am not one of those._

Silver paused for a moment, waiting for the moment to repeat itself. When it didn't she turned back towards the doors and silently walked towards them, all the while unable to shake the feeling that the air around her had taken on a renewed sense of comfort and warmth.

_Did it become brighter in here?_ She wondered before shaking her head. _No. It couldn't. It is not my destiny to see the nature of the Light._

Even so, a small corner of the shaman's mind was unable to shake free the outline of the figure that she had seen earlier.

* * *

Ryo Akiya groaned as he came too, the candlelight of the room filtering in through his eyes as they slowly crept open.

"My head hurts," he muttered absently as he placed one arm over his forehead to blot out the light. For the briefest of moments, the Legendary Tamer had an epiphany as to what a hangover felt like.

"Good," came the voice of Rika Nonaka through his pain fogged mind. "Maybe it will teach you to not go off and do something stupid."

"Love you too, Wildcat," Ryo joked, not bothering to remove his arm so as to confirm visually the voice he had heard. The fact that he could practically feel the intensity of her gaze on him, threatening to bore a hole through his body, was all the confirmation that he needed.

_Though I'm kind of surprised that she hasn't lost her temper from that crack…_

"Well," spoke a new voice, this one belonging to a certain goggle-wearing Tamer that Ryo also recognized, "at least we know for sure that he's all right."

The only response that Ryo heard from the fiery haired Tamer was a noncommittal grunt of annoyance. As the tremor of pain pounding away in his temples began to calm down Ryo found himself taking Rika's place in cursing himself for forgetting to be tactful. After all, there were some things sitting between Rika and Takato where such words could not be taken lightly.

_…Why_ _**hasn't** _ _she pummeled me by now? She was mad enough to look like she would try before so why…?_

Deciding that he wasn't going to be getting any answers by just lying there with his eyes closed, Ryo Akiyama removed his arm and cracked open his eyes, squinting them against the candlelight once again, allowing his vision to get used to it before looking around him. Sitting next to the futon that he lay on were Rika and Takato and opposite of them sat Cyberdramon. Of their partners there was no sign, yet despite this neither Tamer looked to be all too concerned at being left alone with the oft uncontrollable and violent Ultimate. Ryo had to wonder if that meant that they trusted him to not attack them.

_Cyberdramon normally only fights with those that he considers strong and humans…well, aren't. Then again, he also has the tendency to fight with anything that moves…_

Again Ryo cursed himself. In spite of everything that had happened since he had first met up with the Tamers in the digital world, he had never known Cyberdramon to actually attack a human or anything else for that matter without his explicit say-so. True, there was the occasional period of time where Cyberdramon needed to blow off some steam, but when he did it was always against a digital opponent, and never in any fashion where he cut loose without any regard for those around him. How long had it been since he had last used his digivice's energy whip? Ryo couldn't exactly remember, and was frankly glad for that. Out of all functions of the digivice that was one that he had an extreme dislike for.

_There's something to be said about when your friends trust your partner more than you do,_ thought Ryo with quiet irony.

Bringing his gaze to focus on Rika once again, the Legendary Tamer couldn't help but let a grin escape onto his face. Rika narrowed her violet eyes at him dangerously, her mind apparently anticipating him making a crack at her expense once again.

"Don't… _even…"_ She said in a warning tone that brooked no room for argument. Ryo chuckled.

_So paranoid…_

Deciding that now was not the time to be teasing the girl Ryo pushed himself up, wincing as he found that his back muscles had become stiff during the time that he had been out.

"What happened?" He asked. Takato looked at the Legendary Tamer in bewilderment.

"We were hoping that you could tell us. You went off with Cyberdramon and that silver Sakuyamon, and the next thing we know both me and Rika get the feeling that you're in danger, and when we go to investigate you're being brought in unconscious. Only the thing is no one will tell us what you guys got into."

"Cyberdramon won't even say a word to us," added Rika, crossing her arms and glaring at the digimon across from them. "All he does is sit there and growl every so often."

Takato nodded in agreement.

"The only thing that we know for certain besides you being unconscious was that you came in wet, like you had fallen into a lake or something."

"Was that really important, Takato?"

"Hey, you never know."

"He's right about one thing," said Ryo, massaging the back of his neck. "I did fall in a lake…or something to that affect. Silver, the Sakuyamon I was with, showed it to me."

"What for?" Asked Takato raising an eyebrow. "And why a lake?"

Ryo's hand tensed on the back of his neck. "It's kind of hard to explain. I think that it had some sort of ability to see things that no one else can…kind of like divination I guess."

_I certainly got a lot out of that one,_ he thought, his brow furrowing as he remembered his rather disturbing experience in that strange void. _Way more than I bargained for, that's for sure. And what was all that stuff involving Henry, and Jeri? Why were they there? And that other girl…Noriko…why was she there too? What is Milleniummon up to?_

"Feel free to fill us in _sometime_ this century," said Rika sarcastically. Ryo jerked slightly as he was broken out of his thought process. "And while you're at it," Rika picked up an all too familiar blue colored D-Arc with gold trim in her hand and raised it up to eye level so that Ryo could see it, "why don't you mind explaining what _this_ is all about."

Ryo stiffened slightly but kept his expression neutral.

"What about it?" Asked the Legendary Tamer, forcing a grin on his face. "Last I checked we all had D-Arcs."

"Don't take me for an idiot, Ryo," said Rika, her violet eyes stabbing at him. "It doesn't suit you. You may not act like it, but I know that you take the world seriously, so why don't you stop playing around? This," Rika pointed a finger at the gold trim on the digivice. "Explain it."

Ryo paused, debating just whether or not he should tell them, and if so, how much. He didn't want to involve anyone else. It had been bad enough for his nerves just telling Jeri, and he had come to seriously regret doing so ever since he had given her that Milleniummon card.

_And now…when she was in that void…I have no idea how she's doing or if she's okay. If she gets hurt because of me I don't think I could forgive myself. I'll bet Takato wouldn't forgive me either… Actually, scratch that. He probably would but that'd be like rubbing salt in the wound…_

"Ryo," came Cyberdramon's gravelly voice. "Tell them."

Rika and Takato both looked at Cyberdramon, startled.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Takato in surprise. "I thought that you weren't going to say anything!"

Cyberdramon _hmmphed_ and turned to look at his partner.

"Ryo…"

Ryo let out a sigh and turned towards Takato.

"Hey Takato. About your digivice…how did it get its gold ring?"

"Huh?" Takato blinked, perplexed by the question before pulling out his own gold-trimmed D-Arc. "Uh…actually it got this way after I biomerged with Guilmon for the first time. My old one had been destroyed when I forced Guilmon to digivolve, but our link was still strong enough for us to become one."

"As simple as making a wish," commented Rika, leaning back on her hands and closing her eyes. "And that's what you did. Gotta hand it to you, you always excel when it comes to applying your Goggleheaded thoughts to reality."

Takato laughed and rubbed the back of his head uneasily, uncertain as to what to make of his friend's praise.

"Well, I wouldn't call it _easy_ , but I know that there was a choice involved somewhere. In the end there was only one Guilmon and he was the one that I wanted. I sometimes think of this digivice as proof of that. It's like the digital world gave me a second chance or something."

"Right," chided Rika. "Because on TV otherworldly forces are always shelling out nice looking gadgets to those who trip over their feet and realize what a Gogglehead they are." Opening her eyes Rika saw the look on Takato's face and gave him a comforting smile. A small blush crept onto Takato's face and he quickly looked away. "Um…anyway, what does this have to do with my digivice? Did you go through something similar?"

Ryo's face took on a reflective look as he thought about his history with Milleniummon and Takato's own story about his creation of Megidramon. The Legendary Tamer was able to suppress a shudder.

"You could say that."

"So are you going to tell us?" Asked Rika. "Or are you going to dance around the topic all night?"

Ryo frowned at the Digimon Queen before looking back at Takato.

"Takato. Back when we were still in the digital world last year, after we finished fighting the dragon Deva, you had asked me if there was something wrong with Cyberdramon. You've all noticed how he tends to run a little hot with his temper, and how often I end up having to fight him just to control him."

"Yeah," acknowledged Takato with a nod. "But you haven't been having to do that as much as you did when we first met…uh, I think." Takato tapped the bottom of his chin. "Come to think of it, you don't talk much about yourself, and I don't think anyone's even been to your house…"

_Besides Jeri,_ thought Rika, but she decided to keep that knowledge to herself right now. Even though the whole thing regarding Ryo and Jeri was innocent and not what she had thought at first the last thing that they needed was another complication to get in the way of their discussion, and she didn't want to stir up another hornet's nest like she did earlier. And from the looks of things, Ryo thought that was also the wisest course of action.

"Well…that's not true, but we'll leave that aside for now. You are right though. I haven't had to work so hard to control Cyberdramon all that much ever since we got into the Arc to return home. Sure, the big guy stayed aggressive, but not overly so."

"So," began Takato carefully, "you mean that your digivice's change in its ring is because you went through a similar experience like what I went through? Because you were afraid that you couldn't control him?"

"I get the feeling that there's a _lot_ more to it than that," snorted Rika. "You were just worried about Guilmon, and that caused your link to backfire on him. I think we've already established that Guilmon, no matter what form he takes, is always going to be Guilmon. I remember when he said your name back when he was a creepy dragon and it sure sounded like Dino-boy then. Cyberdramon on the other hand…" Rika narrowed her eyes at the dragon, who stared back at her through eyes hidden beneath his mask. "…We've seen his Rookie form. There's a big difference between Monodramon and Cyberdramon. It's like they're two different digimon sometimes."

"And what if they are?"

The words slipped from Ryo's mouth almost before he even knew that he was going to say them and silence hung heavily in the air like a pair of drapes. Both Takato and Rika looked at Ryo, surprise written clearly on their faces.

"Um…" began Takato. "Care to explain what you mean by that? It sounds like you just agreed with Rika on Cyberdramon being two separate digimon…"

Ryo sighed.

"That's because he…sort of is. It's a long and complicated story…"

"It's not like we're going to be lacking time," said Rika.

"Trust me Rika," said Ryo, not looking at all happy with the situation. "It's not the sort of story that I'm going to go into detail about. It would cause too much confusion and there'll be too many questions…some of which I may not or cannot give you guy's answers to. All that's really important right now, is that my partner, Cyberdramon, really is more than he appears to be. This goes way back." Ryo ran a hand through his hair. "Back before I met any of you in fact."

Rika raised an eyebrow at that.

"You mean…?"

"Yeah. Even before you and I met at that tournament. You see…Cyberdramon both is and _isn't_ my real partner."

"Say wha…?" This from Takato. Ryo chuckled dryly.

"And that would only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg of questions that I'd have to answer if I gave you the full story. So I think that I'll just settle for what's important in the here and now."

Ryo breathed out, and Rika's eyes widened in surprise. He was _nervous!_ Actually nervous! She had never seen him anything less than confident, so why…?

_He's revealing something about himself that he's probably been keeping in for a long time,_ thought Rika. _I get the feeling that he hasn't had much help along the way of whatever it was that he got involved in. Can't say that I blame him. I was like that back when I first started out. I didn't think there was anyone that I could trust, not even my family. I couldn't even face my mom when it came time to go to the digital world to rescue Calumon. I had to rely on Yamaki and my grandmother giving her the heads up._

"Have either of you heard of the digimon card 'Milleniummon?'" Asked Ryo. Rika nodded while Takato looked a little uncertain. Without even looking at the goggle-wearing boy Rika supplied what she knew about the card.

"Virus type. Mega level. He can't be affected by any digimon effects that reduce his attack to zero, can't be affected by Option cards, and the opponent loses all of his special powers. Another card version has him as not losing his powers either. According to the specs on him he's supposed to be a DNA evolved fusion between a Machinedramon and a Kimeramon. Even the flavor text on the card shows him to be a pretty tough customer, capable of manipulating time and space." Rika furrowed her brow. "Hold on. You're not saying that…"

"Yeah. I got to take a look at his powers up close and personal. An Agumon contacted me the first time he showed up, during a storm. Christmas, 1999. I was eleven years old at the time, and kind of naïve at the time. I look back on that night and I can't help but wonder about it. How many kids hear a voice coming from their computer, asking them for help and agree to it?" Ryo chuckled lightly to himself. "Anyway, long story short, I helped Agumon defeat Milleniummon and I go home around the same time that I left."

"You mean Milleniummon caused time to speed up like Apocalymon did on the TV show?" Asked Takato.

"Seems kind of obvious considering all of his abilities, but just existing alone was enough to mess things up."

"Why did you skip over the details?" Asked Rika, somewhat annoyed.

"They're not important. Besides, that wasn't the only time that I fought him. After his first defeat he kept coming back, each time in a more powerful form just like how his evolution line is depicted in the game."

"MoonMilleniummon and ZeedMilleniummon?" Asked Rika, both trying and failing to hide her surprise. Ryo nodded, once again impressed by the Digimon Queen's extensive knowledge of the card game.

"The second time a Veemon called for my help," continued Ryo, deciding to leave out any mention of his friend Ken and the world that he had left behind. "He said that there was a digimon on the loose. Only it turned out that the digimon was a trick by Milleniummon again to get me back into the digital world. After we first fought he became interested in me. For some reason he thought that I had some kind of ability that was able to keep him from being able to crush me. He had the power to defeat anyone in existence; the Sovereigns, and the boss of those Royal Knights, but I was an X factor that he couldn't account for. When he was beaten during our second encounter he told me that his power was tied to mine. He claimed that because my power was 'eternal' so was his and that I'd never be rid of him. I didn't figure out what it was he meant until much later, and by then we were already on our fourth battle and I had Monodramon by my side. He claimed that he was my partner, and he and Monodramon got into a fight over which one of them would be by my side. Monodramon forced a jogress between them and Cyberdramon," Ryo indicated his partner with a nod of his head, "was the result."

Ryo shook his head.

"So in the end, Milleniummon got what he wanted; just not in a way that he thought he would. And now…lately it's seems like he's been trying to resurface."

"How?" Asked both Rika and Takato at the same time, their voices blending together in such a way that they both looked at each other, startled while Ryo regarded the sight with some amusement.

"In what way is he trying to come back?" Asked Takato as both he and Rika looked away from each other and back at Ryo. The Legendary Tamer brought one hand up and tapped the side of his head.

"He's talked to me sometimes. At first I thought… _hoped_ I was going crazy, but there have been some incidents that have told me otherwise. Little things where I've drawn on his power without thinking about it during a battle. The first time it happened was during the fight against one of the D-Reaper's agents…what was it? The Horn Striker? You weren't there for it Takato, but you should remember it Rika. It smacked MegaGargomon down and I went to tangle with it by myself while you and Henry went to rescue Takato and Guilmon from the D-Reaper. I dodged a few of that things attacks, namely an attempted foot stomp, by teleporting out of the way at the last moment. I know digimon are supposed to be fast and capable of some outlandish abilities but that's not part of Justimon's. Neither Cyberdramon or I are capable of that kind of thing. And then there was the last battle against Lucemon. I survived one of his attacks without taking so much as a single scratch. After that, more coincidences started popping up…like Milleniummon's card showing up in my deck box when I didn't even own a copy. And then what the card turned into _afterwards…"_

"The card transformed?" Asked Rika, raising an eyebrow. "Where is it?"

"Hmmm?"

"The card, Ryo. You said the card changed didn't you? I want to see it."

"That's…problematic." Ryo's eyes flickered over to Takato. "You see…Jeri has it. As a matter of fact, she was the one somehow responsible for it changing."

Rika felt a flash of shock emanating from her link through Takato, resonating with her own.

"W-wha…? _Jeri_ has the card?!" Stammered Takato, his body tensing noticeably to the point where Ryo had to wonder if the boy was going to launch himself at him and demand the information personally. " _Jeri_ knows about all of this?!"

"Not…everything," replied Ryo, hoping that the situation didn't go out of control before he had a chance to explain his actions.

"Care to run that by me again?" Came Rika's threatening voice as she clamped one hand down firmly on the boy's shoulder and whirled him around so that he was now facing her fully. Violet eyes blazed with the fury of a dying star, promising retribution for his actions. "You got _Jeri_ involved and you didn't even _warn_ her?"

Hearing the enraged tremble in Rika's voice Ryo suddenly got a certain feeling that, depending on his answer, she was going to end up punching him. The single clenched fist combined with her furious gaze spoke more than enough volumes on that possibility.

_Rika always was pretty protective of Jeri,_ thought Ryo. _Can't say that I blame her._

"I gave her plenty of warning," answered Ryo. "But at the time that I gave her the card, I was still in the dark about the reality of the situation and she insisted…"

Lightning flashed within Rika's eyes.

"Wrong answer Ryo…"

Before Rika could even do anything Takato's hand latched onto Rika's wrist and the girl whirled about on him in surprise. Crimson irises met violet and, as though a message had been sent between them, Rika released her grip on the Legendary Tamer while Takato let go of her wrist. Looking over at Ryo Takato nodded and got up, his expression firm.

"Excuse us for a moment." Ryo blinked, taking note of the tone in the other boy's voice. It was as though a stone had just spoken to him, and it was rather unlike the Takato that he knew. But the thing that disturbed him the most was that he couldn't tell if Takato was angry or not. Finding himself only able to nod in response, Ryo watched as the two Tamers got up and exited the room, Rika taking the time to slam the sliding door behind her as they left.

"That…went well," said Ryo in the renewed quiet of the room.

Cyberdramon only _hmmphed_ in response.

* * *

"You're letting him off," said Rika as she and Takato walked a short distance away from the room. Not a question. Simply a statement. No more, no less.

"Yeah," replied Takato. "I am."

"Don't give me that. You're angry, so _why_ are you forgiving him?"

"I know that he wouldn't do such a thing on purpose. You heard him in there. He didn't know for sure what was going on, and Jeri offered to help. I trust Ryo…"

"You _trust_ Ryo?! Gogglehead, we're friends with him. We've fought alongside him, but how much do we _really_ know about him? This is the first time either of us are hearing about what he's gone through way before we ever got our partners…stuff he's never bothered to tell us! He had a partner that's capable of messing around with the entire space-time continuum, could go out of control at any moment, and he acts like it's no problem! So why do you trust him?"

Takato furrowed his brow and clenched one hand into a fist. He remained silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts before speaking.

"I'll admit," he said finally, "it is hard. But I kind of know what he's going through. I used to worry about Guilmon a lot…"

"Guilmon's different. He's not two digimon…"

"Ryo's not a bad person Rika! Just like _you're_ not a bad person." Looking away, Takato allowed the shadows of the hallway to obscure his face before continuing in a lower voice. "Just like you're one of my best friends."

_Ah…_ Rika felt her back stiffen as she caught that. Almost against her will the memories of her and Renamon attacking Guilmon on their first encounter, and then luring them into a parking garage to fight on their second came to mind.

"Takato…"

"Rika. We've all got something that we don't tell someone else. I still keep quiet about an embarrassing moment I had with a Pickle at school. We've all lied to our families about having digimon. Ryo had his reasons for not telling us about his problems. Sometimes you don't either. You two are a lot alike sometimes."

The two Tamers continued looking at each other for a few more seconds before Takato turned away and began walking down the hall. Scowling at her friends back Rika crossed her arms over her chest.

"Just where are you going?"

"I'm going back to the kitchen," said Takato. "I need to clear my head a bit before I talk to Ryo again."

Rika found herself caught between going after the Goggle-wearing Tamer and going after Ryo and pounding him into the ground, and yet…for some strange reason Rika remained rooted where she was, her brow furrowed in deep thought. After about a minute Rika shook her head and stormed down the hallway, taking a different route than the one Takato had taken and in the opposite direction of Ryo's room. Eventually Rika reached the courtyard and set herself down on the porch area leading into the living areas, frowning at the moonlit earth in front of her.

Time seemed to have lost meaning to Rika as she sat there, rolling the conversation around in her head. As she did so a trickle of a familiar presence made its way into her mind as two figures stepped in front of her.

"Hey Renamon," Rika said dully, not bothering to look up at the vulpine digimon and her dinosaur comrade.

"Uh-oh," came Guilmon's voice. "Rika's got her angry face on…"

"Is everything all right, Rika?" Asked Renamon, tilting her head to one side and cocking an elegant eyebrow. Rika sighed.

"Perfect. Just… _perfect."_ Rika glanced up at Guilmon, who was standing next to the vulpine digimon, his golden eyes a mixture of curiosity and wariness. "Hey Guilmon. Did Takato ever mention to you something that happened to him in school involving a pickle?"

"Huh? No, why?"

"Just asking. By the way, your partner is in the kitchen. Why don't you go see him?"

"'Ah…okay." Guilmon looked back and forth between Renamon and Rika and upon seeing that nothing more was going to happen while he was there decided to do as he had been bid. Once he was out of earshot Renamon looked down at Rika.

"You two had another argument again, didn't you?"

Rika sighed. "I don't know. It seems like every time we patch up our friendship something comes along and damages it somehow. The shot came from Ryo again by the way. And it involved Jeri."

"You mean…?"

"If by 'you mean' what I thought before we got here, then no. This is completely different. Ryo decided to tell us that he's got some problems with his partner, and Jeri had been helping him out with it before he realized just how bad it was. I got mad at him and Takato stopped me, even though he has even more right than me to be angry. Yet that stupid Gogglehead just _has_ to be forgiving…"

"I thought you found that to be one of his more endearing qualities," said Renamon. If she was teasing Renamon sure hid it well because Rika couldn't tell for sure.

"More like annoying," Rika admitted. "But I do like him for it all the same. He and I wouldn't be friends if he held a grudge against me for attacking him all those times."

_Though it probably would have saved him the kind of trouble I've been giving him lately if he did,_ she chided herself. _It would certainly have made_ that _easier for him…_

"So why were you asking Guilmon about an incident at school?"

"To confirm something, though I'm starting to think that it may have happened before Takato got Guilmon. At any rate, Takato was telling me about how we all keep secrets and don't fully clue others in about something that's bothering us. I can't help but wonder if he was referring to that stupid song I sang on Locomon."

"You have never talked about that before Rika."

"I know. And I'm glad that you didn't ask then when it first came up. I don't like to think about my father all that much. I'm pretty sure that not knowing why I 'wanted to sing' had been bothering him."

"And you say that this is connected to Ryo and Jeri?"

"Only in that Ryo didn't tell anyone that half of his partner is a digimon like IceDevimon. At least so far as the stalking part goes and I don't think even that quite fits a proper description."

"I…see," was all Renamon could reply while looking down in the direction where Ryo's room lay. The Legendary Tamer had some interesting stories to tell it seemed…

"You're telling me. It's funny. Takato said something to me about how alike Ryo and I are. I didn't think we shared _that_ in common along with our skills as Tamers. Two sides of the same coin." Rika brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them before setting her chin down on her knees. "Kind of reminds me of him and Jeri," she said quietly.

Renamon frowned at her partner, but before she could say anything else she felt the fur on her body immediately stand on end as her senses picked up on a _large_ amount of power similar to what she felt when she first encountered Zhuqiaomon. Rika noticed her reaction and got to her feet quickly, and a split second later her digivice began beeping as it too picked up on the disturbance. Neither one of them bothered to look at it though as their eyes were quickly drawn up to the sky, finding the source hanging above them for all to see.

A series of green, grid-like lines crisscrossed the night sky, and lying just behind it as though shrouded by a curtain was a fire-lit city. Fire that shown blue.


	124. 123: Choices: Part 3

Lumemon frowned as he looked up at the starry, Earth-lit sky of the digital world, his storm grey colored eyes scanning them for…what exactly? He couldn't say for sure himself, but all he knew was that he felt a strange sense of unease hovering in the air in what he could only describe as being trapped within a house and knowing that something was burning somewhere, and that it was only a matter of time before the flame turned into a fireball.

_What is out there?_ He wondered silently to himself before his brow furrowed even further. Wrapping his arms closer around his body for warmth Lumemon looked out towards the horizon and curled his wings towards him to both retain heat better and to alleviate his nerves. A part of him was grateful for the feathery embrace of his wings, sensing that they provided a type of security that not even the strongest wall or shield could ever provide. In his mind's eye, the faint trickling of memory filtered in and the image of a blanket, light blue in color swaddling a tiny body in a tight, secure fashion.

_What was that?_ Lumemon wondered, sitting up suddenly, his eyebrows arching as the impact of the memory settled heavily on his shoulders. _Where did that come from?_

No answer came to him in the dead quiet of the night and Lumemon was forced to settle back within the embrace of his wings as he mulled things over in his mind. To say that he was troubled was a bit of an understatement. Disturbed was actually a better term for his present mental state, and it had much to do with his present form. He had good reason to as well. Born from a fusion between an angelic digimon and the fragment of a Tamer's consciousness, both of which were dying at the time Lumemon had no clear idea of what his identity was or where he stood in the grand scheme of things. The essences of Takato Matsuki (or rather _BlackGuilmon_ as that had been the form the essence of the Tamer had taken) and the former Demon Lord, child of Pride Lucemon had become intertwined. Yet the question remained; how much of him was Lucemon and how much was Takato? How much was _himself_ as far as his identity was concerned? Was he at all unique? And then there was the fact that both of them had been merged with Noriko…

Lumemon cast his gaze into the shadow filled shell of feathery wings and looked down at his hand, his grey colored eyes piercing the darkness as easily as a flashlight. He contemplated the appendage for a minute. This was _his_ hand…and yet…

A sharp gust of wind blew over the angel's body, cutting its way through the gaps between the feathers and scraping along exposed skin. It seemed that the wind had teeth to it this night.

_Stupid roof,_ Lumemon complained mentally, musing about the mud covered rooftop of the Chuchidarumon house. _It's cold…_

"You know…it's kind of cold up here…" came the voice of a certain, long eared, rabbit-dog of a digimon as he hopped up onto the roof. "Shouldn't you be inside?"

Lumemon turned to regard Terriermon with a cool, thoughtful gaze.

"I could say the same thing about you," Lumemon casually rebutted though a part of him couldn't help but wonder as to the digimon's motives for being up here when he should be with his Tamer.

_Like I should be by Noriko's side,_ thought Lumemon quietly.

"Momentai! I just needed a break from Henry's boring face. There's only so long a mon can stand looking at someone sleep."

"He seemed pretty exhausted after he and Noriko first woke up," commented Lumemon, pressing his tongue against the inside of his cheek in thought. "I wonder why he fainted to begin with…"

"Do you think it has anything to do with what all the digimon in this village and their aunt are sensing? The atmosphere feels alive tonight and everybody's acting like they're expecting something." Terriermon scowled and flapped his ears in irritation. "Can't say that I don't feel the same."

"Mmm," Lumemon agreed with a nod of his head. "Something's going on all right, and on a lot of levels. It feels far off though so I don't think we'll be able to see anything, though the mere fact that we sense something is cause for concern. Not much that we can do about it until Henry and Noriko recover."

Terriermon glanced at Lumemon, a slight frown crossing his features.

"Sooo…how come you're out here instead of in there? Do you like being cold or something?"

"I just…needed to think. Clear my head." As though on some instinct, Lumemon burrowed himself deeper into his wings, curling them closer towards his body. Seeing this, Terriermon chuckled a little.

"I don't bite you know."

Lumemon shot the rabbit-dog digimon a glare, feeling his face start to heat up a little out of embarrassment. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Well, if you want it spelled out for you…" said Terriermon in a teasing, sing-song tone of voice. "…I'd say that you're avoiding everyone."

"Say wha…?"

"It's true. Don't try to deny it. Ever since you rescued me and Henry you've been acting kind of weird. Well, as weird as any digimon who happens to know a Tamer-and-his-partner-even-though-neither-of-them-have-met-him-before. By the way, how is that?"

Huffing and pulling his arms closer to his body, Lumemon looked away, scowling.

"It's…complicated," he stated simply. Terriermon chuckled.

"You're a weird one all right, aren't you?" Asked Terriermon, eyeing the angelic digimon carefully. "Well, at least you're better company then the last angel me and Henry had to deal with. That one was not a happy camper. Still, I guess he thought he was saving the digital world or something…"

"Do you mind cutting to the chase and tell me what it is you're really here for?" Cut in Lumemon irritably.

"All right," said Terriermon, placing his tiny paws on his hips in an authoritative manner. "If that's how you want it then fine. All I wanted to do was have a little friendly conversation and you're treating this like I'm from the digi-police." Terriermon held onto a pouting scowl for a few moments before looking over at Lumemon. "Look. I'm not asking you to confirm or deny anything. It's just…something's going on with you that seems to be too big of a coincidence to ignore. Henry might be willing to overlook it because he's like that sometimes. He may be a realist but he's willing to give some people the benefit of the doubt. I wouldn't mind doing that either but there's just something about you that's bugging me. That and we're also stuck in the digital world so I hope you'll excuse me for being suspicious of anything out of the ordinary. Henry and I had a talk about it earlier back when we were heading towards the village and we both split up so that you wouldn't have to cart us around…"

"I see," said Lumemon tonelessly. "And?"

"I want to know just who you are before we end up putting our trust in you again. And don't try to avoid the subject this time."

Lumemon clenched his hands into fists beneath his feathery cover.

_Do I tell?_ He asked himself. _Or do I not tell?_

For the first time that he could remember in his short existence, Lumemon felt afraid of what consequences would arise from such an action.

_Consequences…things always keep coming back to that, don't they? The Great Beast's birth brought me hunting an innocent creature, and now Lucemon is paying the price for his transgressions, forcing him to experience the pain of the Tamer Takato by sharing his essence and creating…me. If I'm still Lucemon, shouldn't I be appreciating the irony of this situation? So why do I feel so afraid?_

As Lumemon's mind raced he felt another shudder pass through his body as the cold wind whipped at him.

_Cold…so…_ cold! _Why is it so cold all of a sudden? Why is it…?_

Lumemon blinked suddenly as he completed his thought.

_…So…cold?_

"Why _is_ it cold?"

Terriermon cocked an eyebrow at the angel digimon.

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"Why is it cold right now?"

"Hey! Are you trying to get out of answering my questi…?"

"I used to be Lucemon!" Lumemon snapped angrily at the rabbit-dog before he could stop himself. "The same one you fought back in the real world, okay? Now _why_ is it cold out?!" Lumemon frowned at the puffs of air that were materializing from his breaths. They hadn't been there before, and the temperature was _still_ decreasing. He could feel it.

Terriermon, for his part, could only just gape in surprise at the angel.

"Huh…wha…you…I…I was…right? But…"

"Terriermon…" growled Lumemon angrily. As he did so a part of him wondered if that was coming from the Lucemon inside of him, or if that was just who he was. He quickly brushed the thought aside.

_Why is it so cold all of a sudden? This isn't natural, even for nighttime in a desert. The digital world doesn't really experience seasons except in certain worlds where the structure is built for that sort of thing, but not so for the lowest plain. It's hot and it's desert all the time with a cool down period at night which is typical of deserts but not in this fashion. This is unnatural! For that matter digimon don't suffer from temperature extremes the way humans do. I don't understa…_

A flash of azure fire bursting across the surface of the digital sphere of the Earth hanging in the sky interrupted both Lumemon's and Terriermon's thought processes and both eyes turned upwards in utter stupefaction.

"You don't see that every day," they both uttered in unison.

* * *

Ryo Akiyama padded through the hallways with Cyberdramon in tow, his face set in a deep frown. He had decided to leave the room when Takato and Rika hadn't turned up after a while, and he was starting to wonder what was keeping them.

_Am I worried?_ Wondered the Legendary Tamer, the thought rather surprising him. _How long has it been since I worried about what someone else thought of me? Well. Someone_ human _anyway. Since I had been friends with Ken? For the longest time when I found out that I was being used in that tournament…trained for the sole purpose of defeating Milleniummon I've had a hard time relating to other people and putting my trust in them. Sure, fighting side by side is one thing, but actually being friends?_

For the first time in a long while, Ryo found himself regretting having so little trust in others.

_Makes me wonder why I couldn't just trust them,_ he thought to himself. _I mean, it's not like they're in league with Azulongmon or any one of the other Sovereigns and are training me for another confrontation with Milleniummon. Takato, Jeri, Henry…even Wildcat Rika…they all genuinely want to help out so why…don't I trust them?_

The answer of course was simple. Ryo had spent far too much time doing things on his own and fighting on his own that he tended to think about battles with an eye on that habit. It had been one of the underlining reasons why he had gone into battle against the agents of the D-Reaper on his own last year. No reason to keep track of others save for himself and no need to follow through on a battle plan that could risk others except for one. It had nothing to do with the idea that he believed that he alone could accomplish what others could not, but rather that he had spent so much time fighting on his own that it became a habit for his thinking and fighting style. He knew what he had to do in a situation; he knew just how he would react. Even when he had been fighting alongside his old friend Ken this didn't change, and the only time that it did was when he had come up against his limits with the D-Reaper and had to make a retreat.

_The D-Reaper was a cakewalk compared to Milleniummon. The only difference is, is that Milleniummon didn't attack with overwhelming numbers. Most of his abilities were wasted on me anyway. D-Reaper didn't suffer from that problem. I needed help and needed_ to _help. We never would have beaten that red blob if we didn't pull together the way we did. It's almost funny how quickly I forgot that when Milleniummon decided to rear his ugly head again._

Ryo Akiyama rubbed the side of his head in a distracted fashion, continuing his silent berating of himself before turning a corner. As he did so the smell of bread wafted through the air and to his nose, carrying with it the warm sense of familiarity that he always associated with Takato Matsuki.

_Found one of them,_ he thought to himself, a relieved smile tugging at the corners of his lips. In spite of all the tension that he felt in regards to his friendship with the goggle-wearing Tamer Ryo had to admit that Takato had a knack for making a situation more bearable, even if it involved tripping over his own feet.

_Though baking bread is a far better course of action,_ he thought to himself as he decided to follow his nose to the source of the smell. Even without knowing the layout of the temple grounds or having to rely on Cyberdramon olfactory senses, Ryo found finding the kitchen an easy task.

_Now to see about Takato,_ thought Ryo as he stepped into the kitchen, his blue colored eyes settling on one Takato Matsuki as he stood at a central island table in the middle of the room with Guilmon next to him.

"Um…" Ryo heard Takato saying to Guilmon in an awkward manner. "…The thing is…the whole pickle business is a really embarrassing story from when I was a kid. Besides…it was Kai's idea."

"Ohhh…"

_Oookay…_ thought Ryo, raising an eyebrow at the pair, wondering what they could possibly be talking about.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," said Ryo, breaking smoothly into the conversation. Two heads snapped to attention and looked over their respective owner's shoulders in surprise. Crimson and gold eyes locked onto Ryo's blue ones, and a second later the red ones frowned and looked away.

"Hey Ryo," Takato said in a dull, unenthusiastic fashion as he returned his attention to the bread dough that lay in front of him. Ryo cocked an eyebrow at that, but honestly wasn't too surprised by this reception.

_He's not too happy right now. But then, who can blame him? I've disregarded his trust by not showing any for him and endangered Jeri, who he cares about very much. I'd be the same way if Monodramon or my dad were treated like that._

Ryo sighed.

_Can't believe that I've managed to become so much like the guys who used me to fight Milleniummon. Even if I had different reasons, and the desire to keep them out of his way, my not trusting them still led to the same results._

Glancing around the room, Ryo took note of the fact that someone was absent.

"Rika's not with you?" The Legendary Tamer asked, somewhat surprised by the notion. The two had practically been inseparable during their stay in the digital world, pending moments when Takato had been unconscious and Rika had been called away to meet with the Seer Council.

Takato shook his head.

"I needed to be alone for a bit," he said. "And we never did get around to finishing the bread that we were making anyway…"

"I see," said Ryo as he took a step towards the table. "Mind if I pitched in then?"

Takato shook his head. "Go ahead. I've got most of it in the oven now, baking. There's just a little bit left. Not too much to do except knead it."

Ryo nodded and rolled up the sleeves on his red colored sweater, carefully observing Takato to see how it was done before copying him.

_Seems simple enough,_ he thought as they spent a couple minutes working in silence. After those minutes had passed, Takato spoke up.

"Ryo," began Takato carefully, not looking at the Legendary Tamer as he poked at the bread dough, his actions not showing much interest in working with the material outside of being a distraction. "Why didn't you tell us that you were having problems?"

_Jumping to the point pretty quick aren't we?_ Noted Ryo, trying to decide if he should be surprised by this or not. Takato had the tendency to dance around subjects with much stuttering and stammering, as he did not want to bring up anything that people considered painful or discomforting.

"Like I said earlier. I didn't want to involve you guys. It's been my own problem for a long while now. Three…almost four years running. It's a long time to build up a habit. I know that's no excuse for my involving Jeri, and believe me I wish that I didn't. I hoped that things weren't going to get out of hand like this. I really wanted to think that Milleniummon was done messing around with my life." Ryo flipped the bread dough over and patted its floured surface before placing it on a cookie sheet. "Wishful thinking, huh?"

"I guess so…"

"Look, Takato. You have every right to be angry with me. Both you and Rika. I really dropped the ball with you, and for what it's worth…I'm sorry. I know that doesn't mean much right now…"

"Ryo…"

The boy raised an eyebrow at Takato's interruption. "Yeah?"

Takato relaxed his grip on his dough and sighed.

"I don't think I can understand why you did what you did. I wasn't there when you went through all of that, but if it's like not telling your parents like everyone else did because you don't want them to worry then I can understand a little bit. All the same, you're part of a team and we're all supposed to look out for each other. We can't do that if we're all holding back. I didn't see that back when Guilmon had been deleted by Lucemon and that ended up causing a lot of problems. Even my friendship with Rika is becoming difficult because we don't know how to communicate with each other now…"

_Somehow I don't think communication is something you two have to worry about,_ Thought Ryo but he brushed the thought away and stayed focused on his friend.

"…But if you and I and any of the others are going to stay as friends, we should learn to trust each other and not hold back because of anything that we're afraid of. I've seen too much of that in myself lately and besides," Takato looked up at Ryo and smiled, "I've never seen you as the type of person to be like that."

Ryo stared at Takato for a few seconds, somewhat taken aback by the maturity that he was hearing in the boy's voice. He didn't know much about Takato's life or what he had been like when he first started out as a Tamer but he had heard the stories and seen him rushing off into battle during the D-Reaper crisis. That, combined with his own experience with the digital world told him that Takato had changed significantly in a lot of ways. The death of Guilmon, however temporarily, and his sudden change of relationship with Rika had knocked him down for a bit but he was building back up step by step.

_Even knowing what I did, he's still extending the hand of friendship._

Ryo couldn't help but chuckle to himself and Takato furrowed his brow at the Tamer.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Well…maybe something. I just find it a little funny how we keep having to relearn these lessons over and over during our adventures. Trust was something I had for a while in the beginning. It's rather hard to believe that I have to relearn that again."

"You mean you lost trust in others before? I…wouldn't have thought that would be like you."

Instinctively Takato's eyes shifted over to Cyberdramon. Seeing this, Ryo chuckled and waved a hand dismissively.

"My life story is a complicated one. Back during my earlier adventures I knew some people who I thought I could count on and it turned out that they were just using me. Since then…well, you get the idea."

Takato frowned.

"Well…I guess I can see…"

The sound of both Takato and Ryo's digivices suddenly going off interrupted their conversation and a sharp gust of wind slammed into the walls from the outside, causing the building to shudder violently.

"Ah!" Takato gasped as wood creaked and groaned, straining against the force of the wind. "Rika's outside!"

With that Takato turned and dashed towards the kitchen's exit with Guilmon quickly following, calling for his Tamer to slow down. Ryo and Cyberdramon shared one, quick glance and a second later they too were chasing after the goggle-wearing Tamer.

* * *

Rika Nonaka and Renamon both stared up at the digital representation of the Earth hanging in the sky. A grid-like network of green lines crisscrossed its surface, warping and pulsating as blue fire burst forth, tearing holes in the night sky and revealing a city lying just behind it. A city that was burning.

"Renamon," began Rika, her voice filled with stunned surprise at what she was seeing. "Is that…Shinjuku?"

"I cannot say for certain Rika," replied the vulpine digimon. "But that is definitely a gateway to your world. Given that there appears to be battle raging there it might be safe to assume that trouble has arrived in Shinjuku as we had been expecting."

"Then we've got to get over there," said Rika as she unhooked her blue trimmed D-Arc from her belt. "If that's a gateway then we should be able to get home without waiting any longer. Didn't the Seer Council say something about us only having to enter a weak point between the barriers? This looks like one if you ask me."

"That it is, but that's not the kind of gateway that I'd risk using," spoke up a strange voice from behind them. Whirling around both Renamon and Rika found themselves looking at a silver furred fox with orange armguards.

"You," said Rika in surprise, recognizing the digimon who had first called them to meet with the Seer Council.

"Urocyomon," added Renamon, causing Rika to look at her partner in surprise.

"Hold on. You've met him?"

"Yes. At the bathing grounds where I took Guilmon for cleaning. It seems that he's a rare, male subspecies of Renamon."

"I see." Renamon looked back at the silver fox and frowned at him. "What did you mean by not using that gateway? It leads to the real world doesn't it?"

"It does, but in case you didn't notice it's got fire coming out of it." Urocyomon raised one hand to the sky to illustrate his point. "That's not a good sign and that's only for starters. I have a teacher training me to detect weaknesses in the barriers and how to use them to traverse between the two worlds. I can tell you right now that that one is _not_ safe. I can't quite explain it but…" Urocyomon frowned perceptibly. "…There's something behind that gate and between the other world. And it's powerful. And then there's what's causing that gateway to appear." Urocyomon shook his head. "Trust me. Unnatural holes that spring up like that are bad. They cause conflict to occur between the two worlds and sometimes material gets displaced and never in a good way. What's going on up there is what the Seer Council and the Sovereigns have been afraid of for a long time since we first learned about the reality of the human world. And that's where only one world will survive if they ever have a close brush with each other. Right now the Seer Council is trying to close up that hole but…"

A bolt of lightning suddenly tore free from the sky where the network lay and crashed into the grounds of the temple, silencing Urocyomon and causing his eyes to widen in surprise. Before anyone could say anything further a series of lightning bolts began to rain from the sky and were quickly joined balls of blue and gold fire. Grabbing hold of Rika Renamon dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding a ball of gold fire as it slammed into the temple and shattering the porch that they had previously stood on. Urocyomon was knocked back into the hallway by the concussive force of the explosion but he quickly caught himself with a back flip. Rika looked around her, bewildered as she gripped her digivice tightly in one hand. Violet and blue eyes locking together Rika raised her digivice to the sky.

"BIOMERGE, ACTIVATE!" She called out, only to be answered by a series of clicks and beeps rather than the surge of energy that normally came with the call for biomerging. Rika glared at her digivice with anger flooding her mind.

"Come on, what is _wrong_ with you?! Biomerge activate already! Hel-lo!"

"Rika!" Came the call of Takato and Ryo as they burst and their partners free from the shattered entrance to the temple. Her violet eyes quickly locked on them just in time to see a bolt of lightning surging towards them. Panic flooded her mind and she raised her digivice once again, calling out to activate her biomerge, only to find failure once again with nothing but a click and a beep in response. Takato looked up towards the sky just in time to see the oncoming bolt of lightning.

"Aw nuts…" she saw him mouth a split second before the lightning impacted with the ground where he stood…

…And miraculously cascaded off of a shield of purple energy shaped into the Mandala that was the trademark spell of the Sakuyamon.

Rika found herself panting heavily, her hand shaking ever so slightly as she clutched her digivice in a vice-like grip.

_Wha…what's going on? I didn't do…_

The silver armored Sakuyamon from before landed between them.

"You must get to shelter," she said to them firmly, glancing at each of the Tamers and their digimon with an expression that brooked no room for argument, "immediately! We have the situation in hand here. Urocyomon!"

"Yeah?" Came the dazed voice of the silver fox as he pushed aside a broken floorboard and stepped outside.

"Direct the Tamers and their partners to safe shelter. I shall see to them as soon as the crisis passes."

"Uh…yes ma'am," Urocyomon nodded and glanced at each of the Tamers. "Well, you heard the lady. Let's go!"

Rika's attention snapped back into focus as Renamon once more picked her up and chased after the silver fox with the others.

* * *

"Kuzuhamon!" Shouted Alice as she shook the raven haired shaman, trying to rouse her. Mere moments ago she had been preparing to bed down when a sudden storm had come crashing through into the temple and a bolt of lightning smashed through the roof of her room, aiming straight at her. Kuzuhamon, with a speed and selflessness that would have made even the Royal Knight UlforceVeedramon impressed had pushed her off to the side, taking the full force of the impact with her body and was now unconscious.

"Kuzuhamon! Wake up! _Please!_ You've got to _wake up!_ We have to get to shelter! I'm not…I'm not leaving without you!"

_Oh God, oh please…_ Alice begged as panic settled heavily in her heart and spread throughout her body like a virus. _Not again! I couldn't have lost_ another _friend! Please don't die Kuzuhamon!_ Please! _I can't stand to lose another one! I…_

_"What would you be able to do Alice,"_ came a voice from out of the shadows, _"if you were offered the possibility that you can end all of this?"_

_Wha…?_ Alice's eyes widened and she looked around. "Who's there?! Please! Help me! I can't move her by myself!"

_"You won't find me that easily,"_ continued the voice in an almost amused manner. _"And you still haven't answered my question. Your friend is still alive and will be all right…but only so long as this storm is ended here and now and to do that there needs to be resolution on the other side of the gate that has formed in the sky."_

_Who are you?_ Asked Alice in her mind, sensing that whoever she was talking to lay somewhere other than the world of the five senses.

" _Does it matter? The real world is under siege and a certain someone has released his powers and allowed them to run loose. I have a way of putting an end to the battle, but only so long as one of the defenders in the real world…one of the Tamers, is able to handle that power and that requires that he gain power of his own. And he needs that power if he is to handle the Royal Knights."_

_The Royal Knights?!_ Exclaimed Alice. _They're in the real world now?!_

_"Yes. And like it or not, they are winning in their battles, save for one who is inadvertently causing this storm and the tear in the barriers to occur because of his resistance. The battle needs ending…Gyōjamon must be pacified."_

_But…but…Kuzuhamon…_

_"Will be fine if the storm is ended with the battle. You have made this sacrifice before young Alice. Do you desire to have others sacrifice themselves in vain? Because that is what will happen to Kuzuhamon."_

_I…_ Alice looked over at her raven haired, shaman friend and a tear escaped from one eye, falling lightly onto Kuzuhamon's pale face with a _plip_ sound. _As long as she lives…then let's do this. Besides, I still have a score to settle with those Royal Knights._

_"Excellent,"_ said the voice, sounding quite pleased with her response. _"Then this is the face of the Tamer that you must help."_

A boy's face flashed across her mind, and Alice jerked slightly at the suddenness of the act. The image burned itself into her mind as she began to relax and the blonde haired girl nodded in understanding. She knew what she had to do. Where she had to go.

"Let's do this," she whispered to the voice, and as a soft glow enveloped her body, causing the world to fade around her Alice took one last look at her friend.

"Goodbye…Kuzuhamon…"

The last thing she felt was a powerful force pulling at her mind, disorienting her and breaking her down before she vanished all together.


	125. 124: Distant Fires

A cloud of dust and smoke billowed up into the air in the baking heat of the digital world's desert, reflecting the light from off the sandy surface and giving it a golden aura. Metal shrieked and groaned and a second later the cloud was swept away by a gust of wind and the battered form of UlforceVeedramon hauled himself out of the smoking, burnt and glassed crater that he had made from the force of his impact.

Gravity, UlforceVeedramon had found, indeed lived up to its reputation as a 'harsh mistress.'

_I must have been more injured than I thought,_ thought the blue colored Royal Knight as he raised one hand and flexed his fingers, wincing at the creaks that the battered metal made. He didn't take that as a good sign, but at the very least his overwrite sequence would take care of that…provided that he found enough energy for it that is.

_However powerful I may be, even I have my limits._

Following his 'dismissal' (such as it were) by his former comrade in arms, Crusadermon, UlforceVeedramon had regenerated his wings and beat a hasty retreat, vowing to deal with the traitorous Royal Knight and the blazing fox once he had returned to full strength. And he would need it too, as Crusadermon had ascended into a realm of power that not even he recognized. Exhausted as he was from using the Sephirot, UlforceVeedramon would need to rest in order to combat it.

Shaking his head the blue Royal Knight looked up at the blazing sky, taking note of a low level warp that was only discernable when a cloud passed by or if he looked at the digital representation of the human world. The tear that had once been emblazoned across the sky in the human world and the digital world was disappearing; _repairing_ itself, though how that could be he didn't know.

_Normally tears of that magnitude require intervention from one of the higher powers in order to be fixed. Perhaps Yggdrasil…?_

UlforceVeedramon shook his head. No. Such was not the case. Yggdrasil no longer paid attention to what occurred in this corner of the digital world, or any section of the old world for that matter save for a select few (one of which was under surveillance Sleipmon), but primarily his interests were in the construction and safeguarding of the 'new' digital world that he had created following the ravaging effects of the Digital Hazard.

_Strange._ UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. _It could be my imagination but…I believe that I detected residual Hazard patterns back in the real world. I was too preoccupied to pay close attention to it but…could that human world have been responsible for the triggering of the Digital Hazard?_

_No. It couldn't be. Yggdrasil said so himself. But then, even I have to admit that his actions have been a little…'erratic' to say the least. Still, he is our God. God's cannot lie or be corrupted even if they are digital._

_Still…the question begs. Who could be repairing the damage to the dimensional barriers? The Celestials don't have that kind of power, and while the Sovereigns are capable of creating portals they are merely taking advantage of the weaknesses in the walls. They cannot repair the damage otherwise Zhuqiaomon would never have worried about the threat humans might represent to his kingdom._

Growling beneath his breath UlforceVeedramon scanned his surroundings. No vegetation to eat. No digimon to absorb. It looked like obtaining data to recharge his energy was going to be difficult, but then he expected no less from this level of the digital world. Barren had always been its primary calling card no matter where you went in it. In order to get a change of scenery one had to enter a data stream and pray that it deposited you somewhere habitable, if not a little more colorful.

_Lately however this place has been more empty than normal. At least, that's what I've heard from Duftmon's last report of this area following the war against the Chaos._

Feeling that the silence only served to improve the environment over the presence of the barbaric digimon that had previously inhabited the plain, UlforceVeedramon stretched his wings and flexed them. Yes, it looked as though they would be able to bear his weight until he found an Oasis or a digimon to upload. As long as he had that, that was all he needed.

_At least I won't have to deal with that storm from the tear anymore. Whatever power it is that's repairing the damage it's making things a lot easier for me._

UlforceVeedramon was just about to take off when he suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes. Something was tugging at his senses. Something… A digimon? Yes, definitely a digimon, and it had shown up rather quickly. As a matter of fact…

_More of them?_ UlforceVeedramon narrowed his eyes. His senses were telling him that more digimon…a sudden _swarm_ of them was approaching his position. _What is…?_

All at once his senses were screaming at him, and the next thing he knew the sand below him exploded upward, sending him flying into the air as a storm of snapping teeth and biting claws scraped along his body. Howling in fury and surprise the blue dragon ignited his energy blade and slashed downwards, cleaving through the head of a massive black and red dragon with a jagged, metallic plate bolted to its head, obscuring its eyes. The creature shrieked in pain as the top portion of its skull was sheared off, but it continued to snap away at him, as though ignorant of its bodies pleas to escape the source of its pain. UlforceVeedramon's eyes widened in surprise as he caught hold of the creature by its jaw, pushing against it and stopping its forward momentum. Flapping its large, crimson wings the creature pressed against him, but UlforceVeedramon refused to budge. Staring into the ruined face of the creature, the Royal Knight called upon the digital scanner that his master had granted his Royal Knights, and within seconds he had a name to the creature.

DexDoruGreymon

Level: Ultimate

Type: Virus

Special Attacks: Bloody Cave, Metal Meteor

UlforceVeedramon grunted as the DexDoruGreymon pushed against him once again. Growling in irritation at the creature, the Royal Knight gave a sharp twist with his arms and a loud, satisfying snap filled the air, and soon enough the creature collapsed heavily to the ground, its body already beginning to dissipate into the data particles that made up its form. UlforceVeedramon stepped back in disgust, not bothering to load the creature's data. There was something about it that _offended_ him. Its very existence seemed to make his data particles crawl in revulsion. Just… _what was_ this creature?

_I've never seen such a thing before,_ he thought. _This beast is unlike even the savage monstrosities that inhabit this plain. It's…_

UlforceVeedramon's thought process came to a halt as the last of the shimmering particles floated away into the air.

_No digi-core. This creature…this_ thing _had no digi-core. Now_ this _I have heard of. Gallantmon, Magnamon, and Omnimon have mentioned something like this being involved with Project Ark. That Yggdrasil was creating a digimon to facilitate the finalization of the project. Could this be what they were talking about? Why would Yggdrasil make something so baseless…an entity that follows nothing but its primal instincts? This thing might as well be a Demon Lord!_

The information settled heavily on the Royal Knight as he processed it through his mind. Feeling quite disturbed by this discovery UlforceVeedramon turned in the direction where he detected the oncoming swarm. They were within visual range now, and they were indeed quite numerous. How many were there? Hundreds? Thousands? Already they were sweeping across the landscape like a swarm of Locusts, and he could see that where they went a warp quickly appeared in their wake.

_They're destroying the digital world,_ he thought quietly to himself as he raised his energy blade. _And it doesn't matter to them who gets in their way._

"Sephirot activate," UlforceVeedramon intoned as a series of mystical, flame-like symbols began to appear all over his body. He really didn't want to use the Sephirot since he was badly exhausted using it the last time, but against this number of hostiles and in his present condition it was his only remaining chance if he was to live. He may be forced to devolve in order to save energy, but it was a small price to pay for survival.

Later on, UlforceVeedramon would wish that he didn't bother, for within seconds of selecting one of the DexDoruGreymon as a target, bolts of lightning leapt forth from the symbols and stabbed at his body, bringing him to his knees with a cry of pain.

"Aaah! Wha…?"

_"Unable to select target,"_ spoke up a male, mechanical voice from within his mind. _"Actions are in violation of the twelfth article of the Yggdrasil/Sephirot Code. Use of the Sephirot is prohibited against Yggdrasil. UlforceVeedramon's activation code…11100010beta-alpha no longer recognized."_

"No…" UlforceVeedramon gasped as he deactivated the Sephirot program and forced himself to his feet. "Damnation…"

Glaring at the oncoming storm, UlforceVeedramon had enough time to allow one last thought before the DexDoruGreymon swept over him.

_Lord Yggdrasil…why do you cast us aside?_

* * *

Hours had passed since the storm first started and now Takato Matsuki found himself surprised by the peace and quiet that had returned to the temple. Daylight touched each and every surface and warmed the Tamer's face. Looking around him though Takato found it hard to believe that any kind of serenity had returned to the temple grounds even with the silence that had cloaked it. Here and there, a torn portion of the temple lay. A shattered door, a ripped off roof or porch, burnt wood and a cracked or completely shattered section of the wall surrounding the courtyard…a far cry from what the place had been beforehand. The only thing that indicated that something approaching normalcy had returned to the land of the Seer Council was the chirping of a Biyomon somewhere off in the distance.

Placing his hand on Guilmon's head, Takato patted the crimson dinosaur, who returned the gesture with an affectionate nuzzle, as though to reassure the boy that yes, he was still there.

"It's like home all over again, right after the Pig Deva attack," commented Rika as she and Renamon came up behind him. Looking over his shoulder at the red haired girl Takato nodded.

"Well, at least their cleaning bill will be a lot cheaper," he said before looking back over the grounds.

"Not funny, Takato," frowned Rika.

"Sorry. I'm just…trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't an easy night for any of us."

Rika nodded, her expression softening a little.

"Any sign of Alice?"

Takato shook his head. It had been the strangest thing. At some point during the storm, Alice McCoy had disappeared and her companion, Kuzuhamon was found alone in the girl's room, unconscious from having been hit by a lightning bolt. She had been frantic when she heard that Alice was missing, but unfortunately due to her injuries she wasn't able to participate in any of the searches.

"I sniffed around for a long time," supplied Guilmon pointing one claw at himself. "But the only scent I got that was Alice's were a bunch of old ones. The only fresh one around is in her room and from what I smell she never left."

"Well that's terrific," grunted Rika. "It's like she up and left like a ghost or something. Are you sure about that Guilmon?"

"Uh-huh. Quite sure."

"The nose knows," Rika stated as she pressed one hand against her forehead though whether or not the gesture had to do with exasperation or from lack of sleep Takato couldn't easily tell. At this range though he could sense the occasional trickle from the link between them. Based on this, if he had to hazard a guess, he would say a little bit of both.

"Maybe Ryo and Cyberdramon will have more luck…"

"Right. And if those two don't then we'll be down to the Seer Council, but since they seemed pretty surprised by her disappearing act I'm willing to bet that they don't." Rika sighed. "Sorry Takato, I'm just feeling a little bit on edge right now. Last night was too much chaos even for me."

"I can believe that," replied Takato, to which Rika shot him a sharp, suspicious look. Fortunately for her, Takato didn't notice as his face was turned up towards the sky. Renamon however eyed her Tamer with concern.

"We can only hope that things can get better from here," said Renamon, meaning her words for Rika. The red haired Tamer shifted uncomfortably under the vulpine digimon's gaze, knowing what she meant by them. Although Takato, Guilmon, and maybe Ryo and Cyberdramon didn't know it, last night had done more to put her on edge than simply being put in a dangerous situation that had no enemy she could fight against. She had found herself unable to biomerge with her partner. And that knowledge did not do her any comfort.

Clenching her hand in one fist Rika turned away and headed towards the main temple.

"I'm going to check her room again, see if she left any clues behind before she took off."

"Uh…okay."

Takato scratched his head as he watched the fiery Tamer disappear into the compound. His eyes met with Renamon's for but a moment before she disappeared into thin air.

"They don't seem happy," observed Guilmon.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, boy," agreed Takato. "You know, if it weren't for everything that happened last night, with the storm and Alice disappearing I would have thought that there was something else going on."

"Maybe you're just being paranoid. The two of you seem to be having a lot of trouble being friends lately. I still don't see why she can't share you with Jeri."

Takato's face burned bright red as he whirled around on his partner, eyes bug wide.

"Um…Guilmon…that…er…things don't work quite like that. At least, not where Rika, Jeri and I are concerned."

"I know. Renamon explained it to me earlier, but I still find it funny that Rika and Jeri can't share you. It's not as though you and I have to stop being partners. I wouldn't mind having another friend who could protect you, especially if I could play with them."

"Ah…" Takato paused. _Is he talking about BlackGuilmon?_ Takato cleared his throat. "It's just…things are different. Humans are weird like that, boy."

"Yeah. Renamon said something like that too but my brain still went funny on me. Maybe you can explain it better Takatomon…"

_Aw nuts…_

* * *

"You still haven't told the others about our difficulties with biomerging," said Renamon as she phased into view behind Rika. Rika scowled as she made her way down the hall of the main temple.

"Got that right. It's not the sort of thing that we can afford to worry about right now, and I'd rather that Takato especially _didn't_ worry about it. You know how he is about this kind of thing. One small problem and he's got to perform the knight in shining armor routine."

"Are you certain that there isn't any other reason?" Asked Renamon, refraining from pointing out that Takato literally _was_ a knight in shining armor whenever he biomerged with Guilmon. "If we are forced to fight against a powerful enemy without the ability to biomerge we would be putting the others at risk for they will be counting on us performing as we always have. And when we return to the real world we may have to do battle with the Royal Knights. I know you too well Rika. You wouldn't put anyone except yourself in that kind of danger knowing the odds, and this course of action is one that will bring danger."

"I know that." Rika frowned, feeling more than a little irritated at the interrogation she was being made to endure. "I'd just rather solve this without having anyone think that they have to protect me or anything. I hate feeling like that."

Renamon cocked one eyebrow at the girl, allowing a small smile to form on her muzzle. "You let me protect you."

Rika allowed a small smile of her own to grow on her lips and she half turned her head to let her partner see it. "You're a special case."

"And here I believed that Takato was becoming a special case as well."

"I knew you were going to say that. I just don't want to deal with him right now." Rika sighed as she arrived at Alice's room and came to a halt. Closing her eyes Rika took a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing. "I'm just…confused and angry about the whole mess. I don't even know why we can't biomerge. It's something we've done a million times before and the only time we've ever had a problem with it was when we were fighting the D-Reaper in the real world before Alice's friend sacrificed himself. I can't understand why it's so messed up now."

Renamon closed her eyes in deep thought, taking in Rika's words.

"The last time we biomerged Rika, you were preparing to hurt yourself for another. I remember how angry you were then, and that anger was reflected in the form that we took at the time. You remember that we became a Kuzuhamon towards the end, right? That is not our usual form, and what we were doing at that time was an antithesis to how our combined will is reflected as in Sakuyamon."

"An antithesis?" Asked Rika in a low, angry voice. "All I wanted to do was make Jeri happy. How is that the opposite of Sakuyamon's… _our_ mission?"

"Perhaps the answer lies in how you reached out to Takato when we battled him as ChaosGallantmon."

Almost against her will, Rika's mind went back to that pivotal battle all those weeks ago. ChaosGallantmon, trapped but still fighting against his bonds amidst a swirl of cherry blossoms. And Rika, facing him down after separating from her partner and talking to him, trying to reach him through the memories that they had shared together.

"This is stupid," Growled Rika, throwing open the door to Alice McCoy's bedroom. "We're not getting anything accomplished by talking about my problems. I…"

Rika was cut off as she saw that the room now contained an occupant. Kuzuhamon.

"Uh…hi," greeted Rika, somewhat taken off guard by her presence. "Sorry if we're intruding. We're just taking another look in here to see if we can find anything about where…"

"You won't find anything further in here," said Kuzuhamon, her back facing the two partners and one hand stroking a flower that lay on a table top. "The Seers themselves have been in this room. I doubt that they'll have missed something that someone like you could have found even if you searched this room for a thousand years. No disrespect to you of course; I speak from experience."

"Well…another look couldn't hurt. But if you think it's so useless, why are you here?"

Kuzuhamon chuckled.

"Memories mostly…and yes, the foolish hope that I might find something that has been missed. Unfortunately there's nothing here. Alice never did leave much of anything to trace her by. That is the difficulty of existing only as a spirit. You don't leave much presence on the world."

"So Gogglehead really did hit it on the nail back when we first talked about her. I guess that explains a lot, but…how?"

"Alice never talked much about how she ended up the way she did. I suspect that even she isn't sure of the circumstances. All I know is, I found her wandering nearby, alone, lost, and hurting, and I brought her here. We became friends of a sort." Kuzuhamon let a smile grace her pale features. "She was my 'little sister.' She had insisted on that actually. We were quite close. There were times where I wished that we would be…" Kuzuhamon paused. "…Well, never mind about that. It was wishful thinking I suppose. I just knew that we grew close enough where I wanted to protect her, and she wanted to protect me even if neither of us were partners."

Kuzuhamon let her hand drop away from the flower and she turned to look over at Rika and Renamon. For the first time Rika saw that she was in her _Standby Mode._ The absence of her fox shaped facemask gave her a perfect view of the vixen's emotions, as though its absence exposed her in some fashion.

"I must go," said Kuzuhamon. "Continue your investigation if you wish, but do not dally here for too long. You and your friends are to be leaving soon to return to the real world. For the sake of your world you shouldn't delay any further than you already have."

Giving a slight bow, Kuzuhamon faded from view, leaving Rika and Renamon to contemplate their encounter with the shaman.

* * *

Noriko Nakata's crimson eyes snapped open, looking out into the darkness of the Chuchidarumon hut. For the briefest of moments she was heavily disoriented, no longer remembering where she was or how she had gotten there but the moment passed quickly.

_That's right,_ she thought to herself as she laid her forearm over her head, covering her eyes. _I'm still in the digital world._

Noriko closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She remembered having what had to be the strangest dream to date, a novelty since she had been experiencing that quite a bit lately. In it she had been with holding hands with Henry and another boy by the name of Ryo Akiyama, concentrating on trying to do…what was it exactly?

_I remember Henry saying something about how their digivices are made to act like communicators or something along those lines, and we were trying to duplicate that. Then I passed out after…_ Noriko raised one hand and clutched the shirt that she was wearing. _…I felt something. Something pulsing in me. Okay, sounds kind of stupid since it felt like a heartbeat and all people have those things anyway but this time…this time it felt different. And there was also this weird feeling of presence…a presence of something_ powerful…

Shaking her head Noriko sat up in the hammock that she had been laying in and looked around her for a quick and easy way she could climb out without disrupting her balance.

_Like the last time I was in one of these things,_ Noriko lamented, scrunching her face in displeasure at the memory. Briefly she wondered why the Chuchidarumon even bothered to use hammocks. All the ones she had seen so far were far too small for them to sleep in. Even the small, child-like ones couldn't fit comfortably in them. Deciding that grabbing onto the pole and sliding down was the best course of action to take Noriko took hold of it and began to inch her way towards it. Once she felt confident that the hammock wasn't going to suddenly spill her out on a moment's notice Noriko swung her leg outwards and quickly wrapped it around the pole…

…Only to have the whole contraption collapse down around her, bringing her crashing to the floor with a surprised squawk and a flurry of blankets.

"Owww…"

The door to the hut flung open and light spilled into the room and one Henry Wong with a certain long-eared Terriermon stood in the doorway, battle-ready eyes quickly scanning for the source of the noise before finally falling on Noriko as she crawled out from underneath one of the poles. Terriermon chuckled and turned to his partner.

"She's about as chaotic as Takatomon."

"Terriermon…"

With a shake of his head Henry walked into the room and helped Noriko up to her feet, to which she mumbled a barely audible but highly embarrassed 'thanks.'

"No problem," said Henry. "I'm just glad to see that you're awake. You've been out for quite a while…well, a lot longer than me anyway…"

"…And Henry's the one who's the heavy sleeper around here," giggled Terriermon. Henry frowned at his partner.

"Terriermon…"

"As if we couldn't predict _that_ response."

Henry sighed and decided to continue on, ignoring his long-eared partner.

"Anyway, would you like something to eat? The Chuchidarumon have a pile of their famous 'mud balls,' and they're actually pretty good." Henry glanced at Terriermon. "Of course, with the way my partner eats it's hard to tell if he actually _tastes_ what goes into his mouth…"

"Face it Henry, you'd be lost if you had me as your official taste tester. That's why you and Takato elected Guilmon back when we first met those two goofballs, remember?"

"So anyway, what do you say?"

Noriko just looked at the two for a second before the growl of her stomach told them all that they needed to know.

* * *

Henry watched Noriko as she dove into the Mud balls, apparently being no stranger to their taste and being completely comfortable with their appearance and texture. Henry wondered if it was something that he should find strange but then quickly shrugged the thought off. At another time perhaps, but he had long since found that when you're hungry one tends to forget about things like appearance and elects instead to survive no matter what food tastes or looks like. If anything else, this was one trait that digimon shared with humans shared in vast abundance.

While Noriko ate Henry frowned and cast his eyes down at the table in front of him. A lot of questions rolled their way through his mind, and very few of them leaving him comfortable.

_That strange dream that I had,_ he thought to himself. _As much as I want to believe otherwise I'm pretty sure that was more than just a dream. It had too much of a solid feel to it. You could say that the proof followed me home…_

Henry could feel the weight of his digivice hanging from his belt, and although he didn't make a single move to confirm it he was more than willing to bet that the strange symbol that had first appeared on its screen was still there. Although he had no idea what it meant, he got the distinct feeling that it was important, although in what way he couldn't tell, and that, on top of everything else, made him all the more worried.

Henry's mind thought back to the dream and the things that he saw there.

_That digimon…what was it? I heard Ryo say_ Milleniummon _, and he sounded pretty scared if not surprised. Anything that could do that to Ryo has got to be something to be worried about. I wonder why Jeri was there too…and why that digimon seemed to know her. And Noriko…_

A flash of a pulsating, shining digivice filled Henry's mind as he remembered the sight he had seen with the girl sitting across from him.

_What had_ that _been about?_ Henry got the distinct impression that Noriko had experienced a lot more than just merging with BlackGuilmon when she first arrived in the digital world.

_Or Lucemon,_ mused Henry, remembering how he had first found her in her 'merged' form back in the real world. That was another thing that needed asking…

"Where's Lumemon?"

Henry snapped back to attention.

"Um…what?"

"I said, 'where's Lumemon?' I didn't see him in the hut I was sleeping in and I haven't seen him around the village…"

"He's just chatting with the village elder," said Terriermon from his spot on the table next to Henry. "He's looking for the best path that we can take to get out of here."

"Oh," replied Noriko. "I see. So we are leaving."

Henry took note of the tone in Noriko's voice as she said that.

_She's worried about those creatures that keep attacking this village._ Henry frowned. _But what is there that we can do? We have to get home, and we know very little about those things to begin with. They don't seem to be anything more than animals conducting raids and the Chuchidarumon seem to be able to hold them off well enough on their own. We have our own problems to deal with right now and they're enough without adding someone else's to the already long list…_

Henry remembered the last time he had thought that about this village, back when he, Takato, and the others were looking for Calumon. The village had been suffering from an attack by what would later become Beelzemon's motorcycle, taking control of anyone who tried to get on it and forcing them to be its rider. Takato couldn't simply let things go even though he knew full well that there were bigger things going on that needed his attention.

_This feels a little bit like that western book, Moby Dick, where captain Ahab wouldn't stop to help with a search because he was so intent on hunting a white whale. We may not have a white whale to go after but I'm still thinking about not lending a helping hand. It's like this place is a sink hole for trouble…like those tunnels that keep having weird things happen in them._

"Noriko," began Henry carefully, wanting to steer the conversation away from this topic until he knew how to handle it more appropriately, "can you tell me something about Lumemon? Who is he, exactly? He claims to know Terriermon and me but we've never seen him before."

Noriko shifted in her seat in obvious discomfort.

"Um…he hasn't told you?"

"Told us what?" Prompted Terriermon, leaning closer towards the girl.

"You guys have met him before. He just looked different that's all."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," said Henry, though in his heart he felt that he did. In fact, from the way it was beating he felt that he couldn't _not_ understand what she was talking about.

"Lumemon used to be Lucemon," Noriko finished, her crimson eyes looking up at his gray ones before jerking away. Henry and Terriermon, for their parts, were speechless.

Before anything further could be said between them a Chuchidarumon entered the hut where they were eating and coughed politely to get their attention.

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but there is something that the elder feels that you should see."

Henry blinked, trying to focus. "What is it?" He asked.

"It would appear that we have some more familiar visitors…"

* * *

Jeri Katou woke up with a sudden gasp on a hot, sandy ground. Rolling over to one side Jeri coughed and sputtered as she huddled close to herself, trying to get her bearings. After a few minutes the brown haired girl pushed herself onto her knees and took a look around her. Dazed though she was, she still found herself surprised by her surroundings.

A great desert that stretched in all directions, a digital representation of the real world hanging in the sky with pink colored beams sweeping across the landscape. The answer as to where she was hit her like a sledgehammer.

_I'm in the digital world._

Jeri froze up as the impact settled in on her.

_I'm_ in _the_ digital world.

A quick glance around her showed her that she was alone. There was no one around her for miles in any direction. She was alone. A stranger in a strange land.

_Um…nice digital world?_ Came the half-panicked thought as she stood up. A gust of wind blew by the girl, whistling in her ears. Like a large, gaping maw, the desert of the digital world laughed at the young girl's plight.


	126. 125: the Journey Ahead

_Um…nice digital world?_ The thought echoed through Jeri's mind in much the same fashion as the frightened mew of a kitten. All around her, as far as the eye could see was a vast, empty expanse of desert that was, without a doubt, the epitome of all deserts; Glaring golden sand baking beneath a pitiless sun (although for some strange reason there was no sun in the sky to provide said light), and a distinct shimmer that was visible to Jeri's eyes even at a distance of several meters. Worst of all was the heat as Jeri could feel the temperature all the way through her shoes, threatening to burn her feet. The faint smell of melting soles reached Jeri's nose and the young girl swayed on her feet before quickly righting herself.

"This…this isn't good," Jeri murmured to herself as she raised one hand and wiped already forming sweat off of her brow. Drawing her hand away Jeri took a moment to look at the sweat stain on her skin and took note of the fact that it was rapidly evaporating. _Definitely_ not a good sign.

_I've gotta remember to stay focused here,_ Jeri thought to herself as she took a look around her, surveying the landscape. _Ryo said that we only need to eat and drink when we feel like it, so as long as I keep that in mind then I should be able to beat off all this heat and not get dehydrated._

"Sounds easy enough," Jeri again said to herself. Taking another look around her Jeri took a step forward. She had no idea if she was going in the right direction, but when one direction looked about as inviting as another, that is to say as inviting as the inside of an oven, it didn't matter where she went as long as she went somewhere.

_Not really the best logic,_ thought Jeri, stumbling slightly in the sand, her foot sinking ever so slightly and causing her to wince in pain as the burning sand particles made contact with her exposed skin. Withdrawing her foot with a hiss Jeri continued to move forward, making sure to pick her moves more carefully so as to not have a repeat of that moment. She got the distinct impression that falling would do more than make her skin just a little bit red. The waving air in front of her rather drove that point home.

_I guess that I'm doing something right though. The air should be a lot harder to breathe when it's like this, but I'm not having any difficulty. In fact, I think the air cools down the second that it enters my mouth. I wonder if it has anything to do with what I'm most familiar with experiencing. I'm not used to being in deserts or breathing hot air so if I'm used to cooler air then maybe…_

Jeri focused on that thought. Was experience and perception all there was behind it? So far her experience in deserts was limited so far only to her rare and infrequent trips to the digital world and what she read about in storybooks, with the digital world being far more educational than anything she read about. Now that she thought about it, she didn't remember having any difficulty with breathing cool air during the last trip even though it certainly felt hot on her skin. Did she breathe comfortably because she expected to? Jeri remembered Takato and Henry relating their story of being able to breathe underwater. Perhaps the principle was the same even here.

Jeri narrowed her eyes as she stumbled through the sand, and she imagined a cooling breeze blowing across her body. As though the digital world were responding to the girl's thoughts a soothing wind blew over her, playing at the corner's of her skirt and causing her hair to tickle the skin of her forehead. Jeri breathed a sigh of relief as the temperature began to plummet. The air in front of her still shimmered and wavered, but now Jeri was at ease.

_I didn't think it would be_ that _easy,_ Jeri thought, _but I'm glad that it was. I wonder what else there is I can do. Hmmm…maybe…a nice, cold bowl of ice cream…_

Sadly for the brown haired girl, it appeared that the digital world had its limits in what wishes it granted.

"That's just peachy," said Jeri, frowning to herself as she pulled out her digivice from her dress pocket, having remembered it. "Well, I can't afford to waste too much time here. I have to find shelter…and Takato, Rika, and Ryo. If they're here in the digital world then maybe I can use my digivice to find them. Hmmm…"

Jeri furrowed her brow in concentration as she began pressing the solitary button on her gold-trimmed digivice, cycling through the various storage drives and whatever programs that she could find until she managed to call up the compass function. A red arrow appeared in a holographic circle just above her digivice's screen, swinging wildly in every direction as it tried to get its bearings. After about a minute of nothing happening Jeri sighed and lowered the D-Arc, the holographic compass fading as she did so.

_Nothing. Now I wish that I tried to find something out about this thing other than that it can scan cards. I didn't think that I'd ever have to use my digivice again after Leomon…well, never mind. It looks like I have plenty of time to figure things out now and I can do that while I walk. Now, the important thing right now is to find some place safe, but so far…_

Jeri gazed about her for what had to be the hundredth time.

_…There's nothing around here that's 'safe.' There's not even a data stream and right now I'd probably be getting somewhere better through one of those. Still. I suppose I'd better look at the bright side of things. There aren't any frightening digimon nearby looking to eat me or anything._

Out of habit Jeri raised her other hand and brought her fingers together into a point, bending the hand slightly and giving it the appearance of a dog head. Her fingers snapped open and shut like a mouth while her own provided words for it to speak.

"Ruff! That's right! Jeri should be grateful that she isn't under attack right now!" Jeri said in a sharp tone of voice, greatly exaggerating the way she believed a dog would talk had it the ability to do so. Jeri looked at her hand and blushed in embarrassment before putting it down and brushing at her skirt in agitation. It had been some time since she had last done that…pretended to speak through a sock puppet that is. The last time she had used one had been before the digimon returned home and afterwards she had given it to her little brother. Using a sock puppet to talk had been something of a nervous habit of hers. Not always of course as she thought it to be cute and it rarely failed to make her friends laugh, but sometimes when she grew too nervous to speak what was on her mind directly towards her friends. Following her imprisonment by the D-Reaper Jeri began to grow stronger and only held onto the sock puppet as something of a memory of her past self, and only relinquished it when she felt strong enough to move on without it.

It hadn't been easy. After all, her birth mother had made it for her prior to her death.

The sound of Jeri's D-Arc clicking and beeping in agitation cut across Jeri's thoughts like a knife through butter, silencing all of Jeri's optimism with the smoothness of a guillotine. Raising the D-Arc Jeri reactivated the holographic compass to find that the signal was blaring red right where she was standing.

"Ah…wha…? I don't…"

It was then that she noticed the sand crawling past her, moving like it had a mind of its own. Her amber eyes followed their course and she nervously gulped when they, moving like miniscule tumbleweeds, reached the spot where she had nearly fallen earlier, coalescing together. Every instinct in her mind was telling her to flee as she was starting to get a rather frightening feeling of being watched. Tense moments went by where Jeri just stood there, watching as the sand continued to collect and take form, becoming almost wormlike in appearance. When a mouth full of serrated teeth formed Jeri's instincts finally took hold of her and with a scream she broke into a run. A loud roar filled the air as she did so and the next thing she knew a large shadow was rapidly devouring her own. Throwing herself to the side Jeri heard the sound of something heavy impacting with the ground where she had stood. Coughing up some sand from her mouth Jeri rolled over onto her back, her mind no longer focused on the heat that the desert floor should have contained within it. Instead, all of her attention was on the creature that had attacked her.

It rose into the air like a snake, mouth snapping open and closed while sand moved across its body like a series of rippling waves, making Jeri's skin crawl just looking at it. And there was more to it than that. There was something to the entity that was just… _unsettling._ Somehow it disturbed her in more ways than just the way it looked at her. It was as though the creature were hungry inside. Hollow.

_And now it looks like I'm the next meal,_ shuddered Jeri as the sand creature reared backwards. Panicking Jeri brought her hands up and screamed and the creature dove forward, mouth snapping open once more.

* * *

"Great," groaned the complaining voice of one Kazu Shioda as he and his friends trudged their way through the vast expanse of the desert around them. "Just great. Looks like it's back to getting sand in my shorts. Man, I really hate this…"

"Stop complaining would you Kazu?" Snapped the young, coppery haired girl walking ahead of him with a pink armored knight moving by her side. "The heat's bad enough as it is without you adding to it!"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"I do believe," spoke up Guardromon from next to the visor-wearing Tamer, "that she means you have nothing but hot air."

"A lot of thanks to give to a guy for saving someone's life," grumbled Kazu, shifting the small body of Suzie Wong on his back to get her in a more comfortable position. The child didn't complain or make a single movement to indicate displeasure and instead nestled against his back sleepily. Kazu looked over his shoulder worriedly before glancing over at his partner. "How're Miki and Dracmon doing?"

Guardromon looked down at his two charges. "No change since the last time you had asked."

Kazu sighed. Ever since Crusadermon had given off that last burst of bright light in the battle against Gyōjamon they had all found themselves stranded in the middle of the desert of the digital world, with some of them in varying degrees of recovering from battle. Suzie, Miki, and Dracmon were all completely out of it while himself, Kenta, MarineAngemon, Guardromon, Ayaka, Lopmon, and Crusadermon woke up relatively quickly. Of Impmon there was no sign, and Kazu found himself more than a little bit worried about that

_But what can we do?_ Kazu wondered in agitation. _Guardromon couldn't find anything with his sensors and none of our digivices could pick up his signal. Crusadermon and MarineAngemon have better senses since they're both Megas and not even they could find hide nor hair of that little troublemaker. Ditto for Gyōjamon and you'd think he'd be with us since he was at point blank range when Crusadermon's attack went off. It's weird._

Kazu thought back to that battle. Things had not been going well. In fact, that was an understatement. Things were well on the road to horrible. The sky had a hole torn through it, revealing the digital world that made up the Earth's communication network and digimon were beginning to show signs of breaking through the dimensional barriers. Gyojamon had unleashed a ninth tail (something that Kazu did not take as a good sign if he remembered anything about the old myths of Kyubi, and he had gotten a D when Miss Asagi introduced the class to Japanese literature) and from there proceeded to pin Crusadermon to the ground. And then Crusadermon had spoken a single word… _Eros…_ and the next thing he knew a pink and white light exploded out over the field, swallowing them all. There was a feeling of tumbling through the air and then…

_…Here._

Kazu's eyes settled on the coppery haired girl that was partnered to the enigmatic Royal Knight before sliding over to Kenta, who was presently stumbling a little in the sand due to paying more attention to his digivice than to where he was putting his feet.

_Like it matters. The only thing to see around here is sand…and more sand. But back to the main topic of conversation…just what was it that Crusadermon and Ayaka did back there? That was some weird light show they gave off. Neither of them seemed to have any idea what happened when I asked them earlier, and Guardromon didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary…well, what you could call_ ordinary _about that situation anyway. Something stinks about this whole setup…_

"Uhhhnnn…"

"You say something Guardromon?"

"No Kazu. I do believe that noise came from Miki."

As though to confirm Guardromon's statement, the dark haired girl shifted in Guardromon's arms and cracked one eye open.

"Ugh," she muttered as she cast her open eye on Kazu. "I was starting to think that it was just a dream…"

Kazu raised an eyebrow.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're trying to insult me?"

"Let's just say you're not the prince charming that I wanted to wake up to," replied Miki, trying to stretch in the limited amount of space Guardromon afforded her. "Um…where are we?" Miki glanced around her with an uncertain expression on her face, scowling at the sight of desert sand around her and wincing at the bright sunlight that attacked her eyes. Kazu, in spite of feeling rather insulted by Miki's directed insult towards him decided to fill her in on the situation.

"We're stuck in the digital world," he said, not bothering to mince words.

"Wait. Wha…?"

"Kazu, I believe you need to work on your bedside manner," commented Guardromon.

"Nnnggg…if I did that we'd be here for hours. This way saves time."

"Hold on," continued Miki, unmindful of the pairs bantering. "We're _in_ the digital world? Like, from the show?"

"I wouldn't really say it's from the show," said Kazu as he hoisted Suzie further up his back, causing Miki to take notice of the unconscious girl for the first time, "but it's the digital world all the same. I mean, where else do you think that digimon are going to come from? 'Cause they certainly don't come from Oz and last I checked there weren't any yellow brick roads lying around. Unless you decide to count sand that is…"

"Hmmm…" Miki sat up in Guardromon's arms and took in the barren appearance of the digital world, looking obviously disappointed. "It's not what I imagined it would be. Is it like this all over the place?"

"Nah. This is only the lowest level; the one that's closest to our world. There are other places that look way better than this. Some of them are like what you'd find at the park, and others just have weird themes. Takato and Henry wound up in an all-water world once and then went to a place that had only a library in it. The Sovereign's level is a lot cooler and less harsh, but since the Sovereigns practically count as a weather pattern and a natural disaster on their own there's really not much difference. One thing's for sure though," Kazu indicated the digital sphere in the sky with a nod of his head, "you'll want to avoid those data streams…the pink lights. If you get caught in one of those you could end up anywhere, and with the digital world as big as it is you'll have a hard time finding everybody. We were lucky last time… _really_ lucky considering the number of times we kept getting separated by those things." Kazu smiled at that. "Though come to think of it, the last time we used one of those and we found some friends it had more to do with Growlmon's connection with Takato. Both him and Jeri but mostly Growlmon."

"I…see. So…what exactly happened? How did we get here? The last thing that I remember was Crusadermon tangling with that fox guy and then…"

"Going up like a bomb. Yeah. That's the last thing everyone seems to remember. Ayaka and Crusadermon don't have a clue what happened."

"My data banks don't indicate that Crusadermon's attack could even cause us to be here," put in Guardromon. Kazu raised an eyebrow at his partner.

"What do you mean?"

"I analyzed Crusadermon's data when we were biomerged. The attack that she used is called _Eros,_ which floods the field with an overwhelming sensation of connection to others, and is used primarily as a rejuvenation ability for when energy is low, much like how MarineAngemon's powers work only without the emphasis placed on repairing damaged and broken data. It doesn't have any transportation abilities and isn't even considered an offensive attack except in the case where it can paralyze Virus types."

"Isn't Crusadermon a Virus?"

"Yes, but I believe that the attack is levied more towards those Viruses that take their power from dark powers, such as Devimon or Myotismon. Normal viruses like Crusadermon and Guilmon would most likely be unaffected. Maybe."

"How come you didn't say anything about it earlier?"

"You didn't ask me."

Kazu heaved a sigh.

"You can be such a lug nut, you know that? If it weren't for the fact that you've always been like this I'd wonder if my mom's kicking you so many times has messed up your circuits."

"She does kick hard," agreed Guardromon. "I'm surprised that you're still alive."

Kazu chuckled. "Well, she doesn't kick me. She can get arrested for that kind of thing, and besides, even though she doesn't act like it all the time she loves me too much to do that. Even when I have it coming."

"Wow Kazu," said Miki, tilting her head to one side as she looked at the boy. "That is probably the first time I ever heard you be honest about yourself."

"You've been kinda uppity lately," said Kazu, scowling at the girl. "Has biomerging with your partner been messing with your brain or something?"

"Hey!" Exclaimed Kenta suddenly, and all eyes turned towards him. "I'm picking up a signal!"

"A signal?" Asked Ayaka as the group came to a halt. "What kind of signal?"

"Um…just a signal," replied Kenta, scratching his head in embarrassment. "We, uh, never quite figured out how to use these things."

Crusadermon _hmmphed_ at the boy and shook her head in disgust.

"And you were among the humans who defeated the Chaos? How it is you happened to survive is beyond my understanding."

"I'm pretty sure that it was just luck," said Kazu coming up behind his friend.

"Gee, thanks."

"Don't thank me. I was talking about your bad luck. It latches onto everyone around you, including the guys that we try to fight. It sort of balances out."

Beneath her helm Crusadermon regarded the two boys with a look of bewilderment, trying to decide if they were being serious or were just being sarcastic.

_Humans…_

"Well, there is a village just up ahead," supplied Crusadermon, looking in the direction that Kenta's digivice's compass function was pointing. "A Chuchidarumon village if I remember correctly. They tend to take in whoever straggles in. They're a village of lost data so they have no enemies and no allies. Even digimon that are normally predatory don't go out of their way to engage them, though that may have more to do with the fact that their data is obsolete and of no use to anyone than simply needing a place where they can be treated kindly."

"I remember Takato saying something about a place like that once," said Kazu. "He mentioned that there was a killer bike on the loose at the time…"

"There is only one Chuchidarumon village," said Crusadermon. "And such an incident was recorded here before. The presence of Tamers was also well-documented."

"Geez, is there _anything_ you guys don't know? The way Takato made it sound this place was too far out of the way and too remote to even bother knowing anything about."

"Yggdrasil makes sure that he knows _all_ things that occur in the digital world. This place is a dumping ground for information and as such there is always a chance that it might come in handy. You could say that Yggdrasil _designed_ it the way it is so that it _would_ be overlooked."

"Huh? Are you telling me that village…?"

"There's more to it than what meets the eye. The bike that Beelzemon rides now…he got it there, did he not? It was leftover data of a previous Beelzemon. Data that refused to be destroyed, but so long as it had no rider it was believed to be harmless so it was stored at the village until such a time that it could be destroyed or used. And as you know, it came in handy for Zhuqiaomon when he took Impmon into his service."

"Handy for him, but not for us."

"Regardless, I believe that we can find many useful things there. Just because something's old doesn't mean that it's entirely beyond our ability to process it. 'Old and discarded data' is, for the most part, a cover story for a storage depot."

Kazu, Kenta, Guardromon, and MarineAngemon exchanged worried glances while Ayaka and Miki seemed to take this as a matter of course.

_Probably taking what she said more at face value since they have little experience with this kind of thing._

Or perhaps not.

"I hope that you mean something other than what I think you mean," said Miki, narrowing her eyes at Crusadermon. Kazu looked at her in surprise before nodding.

_That's right. Her partner had been a proverbial and literal wolf in sheep's clothing. She would know enough to be suspicious about that kind of thing._

Crusadermon _hmmphed_ and began walking.

"It all depends on what we find there. Now hurry up. I want to find the source of this signal as soon as possible and since you all _insist_ on walking…"

"Knock it off," said Kazu. "We're all too tired for that kind of thing. Even you can't afford to go too far on your own power. Guardromon checked you out earlier so don't bother denying it. And for the record, why are you telling us all this stuff about your old boss?"

"Just hurry along," growled Crusadermon in a low, threatening voice. Kazu gulped unconsciously and glanced at the others.

"She's your partner, Ayaka," he said to the coppery haired girl. Ayaka frowned at him before falling into step with the Royal Knight.

Kenta and MarineAngemon approached Kazu.

"Hey, do you think we can trust her?" He asked.

"I don't know," said Kazu. "It wasn't all that long ago that we were fighting her you know. I don't really get the reasons why she decided to side with us. She didn't look like she's at all happy with being a digimon partner."

"She's wearing a helmet, Kazu that covers her face," chided Miki.

"You know what I mean," said Kazu, brushing the girl off.

"I know what you mean," agreed Kenta, "but is there anything that we can really do about it? I mean, she _is_ on our side now. She fought against one of her own allies and even biomerged with Ayaka. That's not an easy thing to do, especially in the real world. Takato, Rika, and Henry needed help from Alice's friend, Dobermon to pull it off." Kenta looked at Kazu as a thought occurred to him. "Hey. How did you manage to biomerge with Guardromon?"

"Believe it or not Chumley it was because of Alice."

"Huh?"

"Yeah dude. She showed up again and then she disappeared. Turned into a lot of shining lights and the next thing Guardromon and I know we're biomerged."

"So you're saying that she did the same thing that Dobermon did? Is she dead this time?"

"Great. Now you've given me something else to worry about," scowled Kazu. "I haven't exactly had time to think about it you know. Why don't we try to focus on what we know we can deal with in the here and now before the rest?"

Kenta tilted his head to one side, unsettled by his friend's dismissal of the subject.

"Well, okay. But there's not much that can be done about Crusadermon either. We don't know what her motives are and she's not talking. I don't think she's looking to betray us or anything though…"

"Why? Is that because she's partnered to your girlfriend?"

"Huh… _wha…?"_ Exclaimed Miki, nearly falling out of Guardromon's arms as she rose up in surprise. "Say that again! Ayaka is _what_ now?"

"Pihpih," said MarineAngemon, and Kenta raised an eyebrow at the little fairy digimon.

"Um…but I still don't think that makes us…er…you know…a couple."

Miki's eyes, already wide in shock only grew even wider.

"What did he say?! What's going on here? What happened between you and Ayaka?!"

"Chumley here saved her from the knight in shining armor over there back when they were on not-so-friendly terms. The way I heard about it Ayaka showed Kenta her appreciation for the rescue…"

"She was just upset!" Exclaimed Kenta, starting to flush red in embarrassment from the conversation. "She didn't know what she was doing!"

"Right. Freudian slip though wasn't it? She still kissed you in the end bud."

"Ah…" Miki paled and all but collapsed in Guardromon's arms, causing the android to look at the girl worriedly.

"Oh dear. I'm afraid she isn't taking this very well."

"Ah, what's the worst that could happen?" Asked Kazu as he shifted Suzie's weight on his back again. "Faint? All I did was freeze up. She'll be fine."

"But what if she also happens to like Kenta in 'that way?' She'll be trapped in a love-triangle with her best friend and those do not end well."

The sound of Miki punching Guardromon's chest filled the air and Kazu chuckled.

"You might want to stop talking like that, Guardromon," the boy grinned. "You're making Miki angry and you're scaring Kenta."

As if to emphasize his point he thumbed the bespectacled boy next to him, who was now alternating between shades of white and red.

"I blame you for putting that idea in his head," growled Miki as she rubbed her now hurting fist and glared at the rust colored mechanoid.

"Right. _Everything_ is my fault isn't it? At least I get credit for something. Now come on. We'd better catch up to Crusadermon and Ayaka before we lose them or get swept up in a data stream. That would be bad."

Miki looked out towards the horizon.

"But the nearest data stream is miles…"

_"Don't say that!"_ Exclaimed both Kenta and Kazu as one. Miki looked at the pair, bewildered by their quick response.

_Oookay…_

* * *

The group continued to travel at a snail's pace until finally a series of low, dome-shaped huts appeared on the horizon. They continued at a faster pace now, anxious to get to their destination as quickly as possible now that it was in their view. Crusadermon had paused at one point and taken a look around her, as though she were sensing something that made her feel ill at ease but when she was questioned about it the Royal Knight said nothing about the matter except that they should get to the village as quickly as they could and that all the talking was causing delay.

_Looks like we've got quite the welcoming community,_ thought Kazu, taking notice of the crowd that had formed on the perimeter of the village. The digimon were all Chuchidarumon, looking like giant, mud versions of the snowman-like Fridgimon that he had seen in the first season of the digimon anime. They came in varying shapes and sizes, and all of them were staring with large, button-like eyes that were full of curiosity and none of the caution that he had would have expected from digimon native to the area.

Suzie stirred against the boy's back.

"Henwy…?"

"Sorry Suzie," he said to her in as comforting a voice as he could muster. He wasn't used to babysitting little kids, and more often than not he tended to be as abrasive as the roughest of sandpaper to people. Well, people could change, and he didn't want to make the girl cry. "Henry's not here right now, but we've come to a nice village. We might be able to find something about the others here."

"Okay…" the girl murmured as she settled in and nuzzled her face against his back, breathing a soft sigh as she did so.

_Did she even hear what I just said?_ Wondered Kazu. In a second, the question was left moot as the crowd parted and a familiar voice could be heard speaking.

"Who is it?" Asked the voice, though it didn't sound directed at him. "You said that it was someone familiar, but could you…?"

"Well," came another voice, this one with a shaky, elderly tone, "maybe not 'familiar' as we've never seen them around here before, but they do remind me of you and your friends when you first arrived here. Humans and digimon…"

Kazu's focus on the words disappeared entirely as the figures finally came into view, revealing two humans and two digimon. One was a dark haired boy with dark skin and gray colored eyes. Sitting on his shoulder was a long eared digimon that made Kazu think of a rabbit even though it wasn't. Next to them was a dark haired girl with crimson eyes and a rather crude, brown colored looking dress that only went as far as her knees. No shoes adorned her bare feet, which were already quite dirty and unkempt. Next to her was a digimon that looked to be her polar opposite in just about every way that counted. Angelic, serene with storm gray eyes and a pure white toga-like outfit covering his body. Amongst these four however it was the first two that Kazu recognized all too well, and a wide grin appeared on the boy's face as their eyes locked onto each other.

_Henry..._

"Actually…scratch that Suzie. I think you'll be able to meet up with your brother again sooner than you expected."

* * *

Jeri trembled as she shielded her body with her arms, knowing that they were a poor defense against the creature that was now surging towards her, ready to devour her. If nothing else Jeri hoped that she would give it indigestion.

_Well, that's a little harsh,_ Jeri thought, her mind already trying to justify the creature's actions as she found herself unable to think ill of it no matter how unsettling it made her feel. _But I'll probably give it indigestion anyway. I just hope that…hold on. Why aren't I dead yet?_

Cautiously Jeri parted her arms and cracked her eyes open to see the creature had halted just inches away from her body. It was breathing heavily, and the sand was crawling across its body in a highly agitated fashion. A low, keening sound emerged from its throat and Jeri's mouth parted slightly as surprise and awe filled her mind.

_I don't believe it! It almost sounds…frightened! But why? Why am I scaring it? I can't be scaring it!_

The creature's mouth closed up and it backed off, its body shuddering as it continued to make mewing sounds. Sand fell around its body and began to burrow into the ground, trying desperately to escape. Taking note of this the sense of presence that Jeri had felt earlier suddenly intensified and in response sand ceased to fall. The sand creature once more focused its attention on the young girl and sand moved towards the front of where its 'face' was located, compacting together and solidifying until it formed an eye-like structure. Moving forward once more the creature inspected Jeri more closely. She could see her frightened reflection in the eye, but try as she might she didn't see anything that could cause such a reaction in the monster. She dared not speak however on the off chance that doing so would break whatever hold she had over the beast and it decided to do away with her anyway. If this was her only chance to live then so be i…

Jeri froze suddenly as she took in her reflection once more. It was… _different_ now. Her face had taken on a strange, lifeless expression that was nothing like what she was feeling now. As she watched her image continued to change and distort on the surface of the sand mirror until her skin became grayish-blue in color and wings sprouted from her back. Jeri recognized this look all too quickly. No matter how long she lived or what she went through in her life it was the one thing, second only to Leomon's death that she would never, _ever_ forget. It was the look of a nightmare made flesh. A creature born from her anger and sorrow. A creature that had used her voice and her memories to wage a war of mass genocide upon two worlds.

The D-Reaper.

"No…" Jeri whimpered, clutching her hands around her body tightly. As she watched the image mimicked her motions, but no display of fear appeared on its face. Only a look of gleeful insanity crossed its features. Jeri felt herself beginning to shake in dread, and as though echoing her fear the sand creature began to mew to itself once again.

"No…no. No. It _can't_ be!" Jeri clutched the sides of her head, trying to shut the image out of her mind. "Make it go away! Somebody _STOP IT!"_

It was then that the massive body of a battered DexDoruGreymon slammed into the sand creature, vaporizing its body and silencing its cries of terror. The dragon rolled end over end, shrieking in pain as a blue blur slammed into it once again, slashing at its body with an energy blade. Within seconds the DexDoruGreymon burst into shards of data. Jeri didn't notice however, as she was too distraught by the image that she had seen to pay any attention. So caught up in her own thoughts was she that she didn't even notice when UlforceVeedramon began to approach her.


	127. 126: Rescue Plans

Yamaki surveyed the battered city around him, his eyes expressionless and hidden beneath his sunglasses. Once again the ability of a digimon to wreck damage upon the human world surprised him to no end. All around him military helicopters and vehicles wove their way through the city, inspecting damage, putting out 'brushfires' and looking for any possible survivors, either digimon, Tamer, or civilians who hadn't been fast enough to escape the city before everything went downhill.

Riley approached Yamaki with a report in her hand. Yamaki nodded to the crimson haired woman.

"Anything new to report?"

"Mostly damage reports sir. So far there have been no casualties…"

"That's hardly reassuring," commented Yamaki as he flicked his lighter open with a dull click.

"I'm sure we'll find the Tamers sir," said Riley. "Our sensors indicated a massive amount of information being transferred between the real world and the digital world before we were cut off. I'm sure that if we just look through Hypnos' logs we'll find something that can help us."

Yamaki clicked his lighter open and then open again, his face as hard as stone.

"Kuroda's not doing anything useful at the moment. Be sure to detail that assignment to him when the system is back online. Keep an eye on him though."

"Yes sir," agreed Riley quickly. She couldn't fault him for making such a decision. Under normal circumstances he would have chosen her and Tally to go over the sensor logs, but they were both needed to bring Hypnos back up to full activity again. And Kuroda was the only other programmer qualified enough to handle going through the massive amount of files on his own.

_This really isn't going to look good on our performance review,_ thought Riley even though she didn't want to. _Hypnos has been disabled far too many times during the past week, and each time we were helpless to do anything but sit back and watch while the Tamers fought in our place. This time it's going to look even worse for us. A digimon we took in went out of control, severe damage was caused to the city and its infrastructure, and now the Tamers are missing. It's no wonder that Yamaki is upset. We're supposed to be protecting the public but more often than not lately we have been having a hard time with that. We couldn't even protect the Tamers from disappearing. Out of all of Yamaki's worries that's the one that's got him the most. The Tamers are Hypnos' first and last line of defense against all threats digital and if they're not around then what good are we?_

Riley glanced at Yamaki out of the corner of her eye, taking in her boss' unreadable expression. Unreadable that is to everyone else but her. She had been with him long enough in what could be loosely called an 'unofficial standing' to be able to know what was going through his mind. Whenever he tried to not show any emotion was the time that he was experiencing the most.

_Especially if that lighter of his is any indication,_ she thought as she watched his hand move on the device without so much as slowing down. _Sometimes I think he worries about the Tamers more than he lets on. He's like a worried parent…_

"YAMAKI!"

_Speaking of whom…_

Both Riley and Yamaki turned towards the source of the voice and found themselves staring at the furious face of one Mayumi Wong as she stormed towards him, tears brewing in her eyes while behind her, her two children Rinchei and Jaarin trailed behind her, pushing their father in his wheelchair. The two siblings wore worried expressions on their faces while Janyu desperately tried to stop his wife.

"Mayumi! Please, stop! Yamaki's not…"

"I _don't_ want to hear it right now Janyu!" Exclaimed Mayumi angrily as she whirled around on her husband, her face a picture perfect portrait of barely restrained fury. "This man," she pointed a finger accusingly at Yamaki, "told me that my daughter would with us when the fighting started! _When the fighting_ started! She never showed up and I'm just finding out that she's _missing!_ He never bothered to _tell me_ _any of this!_ I had to hear about it from one of your coworkers conversations!"

"Mayumi, I'm sure that he was just doing what he thought was best for…"

"What _he_ thought was _best?!_ Janyu! These are our _children_ we're talking about! How can you…?"

_This doesn't look good,_ thought Riley, opening her mouth to step into the conversation. However the strong grip of Yamaki's hand falling onto her shoulder stopped her from doing so.

"I'll handle this. Mrs. Wong, we are doing everything that we can to find the Tamers and bring them home."

"You see Mayumi?" Asked Janyu, trying desperately to help Yamaki's position. "Yamaki will bring Henry and Suzie back to us. We're all doing all that we…"

"No more, Janyu," interrupted Mrs. Wong. "I can't…I can't even look at you when you say things like that. That man…all he ever does is invite trouble wherever he goes. The first time he showed up on our doorstep Suzie was taken away and you wouldn't even talk to me about it! You even lied to me then. You think I wanted that? And now this…two of our children are missing because of this man. They're in that strange world that you and your friends are so obsessed with and I…" Mayumi choked as she bit back a cry. "…I just can't take it anymore. I don't want them to be in danger anymore. I don't…I…"

"Mayumi…" said Janyu in a whisper, his face softening.

Yamaki walked over to Mayumi Wong and came to a stop in front of her.

"Rest assured Mrs. Wong, I promise you that I will retrieve your children. Even though we don't yet have a way to communicate with them I have faith that they're all right. As soon as we're up and running we'll be able to mount a search for them. In the meantime, you should look to what's close to you while we handle the rest. The city is not a safe place to be in right now. If you want I can arrange for someone to take you to…"

Yamaki's words were suddenly and abruptly cut off as Mayumi whirled about on him and slapped him hard across the face. Riley gasped at the sight and even her husband and children looked to be utterly shocked by the act. Mayumi glared at the blonde haired head of Hypnos, tears running down her face.

"I am staying here," she told him in a voice so harsh and sharp it could cut glass just by its intensity alone. "And I promise you Mr. Yamaki. When this is over, _no one_ in my family will have anything to do with you anymore."

Giving Yamaki a hard glare for a few moments longer Mayumi turned and strode off towards the Hypnos building. Janyu didn't waste any time with struggling to turn his wheelchair around to follow her. Yamaki watched the family situation for a few moments, not yet noticing Riley's presence by his side.

"You need to work on your bedside manner, sir," commented the crimson haired woman in a terse tone.

Yamaki nodded, pushing up his sunglasses with one finger.

"I honestly did not see that coming. I must be getting old."

"You're only thirty three, sir."

"Stop it. You'll make me feel my age." Yamaki sighed. Riley chuckled.

"Normally it's supposed to be the woman who's sensitive about their age…"

"You're on the clock right now you know."

"Point taken Mr. Boss Man."

Yamaki sighed again. "This almost feels like poetic justice for my treatment of Itokawa."

"He had it coming Yamaki," assured Riley. "And don't go on about how this is all your fault like you did during the D-Reaper crisis. You know just as well as I do that this was all going to happen sooner or later. Even if it wasn't you someone was going to discover the digital world eventually. It's better that it was you anyway. You were the most prepared…"

"Spare me the platitudes and assurances, Riley," said Yamaki flicking his lighter closed. "Let's just focus on the here and now. What's the status on the Hypnos network? You said that those reports were mostly damage reports, but you didn't say that was what they were all about."

Riley nodded and flipped through the files that she had.

"Kuroda has reported that fifteen percent of the Network grid has been reestablished and is going through its trial runs. Dolphin and Daisy have established a firewall between the barriers and are working with the military for setting up anti-Wild One ordnances but their assessment of their effectiveness isn't good in our current situation. Shibumi is working out the math for retrieving the Tamers from the digital world and he has his two digimon friends, the…" Riley paused to look down at her sheet before continuing. "…The Mokumon searching the digital world for any sign of the Tamers but so far he has nothing new to report on that front."

"It's a big world out there," said Yamaki, looking up at the sky. "But it's better than nothing. With Shibumi at least we have a way to…" Yamaki frowned as his eyes caught sight of something flying through the air. Something…glowing and white with what looked to be fin-like arms.

_What is that?_ Wondered Yamaki, but the creature was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the blonde haired head of Hypnos to wonder if he had even seen anything at all and if he wasn't just exhausted or just light reflecting off of a military helicopter or fighter craft.

"Sir?" Asked Riley, interrupting him from his thoughts. "Are you all right?"

"…I'm fine," said Yamaki after a moment. "Now, what were you saying?"

"Anyway, Tally estimates that we should be under minimum operational status within a few hours, depending on whether or not we'll be seeing any more action. Defensive systems will likely be up one hour after that but no one can vouch for their effectiveness…"

* * *

"Mayumi!" Called out Janyu as he strained to keep up with his wife in his wheelchair. "Mayumi if you would just _listen…!"_

Mayumi Wong came to a halt outside the doors of Hypnos, but did not as yet turn around to face her husband.

"I don't want to listen, Janyu," she said to him, her tone filled with pain and anger though whether it was directed towards him or if she were just lashing out Janyu could not tell for certain. "I trusted that man, your boss, with the safety of our children and this is what we got in exchange for it. Two of our children missing and most likely in danger. Henry…Henry I can at least trust to keep a good head on his shoulders even though I'd rather that he didn't have to go out there and worry me so but Suzie…Suzie is still just a baby! She shouldn't be involved in this kind of thing, Janyu. None of our children should."

Janyu continued to pump his arms until he finally drew abreast with his wife. Breathing heavily Janyu took a moment to relax before speaking.

"I know, Mayumi," he agreed with her. "Believe me, I know. When I found out that Henry was a Tamer I worried endlessly about him and told him to stay out of the fighting. He refused to stay out of it though back when the Devas were attacking and, well, there was little choice in the matter since he and his friends were the only ones who seemed to be able to do anything against them. When Suzie first went to the digital world I nearly fell apart. I blamed myself for what happened to her…I considered it my punishment for even participating in that project in the first place."

Janyu watched his wife's body language as he said that and she saw her stiffen up at those words. His heart cracked a little.

"I see that you blame me for it too," he said quietly. In a flash Mayumi looked at him, her eyes full of shock and surprise.

"Janyu…"

"It's…all right. I don't blame you for…"

Janyu was interrupted as his wife flung her arms around him and did her best to hug him in his sitting position.

"You fool," she said to him quietly. "I…I don't blame you. I know that you couldn't have seen this coming. I'm just… _awfully_ worried about our children. There are times where I hate your boss for his job…for having pulled you into this and for having our children fight for him…"

"They're not fighting for him Mayumi. You know that."

Mayumi pulled away from her husband and looked at him.

"I know. And I know that it's one of the most important things in the world for anyone. I see that all around us you know, it's just…" a stream of tears flowed out from her eyes and caressed her cheeks. "…It's just not the dream that I had when I married you, that's all."

Janyu suppressed a wince. This was the kind of conversation that he had been fearing for quite some time now. It had occurred to him back when Suzie had first been transported to the digital world, when he had been trying to escape the apartment without giving Mayumi the full details on what had happened to her and she had yelled at him about his lying to her. It had been bad enough then, but it was even worse when he had seen Rinchei and Jaarin watching their argument from out of a cracked open door. It brought to mind far too many images of what he had seen in the news reports and in television where parents who were aiming towards a direction that was normally forbidden, and even spoken of with a kind of fear, and it was all wrapped up into one word. A word that carried more weight and pain to it than any forbidden curse word that he had known growing up.

_Divorce._

_Is this where it starts? It had been in the back of my mind for so long since that day, but after the D-Reaper was defeated it disappeared. We're back to that day again and it's just as bad as it was then, if not even worse. I've been injured, Suzie never made it to the shelter as she had been promised and disappeared with all the other Tamers…all because of my occupation and my connection to Yamaki. It's not his fault, not at all but…_

But.

"Mayumi. I _will_ bring our children back. I will bring them all back. But to do that, I have to work with Yamaki. I know he's not your most favorite person in the world right now, but he's the only one that can give us that chance."

Mayumi gripped her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying out. Nonetheless, tears continued to flow down her face.

_And then, Janyu?_ She asked mentally. _What happens after? You and Henry and Suzie continue like this until the next crisis shows up? Until one of you_ dies? _Answer me, Janyu! What happens_ after?

No answer came to her of course. Instead she simply swallowed.

"Just bring them back, Janyu. Just bring them back _safe."_

Reaching out Janyu took Mayumi's hand into his own and gave it a squeeze, giving his wife his silent promise. Letting go he began to work on the wheels, turning himself around so that he could get back to fulfilling that promise. Seeing this Mayumi placed her hands on the handles.

"Here. Let me do that."

Janyu stared at his wife for a second before nodding.

"Thank you."

_Thank you, for believing in us one more time…_

* * *

Blonde hair whipped over the man's eyes as he stood amidst the ruins of the city, his eyes staring at, but not quite focusing, on the massive, two bladed spear that lay on the ground. No light was emitted from its surface save for any sunlight that was reflected off its metal. Where once it shone with azure fire it was now dark and lifeless. As silent and as cold as the buildings that were around it, and even though the man could hear the massive number of vehicles flying through the sky and driving throughout the city coupled with soldiers calling out to each other, he felt as though he were the only one existing.

_What was it that happened back there?_ Thought the man as he raised his hands and stared at them. A short distance away a rifle lay on the ground, discarded. He didn't dare look at it. Just thinking about it disgusted him and that thought alone was enough to horrify him because in the end, that thought that did not feel as though it were his own, prevented him from doing what he had set out to do to begin with.

All because of that one digimon who had gone up like a bomb.

Only 'bomb' didn't quite describe what had happened, mainly because it wasn't accurate. Light definitely exploded out from the body of the white and pink armored knight, but that was where the similarities ended. One would think that with such an act there would have been further devastation caused, certainly of the kind that resulted in his own demise, but strangely enough there was none to be had. To him though death would have perhaps been a blessing because that light, when it engulfed the city…when it _washed_ over him…it had done something to him. He didn't know what, but whatever it was it felt as though the digimon and the hearts of all those children that were fighting in the city had dove into his soul and had touched him there on a level that he could not explain with words.

For many months he had hated digimon, and when the call to do something about the 'digimon question' had come up he had joined it full heartedly, without so much as a second thought. All for… _her._ The person who had suffered so much during the D-Reaper attack…

Only now…something had changed drastically within his heart. The hatred that he felt from before he could no longer hold onto. Try as he might he felt as though whenever he tried to grab hold of it the emotion became as tatters in his hands. He had arrived in Shinjuku in the middle of a war wanting to make a statement and instead he was left with…

_…Nothing._ The man buried his face in his hands and began to sob quietly to himself. _I am left with nothing. That digimon…what did it_ do _to me?! I can't…I…_

As hard as he tried, the man could not shake himself of the comforting warm light that the Royal Knight known as Crusadermon Rose Mode had placed within him.

He didn't even hear the sound of soldiers calling out to him as they began to approach his position.

* * *

UlforceVeedramon breathed heavily as he stood over the broken form of the DexDoruGreymon as it broke apart into shards of data. The Royal Knight didn't even bother loading its data, just as he hadn't for all the other of its kind that he had been fighting. He had the distinct idea that if he did, it would only result in his being destroyed.

_Yggdrasil protects his creations and his servants well, unlike the Sovereigns with their pathetic excuses for Devas,_ thought UlforceVeedramon as he took a moment to catch his breath. He briefly wondered how of these creatures he had destroyed so far. He had ceased counting after the twelfth one had slammed into him and tore off a piece of his shoulder guard. After that point he merely became interested only in survival rather than racking up a body count. The digital world around him had begun to unravel and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he continued to stick around the distortion would also end up deleting him.

_The question is…how long until the rest get here? I managed to elude most of them after taking that data stream, but I'm still on the same level. This place isn't going to last for very long._

UlforceVeedramon frowned as he suddenly noticed the particles of data being pulled downwards towards the desert sand.

_Sand Lich. Damn it. I thought I saw one when I hurled that DexDoruGreymon off of my back. I have to get out of here before the creature reconstructs its body. At least_ _**this** _ _I can use the Sephirot Protocols on._

A series of glowing, flame patterns materialized around UlforceVeedramon's hand and he slammed it into the ground. A shriek filled the air as the sand fell back towards the earth. Turning, UlforceVeedramon began scanning the skies for a nearby data stream that he could use to get to another level of the digital world.

That was when his gaze fell on a small, brown haired, human girl lying on the ground and hugging her arms close to her body.

_Another human,_ UlforceVeedramon growled mentally. _Why is this one here? Another Tamer?_

The Royal Knight's senses tugged at the back of his mind, signaling to him that the DexDoruGreymon had zeroed in on his location and were now flying towards him.

_Closer than I thought they were._ UlforceVeedramon's gaze went back to the human child and he hesitated. It was considered standard policy to have nothing to do with humans should they be found wandering in the digital world. Certainly Yggdrasil didn't consider their presence to be of enough importance to bother with himself, and thus left the matter to whatever local powers happened to encounter them. Some digimon, like Gallantmon, preferred to escort them back to their home world, and Omnimon certainly held to that ideal as well, and had even enlisted the aid of the Tamers of this quadrant when he failed to prevent Mephistomon from escaping to the real world almost a year ago. He had given them rather 'high praises' for being able to stand up to such a powerful opponent, but UlforceVeedramon…he _disdained_ the creatures, believing them to be weak and of insignificant value. Seeing how they effected one of his comrades, Crusadermon, had only hardened his heart. They were… _corrupting._ Crusadermon abandoned her service to Yggdrasil in favor of protecting a weak creature; something that she had never done before in the entire time that he had known the Indifferent Warrior (indeed, Crusadermon had very much enjoyed lording her power over weaker digimon) and something he would not forgive.

For a long moment, UlforceVeedramon stood his ground, debating over what to do about the girl until a loud shriek from the oncoming swarm caught his attention. Sand exploded all around him and a massive mouth clamped down around his body. Gritting his teeth, the Royal Knight's golden V-shaped crest emblazoned on his crest glowed brightly before blasting off the sand Lich's lower jaw. Igniting his V-Bracelet he slashed outwards and cut a swath across the creature's throat. He knew it was pointless as the Sand Lich's had nothing even remotely close to digimon or human anatomies.

_Even the DexDoruGreymon were more alive than these leftovers of chaos are,_ thought UlforceVeedramon as he dropped down to the ground. Flapping his wings the azure knight prepared to take to the air and leave the human child to her fate when he was smacked to the side as the Sand Lich formed a tail and struck out at him. Rolling with the force of the blow UlforceVeedramon managed to come to a halt right before he crushed the human child with his body weight. Making a disgusted sound at the girl's incessant whimpering, UlforceVeedramon got to his feet and looked around him. The Sand Lich was charging towards him, its maw wide open and ready to devour him, body, mind, and digi-core.

"I don't have time for this," he growled as he got into a defensive stance. If his senses were telling him anything the DexDoruGreymon were closing in. He wouldn't mind leaving this Sand Lich to them, as he knew that Sand Lichs were nearly indestructible for as long as they had digimon data to feed upon, and with the sheer number of DexDoruGreymon this particular Lich would be in for quite the feast.

His muscles tensed as the Sand Lich closed in on him and then…UlforceVeedramon's eyes shot wide open as the creature suddenly changed direction and dove to the side. Sharp cries of fear broke free from its serrated mouth. It raised its head and looked longingly, _hungrily_ at UlforceVeedramon and made another charge towards him only to veer off again before it could even get close. UlforceVeedramon was stunned.

_I've never seen this kind of behavior in Sand Lichs before. It looks as though it's afraid of something…but what? The DexDoruGreymon aren't close enough yet and the only other things that are here are me and…the human girl._

UlforceVeedramon glanced down at the child. She was still shivering on the ground behind him, hugging herself tightly as though from some kind of trauma.

"It's _her_ that you're afraid of, isn't it?" UlforceVeedramon asked the serpentine creature of the dunes. "For some reason she scares you." The Royal Knight narrowed his eyes at the Sand Lich, gauging its reactions. He didn't expect an answer from it of course. They never talked. They only deleted.

Reaching down UlforceVeedramon carefully picked up the girl, eliciting a cry of surprise from her mouth as she snapped back to reality and became aware of her surroundings.

"Ah! What's going on? Wh…?"

"Be silent if you want to live," he growled at her. "For the time being consider yourself my shield and I… _yours_ ," he grated that word out as though it sickened him, "until we get out of here."

The girl merely looked up at him, amber eyes wide and fearful, and after a second she nodded. Breathing a sigh of relief that he didn't know that he had been holding UlforceVeedramon closed his eyes and once more leapt up into the air. Flapping his wings he took flight and in response the Sand Lich lunged at him.

_And now for the experiment,_ he thought as he grabbed hold of his charge and thrust her in front of him, ignoring her cry of surprise. The Sand Lich, as he had predicted lurched and veered off to the side, abandoning its meal rather than face the human.

"Hey!" Exclaimed the girl angrily as UlforceVeedramon beat his wings even harder, gaining speed with each passing second. "What was _that_ for?"

"I said that you were my shield. Any further explanations will have to wait until we reach a place of safety."

Searching the horizon once more the Royal Knight's eyes fell upon a familiar pink colored beam as it swept across the landscape.

"There we are…"

Flying towards it, UlforceVeedramon and Jeri Katou made good their escape from the barren, desert level of the digital world.

* * *

The Sand Lich roared angrily as it was forced to watch its prey escape its grasp. It gnashed its teeth and tore at the ground with its body, writhing like a segmented cat tail still within the final throes of its angry twitches. And even though its mind no longer remembered how to speak, emotion was still more than enough to convey their meaning to even the casual observer foolish enough to remain nearby. _How dare they?! How DARE prey escape?!_

As the Sand Lich continued to vent its temper upon the desert floor, a series of shadows fell upon its body as sunlight became blotted out. Noticing this the Sand Lich paused and looked up, taking note of the DexDoruGreymon circling above it, their mouths slathering with a hunger that was all too familiar to it.

The swarm had come. Now it was time to feed.


	128. 127: Bringing Together

"Impmon…wakey-wakey…"

"Nnnngh…" Impmon smacked a stubby little arm away from his face and rolled over on hard, broken concrete. "Lemme alone…"

A stubby little arm once again poked and prodded the side of his head, apparently refusing to take 'no' for an answer.

"Hold the muffins Mako," mumbled Impmon as he rolled away from the offending limb. "Just lemme catch a few more Z's."

Impmon sighed in contentment when the poking finally stopped…only to frown when one of a completely different order jabbed into his side. This time it felt more than just an annoyance. It was actually rather uncomfortable, as though he were laying on a piece of rock or rubble with jagged ends.

_What's up with that?_ Impmon wondered.

The diminutive little imp didn't have much time to contemplate the source of discomfort any further as the sound of an annoyed huff reached his ears only a split second before Calumon started screaming into his ear with enough force to wake the dead.

"IMPMON! WOULD YOU WAKE UP ALREADY?! THIS IS SERIOUS!"

"Gah!" Impmon bolted awake, clutching at his ears as a ringing noise drilled its way past his eardrums. Impmon glared at the little creampuff of a digimon that stood beaming at him like he had done nothing wrong.

"Calumon…" began Impmon in a grating tone. " _Warn_ someone when you're about to do that, would ya? You just about killed my ears there!"

"Sorry," Calumon smiled, "but you wouldn't wake up. If you were Guilmon I could have said that Takato was making breakfast and that would have worked, but you're not Guilmon."

"And aren't I glad for that," grumbled Impmon, though he had to admit that if it came down to being woken up via a scream to the ear and promises of food (however false) he could at least envy the Pineapple Head that much. "Now what's with all the yelling about anyway? I was having this nice dream and…" Impmon scowled as he took in his surroundings. All around him the city of Shinjuku lay in ruins. Tears and massive craters rent the streets and buildings and smoke all but choked the air. The sound of helicopter blades filled the air. Inextricably Impmon found his green eyes being drawn down to the ground where he had slept and fell upon the piece of broken concrete that he had rolled onto. Jagged teeth marred its surface and all at once memory flooded Impmon's mind and he clutched the sides of his head to steady himself.

"Um…are you okay?" Asked Calumon worriedly.

"Actually," gasped Impmon, resisting the urge to throw up, "I should be the one asking that. So what happened while I was out? Did we win? Where are the others?"

Calumon tilted his head to one side, his eyes looking even more worried than before. Impmon didn't like that.

"What? What happened Creampuff?"

"Um…well, we won but…" Calumon cast his eyes down at the ground.

"But… _what?"_ Impmon urged. Calumon swallowed nervously.

"No one knows where the others went. There was just this big, bright light and then…nothing. I've been out here searching for the others for a long time and you're the only one that I've found so far."

Impmon's shoulders slumped and he groaned heavily.

"Bah-boom," he muttered in an angry tone.

* * *

Yamaki closed his cell phone and looked over at Riley.

"That was one of our field agents. Calumon has found Impmon. They'll be bringing him in soon."

"So it's only Impmon that's still here?"

"It looks that way," nodded Yamaki. "At the very least it's nice to know that we won't be entirely defenseless in case another digimon breaks through our defenses. Be sure to send word up to the mess hall that Impmon is to have a meal waiting for him when he arrives."

"Yes sir," said Riley with a smirk on her face. If there was one thing that everyone at Hypnos had learned in the short time that they had become allies with the Tamers it was that digimon, particularly ones named Guilmon, Calumon, and Terriermon, had _immense_ energy requirements and were nearly bottomless pits when it came to gorging themselves on food. How it was they could fit so much food into their bodies no one was sure. All that really mattered was where they could get enough food to feed them.

As a result of this question, the Matsuki bakery had come to do _very_ well when it came to producing food in the name of planetary defense.

"What about that man that the army picked up near that spear?" Asked Yamaki. "Is there any further word on him yet?"

"Not much sir. They're running his identity through their files right now but so far he doesn't fit into any of the latest census records. He gave his name as _Morgan Hughes_ however…"

"Foreign?"

"That's what it looks like. They're bringing him here for further questioning. The general is hoping that he can use Hypnos grounds as a temporary base of operations until Shinjuku is given the all-clear."

"As long as he doesn't get in my way or interfere with Hypnos operations he's fine to do so. Does he know that he'll be running under my jurisdiction?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well then. I'll detail someone to help him find a suitable location to coordinate his operations." Yamaki raised his cell phone and flicked it open. No sooner than he did so the phone immediately began ringing. Hitting the answer button Yamaki brought the phone up to his ear and spoke into it gruffly.

"Yamaki." The blonde haired head of Hypnos frowned as the person on the other end relayed their message to him. After a few moments Yamaki nodded. "I understand. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Hanging up Yamaki looked over at Riley.

"It looks like I'll have to leave it to you to find someone to help with the General. There's something going on at sector C that requires my presence."

"Sector C, sir?" Asked Riley, raising an eyebrow before understanding dawned in her eyes. "Isn't that where…?"

"Yes it is. Get me a chopper."

"Yes sir."

* * *

In the primary control room of Hypnos Kuroda sipped at his coffee as he scrolled through the information logs that his monitor displayed to him. He had to admit, in spite of everything that had gone on and for all of his own misgivings concerning digimon he was in proverbial heaven right now.

_Digital information…and by the truckloads. I could be here, analyzing this for years and never once get bored. I have to admit that Yamaki's lackeys are more efficient than I gave them credit for to get this much of the system back online this quickly so that I can analyze the Hypnos logs. And here I thought that girl, Tally, was just an inexperienced rookie who had to be led by the hand just to create a basic binary program. I guess that rumor of how she hacked into a military satellite during the D-Reaper invasion isn't just a rumor after all._

"Anything new to report?" Came a female voice from above him.

_Speaking of whom…_

"Nothing appreciable as yet, but it looks like your friends theory was correct. There was a significant amount of matter being converted to data following that flash of light from earlier. As to what caused it I can't say. There's a code imbedded in the data that I don't recognize. In fact I'd say that it's…" Kuroda strained to find the right words to convey what he was seeing. "… _complex_ to say the least. And amazingly so. If I didn't know any better I'd say that a god wrote this thing. It's really quite impressive. The algorithms work together so smoothly, far beyond anything that we've come up with so far."

"I see. Do you think there's anything in it that might be useful?"

_"Any_ piece of code is useful," replied Kuroda. "That's one thing that I found out while working on Argus."

"From what I recall," said Tally in a tone that was just short of scathing, as though she were trying to maintain a degree of professionalism between them, "Argus was a group of digimon that you captured and reprogrammed."

Kuroda waved her comment off.

"They were disembodied digimon data that I found floating between the worlds. Either way, my point still stands. Their data was useful in creating a successful combat program right up until that Hazard Storm played havoc with the Hypnos network. It didn't help that Itokawa was reckless and decided to use them at that time without the appropriate safeguards. I digress however; to answer your question, yes I do believe that this data is helpful. If anything, I might be able to create something similar that can be used to transport things between the real and digital worlds without any of the drawbacks that Yamaki's vaunted Juggernaut has."

"We never did get the chance to test the reworked version of Juggernaut," said Tally, sounding depressed.

"Count your blessings my dear," dismissed Kuroda. "Juggernaut is not a safe program to use in conjunction with the digital world. Its first reason for being was to be used as a weapon and its second was as a lure. A _honey-pot_ if you would to bring digimon to it. Reprogrammed it might be, but it was Yamaki's gun. And a gun knows nothing else but to kill."

"Very philosophical," replied Tally though in all fairness she agreed with him. She didn't like the man but she knew full well what he was talking about. She had been there when the Juggernaut had first been activated. There were nights where she still heard the tortured, horrified screams of those digimon who had been caught up in that nightmare…right before an even worse one known as the Devas were unleashed upon the unsuspecting world. Juggernaut had been turned into a door that led to even worse things than anyone ever knew.

"I thought so," said Kuroda, causing Tally to scowl at him. "Can you access any satellite surveillance of last night's battle?"

"Why would you want…?"

"I didn't ask you to ask me why I wanted it," interrupted Kuroda. "I was asking if you could get me any surveillance footage."

"I…" Tally's scowl deepened. She hadn't gotten much of a chance to work with this man under a professional status until recently and already he was wearing thin on her patience. "It's going to take some time with most of the system still down like this."

"Then I suggest that you get started in whichever way you feel is most efficient. And in answer to your question, there's something that I want to see. Something that lies behind this code that I'm analyzing…or rather, what's in front of it."

"I…see," was all Tally had to say as her fingers flew across her keyboard, trying to find the pathways that she needed to restore more functions for Hypnos. She could have easily hacked into another satellite even with the equipment of Hypnos down, but Yamaki's orders came first.

_At least with the Hypnos network online it will look more legitimate. Doing it from a remote terminal could land me in a heap of trouble and that's the last thing that I need when Hypnos needs me so much right now. Lucky rabbit's foot, don't fail me now…_

* * *

"We're almost there, Mr. Yamaki," called the helicopter pilot over the roar of the blades that drove them through the air.

Yamaki looked out the window and scanned the streets below. Devastation and smoking rubble greeted him, though he was hardly surprised by this. It had become something of a familiar sight to him since digimon had begun bio-emerging into the real world, though there were times that the enormity of that damage caught him off guard. However, what did surprise him this time was not the damage to the city, but rather what was going on within its ghostly remains.

_As a matter of fact,_ thought Yamaki as he took in the sight below him, _ghostly might be an appropriate choice of words._

The two bladed spear that once belonged to the fearsome digimon known as ChaosGallantmon was now free from its constraints in the city streets. A number of soldiers now surrounded it but at present were keeping their distance, and with good reason to it seemed. For surrounding the dangerous looking weapon were a series of glowing lights that swam all along the length of the blade like the haunts of some abandoned building.

Very appropriate choice of words indeed.

_I can't make them out from up here,_ thought Yamaki as he took off his sunglasses and strained his eyes to see if he could pick out any details that could help him recognize the entities. No such luck.

"Bring us down," Yamaki ordered, to which the pilot complied.

"What's the situation?" Asked Yamaki as he approached one of the soldiers. The man turned and saluted Yamaki before answering.

"We were conducting a sweep of this area, trying to find survivors when we came across this weapon in the ground. Previous reports had indicated that it had been imbedded in the ground but it seems to have been uprooted."

"And those?" Yamaki indicated the strange, school of glowing creatures that fluttered around the blade, giggling like little children. Now that he was closer he could more easily discern their appearance. They were short, squat creatures with a single antennae springing from the top of their head and curling past their pack. Their arms were long, and vaguely fin-like at the fingertips, though it was clear that they used them as a method for flying. Large, black eyes protruded from their faces, giving them the appearance of an innocent child when combined with their smiling faces.

_At least it looks like they're smiling,_ thought Yamaki. _I have no frame of reference for these kinds of creatures. From the appearance though it looks like they're the digignomes that the Tamers and Shibumi have described in their reports from their stay in the digital world. Takato called them 'wish-granters' or something to that affect. Interesting…but why are they here? And why are they gathering around ChaosGallantmon's weapon?_

As though in answer to his question a digignome touched down on top of the blade's surface and _melted_ into it. A luminous glow surrounded the weapon, causing it to rise off the ground and stand upright. The remaining digignomes began to giggle excitedly and fly rings around it. One of the soldiers standing next to Yamaki raised a rifle instinctively but the blonde haired head of Hypnos put a hand on the rifle barrel and glared at the soldier. The man gulped and lowered his weapon.

"Everyone do not make a move," Yamaki ordered, turning his attention back to the spear. The sound of weapons being lowered confirmed to the man that his orders were being followed and he relaxed ever so slightly. As he watched, the digignomes began to accelerate in their dance around the spear, causing the light around the spear to increase in its intensity. Replacing his sunglasses on his face Yamaki continued to watch the digignomes progress until they, and the spear suddenly began to fade from existence.

_What? What is going on?_

Before Yamaki's gaze, the spear of ChaosGallantmon disappeared entirely, leaving nothing more than the shape of its imprint indented on the street from where it had fallen.

_The higher ups aren't going to be happy about this,_ thought Yamaki.

* * *

"Oh, man," began Kazu as he stuffed a piece of the Chuchidarumon's special 'mud ball' into his mouth. "Yamaki'd be thrilled if he knew about this. I mean, what are the odds that most of us would be reunited in the digital world just within a few hours? We even got Noriko here with us! All that's left now is to find Takato, Rika, and Ryo and we'll be all set! This is _awesome!"_

"So you said when you guys first got here," nodded Henry, with a relieved smile on his face. "And I'm glad to hear that you guys handled the Royal Knight problem. I was pretty worried about that when I got sent here…"

"If you were so worried about it then why did you go crawling in that hole Guilmon dug up?" Quipped Terriermon from his spot on top of Henry's head. The boy frowned at the long eared digimon.

"Terriermon…"

"He's got a point there," agreed Kenta, pushing up his glasses. "We all know that the portal that was there disappeared after Guilmon and the others came back from the digital world but it does have the unerring ability to come back whenever it wants to. Remember how it appeared and disappeared from there the first time after Vikaralamon was beaten? We thought that disappeared for good after we used it to go to the digital world but it came back within a month after our partners were made to leave."

"Yeah. And Yamaki kept telling us that it would disappear when he sealed up Guilmon's den. And it sure didn't!"

"Okay, okay," placated Henry. "I get it, believe me I do. I just wanted to check all avenues for when we had to go rescue Takato, Rika, Ryo, and Noriko." Henry looked over at the dark haired girl who had been sitting at the table rather quietly since they had sat down there. All eyes turned towards her, causing the girl to shrink back into her seat and blush in embarrassment.

"Ah…" she began quietly. "S-sorry for causing you guys so much trouble…"

"Eh. Don't worry about it," said Kazu, brushing her off as he grabbed another mud ball. "Things were starting to get boring again. We needed a little action…"

"Kazu!" Hissed Ayaka angrily before turning to Noriko with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry about that. He's got no sense of tact."

"What are you talking about? I've got _plenty_ of sense of tact! I'm just trying to make her feel better!"

"A mon after my own heart," joked Terriermon, though no one paid any attention to him.

"Kazu," began Kenta, "did it ever occur to you that saying how we were 'bored' isn't a good way to go about it? Noriko has been through a lot."

Kazu sighed. "Fine. I see where you guys are coming from and you're right. Now, let's change the subject. We've gotta figure out what our next plan of action is. Finding Takato and the others is obviously pretty high on our list right now, but from what you guys have talked about it sounds like it's going to be a lot more complicated than just the usual search-and-rescue way we were going about the last time we came through here. What's that about?"

"It has something to do with the landscape," said Henry, folding his hands together on the table. "Noriko and I have already encountered them. The residents of this village don't seem to know what precisely is going on but…" Henry sighed in agitation. "…how can I put it?"

"It's…like the land is alive around here," spoke up Noriko. "I'm not sure if that makes much sense, but I've seen the desert around here create weird monsters made of sand. Lumemon and I…"

"Who's 'Lumemon?'" interrupted Kazu, ignoring the shushing sounds that his friends were giving him. "Sounds a little bit like Lucemon's name if you ask me."

"That's…a complicated story already," sighed Henry. "But we're not going to focus on that right now. Right now it should be enough that Lumemon is a digimon that is partnered with Noriko, and he's currently out on a scouting mission. He'll be back as soon as he can."

"Scouting mission, huh? I take it that it has something to do with those weird sand monsters you were just talking about?"

"Kazu!" Broke in Ayaka again, becoming increasingly annoyed with the visor-wearing boy. "If you'd just _shut up_ he'd tell us and get it over with already!"

"All right, all right. Fine. Go on, Henry."

"Anyway, yeah. Lumemon is scouting the area for those sand monsters. He's mapping out areas that have minimal activity for if and when we leave. Safety zones. Now as to those sand creatures…I have no idea what they are. Lumemon seems to have a better idea but even he's in the dark about what they are. All we know for sure is that they're bodies are made up of sand…"

"Sand, sand, and more sand," crowed Terriermon. Kazu scoffed.

"Doesn't sound very threatening."

"You'd be surprised," said Henry. "Terriermon and I fought one already and it proved to be overwhelmingly powerful. It took all of our attacks at the Ultimate and Mega level and it barely even slowed down."

"Ultimate _and_ Mega?" Gasped Kenta while Kazu whistled in amazement.

"That's pretty rough. Your Mega form of MegaGargomon is one tough customer and Rapidmon is no slouch either, pun intended. It would take some serious power to be able to stand up to both of them and come away clean."

"It had amazing regenerative powers," Henry agreed. "But their weakness seems to be that they need a constant source of energy, preferably what you'd get from loading a digimon, in order to maintain their form. The larger they are the more energy they have to expend to keep up with their bodies and the more that gets used up to regenerate."

"Basically that means that if we ever run into them, we have to keep beating them down until they stop moving," said Terriermon. "Which is pretty much what we do with anything that comes looking for a fight now that I think of it."

"Yeah, but only more so," said Henry. "It was hard enough facing off against one. Try it with two or more and you'll really be in for a hard time."

"Well you have plenty of Megas to work with this time so I don't think that we'll be running into too much trou-!"

Kazu was cut off as a sudden explosion sounded from within the village, causing the chairs that the Tamers sat in to tremble slightly in time with the table. As one the Tamers pulled out their digivices and began scanning the area for any sign of a threat.

"Got something!" Called Ayaka as her holographic circle gave her an image of Crusadermon's view of the action. "It's Crusadermon! She's in a fight!"

Henry blinked. He still had trouble thinking of a digimon that had once been an enemy as an ally. It had been easier for Impmon since he started out (more or less) as a friend before turning into an enemy, and Jeri forgiving him for Leomon's death and his fighting with all of his heart to save her certainly went a long way towards helping out in that respect. Crusadermon on the other hand, had no such merits as far as he knew, and he had certainly gotten every impression that she did not enjoy the prospect of being partnered with a human. Pushing the thought aside Henry reached into his pockets and began pulling out cards.

"Do you know where she is? What kind of enemy is she fighting? Sand creature or…?"

"Lumemon!" Gasped Noriko suddenly, her crimson eyes going wide in surprise as she clutched the sides of her head. "She's fighting _Lumemon!"_

* * *

Lumemon flapped his wings and touched down on the ground on the ground, his storm gray eyes a picture perfect portrait of thunder and lightning that had finally settled down heavily on its destination and fully intended to unleash all the power that was its namesake. In front of him was a crater burned into the ground, billowing clouds of dust and smoke into the air behind which stood a figure, tall and proud. With but a gesture the clouds were dispersed and the pink armored, yellow ribbon bearing Royal Knight known as Crusadermon stood for all to behold with not a single scratch on her body.

"Well now…" began Crusadermon in a calm voice, pretending to dust her shoulder off. _"That_ was interesting."

From Crusadermon's point of view, this encounter could indeed be called 'interesting' though by what definition it was difficult to say. When the Tamers had gone off into one of the Chuchidarumon's hut for a little palaver Crusadermon had taken to inspecting the town and the data contained within it in the hopes that she could discover something that could help them in their journey. Guardromon, as his body was too large to fit into the hut had opted for standing guard outside so his presence was easily accounted for so it she was not at all confused when she detected a digimon presence that she didn't recognize moving throughout the village. At first she simply shrugged it off as another one of the Chuchidarumon as they were numerous and always moving about, but a quick check of the digimon's power levels told her that this was definitely a different digimon. _Smaller_ as well, which increased her curiosity as low level digimon did not normally have high power levels.

_Not that I'd ever call this runt powerful,_ she thought to herself. _He's barely as strong as that Renamon or Guilmon that I faced back in the real world, and those two are strong for Rookies._

Having then gone off to investigate the new digimon Crusadermon found herself rather surprised to find that the digimon in question was of the angel variety, which had caused her to disregard her caution. Angel digimon were rare in the digital world, and even more so in the Southern Quadrant. Most angels were restricted to the service of the Three Celestials or other various powers of light and even Yggdrasil employed them whenever he desired. For the most part angel digimon worked on a different level that was apart from most of the powers that Crusadermon had known and fought in the past, and often it seemed that they worked with a power that was _other_ than the kind that Yggdrasil was; not as another nation but something that could perhaps be called greater in scope and separate. She had heard rumors of the 'Essence of Light' and the 'Queen' that the Numemon of the Eastern quadrant worshipped but very little could be made of them.

Could this digimon be one of their emissaries? That is what she wondered when she laid eyes on the boy, and she had approached him as she would a diplomat, raising one hand and greeting him. And when he laid eyes on her…that was when things got a little chaotic.

Caution disregarded or not, Crusadermon had years of reflexes and training engrained into her, keeping her in top form and difficult to pin down regardless of whether or not she was caught off guard. As such, when the angel child that her senses quickly identified as a _Lumemon_ attacked her she was not harmed in even the least. Now she found herself looking into his eyes, trying to find the source of his aggression. All she saw was a look of rage and disgust at her.

_How strange. I don't even remember meeting this child before. I don't even recognize his scent. He seems to know me though…or perhaps…another me?_ Crusadermon narrowed her eyes at the boy thoughtfully. _It's as though he's seeing me but…not seeing me. Very interesting indeed. There's more to him then there looks. And here I sensed that he was only newly born. Stranger and stranger…_

_"Cross Guard!"_ Shouted Lumemon as he clapped his hands together, white light burning at his fingertips. Shaking her head in mock disappointment Crusadermon lashed out with her ribbons and grabbed hold of his arms and neck, hefting him up into the air while ignoring the choking sounds that he made from his throat.

"You pack quite the powerful attack child but," Crusadermon wagged a finger at him as though he were a naughty child, "you're not even in my league. This is the difference in our power. You couldn't even harm me much less touch me…"

No sooner than did Crusadermon say that did Lumemon forcefully push his hands apart and grab hold of the ribbons that entangled him. White light pushed forth into them and began to race their way towards their owner. Crusadermon sighed.

"I see that I'll have to teach you a lesson then," she said in a tired tone. Raising her ribbons ever so slightly as though she were lifting an arm up Crusadermon brought Lumemon crashing heavily down to the ground, kicking up another cloud of dirt and sending a spray of sand flying into the air. Lumemon's eyes went wide as the air rushed out of his digital lungs in one mad _whoosh,_ the light around his hands and Crusadermon's ribbons dying down rapidly and he coughed again as he fought to pull in that much needed oxygen. Crusadermon approached Lumemon, deadly intent filling her stride.

"Now…the only question that remains is what am I going to do with you? Does a Tamed digimon normally kill a defeated opponent or is that only when the enemy continues to fight and refuses to surrender?"

One of Crusadermon's ribbons stiffened and its tip transformed into a point. The Royal Knight grabbed hold of it and looked back at Lumemon.

"Decisions, decisions…"

"CRUSADERMON! STOP!"

Hearing the voice of her partner, Ayaka Itou, Crusadermon turned to see the young girl and the other Tamers running towards her.

It was then that a massive, double bladed spear chose to appear in midair and imbed itself in the ground beneath it in a tremendous explosion of dirt and debris.


	129. 128: Setting Off

A wind blew across the landscape from the impact of the spear slamming into the ground of the Chuchidarumon village, disturbing the sand and causing dust storms to be kicked up that radiated outwards giving the appearance of an ever-expanding ring encircling the village. After a few moments the wind died down and the sand settled to the ground, appearing as though nothing had ever disturbed it to begin with.

Except…something had been.

Beneath the surface of the digital world's desert, sand began to shift and crawl forward. The ring that had at first expanded, now began to contract, but this time in a most subtle way. No force lay behind this shrinking, but to the casual Biyomon's eye view one would have cause to fear for the Chuchidarumon village as one would fear the tying of a hangman's noose. And indeed they would be right to feel afraid. The executioner was coming towards the village, its sights set on its inhabitants that dwelt within. And not a single one of them knew it was coming.

An obsidian eye, as black as the darkest, moonless night, pried itself open within the intense heat of the desert and took in the village, eyeing greedily the giant, dual bladed spear that stood in its center…its proverbial _heart_ like an obscene cupid's arrow.

The eye blinked but once and disappeared back into the sand. The ground shifted and a low, keening sound reverberated through the ground, vibrating the sand that moved. In short order the sound was taken up, echoing in stereo with the first like the howling of a wolf pack gathering for the hunt.

The stage is set. Time to dance the dance.

* * *

"What's going on here?!" Exclaimed Henry as he and the other Tamers came to a halt in front of the scene before them.

"Uh…Crusadermon and an angel dude got into a fight and then ChaosGallantmon's big sword fell out of the sky…"

"Yeah Kazu," responded Terriermon. "We _all_ saw that. It was a rhetorical question."

"Terriermon," warned Henry to his long eared passenger. "I'll admit that having that spear just drop in on us out of nowhere is really surprising but first things first." Henry turned towards Crusadermon and Lumemon. "Would you two care to explain what it was that you two were fighting about?"

Crusadermon folded her arms over her chest and cast her gaze upwards towards the sky in an aristocratic manner, as though unable to see why she was suddenly the center of everyone's attention.

"This _child_ attacked me upon seeing me. He gave no explanation for his actions. It is fortunate that you all came when you did. I was just about to put an end to him."

"Does she have to be so blunt about her intentions?" Muttered Terriermon. Henry turned towards the angelic digimon as he pushed himself back up to his feet, Crusadermon now having retracted the ribbons she had used to restrain him.

"Lumemon?"

"My…apologies," rasped the angel as he drew in much needed air. "I mistook her for someone I knew once and I overreacted."

"I see." Noriko watched Henry as he breathed a sigh, though whether it was one from relief or something else all together she couldn't be sure. "Well, next time at least make sure before you decide to start a fight. This isn't the time to be fighting amongst ourselves." Henry looked up at the massive spear that towered over the village like a sundial and frowned.

"So…" began Terriermon. "Any ideas why that thing is here?"

"Not a clue. Maybe it has something to do with what happened back in the real world. Kazu and Kenta mentioned something about there being a disturbance in the barriers between the real and digital worlds so maybe that's what brought it here."

"Seems kind of late getting to the action don't you think?"

"Well, it's not a living object so without any perception it might have had a more difficult time passing through the barriers."

"I guess that would make sense…if I were a geek like you."

Henry frowned at his long eared partner. "Terriermon…"

"Momentai! I'm sure all of this alternate dimension science fiction stuff is very interesting to you."

Henry gave his partner a strained smile.

"Well, it is all just speculation, but that's all we have right now and…uh, Lumemon?"

Henry blinked at the four winged angel as he approached the spear and placed one hand on its surface. A blue flash of light passed through the metal and Lumemon closed his eyes in concentration.

"You're wrong about one thing," he said in a low voice. "This blade _is_ alive. Can't you see it?"

"Huh?" Terriermon tilted his head to one side. "What world were you born on? See what?"

"And just who are you anyway?" Asked Kazu as he stepped forward, hands on his hips and frowning at Lumemon suspiciously. "Are you that Lumemon guy that Henry said Noriko was partnered up with?"

Lumemon looked over at Kazu and tilted his head at him quizzically, causing Kazu to scowl even further at him.

"What's that look for?" He asked, feeling more than a little bit disturbed by the way the angel was looking at him. Lumemon shrugged.

"Nothing I suppose. How's Alice?"

Kazu's eyes shot wide open in surprise at that.

"How did you…? Okay, you've got some _serious_ explaining to do here, buddy! Start talking now!"

Noriko looked back and forth worriedly between Lumemon and the Tamers, wondering what they were planning to do.

_If they all find out that he used to be Lucemon…what will they do? Henry doesn't seem to know how to react to it but he hasn't done anything so far. The others…I don't know what they'll do though. They might do…anything._

"Knock it off you guys," said Henry, catching Noriko by surprise. "Lumemon's not harming anyone and he's been helping Noriko since she got here."

Terriermon swallowed audibly on top of his partner's head, feeling doubt worm its way through his heart but he chose to stand solid by his partner. They were together through thick and thin after all.

_That's the promise that I made with him. I can kind of see his point of view in this too even if it's a little difficult to swallow. Lumemon, whether it was as Lucemon or how he is now, isn't entirely a bad mon, I can get that much from just looking at him. Impmon was like that too. Annoying but an otherwise okay mon. He just got lost when Indramon smacked him for a loop. The important thing is that he found his way back in the end and took responsibility for his actions._

"I only want to know what's up with him," said Kazu, turning his suspicious gaze over to Henry. "Obviously a lot has gone on since we all last saw Noriko and last I checked she turned into ChaosGallantmon and wiped the floor with you."

"Way to be tactful Kazu," pointed out Terriermon as he took note of Noriko blanching over the memory.

"Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black?" Asked Kenta before turning towards his visor-wearing friend. "Terriermon is right though. You could be a little more subtle." Turning over to Noriko Kenta's expression became a bit more friendly. "Kazu is right. You seem to have had a lot happen to you since we last saw you. I haven't seen you transform into anything weird like you did when Henry found you in the park back home, and from what I heard you looked like a mix between BlackGuilmon and Lucemon. Now we find you here in the digital world, looking normal again but you also have an angel digimon with you. An angel digimon that looks…kinda like Takato, only with gray eyes."

Kazu's eyes widened once more as he looked at Lumemon.

"You know something…you're right about that. He _does_ look a bit like Takato. What's up with that?"

Lumemon glanced at Noriko, his eyes steady.

"They're going to find out one way or another."

Noriko gave a nervous sigh and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yeah. Yeah, I kind of figured on that. This is going to take some explaining here and I'm not sure that even _I_ understand half of what happened…"

"I'll try to fill in the gaps for you," said Lumemon. "For now just tell them what you do know."

Noriko nodded and gulped.

"Okay. It started a while ago, after you guys had your last fight with Lucemon. I got transported to the digital world somehow and wandered it for weeks before coming across some abandoned temple…"

* * *

"Whoa…" breathed Kazu once Noriko had finished her tale. "So…Lucemon… _merged_ with a part of Takato?"

Noriko nodded. The Tamers and all of their digimon were sitting in near the blade of ChaosGallantmon in a semi-circle as some of them were far too large to fit within the confines of a Chuchidarumon house.

"Wow," said Terriermon, somewhat surprised by this latest revelation. "Now _that's_ what I call ironic."

"Nnnn…Terriermon!"

"What?"

"It's…" Henry sighed and shook his head at his partner's antics, suddenly feeling very tired. "It's nothing. Just forget it."

"Henry?" Asked Noriko, but Henry brushed her off.

"So that's the story," said Henry, standing up and dusting his pants off. "Lumemon was once Lucemon. Now the question remains, what are any of you going to do about it?"

"Do what?" Asked Kazu, not getting what Henry was talking about.

"I think he's asking if we're going to cast judgement or something on Lumemon for what he did to Guilmon," supplied Kenta. "I mean, he _did_ cause a lot of harm then..."

Kazu frowned.

"Yeah…"

"…And I know that you weren't at all happy with it."

"Okay, I get what you're talking about Kenta but…" Kazu glanced at Lumemon and Noriko, the latter of whom was watching him expectantly while the former had an impassive look on his face, as if they were talking about food and not his fate. "…They don't have anything to worry about. This group has something of an unspoken rule about forgiving enemies if they realize how badly they messed up. I mean, we let Beelzemon stick it out and Jeri forgave him and you don't get as bad as he was considering he came after us with less than noble motives. Not to mention that he killed Leomon and loaded his data…"

"Kazu!"

"All right, all right. I get the picture. I'll be quiet now."

From next to Kazu MarineAngemon looked over at Terriermon and smiled.

"Pihpihpih."

"Huh?" Terriermon raised an eyebrow at the pink fairy. "Are you talking about me?"

"Yeah," laughed Kenta. "He's saying that you should learn a thing or two from Kazu's example."

"What?!" Exclaimed the rabbit dog indignantly. "Are you kidding me?! Me learn from Kazu?! Are you nuts or something? I swear I'll…"

Henry chuckled and rapped his partner on the side of the head with his knuckles.

"Momentai, Terriermon. Now that that's settled I think it's time that we turned to more pressing matters. What do we do from here on out?"

"What do we do?" Asked Kazu, flummoxed by the question. "Seems kinda straightforward if you ask me. We go find Takato, Rika, and Ryo and then look for a way home."

"I don't think it's quite that simple Kazu," put in Kenta. "Did you forget what Henry and Noriko were telling us earlier? There are some weird things around this village. They're…um…what did you say they were again? Sand something…"

"Sand Liches," said Crusadermon from her spot next to Ayaka. All eyes turned towards her as she continued. "I have been aware of their presence for quite some time. They are very dangerous creatures."

"Well that's great," grumbled Kazu sarcastically. "It's never anything simple, is it?"

"Wouldn't be fun if it was, would it?"

"Terriermon…"

* * *

UlforceVeedramon burst free from the data stream and flapped his wings. Quickly surveying his surroundings he was pleased to note that they had now long since left the desert plain of the digital world and were now flying above a lush, green forest. Slowing down the Royal Knight steered himself and the gasping human girl in his grasp into the dense foliage and brought himself to a graceful landing, touching down gently onto the forest floor without so much as a single twig snapping underfoot.

Jeri coughed as UlforceVeedramon nonchalantly and unceremoniously dropped her to the ground and she rolled over onto her side as her lungs billowed in their attempts to seize oxygen. The azure Royal Knight waited a few moments for her to catch her breath from their sudden and rapid retreat from the battlefield, knowing that transportation via a data stream often caused extreme disorientation for some individuals, even for those who had experienced it on multiple occasions.

"Now," he began casually once Jeri's breathing began to return to normal, "would you care to explain why it was that you, a mere human was able to frighten off a Sand Lich?"

"Wha…?" Jeri rasped. "I…I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you? What is going on here?"

"That's what I'd like to know," said the dragon knight digimon. "As for who I am, my name is UlforceVeedramon, a Royal Knight in the service of my lord and master, Yggdrasil." He neglected to mention to the girl that there seemed to be a change in that position, but he didn't care what she knew or didn't know about that.

"Y-Yggdrasil?" Jeri squeaked. "Are you one of the ones who…?" Jeri stopped and frowned at the large digimon, causing him to tilt his head to one side questioningly.

"Yes?"

"N-never mind…"

Jeri cried out as UlforceVeedramon abruptly grabbed hold of her and hauled her up into the air. Her feet kicked out and one shoe dropped off and hit the ground below her.

"Don't play coy with me little girl," UlforceVeedramon snarled. "You're about as convincing as a Numemon saying it looks pretty! You knew something about me just now, didn't you? Considering how often humans go to the digital world I'm willing to bet that you're one of those _Tamers._ " UlforceVeedramon snorted. "Now…you _will_ tell me what I want to know or I'll…"

"I don't…know _anything_ about any sand liches or whatever it was you called them!" Jeri exclaimed fearfully. "I haven't been to the digital world in almost a year! The last time it was before the D-Reaper attacked!"

"The Chaos…" UlforceVeedramon's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "So…you don't know."

"K-know what?"

"The Sand Liches…they are the left over remains of digimon who had the unfortunate fate of being deleted by the Chaos. Most of their memories and personality have been erased, but their desire to live outlasted their corporeal form. They have become vampires. Parasites that prey on living digimon. Lacking digital cores they seek out digimon that contain them and tear them from their owners, loading their data and devouring it, and in so doing they are able to gather enough energy to take a new shape from the surrounding landscape, the most malleable of which is the sand of the first plain. Sand is cheap and abundant…a low cost form to maintain as far as energy is concerned but bereft of all intelligence and sense they don't think about that. All they care about is the desire…the _need_ to feed until their famine is extinguished. Only it will _never_ end. Theirs is a bottomless Ocean of Darkness from which there is no escape; no relief. One could almost pity such damned coreless beings…if you weren't already pitying any digimon foolish enough to fall into their clutches."

Jeri's eyes went wide with shock.

_T-that thing I saw…that Sand Lich is what's left over of a digimon that the D-Reaper killed? Then it's my fault! No wonder that it recognized me and was afraid of me. I was a part of the D-Reaper and it used me so that it could grow stronger. It's because of me that those digimon suffered. Because of…me…_

All at once a darkness enveloped Jeri's heart and a long buried sorrow sprung free from the recesses of her mind, plummeting her into a despair that she believed herself to be long over. UlforceVeedramon watched the young girl thoughtfully as she ceased in her struggles. A lone tear made its way down her face and dripped onto the Royal Knight's armored hand.

"I sense a touch of the Chaos within you," he said after a few seconds. "Interesting. I must investigate further."

A series of flame like symbols appeared on UlforceVeedramon's right hand. Bringing it up he touched a claw against Jeri's forehead and a bright light burst forth from it, enveloping the two together.

* * *

Takato adjusted the goggles on his forehead and did a quick spot check around him to make sure that he had everything he was supposed to.

_Not that I was really carrying much,_ thought Takato. _But it's something of a habit. Goggles, D-Arc, cards, underwear…hmmm…I don't think that I need to check for that…_

Picking up the knapsack that the Seer Council had lent him, he quickly looked inside to make sure that everything inside was as it should be.

_Food, water, toilet paper, bandages… Looks like they're all here._

Takato scratched his head, remembering Rika asking him why he even thought any of those things were necessary. They didn't get hungry or thirsty when they were in the digital world, and as such the toilet paper was made redundant. The bandages at least made more sense since they could still be injured. Even the digimon took more than a few bumps and bruises that required some first aid to take care of, but since Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon were going with them and they both had some measure of healing power the bandages looked like additional useless baggage.

_"If worst comes to worst Taomon can take care of any problems that we have in the injury department,"_ he remembered Rika saying during the packing. In a rare moment of observation Takato pointed out that since the Seer Council, based in a temple _filled_ with digimon that had healing capabilities, maintained a steady supply of bandages and medicines there had to be a reason for it and one that they should also follow through with in the event that they were somehow separated and unable to utilize such an advantage.

_Well, Ryo supplied that last part,_ thought Takato as he closed up the knapsack, _but Rika did get my point. Why would the Seer Council keep a supply of this stuff if they didn't think it was useful? Sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry. And besides, the food is at least for Guilmon's peace of mind. He's lost without food._

Takato frowned slightly as he leaned backwards and looked at the knapsack.

_It's strange though. Rika only mentioned Taomon when she was talking about having one of Renamon's evolved forms take care of an injury. She didn't mention Sakuyamon or anything._

Takato shook his head, trying to clear his mind of some of the uneasiness that he felt in his mind towards his red haired friend. It had more to do than just anything that passed between them, he felt that much. For some reason he felt that Rika was hiding something and her uneasiness about it was filtering down through the link that they shared.

_Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Why would Rika hide anything from me? Didn't I ask her to not hold back on me on my account?_

The only answer that Takato got was an angry call from Rika from just outside the kitchen where Takato had been packing.

"Takato! Are you coming or what?!"

"I'll be right there!" Takato called back. Grabbing hold of the knapsack shrugged it over his shoulder and hurried outside to join his friends.

"It's about time," grumbled Rika as he stepped outside of the kitchen. "What were you putting together in there? A feast?"

"I was just double checking," replied Takato as he closed the kitchen door behind him. "I wanted to make sure that I was at ready to go."

"Between you and Guilmon you guys are prepared enough to feed an army and we can't afford to…" Rika frowned at her goggle-wearing friend as he stared at her. "What?"

Takato jerked and looked away, blushing lightly. "N-nothing."

"Uh, huh. Right." Rika scrutinized him, not believing him in the slightest. She had an idea as to what was bothering him and she was _certainly_ sure it involved what was tickling the back of her neck right now. "You were going to make a comment about my hair, weren't you?"

"Uh…hair?" Takato blinked, trying to fake innocence as he looked back at his friend. True to form, Rika's hair was currently residing in a down position, no longer having anything to hold it up now.

"That's right. My hair. It's down. I don't have my usual hair tie with me and I didn't feel right borrowing one of those bandannas from the kitchen and it's got you all out of sorts that I look so weird doesn't it?"

"Are you sure that we should be talking about how you look?" Asked Takato aloud, unknowingly speaking what was on his mind. Rolling her eyes Rika pushed him down the hall with one hand.

"You can be so impossible sometimes."

They walked in silence for a few more seconds before Takato spoke up again.

"Has there been any news about Alice?"

Rika shook her head, her expression softening now.

"Nothing new. The Seer Council said something along the lines of she's 'not here but within.' Mystic mumbo jumbo if you ask me. Either way they've decided that regardless of whether or not they find Alice they're going to shoo us off."

"Is that even right?" Asked Takato. "I mean, what about that Kuzuhamon that looked after her? Or Alice's family? We can't just leave until we have something to tell them. Even if we can't bring Alice with us. To be honest, it doesn't feel right to just leave without her. She helped us; shouldn't we do everything within our power to help her too?"

"Aren't you also forgetting that we're on a timetable?" Asked Rika, though her tone sounded as though she were forcing herself to scold him, leaving it plain to Takato that she sympathized with him.

"Oh. Right. The Royal Knights." Takato clenched one hand into a fist and narrowed his eyes in frustration. "Man. Nothing's ever easy is it?"

"You're also forgetting that the Kuzuhamon who watched out for Alice is coming with us," mentioned Rika. "That should probably tell you something you know. You've seen how she's been ever since Alice disappeared. Would you be going off somewhere at someone's order if someone you cared about was missing and they could tell you where they are?"

Takato raised an eyebrow at Rika as the faint flicker of hope kindled within him.

"Are you saying…?"

"All I'm saying is, not everything is put out on the open for us to see around here. I talked to the Seer Council before you and Ryo did, so I know they like to speak in riddles. Whatever they're talking about, they mean something more than just what we first hear."

"I wish I knew more about what they were talking about…"

"Tough," said Rika. "We're just going to have to deal with it for now…"

"…And hope for the best, right?"

"Are you reading my mind, Gogglehead?"

"Ah…no, that one just popped in my head."

Rika didn't say anything in response to that as they rounded a corner and stepped out into the courtyard where they were greeted by Kuzuhamon, Ryo, Cyberdramon, Renamon, and Guilmon, all of whom were conducting final checks over their supplies to make sure that they were ready for the journey ahead of them.

"Hey Takato," greeted Ryo as he slung his pack over his shoulder. "What'd you do? Fall in? You were taking so long that we were wondering whether or not we were going to have to send a search and rescue squad."

"I'm fine," replied Takato, smiling at the Legendary Tamer, the past behind the two of them. I'm just being late as usual."

"The sign of a true hero," grinned Ryo good-naturedly. "Waiting for the absolute, very last minute to come in and save the day."

"Kind of like you sometimes Ryo," said Rika flatly to the Legendary Tamer, recent events clearly not yet settled in her mind, "only without the style behind it."

Ryo's grin became a little unsteady but he retained his good humor as he directed his focus on the red haired girl.

"I don't know about that. I've seen him in battle and I know that he's got some good moves…"

"You weren't there for when he came crashing through the roof of the Shinjuku subway tunnels and bouncing, rather ungracefully I might add, off of a giant snake."

Ryo turned towards Takato with a raised eyebrow to which Takato chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"There's a funny story behind that…"

"I don't doubt it," said Ryo laughing lightly. "Kind of makes you wonder what she sees in you, doesn't it?" Ryo tipped the boy a wink while Takato felt his face heat up slightly in embarrassment.

"He has his moments," said Rika, her own face taking on a crimson discoloration before she shrugged on her own pack. "Now are we going to get out of here or what? 'Cause I don't feel like standing around here feeling like I'm in the company of two Terriermons."

"Well I'd hate to be accused of being a Terriermon," joked Ryo looking over at their digital companions, Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon. "Just lead the way. We'll follow."

* * *

They travelled in silence for a couple hours after leaving the temple grounds, the silver furred fox known as Urocyomon disappearing every so often so as to scout ahead or sometimes stopping as he looked for a specific landmark. This seemed pretty straightforward from Takato's point of view when it came to traveling, though there were some things that Urocyomon did that he found rather 'odd' when it came to discerning how close they were to a path they needed to take or how close they were to the 'shortcut' that never seemed to show up. Sometimes he would stop and wouldn't move or say anything and to date the only time that Takato could find a source for causing him to resume walking again involved a leaf falling to the ground. He found it all very odd, and even Renamon had to admit that she found the whole thing rather perplexing. When they asked Kuzuhamon about it all she did was merely shake her head and regard the young fox with a small smile.

"Gyōjamon and Urocyomon have their own way of doing things. They have a different sense of the digital world and its patterns then we do. I've observed them long enough to know that they react to subtleties in their environment and use them as cues to predict shifts in data, and sometimes they end up causing those shifts themselves but I don't understand the totality of what it means for traveling the digital world or tracking something down. It's quite outside of the traditional methods."

"Hmmm…" Takato turned to look at Urocyomon, who was now walking normally at the head of the group. Raising his digivice Takato activated the scanner program. A holographic circle appeared over his gold trimmed digivice, displaying Urocyomon's image and his statistics.

Urocyomon

Stage: Rookie

Type: Data

Special Attacks: N/A

_No attacks?_ Wondered Takato raising an eyebrow. _What kind of digimon has no attacks? Well, there's Calumon but he's something of a special case and his abilities are more passive than active. I wonder if there's anything special about this digimon that makes it so that he can't use attacks. Maybe I should ask him, or would that be rude?_

Before Takato could even answer that question or speak Urocyomon stopped suddenly and raised one hand, signaling to the others to stop. Takato was just about to ask if there was something wrong when Guilmon suddenly began growling and crouched low to the ground, pupils dilating. Even Renamon, Cyberdramon, and Kuzuhamon were standing at attention in a battle position.

"Uh…guys? Care to fill us in on what's going on here?" Asked Takato.

"Digimon," growled Guilmon. "And a _powerful_ one."

"Nearby too," said Urocyomon. "And…" he narrowed his eyes. "…Familiar." He turned towards Kuzuhamon. "We might have a problem here."


	130. 129: Chaos' Mark

_"You felt her then, didn't you?"_ Spoke an unfamiliar voice from the darkness surrounding Jeri. _"Even now, after all this time, you still feel her…"_

Jeri blinked and clenched her hands tightly together against her chest.

"W-Who's there?" Jeri called out to the darkness. The brown haired girl gulped audibly as her heart hammered away within her chest. Afraid…she was _so_ afraid now, and the worst part was she didn't even know why. She didn't even have a clue how it was she had gotten here. One moment she was facing a digimon, some blue dragon in armor that she quickly learned was a part of the Royal Knight group attacking the real world, and the next she was…wherever this place was.

"H-Hello? Anyone?" Jeri looked around her anxiously, but darkness spread in every direction. There was an oppressive feeling in the atmosphere around her, like some great heat had been unleashed. There was something achingly familiar about it too. A familiarity that clawed at the recesses of her senses and tugged at the faint chords of memory.

"Takato?" Jeri squeaked in an ever decreasing tone of voice. She felt like a mouse trapped in a cage. "Rika?"

At this point, Jeri couldn't tell if even the disembodied voice she had heard before would have been a comfort. At least it would tell her that she wasn't all alone in all this darkness.

_Why do I feel like I've been here before? There's nothing here that I can see that reminds me of anything. Just this strange feeling I'm getting. I don't like it. Why am I feeling this way?_

_"Because…"_ spoke up the voice from the shadows once more, and Jeri gasped in surprise as it broke through her thoughts. _"In a way, you have_ always _been here. From before you were first taken and even after you were freed…you have always been here. It is a part of you, like your heart, your mind, or your soul. It is your home, and home…is_ always _where the heart is."_

"Who is _there?!"_ Jeri called out, her fear starting to bubble over and mix with anger welling up within her. As though in response to the emotion, a dull, red light began to shine in the darkness ahead of her. Hesitantly Jeri took a small step towards it, grateful for anything to illuminate the shadows. As she did so, her foot caught up against something lying on the ground. It felt thick, and almost rope-like, or perhaps more like a snake or a wire. Whatever it was, just coming into contact with it had sent her skin crawling, as though it were so repulsed or afraid of whatever it was lying on the ground that it wanted to become a separate entity and leap off her body to get away. Ignoring the comically nightmarish image of chasing after her skin Jeri swallowed and looked down towards the ground. Just doing that, she found, took all the courage that she had.

Even with the dull, red light growing steadily stronger around her, Jeri found it difficult to see very far ahead of her. She could only make out the bare outlines of her legs and feet below her and the same held true for what her foot had snagged upon. At the very least she could tell that she was right in her estimation of the shape of the object. It was rope-like in appearance and form. In fact, it…

Suddenly Jeri felt herself stiffen as fear took hold of her firmly in its grasp.

_It…it can't be. It_ can't _be!_

The red light began to grow all the brighter, and the oppressive feeling from before grew heavier. Jeri now felt as though she were being watched by an innumerable amount of eyes, all of which were trying to push her down, seeing into the very core of her being and drawing forth all sorts of monsters and nightmares from their hidden coffins, dragging them out into the daylight for all to see. All at once, half-remembered dreams that had woke her up, biting her lip to keep herself from screaming out loud assaulted her vision and she jumped back, giving a half-moan, half cry as she stared at the blood-red rope lying on the ground. From the moment her foot departed from its contact the rope shivered and stood up like a cobra, its severed end turning to look at her. Behind it, a dark shadow began to take shape, arms spread as her own had been in a cruciform fashion when she had been trapped in the nightmarish prison that her friends had fought so hard to free her from. A prison that even though she didn't like to admit it, she still had to fight to escape from time to time.

A prison that remained within her, no matter how many days or months lay between her and those unending days.

_"You still hear her voice…her words sing a song of madness within your heart…"_

"No…"

The crimson light now burst forth, flooding the room and dispelling the darkness. Time fell to a standstill as Jeri took in the image of the ultimate manifestation of her inner-pain, hanging in the position where she had once been, dark, bloody hair hanging about her head like fangs, and a crimson, tightly fitting body-suit with purple leggings covering pale-blue skin. Raising her head, the creature that Jeri knew all too well smiled, the simple gesture speaking volumes of insanity and murder, and the delight that it took from them.

"Hello Jeri," spoke the _Jeri-Reaper_ , her voice reminding the young girl of a witch or the way a crow sounded when it called. "How nice of you to drop by."

* * *

Jeri's lips trembled and harsh gasps began to emerge from her mouth. She struggled to hold in the scream that threatened to tear its way free from her mouth. She felt as though she were paralyzed; caught within the eyes of a venomous viper. She…

_Calm down,_ a new voice in her mind reminiscent of Rika told her fiercely and soon enough Jeri found herself agreeing with it, feeling herself calming down and coming back to some measure of balance.

_That's right. It's not real. It's not! Takato destroyed her a year ago and Hypnos made sure that she couldn't come back no matter what. This…this is all just a dream. Something that's happening to me because of…whatever it is that Royal Knight is doing to me. He had some weird symbols light up on his armor right before he touched me. It must be causing this dream._

"No hello?" Asked the Jeri Reaper from her spot on the cross of red cables. "No desire for chitchat? You spoke a lot more towards the end of your stay with us. I had assumed that you would have _something_ to say to me. You were a far better tool for us when you were quiet, but your resistance made us stronger." Cables tightened their grasp around the Jeri-Reaper's arms, and the sound of their coiling reached Jeri's ears, causing her to grimace.

"You're not real," she whispered. The Jeri Reaper's ghastly smile simply widened.

"That's right. I'm _not._ You and your friends killed me Jeri. And then you devolved me and sent me back to the digital world where the Sovereigns were waiting. You all knew that. But here I am. My body may be dead, but you'll always carry a piece of me around with you." A soft twinkle of light appeared in Jeri-Reaper's eyes. "Your friends Impmon and Calumon could tell you that much. Impmon especially. After all, he carries a part of me within him too."

"W-What do you mean?"

The sound of tightening cables again filled the air; soft, but resounding in the silence, like a hangman's noose.

"How's Takato, Jeri? I haven't seen him since he and his partner punched a hole through me. Are things going well between you and your knight in shining armor?"

Jeri frowned at her inner-demonness.

"Why am I even standing here talking to you?" Turning Jeri proceeded to walk away, only to be surprised when the Jeri-Reaper appeared directly in front of her. Gasping Jeri stumbled backwards, tripping over the wires that littered the floor around her.

"Don't turn away from me, Jeri…from _us._ We here to help you. You gave us great strength, remember? And in return we sought to destroy the source of all of your sorrows. It's what _partners_ do, _isn't it?"_

Anger flared in Jeri's mind and she stood up, glowering furiously at the Jeri-Reaper.

_"Partners?!_ Is _that_ what you call what you did to me? Is _that…?"_

_"You_ made us evolve," interrupted Jeri-Reaper. "With your pain you attracted us. It was _you_ who set us upon the human world. Humans can only evolve digital life forms that are partnered with them. Isn't that so? Isn't that what your little game tells you?"

"I have a partner…"

_"Had,_ Jeri. _Had._ Your partner is dead. Destroyed by Beelzemon. It hasn't been easy for you, being friends with him and knowing that. Remember how you said that you hated him for what he did?" Jeri-Reaper laughed darkly. "Believe me when I say that he's paying for it now…"

"Shut up…"

Jeri-Reaper raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

"I said…" Jeri lifted her eyes towards her misshapen doppelganger. A crimson glow appeared in her eyes. "… _Shut…up!"_

A cable leapt forth from the ground and suddenly snared Jeri around the neck, pulling her to the ground where more swarmed around her, tying her down and binding her arms to her side.

"That's it!" Crooned the Jeri-Reaper joyfully as she towered over the young girl. "That's the spirit! Give into your anger and your rage. Your struggles _help_ _us!_ " Bending down Jeri-Reaper ran a claw over Jeri's cheek, and once again she shuddered from the contact. The red glow in her eyes began to fade as a tear escaped from her eyes.

"How sad," Jeri-Reaper mocked. "You cry even when you know that you're going to have release from your pain. Don't worry though, we'll take care of you once again. We know all the sources of your sorrows and we shall eliminate them for you one by one until no more is left. The digital world, the Tamers, Takato…"

Jeri's eyes snapped open and focused on the Jeri-Reaper, who snickered at her.

"How insensitive he is, breaking down the way he did after Guilmon's death and letting it consume him like he was the only one in the world to experience loss. And then, letting _another_ enter his heart and claim it for theirs without regard for how you felt. Even creating a link to it." Jeri-Reaper shook her head. "Oh well. You had such a small claim on him anyway."

Jeri's eyes flashed and all at once a flurry of cables lashed out and grabbed hold of Jeri-Reaper, sending pulses of black energy burrowing into her body and forcing her down to the ground, crying out in agony.

"You _leave_ Takato and Rika alone!" Jeri howled as the wires that imprisoned her pushed her up to her feet and parted from her body. "I don't blame Takato for what happened, and I don't blame Rika either! I did what I could for him and so did Rika! We both care for him… _love_ him in our own way! Rika is like a sister to me and if she can do more to help him and stand by him then I'll let her!"

"Your mind may let the Queen have your knight, but your heart says otherwise," cackled Jeri-Reaper maniacally. "I know what you _really_ want…"

"You don't know anything," said Jeri, her voice starting to choke and transform into a sob. "You're just a mean, hateful, _spiteful_ part of me that's only interested in itself! I love my friends! _All_ of them! No matter what you say or do that will _never, ever_ change!"

"That's not what you unleashed upon your home world. That's not the _face_ you wore then. You are _ours_ , Jeri. You belong to the Reaper; body, mind, and soul. There is nothing that you hid from us. Open up, Jeri Katou. It's time to stop hiding from what's inside of you."

With a twitch of a finger a hole opened up in the floor between the two and a stream of cables surged upwards from the opening. Aiming towards Jeri and the Jeri-Reaper the cables entangled themselves around the pair and began to drag them together into the pit. Jeri fought like mad to escape their clutches but the cables proved to be far stronger than she was.

Jeri-Reaper smiled as they both dipped into the pit.

"In the shadows…we will become _one,"_ she whispered as she disappeared into the depths of darkness.

_"No!"_ Shouted Jeri as she clutched desperately at the ground beneath her, giving one final heave against her bonds. "No! I won't become one with you! I _won't!_ _Takato! TAKATO!"_

Her struggles were fruitless unfortunately, and soon enough she was dragged behind her double, her screams echoing on the air, falling upon the ears of silence that knew no pity.

* * *

"Ah!" Takato raised his hands to his ears reflexively and winced.

_What was that?_ He wondered, pulling his hands away and frowning. _For a second there it felt like…I heard…_

"You felt it too, Takato?" Came Rika's voice from next to him. Startled the brown haired boy looked over at his friend. Instinctively he opened his mouth to ask her what she meant by that before realization hit him and he nodded in response to her question.

"Yeah. It felt like Jeri was calling out to me or something. You felt that?"

Rika nodded.

"We _are_ connected, remember? Whatever you feel, I feel too."

"Maybe not," put in Ryo as he came up next to them, "because I felt it too."

Rika scowled at the Legendary Tamer, trying to discern what it was that he meant by that as the memory of his being with Jeri still sat fresh in her mind regardless of anything that had already been said on the matter. Seeing this, Takato decided that this would be a good time to intervene before she said something that they would end up regretting later.

"Does that mean that Jeri is here then? In the digital world, and in danger or something?"

"Without any idea of where Jeri is, we won't be able to know for sure. But…" Ryo took out his D-Arc and began to scan the surrounding area. Within a second his digivice began clicking and beeping as it picked up a signal. Or rather… _two_ signals.

"I'm picking up a digivice signal right next to a digimon…a _big_ one. I think that it's the one that Urocyomon and the rest detected."

"Glad that we're a part of the conversation again," said Urocyomon, earning him a glare from Rika.

"Urocyomon," said Kuzuhamon as she placed a gloved hand on the Rookie. "I think it would be best for you to scout on ahead and check the situation out while the rest of us follow from behind. If the digimon is who we think it is then it will be difficult to avoid him without being detected. Also, if one of their friends is in danger…"

"Got it," nodded Urocyomon before vanishing from sight.

"Hold on," said Rika, pulling out her blue trimmed digivice and turning to her partner. "Renamon. Follow him. Visual confirmation will cut down on the time that he has to take to get back to us and file a report."

"Understood," replied the vulpine digimon before she too disappeared, joining her male brethren in the spell of Kohenkyo.

Raising an eyebrow Takato turned to Kuzuhamon.

"Um…not to sound insulting but why didn't you go on ahead instead of Urocyomon? You're more powerful so…"

Kuzuhamon chuckled lightly.

"I may be a Mega, but I'm not entirely suited to this form. I've been something of a failure in kitsune society before I met Alice. I can only fool Urocyomon when it comes to Kohenkyo, but for a digimon like what we're facing I'll stand out like a sore thumb. He may in fact be already aware of our presence."

"Who are we facing?" Asked Ryo.

"A Royal Knight," answered Kuzuhamon calmly. "And from the feel of it one who had attacked our temple, and the very reason why we had sent Gyōjamon to your world to warn you of their coming. Why he is here I do not know, though I suspect that storm from last night may have caused an exchange between our worlds. It is unfortunate that fate decided to place him here of all places. His presence will delay our journey."

The Tamers all exchanged glances.

"All right then," said Takato turning towards the direction that Ryo and Rika's digivices were pointing. "Let's go."

* * *

Renamon phased into view and landed on a tree branch, taking a moment to survey her surroundings before leaping off once again. Her blue eyes caught the faint shimmer of Urocyomon as he faded in and out of reality. She watched him carefully. Even though she could just barely see him she stayed focused on him with laser-like precision. For some reason she felt uneasy about this unexpected situation, and interestingly enough Renamon could not tell if it was because of the Royal Knight and the possible presence of Jeri or the Rookie that she was trailing. She had fought Royal Knights before, and even though their reasons for doing what they did not always make the most sense in the face of more peaceful solutions, they at least made what they wanted quite clear even as they caused devastation. Urocyomon on the other hand was an enigma. The fact that he was a male Renamon aside (something that she had never expected to see, never mind something she believed in) the fox was quite different from his female sisters of the Seer Council.

_Less emotional control I should say,_ thought Renamon as Urocyomon finally fully materialized and landed on a tree branch, pausing and flicking his tail. _Even if he doesn't show it on his face, there are other ways to tell how someone is feeling on the inside. But it's more than just body language. There's just something about Urocyomon that makes me think of a lit match in a dry forest._

She had heard some of the details concerning the Royal Knights attack on the Seer Council. They didn't give her all of the details but the fact that the temple grounds were in a state of reconstruction and many of the kitsune digimon were in a state of mourning clued her in that something was amiss. Casualties had been taken and Renamon felt that she had plenty of reason to believe that among those casualties was someone in the leadership. Someone of great importance, and perhaps someone that they wished for Rika to replace if she had understood any of the words that the Seer Council had used during their meetings.

_Princess…the word certainly fits Rika, but why would they use it with her? They don't even know her._

Frowning, Renamon pushed the thought away for the moment and turned to focusing on the here and now. Peering ahead Renamon tried to look past the cluster of bushes and branches that blocked her vision.

"Urocyomon, can you see anything?"

The other vulpine digimon did not answer right away, and instead closed his eyes. Raising his hands he crossed his index fingers together and began mumbling something under his breath. After a few seconds he reopened his golden eyes, and they shone brightly.

"Digimon dead ahead…UlforceVeedramon. He has one human with him."

That was all the silver fox had to say on the matter before he leapt into the air, disappearing in a shimmer of Kohenkyo. Renamon found herself frowning at the Rookie, and for the briefest of instants she was reminded of herself. Shaking her head she reached out for the link that she shared with Rika.

_"Rika. Urocyomon has confirmed that a Royal Knight is here, and has a human with him. We're going to try for a closer visual."_

_"Got it,"_ came her partner's reply. _"Be careful Renamon."_

The golden vixen allowed a small, barely visible smile to grace her face at Rika's concern.

_"Always…"_

With that Renamon too disappeared in pursuit of her fellow kitsune.

* * *

Urocyomon landed on a tree branch just outside of the small clearing that UlforceVeedramon stood in. Just as he had seen a human was with him, one with brown hair and an olive green dress. Both of them were standing stock still, eyes locked as a series of white, flame-like symbols flowed back and forth between their bodies. The silver fox frowned at them, wondering what their purpose was. He had never seen or heard of such a phenomenon occurring with the Royal Knights before. And since it seemed to be flowing over the human as well like a connecting river…

_Is there something about that to worry over?_ He wondered, grinding his canines against each other and growling. Anger flared in his heart. Anger that was directed at the Royal Knight in front of him.

Let it be known that Urocyomon, as far as the Royal Knights were concerned, was not a happy camper, which was a rather light way of putting his feelings. The same could easily be said about anyone who had witnessed the attack on the temple or had been involved in some fashion. The attack had been brutal and without regard for the innocent and helpless. He himself had been conducting his rounds in the nursery, helping a newly evolved Viximon as she began her first steps into the wider world. That had been when all hell had broken loose, figuratively and literally. The door that she had been walking to had exploded right in front of them from an attack that had gone wild, and the Viximon had been obliterated in a second. It hadn't been long afterwards that he had seen the final attack that the Mother had led against the two knights, only to fall before them, reverting to egg form.

He had tried repressing how he had felt after the fight had ended and come to terms with it. Act as though nothing had happened and continue on with life as always. For the most part he succeeded. Life and death were a part of existence and that knowledge had been engrained in them from the moment of their birth to the time that they died. Everyone accepted it. _Everyone._

Everyone that is, except for him.

Urocyomon's tail twitched and small sparks leapt from the fur. His legs tensed, preparing to leap and tear into his home's attacker. He wanted his data. He wanted…!

A hand wearing a purple colored glove fell on the vulpine's shoulder and Urocyomon blinked in surprise, the bloodlust vanishing just as quickly as it appeared. Looking up, gold met azure and all at once Urocyomon felt his fur start to stand on end in embarrassment.

"Ah…"

"Stay calm," said Renamon. "Humans have a saying in their world. 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' I can understand your desire to do something, but we must be cautious here. There seems to be something going on here, but at the moment Jeri doesn't appear to be in any danger."

Scowling, Urocyomon turned away and glared at the Royal Knight ahead of them, not saying anything while Renamon took a moment to collect her thoughts.

"What are your abilities?" Asked Renamon crouching down on the tree branch and looking over towards where UlforceVeedramon stood. Her eyes took on a hard look to them as she saw Jeri standing in front of the dragon knight, frozen in place.

"I don't have any inborn techniques if that's what you mean," said Urocyomon. "All of my abilities had to be learned. I'm…um…not quite that good at them yet though."

"I…see." Renamon's mind raced. She did not like what she was seeing and every part of her being cried out for her to rush into the clearing and grab Jeri as quickly as possible, but the cooler, wiser part of her restrained her from doing so. Without any knowledge of what was going on she could end up causing irreparable harm to Jeri. Narrowing her eyes Renamon took in the flowing pattern of white, flame-like patterns that moved back and forth between Jeri and UlforceVeedramon.

_What is that?_

"Looks as though UlforceVeedramon has initiated some kind of high-level language program," said Urocyomon, causing Renamon to raise an eyebrow at him, seeking clarification.

"What do you mean?"

"Some digimon are able to manipulate vast amounts of data in their environment by writing programs to suit their purposes. Wizardmon, Witchmon, Piedmon, and various other wizard and shaman type digimon are capable of that ability on varying degrees of level and ability. Even our evolved forms are capable of it though our methods can be different. We all call it 'magic' after the humans just to simplify things. It's been said that the Wizardmon brought it to the digital world from the world that they came from."

"I see," replied Renamon. _Makes sense. I hadn't heard it referred to as a language program but considering our origins it's not at all surprising. I'd be able to stand a better chance at decoding this if Rika evolved me to Taomon. If we could break this program then we'd be able to get Jeri and get out of here. However, the only remaining problem would be UlforceVeedramon. I don't think he'd take too kindly to our intrusion._

Renamon frowned as she realized something.

_We're close enough where we should have been noticed by now. So why haven't we? It couldn't be because of UlforceVeedramon's damage._ Renamon took a moment to take in the Royal Knight's battered disposition before continuing with her line of thought. _I've faced other Royal Knights before who were in just as bad condition as this and they were not at all slowed down or weakened. I don't know what kind of punishment UlforceVeedramon may have faced, though I have my suspicions as to who delivered it to him, but I don't believe for a moment that his injuries would have dulled his senses or his reaction time._

Renamon watched the flow of fiery symbols as they went back and forth between Jeri and UlforceVeedramon. A sneaking feeling began to emerge in her mind just then.

Her ears twitched as she heard Urocyomon mumbling something underneath his breath.

"What are you…?"

It was right there and then that all hell broke loose over where Jeri and UlforceVeedramon stood.

* * *

_All of these pathways,_ thought UlforceVeedramon as he continued to make his way through the many twists and turns that lay in the mind of Jeri Katou. _Chaos has marked her far more deeply than I had believed. It made her a part of its very being. I wonder…_ the blue dragon placed a hand on a wall covered completely in red cables, giving it the appearance of a living organisms tendons. _…Just how far did that absorption go? I have probed her memories, and it's clear that this girl and the Chaos were connected closely enough for it to force digivolution out of her. Yet…in spite of the fact that the Chaos has been extinguished, there's a change still occurring within her, and it's growing. Has_ been _growing at an exceptionally accelerated rate for quite some time now. What is this? Is there going to be a resurgence of the Chao…?_

_"I must congratulate you for getting this far,"_ spoke up a voice to UlforceVeedramon, breaking through his train of thought and snapping him to attention. Igniting his energy blade UlforceVeedramon looked around him, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Who's there?" He demanded, his blade humming. "Answer me!"

_"You Royal Knights…always demanding things when you're in no position to be making them. I must thank you. You have helped push my plans a little bit faster for me just by digging around in this girl's mind. However I must ask you to leave now. This child's mind has been violated enough as it is. Also…things are going to be getting messy here real soon."_

"I asked you to identify yourself," growled UlforceVeedramon. "I do not ask a second time."

The voice chuckled.

_"Still making demands. Well, you're at least in a position to make good on any threats… Ahhh, the Sephirot. Such a lovely program. I wonder…how would it react if I did…this!_

"Do what…?"

A split second later UlforceVeedramon's eyes bulged under his helm as a shadow fell over him and the pressure of power assaulted his senses. Clutching at his head the Royal Knight fell to one knee in an attempt to keep himself from coming apart. Looking up with eyes that were fighting insanity UlforceVeedramon glared at the entity that now towered over him. An entity that he recognized from Yggdrasil's files.

_"You…"_

_"Yes. Me. Be sure to say 'hello' to Yggdrasil for me if you ever see him again. It's been a_ millennium _since we last 'talked.' Now…"_ a twin pair of cannons sitting on the entities blazing shoulders began to power up as it leered at him. "…Cannon Fire!"


	131. 130: Dragon's Roar

"We're getting closer," announced Takato, looking up from his digivice.

"I can see that," commented Rika, taking in Renamon's eye view via her digivice. "Renamon's located them. I can't see too well but…" Rika scowled. "Stupid image system just _has_ to be _small_ doesn't it?" She mumbled too herself before resuming her previous sentence. "…It looks like Jeri's definitely there."

"Is she all right?!" Asked Takato, worry apparent in his voice. Rika shook her head.

"I can't tell. So far it looks like all she's doing is just standing there. Ditto for that dragon knight too. Neither of them is moving. It looks like something's going on between them but…" Rika trailed off and tilted her head to one side, her eyes taking on a distant look to them as though she were listening to another conversation.

"…I…can't get a hold of Renamon," she said finally. Looking back at her digivice, her eyes widened as the holographic image it displayed suddenly dissolved into snowy white. Panic filled the girl's heart as she tightened her grip on her digivice.

"Renamon! _Renamon!"_

It was at that moment that an explosion ripped through the forest ahead of them, sending and severed wooden limbs flying in every direction.

* * *

A massive explosion rocked the clearing, nearly knocking Renamon and Urocyomon off of their perch. Clinging tightly to their tree branch Renamon turned on Urocyomon, fury blazing in her eyes.

"What did you _do?!"_ She demanded, to which the silver furred Rookie looked at her, completely baffled by the situation.

_"Do?!_ I only just got started on conducting a scan of that program! I wasn't doing anything more than that! I swear! This isn't…!"

"Never mind!" Interrupted Renamon. "Whatever is going on it places Jeri in danger! We have to rescue her _now!_ I'm going to run interference while you grab her and get her out of…"

Renamon was suddenly and abruptly cut off as a blaze of blue and yellow fire cut a swath through the tree that they were on sending it careening towards the ground beneath them. Before the tree had even dipped a foot however a second blast ripped free from the smoke field clearing and stabbed into the center of the tree. Urocyomon had just milliseconds to register it, one hand already dashing towards his knapsack, before the tree exploded, sending the two kitsunes flying in a storm of splinters, burnt bark, and shattered branches. Without time to think Urocyomon ripped free from his knapsack. Flashing through a series of hand signs the silver fox turned and threw what he held in his hand at Renamon just seconds before a large chunk of a broken tree trunk slammed into his back, knocking the air out of his digital lungs and, like a hand clutching gleefully to a prize, pulled him downwards.

_Oh Numemo…_ was all Urocyomon had time to think before his body brutally crashed into the ground.

* * *

UlforceVeedramon blew the clouds of dirt away from his body with a hasty beat of his wings. With a deep frown he peered ahead of him at the vague outline of the human girl he had earlier been in contact with. A girlish giggle resounded upon the air and UlforceVeedramon could not help but repress a shiver.

_"I'm surprised that you survived that, considering all you went through on the other side. Perhaps Gyōjamon isn't as powerful as I thought he was. Or maybe you're just stronger than I gave you credit for."_

The dust and smoke blew away, revealing Jeri Katou standing calmly, tapping her right finger against her chin while resting an elbow in her other hand, the flame patterns of UlforceVeedramon's Sephirot program still crawling over her body.

_"It all comes from a life time of disappointment in Yggdrasil's attempts to defeat me in the past, back when he was ENIAC,"_ commented Jeri, her tone echoing with humor and reminisce. _"His Sovereigns fell before me, and the precious Digidestined could not hold a candle to me then either. So simple and easy to capture. You and yours were not even blue prints when Ryo came along. I suppose that he finally learned something after all of those encounters."_

The white fiery symbols blazed a path towards Jeri's right arm as she lifted it away from her chin and extended it out towards UlforceVeedramon, hand open.

_"He's even vastly improved upon the Sephirot Protocols as well._ Very _impressive, but…"_ the white flame symbols moved up Jeri's arm before coalescing in the palm of her hand, emerging from it as a ball of light that Jeri promptly closed her fingers around. Small particles of light drifted between the gaps of her fingers and fell towards the ground, lifeless, punctuating the last of Jeri's statement. _"…Ultimately futile."_

Ignoring how casually the girl had dispensed with his master's program UlforceVeedramon focused on the human. Her voice sounded strange to his ears. It was as though two voices were speaking through her.

"Aren't you the hypocrite?" Said UlforceVeedramon sarcastically. "You said that this child has been violated enough, and yet here you are, using her body. I have seen her memories. What you're doing now is not at all different from what the Chaos did to her."

_"True,"_ agreed Jeri in her strange, dual voices. _"But Jeri isn't available right now to talk to you or defend herself. Plus it would seem that two of her would-be-rescuers are out of commission right now, which complicates things. Until her friends get here we're on our own. And I know that you're not going to simply walk away from all of this. Not when you know who I am."_ A smile appeared on Jeri's face as her amber eyes flashed yellow. _"After all, Yggdrasil won't permit more than one god to exist at the same time, will he?"_

Jeri raised one hand and a flash of gold fire traced its way down her arm, taking on the outline of a clawed, reptilian hand. Looking at her, UlforceVeedramon couldn't help but notice that she appeared to be 'pleased' by the manifestation.

_"Exciting, isn't it?"_ Jeri asked as she lashed out with her 'arm.' The claws extended from her arm like a whip and UlforceVeedramon barely avoided being struck by them by leaping into the air and taking flight. The arm crashed into the ground, carving a trench into its surface. The Royal Knight snorted at her attack.

"You're only wasting your energy," grunted UlforceVeedramon. "That body isn't built to handle your power. You'll wear yourself out."

_"That is…also true,"_ agreed Jeri, panting heavily as she retracted her 'arm' and dismissed its flames. _"Only one Tamer can handle me, and if he accepts me at long last…well, that will make quite a lot of trouble for you won't it?"_ Jeri smirked as her legs began to tremble from exertion. _"Exciting times are ahead for all of us, Royal Knight. This…is only…the beginning."_

"How ominous," said UlforceVeedramon as he ignited his energy blade with a sharp hiss. "But you're right. Times are changing, and chaos always flies on the wings of change. However, you're not the first to make that prediction."

A smile appeared on Jeri's face.

_"So what is your choice then?"_ She asked. _"Your god's time is ending…"_

"I cannot allow you to exist," said UlforceVeedramon. "Regardless of what you say or what my master has done, I still have my duty. You have always been a plague to the digital world…Milleniummon."

'Jeri' shrugged.

_"Glad to know that you at least recognize me, even if I'm lacking in my body. Will you slay this human then? Just to get at me?"_

"Even then," said UlforceVeedramon. "If at any point you appear, all other protocols are to be discarded."

_"Very well then. I see that I'll have to step up my game then. You see…I can't have you harming this child. She is…very important to the people she cares about. I cannot allow her to fall."_

Golden hued fire began to flicker at her arms and she raised them towards her adversary, ignoring the shakes that raked her body. UlforceVeedramon got into a defensive stance, pointing his energy blade at a point between Jeri's eyes, awaiting the child-god's first attack.

_She's almost spent just from that attack from earlier. She won't be able to handle much more than one strike. She won't even be able to aim well either even if Milleniummon is enhancing her senses._

'Jeri' smiled and dropped her arms suddenly, the flames extinguishing themselves. UlforceVeedramon raised an eyebrow at her.

_"It would appear that assistance is already on its way. I must admit, I look forward to seeing this 'clash of knights.'"_

UlforceVeedramon was just about to ask what she was talking about when a shadow fell over him.

"GET _AWAY FROM HER!"_

_Damnation…_

Spinning on a dime, UlforceVeedramon raised his energy blade. Sparks flew as the hiss of electricity clashing with electricity filled the air as UlforceVeedramon's blade collided with Gallantmon's energy saber.

* * *

Takato Matsuki waited, his eyes closed tight.

_Oookay…not that I'm complaining but…what's going on here? Just seconds ago things were blowing up._

It was true. A blast of epic proportions had ripped through the forest, sending fragments of trees, either as splinters or good sized portions of which could be likened to boulders, flying every which way; some of which, Takato had noted with dismay, was aiming towards their direction. There had been no time to think. With instinctive reflexes that would have surprised even Renamon Takato had thrown himself in front of Rika, hoping to shield her from harm even though he knew full well that the difference between his body and Gallantmon's armor was considerably large. However, crushing death did not greet them and no pain erupted in Takato's body.

Slowly cracking his eyes open Takato saw a piece of tree branch, one end broken in such a fashion that it would have made an excellent spear point, slide down the air in front of him, as though it had made contact with an invisible barrier.

"That…was close," breathed Kuzuhamon. Turning, Takato saw that the purple and blue armored shaman had her arms raised and a faint, blue glow surrounded her entire body.

_She raised a barrier…_

"No kidding," said Ryo in agreement. "Rika, what the heck happened over there?"

Nervously the fiery haired girl looked down at her digivice and reactivated the camera function. A holographic circle appeared above the screen and Rika breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her partner was still all right.

_There's still something wrong with the visual,_ she thought with a frown as she looked at the holo-image. The visualization was dark for the most part, save for a few pockets of light that were allowed in through what looked to be cracks, but for the life of her Rika couldn't figure out what they could be. The field of vision was too small and the light too lacking for any kind of easy identification.

"Hang on a sec," she said to the Legendary Tamer in response to his question. Closing her eyes Rika quickly calmed her rapidly beating heart and felt out for the bond that she shared with her vixen partner. Slowly, she began to get a jumble of images and sensations filtering through the connection. Renamon's wires were keyed up, and it felt like she was struggling to get out of something. Rika felt a faint, pinching feeling in her arm, beating in time with the feeling of Renamon's movements.

"Renamon's trapped in something," said Rika after a moment. I can't tell what exactly but it almost feels like…" Rika paused, searching her memory for the right way to describe it. Her mind drifted to her memories of the park and she soon had her answer. "…a bush?" Rika shook her head, almost immediately denying the idea until further introspection told her that it wasn't entirely out of the question. A blast as big as what she ha d just seen Renamon could easily have been buffeted into some nearby foliage no matter how nimble and well-balanced she was.

At any rate, that was beside the point now.

_At least I know that she's all right,_ thought Rika.

"I can't tell what's going on," said Rika as she opened her eyes. "Right now Renamon's stuck in something and she's trying to get out."

As she spoke a faint trickle made itself known in her mind. It seemed as though Renamon was now aware that her partner had been trying to get in contact with her. Holding up one hand for silence Rika again closed her eyes and put all of her focus on her partner.

_"…Ika…"_ came the faint voice. _"Rika; can you hear me?"_

_"Loud and clear, Renamon. Glad to know that you're all right. What's going on over there?"_

_"Urocyomon is down I believe. I didn't get that good of a look but events were not favorable to either of us. Jeri on the other hand…"_

_"Jeri? So she's really here? Is she okay?!"_

_"I don't know. I'm currently unable to move right now and I don't have a clear view of what's going on. What I do know is that Jeri was standing with UlforceVeedramon right before the explosion. Rika…they were right at the center of it!"_

Rika's eyes snapped open and she turned towards Takato, her mouth moving to speak but for the first time in her life words failed to come. She needn't have bothered though. Takato, now connected to her almost as closely as Renamon, felt what she was trying to say. The knowledge passed between them quickly and Takato looked over at Guilmon. In an eerie approximation of Rika and Renamon whenever they talked to each other using only their minds the two partners nodded as one and took off at a run. Pulling out his gold-trimmed D-Arc Takato thrust it in front of him as a bright, golden light began to shine from its screen.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" Takato called out as the light exploded like a sun, engulfing himself with Guilmon, merging them into one.

* * *

Ryo watched as Gallantmon took off into the air, followed quickly by Kuzuhamon behind him.

_With the speed that he's got he'll get there in no time,_ thought the Legendary Tamer as he raised his own blue colored, gold-trimmed digivice. _But he's going to need some more backup._

Ryo glanced at Cyberdramon and the Vaccine, Ultimate level, dragon warrior growled approvingly, grateful for the chance to once more head into battle.

_Those who live by the sword die by the sword,_ thought Ryo distractedly as light shone in the screen of his digivice.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" The Legendary Tamer called out. Energy rushed through his body all at once then as the catalyst reaction of his essence invoked Cyberdramon's digivolution. He felt his body being merged with that of his partner's, and the Ultimate's body began to warp and alter, becoming more humanoid, losing its dragonic features. The sphere of data that had formed around their body shattered, revealing for all the world to see the triumphant figure of…

_"…Justimon!"_ Shouted Ryo and Cyberdramon together, completing their evolution. Within his blue colored data sphere Ryo swiveled his eyes around until they landed on Rika.

_"We've got to get over there as quick as we can,"_ he said to her, holding out a hand to her. Rika looked at the offer, one part of her already rising with a biting, sarcastic comment ready to fire at the Legendary Tamer, but she quickly stamped down on it.

_This isn't the time for that kind of thing,_ she thought to herself. Her violet eyes rising to meet Justimon's featureless mask, Rika reached out and placed her hand in his.

"No funny stuff or else I'll choke you with your scarf," she warned Justimon as he scooped her up in his arms. Within his data sphere Ryo couldn't help but chuckle.

_"No worries,"_ replied Ryo as he waited for the girl to situate herself. Once she was set Justimon leapt into the air.

* * *

From behind Jeri's eyes, Milleniummon observed the battle that raged between UlforceVeedramon and the X-Antibody variant of Gallantmon. Sabers clashed as the two stamped back and forth, neither one quite gaining an edge over the other…or so it appeared. For all of Gallantmon's power, enhanced as it was by the X-Antibody, never mind the fact that he was fully rested and uninjured compared to UlforceVeedramon, he hadn't been able to land a hit that was anything more than a glancing blow on the blue dragon's body.

_Actually…perhaps things aren't as one-sided as I believed them to be,_ thought Milleniummon. _After all, UlforceVeedramon has yet to counterattack. So far he's been putting all of his effort into staying on the defense, and although he doesn't look it, his movements are slower too. Not quite as refined as I've seen them to be. That battle in the real world really did take a lot out of him. Takato and Guilmon might be able to win this one on their own…_

UlforceVeedramon ducked and weaved in between each and every one of Gallantmon's strikes, his movements slowing down each and every time. Almost like clockwork, Gallantmon stepped up his attacks until…

_At last!_

Ducking beneath a slashing attack, UlforceVeedramon grabbed hold of Gallantmon's lance arm. His own energy blade humming with power the dragon knight pulled his weapon back and then _drove_ it into Gallantmon's chest. Gallantmon howled in pain as the blade punctured his armor, only to be swiftly silenced as UlforceVeedramon kicked him in the gut, wrenching his blade free in the process. Orange particles of data coupled with crimson liquid spilled forth from the wound and Gallantmon doubled over, going down to one knee with a heavy crash.

_"Aaaah!"_ Takato and Guilmon gasped together. Takato clutched his chest as pain ripped through his body. UlforceVeedramon watched the knight with a look of disgust.

"You take on the form of a Royal Knight and you allow yourself to be beaten this easily? You're a disgrace to the armor you wear. The Gallantmon I knew would never have been taken an injury like that." UlforceVeedramon tilted his head and scoffed at the crimson and white armored warrior. "But then, you're _not_ that Gallantmon. You're not _Gallantmon."_

From within his data sphere Takato ground his teeth and shut the pain out of his mind. Moving with Guilmon the pair pushed back up to their feet, their injury flaring as they did so.

_"Takato,"_ came Guilmon's voice from the darkness surrounding the Tamer's data sphere, _"I don't think we've been hurt too bad. I'm not going to be going away like I did before just from this."_

_"I know boy,"_ said Takato, still wincing as he raised his shield and saber. _"But either way, we're in trouble. This guy's good. He looks like a beat up old soup can but he still packs a wallop."_

_"His attack hurt worse than when Mihiramon bit my arm, but we can still beat him."_

_"You're right,"_ agreed Takato. _"We will beat him. We have to. We just have to be more careful and not leave our self so open the way we did."_

_"Not to mention use our attacks. As long as Jeri's still here we can't go all out."_

_"Yeah…"_ Gallantmon's gaze shifted over to where Jeri was standing, and he frowned in confusion. _"Come to think of it, why is she just standing there? She doesn't look scared or anything…"_

Takato was interrupted from his train of thought as UlforceVeedramon plowed into him with the force of a Locomon, grabbing him by the throat and dragging him through the dirt.

"A warrior does not let themselves become distracted," chastised UlforceVeedramon as they crashed into a particularly thick tree, bringing the duo to a sharp halt. "One wonders what end might come if they let themselves get caught up in other things. Guess you'll have this lesson to think upon in your next life."

Bringing his right arm to bear, UlforceVeedramon pointed it at Gallantmon's head, preparing to deliver the coup de grâce. From within his data sphere, Gallantmon fancied that the dragon actually smiled.

"I'd rather say that that holds true for you," came the cry of Kuzuhamon as a white fox spirit slammed into the side of UlforceVeedramon's head, wrapping itself around his eyes and causing the dragon to scream with pain before stumbling backwards. Blinking in surprise, Gallantmon found himself dumbfounded by this turn of events before bringing his shield to bear and slamming it into UlforceVeedramon's stomach, who gave a _woof_ as the air left his lungs but he quickly recovered and brought his hands up to grapple with the shield. Bringing up his saber Gallantmon slashed at the Royal Knight. Once again however the attack met with no success as UlforceVeedramon simply ducked beneath the blade. Tightening his grip on the shield, UlforceVeedramon ripped it away from Gallantmon's arm.

_"Womb World Manda…"_ began Kuzuhamon as she positioned herself to aid Gallantmon. However she was quickly interrupted by UlforceVeedramon as he spun and threw Gallantmon's shield at her. The barrier turned Frisbee caught Kuzuhamon off guard, slamming into her side with ferocious force and sent her careening towards the ground where she crashed brutally next to a ball of twigs that lay on the ground, pushing back and forth like an egg that had a newborn desiring its freedom.

"Kuzuhamon!" Exclaimed Gallantmon as he surged towards UlforceVeedramon, energy crackling around his lance. UlforceVeedramon simply caught him by his arms and threw them wide, golden energy coalescing around the V-crest emblazoned on his chest.

_"The Ray of Victory!"_ UlforceVeedramon shouted as a beam of pure energy rocketed forth and detonated on Gallantmon's body, blowing them both apart from each other.

Milleniummon watched as Gallantmon crashed to the ground and struggled to get back to his feet, breathing heavily as a wrecked shoulder guard fell from his body.

_Hmmm…he seems a little bit off somehow. He may not be as good a fighter as UlforceVeedramon or any of the other Royal Knights, being atrociously inexperienced compared to them, but even he shouldn't be having this kind of trouble. Not even Kazu had this level of difficulty and they were newly digivolved. Could he be…holding back?_

Within the girl's mind Milleniummon shook his head and raised Jeri's right fist.

_Takato, Takato, Takato…the time is long past where you should be hesitating in battle._

A crimson sphere flared to life in Jeri's closed hand and Milleniummon raised her eyes towards Takato, amber flashing gold.

_"All right Warrior of Fire,"_ said Milleniummon in Jeri's voice, _"the time has come to reawaken. Burn bright warrior."_

Her fingers parting the sphere of crimson energy rose into the air before shooting outwards and impacting Gallantmon's body. The Royal Knight shuddered and collapsed to the ground as an orange energy field ran over his armor. Jeri swayed on her feet now, her eyes fluttering.

_"You're on your own now,"_ she said softly as consciousness began to leave her. A second later Jeri's body fell forward and darkness swallowed her vision, joining her spirit and mind in their respective shadows.

* * *

This was the scene as Rika and Justimon found it when they finally arrived. Gallantmon was laid out on the ground in front of a billowing cloud of smoke, not moving in the slightest while Kuzuhamon lay a short distance off with Gallantmon's shield covering the lower half of her body. Next to her a strange ball of twigs rustled. Further off was Jeri, likewise out of it along with Urocyomon, half buried beneath a broken piece of tree trunk.

Both Rika and Ryo had to admit that this was not a good sign.

Upon landing Ryo quickly put Rika down on the ground and saw to Kuzuhamon, hauling Gallantmon's shield off of her body. Rika quickly looked around, trying to find some sign of her partner. She knew that she was still alive, but the question was…where?

For some reason her eyes were drawn to the ball of twigs that continued to rustle endlessly near where Kuzuhamon lay.

"Kuzuhamon! Are you all right? What happened here?" Justimon asked in the dual voices of Ryo and Cyberdramon. The shaman coughed as Justimon helped her sit up.

"UlforceVeedramon…" she said weakly, clutching her side. "…the Royal Knight that attacked the temple…he's here. Gallantmon fought him but…" Kuzuhamon coughed again before continuing. "…he's been injured."

"Injured?" Rika's eyes flashed as she paused in her search of her partner. Her eyes flickered over to Gallantmon's unmoving form and anger flared in the pit of her stomach

"Yes," confirmed Kuzuhamon. "And there was something else. I didn't get a good look but I'm pretty sure that I saw something _red_ make contact with Gallantmon. I don't know what but…"

Kuzuhamon was interrupted as a gust of wind blew over the clearing, blasting away the cloud of dust and smoke and revealing UlforceVeedramon, his eyes narrowed and eyeing Gallantmon dangerously.

"Guess we'll have to continue this conversation under safer circumstances," said Justimon as he morphed his mechanical arm into his _Voltage Blade._ "We've still got trash to take out."

Turning towards Justimon UlforceVeedramon _hmmmphed_ and glared at him.

"Don't be so confident. You are but one Mega and you have no backup."

"I've been in tighter spots then this," said Justimon as he leapt into the air. _"Voltage Blade!"_

UlforceVeedramon's body blurred and in one moment he disappeared from where he was standing. In the next moment Justimon found himself staring full on into the dragon's eyes. Thrusting his arm out UlforceVeedramon grabbed hold of Justimon by his facemask and threw him towards the ground with brutal force, causing the ground beneath the Legendary Tamer to explode on him from the impact.

"Still think that you're on my level?" UlforceVeedramon asked before his body blurred again. An instant later he reappeared over Gallantmon, one foot pressed down upon his back. "Even this one thought he could stand up to me, and while I admit that he fought well for an X, he could not hope to match my strength."

As UlforceVeedramon spoke he extended his energy blade from his right V-Bracelet.

"This is the difference between us, and now this false and pathetic excuse for a Royal Knight will pay the price. _Ulforce Saber!"_

Time slowed to a standstill for Rika as her mind filled with shock. All at once she was having a flashback to when she had first arrived onto the scene following Lucemon's first attack in the real world, standing triumphantly over Gallantmon, speaking as though he had taken out trash. Once… _once_ , she would have agreed, at a time when she didn't know anything about digimon or what it meant to be a Tamer, but those days were long over. Now the thought of one of her friends losing their partner angered…no, _enraged_ her.

_Why? Why are there always digimon trying to harm our friends? Trying to hurt the people we care about?! Takato…Jeri…neither of them should have had to suffer the way that they did! And Takato…_

Rika's eyes widened as they set themselves in a most fearsome glare. Her hands clenched into fists and her digivice began to click and beep as it responded to her emotions. Nearby, in the sphere of twigs a light began to emerge…

It was at that moment that crimson flames burst free from Gallantmon's back, incinerating his cloak and transforming into a pair of wings. UlforceVeedramon gave a start and paused in his attack and even Rika found herself dumbfounded by this sudden and unexpected turn of events. Hands transforming into claws Gallantmon began to push himself upwards, straining against the pressure of the Royal Knight's foot against his back. The blazing wings flapped and a burst of fire exploded from his body, blasting UlforceVeedramon off of him. Flapping his wings again, Gallantmon dispelled the fire and Rika found herself gasping in surprise. Gallantmon's armor had taken on a blood-red appearance similar to his vaunted 'Crimson Mode,' only this time it appeared sleeker, more reptile like. A horned head crest adorned the knight's helm and the new dragon knight turned on UlforceVeedramon. Waves of heat pulsated from his mouth as he drew himself up to his full height. Opening his jaws Gallantmon let out a ferocious roar. With a cry of _Wildfire Tsunami_ Gallantmon tore into UlforceVeedramon with a storm of burning flames.


	132. 131: Control

He didn't know when or how it had happened. One moment he had been trying to get to his feet, trying to fight UlforceVeedramon and failing…

_"You are a disgrace to the armor you wear…"_

…trying to summon all the power that he had to protect his friends. Yet for some reason it wasn't working. No matter what he did, UlforceVeedramon just turned it around and overwhelmed him!

_"This guy is on a completely different level than we are,"_ thought Takato with a touch of desperation _. "Oh man, this is really bad! Okay…just stay calm! We can figure this out…"'"Yeah!"_ Exclaimed Guilmon, trying to help shore up his partner's confidence. _"As long as we're together we can do anything! It's always worked before so why not now?"_

_…Or not,_ finished Takato in his mind. Even though it was entirely unintentional on Guilmon's part, his words, that as long as they were together they could solve anything, brought back a horrid series of memories where that philosophy had failed them. They had been together when Leomon had been deleted and loaded by Beelzemon and nothing they did then had been able to stop him. He and Guilmon had fought as one against Lucemon but it still hadn't stopped the angel from killing his partner. Even now, even though he had all of his friends backing him, he felt as if he were being nothing more than a burden to them. Here he had tried to rescue Jeri from UlforceVeedramon, and all he had gotten for his efforts was a savage beating, with Rika and Ryo coming in to rescue him.

_"You are a disgrace to the armor you wear…"_

_"I should have been able to take this guy,"_ said Takato as he gripped one hand into a tight fist. _"I should have been able to protect my friends. This guy is powerful and if I can't do anything to help…"_

The memory of the battle at Okinawa, when Rika had gone head to head with Dynasmon, cutting him off behind a shield to keep him out of the fighting due to his inability to biomerge at the time, flashed through his mind. In his mind's eye he could all too clearly see the explosion of power that Dynasmon had thrown at Rika and Renamon, and then Dynasmon, holding them, as Sakuyamon, by the neck, ready to deliver the death blow and all he could do was stand there and watch.

And all because he wasn't strong enough.

_I need more power,_ Takato thought to himself. _I'll never be able to help anyone, not Rika, and not even Guilmon if I can't get stronger on my own. If I keep relying on others, or if others can't depend on me to stand on my own, then what good am I as a Tamer? What good…am I?_

It was in that particular moment that a soft glow emerged in the darkness surrounding his data sphere. And with it came a warmth that Takato recognized all too well. A warmth that he felt whenever he biomerged with Guilmon; a promise of oneness and unity…and of power. It was the power that Takato looked to though. It called to him. As long as it offered him a way to defeat UlforceVeedramon he would take it. Raising his hands Takato reached out towards the light, and as though his motion had been a beckoning the light began to grow, eventually coalescing into a red sphere that approached him silently. For the briefest of instants Takato thought of Grani, and of the Crimson Mode that, for some reason seemed to be beyond his grasp now.

_Is this his data…the data he gave to us to defeat the D-Reaper?_

Takato shook his head mentally. No. It didn't feel like Grani. His mind had touched the digital life forms when they had merged and he knew instinctively the shape and feel of his long departed friend essence. He didn't sense this in this strange sphere.

_"Takato…"_ began Guilmon uncertainly. _"I don't know about this. The red ball has a funny feeling about it. It feels almost like me whenever a digimon shows up."_

Takato hesitated.

_He's right. There is something strange about this…but do we have the time to think about it? UlforceVeedramon is still out there and raring to go! We can't afford to wait!_

Takato could feel UlforceVeedramon's foot pressing against his back. He could hear the Royal Knight's voice as he spoke to Rika and Ryo. They were far and distant to him though. Time had slowed to a crawl and all he knew was himself, Guilmon's presence, and the red ball in front of him. For some reason Takato had the strangest sensation that the sphere was watching him… _judging_ him. There had once been a time where he would have thought the idea ridiculous but he had enough experience, and a strong enough imagination to know that the thought was not that far out of the range of possibility.

After all, drawings don't normally come to life, eating bread and spewing fireballs.

Before Takato could even think or do anything further the red ball shot forth and punctured Takato's data sphere, exploding into a torrent of fire that encompassed Takato's body, flooding his very being with their searing heat. Guilmon's cries of surprise were drowned out by Takato's own surprised shout quickly devolving into a scream as he felt a presence invade his mind, overwhelming his defenses and burning through his mind.

* * *

Renamon frowned as she took in her surroundings. Everywhere she looked a shell of branches and twigs encompassed her on all sides, knotting around each other tightly to the point of near smoothness. So far it had proven to be surprisingly resilient to each and every one of her attempts to escape up to and including her _Diamond Storm_ attack.

_To think that such a thing could sprout from just a simple root that Urocyomon tossed at me,_ thought Renamon as she once again tested the walls of her prison. In spite of the smooth and surprising softness of the wood, the wall of wood did not so much as give a single inch.

She and Urocyomon had been thrown through the air like a pair of ragdolls when the tree they had been on exploded. She had barely a second to register that the other kitsune was rapidly flashing through a series of hand signs before he threw a spindly root straight at her. Surprise had run through her mind at the action as she could not imagine why he would do such a thing, but within the time space of a second that question, as well as her surprise were quickly made a moot point as the root suddenly exploded into a bright light that enveloped her, and in short order Renamon found herself, surrounded by the twisted shell of wood as it plummeted towards the ground below.

Quite surprisingly, Renamon found that she had been relatively unharmed by the rapid descent, and the 'shell' had actually served the function that she had described to it, protecting her from the full impact of landing. In spite of the bumps and bruises that she had been made to endure, the vulpine digimon considered them a small price to pay for the injuries she would have received otherwise.

_Impressive that a digimon of the Rookie level is capable of manipulating data to this extent. Usually this kind of data manipulation is restricted to Champion and above. Even Rika and I as Sakuyamon are only beginning to learn the basics of our skills._

Renamon grasped one paw around a particularly thick band of wood, trying to dig her claws between the gaps. Unfortunately, in spite of the praise worthy effort that Urocyomon had put into his rather hastily made barrier and cushioning system, there was no way that she could get out of her prison. There were small cracks here and there to allow for proper air circulation, but beyond that the armor of wood was tightly sealed. Even with her teleportation abilities, she still required a significant gap to be able to make the jump to freedom.

_I can't afford to be trapped in here,_ thought Renamon. _I sense that there's something going on outside, and if those noises are any consideration I need to get out of here now!_

Renamon was just about to reach into the connection she had with her partner when all of a sudden her instincts flared up into an all-out warning, screaming at her to duck. Long experience had taught her to trust what her instincts told her and Renamon quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding a razor sharp, blue colored energy slash as it sheered effortlessly through the top half of her cocoon. Blinking her azure colored eyes Renamon quickly leapt out into the open air, quickly scanning her surroundings and taking stock of the situation.

What she found went beyond all of her expectations.

A hurricane of flames bled upon the air, joined by a shrill, animalistic cry. Wings of fire beat and flapped as a large, dragon-like creature slammed into UlforceVeedramon's body, nearly pushing the Royal Knight to the ground from the ferocity of the blow.

"What is going on here?" Wondered Renamon aloud as she took in the appearance of the newcomer. Her question wasn't a result of her not recognizing the digimon; far from it. In fact, she wouldn't have voiced it if it was an unknown digimon. The digital world was replete with wild digimon and Renamon would have been pleasantly, though not entirely, surprised if one happened to wander in and decide to pick a fight with UlforceVeedramon. However, Renamon could tell that such was not the case. The Hazard sign emblazoned on the other digimon's chest, the crimson color to its armor, the scent, and those eyes…those gold colored eyes from which she had seen kindness and a feral anger, were far too familiar to her to believe that this creature was a completely different digimon.

As Renamon watched, her mind trying to discern an answer to her question from what she was seeing, a portion of the creature's armor warped and remolded itself into the familiar image of Gallantmon's shoulder guard. The dragon creature suddenly halted in its assault on UlforceVeedramon and grabbed the sides of its head and let out another, animal-like howl. The creature slammed its feet into the ground, as though by doing so it could drive out whatever it was that tormented it. The Gallantmon shoulder guard phased in and out of stability for a second, its existence becoming a thing of uncertainty. Seizing advantage of its distraction, UlforceVeedramon plowed into the creature and wrestled him to the ground. Fire once again roared and the blue dragon found himself quickly being blasted away by the intense heat of the flames.

"RENAMON!"

Her focus on the two combatants breaking, the vulpine digimon's blue colored eyes quickly zeroed in on the source of the voice that had called out to her, finding it in the form of Rika Nonaka from where she stood, trying to lift an unconscious Jeri and having to settle for half-carrying, half-dragging the brown haired girl to safety. Safety that didn't look like it was going to come fast enough for either of the two. Quickly teleporting over to where they stood Renamon materialized in front of Rika and took hold of Jeri, effortlessly lifting her into her arms.

"Rika! What happened?"

"Got me! I'm still confused about it myself. Ryo and I got here to find everyone out, you stuck inside that tumbleweed over there, and just before dragon-knight there was about to take out Takato," Rika's eyes flashed as she looked over at the fight before continuing, "Gogglehead turned into…whatever _that_ is. My D-Arc can't analyze it. Kuzuhamon says that she saw something go into Takato." Rika gritted her teeth as she watched the battle go back and forth between the two combatants and she tightened her grip on her digivice.

"He's in trouble in there," said Rika. "I can feel him inside that thing, and there's something else with him. And I'm not talking about _just_ Guilmon. I mean something _else."_ Rika turned to look at her partner. "We have to help him."

"I agree, however I believe that we should attend to the pressing matter of getting Jeri out of here and to a place of safety. Whatever it is that Takato's going through," Renamon indicated the two battling dragons with a nod of her head, "it appears that he has the situation in hand."

"Then we'll have to speed things up," said Rika as she raised her digivice to the sky. "BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

The only response that Rika got was a series of clicks and beeps coming from the arc shaped device.

"NO!" Rika howled in frustration, gripping her digivice so tightly that Renamon was afraid that she'd crack its surface. "Not now! _Anything_ but _now!_ Come on…why won't you _WORK?!"_

Rika hurled her words at the blue trimmed device as though they were Zudomon's hammer and she glared heavily at it with a look of such betrayal that Renamon believed that if looks could kill, the D-Arc would have been reduced to particles. Renamon frowned mentally, her own frustration mingling with that of her partner's.

"Rika," said Renamon, placing a paw on the girl's shoulder as she took note of the waves of fire that Takato and Guilmon relentlessly threw at UlforceVeedramon. "We have to go. This battle is starting to look increasingly dangerous, and with our inability to biomerge we'd only…"

_"Don't_ say that we're going to be in the way!" Shouted Rika angrily. "I swear if it's the last thing I ever do I'm going to break this lock and get in there and pound the heck out of UlforceVeedramon. Get Jeri out of here!"

Renamon's eyes widened in shock. "Rika!"

_What is she thinking? I'm not going to just leave…_

"I said 'get Jeri out of here!' I'm going to get past this! I _will_ get past this lock no matter what! I wasn't able to do anything the last time and I refuse to be stopped like this again! I…"

"Do _not_ be foolish, Rika!" Exclaimed Renamon angrily, losing her temper for the first time that she could remember. Grabbing her partner's shoulder the vulpine digimon whirled the girl around, ready to just haul her away from the danger zone regardless of her wishes. Rika was acting irrationally at the worst possible time, and with the danger involved there was just no room for…

Renamon stopped as she took in her partner's face. Rika's expression was a torrential storm of powerful emotions, each and every one of them threatening to fully overwhelm her. Her face was flush and her eyebrows knotted with anger and frustration, and most telling of all were the tears that were brimming in her eyes, almost spilling forth.

_Rika…_

"I can't let this go on," said Rika, her words sounding sharp and bitter. "Every time I turn around lately it's like I'm messing up. Takato…Jeri…and now us. I have to get us to biomerge! I hate being useless! I feel like I'm slipping…"

"Rika," interrupted Renamon, regaining herself. "Believe me. I understand, but you should know enough that you can't force things to occur. Takato knows that better than any of us and you saw the result of that. I don't know why we can't biomerge right now but I promise you that it will not be forever. Right now we can only do what we can do, and that means that we have to get Jeri out of here."

Rika continued to hold onto her digivice tightly. Taking a deep breath, the young girl's body shuddered as she forced herself to get a grip on her emotions. For the briefest of moments, Renamon allowed herself to hope that Rika would, for once, listen to her and get away from the danger.

"I get what you're saying Renamon," Rika said after a second had passed. "But I'm still staying."

"Rika…"

"Please…don't argue. I need to do this. I promise that I'll be as careful as I can out here but right now…"

A flash of heat interrupted the girl from her speech and UlforceVeedramon crashed to the ground behind them, his armor groaning pitifully as it strained against the punishment that it was being made to take. The earth quaked beneath them and Rika spun to see the warped, dragonic version of Gallantmon stomping towards them. The air shimmered around his wings as the dragon came to a stop. As much as Rika hated to admit it, very little of the dragon resembled Gallantmon now. Blood-red armor had now completely replaced the white save for a solitary, reptilian crest with horns and a long, whip-like tail lashed at the air behind him like an angry serpent. As Rika watched a strange, spear-point shaped object materialized around his arm, making it appear almost like an elbow blade if not for its wholly mechanical and gun-like appearance beneath the golden armor that composed it. The dragon breathed heavily, as though it were painful for it to just hold its form. Rika's digivice clicked and beeped, finally processing the digimon that both she and Renamon were looking at. The screen lit up and projected a holographic circle, displaying the digimon's stats.

BurningGreymon

Stage: Hybrid/Beast

Type: Variable

Special Attacks: Pyro Barrage, Corona Blaster, Wildfire Tsunami, Burning Inferno

The information however, was lost to Rika and Renamon as they were too caught up in the state that their friend was in to pay attention. Rika's eyes moved over the warped form of her friend before meeting his eyes, trying to find some sign that her friend was still in there.

_Takato…_ thought Rika, reaching out with her mind instinctively and trying to find the link that connected them. After a moment Rika furrowed her brow.

_Wha…what's going on? I can't feel him…_ either _of them! Why can't I feel…?_

The dragon lifted one foot and brought it down heavily onto the ground, sending cracks and fractures spreading throughout the ground like a spider web. Dangerous intent filled BurningGreymon's eyes.

"Rika…"

"No."

"Rika, I know how you feel but we _must_ get out of here! Takato's become a danger to…"

"He'll pull through," Rika insisted, clenching her free hand into a fist. "I don't care what he looks like or how he's acting now he's not going to hurt us!"

It was becoming just like the battle from a month ago, when Takato had been merged with BlackGuilmon to become the fearsome dark knight, ChaosGallantmon. Although Renamon knew full well that Takato hadn't been in control of his actions at that time, his emotions had still led him into battle with his closest friends. And now, here they were once again, just like then, facing down an opponent who was counted among their closest friends, only this time without anything binding him. Would he remember in time who his friends were? Or would he…?

* * *

Justimon groaned and shook his head as he peeled himself off of the ground. Tiny pieces of rock fell off of his armored face and hit the ground beneath him.

_"Note to self,"_ muttered Ryo from within his data sphere, _"do not let UlforceVeedramon throw you to the ground from up in the air again. In fact, don't let him throw you_ period!"

Ryo heard Cyberdramon growl, but whether or not it was in agreement the Legendary Tamer could not tell.

"Are you all right?" Asked a cool, female voice from in front of him as a gloved hand settled on his shoulder.

_Who…?_ Looking up Justimon found himself looking at Kuzuhamon who was kneeling in front of him awkwardly, using her staff to balance herself. There seemed to be something wrong with her hip, as though it pained her in some manner.

_Oh yeah. That's right. She got clobbered by Gallantmon's shield. That would be a tough act to shake off, and I think she said something about how her not being used to her body or something._

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Justimon as he sat up. "What's the situation?"

"That is," replied Kuzuhamon with a nod of her head over towards the battlefield. "I'm afraid that I can't get over the…" Kuzuhamon hissed suddenly as her weight shifted, and she tightened her grip on Justimon's shoulder to keep herself from falling. "Damn," gritted Kuzuhamon, pressing her hand against her side, and for the first time Justimon noted the sparkling data that was leaking from her side.

"Just hang in there," said Justimon as he got himself to his feet while helping Kuzuhamon sit herself down in a more comfortable position. "I'll do what I can to help out. Just sit tight."

Justimon turned around and quickly took stock of the situation. A digimon that he had never seen before was staring down UlforceVeedramon with Rika and Renamon, the latter of whom was carrying an unconscious Jeri, in between them.

_Not a good place to be…_

"Where's Takato?" Wondered Justimon.

"That beast," rasped Kuzuhamon behind him, " _is_ Takato. Beware Ryo. I've seen the likes of this written in scrolls back in the temple. He has been possessed by the Legendary Spirit of Fire. Its Beast Spirit to be more precise and it's trying to gain control over his body. Unless he wrestles with it and becomes one with its power he will not be able to distinguish friend from foe."

"What are you saying?" Asked Justimon, trying to understand what she was telling him. Legendary Spirit of Fire? Just what did that mean?

"He's going to be a danger to everyone and everything around him until he comes to terms with the Beast spirit," replied Kuzuhamon. "Perhaps even more so than UlforceVeedramon."

_"Well that's peachy,"_ said Ryo. _"I take it that this is the part where I have to hold him off until he either gains control or reverse digivolves. Man. Never thought that I'd end up fighting Takato one day."_

_Except unless it was over Rika,_ thought Ryo sarcastically as he tensed his legs. He did not like this one bit. All joking aside he did not relish the idea of fighting with his friend. Having known the goggle-wearing Tamer for quite some time now, Ryo had come to know that the boy had an incredible reservoir of inner-strength that was not always easy to see. Ryo knew that he should have faith in him to be able to do the right thing and to get a hold of whatever it was that was going on inside of him. At the very least he should approach Takato and Guilmon cautiously and see what happened from there before committing to any other kind of action.

As he watched the scene play out, he took note of the strange, triangular objects attached to the dragon's forearms as they rotated. The dragon warrior raised the arm that held it and pointed it directly at Rika's face, a faint glow forming at its tip.

That action alone quickly made up Ryo's mind, and within short order he launched himself into the air, his mind and body moving together at an incredibly fast pace.

_Here's hoping that I'm not too late. Takato…I hope that you don't take this the wrong way buddy…_

_"Justice Kick!"_

* * *

Time seemed to crawl to a standstill as Rika stared down at her friend. As changed as he was she refused to believe that Takato would ever harm one of his friends. The memory of her fight with him in the form of the corrupted knight, ChaosGallantmon tickled at the corners of her mind but she quickly brushed it off. Despite what Takato had said in their conversation regarding the matter she knew full well that the Gogglehead had not been in control of his faculties at the time. Her violet eyes stared into those golden depths, confident that her friend would break through.

Not even the glowing tip of the dragon-man's gun barrel daunted her.

Renamon, still holding onto the unconscious Jeri, glanced between Rika and Gallantmon-turned-BurningGreymon.

_If you're going to come through, Takato,_ the vulpine digimon thought to herself, _now is the time._

* * *

Takato swam in a sea of flames. Every fiber of his being was engulfed in their searing heat.

_"Power?"_ Snarled a voice from the fire. _"You wanted_ Power?!"

_"Worthless…you think you can have it? You think you can_ control _it?"_

These weren't the thoughts of the 'presence' that he heard. Not exactly. Rather it was more what he felt. Feeling, emotion, intent…there was nothing that he felt that could be taken as a thought, but it was what his mind created for him in order to make sense of it all. Not that it mattered in the end. His body…his _mind_ no longer felt as though it were his to command.

_"Takato!"_ Came Guilmon's voice through the flames that choked his mind. _"Takato! You've got to snap your fingers out of it! Takatooo…!"_

The brown haired boy blinked blearily, fighting to focus on his partner, but even as he did so a blast of heat, sweeping over him like a tidal wave, buffeted against his body. In a single instant, a memory came to him about his friend. Guilmon, his eyes dilated and growling…little better than an animal looking to hunt prey. From the fire an image of his own face materialized and words took shape on the other boy's lips.

_"…And the last thing that I'll hear is that horrible growl…"_

_"AHHH! Wha…what's going on?! Guilmon wouldn't do that! He's my friend! My_ friend!"

_"Guilmon, you have to stop!"_ The fire version of himself exclaimed again before melting into the fires. Another image assaulted Takato's senses, this time the image of Megidramon, unleashed in all of his savagery as he towered over Beelzemon, pinning him to the ground with his spindly tail, his fangs striving to find their purchase on the Demon Lord's body so that they could at last rip him to pieces. The red hazard sign on the monster's chest flashed over and over, increasing in intensity with each passing second. All around Takato and his friends, the land was breaking apart.

_"Helpless to do anything,"_ chided a demonic, animalistic voice at him, _"and it was all your fault. You stood there then and watched. Your actions then even led digimon to fear you…Lucemon came and destroyed Guilmon in your stead. And you couldn't do anything…"_

_"No! Stop it! Who are you?"_

_"I am what you asked for. You wanted_ power _right?! Well here I am. Ready for the taking! Abandon everything else! Your friends…your family… They'll only just weigh you down…"_

Takato shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

_"You're wrong! My friends don't weigh me down! My friends make me stro…!"_

_"Give it a rest, Gogglehead,"_ came the sound of Rika's voice from within the flames. Turning Takato saw the visage of his red haired friend, this time truly bathed in flames as she strode towards him. Her eyes were set in a frown that bordered on disgust.

_"Rika…"_

_"I said 'give it a rest.' Are you deaf or something? Must be because of those stupid goggles. You wear them so tight it stops the blood from flowing to your brain."_

Takato was stunned. What was it that Rika had just told him? Give it a rest? What did she mean by that?

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Come on. Everyone knows you've been washed up ever since Guilmon died. You've had to depend on all of us just to keep you going! Since when have you ever depended on yourself for once? I did what I could for you with that DexDoruGreymon but you're still as lost as ever! Guess I shouldn't be too surprised from a whiny, Goggleheaded little freak who has dreams about me. He can't even make a decision without being afraid that he's going to hurt someone or make them mad."_

_"This…this can't be real…can it?"_ Asked Takato. Distantly, he could hear Guilmon shouting something at him, but it just wasn't registering with him. In fact, everything felt as though it were getting farther and farther away from him. Takato reached out with his hand towards the visage of Rika, but already she was out of his reach, turning her back on him.

_"Sorry Takato. But I don't have time for indecisive losers like you who have others shoulder their responsibilities. I can't even call you a Gogglehead anymore because even a Gogglehead has more sense than you. You belong in the trash just like everything else…"_

All at once Takato found himself back in the park where they first met, Rika with Renamon opposite of him and Guilmon behind him, mashed into a fence. No words were exchanged between them, or rather Takato never got the chance to say anything because before he could do anything Renamon leapt into the air, calling out her attack. A series of glowing diamonds materialized around her body and sped straight towards Guilmon's unprotected body, and this time there was no stopping them.

_"No! No! Stop it!"_

_"She will turn on you. You think she'll suffer you because of how you are now? Maybe for a little while but not forever. She nearly tossed aside her own partner. She looked down upon you for the longest time and only helped you when it was in her interest. She's a warrior Takato. The only things that are useful to her are those things that can help her win. You're only a stepping stone to her._

Takato's eyes snapped open and he found himself staring into the violet colored irises of Rika, standing in front of him with a determined expression on her face. He could see his arm pointing at her with an armored, gun like machine attached to his forearm, primed and ready to fire. As he looked at the girl, he could feel his arm shaking. His mind felt as though it were unraveling at the seams. A thousand thoughts drove their way through his mind, and try as he might he couldn't

_That…can't be true…_

_"Just end it here. End all of your worries. You won't be a burden on anyone then. Give up. I'll take care of everything from here on out. She tried to hurt you before. First she tried to break you away from your partner, then she tried to break her connection with you. All you'll know is pain from her, and you can't do anything to protect her either, let alone yourself or_ any _of your friends! And who's to say that they won't try to hurt you either? You're useless Takato, but I can give you the power you need. All you need to do is…what you've always done. Surrender."_

Images flashed through Takato's mind. Memories of all the times that he had tried to help but messed things up instead, and had been more in the way then not. Guilmon's death? He had been responsible for that too, pushing his partner to the point of near insanity and nearly destroying the digital world just to make Beelzemon feel an ounce of Jeri's pain. From the very beginning of his days as a Tamer all the way to the present he had been a burden.

_"They'll toss you aside once they've had their fill of you…"_ the voice continued, laying it on thickly.

Takato pressed his hands to his eyes within his data sphere, while outside of it he closed his dragon form's eyes, allowing a tear to escape from its embrace.

A second later he pulled the trigger.


	133. 132: Sworn to Valor

_"Don't Takato…"_

Time slowed down to a crawl suddenly for Takato, his actions caught up in preparing to fire off his attack from the strange weapon attached to his forearm _(Where did that come from?_ He wondered for the first time). Rika was right there, in front of him, her eyes strong and filled with determination and trust. But why…? Why would she trust him? Why, when all he's done is let her down…?

_A sharp gust of wind blew over him, and Takato grunted in pain as his right arm was nearly wrenched out of its socket from holding onto the entirety of Rika's bodyweight on its own. Gritting his teeth the boy clenched his left hand onto the side of the train, searching for as good a purchase as he could find while behind him Guilmon wrapped his arms around his waist, providing him with additional leverage on the smooth, flat surface that he lay on. The strain on his arm…it was painful! It felt like the tendons were preparing to rip themselves apart, but Takato simply dug in further, tightening his grip on Rika's wrist, holding out on sheer stubbornness than anything else. He'd be damned if he let her go at a time when she needed him most!_

Takato's eyes slammed shut as images came out of nowhere, assaulting his mind with an urgency, as though they were begging him to stop what he was going to do. That day! He remembered it! He…

_The train digimon known as Locomon jerked as it picked up its pace and Takato felt himself nearly fall forward, stopped only by Guilmon's powerful grip._

_"Let me go!" Shouted Rika as she saw the danger of their situation. "If not we'll both go…"_

_"Idiot! I know!" He shouted back, feeling rage all but overtake him in the heat of that moment. "Why must you always be like that? Don't give up!"_

…Remembered that day! The day of Rika's birthday party. But why was he remembering it now? Why…?

_Rika's body began sliding towards the edge of the car. She was already becoming conscious, but as she began to accelerate Takato realized with increasing alarm that overtook all of his senses that she wasn't going to stop herself in time. As Rika tumbled off the edge Takato was already moving, and with a speed that he didn't know that he possessed, his hand clamped down on Rika's wrist with a vice like grip, bringing her to a sudden halt._

…Was he remembering that day?

_"You have protected your friends Takato,"_ came a voice from out of the darkness of Takato's blazing data sphere. Takato jerked at it. It was different from the other voice that he had heard, and it sounded… _familiar_. It wasn't Guilmon. There was a feminine sound to the voice, one that spoke of soft tones and a kind gentleness. It didn't take Takato long to place a face and name to the voice.

_Jeri…?_

_"Surrender yourself…"_ Growled the first voice. Jeri's was completely gone. It was just him and the fire now.

Once more Takato found himself staring into Rika's face, and he felt his body shudder as he began to turn against himself. The truth was in her eyes, and Takato could have kicked himself for not seeing it sooner, and instead listening to some voice that whispered his fears into his ears. Rika's eyes, those eyes that reminded Takato of the starry depths of the night, told him everything that he needed to know.

Trust.

Love.

Friendship.

_I am such an idiot…_

Time sped back up, and in that moment Takato became all too aware of the roaring heat that was preparing to exit the diamond-shaped weapon on his arm and that he was _pointing_ it right at Rika! There was no time at all to stop it! No time at a-!

Takato's eye twitched as it caught movement behind the fiery haired teen.

* * *

_"Shall it be fire or lightning?"_

Once, a long time ago back when UlforceVeedramon had been a Rookie, he had been asked this question, a rhetorical question concerning the fates that gods mete out to individuals that have displeased them. The choice of fates, as described, belonged to the elements of fire and lightning. Concerning them, UlforceVeedramon hadn't given the question the weighty consideration that it deserved and dismissed it out of hand many years later when he had evolved and had entered into the service of Yggdrasil. The digital world was full of powers that claimed to be divine, chief among them being the bastard deity of darkness Milleniummon and soul twin to the Legendary Tamer, Ryo Akiyama. The Seer Council, although they never claimed to be gods in their own right, certainly boasted of being in contact with a power greater than any that existed; a mysterious entity that they called 'the Light.' None had ever seen the entity however in spite of its rather ironic name and they never went out of their way to advertise it either. And it certainly had done nothing to offer them protection when he had fought them at their temple. Surely, a divinity that did not protect its own or punish those that opposed it were not the kind that existed; all the more evidence for Yggdrasil as the sole and correct power that controlled the whole of the digital world.

However, as UlforceVeedramon was learning, gods worked in their own ways. Questions of protection aside (for that was something that even the creators of the digital world, the humans, had been struggling to answer since the birth of their civilization), punishment for transgressions came in many forms and always within their own time. One might be able to delay the time of judgment, but one could be sure that the powers-that-be would hit their mark in the end at their pleasure.

And in spite of UlforceVeedramon's belief that only his, apparently former, master was the one, true god of the digital world, it would seem that the time of reckoning had come nigh, or rather had been on him ever since he went to the real world.

For now, at long last, he had an answer to that rhetorical question. Fire, not lightning, was his lot.

_First Gyōjamon, and now this creature, this Beast of the Warrior of Fire. Lady Fortune does not smile kindly on me today…_

UlforceVeedramon frowned as he staggered to his feet, ignoring the ripples of heat and puffs of smoke that emerged from his armor. Right now the dragon man known as BurningGreymon, successor to the power of the Legendary Warrior known as AncientGreymon, was standing in front of him but not looking at him as he would have expected. Instead he was staring at the human child that stood in between them, hair as fiery as he was himself flowing down her neck and just barely touching the top of her shoulders. His right arm was pointing right at her, a weapon that UlforceVeedramon recognized as the _Rudri Trapana_ affixed to the limb and aimed directly at the girl's face. The arm was also shaking.

_Locked in a battle with the Beast Spirit, eh?_ Mused UlforceVeedramon as he drew himself to his full height, striving to be as silent as he possibly could so as to not attract the attention of the Renamon standing next to the red haired human. He did not understand why or how the human Tamer who, just scant minutes ago had been an X-Antibody form of his colleague Gallantmon, had taken on the spirit of one of the Legendary Warriors, but he knew full well what an individual could expect to deal with when mixing themselves up with them. The stories about Cherubimon's experiments using the Spirit of Darkness filled volumes in the annals of the Celestial Kingdom. Not being chosen by the spirit itself ended in the rather horrible fate of being reduced to a ghostly in-between existence filled with nothing more than madness and loss. Failing to control a spirit when it had chosen you, particularly yon Beast Spirit bore equal consequences even if the body was not lost.

UlforceVeedramon, from an experience with a Parasimon, knew full well that there were some Hells that transcended even the immaterial world.

Rika Nonaka certainly would have sympathized had she known about that aspect of the Royal Knight's past.

Regardless, that was in the past, and the present was now and UlforceVeedramon could only act within the present. Here was his chance to delete the Warrior of Fire while he was distracte…

UlforceVeedramon's eye twitched as he noticed a familiar pair of legs dangling from Renamon's arms. Even though her back was turned he could make out the olive green dress of the human whom he had rescued from the desert of the digital world; the human who had earlier shown quite the connection with the dark digital god Milleniummon.

_I cannot forget that I have to put a stop to him. If she's the medium that he is using then I have to escape with her, or destroy her. I can't afford to let this battle go on for much longer. Not if the powers of the Legendary Warriors keep cropping up._

UlforceVeedramon glanced back at BurningGreymon, and noticed that Justimon was flying through the air, pronouncing his attack and aiming specifically for the demon dragon. In that moment, UlforceVeedramon felt confident that he could capture his target and escape unscathed while Justimon fought it out with BurningGreymon.

UlforceVeedramon activated his right V-Bracelet, and a burning, blue blade extended from it. Crouching low, he timed Justimon's descent and then…

_"Corona Blaster!"_

UlforceVeedramon cried out in pain and surprise as his body was suddenly and unexpectedly struck repeatedly by a series of flame-like energy bullets. Raising his left arm UlforceVeedramon tried to activate his Tensegrity Shield, but he didn't get the chance to do so as a fire-bullet slammed home into the device, shattering it into pieces. Cursing, UlforceVeedramon leapt backwards, bringing his arms in front of his body to protect himself as best as he could from the onslaught. The Royal Knight grunted as the attacks continued to pummel his body, breaking off a piece of one of his horns, shoulder guard, and part of the V-Crest on his chest plate. Holes were punched clean through his unprotected wings and the dragon-man winced at each and every one of them. UlforceVeedramon jumped to the side in an effort to escape the rain of fire that continued to pour down upon him…

…Only to be completely overtaken by a stream of fire as it raked over his armor like a flaming whip.

* * *

Justimon landed on the ground behind BurningGreymon, having just executed a reverse back flip in midair to avoid following through with his attack. He had seen Takato's last minute change in his target and had pulled back immediately to see what he would do. He didn't know why it was that Takato was suddenly blasting UlforceVeedramon, but if it meant that he had gained control over the _Beast Spirit_ , as Kuzuhamon had called Takato and Guilmon's strange transformation, then all for the better.

_That is, as long as Takato really is in control of that thing,_ thought Ryo as he tensed his body, keeping an eye on the dragon man as he fired blast after blast at UlforceVeedramon, ready to intervene at the first sign of his friend losing control of himself again.

As he watched, Takato continued to pour on with his attack, stepping forward but once before slashing his right arm outwards in a wide arch. Fire burst around his arm, becoming almost _lance-like_ in appearance and he swept it forwards like a whip, driving its flames into UlforceVeedramon's body, and carving a trench in the ground from the attack's explosive force. Finally the flames around Takato's arm died down, and the Tamer's massive, dragon form slumped down to the ground, landing in front of Rika, Renamon, and Jeri on one knee. In spite of the situation Ryo found himself chuckling at the sight.

_It almost looks like he's proposing to them,_ the Legendary Tamer thought with a grin as he relaxed his stance and breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Rika did not so much as flinch as she felt the heat from Takato's _fire lance_ pass over her and Renamon's head. She didn't even bat an eye when he had fired his attack, or when she felt the warmth of his _Corona Blaster_ attack pass by her cheek. Instead she merely blinked as a gust of wind blew over her, brushing the strands of her hair into her eyes. She heard Takato's last movements as he fell forward, and in spite of her surprise at the movement, Rika couldn't help but feel a small smile begin to curve upwards on her face.

_I can feel him again,_ she thought to herself as a warm presence that had become all too familiar to her of late reappeared in her heart. _He's back._

A light chuckle emerged from the girl's mouth as she felt her body relax, relieved by the reestablishment of her connection with her friend. For what had to be the first time since she had made the link with the boy, she felt comforted…no, _grateful_ for its presence. Now she knew that he was okay. Everything was going to be…

A troubled feeling welled up within Rika just then, like a trapped air bubble emerging from a well.

_Something's_ not _okay,_ she thought as she furrowed her brow.

"Rika?" Began Renamon as the girl took a step towards the kneeling dragon warrior. Rika raised a hand to emphasize silence as she continued to step forward, her movements cautious and measured as though she didn't want to disturb Takato.

"Takato?" She began, somewhat disturbed by his silence. He hadn't moved or spoken since he had fallen forward.

Takato's armor flickered back and forth between white and red for a moment before settling back on red. Flames licked at his right arm, but this time the strange weapon that had adorned it was missing; absorbed back into the dragon-warrior's body.

"…Couldn't…" The words left the dragon warrior's mouth in the voice of Takato Matsuki, filling the silence of the air and Rika found herself smiling once more. Relief washed through her at his words and she took a more confident step towards her friend. However, his next words brought her up short.

"…Couldn't protect you…"

"What?" Rika blinked, perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

"…I couldn't protect you," replied Takato, or at least, Rika thought he was replying to her. There was something in his voice that sounded _off_ somehow, as though he were only half there, and was speaking in a conversation that only he could hear. "I couldn't protect any of my friends…"

"Takato, would you stop it already?" Asked Rika, frowning slightly in annoyance at the Tamer's obsession with protecting people, even though she could fully sympathize with him. "We're fine. You pulled through in the end. You're late as usual but you pulled through. We're okay. Jeez, would you knock it off with the knight-in-shining-armor routine? You don't even look the part right now."

Takato's hand touched the earth beneath him and curled into a fist, carving paths in the ground.

"Rika's always been supporting me when Guilmon died…" continued the Tamer-turned-dragon and Rika blinked in confusion. "…And all I've been doing is holding her back. Dragging her down."

"Rika," began Renamon carefully, "it doesn't sound like he's even aware that we're here."

Before the fiery haired girl could even reply the air around the dragon warrior suddenly grew intense, and she found herself taking a step backwards in surprise.

_Wha…? Takato! What are you…?_

Desperately, Rika reached out with her mind towards the link that she shared with the boy, and while she found that she could still sense Takato's emotions there was little that she could do to discern anything from them. There was such a turmoil raging within him that she couldn't make heads or tails of what could be affecting him in such a manner.

_If only I could biomerge with Renamon…_ thought Rika as she tightened her grip on her digivice. A light began to emerge from its screen…

_"NO!"_ Shouted Takato suddenly and fire burst around his right arm, blackening the ground beneath his fist, catching Rika by surprise and causing the light in her digivice to wink out of existence. "Rika's my friend! It doesn't matter what you say or what you do, I know her! I _trust_ her! It doesn't matter if she hates me for being so weak…"

Again, Rika blinked, surprised by what he was saying.

_Is he kidding me? Does he really think that? Why would he…?_

"…I don't care if Rika thinks that I'm the worst Tamer in the world!" Continued Takato as he wrestled with whatever it was that lay within him, fighting for control over his body. "I care about her! She's one of the most important people in the world to me! She's my best friend, and I _will…not…let you HURT HER!"_

At this last pronunciation Takato's body, BurningGreymon suddenly burst into flames. Out of pure reflex Renamon grabbed her partner and pulled her back, teleporting them both along with Jeri out of the way as the demonic dragon shot himself up into the sky like a volcano erupting.

* * *

From within the blazing sphere of data, the voice that had been tormenting Takato laughed darkly, hearing the boy's words but not believing them in the slightest.

_"You cannot protect what you are too weak to defend,"_ spoke the voice from within the flames that bathed Takato's body. _"You could not protect Leomon from Beelzemon. You couldn't protect Beelzemon from the D-Reaper. You failed to keep your partner safe from Lucemon. Ever since then especially you've had only your friends coming to your rescue…"_

Takato gritted his teeth angrily and a fire of his own awoke in his crimson colored eyes.

_"It doesn't matter what you say to me! I won't let my friends down any more! If it takes me a million years I'll find a way to keep them safe! If it costs me my_ life _I'll keep them safe! I'll do it if it's the last thing I'll ever do and not you or_ anyone _is going to stop me! Do you hear me? You won't stop me!"_

_"Even if they betray you? After all…"_

_"She's not like that anymore! It doesn't matter even if she was! I'll die before I let you so much as lay a finger on her! On her! On Jeri! Henry! Guilmon!_ ANYONE!"

The voice from the flames chuckled warmly then, the fire dying down a bit as its tone altered. Takato blinked in surprise as the hostile intent he had felt earlier suddenly and completely vanished. The presence was still there…still inside of him, but it was different now.

_"Congratulations,"_ said the voice. _"You pass the test."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Man, BurningGreymon,"_ called out a new voice, this one much more jovial in comparison to the first. _"Did you really have to be that harsh to him?"_

Looking around himself, Takato noticed that the fires had almost completely died down now, and in their place was Guilmon, a giant, dragon man with fiery, bird-like wings, and an armored, humanoid creature wearing a mask with a mane. Horns protruded from its head like a demon, but the warm color to his eyes comforted him, and Takato immediately felt at ease in his presence.

The dragon man snorted.

_"It was necessary, Agunimon,"_ it said. _"He needed to recover his inner flame; the one that he had carried for so long and had allowed to diminish. The Digimon Queen was able to restore it to some extent, but it wasn't enough. Now however…"_

_"Hang on,"_ said Takato, utterly confused by what was going on. _"Who are you guys? What's going on here?"_

_"They're friends,"_ chirped Guilmon happily. Takato raised an eyebrow as a memory clicked in his head.

_"But Guilmon…weren't you saying something earlier about how…uh…"_ Takato glanced at the dragon man anxiously, _"…Burning…Greymon…made you feel that he was bad? And then there was how he treated me..."_

_"Oh, I got the whole explanation from Agunimon here,"_ replied Guilmon cheerfully, not losing his composure once. _"He's really friendly and helpful."_

The demon-man named Agunimon rubbed the back of his head anxiously.

_"Sorry about that. This isn't how I wanted to introduce ourselves to you, but BurningGreymon over there just likes to do things his own way. We don't normally do things this way but he's always been kind of hard to handle."_

_"I think I know a friend who can sympathize,"_ said Takato, still somewhat confused by the whole series of events. Agunimon laughed.

_"I don't think BurningGreymon here lights a candle to Ryo's problems, but it's near enough. Anyway, before you can ask me anything about how I know Ryo and everything, I think we should prioritize first. We've still got a fight on our hands here."_

_"UlforceVeedramon,"_ supplied Guilmon. _"He still wants to fight."_

_"And if your resolve to protect your friends is as good and as strong as you say,"_ added BurningGreymon with a nod of his head, _"then you must fight with everything you have to stop him instead of wasting time chatting with us."_

_"I…"_ Takato looked back and forth between the three digimon gathered in front of him, completely and utterly lost over what was going on. Unfortunately, the sinking feeling in his heart told him that he didn't have the time to ponder the million and one questions that raged in his mind. Curling one hand into a fist, Takato's expression became firm and he nodded.

_"All right. Let's do this. For my friends."_

Agunimon grinned.

_"Our power is at your disposal. But…try not to be a little too wild with it. Especially BurningGreymon's. The last time someone got out of control with him he burned a whole forest down…"_

BurningGreymon growled at Agunimon as once more the flames arose, this time engulfing all three digimon and Takato in their blazing brilliance.

* * *

Urocyomon groaned as he came to. Cracking open one eye he looked up to see Kuzuhamon kneeling above him, one hand pressed to his ribcage and glowing softly as she applied her healing magic to him.

"Kuzuhamon…"

"Try not to talk," the dark haired shaman said to him in a strained voice. "You took a pretty bad blow earlier, and your data bonds took some pretty heavy damage."

Urocyomon winced as he tried to move.

"Sure feels like it…" he groaned, ignoring Kuzuhamon's request. "What's going on?"

As if in response, a series of explosions ripped through the air and Kuzuhamon quickly threw herself over the young kitsune's body.

_"That_ answer your question?" Kuzuhamon rasped irritably before clutching her side and pulling back. "Blast…"

Urocyomon gasped as he saw shards of data slip through the woman's fingers.

"Kuzuhamon…you're hurt…"

"This is nothing," the shaman replied as she got to her feet. "We've got to pull back. It looks like the heavy hitters are going to be going at it again. We've got to get to a safe place and look for an opening…"

"Now hold on!" Exclaimed Urocyomon as he staggered to his feet, nearly stumbling as he felt pain tear at his chest. Gasping Urocyomon tried to say something, but he had no chance to as Kuzuhamon grabbed hold of him and began to haul him off towards the safety of the forest behind them.

"No time for that," said Kuzuhamon as she jumped into the air with a powerful leap. Urocyomon had to fight to keep his stomach from heaving up his breakfast as they flew. It was just then that fire burst in the sky above them like a shining meteor.

_What the…?_

The flaming ball of fire exploded outwards as though it were a shell. White armor glimmered beneath the light of the sun and a red cape fluttered in the wind. Gallantmon floated tall and proud, his arms folded over his chest as he opened his gold colored eyes and looked down at the battered form of UlforceVeedramon standing below.

Urocyomon's view of the scene disappeared as he and Kuzuhamon vanished into the trees and came to a landing on a branch. Placing Urocyomon down, Kuzuhamon leaned against the trunk, gasping heavily. Gritting her teeth she punched the tree lightly with one fist.

_"Damn it,"_ Kuzuhamon hissed as she clasped one hand against her side. Urocyomon watched the shaman carefully, taking in her condition and clenching one hand into a tight fist. His expression darkening the vulpine digimon looked up at the sky, trying to see the combatants through the gaps between the multitude of leaves and branches that obscured his vision. An explosion resounded upon the air and Urocyomon growled angrily.

_This fight is going on for too long. We can't afford to go on like this, not with Kuzuhamon in the condition that she's in. I don't care if she doesn't want me to be involved in this fight, I've got to do something!_

But how? That was the question. Urocyomon knew full well that there wasn't much that he could do, not against a Mega, even injured as UlforceVeedramon was.

_Heck, I'm injured as it is and I wasn't even involved in this fight. I don't even have any techniques like other digimon do. The most I can do is manipulate data but I'm not good enough or fast enough to keep pace with Gallantmon and UlforceVeedramon so I really would be in the way. Other than that, I can…track…data_

Urocyomon's mind began to race furiously as he began connecting his thoughts together.

_There…could just be a way to get rid of UlforceVeedramon without having to 'defeat him' per se. It's going to be tricky but…_

Urocyomon closed his eyes, allowing his mind to focus and reach out in the surrounding area. His heart raced, beating almost painfully in his chest as he thought his idea over and over again in the time space of a few seconds.

_Yes…it could work. But the timing is going to have to be perfect with this. If we mess this up we won't get a second chance. UlforceVeedramon won't fall for it for a second time._

"Okay," Urocyomon murmured as he clapped his hands together. "Let's do this."

Hearing him, Kuzuhamon raised an eyebrow and turned towards the young digimon, only to blink in surprise when she didn't find him where she had left him.

"Urocyomon? _UROCYOMON!"_

* * *

"So…" began UlforceVeedramon as he looked up at his fellow Royal Knight. "Back as Gallantmon again. I take it that you have gained control over the Beast Spirit of Fire?"

"Um…" Takato felt a little uncertain, not recognizing the terminology.

_"Does he mean the two flaming guys that talked to us Guilmon?"_ Asked Takato from within his data sphere.

_"Yeah, I think so,"_ replied Guilmon. _"That Agunimon guy said something about that when I was talking to him, and last I checked you had a lot of fire involved in your bubble there…"_

_"Oookay…well, then. Let's see here…"_

Raising one hand, Takato formed his saber and activated it. Fire burst free and took the shape of a blade.

"Does _that_ answer your question?"

"Quite," answered UlforceVeedramon with a nod of his head. "But…" the dragon knight raised his hands and cracked his knuckles together. "…Will it give you an advantage?"

UlforceVeedramon's body became as a blur and he disappeared from Gallantmon's sight. Twisting in midair Gallantmon charged his fire lance and slashed it behind him, just in time for it to receive UlforceVeedramon's attack. Lightning and fire clashed against each other as the two warriors strained against each other, both fighting for dominance.

"How's…this?" Asked Gallantmon, pushing against UlforceVeedramon's blade.

"Better," replied the azure dragon as he pushed back, "but not good enough."

With a burst of strength UlforceVeedramon threw his foot forward and kicked Gallantmon in the stomach, throwing him back. Surging forward, the dragon knight pulled back his sword arm, preparing to stab his opponent…

…Only it didn't quite work out that way.

Spinning in mid air, Gallantmon deftly ducked beneath the attack and grabbed hold of UlforceVeedramon's arm, twisting him in and throwing him over his shoulder before hurling him towards the ground. UlforceVeedramon's wings, still damaged from Gallantmon's earlier attack as BurningGreymon were unable to provide enough loft to slow his descent towards the ground where he impacted with tremendous force.

_"Now Justimon!"_ Exclaimed Takato as he charged his sword. _"Blazing Joust!"_

Justimon, who had been observing the fight from his position beneath the two combatants quickly expanded his cybernetic arm and slammed it into the ground, sending a series of shockwaves to compliment the searing heat from Gallantmon's attack. The sound of UlforceVeedramon howling in pain as the two attacks struck home filled the air.

"Think that did it?" Asked Gallantmon to Justimon.

Ryo chuckled.

"Considering the condition that he was in and how he's been fighting since we met him, I'd be surprised if that actually did put him down."

As though to confirm their suspicions the cloud of dust and smoke that had been kicked up by UlforceVeedramon's crash landing burst apart, and the dragon knight stood, an enraged look on his face as he glared daggers at the two Tamers.

"Well that's just peachy," grumbled Gallantmon. "What's it take to make this guy _stay down?"_

"It's not that easy," came a voice from next to Gallantmon's ear, causing the Royal Knight to jerk in surprise when he discovered that his shoulder suddenly had a surprise passenger in the form of Urocyomon.

"Ah! What the…? Urocyomon! When did you…?"

"Dodge please."

"Wha…? _WHOA!"_

Looking just in time, Gallantmon quickly dove to the side, narrowly avoiding UlforceVeedramon as he flew at him. In spite of his rapid dodge, the Royal Knight was on Gallantmon in seconds, cutting and slashing at him with his energy blade. Gallantmon did his best to block, but in spite of his increased speed from the power boost he received from the Spirit of Flames, UlforceVeedramon managed to break through his defenses, scarring his armor in multiple places.

_My shield!_ Thought Takato desperately as he just barely blocked an incoming slash. _If only I had that I could match this guy…_

_"Who says that you need a shield?"_ Came the voice of Agunimon. _"You have firepower. That's all the shield that you need. It's hard to fight an opponent if you get singed just trying to get at him."_

_"Uh…I don't get it…"_

_"Just hit him with more heat than he can take. Make him keep his distance from you. His ranged attacks are kind of limited…"_

_"Ohhh…"_

Increasing the intensity of his flame sword Gallantmon slashed it at UlforceVeedramon, sending a stream of fire in the Royal Knight's face and forcing him to pull back to prevent himself from being caught in it. Pressing the attack, Gallantmon continued to increase the heat, spread, and explosive force of his attack, sending waves of fire like as though it were a storm.

_It's working,_ thought Takato, smiling within his data sphere. _He's keeping his distance! He…_

"Above!" Exclaimed Urocyomon. Reacting on instinct Gallantmon tore ahead, once again barely dodging UlforceVeedramon's attack. Within his mind, Takato could hear Agunimon laughing uneasily in embarrassment.

_"Didn't think that he would attack from above…"_

Ignoring his strange new roommate Gallantmon glanced at Urocyomon as he sped towards the ground where Justimon was standing.

"You were saying something about that guy…?"

"He has a high speed Overwrite System," answered Urocyomon as he tightened his grip on Gallantmon's shoulder guard. "It allows him to take serious amounts of punishment and repair it almost instantly. From what I've heard about it even direct deletion techniques are all but useless against him."

Gallantmon landed on the ground and quickly rebounded into the air as UlforceVeedramon slammed into the earth behind him, stabbing his energy sword into the ground and causing it to detonate with explosive force.

_Jeez…_

Gallantmon touched down on the ground once again and skidded to a stop, coming to rest next to Justimon.

"Need a hand?" The Legendary Tamer asked jokingly.

"Yeah," breathed Gallantmon heavily. "This guy just stays on me like a heat seeking missile. I can't catch a breather here, and Urocyomon's trying to explain something to me about him."

"This is one of those moments where I really wish I could fly," said Justimon with a sigh. "If I thought Cyberdramon would be able to keep up with this guy even with a Goliath Card I'd have him get in there with me as support, but this guy is too tough to go it alone at the Ultimate level only. What was it that Urocyomon was talking about? Did he come up with a weakness?"

"More like a strength actually," groaned Gallantmon, to which Urocyomon mumbled a 'sorry.' "Apparently UlforceVeedramon can heal himself really fast."

"So how come he looks so beat up?"

"He might be trying to conserve energy," replied Urocyomon. "If he's been in so many fights then repairing everything that hits him would decrease his chances of staying in the fight. In spite of his abilities he doesn't have an infinite amount of power. He may be expecting to use it later when it will really count."

"So what you're saying is, we can't beat him," said Justimon.

"In a protracted fight, he'll outlast you guys hands down. Even weakened like that he's still strong enough to take on an army of digimon. His speed is an added bonus too…"

"I got that much," said Gallantmon. "If only we could keep him in one place…"

"Rika would be good at that,' said Justimon. "Back when she fought you as ChaosGallantmon she used an attack that bound you up and kept you from going anywhere until she was able to reach you." Within his data sphere Ryo frowned. "Come to think of it, where _is_ Rika and Renamon? Normally they'd be all over this fight."

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe she's keeping an eye on Jeri…"

"You three should worry about yourselves before wondering what others are up too," came the calm, measured voice of UlforceVeedramon as he walked clear from the dust cloud that his last attack had kicked up.

"And he's still at it…" groaned Gallantmon. On the knight's shoulder Urocyomon was tense.

"Guys," he began, anxiety clear in his voice. "I think I have a plan to get rid of him. There's no time to explain it right now so you'll have to trust me and do exactly what I say."

Gallantmon and Justimon both looked at each other.

"Well I'm out of ideas," said Gallantmon with a shrug.

"And I can't think of any right now," replied Justimon. "So I guess that makes us both open to suggestions. Okay. What do we do?"

"Retreat five miles behind us," said Urocyomon, one paw tightening around Gallantmon's shoulder guard. "Then advance three."

Gallantmon blinked in surprise.

_That's his plan? Retreat and advance? What kind of strategy is that?_

_"Ulforce Saber!"_ Shouted UlforceVeedramon as he stormed towards the two Megas. Leaping up into the air, Justimon countered with _Justice Burst_ , forcing UlforceVeedramon to draw up short and dodge to the right to avoid being struck by the Legendary Tamer's energy blasts.

_Well, we did say that we were open to suggestions,_ thought Takato as he quickly jumped into the air. _I just hope that Urocyomon knows what he's doing._

Grabbing Justimon with one hand in midair Gallantmon flew as quickly as he could while remaining as slow as he could to present a tempting target to UlforceVeedramon.

"I'll drive, you shoot," said Gallantmon while Justimon laughed and continued to fire away at the blue dragon warrior. UlforceVeedramon, enraged by this action quickly broke into pursuit after them.


	134. 133: the Red Strings of Fate

Jeri Katou lay on the ground, curled in a tight ball as her body shook. Shifting shadows surrounded her on all sides, waving like snakes or the heat from flames. The outline of a single, solitary, humanoid figure fell across the young girl then, and a pair of skeletal wings spread out from its back as it regarded her.

"Why so fearful?" the voice of the Jeri-Reaper said to her. "You know that we are here for you. We are the only ones who will ever accept you; will ever understand you. Why do you hate us so?"

"Please…" whimpered Jeri, tightening in her ball even more, feeling as though the voice of her dark counterpart was scraping upon her mind like nails on a chalkboard. "…Just leave me alone…"

"Who else will be there for you?" Chastised Jeri-Reaper. "I have told you that only we can understand you. Only the Chaos will stand by your side. In the end you will be deserted, just like you were oh-so many times before. Is that what you want? To be left alone?"

Jeri's body clenched but once before she uncurled and glared at the Jeri-Reaper. Anger flashed in her eyes as her amber irises met the blood red ones of her opposite.

"I'd rather be left alone by _you!_ I…!"

Jeri was abruptly cut off as the Jeri-Reaper grabbed her by the throat and hauled her off the ground.

"You say that you hate me," the dark mistress smirked, "but we both know better, don't we? Humans enjoy reveling in their baser nature. The urge to destroy and conquer is always in there, just waiting to come out. I was designed with destruction in mind, and you… _you_ brought that out of me to its _fullest_ potential. Even digimon…all they do is destroy. Their lives are spent devouring each other…little better than the animals that made them, only bigger. _Larger._ You saw that yourself. Why do you resist? You know better than anyone else that this is the truth."

"I'm…" Jeri choked against the pressure of Jeri-Reaper's talons. "I'm…not…like you."

"And yet…you wished for your own self-destruction," whispered Jeri-Reaper into her ear. "How sad. You are truly no different from the others. At least you were better served when you did nothing but drown yourself in your despair. Even now you still have that seed in you. A seed of _sin,_ growing like a _Dark Spore_ …" Jeri Reaper cackled. "How do you like that? I know some terminology from your friends' little _game_. It is rather inspired…the only thing that's really wrong with your precious Takato's ever-favorite show is that it refused to show the innate nature of humanity. Darkness never came from the human…only from an outside source when they let their defenses crumble. It doesn't work like that in real life though. _You_ are no Ken Ichijouji."

"Just…let…me… _go!"_ Screamed Jeri as she struggled against her tormentor.

"No," replied Jeri-Reaper, tightening her grip on the young girl, causing her to gag as her throat closed up even more. "I told you before; 'here in the shadows, we will become one.' You will be my new vessel for our mission…"

Red tendrils ripped themselves free out of Jeri-Reaper's skin, and began to attach themselves to Jeri's body. The young Tamer felt herself gasp as unnatural energies were suddenly forced into her, causing her body to go rigid.

"N-N-No…"

"Oh yes…" Jeri-Reaper sneered. "We'll take care of you…and together we shall cull humanity and the digimon. No limits shall be set. No mercy granted…no quarter shall be given. We..shall…be… _one!"_

"No…Takato…please Takato…help me…"

Jeri-Reaper paused in assimilation of the girl and looked at her, flabbergasted.

"You _still_ persist in calling to _him?!_ He can't even give you his full heart!"

"That…doesn't matter…"

_"Don't lie to me,"_ Jeri-Reaper hissed, jerking her human double closer so that they were face to face. "Don't even lie to yourself! I know that you've been hurt! I know that you wish Takato was yours and no one else's! You resent that one of your closest and most trusted friends has taken him from you!" Jeri-Reaper leaned back and sneered at the girl. "Then again, perhaps you're better off because of that. You _know_ what he's really like inside. The monster that he has inside of him. That… _inner rage."_

Jeri-Reaper's eyes glowed just then and Jeri's mind was flooded with the horrific scene of Megidramon, fueled by Takato's bloodlust as he sought to gain revenge on Beelzemon for the death of Leomon.

_"Don't come near me,"_ Jeri heard her own voice speaking in her mind to Takato on that fateful day, and Jeri felt her breath hitch in her mouth as Jeri-Reaper's grip loosened just enough to allow her to breathe once more. _"Guilmon was so sweet and cute and look what you did to him."_

"You see? All you humans do is hurt each other. You even hurt others that are different from you. This is why Takato hadn't approached you with his feelings. He thinks that this is how you see him…"

Strangely enough, Jeri felt a small smile grow on her face.

"You're lying," she told Jeri-Reaper. Jeri-Reaper blinked in surprise at that.

"What?"

"I said you're lying. You don't know anything about Takato. You're only using my fears and my memories to make me give in to you. I won't do that. I know Takato. He wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose. Maybe I have, but I know that what you're saying to me…that isn't what he feels."

A dark chortle began to emerge from Jeri-Reaper's lips just then.

"Is _that_ what you actually believe? Simply in your own conviction? You poor, stupid, mislead girl! You have no clue do you? No clue at all about what you've become since you were last within Chaos' embrace or what I've discovered since then."

Jeri frowned. "W-What do you mean?"

"Haven't you ever wondered about some things? Remember that day in the park when you felt Gallantmon fall? That small twinge in your heart? Or all of those times you've felt connected to your friends? That's only, as you humans say, the tip of the iceberg. I've seen even further than you."

A series of red cables ripped free from the ground and extended outwards, imbedding themselves into the walls around them. As each one hit a screen lit up above them, revealing the images of each of her friends."

"What…is…?"

"Those are your friends," said Jeri-Reaper. "All of them thinking thoughts that none of the others even know about. Every doubt, every word, everything that they've kept hidden. You've only touched on it a little bit here and there…but not the whole picture like _I_ have." Jeri-Reaper laughed darkly then. "I think that's why Ryo's old friend _Milleniummon_ is interested in you. Oh yes, I know about them. And I know it's why you sought him out before. Because you unconsciously knew he had something important kept within him, but he wouldn't say aloud. You always did have a way of finding out someone's secrets…even when they didn't want you to know about them."

Jeri-Reaper turned towards Katou.

"Do you think that there is anything different about them? Anything that separates them from any human? Henry started off thinking of digimon as a game and he let his partner run out of control…and let's not forget how he tried to _kill_ Lucemon, nearly deleting Sakuyamon at the same time. And Rika…do you know how many digimon she and her partner destroyed without mercy? Did you know that Takato and Guilmon were supposed to be among their victims? Takato may not have been in the same boat, but he also saw his being a Tamer as the 'next game', and digimon were just his way to 'level up.' Why don't we see what tune you'll be singing when you see what your precious Takato is about to do now?"

One of the screens activated, revealing the figure of a boy, surrounded by a blazing inferno. In an instant Jeri felt as though a spark had been lit within her as she instantly recognized his features.

"Takato! Wha…?"

"Yes. Takato. Do you know what he's doing now? What he _is_ now? Let's see, why don't we? Let me show you what he _really_ is?"

The scene receded, and Takato's fiery appearance was quickly overtaken by the image of a crimson dragon with fiery wings. For an instant, a brief instant Jeri thought she was looking at Megidramon again before she quickly realized that such was not the case. The color of the body armor was right, but the shape was not; more humanoid with legs, fiery wings, a white-horned head crest, and a pair of diamond shaped objects attached to its armor. It was these latter that were aimed directly in the face of one Rika Nonaka, who was staring defiantly at the dragon warrior.

"You see?" Asked Jeri-Reaper in a condescending tone. "In spite of everything that he's gone through, Takato still lets his fears rule him. He's giving into the bloodlust of his nature and in a second he's going to kill someone who loves him."

"No…he wouldn't. He just…wouldn't!"

"This is what is happening now! He came within inches of doing it to Beelzemon because of what he did to _Leomon!_ Do you think anyone else would be different? _Do you?"_

"I…don't…" Jeri looked into the eyes of the dragon. Even though they were different, Jeri could still see the inner warmth that she had come to recognize from her friend; only this time it was drowning in something…some kind of inner madness that held him steadfastly within its grip and refused to let go. Where had it come from? Just what had happened to Takato that caused him to look so much like a caged animal?

_It looks like he's fighting something inside him…and he's losing. Could it be whatever it is that made him look the way he does?_ Jeri frowned mentally as she processed that thought. The form of the digimon…just what _was_ it? She had never seen a digimon with that appearance before. Granted, that was nothing new since this was Takato here. His partner digimon, Guilmon, was not a canonical digimon as far as the digimon franchise was concerned and he had created him via pen, paper, and a digivice.

_Those eyes…_

Jeri saw nothing of Guilmon within those eyes. _Blue_ eyes. Jeri had been around Takato and Guilmon long enough to the point where she could recognize when their personalities came out in their biomerged form of Gallantmon. Even when Guilmon had been forcefully digivolved into Megidramon she could still recognize him beneath that monster's horrifying exterior. This time though, there was no sign of the bread loving dinosaur. There was only Takato and some strange, mysterious _other_ sharing room in his mind.

Jeri remembered her time in the D-Reaper's core, where its copy of her had kept her pacified like a mute doll. Unwittingly perhaps, since it was studying humanity using her memories, but all the same it had prevented her from fighting back, keeping her from realizing how it was using her voice and sneaking around in her mind, taking whatever it needed from her to grow stronger and destroy everything that opposed it.

_Is that what's going on with Takato?_ Jeri wondered. Her expression hardening Jeri found herself wanting to do something and almost instinctively her mind reached out…and touched his.

_"Don't Takato…"_

That was all she said; quick, succinct, and to the point. She didn't even think about it, nor did she think about the why and how she felt that was all she had to do, but there it was and the effect was almost immediate. The irises of the dragon flashed back and forth between blue and gold and its arm shook, as though from the effort it took to keep it trained on Rika's forehead. Reaching even further, Jeri found herself awash in a torrent of emotions…fear and doubt being chiefly among them, coupled with a sense of failure and ruin.

_"I can't protect them…"_

_Takato,_ thought Jeri, closing her eyes and smiling warmly. _"Don't you see? You have protected your friends. You've protected her…"_

With what felt like a gentle nudge from her, images began to swirl around Jeri and take root in her mind…memories belonging to Takato from when he had been atop the digimon train, Locomon. It hadn't been the first time that he had saved someone of course, but Jeri felt that to him it would be important, if not because of Rika than because he had done so simply as himself and not with the power of his digimon.

_What was that quote that Takato liked to repeat from the show? The one that Tai said in the episode he digivolved Greymon to MetalGreymon? 'A man must face himself before his enemies?'_

Jeri was snapped out of her thoughts as the Jeri-Reaper jerked her forward.

"You…! I _felt_ that! What did you _do?!"_

"I gave him a chance," whispered Jeri through the tightening of the Jeri-Reaper's fingers around her throat. "I gave him a chance because I care about him. Because I know what he's like on the inside, and I know he's not what you want me to see him as."

"Have you _forgotten_ what he did? Or what _Rika_ did? _They betrayed you!"_

Jeri-Reaper said this last with such force that Katou could feel her hair rustling slightly against her skin. Raising one arm Jeri clamped her hand on the Reaper's, causing the demonic program to look at her bewildered. Jeri smiled. It was a soft, almost pitying smile though, and for some reason when the Jeri-Reaper saw it she felt a tingling sense of fear crawl down her spine.

"They didn't betray me," said Jeri in a surprisingly gentle tone. "Even you know better than that."

The memory of warm light filling the park all those weeks ago came to her. Jeri remembered it quite vividly. She hadn't been there to witness the fight that had gone on between Takato and Rika that day, but she knew how it had ended when that light, unleashed by Sakuyamon in her attempts to reach Takato, had touched her. She remembered how it had made her feel, and the sense of the powerful, growing bond that lay between her two friends. That sense of trust and security.

_Why would I wish anything hurtful because of that?_ Thought Jeri. _Anything that makes my friends happier…that is all that I want for them._

Jeri-Reaper cried out in pain suddenly as smoke began to rise from the arm that held onto Jeri. Quickly dropping the girl Jeri-Reaper leapt back and clutched at the smoking limb, her eyes agape at the holes that were beginning to appear in her digital flesh.

"Wha…what did you _do to me?!"_ Jeri-Reaper shrieked with a touch of fear in her voice. Jeri, who was gasping harshly from the sudden decreased pressure on her neck looked up at her double, startled.

"I…di…didn't do…anything," Jeri wheezed as she pulled air into her lungs. "How could I?"

"Don't toy with me! _You_ did this! We're connected ever-so-closely! I know that this came from you! _Answer me!"_

Jeri winced as she wracked her mind to find any possible answer. She didn't even do anything to the Jeri-Reaper except for touching her. But She had also had her hand around her neck; flesh touching flesh and there had been no negative effects then so…why? Why now?

* * *

_A small, pink colored fairy with a gold ring around its neck and a crimson heart emblazoned on its chest suddenly descended between Jeri-Reaper and her targets, smiling easily at her as though she were just another one of its friends. Of course, the opposite held true, and it knew it. All the same, the digimon that Jeri-Reaper's sensors identified as_ MarineAngemon _couldn't help but smile joyfully. Their species always looked at the bright side of things and were hard pressed to ever frown about anything even in the face of extreme danger. Opening its mouth, the MarineAngemon spat a single blue heart at Jeri-Reaper…a harmless thing…wasn't it?_

_"Ah!"_

_Jeri-Reaper hesitated as an emotion that she couldn't quite identify suddenly took root within her core. MarineAngemon continued to blow little heart bubbles at her, not a single one of them doing a thing to harm her and yet…yet they_ frightened _her. She could not form any rational thought as to why but they did._

_"Kahuna Waves! Poh!"_

_More hearts and now that strange, irrational emotion burned through Jeri-Reaper's entire body, destroying all thought except for that of escape. This was inconceivable! It was…_

_"T-this…this…is…not_ possible!"

* * *

"So that's it," said Jeri, massaging her neck and getting back up to her feet. "That's your weakness."

"No," growled her dark counterpart. Jeri's expression firmed as she looked at her.

"Yes it is. I remember now. That's what MarineAngemon's attacks have. It's more than just the data behind them, it's the emotions. You can't take positive emotions. That's why you lost your control over me, and why you couldn't stop Calumon from getting me out of there at the end.

_"NO!"_ Shrieked Jeri-Reaper and cables rose up at her voice like cobras preparing to strike. "I won't lose you again to such weak thoughts! I _won't!_ You are _mine!"_

As one the cables lashed out at Jeri, who stood there waiting patiently for them to close in. Her eyes narrowing slightly Jeri thought back to that day in the park when it had been bathed in the light of Rika and Takato's battle, and a shining aura appeared around her body. All at once the cables that were attached to her broke away and fell to the ground like dying serpents where they were quickly joined by the others that were surging towards her. Seeing this, Jeri-Reaper took a step back uncertainly, raising one arm in a warding gesture.

Jeri, for her part, stepped over the fallen cables and towards her dark double. Jeri-Reaper scowled at her.

"Do you really think that those emotions will do you any good?" Jeri-Reaper growled. "You're wrong. Only I can make you strong! Only I…"

"You know," interrupted Jeri calmly, "you're more human than you think."

_"_ You… _dare!"_

Jeri-Reaper gave an enraged shout as she launched herself at Jeri, only to bring herself forcefully to a halt as Jeri's body burst with light that shone outwards, each beam stabbing into the darkness like a sword.

"I visited a psychiatrist for a while after you were sent back to the digital world," said Jeri. "She told me that sometimes we can have feelings and emotions that we're not aware of. That's why I think that you're more human than you think. You don't have your body anymore, but a piece of you stayed with me. You were using my feelings to grow stronger, remember? Using them to digivolve just like a digimon. I was with you long enough to know that you absorb everything that you touch. At the end…you were making me a part of you, just like you tell me that you're a part of me." Jeri's amber colored eyes became thoughtful for a moment. "So…that would make me just as much of a monster like what you call Takato, wouldn't it? Maybe being a monster is part of being human. I see the partners of my friends and I sometimes think that I'm looking into a mirror…like they're a manifestation of a part of them that's inside of them, and that it changes. You were my _partner_ for a while. You showed a not-so-nice part of me that I didn't want to admit."

"Shut up!" Exclaimed Jeri-Reaper, slashing at Jeri with one hand. Light once again flared around Katou's body, and this time it stabbed into Jeri-Reaper's body, sending her to the ground with a sharp cry of pain. Jeri-Reaper clutched at her chest, gasping for air. Jeri looked down at her, her expression softening.

"I…will not…submit!" Jeri-Reaper rasped.

"I'm not asking you to," said Jeri kneeling down towards the Reaper woman. "That's fine if you don't want to give up. It tells me that you feel something more than the 'nothing' that you were trying to make me feel back when you held me prisoner. Those feelings are real, just like I told you back then. They're human."

_"Human!"_ Spat Jeri-Reaper, her voice full of venom and bile. "Is it _human_ to destroy? Humans desire destruction! You've seen this firsthand!"

"And I've also seen that we desire happiness and peace too!" Broke in Jeri firmly before continuing in a softer tone. "You've been in me for so long; you've seen and felt everything that I've felt. Do you remember the day that the digimon came back? And all those times in the park that I've been with my friends?" Jeri giggled. "Do you remember that time when Guilmon dug a hole outside of his old home? He accidently buried Takato…"

"Stop it!" Exclaimed Jeri-Reaper, desperation in her tone now.

"What about when I first met Leomon? How I _fell_ for him and chased him all over the park?" Jeri's giggle broke into a laugh then, and the light that had been flaring around her grew even further. "I must have looked like a madwoman to Takato, Guilmon, and Calumon then…never mind how I must have looked to Leomon…"

_"S-Stop…"_ Jeri-Reaper was shuddering now as the light emitting from Jeri cascaded over her body like a fine mist.

"And that time that I gave my little brother my old sock puppet. He used to steal it from me because he wanted it so much..."

_"I said…_ stop it!"

With one last burst of energy Jeri-Reaper surged towards Katou, murder blazing bloody crimson in her eyes. Her fingers stretched, extending razor sharp claws from their tips as they arched towards their destination.

They never made it. Before Jeri-Reaper knew what was happening all the strength left her arms as they touched something…soft?

A rustle of feathers shielding Jeri filled the air as she drew a pair of shining, angelic wings behind her. Jeri looked more adult-like in appearance now…more mature, and her eyes were filled with a depth of understanding and acceptance. Behind her, a flutter of silvery feathers floated in the air, illuminating the darkness around them.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore," said Jeri as she reached out and cupped her counterpart's face in one hand. Jeri-Reaper shuddered at the contact, but she no longer had the strength to resist. Already she felt as though the world were fading around her.

"You don't have to be alone you know," said Jeri, looking straight into the eyes of her demonic half. "You may have been a part of a greater whole, but all that you took from me was making you alone."

"N-No…" whispered Jeri-Reaper, her voice tattering as she spoke. Her eyelids drooped, and she fought to keep them open. "Y-You are the one…who is alone."

Jeri didn't once lose her smile.

"Only if I let myself be alone. But I have friends who will stand by me. If I can believe that, maybe you can change too."

"D…don't count…on it," replied Jeri-Reaper, her tone getting quieter with each word she spoke. "Humans have a dark side to them. As long…as that exists…I will remain. I will _not_ accept…these _emotions_ …from…you…"

"You'll adapt," said Jeri confidently as she took Jeri-Reaper's head into her arms and drew her in for a hug. Jeri-Reaper gave a soundless cry, too weak to move or speak now. "Of that I don't doubt. And maybe…when you've thought about things for a bit, and evolved again…we can talk. I've seen stranger miracles happen in the digital world."

The light surrounding Jeri increased in its intensity, engulfing both herself and her double, swallowing them whole until one couldn't tell whether they were one or two separate individuals.

* * *

"Mmmn?" Slowly, ever so slowly, Jeri awoke within the arms of Renamon as she landed down on the ground.

"Renamon!" Jeri heard Rika exclaim angrily. "What are you doing?! Takato…!"

"…Has gone beyond your ability to affect things for him," cut in Renamon. Jeri felt the vulpine digimon shift around, and the sound of someone's feet, Rika's she believed, touch down on the ground. "My duty," Renamon continued," is to make certain that you remain safe and while I believe that Takato is doing everything he can to make sure that he doesn't harm you from…whatever it is that he's going through…there's still the chance that you might get hurt unintentionally. And as long as you and I are unable to biomerge that is a reality that we must avoid."

Jeri felt her body go rigid in Renamon's arms as her mind processed that information.

"You guys…" Jeri's eyes fluttered open and Jeri saw Rika's face pale considerably when she saw her awaken. "…can't…biomerge?"

"Jeri!" Exclaimed Rika, rushing over to her. "Are you all right? What hap-?"

"Never mind me," interrupted Jeri tersely as she struggled to right herself in Renamon's arms. "I'll be fine. But what was that you were saying about not being able to biomerge?"

"We have been experiencing _difficulties_ of late in regards to that," answered Renamon as she set the brown haired girl on the ground, taking care to make sure that she was properly balanced before letting her go. Jeri swung on her feet for a second and Renamon took hold of her once again.

"Renamon! Why are you telling her about that? That's…"

"'Not my problem?'" Asked Jeri as she finally decided that sitting on the ground was the best thing for her right now. As Renamon helped her down she looked up at her red haired partner.

"Rika…is there some reason why we shouldn't tell her? Not telling Ryo and Takato was difficult enough, but considering the circumstances at the time it seemed necessary. However the situation has long past the time where we can keep such knowledge to ourselves without someone getting hurt. Takato and Ryo are depending on us."

"I _know_ that!" Shot back Rika, causing the vulpine digimon to frown.

"Then why are you so resistant to talk about it?" She asked.

While Rika looked back at her partner, trying to come up with a suitable response, Jeri thought over what reason that there could possibly be for the two to not be able to biomerge. It just didn't seem possible, not with the strong bond that those two had.

_Unless…_

Jeri thought back to what she saw happen between her and Takato before they had disappeared into the digital world. They had been fighting again.

_Well, not exactly. But I know that Rika was trying to do something and it felt like she was trying to 'break something.' And when Ryo and I saw her…I don't know. Her biomerged form was different. 'Darker' somehow. And she seemed very angry with Takato. Takato managed to stop her but…could it be that Rika hurt herself somehow because of that? Hurt herself in a way where she doesn't trust herself to biomerge again?_

Rika ran a hand through her hair and gave a disgusted sigh.

"All right. I know. I _know._ But I don't even know why this happened. All I know is that…" Rika paused and looked at Jeri with a scrutinizing gaze. "All right. I guess it can't hurt to say anything about it now, but first…"

Pulling out a card from her deck box, Rika quickly morphed it into a blue card and slashed it through her digivice. Energy convulsed through Renamon's body as data was stripped off of her and altered. Renamon's body lengthened and a robe materialized over her. Words involuntarily emerged from the vulpine's lips as she completed her transformation.

"RENAMON! MATRIX DIGIVOLVE TOOO…TAOMON!"

The light of digivolution died down as Taomon finished her metamorphosis. The kitsune shaman looked at Rika with an expectant look in her eyes. Rika nodded.

"We need to check out the situation and see what's going on. I don't know how to fix this biomerge problem of ours, but for now we should fight with what we have. I'm not going to run from this fight. Not when our friends need us."

"Understood Rika," replied Taomon with a slight bow of her head before disappearing from sight. Raising her blue-trimmed D-Arc Rika activated the camera function so that she could see through the eyes of her partner. Jeri watched Rika as she gathered her thoughts.

"Rika…"

"Not now, Jeri. We're in the middle of a battle here." Rika frowned as she took in the image that her digivice was showing her. "Great. Just where the heck did those guys go?"

Jeri bit her lip before continuing on once again.

"Why do you think that you can't biomerge?"

"Jeri, what did I just…?" Turning, Rika hesitated as her eyes met with Jeri's. A second later she looked away. "This isn't the time to talk about this," she grumbled.

"Or maybe this is the _perfect_ time," put in Jeri. "Rika, I saw what went on between you and Takato back in the real world. I…I even felt you trying to do…whatever it was that you were doing. _Break_ something important…that's about all I can really make out. Whatever it was…it hurt you doing it."

_"Why_ are we even having this conversation?!" Exclaimed Rika angrily. "I told you that we're in the middle of…"

"…A fight. I know. But you're not in it Rika. That's what I don't get. I never thought that you'd be the kind of person who would hold back…"

_"Don't_ …start that with me," grated Rika as she glanced quickly at her digivice to check up on her partner's progress. "Takato already talked to me about that…"

"Then does he know about your and Renamon's problem?"

Rika, for the first time that Jeri could remember actually glared at her before turning away, muttering something inaudible beneath her breath.

_Doesn't look like it,_ thought Jeri with a disheartened sigh. Placing one hand into her dress' pocket Jeri took out the green hair ribbon that she had given to Rika days ago and had found on top of Hypnos' roof. Pushing herself off the ground Jeri began walking shakily over to where Rika stood, coming to a halt when she was directly behind her.

"Rika…we're in the digital world, right?"

Not turning around, Rika raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty sure of that, why?"

Looking at the green ribbon, Jeri raised her hands until they were about level with her friend's hair.

"Dreams can come true here, right? Isn't that how you and Renamon biomerged in the first place?"

"Kind of…but not really. I just wanted to show you that we could choose our own destiny. I chose to stay and fight with Renamon no matter what. That's why I…" Rika blinked and then closed her eyes, smirking at herself. "Great. I feel like I'm having my own words thrown at me. Never thought that I'd end up pulling a Goggleheaded move this soon. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. It's really disturbing."

Jeri couldn't help herself. She giggled.

"Are you laughing at me?" Grinned Rika as she looked over her shoulder. Jeri simply covered her mouth and waved one hand at the fiery haired girl.

"Why would I do that?" She asked 'innocently.' After a few seconds a solemn mood fell between the two friends as they looked at each other in the eye. Finally, Jeri reached up and placed a hand on Rika's shoulder, indicating that she wanted her to turn around. Rika complied, raising an eyebrow as she did so. Jeri took one of Rika's hands and then placed the green hair ribbon she held into it, causing Rika's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Jeri! What…?"

"I'm choosing my own destiny," answered Jeri with a smile growing on her face. A small tear crept its way out of Jeri's right eye and she reached up and wiped it away. "Please…protect the ones close to you. That's all I'm asking."

"Jeri…"

A familiar light winked into existence within the screen of Rika's digivice as the two friends stared at each other. Closing her hand tightly around the ribbon Rika lowered her head, allowing her hair to hide her face for a few seconds before she looked back up with a fierce look of determination. Jeri could see that a part of her was resisting, but the situation was keeping her from arguing it any further than she normally would. Clasping one hand over Jeri's, violet met amber.

"You be here when I get back," said Rika firmly, her tone brooking no room for argument. "You hear me? I mean it. You _be_ here when I get back."

"I will," nodded Jeri, and with that the two girls broke apart, with Rika running off towards the clearing and Jeri standing there, watching her go. Raising her digivice that was now shining like a miniature sun Rika called out in a clear voice:

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

* * *

Jeri watched as Sakuyamon flew off, heading towards wherever it was that the others were located so that she could lend them a hand.

_Good luck, Rika,_ thought Jeri, her heart going out to her as her form receded into the distance. After a minute had gone by Jeri looked down at the ground thoughtfully before the sound of a snapping twig broke her out of her thoughts.

"U-Urocyomon… W-where…?" stammered Kuzuhamon as she walked into the clearing, holding onto her side tightly with one hand. Jeri blinked in surprise at the appearance of the digimon, faintly surprised by the similarity that she bore to Sakuyamon…and how she looked so _very_ much like the way Rika and Renamon had looked when they were trying to _break_ away from Takato. And yet…strangely Jeri didn't feel any sense of fear at the sight of this digimon. In fact, quite the contrary, it was as though she were almost completely at home with her presence.

Tilting her head to one side quizzically Jeri looked at the shaman digimon as she stubbornly marched forward, using her staff as a krutch to hobble along.

"Um…can I help you?" Asked Jeri a second before Kuzuhamon collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Rika could feel the flood of relief wash through her mind as her mind and body were once more unified with that of her partner. As one they flew through the air, every bit of their senses enhanced to the point where detecting where their friends were fighting was exceedingly easy. The connection that Rika had with Takato helped facilitate this even more, enhanced as it was by the powers that they had as Sakuyamon. Had they bothered to focus on the bond even more they could have given a move for move description of the battle that raged between Gallantmon and Justimon as they both fought against UlforceVeedramon.

_"Rika?"_ Asked Renamon, sensing a strange feeling emanating from her partner. _"Are you all right?"_

_"I'm fine, Renamon,"_ the crimson haired girl replied, though for some reason she didn't sound all that convincing. _"Let's just get over there and take down UlforceVeedramon."_

Renamon nodded Sakuyamon's head as they flew through the air.

_"Once again,"_ she thought, _"we are one."_

Neither of them noticed the sphere of white light that followed them.

* * *

"This is going well," said Gallantmon sarcastically as he deftly landed on the ground, dropping off Justimon and Urocyomon as he did so.

"That last bit was pretty rough," commented Justimon, getting into a guard position and scanning the skies for their quarry. "I almost didn't think that we were going to get out of that last one when we had to turn around. Good thing we managed to get him in the face. That should give him something to howl about for a few minutes."

"Certainly looked that way," said Gallantmon. "But I wouldn't count on him staying down for very long. Anyway," Gallantmon turned towards Urocyomon who looked to be scribbling something in the dirt, "uh…what are you doing?"

"You ever hear of the idea of sensitive dependence on conditions?" Asked Urocyomon as he stood up. Looking more closely Gallantmon raised an eyebrow. Urocyomon had drawn a circle in the ground.

"Um…I'm not sure I get what you mean…"

"Basically by any movement, event, or variable that occurs could have potential effects on the environment around them. One example would be how a gust of wind could alter the path of a diamond storm or, in an even more extreme example, how the flap of a Biyomon's wings can have on a data surge."

"You mean like the Butterfly Effect?" Asked Justimon.

Urocyomon frowned. "I'm afraid that I don't recognize the concept…"

"It's the same thing. You could say that an insect could change the course of an entire storm just by simply flying."

"That sounds pretty farfetched," said Gallantmon. Justimon chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. But it's a rather interesting idea. My dad told me about it once. Heck, you could say that in a way we could apply it to how we turned out. Where would we be now from any decision that we've made or any action that we've done? A fight could have turned out a lot more differently when you think about it. And I think you know how that _gust of wind_ can affect ranged attacks…"

"But what does this have to do with anything, Urocyomon?" Asked Gallantmon, perplexed.

Bending over Urocyomon picked up a pinecone and scrutinized it.

"It's one of the abilities that I have," the silver-furred vulpine digimon answered. "My teacher, Gyōjamon has been training me to pick up on subtleties in my environment so that I can traverse the digital world. Supposedly I could predict, maybe even attract Data Streams to me just by messing around with whatever data happens to be nearby because it causes a subtle wave in the data that makes up the land and air around us."

"I heard 'supposedly' in there…"

Urocyomon swished his tail in agitation, and a blue flame flickered at its tip.

"This would be the first time that I've used it. Well…on my own anyway. Gyōjamon always kept an eye on me to correct my calculations and keep us from getting dragged into another world. It's not easy and frankly it's making my head hurt." As if to emphasize the point, Urocyomon raised one arm and massaged his temples, wincing painfully as he did so. "Anyway…what I was saying earlier is a part of this. UlforceVeedramon regenerates too fast for anyone to destroy outright, right?"

"So that's your idea," said Justimon. "Use a data stream to transport him somewhere where he'll be out of our way."

"I'm trying to attract a data stream to our location," nodded Urocyomon, "since you can't just simply find them anywhere I'm hoping that the influx of data in this region will cause one to stop on by. I just hope that everything has been spot on so far…otherwise…"

"Otherwise…what?"

"Um…UlforceVeedramon kills us all before it gets here or it doesn't come at all and we still die anyway?" Urocyomon shook his head and breathed a shaky sigh. "Anyway…we're in the right area. I know that much. Now all you guys have to do is…"

_"The Ray of Victory!"_

_"SCATTER!"_ Shouted Justimon as all three digimon threw themselves to the side, narrowly avoiding the golden that gouged a crater where they had been standing. As Urocyomon landed he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well that worked out better than I expected…"

"You were _expecting_ that?!" Exclaimed Gallantmon, incredulous.

"Not really…that seal I drew was supposed to act as a kind of magnet to guide the data stream. UlforceVeedramon just gave it a massive power boost."

"I hate to point this out to you," said Justimon, surveying the damage around them, "but it looks like your _seal_ was destroyed."

Urocyomon's ears drooped as he took in the sight.

"Ahhh…oops."

UlforceVeedramon landed on the ground causing the rubble to lift slightly in the air from the force of his impact. Turning the dragon knight ignited his energy blade and scanned the area for his opponents. Urocyomon's ears perked up as the digital equivalent of adrenaline began to set in.

"You guys _have_ to hold him in this area for five minutes!" Urocyomon shouted to the two Megas. _"Five…minutes!_ He's not allowed to leave that crater; otherwise this whole thing is for nothing!"

"Five minutes he says…" Gallantmon shook his head while Justimon chuckled dryly.

"I think we'll be lucky to last even five seconds."

"Justimon…"

"Sorry. Rabbit humor. Couldn't resist."

Leaping forward as one, Justimon and Gallantmon dashed at UlforceVeedramon.

_We need to win this,_ thought Ryo desperately. In spite of his earlier bravado Ryo could say that his confidence in winning this battle was rather badly shaken. UlforceVeedramon so far had proven to be an unshakeable, and nigh indestructible opponent complete with nearly overwhelming strength to go along with that endurance. Unlike UlforceVeedramon neither of them had the staying power to remain in the fight for very long, and as for power…

_Unless Takato's going to break out his Crimson Mode sometime soon, I'd say we're outmatched too as far as power goes. Takato told me once he didn't know what triggered his Mode change the second time around and he never got the chance for a repeat performance before Lucemon got him. The only other option is…us. Or rather,_ him.

From within his data sphere Ryo heard Cyberdramon growl distastefully. He couldn't help but agree. All this time spent fighting against Milleniummon and now their enemy had been _helping_ them in their battles. Something about it sat wrong. In spite of the many instances where nothing bad had come from such aid, Ryo had to wonder…just how far could he trust the power that he kept giving him?

_He's getting out of the crater!_ Ryo's mind shouted and in a second a surge of energy rushed into Justimon's body, causing it to blurr and disappear, rematerializing behind UlforceVeedramon where he grabbed him from behind by the waist and flipped him backwards.

"You're not going _anywhere!"_ Exclaimed Justimon as he rolled to his feet and enlarged his right arm. _"Thunder Clap!"_

Slamming the arm down on UlforceVeedramon's body, Justimon triggered the attack, sending a series of shockwaves tearing into the Royal Knight beneath him. As Justimon watched, UlforceVeedramon's body burst in a cloud of smoke.

_Wha…? No way!_

"You know," came UlforceVeedramon's voice from behind him. "If that attack had actually hit, I might have taken some serious damage."

_An afterimage!_ _I only hit his afterimage! Nuts! He's that fas… Oomph!_

Justimon grunted as UlforceVeedramon slammed a leg into his side, sending him sprawling to the ground with a crash.

_"JUSTIMON!"_ Shouted Gallantmon as he landed in the crater, firing at UlforceVeedramon with his blazing saber. The dragon-knight simply became as a blur, dodging the stream of fire and appearing directly in front of the other Royal Knight, energy sword at the ready. Fire and lightning clashed as Gallantmon, just barely, raised his weapon just in time to block the attack, parrying and conducting a reposte. Sparks flew off of UlforceVeedramon's armor as the saber slashed against its edges, UlforceVeedramon's own counter preventing it from fully piercing his defenses.

_Okay…let's try this…_

Increasing the intensity of the flame, Gallantmon pushed his lance against UlforceVeedramon's sword, the weapon acting like a torch as it thrust towards the azure dragon's face. Grimacing, UlforceVeedramon pushed his sword upwards, forcing Gallantmon's lance over his head before rushing in and punching the X-Knight directly in the stomach. Within his data sphere Takato grunted in time with Guilmon as he felt the armor cave beneath the force of the blow. Takato didn't have time to wonder about the strength that UlforceVeedramon had because in short order he swept in and completed his attack, stabbing his energy sword into the compromised area. Takato's eyes bulged in his head as he felt pain seize him in his abdomen. With as much strength as he could muster Takato blocked out the pain and with his weaponless arm he slammed his fist into UlforceVeedramon. The dragon knight did not so much as budge from the blow, and instead twisted the blade, causing black blood to spill forth through the armor plating. Fury welled up in Takato's heart and in one last, desperate bid to get his opponent off of him he thrust his flaming saber at UlforceVeedramon, calling upon every ounce of power that he could from the Spirit of Flames that dwelled within him.

_"Blazing Joust!"_

UlforceVeedramon screamed as the attack hit him full force, driving him backwards as it heated his armor beyond all toleration, burning the scales beneath and incinerating the wings outside. The azure knight staggered back, clawing at his smoldering face. Gallantmon breathed heavily as he fell to his knees, using his saber to keep himself from collapsing.

_That's twice he got me now…_ Takato thought as he felt Guilmon's digimon metabolism already working on the injury as it did before with the last one. The injury, fortunately, wasn't fatal as it took a lot more than that to delete a digimon, especially one of the Mega level. _I can't let it happen a third time._

"You okay Gallantmon?" Asked Justimon as he landed next to the Royal Knight and looked worryingly at his injury.

"We'll be fine," rasped Gallantmon harshly, clutching his free hand to the wound to stop as much of the bleeding as he could. "I'll heal up as soon as I can…"

"Soon…" began UlforceVeedramon as he lowered his hands from his face and glared at the two Tamers. "…won't be quick enough for the two of you."

"Aw nuts," moaned Gallantmon, and Justimon couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"His overwrite system just kicked in."

Before their very eyes, UlforceVeedramon's armor and wings quickly reconstructed themselves. Cracks sealed themselves and dented metal pushed itself back into its original position, as though all the blows that had been rained upon it hadn't existed.

_We've got to buy ourselves as much time as possible,_ thought Ryo. _We might not be able to beat him, but we still have Urocyomon's plan to work with. It's not much of a guarantee, but right now it's all we've got._

"You know something," began Justimon, "I've been meaning to ask: What is this fight all about anyway?"

"He was after Jeri," replied Gallantmon. The Royal Knight frowned. "Come to think of it, I didn't find out why…"

"Just charged straight in, huh?"

"There wasn't much time for anything else…"

"And there isn't any more time for you," grated UlforceVeedramon. "Simply die so that I can finish my task."

His body becoming a blur UlforceVeedramon sped forward. Reacting on pure instinct, Gallantmon dismissed his lance and reached over his shoulder with his newly freed hand, grabbing hold of his cape and ripping it off. Within the time space of a second UlforceVeedramon appeared right in front of Gallantmon…

…Just in time to have his vision smothered by red cloth as it was thrown over his face.

Gallantmon wasn't alone in this maneuver either. Justimon, seeing what his companion had done, quickly unraveled his scarf and leapt behind UlforceVeedramon. Throwing it around the blue armored dragon like a whip, Justimon caught the other end and pulled taught, pinning UlforceVeedramon's arms to his side, the cloth material proving surprisingly able to hold back the incredible strength of the Royal Knight.

_Should have tried this earlier,_ thought Ryo as he began to tie off his scarf into a knot. However, before he could do so, UlforceVeedramon suddenly threw himself upward, nearly ripping the scarf from Justimon's hands. A golden glow appeared beneath the crimson cape that covered his body.

_"The Ray of Victory…"_ UlforceVeedramon intoned, and with that a golden blast of light burst outwards, burning through the cape and scarf in one clean blow, striking Gallantmon full on in the chest and blasting him backwards, throwing him outside the vicinity of the crater. Spinning on a dime, UlforceVeedramon brought his leg up and kicked Justimon brutally across the head, also sending him flying out of the crater where he crashed hard upon the ground.

"Is this all that you're capable of?" Asked UlforceVeedramon in a condescending tone.

_"Takato…mon… This guy is really…strong…"_

Gallantmon grimaced as he pushed himself up to his knees, clutching against his wound as fresh, digital blood flowed freely from it once again.

_Great. And that had_ just _closed…_

_"We'll figure something out Guilmon. Uh…how much time has passed by the way?"_

_"Um…"_

_"Oh. Right. I don't think I taught you how to tell time…"_

_"No data stream so far Takatomon. I don't think that I can hold our Mega form for much longer."_

_"Can you hang in there just a little bit longer Guilmon? Urocyomon needs time to finish setting things up. We can't let UlforceVeedramon get out of this crater!"_

_"Well then,"_ came an all too familiar female voice from within the depths of Takato's mind, _"how about a little helping hand?"_

_"Rika?"_

_"Amethyst Mandala!"_ Called out Sakuyamon as she came flying in. Slashing her staff to the side, the shaman digimon sent a violet colored ring flying towards UlforceVeedramon, and before he could react it wrapped itself around his body, trapping him within its crushing embrace. Armor creaked and cracked as the ring constricted upon his body, tightening around him. Breathing heavily Gallantmon raised his right arm.

_Still…still not enough. His legs are still mobile. One chance. One chance to keep him in the crater while he's distracted…_

Gallantmon's fiery lance reformed around his arm, and with a call of _Blazing Joust,_ a blast of fire impacted with UlforceVeedramon's body, knocking him backwards and onto his back. Upon landing, Urocyomon appeared at the edge of the crater, a small blue flame burning at the tip of his tail, and he raised one hand to his mouth. Mouthing something inaudible he tossed a bunch of seeds into the pit and upon landing they immediately set themselves digging into the soil like insects. Within seconds the ground began to rumble and thick, knotted vines broke free and wrapped themselves around UlforceVeedramon's body like coiling snakes, trapping him now fully and completely in a cocoon of wood. Wiping a paw across his brow, Urocyomon breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"And now for the grand finale…"

As though his words were a signal a pink beam broke through the trees off to Urocyomon's left and surged across landscape. Seeing this, UlforceVeedramon increased his struggles to break free. Alas, all was for naught; for all of his speed this time he could not move quick enough to escape the pull of the Data Stream as it surged towards him. The Royal Knight gave one last cry of defiance and then…was gone.

* * *

Urocyomon fell forward, his arms shaking.

_Even though I don't have any real attacks, just using this ability…it takes a lot out of me. But…_ Urocyomon gave a harsh chuckle. _…At least it was worth it. I did it. I actually…really…finally…did it. Gyōjamon…I wish you were here to have seen this. I managed the Hitsuzen…at long last. And on my own…_

Urocyomon blinked as he found himself lifted into the air by Justimon and set upon the Mega's shoulder. Glancing over at the Legendary Tamer Urocyomon gave him a questioning gaze. Although he couldn't be certain, he felt as though the digimon were smiling at him beneath his mask.

"Nice one," complimented Justimon. "I get the feeling that you'd fit in with us just fine."

"Uh…" Urocyomon felt his fur start to stand on end with embarrassment; the moment of victory completely vanishing in the discomfort that he was feeling. He never knew how to take a compliment.

_Although this time I'm feeling almost too tired to even care,_ he thought to himself as exhaustion settled heavily on his mind.

"Thanks," he said finally as he closed his eyes and put out the blue flame on his tail.

Justimon chuckled. "Don't mention it. Better hold on tight. We're going to get back to Kuzuhamon and Jeri as quickly as possible so that means ju…"

Within his data sphere Ryo's eyes widened in surprise as Urocyomon dropped forward and fell off of his shoulder, having dropped off to sleep as all the excitement and exertions from using his abilities had finally caught up with him. Smiling, Justimon caught the vulpine within his arms and looked behind him to see Sakuyamon by Gallantmon's side, one hand glowing white as she pressed it against his wound, using her magic to heal it.

_I'd say that after this we've all earned a little bit of rest. First things first though. We've got to get home. After that, I'm going to see about sleeping for a week._

* * *

"You really did a number on yourself this time, Gogglehead," scolded Sakuyamon as she pursed her violet colored lips together into one thin line. She surveyed the damage that her friend had taken from the battle, her black fingered gloves pressed against the wound as she administered her healing magic. The bleeding, at least, had now slowed to a trickle, although that did nothing to alleviate her worries. Healing a digimon was one thing, but she had to wonder whether or not Takato would be all right. For the most part, the human half of the partnership tended to avoid any serious injuries that came with a biomerge, but there were times when a battle had been long and hard enough where they transferred over and Gallantmon had taken not one but _two_ injuries that would be fatal without medical assistance. In spite of the fact that she had healing powers in such an event, Sakuyamon could not vouch for her confidence in using them. Digimon, even though they were stronger than humans were a lot more simple in their structure. The human body on the other hand was far more complex; so much so to the point where even the slightest damage could throw the entire body out of balance.

"Well…it could have been worse," chuckled Gallantmon, only to receive a harsh knock on the head by the irate shaman.

"Knock it off," she scolded him angrily before she went back to work on his injury. "This is _not_ the time to be joking about that kind of thing. I don't even want to _hear_ that from you again! Got it?"

_I'm pretty sure if Terriermon were here he'd have something to say about her bedside manner…_ thought Takato as he leaned back and tried to relax

_"I heard that."_

Takato groaned within his data sphere.

"Sorry." Gallantmon winced as he peered down. "So…how bad is it?"

"Better than it was earlier," replied Sakuyamon. "I'm just worried about how this is going to affect you guys once you separate. From what I saw before this is not the kind of injury to be carrying around. Everyone's kind of beat up too so I don't know if I'm going to be able to provide healing for everyone. I'm just not used to using that spell." Sakuyamon grimaced. "Of all the times for Kenta and his fairy partner to not be around. Looks like your idea to bring along bandages was a good one."

_"At least I finally came up with a good idea…"_ said Takato with a sigh. Sakuyamon looked at him.

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_ Asked Rika from within her own data sphere, a frown crossing her face. _"You're not talking about all that stuff you were saying earlier, are you? About how you're 'being a burden?'"_

Gallantmon jerked suddenly, as though he had been electrocuted. His golden eyes went wide with surprise as he looked at Sakuyamon.

"How did you know about that?!"

_"You were talking to yourself earlier,"_ Rika replied. _"Seemed to be a pretty big conversation, and it sure didn't sound like it was with Guilmon. I want to know about what all that was about by the way, but first I think we need to clear the air between us here."_ Looking up at the knight, Sakuyamon set her eyes in a fierce expression, and even though it was obscured by her fox-shaped mask its intensity could still be felt as easily as the rays of sunlight. _"I never once said that you were holding me back. Since when did you get it in your head that just because I've been helping you that you've been a problem for me?"_ Sakuyamon paused for a moment as a slight tinge of red crossed her normally pale face, and for an instant the all-too familiar memories of awkwardness that lay between them surfaced in Takato's mind.

" _Besides_ that!" Rika amended.

Takato sighed.

_"It's just that though,"_ he replied, before thinking about what he said. _"…uh…the idea of me holding you back. I know that we fight together as a team, it's just…sometimes, ever since Guilmon died, I haven't felt like I've been doing my part as much as I should be. You guys keep having to bail me out of trouble. This isn't a pride thing or anything like that; it's more that I want to be useful. And it doesn't feel like I am right now."_

Gallantmon pulled his hand into a tight fist and he narrowed his eyes.

_"Today I nearly hurt you. And I couldn't even defeat UlforceVeedramon. No matter what I did he kept coming. We were lucky this time…but what if that Data Stream didn't come?"_

Rika _hmmmphed_ and closed her eyes, smirking slightly at her friend.

_"Somehow Takato, I don't think 'luck' is anything you have to worry about. You've been luckier than most people when it comes to being a Tamer…"_

_"Maybe…but I have to get stronger Rika. UlforceVeedramon was strong enough to keep up with me and I barely even made the cut…sometimes literally, and this…"_ Gallantmon raised one hand to his chest where he had been stabbed and placed it there. _"…I got this as a result."_

_"You got Rika's hand?"_ Came Guilmon's voice. Looking down, the two Megas noticed that Gallantmon's hand had covered Sakuyamon's over the injured area, giving the two Megas the appearance that they were both holding hands.

_"Ahhh…"_

_"Gogglehead,"_ said Rika as a smirk crossed her Mega form's face. Putting her other hand on top of Gallantmon's Sakuyamon gently removed it and resumed her work.

_"Look Takato. I can understand you. Really I can. I also want to be able to protect everyone and everything using just my own strength, but I also know that sometimes you take a blow that you need help getting back up from. No one's asking you to be perfect, or to carry the weight of the whole world on your shoulders for them. That's something we're all supposed to do together, remember? Because 'we're a team,' if I'm remembering your own words right. Sometimes even I forget that, but that's why you, Henry, and the rest are there to help me remember. Just like I'm helping you remember right now."_ Sakuyamon looked back up at Gallantmon's gold colored eyes, her smirk having now transformed into a thoughtful smile. _"But since we're on this subject…if you're really interested in getting stronger, you might want to think about talking to Henry and have him introduce you to his teacher. He might be able to help you out with that."_

From within his data sphere Takato's eyes lit up with excitement and he pumped his fists into the air in front of him.

_"Yeah!"_

_"Good,"_ replied Rika as Sakuyamon's smile turned into a smirk once again. _"Because I could use a practice dummy for when I start."_

_"Yea…wait. Whaaa…?"_

_"Just kidding. But I've been thinking of looking into that myself. Thought I'd bring it up since you want to get stronger too so…what do you say? You want to get stronger together?"_

Takato stared at Sakuyamon, his eyes full of surprise. After a moment a smile grew on his face and he nodded.

_"Yeah. Together. It's a promise."_

_"All right then,"_ replied Rika, returning her attention to Gallantmon's wound. It was almost fully healed now. All that remained was to get back to where Jeri and Kuzuhamon were and to see how Takato and Guilmon were once they separated.

* * *

A pink beam of energy slid through an empty, blue colored void and a shell of tangled wood fell out of it, where it exploded outwards like an egg. UlforceVeedramon gave a roar of anger and indignation as he finally freed himself…too late!

_Too late! Too…LATE! Those Tamers! And that Urocyomon! Using such an underhanded trick to get rid of me!_

UlforceVeedramon's rage knew no bounds. Never in all of his years of service to Yggdrasil had he been dispatched in such a fashion. He had expected to be destroyed by an exceedingly powerful enemy before such a disgrace as being grabbed by a Data Stream would ever befall him. True, he recognized that this showed the level of desperation that the Tamers had in fighting him, but the knowledge did little to soothe his wounded pride. Such an act was beneath even a Royal Knight.

The sickening irony about the whole thing was, one of his opponents _was_ a Royal Knight.

_No…_ he thought to himself as he forced his mind to calm down. _No. He's no Royal Knight. He may wear Gallantmon's armor. His digital profile may call him a 'Royal Knight', X-Antibody notwithstanding, but he is_ no _Royal Knight. I'll see to it that he suffers for the disgrace he brings to my comrade's name._

Looking around, UlforceVeedramon took in his surroundings. The Data Stream had long since departed, so there was no way that he could use it to travel to a new location. Like it or not, he was confined to travelling in this world until he either came across another Data Stream or one of the connecting portals of the digital world that bound all the other worlds together.

The Royal Dragon narrowed his eyes. He did not recognize this world, and as such he could not identify what level he was on. All around him, no matter what direction he looked lay nothing but an expansive void, empty beyond all conception. Not quite _dark_ per se, as a faint light illuminated the area around him, giving it a blue discoloration, but there was nothing that he could see as to where the source of that light was coming from.

_Could I be in the spatial warp between the worlds?_ He wondered. _No. I couldn't be. Even that area has certain features and geographical types of landmarks that would identify it as such. Nor is this the human communication network. This is…something…different. I wonder…could Project Ark have already finished up this area of the digital world? That might explain the way this place looks…_

UlforceVeedramon turned, scanning the empty space around him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he could now feel something nearby. A presence of sorts, but what it was he couldn't tell. All he could say for certain was that whatever it was, it wasn't a digimon. He could feel it hovering nearby, eyeing him like a predator watching its picked prey, gauging its reactions and waiting for the perfect moment…to strike.

_Well…if it wants a fight, then it's a fight it will get,_ UlforceVeedramon thought as he ignited his energy blade. A translucent glow materialized around his blade, making the dragon knight appear as though he were holding a torch. From the depths of the void a shriek resounded upon the air, confirming the presence that UlforceVeedramon had been detecting.

"Where are you?!" The Royal Knight bellowed angrily. "Show yourself!"

A cold whisper of wind carried upon the air and before UlforceVeedramon could call out again a flat, black scaled, serpentine head rushed out of the shadows, a mouth full of fangs snapping open and closing around UlforceVeedramon's sword arm _hard,_ snapping metal and digital bones with a single bite. Sparks flew as the V-Bracelet was destroyed, deactivating the Ulforce Saber.

_"You wish to see us?"_ Asked a low voice as UlforceVeedramon struggled to remove the creature from his arm, grinding his fangs together to keep from shouting out from the shock of the pain that burrowed its way through his body. Crimson and blue fire suddenly burst into existence in front of UlforceVeedramon, revealing a massive form that left him frozen in complete and utter stunned silence. For half an instant UlforceVeedramon's struggles ceased entirely. A dark chuckle came from the massive creature in front of the Royal Knight as it towered over him.

_"Then look…"_

Another serpent head, attached to what looked to be a tail, flew out from behind the burning creature, its mouth opening just a second before it slammed home on UlforceVeedramon's head. UlforceVeedramon screamed as its fangs sunk into the Chrome Digizoid armor, crushing the now vulnerable head beneath their fearsome weight.

A second later, blue shards of data floated aimlessly into the air, signaling the end of yet another existence as silence once more reigned over the void.


	135. 134: Shadows of Doubt

"Still nothing?" Shibumi asked the two Mokumon floating in front of him. The smoke digimon shook their heads and Shibumi nodded at them.

"All right. Try the next plane. You might learn something from one of the Olympus Twelve."

Having received their orders, the Mokumon flew off into the air and disappeared in a thick fog, returning to the digital world.

The Monster Maker stared out at the horizon, his gaze going past the point where his two digital companions had vanished, lost in his own thoughts. After a few minutes, he heard a door leading into Hypnos opening.

"You know," hailed a voice from the stairwell, "you might want to be careful when you summon your little friends. Sooner or later someone's going to pick them up and mistake them for Wild Ones. It's a good thing that Hypnos' systems are, for all intents and purposes, down and the Tamers happen to be out of town."

Turning, Shibumi's eyes met that of Kuroda as he stepped out onto the roof, closing the door behind him. A gust of wind blew across the rooftop, and the man's laboratory coat fluttered.

"Oh, so you know about them."

Kuroda snorted.

"I got the story about your little 'appearance' in the middle of Hypnos' control room. I try to keep updated on the happenings of important movers and shakers in this business."

Shibumi chuckled.

"I'm flattered that you think so highly of me…"

"I never said that I think _highly_ of you," said Kuroda, causing the other man to stop short in his laughter. "But I _do_ believe that you move in powerful circles. Your employment of digimon to act as your messengers and stand-ins is evidence enough for that."

Shibumi eyed Kuroda, his eyes still mirthful, but now containing a spark of wariness. After a couple seconds he laughed again.

"You sure do your research, don't you? Well, I can't do much about your beliefs, but I am as plain as they come. Those Mokumon are some friends of mine. I met them in a library between the worlds you know…"

"No, I don't know," said Kuroda with a dismissive shrug. "Nor do I care. Right now I need to pick your brain."

Reaching into his coat pocket Kuroda brought out a print-out and handed it to Shibumi. The Monster Maker scanned the sheet of paper, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

"What is this?" He asked. Kuroda sighed.

"You can't tell?"

"Well, it looks like a pretty complicated piece of code. _Perfect_ would be the word that I'd use for it in fact. Where did you get this?"

"I was looking into what caused the Tamers to disappear with Ms. Onodera…Tally, and this is what we came across."

Shibumi raised one hand to his bearded face and scratched a cheek.

"It's very interesting…"

"Is that _all_ you have to say on the matter?"

"There's not much to say until I know why you're showing me this. Yamaki's been detailing me with fixing the Hypnos network by the way, so I don't think that I'll have enough time to help you on your project."

"I noticed," sniffed Kuroda disdainfully. "Hypnos' detection grid came up just enough for me to detect your Mokumon bio-emerging. You were lucky that Onodera had stepped out for a moment to use the bathroom and that your friends are at such a low level. This rooftop would be crawling with agents seeking to detain them. But all that's beside's the point right now. Given what you've accomplished I'm sure you can spare a few minutes. Especially since you took some time to talk to some digimon and send them off on errands."

"Well you got me. So what is it that you want my help with?"

"I've been thinking…there's still a warp in the network left over from the battle, and this code lies behind it…"

Shibumi nodded.

"You could almost call it a footprint."

"And here I thought that I was going to have to explain everything," said Kuroda with a frown.

"Sorry. It's just that I've seen similar data from Yamaki's files on the Juggernaut back when I used the program to collect Guilmon's scattered data. The Devas left a similar sign, cruder, but similar, following their breaches. This code is a digital signature coming from, by the looks of things, somewhere in the digital world itself, if not in between the warp that lies between the worlds. Are you thinking of piggy-backing it?"

"I'm not sure," replied Kuroda reluctantly. "The warp left over from the battle still exists, but it's stabilizing. How long of a window we have to conduct any operations that take advantage of it is tenuous at best. However, I do believe that we can use this code to locate where the Tamers were deposited in the digital world. What we do from there will have to depend on whatever plans we throw together with Yamaki during the meeting."

"Ah," Shibumi took out his cell phone and checked the clock its screen displayed. "It's that time already."

Kuroda raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? He's only just announced it."

"It's kind of expected," chuckled Shibumi as he pocketed his cell phone and handed Kuroda back his printout. "I saw the look he had on his face when he left in the helicopter earlier. Something seems to have happened and I think that something involves a certain 'sword in the stone.' He would want a meeting after that."

Looking at Kuroda Shibumi gave him a warm, friendly smile.

"Don't worry. I'll run some numbers in my head on this for you. Who knows? If everything works out we might even be able to have our very own digital portal to use."

With that Shibumi walked past the other programmer, who was presently feeling somewhat puzzled by this encounter. Before Shibumi made it to the stairwell Kuroda called out to him.

"You seem to know a lot about what's going on," said Kuroda. "A _lot_ more than you let on sometimes I think. Yet you don't seem to be at all concerned about what _else_ this code implies. You mentioned that the Devas always left a signature behind whenever they arrived here to wreck havoc. If that's the case, then this data signifies the same thing. A digimon is behind the disappearance of the Tamers, and not just _any_ digimon; a digimon who's _very_ powerful." Kuroda waved his sheet of paper in the air. "Do you have any idea what kind of force we're going to end up dealing with by going after the Tamers?"

"Nope," said Shibumi with a cheerful tone that sent a chill down Kuroda's back. "But that's what makes it fun."

And with that, the Monster Maker opened the door leading to the stairwell and disappeared within its depths, leaving Kuroda alone on the rooftop of Hypnos. Taking his turn to survey the area around him, his gaze moved towards the shattered remains of the city below.

_Fun? Mr. Mizuno 'fun' is the absolute_ last thing _that I would think about with this situation._

The sound of paper crumpling filled the air as Kuroda tightened his hand around his printout. He was already getting the distinct feeling that he and Shibumi were going to get along _swimmingly._

* * *

Yamaki hung up his phone and looked back over at the area where the spear of ChaosGallantmon had once stood. He had just gotten off the phone with Riley, informing her of everything that had happened recently and getting an update on the situation at Hypnos. He had called for a meeting to be gathered amongst the main staff of Hypnos upon his return to see what options were available for them in the rescuing of the Tamers. So far, just from Riley's report alone it didn't look like it was going to be something that could be attempted in the near future, but experience had taught the blonde haired head of Hypnos that when he put the finest minds of his employees together in one room answers just seem to fly out of their mouths.

_All that's needed is to tie them all together so that we can make them work,_ thought Yamaki before turning to the soldiers standing behind him.

"Your orders, sir?" Asked one of them, a Major by the looks of his rank insignia.

Yamaki found himself frowning beneath his sunglasses. He never liked working with the military, and found it odd that they would be differential in any fashion towards him. True, as far as the cleanup situation was concerned and for dealing with all things digital, Yamaki had been granted a good deal amount of power over the military, all in recognition of his handling of the D-Reaper fiasco, but that didn't change the fact that he felt uncomfortable. The power to control the military, even if it belonged to a group of buffoons concerned only with remaining elected, was not something he took a shine too. It made him feel as though he were but a step away from becoming dictator of the country.

_And sometimes having a connection with the Tamers and working to incorporate them into Hypnos gives me that same feeling. It's no wonder some of the higher ups keep viewing me with suspicion. I'm sure they didn't like how I took control of the railroads and the necessary labor force so easily during the Locomon incident. Not everyone appreciates a rapid rise to power. I certainly don't._

"For now continue inspecting the damage to the city and searching for any civilians who didn't leave the city in time. Close off any and all areas that you believe dangerous and mark all necessary passes that can be safely traversed. I'll have someone down here to perform a cost analysis."

_Strange thing to worry about,_ thought Yamaki sarcastically, and from the look in the eyes of the soldiers as they snapped him a salute, he could tell that they thought the same thing.

"Is there anything else?" Asked Yamaki, as he looked the soldiers over one more time.

"Yes sir," said the Major as he lowered his hand. "Earlier we had encountered a civilian in this area…"

"Yes, I believe that I had received a report about him. 'Morgan Hughes' was his name."

"Yes sir."

"Is there a problem with him?"

"We have him in a temporary shelter until we get proper transportation to pick him up, but…" the Major paused for a moment. "…he's been asking to see you. He refuses to give us any information about where he lives or why he was still in the city, but he seems to be quite familiar with your name."

_Hardly surprising since Hypnos went public during the D-Reaper crisis,_ thought Yamaki.

"I don't know him," said Yamaki, flicking his lighter open. "You'll have to excuse me, but I have some work that needs attending to. So unless there is something else…"

"He said he wanted to see you because of a relation that he has in your employ. Someone by the name of 'Amaya Abe.' He wants to get in contact with her."

Yamaki frowned. It had been some time since he had last given thought to Amaya Abe following her fainting spell. He had her sent to the hospital for analysis and treatment, but the evacuation order had since come down, and he hadn't had time to keep track of her.

_The secretary should have some information regarding her,_ thought Yamaki. _The hospital would have called to let us know when and where they were taking her while evacuating their patients. Still…this business with Hughes being, what was it? A 'relation?' Family? It wasn't something that I was aware of. I was under the opinion that she didn't have many family members remaining._

Yamaki could already hear Riley teasing him about how he doesn't remember any details concerning his 'lowly employees' and he snapped his lighter shut with a loud _click._

_I don't have enough time to deal with this directly, but I should have this confirmed just on the off chance that it's true. I can't leave something like this hanging._

Again, Yamaki could hear Riley's voice, this time teasing him about how he had been growing a heart ever since he met up with the Tamers. The sound of his lighter clicking open and closed once more filled the air, causing the soldiers gathered in front of him to exchange barely concealed glances of curiosity.

"Have a copter bring him over to Hypnos," said Yamaki, flicking his lighter open and closed a final time as he turned around and headed towards his transport. "I'll deal with the situation there."

"Yes sir!" Saluted the soldiers.

* * *

Morgan Hughes, blonde haired and bearded sat in the tent staring at the guard in front of him. Neither man had moved a muscle since he had been placed here and words were few and far between, if not existent. In the past, Morgan would have preferred that, but today was different. Today he felt like he wanted to talk. To someone. _Anyone._ Preferably to one Amaya Abe. He had spent so much time searching for her...

Morgan Hughes breathed a heavy sigh as he finally dropped his head into his hands.

_So much to think about,_ he thought. _So much more than I had thought possible. What I felt during that battle…_

_A flash of pink, and a torrent of emotion poured into the depths of his soul, giving him a sensation of 'connection'…though to what he couldn't tell for certain. All he knew was that he felt as though he were a part of something greater…something larger than he was. And what was more, it felt as though there was a feeling of 'child-like innocence' in that pink light that had engulfed him. A feeling that he hadn't experienced for many, many years…_

_…Just what was it that happened back there?_

"Hey," asked Morgan Hughes to the soldier standing guard. "Can I ask you something?"

The soldier nodded his head.

"Shoot."

"What's your name, if you don't mind my asking?"

The soldier paused for the briefest of moments, having not expected the question, before giving an answer.

"Ichiro Sato."

"Nice to meet you, Ichiro-san. Tell me…what do you think of the digimon and the whole 'Tamers' business?"

"What do I think about it?"

"Yeah," said Morgan, raising his head. "I'd like to know what a soldier thinks of all of this. You don't have to answer me if you don't want to, but I'd like to know."

Ichiro Sato was quiet for a few minutes as he gave the question the weighty consideration that it deserved.

"It makes no difference to me," he said finally. Morgan looked up, astonished by the man's reply.

"What?"

"I said it makes no difference to me."

"But…" Morgan blinked, trying to comprehend his answer. "…Everything that the digimon have done! You've seen what's happened to this city. You've got to have an opinion!"

"Who says that I care to give one? You want me to say that the digimon scare the hell out of me? Fine. They do, but I've been scared plenty of times before. A big Kaiju destroying Tokyo? The movies predicted that decades ago, and in case you didn't notice they were metaphors about certain _atomic_ and technological dangers long before they were reduced to a cultural, children's fad. Monster or man though, I get paid the same, and my duties are going to be the same. Personally, if I _had_ to shell out a decision, I'd rather choose the side that lets me live the way I'm accustomed to. I'd go with the Tamers. And besides," the soldier took a moment to readjust his weapon before continuing, "I had a cousin who was in this city back during the Parasimon invasion. The Tamers saved him that day. I don't even like to think about what would have happened if the Tamers weren't there to take care of business."

"You don't…" Morgan swallowed before continuing. "You don't think that the Tamers are responsible for their being here?"

"What are you? One of those anti-digimon crazies? I've seen guys like them on the news, getting parliament all stirred up. They don't look like a happy bunch I want to swing with. Not by a long-shot. Every time I look at them I keep thinking that they wouldn't mind putting a bullet in the heads of one of those kids who save their lives every day. Treating them like they're monsters…the boogeyman that's out to get them. I'm sure if they could they'd organize a Witch Hunt or something. It makes me sick thinking about it. I've never met the Tamers before, but I'm willing to bet that they're just kids like any other one out there."

Morgan raised his hands and looked down at them. In his mind's eye he saw the devastation that Shinjuku had been reduced to; the smoke that billowed up into the sky. _"Every time I look at them I keep thinking that they wouldn't mind putting a bullet in the heads of one of those kids who save their lives every day."_ That, Morgan knew, had been precisely what he had been thinking. Perhaps not out loud and not directly to himself, but his actions certainly spoke volumes. He had, after all, stuck around in the city when it was going up in smoke and being reduced to ruins. He had armed himself with a gun and fully intended to get mixed up in the fighting. And there had been that altercation with one of the Tamers from before, the one with the rust colored robot. He had been so enraged at that time that he didn't stop to think about what he was doing. He had just started throwing rocks at the digimon, and then the kid, the diigmon's partner, had stepped in (even though the robot was sturdy enough to take anything that a mere rock could dish out). And when the other good citizens of Shinjuku had stepped in to defend him, it had been enough to drive him nearly insane with rage.

The image of Amaya Abe flashed through his mind and he gripped the sides of his head.

_How could they? How could…?_

He remembered receiving the news of the death of Amaya's son, and his attempts to get to her side. It hadn't been easy as at the time the Japanese government had quite suddenly decreased the amount of traffic that it was allowing into its borders. Hardly surprising as they were in the middle of recovering from the attack of the D-Reaper and were trying to keep a cap on as much information as possible so as to control the after affects that knowledge of the digital world would have on the political stage as well as the civilian level. The 'anti-digimon' groups that Ichiro mentioned were one of the reasons for this. It didn't take much of a leap of the imagination for politicians to believe that a terrorist type attack would result from the D-Reaper conflict. Yamaki's brief success at sealing off the digital world and keeping the digimon from coming through had kept them calm for a couple months, allowing the politicians' time to get a handle on things, but once that grace period had ended…

_Amaya… Oh Amaya…_

Morgan Hughes didn't even notice the thin, black film-like aura that had materialized around his body, because no sooner had it appeared then the tent flap opened up and a soldier walked in, pulling his attention away from his hands and interrupting his thoughts.

"Morgan Hughes," said the soldier. "I've been ordered to take you to a helicopter where you'll be taken to Hypnos."

Morgan Hughes' mouth worked for a second, trying to speak until he finally nodded. The black aura winked out of existence a second later, unnoticed by either of the soldiers that were with him.


	136. 135: Plans for Action!

Two helicopters flew through the air, aiming towards the twin towers of the Hypnos government building. Within the passenger compartment of one of them, Yamaki was talking on his cell phone to his Chief operator, Riley Ootori, relaying that he was bringing a 'guest' by the name of Morgan Hughes.

_"I see,"_ said Riley on the other end. _"Do you want me to find out what I can about him?"_

"Yes," replied Yamaki tersely. "He claims to have some kind of relationship with Amaya Abe; the one who fainted in front of Tally."

_"I'm pretty sure that we don't have any other Amaya's around here with the last name of 'Abe', sir,"_ came Riley's amused tone. _"But I'll see what I can dig up. The system is functioning a bit better than it was before, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to be quick about this. We're still repairing the network."_

"That's fine," said Yamaki. "It will give my agents time to track down Amaya and see where she was placed after the evacuation order was given. If we find out where she is and she's awakened by now we can check his story through her. See what you can dig up on him in the meantime."

_"Yes sir."_

"Has everyone been informed about the scheduled meeting?"

_"The news is working its way down the grapevine sir. We're all a little tied up but everyone should be ready in time for your landing."_

"Good. I'll be there shortly. We're making our final approach now. Have some agents sent up to helipad number two to escort Morgan Hughes to a holding area until we know more about him."

_"Yes sir."_

Clicking his cell phone off Yamaki looked out the window as his helicopter neared its destination.

* * *

"Aaah…that hit the spot…" moaned Impmon as he stuffed a large piece of Melon Bread into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. A second later a loud belch resounded throughout the Hypnos mess hall, causing more than a few heads to turn in his direction with eyebrows raised in surprise. Impmon paid them no mind and instead reached for the plate where he had his lunch, only to have his hand slapped away by an irate Ai as she gave him a fierce scowl.

"Impmon!" She cried indignantly. "At least say 'excuse me' when you do that! Show some manners!"

"Aw c'mon Ai!" Exclaimed Mako, the girl's little brother from next to her. "That was cool! Besides, Mom's not here right now. She's in the bathroom so it's not like she's here to yell at us."

"Well, yeah…but…" Ai crossed her tiny arms over her chest as she glared at her little brother and their demonic partner, pouting as she tried to come up with a suitable counter argument. Her eyes seemed to light up as she looked over at Calumon. "…But…Impmon! You won't get along with girls if all you do is be disgusting! It's not cute!"

"Why would Impmon want to get along with girls?" Asked Mako, raising one finger to his mouth in frank curiosity. "And why would he want to be cute? Girls are just weird and it's better to look 'cool' than 'cute…'"

Reaching over Impmon ruffled Mako's hair.

"Mako…you've still got a lot of growing up to do, so don't worry your little head over this. And," Impmon turned towards Ai, "for your information, I happen to get a _lot_ of cute girls. Face it, a lot of girls like me just for being a 'bad boy.'"

"Oh yeah?" Huffed Ai. "Name one!"

"Fox face for starters," gleamed Impmon devilishly. "You know, Renamon. The nice-looking ninja fox. She and I…" Impmon stretched and grinned. "… _very_ well. She came back for me in the digital world to drag my ugly bum back home. And we hang around a lot at night too."

"Really?" Asked Calumon in between mouthfuls of Melon Bread. "That's not what she says."

"Of course she would," said Impmon, continuing to smirk. "It's not the kind of thing that we want other folks knowin' about you know."

"Weird." Calumon tapped his chin with one stubby little arm. "I always hear about how she's having to break up your pranks in the park. She sounded kind of annoyed. And she said something about tying you up with your own bandana and hanging you by a tree if she caught you doing it again…"

"Uhhh…" Impmon's right eye twitched as he looked at the little creampuff of a digimon. "Clearly, ah, some roughhousing got a little out of hand one night…"

Impmon could feel Ai's heavy stare on him and he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

_And here I'm supposed to be these kids' role model. What can I say though? Sometimes the night just calls for trouble…_

"Mako," said Impmon gravely. "I feel that it's important that I point out that you don't do what I do, okay?"

"But why?"

"'Cause what I do gets me in trouble too often. I'm just smart enough to know how to avoid it." Impmon thought for a moment before amending that statement. "At least, I am now. You're still a kid."

"Yeah!" Crowed Ai triumphantly. "You don't know what kind of consekences the things you do can have on other people."

"Huh?" Blinked Mako in surprise while Impmon smiled at the little girl, grateful to know that she still remembered the conversation that he had with her a week ago.

"'Consequences'," Impmon corrected her. "But close enough. As long as you remember what she said Mako, and don't get caught up in 'cute things'," Impmon indicated Calumon, "then you'll be a better mon than me."

"Wooowww…"

"Yeah, I know. Quite the impressive image to live up to, huh?"

"You really think highly of yourself, don't you?" Asked Calumon in an off-hand manner as he bit into his melon bread, chewed, and gulped. A second later the tiny digimon let out a large burp rivaling Impmon's, and his green eyes widened in amazement.

"Pot and kettle, creampuff," chided Impmon after a moment of stunned silence. "Pot and kettle. Very cute by the way. You're going to go over really well with the girls."

"Well, they _do_ give me a lot more treats than you…"

"Geh…!"

"Hey Impmon," spoke up Ai. "What happened out there? Can you tell us? The soldier people won't let us go outside. Is everything okay out there?"

"I wouldn't say that everything's 'okay,'" replied Impmon as he picked up a melon bread and stuffed it into his mouth, gorging on its sweet taste. "Fact is, we've…got a little bit of a problem. Nothing too big, seeing as how I'm here to save the day and all, but you know. It kinda makes my day a little bit harder to deal with."

"So everything is going to be all right?" Asked Mako. Impmon hesitated, not wanting to lie to his partners about the severity of the situation, but at the same time not wanting to leave them worried.

_And the last time I gave a promise to someone I ended up not being able to carry it out. Came close, but then I got fillet by the D-Reaper. That didn't exactly, how you say, go over too well. Well, I'll just have to live up to my promise this time._

"Sure," said Impmon, forcing a smile on his face. "Everything is going to be A-Okay. You just watch. Before you know it I'll have my sidekicks back here in no time and things'll be back to normal."

Calumon blinked his eyes at Impmon.

"Sidekicks?"

"It's a 'partner-ish' name," clarified Impmon. "It means that I'm pals with the Tamers in fighting crime and stuff."

"Ohhh…"

"And he's their leader," smiled Mako, causing Impmon to nearly choke on his melon bread.

"Ahhh…Mako? I think you're taking what I told you a little out of context…"

"But that's what you told us. You said that you were the boss of the Tamers and that they did everything you said in a fight."

Calumon tilted his head to one side in confusion.

"But I thought that Takato was the leader…"

"Uh…heh, heh. Mako, when we get back home you and I are going to have a little talk about the stuff that I tell you…"

"It's a good thing then that you chose to wait," spoke up a voice from behind Impmon. Turning, the diminutive little imp looked up to see a blonde haired man wearing a dark suit that looked eerily like Yamaki, but with the main difference being the dark hat that he wore on top of his head. Behind him he was flanked by two, nearly identical agents, though this time they lacked his hat and had dark hair.

"Oh, yeah? And why's that?"

"Mr. Yamaki is calling a meeting, and he would like for you to be there without any delay."

"Does it involve getting Takato and the rest back?"

"That is something that you're going to have to discover at the meeting, Mr. Impmon," said the agent in an emotionless tone. Impmon raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, okay. I get the picture. But my partners' mom ain't here yet, and I can't just leave 'em by their lonesome."

"Ohhh…but Impmon, we'll be fi…"

"It's not about whether or not you'll be _fine,_ it's that you're my responsibility. Your folks certainly wouldn't like it if I up and left you two alone every time I got called away by these Hypnos guys!"

"I can stay with them," said Calumon, to which Impmon _hmmmphed_ and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No offense Creampuff, but you're hardly my first choice to play protector to my partners. I'd sooner trust ol' helicopter head to them. At least I know he'd be able to fight back, keep my partners safe, and not embarrass me all at the same time."

"You're mean, Impmon!"

"And you're too cute! Plus you don't have any attacks and you can't digivolve!"

"I do too have attacks! I used them when I got Jeri out of the D-Reaper and I used them when I was inside your head!"

"Huh?" Blinked Ai and Mako. "Calumon was in your head?"

"As interesting as this conversation is," broke in the agent, "I'm afraid that I must insist that you come with me. I'll leave one of my agents with them to keep an eye on your partners until their mother gets back. Is that satisfactory?"

"Can they hold up against a Mega's attack?"

A frown crossed the agents features. Clearly he was not used to receiving this kind of backtalk.

"Don't worry Impmon," said Ai as she rubbed the top of Impmon's head. "We'll be fine. You go to your meeting and do what you do best, okay? You're the super hero, remember? We'll be cheering for you on the sidelines."

"Well…yeah, but…"

"Go get 'em Impmon!" Exclaimed Mako as he pumped his fists in front of him. "Show the bad guys what it means to mess with you!"

"Mako…Ai…" Impmon sighed and shook his head before looking up at the agent. "I'll be holding you guys _personally_ responsible for their safety."

"I should point out," said the agent, "that your Tamers are within the confines of Hypnos. No harm shall come to them as long as they are here."

"Is that so? Funny. Your track record certainly speaks for itself then, don't it?"

Once more the agent frowned at Impmon, leaving the digimon to wonder just how often people, digital or otherwise, had ever gotten him to show that much emotion in so short of a time span. The man was so much like Yamaki in that regard that he didn't think he would ever react to even the slightest snub.

"If you would be so kind as to follow me…" began the agent in a decidedly dour tone of voice. Impmon nodded.

"Just lead the way."

* * *

"Here's the file on Amaya Abe that you requested," said Taeko Endo, receptionist of Hypnos as she handed a folder over to Riley Ootori. "Sorry for taking so long with it. I had to go through the paper documentations because of the backlog of data requests."

"Uh…" Riley blinked in surprise as she took hold of the file and flipped through it.

_She says that she's sorry for taking a long time with gathering this? That hardly took any time at all! Well, okay, it took longer than it would have normally if the network was up and running, but the way she's talking she's making it sound like it took her hours instead of fifteen minutes. She must be really organized with her files. It's no wonder that Yamaki hired her._

"…Thanks," said Riley finally. "This will work out great."

"No problem," said Taeko as she did a little, slightly flummoxed bow. "And again, my sincerest apologies with the time it took to get this for you."

"Don't worry," chuckled Riley. "This went above my expectations. I've got to get going now, but I'll be sure to put in a good word for you."

"Thank you!" Exclaimed Taeko, once more bowing to Riley before she 'scampered off' to return to her front desk in the main lobby. Riley smiled as she watched her go.

_Not bad for someone who had to take over more duties than her job assigned to her. That one could really go places._

Shaking her head Riley returned her attention to the folder on Amaya Abe. Much of it was a pretty basic report on the woman, ranging from her name, blood type, and various contact information in the event that she or a family member had to be reached in an emergency. There was a more detailed report on her within the next few pages, a psychiatric report that had been filed following the death of her son during the D-Reaper invasion. It outlined much of her family's history, relatives, and Amaya's own personal history specifically. Riley scanned its contents for anything that could give her an idea of who Morgan Hughes was, and what relation he had with her.

After a minute, Riley's eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks, reading the file over again to make sure that she had it right before closing it up. Resuming her journey Riley increased her speed as she headed towards the meeting room.

* * *

"Yamaki," called out Riley as she caught the man just about to open the door to the primary meeting room of Hypnos. Turning, the blonde haired head of Hypnos nodded to her in greeting.

"Riley," he said calmly, taking note of the folder she held in her arms. "What do you have?"

"Amaya Abe's file for you sir," she said as she handed the folder to him. "As it turns out there _is…"_

"Hey!" Boomed the voice of Impmon as he trudged on into the hallway with the agent Ishimoto behind him. "Blonde guy! What are you doin' just standin' there?! Don't we have a meeting to get on or something?"

"A pleasure to see you again, Impmon," remarked Yamaki in a dry tone before turning to Riley. "Sorry. I'm afraid we're going to have to continue this conversation later."

"Yes sir," agreed Riley with a slight frown, annoyed at the interruption but feeling that with the larger things on the horizon there was little else to do but to concede this. Yet… "If it's all the same to you, Yamaki, I would like to continue pursuing this assignment."

Yamaki raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. I know that the Hypnos network is still in need of repair, and I'll give that my first priority, but I think I can solve the Amaya and Morgan situation. Taeko seems to be pretty well organized with her information in spite of everything, so I think I can poke around and confirm a few more things. If everything works out I can have Morgan on his way."

"Do you believe that he does have a connection with Amaya?"

"That file indicates as much sir, so it's within the realm of possibility. If I can assign the actual face to the name then I can confirm it for certain."

"I see. And do you have Amaya's present location available as well?"

"Not yet. I'll detail Taeko to look into it. She should have something that we can use."

Impmon, scowling, looked back and forth between the two agents of Hypnos and tapped his foot impatiently.

"Hey! We've got a program to run here…"

Riley fixed the diminutive imp with an exasperated expression before looking back over to Yamaki, who paid no attention at all to the digimon.

"How far along are the Monster Makers, Tally, and Kuroda in the repairs?" He finally asked after a few seconds of consideration.

"Right now the network is up and running, but it's not operating as smoothly as we'd like it to be. I'd say that the detection grid is only thirty-five to forty percent functional on the surface area of the digital world. Juggernaut is functional but Daisy believes that we shouldn't run it until all systems are fully functional again. However, primary and secondary firewalls along with the tracer and Yuggoth applications are operational. As I said though, with the network operating the way it is now…"

Riley let the sentence trail off, allowing her words to sink into her superior as he nodded.

"Given the amount of time that has passed it's better than I hoped for," said Yamaki as he returned the file to Riley. "Detail as much of this as you can to the receptionist so that you can leave yourself available for the repairs. In the meantime, since you seem interested in looking in on this, see what you can find out."

"Yes sir," said Riley with a nod of her head as she accepted the file.

"'Bout time," muttered Impmon under his breath, earning him a slight glare from Riley and Ishimoto. With that, Yamaki pushed open the door to the meeting room and stepped inside with Impmon in hot pursuit.

* * *

"Thank you all for coming," said Yamaki as he sat down at the table and looked over everyone that had been gathered so far. Janyu and his team, the Monster Makers, Kuroda, and of course Impmon. Tally was there as well, and he saw her looking around the table, appearing rather puzzled.

"Um…shouldn't Riley be a part of this also?"

"Riley's pursuing an assignment," answered Yamaki. "Now, I would like to extend my gratitude for your efforts, and the amount of repairs that you have all done to the Hypnos network so far…"

"For the hundredth time," muttered a bald, black man in a rather sarcastic, but jovial tone. Yamaki couldn't help but chuckle a little at that.

"You'll be well-compensated for your hours and labor expended on this effort, Babel. _All_ of you will be."

"Is that _all_ you got us together for?" Asked Kuroda sourly as he leaned back in his chair. "I mean, while we _do_ have all the other underlings slaving away to continue repairs, our absence is going to drastically slow down the process. The hour that we waste here could be the hour that we bring the percentage of operability up to fifty percent, or find a way to rescue the Tamers."

"Then let's cut to the chase, shall we?" Said Yamaki, leaning forward in his chair. "What do you have for me?"

"Tally and I have been conducting an analysis on the spatial warp that settled over the airspace of Shinjuku. It's presently closing itself up, but I wouldn't recommend having any air traffic flying nearby until the situation has settled down a bit. Heck, I'm not even sure _any_ living thing should be here due to the possibility of things just disappearing through a crack between the worlds, but that's just my opinion and we're all a bunch of crazy maniacs anyway. No offense intended."

The silence that the gathered scientists gave Kuroda spoke volumes.

"Way to sell yourself to the crowd there buddy," said Impmon sarcastically.

_I think I like him already,_ thought Kuroda, giving a small grin as he now leaned forward.

"Anyway, like I was saying; Tally and I conducted an analysis of the warp and we definitely believe that we can use it to trace and rescue the Tamers…or at least most of them, until we have all of Hypnos' systems back online and running. Provided that is, that we don't have _another_ attack in the meantime."

"That's just inviting trouble," said Babel. "But that aside, how can we use the warp like you said?"

"I believe I can answer that," said Shibumi, entering the conversation now. "Kuroda gave me the information that he and Tally found, so I've been doing some number crunching in my head while waiting for the meeting to start. Think of the warp as a caved in tunnel. It wasn't just a distortion of the barriers between the real and digital worlds like we're normally used to, and it's not an eroding of those same barriers like what Juggernaut has done before. This time it was _actually_ a serious attempt at creating a portal, much like what the Devas and the D-Reaper have done in the past, only using an incredible amount of power."

"Back up!" Said Babel. "You mean to say that a digimon or something out there pulled together enough power to make a portal and grab the Tamers?"

"Is it that surprising?" Chided Kuroda. "We have the so-called Sovereigns and Shibumi's little pals seem capable of pulling it off on their own despite being at a low-level…"

"That's not what I mean man," responded Babel. "What I'm getting at is, are we going to have another episode of the D-Reaper on our hands? Okay, we just got through with whatever that blue cable thing was, and then there was that bit with the Royal Knights, but this time we had someone just up and pluck those kids straight out of the city and we have no idea what it is that we'll be expecting when we rescue them."

"I think I can see Babel's point," said Yamaki. "Taking the absence of the Tamers into consideration it should be reasonable to believe that we ought to expect some kind of danger and resistance. We may be on the verge of another war that we weren't aware was brewing."

"Didn't Miki's partner, Beanie or whatever-his-name-is mention something about that already during our last meeting? The one between the X-Whatsis and the Royal Knights?"

Shibumi nodded.

"Yes. There is a conflict going on in the digital world. We only have a glimmer of what the opposing sides are, but that by no means tells us that they're the _only_ sides involved or that it's the only conflict currently going on. My Mokumon haven't turned up anything yet, but then again they haven't been able to explore the entirety of the digital world."

"Given how vast it is," said Janyu, "it would take them years, perhaps even decades to search out every single plain and individual layer. I'm amazed that you even set them on that path in the first place."

"They're surprisingly adept at that sort of thing," said Shibumi with a smile. "It helps that digimon don't rely on visuals, guesswork, or hearsay to locate someone or something. A digimon's senses operate differently than ours, and they're pulled almost instinctively towards human energies. It's why some of them are so obsessed with having a human partner, or heading to the human world. Finding a human data pattern in the digital world is easy."

"But wouldn't that still be like the equivalent of searching for a needle in a haystack?" This came from Rob McCoy who was sitting next to Daisy, two chairs down from Yamaki.

"It would be, but these Mokumon are…'special.' Let's leave it at that."

"Now hold on here Shibumi…"

"Hey!" Interrupted Impmon angrily, slamming one red-gloved fist onto the table hard enough to jar everyone's attention onto him. "What is this? I thought that you guys were supposed to be coming up with a plan to rescue my friends! Since when did this get off track so that you could play twenty questions?!"

"Impmon's right," put in Yamaki, leaning back in his chair. "Mizuno's secrets aside, they are not the point of this meeting. What is, is what we can do to rescue the Tamers and bring them back home. We'll deal with any possible threats as they come up, and our best chance of doing that is with the Tamers fighting on our side."

"At least we've got _someone_ here who has their head screwed on right," grumbled Impmon. Yamaki frowned at the demonic digimon while a few barely concealed chuckles went around the table in regards to Impmon's rather rough and direct personality.

"Now," Yamaki resumed, focused his attention on Shibumi, "you were saying?"

"Yes." Shibumi coughed before continuing. "Anyway, the warp is, as I said, like a caved in layer of reality, only more malleable. If we want to use it to locate the Tamers and create a portal to get to them we'll need a device that can manipulate a massive amount of data and a lot of power. We should be able to 'drill' our way to the digital world after that."

"Unfortunately," said Rob with a dejected sigh, "we don't have any working technology to carry out the kind of job that you're talking about."

"Well, we _do_ have the power," supplied Janyu, but Rob waved him off.

"The power, but not the equipment. The closest we have is Juggernaut, but that's not even remotely close or even safe to field test again. That is unless Daisy has something new…"

"Unfortunately no," said Daisy with a sad shake of her head. "We have too many systems down. I wouldn't recommend activating Juggernaut unless you want digimon materializing all over the city again."

"There _may_ be another way," interceded Shibumi.

Raising an eyebrow Yamaki shifted in his seat.

"Explain."

"Since power doesn't seem to be a problem, all that we should need is a digivice."

Silence filled the room for a second before Janyu spoke.

"It makes sense. The digivices are much more advanced then the portable devices that we created for the original AI project. They are capable of manipulating massive amounts of data on an unprecedented scale…"

"…Particularly when they draw their power from their human owner," put in Shibumi.

"True. And let's not forget that one digivice was able to create a digimon out of just a drawing, gathering data from sources in the digital world to create Guilmon. And it was Henry's digivice that enabled Grani to bio emerge into the real world…in fact, we _needed_ it in order to help create the necessary proteins and structure for Grani stabilize itself. As I recall, digivices teach data how to operate and organize themselves. Surely, with the right amount of power and programming we could use a digivice to recreate the dimensional portal along the same lines and code that was originally used. Of course, that would have to count on the initial dimensional erosion caused by Gyōjamon hadn't sufficiently repaired itself…"

"Your point?" Interrupted Impmon, sounding impatient. "If you say that you can do it, then we can do it. All we need is a digivice, right?"

"Yes," said Yamaki. "It is, isn't it?"

"In a nutshell, yes," replied Janyu.

"Well then," Yamaki took out his cell phone and dialed a number. Within a second the person on the other end picked up.

"Ishimoto. Would you get Impmon's partners, Ai and Mako, and bring them down to the meeting room. There is something that we would like to discuss with them."

* * *

Riley Ootori stood in front of the desk of Amaya Abe, looking at the empty chair that sat behind it. A few minutes ago she had been to see Taeko and had given her the directive of looking up some more information regarding Ms. Abe. During the conversation Taeko had quipped that with the way the flow of information was going it might be faster to check the photos on her desk or 'raid her apartment' in order to get what she needed. While Riley abhorred the idea of checking out the woman's home the idea of checking her workspace seemed to plant itself in her mind and take root. She didn't like this idea any more than the apartment one either, and she certainly believed that Amaya wouldn't be the kind of person to leave much information about herself at work, especially at a government facility. Everyone, of course, knew that she kept a photo of her departed son on her desk, but there wasn't much to it than that.

But then, few people got a close look at Amaya's office space.

And now, here was a chance.

Tightening one hand into a fist Riley stepped into the woman's work area and took a look around. The room wasn't exactly what one would call 'Spartan', but it wasn't exactly messy either. 'Functional' would be the term that Riley would have used. Everything that was needed was right where they were quick to access and what wasn't, was filed away in an organized (or approximating organization depending on the proximity of files to the desk) manner. Stepping around the desk, Riley glanced at the photographs that sat near the computer monitor, looking for a face of the man that Yamaki had brought in. She had gotten a look at him before coming down here, and she was sure that she could pick him out amongst these photos like a police lineup.

_That is, unless he grew his beard much more recently,_ thought Riley dourly. There were a few more photos than she had heard on this desk. Then again, most people knew only that her son had been killed during the D-Reaper attack, and that sense of loss was what their minds focused on the most. The fact that she had other photos depicting other family members or friends, all of which involved happier times and shared nothing of the aura of tragedy as the one with her son, did not seem to click with them. Still, even so, Riley found her own gaze drawn to the photograph of Amaya Abe holding her child close to her. Picking it up, Riley's eyes traced over the small form of the boy, his hair every inch as blonde as that of Amaya's.

_And that of this 'Morgan Hughes,'_ Riley's mind whispered to her, remembering the blond hair that the man had.

Placing the picture back down on the desk Riley looked over the contents of the desk and up at the corners of the computer monitor. There was nothing else, save for a few pictures of Amaya with some female friends from when she was younger. College friends she was sure, but other than that…

Riley let out a small yelp as the picture frame of Amaya and her son suddenly fell off the desk and hit the floor. Too late, Riley realized that she hadn't set it right. Walking back around Riley picked the frame up and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that it was undamaged from its fall, thanks to the rug that lined the floor.

_It's just about the only thing around here that isn't broken,_ thought Riley sarcastically as she set the picture back on the desk, this time taking a moment to make sure that it was settled and wouldn't be going anywhere. As she did so she took notice of a small, curious white square poking out from a crack in the frame, separate from the main photograph. Reaching over, Riley tugged at it and pulled it out smoothly. It was another photo, this one much smaller than the others. Turning it over Riley's eyes widened as she saw the image of a blonde haired man with a striking resemblance to the one currently being held in custody, only without the beard. Scrawled across the front of the photo in blue pen was a short message.

_All my love_

_-Morgan Hughes (1999)_


	137. 136: Those Steps

Riley approached the guard standing in front of the door that led to the room containing Morgan Hughes; his 'prison' as he called it, though in reality it was nothing more than a glorified meeting room given a fast enough dressing down to qualify for VIP status (as close as one could get anyway). The red haired woman's eyes met those of the guard's and he nodded in greeting to her.

"Ms. Ootori."

"Hey Takashi. I need to see Mr. Hughes. Is he in there?"

"He hasn't tried to escape through the air duct system or break down the door so I would assume so. Not that he's in any hurry to escape or anything. From what I hear he wants to see the boss. He's been very good because of that."

Were Riley more in the joking mood she could have pointed out that Morgan could try escaping in order to see the blonde haired head of Hypnos, but she knew that wouldn't be the case. From her last look at the man, Morgan Hughes would not try anything of the sort. There was something in his eyes, an almost dispirited look that told her that, in spite of his desperation, he would wait as long as it took to get what he wanted and only extraordinary circumstances could force him into action.

"Good," said Riley as she swiped her card through the card reader next to the door, opening the locking mechanism. "I'll be sure to call out if anything happens."

"I'll be listening," the guard said with a chuckle, and Riley smiled slightly as she pushed open the door and let herself in. Closing it behind her Riley scanned the room, finding Morgan Hughes sitting in the exact same spot that she had seen him in the last time she looked in on him. He was at the table, staring blankly at the wall in front of him, his eyes holding nothing but the grayest forecasts of emotional weather.

"Hello Mr. Hughes," said Riley as she pulled up a chair in front of him and sat down, setting a file on the table. "I'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Where's Amaya?" He asked tonelessly, still not looking directly at her. Riley pursed her lips.

"We're looking into that right now, but if we're going to be giving you any help in regards to an employee of Hypnos, I have to confirm a few things first. It's a security measure."

"Oh."

"I've looked into Ms. Abe's file, but I would like to hear them from you…"

"You want to know about my relationship with her, don't you?"

"If you could."

Morgan Hughes sighed despondently.

"I was in love with her," he said finally. "Still am you could say."

Riley opened the folder and revealed two pictures that she had taken from Amaya Abe's desk. Morgan's gaze was drawn to the photo of the blonde woman holding onto a young boy.

"Taisuke," he whispered, reaching out and picking up the photo, looking at both child and mother. "Her son. _Our_ son."

Raising one hand Morgan covered his eyes and hitched a breath.

"You know…she never told me that she was pregnant when she left the university to come back here. I only learned about it through an email that I had gotten…from her mother of all people, the one person who had the least reason to like me, though I sure as hell never knew why."

"Are you certain that the child is yours?" Asked Riley. The question wasn't necessarily important, she felt, but a part of her wanted to know for sure.

Morgan nodded.

"I managed to get a hold of Amaya not too long after that. She confirmed it then. She had been carrying Yasuo for almost a month when we graduated and she went home. I asked her why she didn't tell me…I never did get an answer. Just a request that I not try to see her or anything. I heard she had been having an emotional breakdown."

"But you came anyway."

"How could I not?" Morgan sighed again. "I loved her. She was the only person I ever really fell in love with, and she went home. She promised to stay in touch and I promised I'd find her again once I made enough to get by." Morgan placed the photograph on the table and looked away. "In the end she didn't stay in touch. She had no one with her when Yasuo was killed."

Riley glanced at Amaya's psyche report, noting that an issue with her mother had been written down.

_Having a child out of wedlock isn't viewed well in some corners of society,_ thought Riley. _Even though it's not uncommon these days for there to be single mothers, there are some people who cling to old customs. She really had been alone then. She had no support structure to catch her when her world caved in on her._

Still, something nagged at her.

"Did Amaya's mother ask you to be here?"

Morgan shook his head, and Riley got the idea that if it weren't for the dispossessed look in his eyes he probably would have laughed harshly at the thought.

"She didn't want me to have anything to do with her. It took me a while to find a few things out about her. The only thing I knew for certain was that she had come from one of the Tokyo wards. She didn't talk about home much except when she was reminiscing."

"How did you find out about her job at Hypnos?"

"Please," said Morgan in a pleading tone. "Where's Amaya? I want to see her…"

"Mr. Hughes," said Riley sternly. "I'm willing to help you find her, but for that to work you need to give me some information so that I can trust you. Now you seem to have quite a bit of knowledge in regards to Hypnos and its employees. You knew enough that Yamaki was the one that you called for when you were picked up by the military, and the fact that you were found in the city during a crisis on its own, and armed, is a suspicious act. We're conducting a search on you now, but I'll be honest that you haven't put yourself in a very good position. If you want this wrapped up and _quickly_ , then please answer. Otherwise…"

Hughes raised a hand into the air, interrupting her.

"All right. But I want a promise that you'll let me see Amaya afterwards. I don't care anymore what you do to me. I just want to _see_ her." Hughes turned his eyes towards Riley, and she could see the quiet desperation that lay within them.

_"Please,"_ he urged.

Riley held his gaze for a few moments, gauging his emotional weather as she searched for any sign of a lie.

In the end she nodded.

* * *

"So," began Mako, pointing at himself and his sister, his eyes wide with awe, "we're going to help Impmon save the world?"

"That's about the size of it," said Janyu with a smile.

Behind them, the mother of the two children looked at Yamaki with a look of concern.

"Is this…whatever it is you're trying to do safe?"

"There shouldn't be any cause for concern for their safety Mrs. Hiramaya," replied Yamaki. "Right now it's their digivice that we need to use so there's no need for either of them to be involved directly. All that we need is to create a portal to the digital world…"

"That's right," said Impmon, walking up to stand next to Janyu's wheelchair. "And it's going to be my job to go through and rescue the others. Quick and easy in-and-out job. One that _I'm_ suited for I might add, what with me bein' able to digivolve to Mega and kick some serious butt. All Ai and Mako have to do is press a button and sit back and wait for me to save the day."

"It's not really pressing a button Impmon," began Janyu, but the diminutive, former Demon Lord shrugged nonchalantly.

"Eh. Same difference."

"Ohhh…" began Mako forlornly. "Impmon! Can't Ai and I come?"

"Mako!" Exclaimed both Impmon and their mother at once, causing Janyu to raise an eyebrow at their reaction.

Mrs. Hiramaya exchanged a glance with Impmon.

"Perhaps I should let you handle _this_ one," she said in a tone that told everyone that this was something of a regular occurrence with them. "You know the digital world and its business better than I do."

Impmon nodded at the woman before turning to his partners.

"Ai. Mako. I'm not going to lie to you. The digital world ain't a nice place to be in, even on the best of days; at least it wasn't the last time I was there. Sure, there are some places that are nice, but the digital world isn't the kind of world that kids your age should be in. There's no telling what kind of trouble you could get into."

"But Impmon! Aren't you _always_ looking for trouble?"

"Mako…" Impmon sighed and scratched his head, feeling Mrs. Hiramaya's gaze settle heavily on him at the mention of his mischievous streak. "We've been through this before. You shouldn't do what I do just because I do it. I can handle the kind of trouble I get into…most of the time. You're still a kid."

"He's right you know," piped in Ai, taking hold of Mako's hand with her own.

"Yeah…but…I just want to go on an adventure with him. We never get to go out when he's doing his superhero stuff. Those other kids with digimon do but not us." Mako looked down at the floor with a sad expression on his face. Seeing this, Ai's face became twin to his own in emotion.

"Mako…"

With a suppressed sigh Impmon strolled over to his two partners and placed his hands on their shoulders.

"Look. I'm not saying that you guys won't ever be able to fight by my side or back me up. It's just that right now, you're too young. If I could help it I'd rather that you didn't join me whenever I'm out in the field mixin' it up with someone, but sooner or later I know I'm going to need your guys' help in a more direct manner than just giving me a toy blaster. When that'll be I don't have a clue, but until then just remember that you two will always be in my heart and that'll be enough to help me get through the tough stuff." Grimacing and blushing in embarrassment Impmon looked away.

"Man, I can't believe I just said that. I'm startin' to sound like Pineapple Head's partner…"

Ai and Mako just looked at him, not comprehending his words in the least.

Yamaki looked over at Janyu.

"All right. How soon can we be ready?"

* * *

"Nip here and a tuck there," said Shibumi as he connected the USB port into the purple trimmed digivice belonging to Ai and Mako, "and presto. The D-Arc's connected to Hypnos' computer core."

"Is that's it?" Asked Ai, eyes all wide with amazement. Chuckling, the bearded man nodded.

"That's it. Not too difficult is it?"

Over from his work station Janyu had to suppress a laugh. The difficulty involved in this operation was _far_ from the way Shibumi made it look, despite of his assurances to the contrary. First they had to integrate Hypnos' systems into that of the digivice…something that had never been done before, and there was absolutely no guarantee that such an action wouldn't mess things up even further for the organization's already over-taxed network. Then there was the power issue…

_These D-Arcs are so much more complex than any of us had believed, and yet strangely simple. Providing power…I'm not even sure how we're going to do that. After all, I didn't see an outlet or even a battery when I first examined Henry's, yet they get their power from_ somewhere. _I can't even begin to imagine how Shibumi's going to use Ai and Mako's to use Hypnos' power to generate a portal leading to the digital world. Even he's admitted that he doesn't know everything there is to know about the D-Arcs and their functions. I imagine that this at the very least is a blind shot in the dark for him. We'd have to be making a wish in order to get anywhere with this setup, which is ironic since that seems to be the only way that the Tamers manage to work these things._

_If only things were that simple for us grownups. It's not like we can 'wish' for things to happen and they happen. If the world worked like that things would be different, but instead we live by the rules of cause and effect. It's a very different ballgame to what we're used to. I guess it helps that digimon are attracted to children. They believe in wishes much more readily._

Turning back to his computer Janyu ran through the incoming data that his computer was picking up from the digivice. Not for the first time he had to suppress a feeling of awe at the streamlined code that showed up on his monitor. The digivice was indeed an impressive piece of work, so much so that it was no wonder that Shibumi never fully understood their functions. If he didn't know any better, Janyu could almost swear that they were almost like living creatures in the way they were designed…

The beep on the computer interrupted the Monster Maker from his thoughts.

"All right. Let's do this."

His hand flying across the keyboard Janyu set about connecting the various programs that lay within Hypnos' network directly to the D-Arc. The basic idea behind Shibumi's idea was that they would run Hypnos as they normally would, processing computer data and setting the detection grid to scan the warp using the digivice as the medium for the operation. With its significantly larger storage capacity and ability to process data in nearly any form the transition should be relatively smooth, but again, tying up all of Hypnos' systems into a single digivice had never been done before. It was like walking into an unknown land, and with all the vast, uncharted geography that the D-Arc held within it, no one could be sure how things would function. Especially with the simplicity of the D-Arc's exterior design. Looking back on it now, Janyu felt almost embarrassed that they were made to be so simple with only one button for all of its functions.

_And the Tamers still have trouble using everything on them,_ Janyu thought, remembering his son asking him once about the capabilities of the digivices. _So far only the basic functions have been utilized, but every time I probe deeper into them I keep finding lines of code that tell me that they can go even further. It's as though a god designed their algorithm. I wonder what would happen if I redesigned the digivice to further accommodate them?_

Pushing the idea aside, Janyu refocused on aligning Hypnos' systems with the D-Arc. They were only a short ways away from testing to see if all of their efforts would pay off.

* * *

"Okay," said Shibumi finally. "I'm all set on this end. How about you, Tao?"

"Just a few more seconds," replied Janyu, his hands a blur upon his keyboard. "There. The system link is ready. All we need now is for Ai and Mako to be ready."

Yamaki's hand closed around his lighter as he looked over at the two children, tension filling every fiber of his being. The two partners to Impmon, still holding hands tightly together nodded, their expressions firm and filled with determination. Yamaki felt himself relax a little, having seen such a look in the eyes of the older Tamers on countless occasions when they were about to confront a superbly powerful enemy. It was the look of someone who was willing to go to whatever lengths it took to come out not only alive in the end, but victorious as well. They believed in themselves and their partner, which in the end was all the faith that a digimon Tamer needed.

_Still…they're just kids. Funny that I should think that considering that all of the Tamers are mere children, but these two are younger than any of the others, including Suzie. They haven't even seen battle yet. Still, that look in their eyes…depending on how things go for them in the next few years, they just might make fine additions to the team._ Yamaki couldn't help but smile at his mind's use of the word 'team.' _Now if only their partner could learn a few manners…_

"All right," said Yamaki, looking over at the mother of the two young Tamers. "It's time."

Ai and Mako stood in the center of the room, both of them holding their purple trimmed digivice between them. Shibumi's instructions had been simple. Concentrate on a doorway appearing to take Impmon back to the digital world and they, and the digivice, would take care of the rest.

"I'm counting on you guys to be good for your mom while I'm gone," said Impmon, fixing the two children with his best 'don't you dare do anything that I would' look. Under normal circumstances either of them would have given him a placating smile that Impmon would have only trusted on Ai's face, but this was far from an ordinary situation. Mako looked at Impmon with a look of utter dejection tempered by the small flame of hope.

"You're going to come back, right?" The small boy asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"Of course he will!" Exclaimed Ai happily. "He came back last time, didn't he?"

"And I'm going to do it again," promised Impmon with a nod of his head as he silently praised Ai for her optimism. He meant his promise too. He cared for his Tamers too much to simply abandon them, no matter how many fights he had seen them get into over a single toy. No matter how long it took, or what dangers he had to go through, he would find a way back to them. "Just you watch. I'll even bring back a souvenir for you guys. I'm sure that I'll come across a gift shop or something that has something available."

_Probably not a good idea to get their hopes up,_ thought Impmon, but if nothing else he had long since learned that the promise of gifts upon returning could go a long way towards easing the young minds of his partners as it gave them something extra to look forward to.

Mako nodded, not saying anything or even crying out in jubilation of the promise of presents. Impmon frowned, wondering a little at this behavior before understanding dawned on him.

_Stupid. This is almost like when I was shipped back to the digital world the first time around. We just made up and became a family again. He probably thinks he's losing me or something. I guess he really was serious when he told me that my coming back was the best birthday present he ever got._

"Impmon…"

The sound of Yamaki's voice calling to him snapped the demonic digimon out of his reverie, and with one last squeeze on his partners' shoulders he went over to the blonde haired head of Hypnos.

"Yeah?" He asked in his usual, biting manner as though Yamaki were a source of irritation rather than someone trying to render him aid.

"Here," he said, bending down so that he was more on eyelevel with Impmon. Raising his eyebrows Impmon looked down as Yamaki extended his hand, holding out a black, rectangular object with a screen on its front.

"What's this?" Impmon asked in bemusement. "The beta version of my partners' gizmo they're holdin' over there? Gotta say you guys really improved things. I never thought that you'd make black look bad with that kind of techno-whatsis…"

"It's not a digivice," said Yamaki, unperturbed by Impmon's constant chattering. "It's a communications device. I gave one to the Tamers back when they first went to the digital world to rescue Calumon. You'll need this to stay in touch with the real world, and to enable us to zero in on your location once you've located all of the Tamers."

"You've thought of everything, haven't you?"

"Not necessarily," said Yamaki. "There is a high chance that the digital world's structure will interfere with communications, so you may not be able to contact us. According to the report that Takato and Henry submitted, they seem able to relay information to us during intense data storms or in neutral locations."

"And I'm supposed to pick these out _how?"_ Asked Impmon, tilting his head to one side in annoyance.

Yamaki's face was as expressionless as stone.

"This is still uncharted territory, Impmon. For now, use your own discretion to determine your actions, though I would imagine that as far as communications go, data storms are self-explanatory."

"I'll have to give ya that one," grumbled Impmon as he took snatched the communications device from Yamaki's grasp. "And thanks for the tip…and for the communication thingy."

Yamaki frowned slightly at the diminutive digimon.

"Do you know how to operate it?" He asked bluntly. Impmon scowled.

"What? You think I can't figure out something like this on my own?"

"That's not an answer to my question. Do you know how to…?"

"It's starting!" Exclaimed Shibumi suddenly, interrupting the two from their conversation. Turning, both Yamaki and Impmon found a glow emanating from the screen of Ai and Mako's digivice; a glow that was rapidly increasing in intensity as the two children held it tightly in their hands, wishing with all of their might for the door that they needed to appear.

"My regards to your brainy geeks," commented Impmon as an intense light shot out from the digivice, extending outwards before a rectangular hole of light materialized in the air above the two Tamers. Reaching behind him Impmon tightened his scarf around his neck like a brave adventurer preparing to venture off into the unknown, and in a way he was.

_Sure don't feel very brave right now though,_ thought Impmon as he took a step towards the light. _I don't know what to expect on the other side, but I'm more than willing to bet that it ain't going to be Santamon again. I'd better suit up for this one._

The familiar glow of digivolution surrounded Impmon's body, melding with the light of the door as he lengthened in size. The aura quickly died down, revealing the tall and proud figure of Beelzemon, standing at the ready to conquer whatever dangers awaited him.

_Time to go into the light,_ Beelzemon thought sarcastically, recognizing something of the irony that was in those words. Leaping forward, the former Demon Lord lunged towards the light. As it overwhelmed his vision, Beelzemon shut his three eyes tightly. His next thoughts as he passed between the worlds were that of his partners.

_You guys be good. You hear me? Take care of your mom…_

"AI!" Screamed Mako's voice suddenly, causing Beelzmon's eyes to shoot open in surprise and look behind him just in time to see the girl in question leaping into the portal after him, with her brother following in short order with a panicked expression on his face. "NO!"

_Oh you have got to be kidding me…_ were his final thoughts as the portal behind them slammed closed behind them. It was right there and then that the tumult of dimensional travel hit all three of them full force, and bright light was swiftly replaced by the pure and utter darkness of chaos and confusion.


	138. 137: In the Desert

Yamaki had no more than a split second to realize that something had gone wrong when Mako had yelled his sister's name. The light emanating from the portal that had sprung into existence in front of them greatly obscured his vision, but the blonde haired man had a keen mental memory of where the two children stood.

"Turn off the portal!" Yamaki exclaimed to the two Monster Makers in the room as he dove forward, hoping that he would be able to grab Ai and Mako and pull them out of whatever danger had suddenly and unexpectedly arisen. As his body sailed through the air, the light of the portal winked out of existence, revealing an empty space where the children and their partner had been. Yamaki slammed to the floor and rolled, cursing angrily.

"Report!" He barked as he got back up to his feet.

"The portal closed," said Janyu, his face a portrait of shock and strain. "But we had nothing to do with it!"

"Our sensors registered two human life forms entering the portal," reported Shibumi. "I'd say that it's safe to say that Ai and Mako were pulled in after Beelzemon entered the portal."

_"Pulled_ in?!" Grated Yamaki, the memory of Suzie's abduction by the digital world flashing through his mind. "Can you find them?"

"I'm trying," said Shibumi as his hands flew over the keyboard, "but for some reason I'm not receiving any information from their digivice. I…oh." Shibumi blinked and looked over at where the two Tamers had stood. His mouth paused in its speaking as he saw the USB port he had plugged into the D-Arc…or rather, strictly speaking, what was left of it as it had been cut in two when the portal closed shut.

"Shibumi…"

"Sorry Yamaki," the man said, running one hand through his beard. "I'll do what I can, but with the connection to their D-Arc cut off it's not going to be easy to locate them, not with so many of Hypnos' systems in the state that they're in. At the very least, we have an idea as to _where_ they went, but beyond that…"

"You worry about that then," said Yamaki, his teeth grinding together. "But whatever it takes, _find_ those children, and find out what happened that caused this to happen. That is your top priority."

Not even waiting to see what Shibumi or Janyu's response would be the blonde haired head of Hypnos turned towards the door, already wondering just how he was going to explain this to Ai and Mako's mother. Given the number of reactions he had been made witness to during these past few days from concerned parents, he had a pretty good guess as to what he should expect.

"Yamaki," called out Janyu as he pushed his wheelchair after the man. Pausing at the main entrance to the room, Yamaki turned to look at the Monster Maker.

"Yes?"

"I should point out that even when we locate the children there's at the moment nothing we can do to rescue them. We don't have the capacity to create a new Ark like we did the last time and there will be far too much deliberation over the global linking of computers that we used."

"You don't need to remind me," said Yamaki, one hand all but crushing the lighter he held. He knew full well that that had been a trick that could only be used once. Upon the public acknowledgement of the digital world and the creation of Grani as a weapon of war there had been many concerns voiced about the use of digital resources to build such potentially destructive creations. Anyone with the right resources, it was reasoned, would be able to bypass international arms controls by linking computers and utilizing bio-emergence programs, eventually creating a well-stocked arsenal that made all the militaries on Earth obsolete and redundant. And that was to say nothing about digimon being used as tools of war. Tamers and their digivices were going to be a valuable commodity in the future, and highly sought after by whatever groups wanted to use their capabilities. New laws and Internet restrictions were being passed in Japan and various other countries as well to compensate for this, but everyone, Yamaki included, had the distinct feeling that this was only a stopgap measure. And Yamaki had been the one who had recommended those laws.

Either way, because of his attempt to create a more secure human world in the aftermath of the D-Reaper invasion, Hypnos was now bereft of its ability to create efficient methods to get to the digital world in the event that it would have to rescue individuals who had been trapped there.

_Of course,_ Yamaki thought, _I made those recommendations after the Tamers' digimon were sent back to the digital world and I had blocked up the portal and constructed a firewall to keep them out. I had no way of knowing that we would be back where we started a year ago; trying to rescue children from the digital world._

Yamaki almost wish he could laugh at the irony of it all.

And yet…and _yet…_ an idea came to Yamaki, and his grip on his lighter loosened considerably.

_There just may be a way,_ he thought, his mind blazing as he turned the idea around in his head.

"I'll find a way around this, Janyu," Yamaki said finally. "On that you have my word."

As he exited the room Yamaki pushed his thoughts, for the moment, away from the unenviable task of telling Mrs. Hiramaya that her two children were missing, and onto the plan that continued to burn a path through his mind. There was a way around this problem, of that he was certain. But the question remained: was it possible? Could he pull off what he had in mind?

_It all boils down to what Kuroda has to say when I talk to him,_ thought Yamaki. _If I'm right, Argus will be the salvation of the Tamers._

* * *

"Okay," said Riley into her cell phone. "Okay. Thank you, Taeko. Be sure to inform Ishimoto once you've found her. Okay. Thanks. Bye."

Hanging up her cell phone with a click Riley pocketed it and looked at Morgan Hughes.

"We're having our secretary conducting a search for Amaya Abe. She hasn't found anything yet thanks to all the damage that's been done to the city's infrastructure, but we'll have something for you. Agent Ishimoto will have transportation prepared for you then. Of course, you'll be under armed guard at all times…"

"Whatever," Morgan said, his tone dull and accepting. Riley frowned at him but nodded all the same.

_He's more interested in knowing that he'll get to see Amaya again. That's all he cares about now. Everything else that he's been involved in, like those anti-digimon groups, doesn't matter anymore. It's like he just lost the will to care about them. Not that I feel worried about that since he's given us something we can use against those groups, but it just seems…weird. It's like Yamaki back when Hypnos was temporarily closed down after the Pig Deva attack. At least then he bounced back. This guy doesn't look like he even wants to keep going._

Riley sighed and got up from her chair, heading towards the door.

_Oh well. It's not like it's really my concern. I got this done so that Yamaki doesn't have to deal with it, and now I can get back to work._

"Miss…"

Riley stopped and looked back.

"Yes?"

Morgan Hughes wasn't looking directly at her, but she could see the emotion in his eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered. With nothing more to say, Riley opened the door and stepped outside.

Riley breathed a sigh of relief as she bid the guard, Takashi goodbye.

_Glad that's done and over with now,_ thought Riley. _Now let's see…I should check up on the situation upstairs and see what Yamaki's got planned for rescuing the Tamers. Or maybe I should see Tally on the network, see if she needs any help on that front. Decisions, decisions…but I think Tally can handle things a little while longer. She still needs a bit more experience, and I need to know what Yamaki's going to do before I…_

The sound of Riley's cell phone cut across her thoughts. Pulling it out her eyebrows raised up in faint amusement as she saw the number on the screen.

_Speak of the devil…_

"Riley here," she said briskly.

_"Are you finished with Hughes?"_

"Yes, sir. I have Endo putting the final touches on the situation, and we'll be able to keep tabs on him as necessary until we're ready to let him go. Otherwise he's not going to be any trouble. I do have some information that he's given us regarding the activities of the anti-digimon groups that you'll be wanting to see."

_"I'll be interested in hearing it,"_ replied Yamaki. _"But right now a new situation has developed that requires our immediate attention. I'm going to discuss a few things with Kuroda first, but I'm going to need you with Tally in the main control center. I want Hypnos up and running as best as we can get it within the next twenty-four hours."_

_Within twenty-four hours?_ Riley's mind asked, somewhat bewildered by the order, but she found herself nodding in spite of her inner protests. When it came to Hypnos operations when Yamaki wanted something done, it was going to get done. No _ifs, ands,_ or _buts_ about it.

"Yes sir. Understood sir. But…may I ask why? Is there a complication with the rescue of the Tamers or are we getting ready for another confrontation with a digimon?"

_"I'm afraid I can't answer your questions in full detail right now, but there has been a complication with the rescue operation. I'll explain it later. I'm about to have a chat with Kuroda."_

"Understood sir," said Riley, and with that Yamaki hung up. Lowering her phone Riley looked at it before pressing the hang up button.

_Just what mess did we get into_ this _time?_ She couldn't help but wonder.

* * *

Although she didn't know it, the answer to Riley's question was currently tumbling through the air with his two partners imitating him, though through no choice of their own, their little arms flailing about as they screamed in fear. Ai and Mako had every reason to scream. After all, the ground was coming up on them awfully fast, and it looked very, _very_ hard.

_It can't end like this!_ Beelzemon's mind angrily as a golden aura surrounded his body. _It's not_ gonna!

Black wings tore free from his back, catching the wind that blew around his body. Reaching out Beelzemon quickly grabbed hold of Ai, who had been closest to him upon their materialization in free space, and quickly zeroed in on Mako, pinpointing his screaming with deadly accuracy. With a swift flap of his wings the former Demon Lord flew over and caught the child with his free hand.

"Hang on you guys!" Beelzemon exclaimed as he fought against the fearsome blasts of wind, striving for some measure of control so that he could descend to the ground in a more controlled manner. No such luck was granted to him unfortunately, and Beelzemon was jerked backwards by a sharp gusts.

_I've got to get down to the ground,_ thought Beelzemon furiously. _Preferably without us being turned into pancakes in the process!_

Beelzemon's central eye twitched as it caught sight of something. Focusing on it Beelzemon felt his other two eyes go wide with surprise as he saw a data stream surging right towards them.

_Awww…NUTS!_ Exclaimed Beelzemon in his mind. Quickly flipping over in midair Beelzemon brought his wings close to his body and pulled his Tamers tightly to him, allowing gravity to take over and propel him downwards at top speed.

_Gotta time this just right…_

Checking the distance of the data stream Beelzemon gauged its speed and estimated the amount of time he had left before it hit them. There wasn't much, and the wind buffeting them was going a long way towards allowing him to change direction with any sense of ease. His only hope was to build up enough forward momentum to break through the gale force wall. The question remained…could he make it in time before the data stream grabbed them and deposited them completely at random in the digital world?

_My luck wouldn't be good enough for that random spot to be right back here,_ thought Beelzemon as the ground, and the data stream, drew nearer with each passing second. _That's why I've got to make this count! Steady…_ Beelzemon again checked the data stream. It was now almost on top of them. _Steady…_

"Beelzemon!" Exclaimed Ai loudly. "The beam of light is coming towards us! Are we running away from it?"

Beelzemon didn't answer the girl. All of his focus was on preparing his next course of action.

_…Steady…and…NOW!_

Putting all of his power into his wings, the Demon Lord extended them and flapped them to change his course just enough to put him on the other side of the data stream. With his speed he should now be able to…

_It's not enough!_ Beelzemon realized with dawning horror before he was suddenly slammed by another surge of air, hitting his body with enough force to cause his wings to extend outwards instinctively, catching their currents within their feathery embrace. In a surprise turn of events, Beelzemon was blown backwards, away from the data stream just in time for it to slice into the space that he and his partners had recently vacated. Soon enough the wind, cut off now from being sucked into the data stream, abruptly ceased to pummel Beelzemon's body, and seizing advantage of this unexpected amount of good luck he again dove downwards towards the ground like a hawk.

_When it rains it pours,_ he thought, thinking of Renamon when she sometimes waxed philosophical moments, _but it's times like these I think we get a silver lining every now and then. But…_ Beelzemon tightened his grip on Ai and Mako, and they clung to him fiercely like a life raft. _…There are times where I wish that the guy upstairs would make it a golden lining just to keep things from being totally out of whack._

Holding back a sarcastic comment about how the deities hadn't yet adjusted for the spiritual inflation of luck Beelzemon settled for angrily cursing in his mind while he flew down towards the digital world below.

Landing as gracefully as he could manage Beelzemon put his partners on the sandy ground of the digital world's desert, giving them both a baleful look that demanded answers to his soon to be voiced questions.

"All right," Beelzemon wheezed as he caught his breath. "Either of you want to tell me _why_ you two are here in the digital world with me? Hah? I thought I made it pretty clear that this was a strictly one-mon operation!"

"I was trying to catch her," said Mako, pointing at Ai. "She jumped after you."

Beelzemon focused his gaze on the young girl, and she blanched a little.

"Ai? You got somethin' you want to 'splain to me?"

Ai seemed to shrink into herself as she drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them closely to her body.

"I just wanted to see your old home."

"And you thought _now_ was the best time to do that?!" Beelzemon all but exploded. "What if there was a welcoming committee when we showed up here? I would have had to keep an eye on the two of you on top of trying to save my hide and find the others!"

Ai and Mako blinked in confusion.

"Why would it be bad that people would be welcoming us?"

Beelzemon sighed in exasperation.

"That's not the point right now! The point is, is that you guys went and decided to hitch a ride…"

"I didn't mean to…" began Mako, only to be silenced by a quick look from Beelzemon before he glanced back at Ai.

"Do you _realize_ what you've done? Did you even _listen_ about anything I told you when Yamaki was planning this trip? This ain't a safe place. Your mom is going to be worried sick about you and…"

Much to Beelzemon's surprise Ai broke down crying, burying her face into her knees.

"Ah!" Exclaimed Mako, his hands reaching out instinctively towards his sister to reassure her and calm her down. Ai would have none of it though, and she quickly shrugged him off, leaving her brother both bewildered and uncertain as to what to do in this situation. He had done much the same whenever he had thrown a tantrum or just plain gotten upset. He knew that there was little that anyone, even the source that had caused the crying storm, could do to placate a little kid in such a fit. Mako turned towards Beelzemon with a look of panic on his face, his eyes silently pleading with him to make it all better; to tell Ai that he wasn't mad with her and that everything was going to be all right.

Even though he knew full well that the opposite held true.

Beelzemon held his hard expression for a few more seconds before allowing it to loosen up.

_Getting too soft these days,_ he thought. _Sheesh. Just what are these worlds coming too?_

With a sigh, Beelzemon got down on one knee and as gently as he could took hold of Ai and pulled her into a hug. Ai did not struggle this time and instead clung as tightly to him as she had while they were falling.

"Look Ai," he began. "If you're worried about me staying mad with ya, don't. I'm glad that you wanted to see my home and everything, but…it's just that I wanted to wait a bit before we thought about sightseeing together, and this just wasn't the best of times for you to following me. Plus you showed that you had a good head on your shoulders in the past too, so I have to admit that this really threw me for a loop."

Ai's crying had toned down to sniffles now, but she still kept her face buried in the furry collar of Beelzemon's leather jacket. The Demon Lord was tempted to tell her to knock it off before she ruined his jacket but he couldn't summon the strength of will to do that.

Really _getting too soft…_

"Remember what I told you about consequences? From when I got on your case about killing a fly?"

Beelzemon felt his jacket rustle slightly as Ai nodded her head carefully.

"Well here's a little recap. What you do affects others. I know that you wanted to be with me, but right now you've made my job tougher to do, and there's a good chance that you're making your mother worry. And me too."

"I-If you get hurt," began Ai shakily, "does that mean it will be my fault?"

"I'm not going to go that far out, but it depends on what you do from here on, got it? That's what consequences mean. I'm not going to yell at you or anything, and I'm not going to be angry with you, but I want you to think very, _very_ carefully about what you do while we're here." Beelzemon turned his gaze over at Mako. _"Both_ of you. This is the big leagues now, so you have to think like the big kids."

Mako nodded firmly and Ai, while her nod was less sure in its motion Beelzemon had no doubt in his mind that she would do what she could to help.

_She's still going to be bothered by this though,_ thought Beelzemon. _Hopefully she won't let it get to her too much. Now, I need to figure out my next move. I've got to do something about keeping Ai and Mako from overheatin' in this desert…man, of all the times to be wearing nothing but black leather. At least I can fly, so that should keep things a little bit cool, but that's not going to help things too much in the long run. And I've also got to figure out where the Tamers went. The digital world is a big place and it's not going to be easy tracking them down. Fortunately…_

"Hey," Beelzemon looked at his partners. "Either of you got your digital trinket?"

Ai nodded and looked over at Mako, who raised one hand containing their purple trimmed digivice.

"Right here."

"Okay. Can you use it to find the others?"

Mako blinked.

"Um…"

Beelzemon sighed mentally and shook his head, remembering that his partners were young and extremely inexperienced with the use of their D-Arc.

"Press its button and see if you can come up with anything."

"'Kay…" said Mako, doing as he had been told. A holographic circle materialized above the digivice's screen, pin wheeling around as it began scanning the surrounding area. At least, that was what Beelzemon hoped it was doing. He had seen the older Tamers do this and get similar results, but often it didn't look like they had a clue as to what they were doing.

_Kind of amazing that they even made it as far as they did, but who am I to complain? Oh yeah. They could have learned something_ _**more** _ _about their gizmos. It could have helped out a lot right now._

Knowing that it was pointless to complain about something that he couldn't control, Beelzemon waited while Mako fought to figure out the basic controls of his and Ai's digivice, a task that was proving more difficult for his young mind than he had expected. Finally however he got a reaction that caused his eyes to light up in surprise.

"Um…there's a little white dot on the light circle…"

"Lemme see," grunted Beelzemon and Mako turned the digivice to show him. Beelzemon's eyes took in the holographic circle as it turned to adjust for its change in direction, and he tapped one steel claw on his chin thoughtfully. After a moment Beelzemon scowled.

_Okay. Not exactly something I can easily figure out. For one thing I can't make heads or tails of those what-cha-ma-call-'em that keep blinking on the side. What are they? Numbers? Wish that I had taken up Ai and Mako's offer with their learning how to read. That would have been pretty useful right now. And this other stuff…_

Getting an idea Beelzemon dug into his jacket and brought out the communication device that Yamaki had given him prior to his departure.

"Maybe if we get a hold of Hypnos we can get some help on how to work that thing. Now let's see…" Beelzemon found himself pausing as he realized one crucial fact about the communication device. Something that Yamaki, in hindsight, had been quite smart to ask him about.

"Do…ah…do either of ya happen to know how to work this thing?"

Two heads shook as one in response to Beelzemon's question.

_So much for that idea,_ thought the Mega level Demon Lord, feeling his cheeks burn slightly in embarrassment.

* * *

Beelzemon flew through the air with his partners tucked into his arms. Having decided that until they found the Tamers, it was best to leave the communication device alone rather than try to figure out how it worked. Time was of the utmost importance to them right now, and trying to solve a technological puzzle would only slow them down. Besides, as Beelzemon had put it himself, if they stayed too long to figure it out he would only end up breaking it out of frustration, and they needed that communication device if they were to call for rescue. So for better or for worse, they decided to follow the blinking dot on the holographic circle.

_Assuming that is that it's picking up one of the other's signals, and that it's leading us in the right direction,_ thought Beelzemon as he sped through the air. _I may not be able to figure out high tech stuff, but it looks like we're heading in the right direction. And the dot gets closer as we move forward so I guess we're doing something right._

_I just wish that we didn't have this desert trying to bake us. 'Course, on the plus side it's that heat that's making it easier for me to fly without using too much energy…_

"How much longer now?" Asked Beelzemon as a bead of sweat crawled down his face.

"Um…" Mako looked at the digivice from his place in Beelzemon's right arm before glancing over at Ai. "I can't tell."

"Oh yeah," muttered Beelzemon despondently. "That's right."

"B-But it looks like we're getting pretty close, right Ai?"

"Yeah!" Responded Ai in a hopeful tone. Beelzemon smiled at their enthusiasm.

_It could be worse, right? So far it's been quiet. Too quiet for my tastes, but so long as Ai and Mako are not in any danger I'll take boring silence over trouble any day of the week._

Beelzemon frowned and looked over his shoulder. Something had just tugged at the end of his senses. Something that felt… _off_ to him.

_I didn't just speak the Devimon, did I?_

"Is something wrong?" Asked Ai, noticing that Beelzemon was scanning the area around them with a guarded look on his face.

"I hope not. Mako. Check the digivice. Is there anything else showing up on that circle thing?"

"Nope. Just the dot."

Beelzemon gritted his teeth. For the first time the thought occurred to him that whatever setting the digivice had for its scanning there was a good chance that they were using the wrong one for finding their friends. Suddenly Beelzemon was _really_ wishing that he had taken a crash course in operating his partner's gadget. Technological illiteracy was starting to become a serious pain.

_As far as we know that dot is one big mystery. If it weren't for the fact that there's no cover around here for miles I'd put us in park and try to figure the thing out. The digivice at least I'm sure will hold up under any pounding I can give it and…_

Beelzemon's frown deepened as he caught sight of something up ahead in the clear blue horizon. It looked like a speck from this distance, but it definitely looked like something flying towards them. Closing two of his eyes the Demon Lord focused his third, central eye on the oncoming speck. His vision began to telescope, the image being caused to grow larger and clearer to him. It was almost visible now. It was…

"Beelzemon?" Came Ai's trembling voice, snapping him out of his concentration. "Why is the ground looking at us?"

Beelzemon looked down, preparing to ask why she was asking such a thing when suddenly the ground below them exploded in a flurry of sand, their constituent particles pulling together into a serpentine form with a large, gaping maw that gnashed its teeth eagerly at them. Ai and Mako both screamed as the creature…whatever it was…surged towards them like a striking cobra. Reacting on pure reflex Beelzemon's left arm began to move towards his holstered Berenjena shotgun before he remembered that he was still holding onto Ai. Too late to move her Beelzemon spun in midair attempting to dodge the oncoming sand serpent, only to get his body struck by the corner of its jaw as it passed by him. Pain erupted in Beelzemon's body, only being drowned out by the frightened screams of his partners, as they tumbled through the air. Flapping his wings Beelzemon managed to control their downward spiral just enough to recover and soar back up towards the sky. This time Beelzemon shifted Ai into his other arm to join Mako and in a flash he drew his shotgun, aiming it at the sand worm as it again leapt at him hungrily, a solitary black eye focused on them.

_"Double Impact!"_ Beelzemon shouted as he let the creature have it with both barrels. The bullets cut a swath through the air and slammed home into the sand creature, and despite the creature's overall composition of sand its head exploded outwards like a burst water balloon, leaving just enough of a path for Beelzemon and his partners to sail through easily as they passed through the beast.

Then came the turnaround.

Upon exiting the hole in the creature, the beast whipped its tail upwards, diving down towards the ground. Seeing this and realizing he had no time to get out of the way Beelzemon quickly turned his body around and let his back take the brunt of the blow, the impact sending all three of them careening towards the desert floor, where they struck… _hard._ Beelzemon felt both of his arms go wild before finally coming to a stop. His body was singing a song of pain, a full orchestra in fact, but otherwise he was okay.

Beelzemon coughed up data as he attempted to recover, and quickly took stock of the situation. Sand billowed up into the air like a cloud of dust from the force of their landing. Ai had remained securely attached to his outstretched arm, coughing harshly from the sand that she had breathed in but otherwise she looked all right. Mako…

_Where's Mako?_ Beelzemon wondered, feeling panic settle heavily over his mind before a shrill, inhuman shriek tore his thoughts asunder. A gust of wind blew across Beelzemon and Ai, blasting away the cloud of sand and revealing the sand creature towering above them, the hole in its head promptly repairing itself.

_Oh, you have got to be kidding me,_ growled Beelzemon bitterly as he raised his Berenjena shotgun.

_"Double Impact!"_ Beelzemon shouted as he fired round after round into the sand creature's body. This time however the creature did not react as explosively to the shells as they had previously. Beelzemon swallowed a curse as he got to his feet, holding Ai in one arm like a loyal knight protecting a maiden.

"Come on! Go down already!" Beelzemon's shotguns roared, punctuating each of his words with a loud blast complete with an explosive shell but the sand creature took each and every one of them without even flinching. A purple aura surrounded the arm holding the shotgun. It was time to bring in the heavy arsenal now…

_"Amanonuhoko."_

Before Beelzemon's startled gaze a blue, blade-shaped, blast of fire struck the sand beast, tearing into its body as quickly as a razor, segmenting it in two. Flapping his wings, Beelzemon leapt away and, in the startled confusion quickly spied Mako's unmoving form which he flew down and picked up before the oncoming torrent of sand could grab them.

_Is he all right?_ Thought Beelzemon as he took a moment to check his second partner's pulse. He was rewarded with a steady beat and a groan from the boy, and Beelzemon breathed a sigh of relief, thanking whatever gods existed that the child was fine.

"Is this the power of the Demon Lord that fought the Royal Knights back in the real world?" Asked a cold voice from behind them. Turning, Beelzemon came face to face with a humanoid entity, silver hair flowing over a hard-edged shaped face with blue eyes filled with blazing storms. Tattered clothes riddled his body, and in one hand he held a long, curved-bladed spear that Beelzemon recognized all too well.

"Gyōjamon," Beelzemon growled angrily.


	139. 138: Deadly Reunions: Part 1

Time slowed to a crawl as Beelzemon glowered at Gyōjamon, floating in the air with a cold, distant look on his face, looking for all the world as though the Demon Lord was a mere bug on a windshield. Gyōjamon floated downward through the air, eventually coming to rest on the desert floor in front of the scattered remains of the sand creature. Glass, fused together from the sheer heat from the spear wielder's attack sparkled in the light of the day, shifting ever so slightly by the force that controlled them. As yet however, neither digimon nor child, conscious that is, took any notice.

"So," began Beelzemon, sounding as though he had a bad taste in his mouth. "You're here."

"So I am," responded Gyōjamon easily, hefting his spear slightly. "However I don't seem to remember you being brought to this world following the battle in the human world."

"Glad to know we're on something of the same page," growled the Demon Lord, his trigger finger on his Berenjena shotgun twitching in agitation. "You don't happen to know where the Tamers are, do ya? Seeing as how you practically admitted that you got here in the same way…"

"I have an idea. Though you might want to ease off a bit before you do something that you'll regret later. Information, it would appear, is a prized commodity in your current situation, and I'd hate for you to destroy it before it can help you."

Beelzemon snorted, but otherwise relaxed his grip on his shotgun's triggers. The memory of Gyōjamon's actions in the human world, mainly his lack of control over them, were all too fresh in his mind to easily forget them. Right now Gyōjamon was back to 'normal', or whatever passed for normal considering their earlier battle, but he still owed an explanation for it.

_And maybe a bullet hole or two,_ thought Beelzemon darkly. At that thought he half considered holstering his weapon, not trusting himself to go all out on the shaman digimon, but the memory of how easily he had turned on his allies over a reformed Royal Knight, coupled with the safety of his partners changed his mind. If he was going to end up fighting the Mega level Kitsune, he'd want to be able to react as quickly as possible.

Still, the questioned remained…

"Help?" Beelzemon barked harshly. "Considering what you did back in Shinjuku that's a real laugh. How can I trust you?"

Gyōjamon's returning stare was as empty and emotionless as a canyon.

"Considering your position, I don't think you have much of a choice."

The click of Beelzemon's gun resounded upon the air as he brought his gun to bear on the shaman digimon.

"With an answer like that I think I have every right to have a choice. You see these two kids I got? They're my partners. I can't have you running around trying to toast everything just because you've got a grudge to settle with someone."

For the first time a dark look crossed Gyōjamon's features and a flicker of fire appeared at the tips of his two tails as they moved behind him. Fluttering his wings slightly Beelzemon took a healthy step back.

"Back off bub," Beelzemon warned, and as though the words were like an electrical shock, Gyōjamon's body jerked. Blinking his eyes, the shaman digimon relaxed his grip on his spear and raised a hand to his face. The fire on his tails winked out of existence with a puff of smoke.

"My…apologies," said Gyōjamon. "I should warn you… _should have_ warned you all right from the start that this is something of a curse of my species. We are a very passionate group of digimon whose emotions are tied directly to our abilities. Normally when we evolve past the Rookie level we seal our powers away using masks so as to decrease the chances of our running out of control, but my mask was damaged in the fight with Duftmon. You saw the result of that. I'm afraid that I'm a risk to you for as long as I remain in my unsealed form."

Beelzemon scoffed.

"Sounds like an excuse to have a crutch."

"Even so," said Gyōjamon, lowering his hand from his face, "it is the surest way to prevent a digimon of the Urocyomon line from destroying the fabric of the digital world without destroying them. There were some times where I feel that the Mother was too...merciful when she first allowed me to live, even when I posed a threat to her…"

"Yeah, I'm sure," cut in Beelzemon, the aim of his gun not changing in the slightest. "Frankly I don't care about your soap opera, drama life. I'd rather that you _weren't_ within a hundred worlds of me, but unfortunately that's not the case right now. I'm trying to find all the Tamers you decided to mess with back when you were in your burning fox mode and you say you _have an idea_ as to where to find them. As much as I hate to admit it…I need you."

"Then…do we have an understanding?"

"No. An understanding is where I tell you that if you so much as make a wrong move…" Beelzemon grimaced as he remembered that he had his two partners with him, and one of them at least was conscious and watching him with wide eyes. What he said now could easily alter her opinion of him and possibly affect her in the future. Gyōjamon seemed to understand though, as his gaze shifted down to Ai and the unconscious Mako held protectively in the Demon Lord's arm.

"That child is injured," said Gyōjamon, taking a step forward. No sooner did he do so his eyes widened and he paused. Beelzemon frowned in confusion. He had just been about to tell Gyōjamon where he could stuff his help when the shaman hesitated.

_Why's he…?_ Began the Demon Lord until he suddenly noticed something moving on the ground below. The sparkling glass that had been fused together by Gyōjamon's attack was moving. A loud, shrill, inhuman shriek filled the air and the hill that the sand creature from earlier had been turned into surged upwards, reshaping its form into the serpentine beast it had been before.

"Damnation," whispered Gyōjamon, hefting his spear before slashing it to the side, spinning as he did so and sending a torrential wave of fire cascading towards the sand creature, splitting it in half once more, only to reform at an even faster rate despite the sheer amount of glassed sand that was now making up its body.

_Hang on,_ thought Beelzemon, restraining himself from entering the battle for the first time he could ever remember. Taking in the scene in front of him he watched the injuries that Gyōjamon inflicted upon the monster seal and reseal themselves over and over with frightening speed. Remembering his own, earlier battle with the thing prior to Gyōjamon's arrival the demonic digimon scowled. _This thing regenerates pretty quick…so why didn't it do anything when me and the wizard fox were wasting time chin jawing? That thing could have kept on attacking us and we wouldn't have had time to talk things through. So…why…?_

Beelzemon felt the sand shift beneath his feet, and with the speed born from his Mega level, Demon Lord Powers Beelzemon leapt into the air, just barely dodging the serrated teeth of a second sand creature as it tore out of the ground below.

_Awww…_ nuts! Exclaimed Beelzemon mentally as he formed his Death Slinger cannon and took aim.

* * *

Gyōjamon threw another torrent of blue fire at the Sand Lich, eyes blazing with fury and annoyance as sand transformed to glass and shattered beneath his blade, only to reform and come at him again. The shaman gritted his teeth as he pushed against his emotions, trying to keep them from overcoming his control once again. Beelzemon's words, that he had relied on the sealing mask as a crutch may have been crude, but they definitely hit on the mark. Before he had allowed himself to be enveloped by his rage and anger towards the Royal Knights that he had put at risk the very things that he had sworn an oath to protect. Oaths he took _very_ seriously, having taken one to the Mother when she had brought him into the fold of the Seer Council, allowing him to survive where others would have deleted him. The fact that he had failed to protect her did not sit well with him, and his recent actions made him feel even worse once his mind had been made sufficiently clear enough to appreciate that fact. And ironically, it had been a Royal Knight who had made him realize that.

_Crusadermon and her light,_ thought Gyōjamon as he slashed and hacked at the Sand Lich.

_This is no good,_ thought the Shaman digimon as the Sand Lich reformed. _None of my attacks are doing even the remotest amount of good against this beast. If nothing else it's getting even more resilient and dangerous because of them. And I'm much too exhausted and worn down to put together a spell to properly disperse this Sand Lich…_

Gyōjamon was thrown to the side as Beelzemon's body slammed into him. Both Mega digimon rolled from the blow, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the massive forms of the Sand Lich that had been attacking the Demon Lord. Slashing his spear through the air, Gyōjamon created a concussive blast of fire that caused the second Sand Lich to detonate with explosive force, sending sand raining down on them like a desert storm that had just cut loose. Within seconds however the Sand Lich began to pull itself together while the other one, its body sparkling in the light of the desert, crawled towards them, a low hissing sound emanating from its gaping maw.

"Good," Gyojamon heard Beelzemon say as he got to his feet. "I've still got them. Ai; you okay?"

"Uh, huh…"

"And Mako's still breathing too. Okay buster," this Gyojamon could tell was directed at him now, "you mind giving me an idea as to what these things are? They sure aren't any digimon I've ever seen or heard of before."

"In short, they're called Sand Lich. They're leftover digimon that had been destroyed by the Chaos; what you and your friends would call the 'D-Reaper,'" said Gyōjamon, missing the look of shock that briefly crossed Beelzemon's face at this knowledge. "We have very little time to discuss anything about them except that they're ruthless and as I'm sure you've noticed, capable of quick regeneration. They desire our data too."

"Any easy way to beat them?" Asked Beelzemon as he hefted his arm cannon and took aim at the oncoming Sand Lich. Gyōjamon shook his head.

"Either destroy them until they run out of power to sustain their bodies, or run a complex language program to alter their digital makeup and break apart their data bonds. Those are our only options, and unfortunately I'm too worn down to be able to properly manage a spell."

"I can't fight these guys and protect Ai and Mako at the same time," admitted Beelzemon. As he did so the Sand Lich that was approaching them struck like a snake, and both Megas leapt into the air to evade the attack. Beelzemon fired off his Death Slinger cannon, and the blast impacted with the creature, shattering its glassed head and sending shards flying through the air. Seeking to dodge this, Beelzemon flapped his wings to gain some distance and Gyōjamon did likewise.

"This is no good," said Gyōjamon. "More are on their way. The energy that we're expending just to fend these two off is attracting them. Sand Lich feed off of energy so they're attuned to even the smallest discharge. As Megas we give off a _lot…"_

"I get the picture," growled Beelzemon as he searched the skies around them. He did not like how this situation was developing.

_Could the guys have run into these things before I got here?_ The Demon Lord wondered, recognizing that the odds of him arriving at an answer to that question had just decreased significantly. That aside, he had to get his partners to a safe location. Somewhere where they could rest and he could think of their next move, but unfortunately the Sand Lich were making things difficult.

"Jeez, of all the times for a data stream to not be around…"

"We may not need to use one," said Gyōjamon. "I'm familiar with this level of the digital world. I know of a place of safety that we can go to."

"Care to tell me _why_ you didn't mention it _earlier?"_ Beelzemon grated. Taking the Demon Lord's response as an affirmative Gyojamon turned in the air and flew off.

"Follow me!" He called out, to which Beelzemon, after a moment of deliberation quickly acquiesced to.

* * *

"What can you tell us about your scouting mission from earlier?" Henry asked Lumemon, snapping the angel out of his trance of staring at the double-bladed spear imbedded in the ground.

"Hmmm?" Began Lumemon, sounding somewhat befuddled. Terriermon giggled slightly.

"Sounds like Crusadermon threw you on the ground a little too hard…"

"Terriermon…"

Henry sighed. Following Lumemon's return to the Chuchidarumon village and his brief altercation with Crusadermon the gathered Tamers had exchanged stories and gotten caught up with each other, leaving them with the question of how they were to get home. A difficult question to be sure, as previously the only way that they had returned home before had been via a transport created by Hypnos. At least then they had a way to be in contact with Hypnos and as such had been able to coordinate with Hypnos as to where it was to land. However they had no such luck this time, lacking a communication device. Not that the use of an Arc was the _only_ way to go back to the real world, far from it. After all, digimon were capable of heading to the real world on a nigh regular basis so there was definitely a trick to it.

_However there's the fact that most of the digimon here don't know how they got to the real world,_ thought Henry. _Terriermon came out of a game, Guardromon and MarineAngemon followed us on the Arc, Dracmon had help from that Oni guy, and Lumemon…doesn't remember. That leaves us with Crusadermon as the only reliable method, but from what she's told us she used power that her former boss gave her to do it. Emphasis on the word 'former.' She can't do it anymore. At the very least she knows the way to get there, so that's something so it's not like we're completely trapped here. And she says that she's good enough with detecting shifts in data patterns so we should be able to find Rika, Takato, and Ryo too. But…_

Henry frowned, thinking that Terriermon, had he known what he was thinking right now would have added something along the lines of 'there's always a but.'

But… _we're still left with our current predicament. We're stuck in this village, and the desert is full of a bunch of creatures that Crusadermon calls Sand Liches. She says that they were created by the remains of digimon destroyed by the D-Reaper, which is bad enough. It's bad luck that they try to load anything that walks by them, and even worse that they've proven durable enough to be able to stand up to Terriermon and I when we're biomerged._

Henry sighed and scratched his hair absently while Terriermon, from his position on top of Henry's head, flapped his ears to make room for the boy's hand.

"Your scouting mission. The one you went on earlier remember?"

"The one you were coming back from before Crusadermon pounded you into the dirt and was getting ready to skewer you…"

"Henry," began Ayaka from off to the side, with her pink armored partner standing tall and proud next to her, "would you be so kind as to tell your long eared rabbitmon to shut up and let angel-mon there have his chance at talking before I tie his ears in a knot? _And_ to stop talking about Crusadermon?"

Henry glanced up at his partner.

"I know, I know," said Terriermon in a somewhat dejected manner that no one really believed to be sincere. _"…Terriermon…"_

_I'm just not going to bother this time…_

"Anyway," resumed Henry, looking back at Lumemon. "About your mission. Did you find any routes that we can use without running into any of those Sand Lich things out there?"

Lumemon frowned in deep thought.

"Fortunately I didn't come across any Sand Liches during my travels, but there aren't any guarantees that they're not out there, particularly with _this,_ " Lumemon indicated the spear with a nod of his head, "standing here like a watchtower. It's giving off emanations of great power. If what Crusadermon has told us is true about those creatures they should sense the presence of this weapon and be approaching it accordingly."

Crusadermon snorted.

"Do you doubt my word?"

"I have no reason to doubt it," replied Lumemon tactfully. "I may have lost many of my memories when I became what I am now, but I sense familiarity with what you're talking about."

"So…" Kenta shifted uncomfortably, as though unsure as to how he should feel about talking to a digimon that had once hurt a friend of his and now contained a part of him inside of him. "…Should we be expecting trouble?"

"Most likely," answered Crusadermon. "Sand Liches are very single minded and will be drawn to any source of power that they sense. My presence alone…indeed, that of all the digimon of this village would normally be enough to catch their attention."

"Kind of amazing that the Chuchidarumon are all still here," commented Kenta. Crusadermon again snorted derisively.

"I'm not. You forget. This village was constructed by Lord Yggdrasil to be a repository of important data. It has limited defenses from the outside world."

"We sure didn't see those so-called _defenses_ the last time we rolled through here," said Terriermon. "We had to rescue this place from an out of control bike."

"Ahhh…yes," said Crusadermon almost wistfully. "Behemoth. I wasn't present when that had been taken from the Demon Lord Beelzemon… _your_ Beelzemon's predecessor, but I definitely heard about it. Well…I should point out that the village's defenses were not designed to protect anything within from its own ravages. Then again, no one expected anyone to try riding it either. Even the Chuchidarumon know better than that. It's in their programming. They _are_ the wardens after all."

Each of the Tamers and their partners, with the exception of Crusadermon, exchanged uncertain glances, not sure what to make of the Royal Knight's words.

"So," began Henry in an attempt to break up the silence, "this is a shot in the dark then."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Kazu. "Just because we can't see these sand guys doesn't mean that we can't be ready for them! Most of us can biomerge to Mega or are already at the Mega level. Just because those weirdo's won't go down easy doesn't mean that they won't go down. We can handle them!"

"That's right!" Agreed Guardromon from behind the visor-wearing boy. "We can handle anything that comes our way!"

"Love your enthusiasm," grumbled Terriermon. "But you weren't the ones that had to face those things."

"Oh, come on rabbit ears," frowned Kazu as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't tell me that you're wimping out on us! Whatever happened to 'momentai?'"

"Must've lost it back in the desert. Like I said, those guys are tough. Henry and I only made it out by the skin of our teeth. I don't know about you guys but I _really_ want a plan to handle those guys, 'cause simply shooting them until they stop moving doesn't work as a long-term plan. What do we do if there's a lot of them? And I'd like to point out that we've got some innocent bystanders who aren't capable of biomerging." Terriermon indicated Noriko and Kenta with a nod of his head. "Do you really think we can afford to go 'all out' at the Mega level to handle those things?"

Henry looked up at Terriermon, honestly surprised that his partner was arguing such a point.

"He is right," said Henry looking back at the others. "It's one of the reasons why Terriermon and I don't biomerge in battles in the real world all that much. It's one thing when the fight goes too far because of the odds or the strength of the enemy, or when the city is evacuated like it was during the D-Reaper attacks, but it's quite another to be in a body that big and pack that much fire power in a fully inhabited city. Here we have the same problem. We have to protect those of us who can't easily protect themselves."

Noriko, who was standing next to Henry looked down with an ashamed expression on her face, but she didn't say anything.

"I'll protect her," said Lumemon, his expression determined.

"Can you digivolve?" Asked Henry. "Or biomerge?"

Lumemon's determined face soured immediately.

"I can understand where you're coming from," said Henry with a respectful nod. "But there are just some things that are outside of our control. And we have to be as prepared as possible before we set out."

"Hey. Are there any more of those Sand thingies out there on the other levels?" Asked Terriermon, looking over at Crusadermon.

"There are," acknowledged Crusadermon. "But they are far fewer in number, and normally they don't last long. Liches require an easily malleable substance in order to take a form. The lowest level gives them that, so they exist in large numbers. Also, because of their composition and their digital wavelengths they cannot use data streams in the same manner as us. They aren't trapped on this level of the digital world, but they can't move around easily. Lacking proper comprehension of their surroundings they won't recognize the paths and doorways that connect the levels together as they normally would have when alive. It's predicted that it will be their downfall."

"I…see," said Henry.

"So being in another world would be a lot safer than staying here," said Kenta while next to him Kazu glanced up at the sky.

"Not too many data streams these days," the visor wearing boy said, scowling. "Man. The first time we were here we were practically tripping over ourselves trying to avoid them; now it's like we can't get enough of them when we need them. Talk about bad luck."

"What about the Chuchidarumon?" Asked Noriko. "I mean, they're here and they don't want to leave."

"Hey. Didn't Crusadermon just say that they were protected from the outside or something? They'll be fine."

"I'm sorry," said Crusadermon in a sarcastic fashion. "Did I say that they would 'be fine?'"

Kazu blanched.

"What do you mean?"

"It's true that this village still has some defenses, _but_ …and I must emphasize this…many of the programs gathered here are in a state of disrepair and fragmentation. This is a repository of data, but most of what's here is useless clutter. Data that was discarded because it's just that: _useless._ So much has been gathered that it's begun degrading the algorithms that protect this area, and I'm certain that Behemoth's rampage didn't help things much either."

Crusadermon looked out at the village, taking in each of its inhabitants as they went about their daily business.

"This village is too far gone. Eventually it will be destroyed, if not by the Sand Liches then by the useless data that they continue to gather. It would be better to just destroy it and be done with it."

"Whoa, now," said Terriermon. "Isn't that going a little too far? I know you just got fired by your boss and all, but isn't that a little too extreme?"

"Oh?" Asked Crusadermon. "And why is that? These Chuchidarumon…they're not even real digimon. Just programs created to oversee this area at Yggdrasil's behest. Degraded ones at that…"

"Crusadermon!" Snapped Ayaka angrily, stalking towards the Royal Knight and looking at her furiously. Crusadermon looked back, though no one could tell what was going through her mind as her helmet covered her face. No words were exchanged between them, and after a few moments the Royal Knight looked over at Lumemon. Ayaka's expression loosened uncertainly, not sure what to make of this.

"I believe that another scouting mission is called for," said Crusadermon rather stiffly. "Lumemon, you will assist me. The others need time to deliberate our next move."

"Uh…"

"I expect my partner to watch me through her digivice," said Crusadermon, and Ayaka blinked, "so you don't need to worry about me harming you."

Lumemon frowned, but nodded. "Very well. Shall we go?"

With no more need for words Crusadermon launched herself into the air, leaving Lumemon gawking in surprise for a few seconds before he quickly leapt after her, wings flapping for all they were worth to narrow the distance between them. Henry watched them go and ran a hand on the side of his head, groaning in slight annoyance.

"Okay. Meeting adjourned then. Ayaka, keep an eye on Crusadermon and let us know what they see."

"What about the rest of us?" Asked Kenta.

"Not too sure right now. One thing I do know though, we have to think about this very carefully."

Kazu narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"Why'd she bring Lumemon with her? No offense, but they didn't exactly meet on very good terms, and we just saw how fast she is…

"He's got a point," said Terriermon, "Crusadermon didn't have to bring Lumemon with her. If anything he'd only slow her down."

"And you'd cover more ground than the both of them, I know," said Henry. "Which is why I think she's got something else in mind right now. So in that case…" Henry dug into his pants pocket and produced a blue card. "…How about we do a little bit of scouting on our own?"

"Music to my ears."

* * *

Silence hung between Crusadermon and Lumemon as they both flew through the air. The angelic digimon breathed harshly as he strained his wings to keep pace with the Royal Knight, which was no easy task, and Lumemon could tell that she was holding back to keep him from falling behind too far. He eyed her nervously, trying to gauge her emotional weather behind her armor, only to give up when he found that there wasn't anything he could see.

"So…uh…" Lumemon coughed nervously. "…Why did you want me to tag along? I mean, it can't be just to see the areas that I already went through. At this point any direction we take is going to be the same in terms of danger."

"What do you think of being a partner digimon?" Crusadermon asked suddenly. Lumemon raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not even sure if that's what I am?"

The sound of Crusadermon chuckling left the angel with a disturbing chill racing down his back.

"You must be blind then…or perhaps your memory really is as destroyed as you claim it to be. That girl, Noriko. You've been partnered with her for quite some time now. And I think I should remind you of your own story about how the two of you merged together…"

"There…is that," admitted Lumemon. "But you're a partner digimon too if I'm not mistaken. What do _you_ think of it?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here…"

"Yeah, but I think that you're asking them to yourself and using me as a way to find an answer. What would you do if I told you I liked being a partner, or I didn't? You're a Royal Knight, right? And from your knowledge of the Chuchidarumon village and use of Yggdrasil's name, something not many digimon even know about, I'd say that you used to be a Royal Knight and that you somehow got mixed up with the Tamers. I may not remember much but I do know that you Royal Knights are a prideful bunch. This can't be easy for you is it?"

Lumemon saw Crusadermon clench one hand into a fist.

"I don't know what to think anymore," admitted Crusadermon. "At first I didn't see humans as being at all necessary, and I was angry with my partner…Ayaka, the blonde haired girl with the pigtails…but ever since I've met her…I don't know. I feel different somehow. And each time we fight together I feel even more different, but there are times where a little bit of the old me slips through, and she berates me for it as though I were a dog on a leash." The armor around Crusadermon's hand creaked as she tightened her fist. "I don't like that. Yet, we biomerged together once to fight one of my old comrades, and I fought with everything I had to protect her. And being merged with her…I…have no way to explain or describe what that was like." Crusadermon sighed and her fist loosened ever so slightly. "I just wish I knew what to do…how to handle this."

"You're talking to the wrong digimon then," said Lumemon. "You'd be better off talking to one of the more experienced tamed ones. They've known their humans a lot longer and definitely seem to like sticking it out with them."

Crusadermon _hmmmphed._ "Perhaps. Tell me this though…when you first saw me and attacked me, you said that you mistook me for someone else, and because of that you 'overreacted.' Care to tell me _who_ that was, _Lucemon?"_

Lumemon raised an eyebrow at the Royal Knight before glancing away, a distant, thoughtful expression on his face.

"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to," he said to her. "I don't remember much about my old life. Just that I had wronged the Tamers."

"You wronged many others before you crossed spears with them," said Crusadermon. "I know more about you then you do now. Yggdrasil keeps detailed files on all threats to the digital world and its many sub-worlds. I seem to recall you cropping up in one of them, causing trouble before you were defeated and your power was passed to the Three Celestial Angels. I even know _who_ fought under your command when you made your second bid for conquest."

Crusadermon paused for a moment before continuing.

"This is no doubt a useless question, but I want to know how much I resemble the Crusadermon you used. How bloodthirsty was she?"

Lumemon looked at Crusadermon for several seconds before replying.

"Like I said; if I could remember, I could give you an answer. But I can't."

"I see," replied Crusadermon with a nod. "You know, we Royal Knights have abilities that allow us to tap into another digimon's memories. Even buried ones."

"So interested in finding out that one little thing," said Lumemon slowly, "when you should be bothering yourself with making your own path. Are you afraid of failing Ayaka, or failing yourself?"

Crusadermon again _hmmmphed_.

"Failure is not an option for me. Only victory, in any form, matters. But…" Crusadermon shook her head. "Perhaps I should just carve my own path. But about the Chuchidarumon…they are nothing more than meaningless programs who have outlived their usefulness."

"The humans don't see them that way," replied Lumemon, now knowing the true reason behind their conversation.

"Either way," said Crusadermon, "it is kinder to put a suffering animal to sleep than for it to continue existing in pain."

"That's debatable. Mercy aside, perhaps the animal wants to keep living. Would you violate its right to choose? Even if that decision means a continuation of suffering?"

"I…" Crusadermon halted in her speaking as she caught sight of something. Grinding to a stop in the air the Royal Knight focused her attention on the horizon, and soon a hissing noise could be heard escaping her mouth-less helmet.

_How's that work?_ Thought Lumemon distractedly.

"What do you see?"

"It appears that we're about to have some company," replied Crusadermon as she flexed her fingers, "in the forms of Beelzemon…Sand Liches…and… _Gyōjamon."_

"Oh boy…"


	140. 139: Deadly Reunions: Part 2

Ayaka sighed as she brought her back to rest against one of the Chuchidarumon huts and brought out her digivice, activating the camera function as she did so. A holographic circle materialized above the screen, giving her a first person view of what her partner was seeing, but she didn't pay much attention to it. She was far too wrapped up in her own thoughts to focus on it.

"Hey," came the voice of Kenta, startling the blonde haired, pigtailed girl as he and MarineAngemon rounded the corner and looked at her. Unconsciously Ayaka felt herself blush at the concern that she saw in their eyes and she looked away.

"Hey," she said back in a disconnected tone.

"Um…" Kenta shifted his feet uneasily and rubbed the back of his head. "…You okay?"

Ayaka scowled.

"I've been sucked into another plain of existence. How much better can you get?"

Kenta resisted the urge to sigh and glanced at MarineAngemon worriedly.

"Pihpihpuh?" the pink fairy said in a questioning tone, and Ayaka frowned at the pair.

"What's he going on about now?"

Kenta had to fight the urge to fidget under the girl's heavy stare.

"He's just saying that he's worried. It didn't look like you and Crusadermon left each other off on the right foot there, and you two biomerged recently too. I kind of have to admit…I'm a little surprised by that. I thought you two had gotten to be pretty close by now to let that happen."

"I don't know what happened," said Ayaka. "One moment we were caught up in the heat of the moment and the next we were promising to watch each other's backs. Now it feels like we're back at square one again and…" Ayaka gave a frustrated sigh. "Why am I even talking to you about this?"

Kenta took on a hurt look to his face.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay. We haven't had much time to talk and you looked like you were upset."

Ayaka scowled and clenched one hand into a fist as she felt her face once again heat up in a blush.

_The last time you and I had a serious talk had been after I kissed you,_ she thought. _And I'm still not sure what to do about that._

"Yeah…well…thanks," said Ayaka as she looked away.

"You know, you're not the only one who has trouble with your partner," said Kenta in an attempt to comfort her. "Takato, Henry, and Rika used to have some all the time. Ryo still does. His Cyberdramon is pretty hung up on violence, so Ryo has to keep him in line a lot." Kenta raised one hand to his chin and scratched it thoughtfully. "Though now that I think about it, he's been having an easier time lately…"

"So what are you saying? That Crusadermon and I are having 'growing pains' or something?"

"That's actually not a bad way to put it," said Kenta. "You guys may have biomerged but I think you two are still trying to feel each other out. No one ever said that it would be easy, and Crusadermon…"

"Didn't want to be partnered with me in the first place. Yeah, I know."

"So what about now?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's she saying now?" asked Kenta, pointing at Ayaka's digivice. "I mean, isn't that kind of why she asked you to keep an eye on her through your digivice?"

Ayaka's mouth dropped open, awestruck.

_There's no way that…she…could she…? No…_

"Hate to burst your bubble there, Kenta," said Ayaka with a nervous twitter to her voice, "but these things don't let me hear what the digimon says when they're far away…"

"Maybe you just have it on mute," said Kenta. Ayaka raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you serious?"

"I think it's possible," shrugged Kenta. "I've seen Suzie talk to Antylamon no matter where she was and the two got along just fine. I've done the same with MarineAngemon whenever we've gotten separated, and I'm pretty sure the others have to. You just kind of have to fiddle around with your digivice…"

_You've got to be kidding me,_ thought Ayaka as she looked at her digivice. _All the stupid things that he could have thought of and he goes with this?_

_…Well…what have I got to lose?_

"Here," said Kenta as he walked over and held out his hand. "Let me see it."

Reluctantly Ayaka handed her pink and yellow colored digivice over to the boy, and he began pressing its sole button, going through program after program until finally…

_"…Are a prideful bunch. This can't be easy for you is it?"_ Came the voice of Lumemon from the digivice.

Kenta smiled and handed the digivice back to a stunned Ayaka.

"Sounds like someone's having a talking to. Wanna hear what she has to say?"

Ayaka paused, uncertain as to whether or not she should be intruding onto a private conversation between her partner and another digimon. Yet a part of her wanted… _needed_ to hear what was going on between the two digimon, so she took hold of the digivice and brought it close to her, gazing into the holographic circle with eyes that bespoke of the utmost attentiveness.

_"I don't know what to think anymore,"_ came the voice of Crusadermon. _"At first I didn't see humans as being at all necessary, and I was angry with my partner…Ayaka, the blonde haired girl with the pigtails…but ever since I've met her…I don't know. I feel different somehow. And each time we fight together I feel even more different, but there are times where a little bit of the old me slips through, and she berates me for it as though I were a dog on a leash. I don't like that. Yet, we biomerged together once to fight one of my old comrades, and I fought with everything I had to protect her. And being merged with her…I…have no way to explain or describe what that was like. I just wish I knew what to do…how to handle this."_

_"You're talking to the wrong digimon then,"_ said Lumemon. _"You'd be better off talking to one of the more experienced tamed ones. They've known their humans a lot longer and definitely seem to like sticking it out with them."_

" _Perhaps. Tell me this though…when you first saw me and attacked me, you said that you mistook me for someone else, and because of that you 'overreacted.' Care to tell me_ _who_ _that was,_ Lucemon?"

_"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. "I don't remember much about my old life. Just that I had wronged the Tamers."_

_"You wronged many others before you crossed spears with them. I know more about you then you do now. Yggdrasil keeps detailed files on all threats to the digital world and its many sub-worlds. I seem to recall you cropping up in one of them, causing trouble before you were defeated and your power was passed to the Three Celestial Angels. I even know_ _who_ _fought under your command when you made your second bid for conquest."_

_"This is no doubt a useless question, but I want to know how much I resemble the Crusadermon you used. How bloodthirsty was she?"_

" _Like I said; if I could remember, I could give you an answer. But I can't."_

" _I see. You know, we Royal Knights have abilities that allow us to tap into another digimon's memories. Even buried ones."_

" _So interested in finding out that one little thing when you should be bothering yourself with making your own path. Are you afraid of failing Ayaka, or failing yourself?"_

" _Failure is not an option for me. Only victory, in any form, matters. But…perhaps I should just carve my own path. But about the Chuchidarumon…they are nothing more than meaningless programs who have outlived their usefulness."_

" _The humans don't see them that way," replied Lumemon, now knowing the true reason behind their conversation._

" _Either way, it is kinder to put a suffering animal to sleep than for it to continue existing in pain."_

"I am such an idiot," said Ayaka as she lowered her digivice, allowing the holographic circle to recede back into the screen. Kenta raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't think of it that way; didn't see Crusadermon's words from that perspective. I had a cat once…back in the first grade, remember? Well, you probably don't, but she came down with a problem. I forget what it was exactly, but I think it had something to do with her kidneys. She wasn't able to eat or drink. She couldn't…'detoxify' herself or something like that. That's what I remember the vet saying anyway and there wasn't anything that we could do to keep her alive. Eventually she stopped moving all together and my dad…he made the decision to have her put to sleep. He didn't want to see her suffer. I was angry for a while with him about that, but I understood why he did it later. Crusadermon didn't want to see something like that happen to the Chuchidarumon…" Ayaka frowned. "Or maybe I'm just not looking at it right. I mean, she did talk about… _deleting_ the Chuchidarumon like she was going to take out the just didn't sound right the way she said it."

"You might want to talk to Rika and Renamon after this is over," said Kenta. "They used to have the same kind of views as Crusadermon, and it sounds like she's only starting to get over them. I think Rika could help out with that."

"You think so? All I ever hear from you about her is that you don't like her."

"Well…yeah," chuckled Kenta. "Mainly because I hate how she sounds like she's better than everyone and always right…but she has her good points just like you. I mean…I didn't like you a lot when we were growing up because you always made fun of me, but I've found that you're a pretty nice person."

Ayaka blinked at the bespectacled boy, trying to decide whether or not she had just been insulted or complimented. Before she could say anything however, Kenta quickly realized his mistake and in an almost eerie approximation of Takato began flustering about, his face turning crimson all the way up to his ears, trying to apologize.

"…Uh…that is…not that you weren't always a nice person before or that I didn't think that you had any good qualities or anythi…"

"Kenta," interrupted Ayaka in a firm, yet strangely gentle manner, causing the boy to halt his barely discernable attempts at apologies.

"Um…Yeah?"

Ayaka's fingers caressed her digivice nervously.

"Do you...? That is…would you help me be a better Tamer?"

Ayaka could have kicked herself for sounding like such a dope. That had not been what she wanted to say. She had wanted to tell him to shut up, or better yet, tell him that he had the worst pick-up lines ever. However neither of those had been the things that had left her lips. They just didn't feel as though they were the _right_ things to say…

Kenta pointed at himself, too stunned to say anything proper in regards to her question. Ayaka clearly got the meaning behind the gesture. Kenta was wondering if she was being serious. Ayaka opened her mouth to answer his unspoken question when the sound of her digivice giving a cry of alarm rang out through the air. Fumbling for the D-Arc in surprise, Ayaka activated the holographic imaging circle just in time to hear Crusadermon speaking Gyōjamon's name followed immediately by Lumemon's take on the news.

_"Oh boy…"_

"Uh oh…" added Ayaka barely a second later.

* * *

"Hang in there, Ai," said Beelzemon in an attempt to comfort the young girl as they flew through the air. "We're goin' to be all right. I'm not goin' to let anything happen to you guys."

Ai nodded, though fear was still plain in her eyes. Beelzemon couldn't blame her. A little kid like her being involved in a battle against a seemingly unstoppable opponent was something that hadn't been in the game plan, and now she was seeing it firsthand. Beelzemon could only wonder how this would affect her as she hadn't been prepared for dealing with this kind of stress.

_Not good, not good, not good…_ thought Beelzemon, the thought hammering itself through his mind as he dipped to the left, narrowly avoiding being crushed beneath a striking Sand Lich. _It's taking just about everything we've got just to stay ahead of these things. They're a_ lot _faster than they look. Just what are these things?!_

Beelzemon snapped a look over his shoulder just in time to see a large, gaping maw begin to cross the threshold of his foot.

"Ohhh no you don't!" Beelzemon exclaimed as he flipped over and formed his Death Slinger cannon around his right arm. The jaws at the gun's barrel opened and purple, electric energy danced between them. _"Corona Blaster!"_

Violet energy rocketed forth from the arm blaster, blowing a hole out through the back of the Sand Lich's head and causing it to jerk backwards in surprise. Beelzemon sped on ahead, holding Ai and Mako close to him protectively.

"You okay, Ai?"

"Y-Y-Yeah…"

"Good. Just keep on holding tight. I'll lose this creep if it's the last thing I ever do. That's a promise!"

Ai could only nod her head as her eyes, wide from the paralyzing fear that had settled heavily on her. Unbeknownst to Beelzemon it was now hitting home just how badly her being there in the digital world had messed things up for her partner and friend, and worse she had dragged her brother in with her.

_This wouldn't be happening if I didn't jump after Impmon,_ thought Ai as a tremble traced its way through her tiny body. _This wouldn't be happening if…if…oh…_ Ai gripped Beelzemon's jacket and buried her face into it. A small tear crept out from her tightly shut eyes. _Please…I can't do anything to help him! Please…someone…anyone! Help Impmon!_

_"Spiral Masquerade!"_ shouted a new voice, causing Ai's eyes to snap open in surprise just in time to see a flurry of pink and yellow dive bomb the oncoming Sand Lich. Sand sprayed into the air like a broken fire hydrant, obscuring the figure of their savior.

A gust of wind blew through the air, blowing away the innumerable particles of sand, revealing a pink armored, knight like digimon with a series of yellow ribbons attached to her body.

Beelzemon ground to a stop in midair, looking stupefied at the unexpected aid he had just received.

"What the…?"

"Idiot," said Crusadermon in an insulting manner as she raised one arm. A yellow pile-bunker shield sat on it, covering the knight's hand and leading all the way up past its forearm. "Is this the place for you to be stopping? _Get moving!"_

Beelzemon blinked, taken completely off guard by the response from the strange digimon, but he soon nodded in affirmation and with a flap of his wings he was off again, and Ai rapidly lost her view of their rescuer.

* * *

Crusadermon watched Beelzemon fly off after Gyojamon, who had slowed down only to check on Beelzemon's progress when she had intervened, shaking her head. Placing one hand on her hip, the Royal Knight _tsked_ in a bemused fashion, and had anyone gotten a look beneath her helmet they would have thought she had just been turned down from a prospective date.

"After everything we've been through, and not so much as a thanks," Crusadermon muttered sarcastically. "What is this digital world coming to?"

"Might want to watch your back there, Crusadermon!" called out Lumemon as he flew into view.

"Yeah, yeah…" mused Crusadermon as she, without even looking, swung her shield laden arm to the side, backhanding the second, nigh crystalline Sand Lich as it lunged at her. A loud crack resounded upon the air as a spider web of breaks appeared on the creature's face. Crusadermon watched the Sand Lich collapse to the ground with a cry, a small, satisfied smile appearing on her face beneath her helm.

"Hmmm…I love men with a glass jaw…"

* * *

_Gotta make this quick,_ thought Lumemon as he landed on the ground. In front of him, the Sand Lich that Crusadermon had so efficiently cut to shreds was in the process of reconstructing itself, and would soon be back in action. Although the angel digimon didn't remember much about his past life, there was an instinctive memory guiding his actions. Taking a quick look around him he saw that Crusadermon had, with frightening ease, backhanded the Sand Lich that had attempted to sneak up on her, and now she focused all of her attention on it. _All_ of her attention; apparently oblivious to the Sand Lich that she had so casually defeated earlier as it rebuilt itself.

_Sand Liches don't attack lower beings when there's a greater amount of power within the same area,_ thought Lumemon, sensing that as long as Crusadermon was safe, he himself would be safe unless he made himself more of a nuisance than the Sand Lich was willing to tolerate.

Which was precisely his line of thinking at this very moment.

_"Cross Guard!"_ shouted Lumemon as he clapped his hands together. Energy crackled at the point where they met, and as he parted them white light extended between them, shaping themselves into the form of a crucifix of burning light that extended all the way up to the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. As the cruciform bar of energy touched the ground its tip sharpened into a spear-like point, giving it the appearance of an upside down sword. Grasping the energy blade between his hands at the top of the cruciform where the 'bar' of light cut into it as though it were a handle Lumemon swung it upwards, and lightning crackled along its edges. Sensing the gathering of energy the Sand Lich almost seemed to pause in its reconstruction and a solitary black eye formed in the center of its mass, focusing on Lumemon as he came surging forward. A shriek filled the air as Lumemon stabbed his lightning-made sword into the Sand Liches eye and released it, throwing himself backwards with a flap of his wings as the weapon receded into the creature and detonated with ferocious force, sending sand flying through the air. Coughing and hacking Lumemon glanced at the remains of the Sand Lich, fully expecting it to once again begin rebuilding itself.

He was right.

_Only bought ourselves a few seconds,_ thought Lumemon as he took to the air. _I can't keep up that kind of attack for very long. It takes a lot just to form the Cross Guard, and using it as a ranged attack takes even more energy. We've got to get back to the Chuchidarumon village with the others and hope that its defenses are still enough to hold these things back!_

"Crusadermon!" shouted Lumemon up to the Royal Knight. "Beelzemon and Gyōjamon are out of the line of fire! We've got to go!"

Crusadermon leveled another _Fist of Athena_ attack on her present Sand Lich, sending shards of broken glass and sand scattering once more across the desert floor.

"Very well," agreed the Royal Knight, though from the way she sounded Lumemon could tell that she was heavily disappointed in this plan of action. "Let's… _UGGH!"_

Crusadermon let out a cry of surprise as a Sand Lich rammed her from behind, bringing her down to the ground in another explosion of sand. Lumemon gawked in surprise, temporarily frozen from the unexpectedness of this new attack.

Another _one?!_ he thought deliriously. _How many more are in this area? Nuts! Can't think about that right now! I've got to get her out of…_

Lumemon's line of thought was abruptly cut off as the ground suddenly burst beneath him and the gaping maw of a Sand Lich opened wide to lay claim to his body.

_Oh shi…!_

* * *

"Anything?" asked Henry as he looked at the holographic circle floating above his digivice's screen, allowing him to see what his partner saw, digivolved to his Ultimate form of Rapidmon, as he flew across the desert.

_"Nothing on this side of the village. I'm coming back your way now. I don't know about you but going out too far is kind of creepy with those things lurking around just waiting to have a piece of my data."_

"And I thought you liked a good fight."

_"There's a difference between enjoying something and just being plain stupid, Henry."_

"Isn't that my line?" asked Henry, raising a sardonic eyebrow at his partner's words.

_"Only if you say 'Terriermon' all the time. Oh wait; you do."_

Henry chuckled.

"All right. Just make sure that you get back here soon. I'm about to check up on Ayaka to see what Crusadermon and Lumemon are up to."

_"Ten-four there, buddy."_

Lowering his digivice Henry looked over at an expectant Kazu, Guardromon, and Noriko.

"Rapidmon says that the area he's checked out is fine."

"We kinda got that," said Kazu. "So what's the plan?"

"There's not much too it," said Henry. "If everything looks to be fine, then we should leave and try to find Takato, Rika, and Ryo and go home."

"What about the village?" asked Noriko. "Are we just going to leave them on their own?"

Henry frowned and glanced at the multitude of Chuchidarumon who continued to mill around the village, most of whom stared at the three humans and Guardromon, but for the most part went about their daily lives as they had done before. Henry closed his hands into fists and then released them.

_I don't know what to do,_ was what Henry wanted to say, but deep in his heart he knew that he couldn't afford to say that out loud. With Takato missing he was essentially the acting leader.

_Funny. We never did call Takato 'leader,' and most of the time Rika, Kazu, and Kenta would tease him about being too clumsy for the job of the goggles he wears. Yet when it came right down to it he was the one who made the final call. He was the one who got everyone fired up to go to the digital world the first time, and he was always the last to retreat during the fight with the D-Reaper. It was only when he didn't know what to do when he differed to someone else or asked for help. Knowing him he'd probably want to help the Chuchidarumon, but at the same time he would recognize that we can't stay and protect them forever. He helped them out when Beelzemon's bike was wrecking the place even though he knew full well that we had another mission, but that…was more immediate. Takato couldn't turn his back on that. We don't even know if the Chuchidarumon have any problems right now…_

_Well, other than the risk of being attacked by those Sand Liches. And that's where the problem lies._

"I don't want to abandon them," said Henry, "but we can't stay here and fight every battle for them."

Noriko's eyes widened, appearing almost hurt by Henry's words.

"But…Henry. They helped us, and they _need_ help."

"Noriko…" began Henry. "Believe me, I agree with you. I don't like the idea of leaving the Chuchidarumon on their own either, but…"

Before Henry could continue the sound of a massive explosion resounded upon the air, and the half-Chinese Tamer felt the earth tremble beneath his feet. His eyes widening in confusion and surprise Henry raised his digivice and reactivated the communication program to get in touch with his partner.

"Rapidmon! Is everything all right out there?"

_"Everything still looks to be fine on my end Henry,"_ chirped the mechanical digimon's voice. _"But it doesn't look like I can say the same for Crusadermon and Lumemon. It looks like they found themselves a heap of trouble already."_

"HEYYY!" called out Kenta's voice. Turning, Henry saw the bespectacled boy running towards them with Ayaka charging ahead.

"It certainly looks that way," replied Henry, already getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

_"Eh?"_

"Never mind. Just try to get there as quickly as you can, but _don't_ attack anything until you know for certain what's going on!"

_"And if there really are those sand things taking apart Crusadermon and Lumemon?"_

"Do you even have to ask?"

_"Well a little confirmation would be nice. Plausible deniability in case I do something you didn't want me to, you know?"_

"Terriermon…" Henry took a deep breath before continuing. "Please. No joking this time."

There was no response from Rapidmon's end of the digivice, leaving Henry to assume that he understood what he had been told. A quick glance at the camera function quickly confirmed this.

"Henry," gasped Ayaka as she came to a halt in front of the half-Chinese Tamer and showed him her digivice, the holographic camera function already active. "You need to see this."

Henry nodded and took a look. His eyes widened at first before narrowing dangerously as he took in the sight of Crusadermon struggling to free herself from the grasp of a Sand Lich. He didn't even notice when Rapidmon flew over the village like a fighter craft.

"Kazu," he said in a low voice.

"Go and help bail out the two newbie's," said Kazu, snapping a hasty salute. "You got it. Guardromon and I are all over it. Right, buddy?"

"Right, 'dude!'" replied the rust colored android.

"Awesome!" Exclaimed Kazu as he slammed one fist into Guardromon's iron hide in exuberance, eager to get back into their combined Mega form. "Let's go then!" Kazu brought his digivice up towards the sky and a light began to emerge from its screen. "BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

An aura of energy burst around Kazu and Guardromon's body, enveloping them both and merging them into a single shell of data that mixed their data as one. Within seconds the shell broke into innumerable shards, once more revealing the powerful form of HiAndromon for all to see.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," said HiAndromon in his dual voices of Kazu and Guardromon, once more pleased with their transformation. Not waiting for anything else the Mega level android leapt into the air and upon the pronunciation of _Copy Paste_ sprouted the pair of blue, dragonic wings of UlforceVeedramon before taking off towards the source of the battle.

"Hey, _wait!"_ Shouted Ayaka as she started to chase after them, only to be stopped by Henry as he positioned himself directly in front of her.

"Henry! Wha…?"

"Sorry, Ayaka," said Henry. "I know that you want to help your partner, but right now I don't think any of us are going to be much good to them out there on the front lines."

"Oh, _come on!"_ Exclaimed Ayaka angrily. "I can biomerge with Crusadermon if worst comes to worst…"

"Can you do it again when you need to?" asked Henry. "Biomerging isn't an easy thing to pull off, believe me. It took Takato a while to figure out how to do it again. Besides, if what Lumemon told us earlier is true then the increase in Crusadermon's power will only draw more Sand Liches to us. The best we can do right now is to support our partners from the sidelines, augmenting them with our cards." Henry paused. "You _do_ have cards, right?"

"Of _course_ I do," growled Ayaka. "But my partner _needs_ me…"

"And she can't fight properly if she has to worry about protecting you. From what I saw those Sand Liches are coming out of the woodwork, and if you don't biomerge on the first try you'll be vulnerable!"

"Got…that…right…"

"Huh?" Henry blinked at the strangely familiar voice and turned to see Beelzemon and Gyōjamon come to a landing behind them, the former of whom was carrying the two children, Ai and Mako in his arms. Henry's mind was suddenly awhirl with a thousand thoughts and questions, most of which pertained to the presence of Beelzemon and Gyōjamon when they didn't show up when Kazu and the others did. And there was also the rather disturbing fact that Ai and Mako were both with him…

_Just how did_ they _get here?!_

"What are you doing here, Gyōjamon?" asked Kenta as both he and MarineAngemon stepped in front of Ayaka instinctively, both of them narrowing their eyes in a guarded manner. The shaman digimon merely eyed them with a detached expression.

"I was asking him the same thing when I first met him," rasped Beelzemon as he gently placed his two partners down on the ground. "Seems like he hasn't had a whole lot of time to be giving out answers, what with the sand critters harassing us and everything."

"That's a good one," said Kenta sarcastically. "And we're supposed to just trust him after he went out of control the way he did before?"

"It doesn't look like you have much of a choice in the matter," replied Gyojamon coolly. "I believe you humans have the saying 'the devil you know versus the devil you don't.' Your friends' lives are on the line as we speak. Will you turn aside from helping them just to get back at me?"

"I don't really care about getting back at you. I'm just asking whether or not we can trust…"

"Stop it!" Exclaimed Henry, allowing his temper to slip past his defenses for the briefest of moments. "We _do not_ have time to argue about anything right now!"

"But Henry," said Kenta. "You know what we told you…"

"And I said that we _do not have time to argue!_ Don't you get it? Our friends are under attack right now! If you're worried, then MarineAngemon stays here. Have him fix up Beelzemon and his partners, but otherwise we should be doing everything we can to help out our partners! Our friends! We need to find something that's going to give the digimon an advantage. I don't know about you, but I intend to lend Terriermon a hand! Ayaka! Kenta! You should do the same!"

And with that, as though there was nothing else to talk about, Henry dug into his pants pocket and pulled out his deck of cards, fanning through them in search for a modify card that would help Rapidmon in his battle. After a moment of deliberation, Kenta and Ayaka did the same thing. As Kenta pulled his deck out, one of the cards caught on the edge of his pocket and spilled out all over the ground. Cursing Kenta went down to pick them up and was immediately assisted by Ayaka as she bent down to help him.

"Don't," said Kenta rather forcefully as he grabbed up whatever cards he could. Ayaka jerked as though he had just slapped her, and seeing it he gave her an apologetic look before adding to clarify. "You need to help Crusadermon. Don't stop for me."

Ayaka's lips parted slightly, taken aback by the strange look of maturity that she saw in his eyes just then, but before she could say anything Noriko was at Kenta's side, helping him pick up his cards.

"I'll help," said Noriko as she picked up the first card. "Not really a whole lot that I can do right now anywa-AAAGH!"

Eyes widened in surprise as a stream of electricity shot out from Noriko's hand and surged over the card she had just picked up. Noriko's body stiffened as an eerie glow appeared in her eyes. Electricity continued to run over the card and trace its way back up into the girl's arm.

"Noriko!" Exclaimed Henry. Snapping out of his daze Henry burst forward and grabbed Noriko by the arm, only to be driven back by a jolt of electricity upon making contact.

"Ah! Wha…?" Henry grasped the hand that had just been shocked, and looked up at the dark haired girl, trying to understand just what was going on. As he watched, Noriko's body spasmed and words began to emerge from her mouth, stuttering ever so slightly as though forcing their way out.

"Ah…ah…" Noriko gasped. "D-D-Digi…modify."

Lightning crackled within Noriko's eyes as a series of zeroes and ones ran within them, obscuring her pupils.

"Digivolution…activate."


	141. 140: Deadly Reunions: Part 3

"Does it hurt Takatomon?" asked Guilmon, looking at his partner worriedly before poking at his side, causing Takato to jerk reflexively.

"Ow! Guilmon…"

"I guess it does."

"Guilmon," began Jeri, "could you give us some room here? We can't work if you keep poking Takato like that."

"Ohhh…but Jeri…"

"Renamon?" asked Rika irritably. "Could you get Guilmon out of here and keep him occupied for a bit? He's being a distraction…"

Ryo stood next to Cyberdramon, watching the scene in front of him with more than a little amusement as the vulpine digimon acquiesced to her Tamer's request by teleporting behind the crimson dinosaur and, upon grabbing him by the claw, began to lead him away, ignoring Guilmon's pleas to be left with his partner. Satisfied that they weren't going to be having any further distractions from the reptile, Rika and Jeri both went back to their work while Takato watched them anxiously.

"Takato…" Ryo said, his voice betraying the humor that he saw with the boy's situation, "you are one lucky guy."

Takato raised an eyebrow at the Legendary Tamer, the expression on his face easily communicating the confusion that he was experiencing over the other boy's comment.

"Huh? I don't get it."

Ryo couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm sure you'll understand when you're older…"

Takato opened up his mouth to continue his questioning when a light jab on the side of his ribs courtesy of one Rika Nonaka interrupted him. Takato drew in a sharp breath as pain coursed through his chest from the injury that he had sustained in battle with UlforceVeedramon.

"Is it _really_ that difficult to stay still while we're working?" Rika asked as she unraveled a roll of bandages, ignoring the glare that Takato shot at her from her rather unusual, not to mention painful, bedside manner. Turning Rika shot Ryo a glare. "And _you_ could at least be helping you know."

Ryo smirked at the violet eyed girl playfully.

"And ruin your fun? This is just too good. Besides, who am I to get in the way of the Wild Cat and the Lioness' catch?"

Rika ground her teeth together, fighting back the urge to growl menacingly at the Legendary Tamer.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I think I've found someone more annoying than Terriermon here."

"Really Rika," giggled Jeri as she took one end of the bandage that Rika had unrolled and began to wrap it around Takato's bare chest, pressing it firmly against the bloody, burnt flesh on Takato's side, "haven't you ever heard of ignoring someone if they get on your nerves?"  
"Only when I don't have to work with them," said Rika as she took the bandage from Jeri once she finished bringing it about the other side. Takato squirmed uncomfortably, not too certain of what to make of the treatment he was receiving.

"Really you guys," said Takato, "I'm fine. You don't have to…"

"Takato," said Rika in a warning tone, "You're _not_ fine, so if you don't shut up and let us work, I'm going to jab you again."

"Yes ma'am…"

Ryo smiled as he, metaphorically speaking, sat back and continued to watch as the two girls treated Takato's injury. While it was true that Rika and Renamon, as Sakuyamon, had healed Takato and Guilmon, their skills in the art weren't quite yet as up to par with MarineAngemon, who was often the field medic on call. For the most part, Sakuyamon rarely got the opportunity to practice healing spells both in and out of battles and as a result her skills were imperfect. Digimon data was relatively easy to repair, but the complexity of the human body, even transformed into data, was significantly more difficult by comparison.

_At least she managed to heal Gogglehead's injury down to a burn instead of what it was when UlforceVeedramon stabbed him,_ thought Ryo, not for the first time breathing a mental sigh of relief. _At least this way we can take things from here without too much trouble. MarineAngemon can finish the rest of the job when we get back home or time can take care of it since that on its own 'heals all wounds.' Kinda an ironic thought considering who my partner is, but I can leave that aside for the right now._

As Ryo watched Rika continue to administer her bedside manner to the goggle-wearing Tamer with Jeri trying to keep her from hurting him, Ryo fought to repress a chuckle.

_Poor guy. He's sure had a lot on his plate lately. I wonder when all this started. Now that I think of it, it must have been going on for a while. Rika was acting kind of funny after that whole mess with Lucemon went into its interim._

"All done," said Rika, leaning away from Takato and handing him his blue hoody.

"Thanks you guys," said Takato, looking more than a little embarrassed as he began to tug his hoody on. Jeri smiled a little worriedly.

"Are you sure it's okay to wear that the way it is?"

Takato looked down at his hoody with a forlorn expression on his face as he took in the dark red bloodstain that decorated the blue cloth, marking where he had been stabbed by UlforceVeedramon.

"Well...it's not like I really have a choice right now. This is the only shirt that I have with me." Takato sighed. "Mom is going to kill me…"

"Don't be ridiculous," snorted Rika as she repacked the remnants of their first aid kit. "If anything she'll be glad that you survived. It could have been a lot worse you know since you decided to separate from Guilmon before your digimon healing factor or my spell could take full effect."

Takato chuckled and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"She might just do it out of principle. My mom doesn't like it when I get my clothes scuffed or ruined."

"Then it'll serve you right for devolving too quickly," rebutted the fiery haired Tamer casually. "Maybe next time you'll protect yourself better and not let the enemy stab you like that. Real intelligent planning on your part by the way…"

"At least Takato got out of it with having learned a lesson," put in Ryo, and Jeri beamed at the Legendary Tamer in approval.

"There's that," agreed Rika, knowing full well that had she been able to biomerge at the time that she learned what UlforceVeedramon was trying to do to Jeri, she would have reacted the same way as Takato had.

"…Plus you got to get Takato with his shirt off," added Ryo, grinning at the three Tamers.

"What are you…?" began Takato before grinding to a halt as the meaning of Ryo's words hit him full force. The effect was almost immediate as Takato's face burned bright red followed quickly by Jeri and Rika's as they both quickly caught on.

"Ryo…" began Rika in a low, dangerous tone. "You'll be wanting to stop putting any crazy thoughts in Takato's head now…"

"I get the message," chuckled Ryo. "Momentai already."

"Funny. I don't see long ears on you…"

"If you're _done_ now," broke in Kuzuhamon, sounding more than a little irritated by the childish nattering that the Tamers were so deeply engrossed in, "I would like to discuss our next move."

"As long as Ryo doesn't get any more funny ideas that he'd like to interject I'm all for it," commented Rika, glaring at the Legendary Tamer, who simply shrugged.

"I said I got it, didn't I?" Asked Ryo before turning to Kuzuhamon. "Anyway, how's Urocyomon?"

The expression on Kuzuhamon's face, what was visible anyway, left each of the Tamers with the impression that she was grateful for a return to a normal conversation.

"Recovering," said Kuzuhamon, indicating the silver furred fox Rookie who was lying against a tree. His eyes were closed and his breathing was even. Jeri's eyes softened as she looked at him.

"How long until he's okay?" the brown haired girl asked. "Um…not that I want to rush him or anything…"

"As soon as I am able," muttered Urocyomon as the silver furred fox opened his golden eyes and pushed himself off of his resting spot. Kuzuhamon frowned beneath her face mask and gave the kitsune a severe look.

"Urocyomon. You should be resting. You had just run through more data than you're used to. Your digital core is taxed to its limits…"

"I'll be fine as long as I keep the analysis' and data manipulation to a bare minimum," replied Urocyomon as he shook his head.

"That's not how Gyōjamon taught you…"

"Gyōjamon's not here!" snapped Urocyomon irritably. "And besides, you heard the Seer Council when they put us together for this mission. We can't afford to delay for too long in getting the Tamers back home."

Kuzuhamon folded her arms beneath her breasts and stared down at the Rookie.

"I should point out that we had just faced off against UlforceVeedramon…the very same Royal Knight that attacked the temple, and that he didn't look to be in the best of shape. I think that's evidence enough for us that things went well on the other side."

"Is that true, Jeri?" asked Rika, turning towards the puppet loving girl.

"Um…I'm not sure. I left home with my parents during the evacuation, and the news reports weren't able to tell us much about what was going on."

"Something big must have gone down," said Takato. "I mean, there was that freaky storm that kicked up when Alice disa…oops." Takato blanched at his mention of the missing girl, having forgotten about how close she was to Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon. Urocyomon simply shrugged while Kuzuhamon pursed her lips together silently.

"Be that as it may," said Kuzuhamon, breaking the heavy silence that had swiftly fallen over the group, "you do make a good point there. Something did indeed happen between our worlds, and it might be possible that it was responsible for UlforceVeedramon's presence in the digital world…not to mention Jeri's as well."

Takato, Rika, and Ryo all looked over at Jeri, remembering what she had told them about her mysterious appearance in the digital world and how she had met up with UlforceVeedramon in the first place. They hadn't quite yet gotten around to discussing it in greater detail, as they had not been together long when Takato and Guilmon separated, but now it seemed to be as good a time as any.

"Jeri," began Takato. "What can you tell us about how you got here?"

"Nothing much. I just remember feeling as though I were connected to all of you and then…" Jeri shrugged. "…I was in the digital world."

Ryo watched Jeri carefully while Takato and Rika exchanged glances.

"That's really weird," said Takato after a moment.

"That's all you can say about it?" asked Rika sarcastically.

"It seems to cover everything," said Ryo with a frown. After a moment of deliberation Rika nodded.

"Yeah. All right, it is weird. And it does bring something else to mind; If Jeri wound up here, does that mean that the others be here as well?"

Takato's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh man! What if they are? How'll we find them?"

Ryo frowned. "It'll be tough finding them even if we go by the possibility that the others are here in the digital world. I know the digital world pretty well, and from what I've seen from Urocyomon he could probably be better, but right now we don't have a way of confirming that the others are here. We'd need to be in touch with Yamaki and last I checked we didn't have one of his communication devices handy."

"So in that case it would be a good idea to go back to the real world, and check out the situation," said Takato, furrowing his brow in deep thought. "But it's not like it's easy getting back here in case things don't go well."

Rika turned to Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon.

"I've seen digimon go in and out pretty easily between the real and digital worlds. Are either of you able to do that?"

"I'm not," said Urocyomon while Kuzuhamon likewise shook her head in response.

"I may be a high level digimon, but my powers are severely limited. I didn't originally evolve as a Kuzuhamon, so I'm not very strong. If I were to go to the human world I would be trapped there unless my sisters or another power created a portal."

"What about Mr. Mizuno's digimon?" asked Takato. All eyes turned towards him.

"Say what now?" asked Ryo, cocking an eyebrow.

"Mr. Mizuno…he uses a couple digimon to help him out from time to time and I know that they travel to the digital world. They even sent me a card that allowed me to bio-emerge with Guilmon back when I was having trouble with that. Henry and I saw a pair back in that weird library from when we first met Mizuno. For some reason when they showed up back home they took on his appearance."

"Maybe they just really like the guy," said Ryo as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you think that they'll be able to give us a free ride then?"

"I don't know," said Takato. "If we could, wouldn't trips to the digital world be more regular?"

"Maybe old man Shibumi uses them for something else…"

"All of which is beside the point right now," interrupted Urocyomon rather impatiently, swaying slightly on his feet as he walked over to the group. "What is, do you want to go home now or fruitlessly look for your friends with the resources that you have now? Any other questions you can ask once you've decided on that!"

"Urocyomon…" began Kuzuhamon warningly, and the silver furred kitsune gave an exasperated sigh.

"Sorry," he apologized, though it didn't sound the least bit sincere. "I'm kind of tired right now. You guys want to go home and I could use some rest. The way I look at it, the sooner we both get what we want, the better, otherwise I'm going to sleep."

Each of the Tamers looked at Urocyomon with raised eyebrows before looking at each other.

"Well Takato?" asked Ryo after a moment of silence. "What's the decision? Do we go or stay?"

Takato's eyes shot up in surprise, not expecting the Legendary Tamer to ask _him_ what he thought the best choice was. After all, Ryo was the one with the most experience with traversing the digital world, not to mention that he thought with the clearest head in any situation, second only to Rika, Henry, and Renamon.

_Usually I just charge forward,_ thought Takato. _Come to think of it, I don't really think in the important situations where we're fighting or anything like that. All I do is keep moving forward. I don't really make any decisions._

Checking to see that he had heard Ryo right, Takato pointed a finger at himself and Ryo nodded at him.

"You _do_ have the goggles for the job you know," said Ryo with a small smile on his face.

"But that's not good eno…"

"Don't be wishy-washy Gogglehead," said Rika, folding her arms across her chest. "If you think back a bit, you started being in charge of us after we beat the Pig Deva, remember? When you said that we had to go to the digital world? I don't know what exactly happened to you then, but I do know that you sucked it up, knew what we had to do to rescue Calumon, and did it. The rest of us knew that you were on the right track so we followed you." Rika's violet eyes flashed as they met Takato's crimson ones. "And we're _still_ following you. Yeah, you stumble sometimes, but that's where we come in, right?"

Ryo chuckled.

"If Terriermon were here he'd be surprised that you're making a teamwork speech."

"Well I'm _so_ glad that we have _you_ to fill in for him," replied Rika sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

Takato looked at his two friends, completely taken aback by their words. Not once in all the time that they had fought together had he thought of himself as anything close to being a leader. Far from it, more often than not he worried that he was well out of the league of his friends and only slowed them down, particularly during their early days as Tamers. Those worries more or less disappeared once he and Guilmon biomerged to become Gallantmon as his fighting skills, while they weren't top notch, were certainly drastically improved and proven sufficient enough in most of the battles that they engaged in. That combined with his passion to defeat anything that threatened his friends and his home brought him a new level of confidence in himself…a confidence that had become damaged when Lucemon arrived and destroyed Guilmon.

And yet, even now, in spite of all of his recent mistakes, Rika and Ryo were still entrusting him in the position that he had been put in unofficially, without his even knowing it, all those months ago. And what was more they were all but making it official.

_I think I know what Tai felt when the other Digidestined made him the leader,_ thought Takato. _Suddenly it's not just about me doing what I think is right, or voicing my opinion…I'm being given a responsibility that I can't afford to mess up on._

The realization was a sobering one for Takato, and certainly one that he couldn't tell if he was all right with or not. Right now, he was beginning to catch a glimpse of just how big, not to mention heavy, the role of leadership could be. He was responsible for _all_ of their lives now, and every decision he made could spell the difference between life and death.

_Am I ready for that?_

The thought echoed quietly through Takato's mind, and for a brief moment his heart quailed in fear at the prospect, just like he did when he realized that his being a Tamer wasn't the game that he thought it was but he quickly clamped down on the emotion hard. 'Don't be wishy-washy' was what Rika had said to him. Well, now was the time where he couldn't afford to be wishy-washy. He had to make a decision and stick to it.

Takato glanced at Jeri, who so far had remained quiet, not voicing her opinion on this turn of events. Seeing him looking at her the brown haired girl smiled, and in that smile he could see all the trust that she had in him, no matter what choice he made. In his mind's eye Takato saw her, alone and in the clutches of UlforceVeedramon.

Gathering his resolve, Takato drew one hand into a fist and made his decision.

"We're going to go back," he said finally. "If things work out, the others could still hopefully be back in the real world. If they aren't we can get help from Hypnos to find them. In either case, we're still going to need some help to find Noriko, and I think that right now Yamaki's the only one who can help us."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ryo with a smile and a nod.

_"Finally,"_ commented Urocyomon sarcastically.

* * *

Urocyomon clapped his paws together and ran through a series of hand movements, closing his eyes tightly, mumbling under his breath as he did so. Each of the Tamers and the digimon watched him carefully.

"Will he be okay like this?" Asked Takato after a moment to Kuzuhamon.

"You're asking now?" Asked the shaman digimon.

"Well…I'm just worried. He was pretty exhausted after that fight was over, but he doesn't want to rest or anything. Can he do it?"

"He'll be fine," said Kuzuhamon. "Even he's not stupid enough to do something that will leave him completely out of it." Kuzuhamon paused and grimaced. "Most of the time anyway," she amended reluctantly. "But I've seen him train with Gyōjamon before. Although this time he went a little outside of his training level, he should be strong enough to figure out where the next appropriate data stream is going to land. It's likely he's going for as long of a window as possible. Before he had to estimate within a short time span and create a circumstance that would draw a data stream to UlforceVeedramon, which takes more processing ability than he's used to. He'll be taking it easy this time so it might be a while before we actually see a data stream."

"Any idea as to where this data stream will take us?"

"Aren't data streams completely at random?" Asked Rika.

"Not entirely," said Kuzuhamon. "I don't understand the underlying principle but according to Gyōjamon they shift to a random location…or at least it's random to us, but only when data is being called upon through your communication network. Data streams aren't exactly as they appear to be. They are the interconnected systems of your network, transmitting data between each other, and those signals have to pass through the digital world. Sometimes digimon get caught up in them, and at other times human information gets dumped here by accident. Wherever the ultimate destination is, anything that gets caught in a data stream will end up in an area of the digital world."

"So we can't use them to get back home."

"I've never heard of a situation where it happened," said Kuzuhamon. "But if it did that would explain why I didn't hear about it now wouldn't it?"

"So what you're saying is," said Renamon, "is that whenever a data stream is active, it has one specific destination on the other end."

"Correct."

"Makes sense I guess," said Takato. "Henry and I were grabbed by a data stream at separate times. If it was really random we both would have ended up at different places. And Urocyomon can tell where data streams are going?"

"In a way," nodded Kuzuhamon. "But like I said, I don't understand the full details about how he does it. Just that he does."

It was then that Urocyomon ceased his mumbling and opened his eyes, breathing a heavy sigh.

"Done," the silver furred kitsune said. "I've pinpointed the area where the soonest available data stream that can take us to the surface level will arrive." Urocyomon pointed ahead of him. "We'll be wanting to go that way."

Jeri blinked.

"The surface level?"

"It's where the distortion is most pronounced," said Kuzuhamon. "It provides the easiest and quickest path back to the human world. In fact, it can be said that it's the _only_ path available due to the digital world's natural repairing of the warp. According to the Seer Council the warp is extremely concentrated there for some reason, and didn't penetrate far enough into any of the sub worlds or levels to be of any use to us."

"I see." Jeri swallowed nervously. "Um…guys? I think you should know something. The desert area of the digital world…it has something…something different there that's dangerous."

"Different?" asked Ryo, raising an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Sand Liches," spat Urocyomon. "So she's met them already. And you escaped them? You are _really_ lucky…"

"Sandwhiches?" asked Guilmon, tilting his head to one side questioningly. "Why would Jeri be lucky to escape from a sandwhich?"

"She said _Sand_ Liches Guilmon," said Takato. "I don't think she was talking about food."

"Boy, you don't know _how_ right you are…" muttered Urocyomon. Rika frowned.

"So what are they?"

"They used to be digimon," said Jeri before either Kuzuhamon or Urocyomon could say anything. "Digimon that the D-Reaper killed."

* * *

Renamon landed on the branch of a tree before launching herself back into the air after Urocyomon. The group was now on the move, following Urocyomon as he sought out the spot that he claimed would have a data stream arrive to take them to where they needed to go. Renamon felt herself involuntarily shudder as she thought about the surface level of the digital world and what might await them once they got there. From the way that the Sand Liches were described, she had little reason to want to face them. She would when the time came, but the days where she and Rika sought battle purposefully were far behind them. And now, with the knowledge that the digital world had added a new element of danger to it in the form of undying creatures thanks in no small part to the D-Reaper, particularly a danger that was relentless and nearly undying, the idea of facing it seemed almost laughably ludicrous. Still, they would not shrink from the challenge; not so long as the danger presented them with a way home.

_I wonder what is going through Jeri's mind right now,_ thought Renamon. _She didn't seem as upset about the aftermath left over by the D-Reaper as I expected she'd be. It's almost as though she has…accepted it. Strange…_

Renamon shook her head. Although she knew that Jeri had moved past the trauma that she had experienced at the hands of the malevolent program known as the D-Reaper, Renamon knew well enough that such scars did not heal so easily, and that Jeri tended to be somewhat sensitive when it came to the subject of the D-Reaper. To find out that she had been partially responsible for the death of so many digimon and for their horrific transformation Renamon would have thought that Jeri would be quiet and trying to hide how she felt from her friends behind a smile. Yet there had been no such thing, and strangely, when Takato moved to comfort her while she relayed her experience, Jeri had thanked him, but otherwise showed no sign that she blamed herself for what happened. In fact, Renamon could have sworn that her mind was already working to find a way around the danger when it came to them.

_…And stranger,_ Renamon finished in her mind. _But perhaps this is for the best. Jeri must have realized that such emotions would only keep herself from helping her friends when she needs to be strong for them. A strong Jeri…would be_ most _beneficial during a time like this. Especially for Takato._

Renamon allowed a small smile to appear on her muzzle as she thought about the chaotic, goggle-wearing Tamer before returning her attention back to the path in front of her. Once more landing gracefully on a tree branch Renamon leapt into the air, executing a midair summersault and landing perfectly on the next available tree limb. Casting her blue eyes about her, tracking Urocyomon flight path until he landed in front of her.

"Tell me something," she spoke up. "Why are you so set on pushing yourself so hard? No one would blame you if you needed to rest."

"I would," said Urocyomon with a slight frown. "And I get the feeling that your red haired friend would too."

Renamon chuckled softly.

"Well…perhaps, but Rika would be understanding."

"Even so," replied Urocyomon as the two foxes jumped upwards, continuing their journey, "I'd rather not delay this. It's just something that I don't care for doing…delaying that is when we should be moving. And…something else."

"Oh?" Renamon raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"It's just a sense I'm getting." Urocyomon frowned. "Something that tells me that I shouldn't stop no…AH!"

Urocyomon squawked in surprise as his fur poofed out as his foot snagged on a small branch upon landing, catching him in mid-leap and sending him careening to the ground, shouting a number of curses so colorful that one could cast a rainbow on them. Reacting on instinct Renamon quickly teleported over to Urocyomon as he plummeted downwards. Grabbing hold of him with her paws she flipped and landed gracefully upon the forest floor, holding a fuzzed Urocyomon as he breathed heavily in surprise.

"Ah…t-thanks…"

Renamon set the silver furred kitsune down on the ground, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully.

"I'm beginning to think it is a bad idea for you to continue in your present condition…"

"Oh, lay off," grumbled Urocyomon as he got to his feet. "I can keep going. And besides, we have to get to that data stream…"

"You can find us another one that leads to where we need to go, can't you? And even if one isn't I know enough about the digital world that there are other methods of travelling between the levels. We don't need this one…"

_"Of course we need this one!"_ exclaimed Urocyomon suddenly angrily, clenching his teeth together. "Like I said, I have this feeling that we _need_ to catch this one, otherwise we won't get to where we need to be!"

Renamon tilted her head to the side questioningly.

"Why is this so important?"

"It's just…" Urocyomon dug his claws into his scalp and scratched it furiously. "It just is!"

"Urocyomon…"

"I'm not stopping Renamon," growled the male Rookie. "I may be tired but my senses are still working right! Right now they're telling me to keep going and to catch this data stream, so that's what I'm going to do! _With_ or _without_ you!"

With that said, the silver fox disappeared from sight, leaving Renamon to watch him phase in and out of view as he continued his pace, pushing himself to go even faster than before.

A tree crashed as Growlmon came into view with Takato sitting on his head while Rika and Jeri sat on his shoulders. Kuzuhamon and Cyberdramon flew close by as well, the latter of whom had Ryo on his shoulders.

"Hey Renamon," said Guilmon, looking somewhat confused by the vixen's presence. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," said Renamon with a nod. "In a way."

Taking note of the tone in Renamon's voice, Kuzuhamon phased out of view, already moving to chase down the rather chaotic, silver furred kitsune.

* * *

"All right," came Kuzuhamon's voice as she appeared next to Urocyomon, easily keeping pace with him as he leapt from one tree to the next. "What happened?"

"All I did was catch my foot in a branch," grumbled Urocyomon. "That is all."

"That is all?" asked Kuzuhamon in a bemused tone. "When was the last time you did that? I seem to recall the last time you tripped over your feet or did anything like that had been when you first evolved to Rookie and Gyōjamon began training you. You may not have the same kind of training as all the Renamon, but I do know that you're at least good enough to _not_ trip. Even when the Renamon tease you."

"I don't want anyone babying me, okay?" said Urocyomon irritably. "I've got a job to do and they have a place to be. I'm not going to let a little thing like exhaustion keep me down."

"You know what the Mother would have said to you about your pride. Even Silver would be discouraging you from this kind of action. Even _Alice_. This isn't wise Urocyomon. You could extinguish your flame this way."

Urocyomon frowned.

"And it's that same flame that's telling me to keep going. I don't quite understand it, but I just know that we can't miss this upcoming data stream. It feels important somehow. If we miss it, I won't be able to find another one that will take us where it wants us to go."

"I…see," said Kuzuhamon carefully. "I hope you know what you're doing Urocyomon. The continuation of your species depends on your flame remaining intact."

_"The flame that's passed on burns eternally,"_ quoted the fox. "Yeah, I know. Let me worry about that."

"As your friend, I would like to worry with you…"

Urocyomon paused to spring upwards into the air once more.

"Suit yourself," he said finally. "I'm too tired to care right now."

As Urocyomon continued to bound through the forest with the Tamers behind him, he failed to catch the hurt expression that crossed Kuzuhamon's face.

* * *

A blue flame flickered at the tip of Urocyomon's tail as he placed one claw into it. Removing it a second later his claw took with it a small portion of that fire and he bent down towards the ground and began to draw a circle in the ground.

"What's he doing?" asked Rika as she watched him connect the two ends of the circle and begin to make marks within it, etching what appeared to be the beginnings of a mandala.

"I saw him do this during the fight with UlforceVeedramon," said Takato. "I think he's casting some kind of spell."

"You could say that," said Kuzuhamon as she stood watching the young fox carefully. "Although you could say that it's more of a way of ensuring that we get what we need. An anchor of sorts meant to draw a data stream towards this location. We should see some results soon, but we'll only get one chance at this due to the nature of data streams. Urocyomon's under the impression that if we don't catch it on the first try, we won't be able to go where we need to go."

"Did he say why?" asked Takato.

"Only that it was a feeling," supplied Renamon this time, ignoring the eyes that turned towards her.

"Renamon?" asked Rika. "What did he tell you?"

"I believe that we would be better served giving him the peace and quiet that he needs to complete his task," said Renamon. Taking the hint, everyone quieted and watched. Seconds ticked by like minutes as the young fox continued to trace his flickering claw in the ground.

_Ah!_ Urocyomon gasped within his mind as his claw caught upon a pebble. Scowling he continued onward, gathering his concentration again and tuning out the world around him save for the flow of data that he always felt within his mind. A hiss of crackling electricity, the sound of transmission…all of it he heard as he vested himself in the circle…a design of a program language that Gyōjamon had taught to him a few days prior to the Royal Knight's attack upon the temple. It was fairly complex, but following his experience with the battle against UlforceVeedramon he felt confident enough that he would be able to complete it. He _had_ to. All the data that sung within him told him that he had to get this right.

Urocyomon paused slightly as he saw his arm shake ever so slightly. The flame on his claw flickered, looking as though it were ready to give out at any moment.

_Not a good sign…_

Taking a shaky breath Urocyomon continued tracing, stopping only when his vision blurred. Wiping one paw across his eyes the vulpine digimon took another shaky breath. He was feeling quite drained now, and the fatigue was showing in his limbs and his actions. His mind too reeked of exhaustion. Did he miss a single design? Miss a step? If so it could it could undo everything he had been trying to do and he'd have to start from scratch again. Did they even have time for that? Maybe…

_No,_ thought Urocyomon fiercely. _Shouldn't think that we have enough time for anything new. This…this is our only shot…right here…right now. This…is it…_

Urocyomon's eye twitched as he sensed an oncoming surge of data. A data stream was fast approaching. It seemed that his hunch was right...or was it? Was it the right one? Or was it a completely different data stream? Perhaps he missed a sign when he had been analyzing the information of the interactions between the levels of the digital world.

_So much to keep track of…_

Urocyomon finished a scrawl and pulled back, analyzing his handiwork. Blue light appeared within the lines he had made, signaling that this much he at least had done right. Now all that was left to do was to sit back and wait for the data stream to hit them.

"It's coming," Urocyomon heard himself say, but for some reason it felt distant…unimportant. Blinking, Urocyomon felt the heat on his claw disappear, as though whisked away by a suffocating breeze. The world spun and Urocyomon blinked again, fighting back the exhaustion that tried to snare him.

_Not yet…not until I see where we end up…_

* * *

"Here it comes," said Ryo as the massive pink colored beam sped towards them.

"Everyone hang onto something!" Called out Takato as a sharp wind began to kick up around them from the data stream's movement. In response Jeri looped her arms through his, catching the goggle-wearing boy by surprise…surprise which continued to know no end as Rika grabbed hold of his hand next, clutching it tightly within her palm.

"Ohhh…" groaned Guilmon dejectedly. "Everyone's got Takatomon but me…"

Kuzuhamon chuckled as she took note of three blushing faces.

"Don't worry Guilmon," she said with a smile as she bent down and looped one hand around his waist. "I'm available. I'll keep you company."

"Yippee!"

Renamon smiled at the dinosaur's happiness as she turned her attention towards the oncoming data stream. A second later her vision, along with everyone else's was enveloped by a world of pink light and then they were gone.


	142. 141: Deadly Reunions: Part 4

Rapidmon flew across the desert, aiming towards the series of explosions that his optical sensors detected off in the distance.

Although it hadn't been spoken, the plan, from what he gathered from his experience with Henry, was to lend a helping hand to Crusadermon and Lumemon if they were in trouble. If they were the goal was to get them out of whatever trouble they were in and fall back to the village to mount an appropriate defense, and if possible rely on the Chuchidarumon village to do that for them. The latter option was by far the preferred one, but lacking the possibility that such defenses would activate as Crusadermon had suggested (in fact, she more suggested that they wouldn't) this was not a plan that anyone could count on. However, there was the fact that the village was also a smaller, more easily defendable area with greater numbers of digimon. It meant that the more tightly packed quarters would more than make up for any lack of power and endurance that they had in the face of a powerful and numerous enemy.

_At least,_ thought Rapidmon as he pushed his thrusters to the max, _that's how the tactic works in the real world. Things aren't quite the same out here. But at least we'll be able to keep track of each other better and not be spread out so thinly._

"Hey, Rapidmon!" called out a voice from next to the green armored android, startling him into nearly opening fire with his missiles.

"Gah! Don't scare me like that!" exclaimed Rapidmon as he forced down his kneejerk reaction upon recognition of HiAndromon. The Mega level android smiled eerily at him and waved cheerfully, flapping his copied UlforceVeedramon wings as he easily kept pace.

"Sorry," apologized HiAndromon in Kazu's voice, causing Rapidmon to scowl at him. "Didn't mean to surprise you. I thought you knew we were coming."

"No you're not," grumbled the green, mechanical bunny-dog, hearing the jovial tone in Kazu's voice. "And besides, last I heard you were still at the village."

"Henry figured that Crusadermon and Lumemon needed a little more firepower to back them up. Ayaka gave us a view of the fight and it looks to be pretty bad for Crusadermon right now. I don't think that a single Ultimate is going to cut it no matter how annoying they might be to everyone."

"Hey!" exclaimed Rapidmon indignantly. "I resent that! And I'll have you know that I'm _not_ as annoying as everyone makes me out to be! Everyone is just too uptight!"

"C'mon dude," snickered Kazu's voice. "Admit it. Your voice counts as an attack all on its own. All you need to do is shout _momentai_ and then Henry has to try and hold you back from causing wide-scale destruction."

"That's only when it comes to dinner," grumbled Rapidmon. "And I have Guilmon to thank for my appetite."

"That's not how Henry tells it…"

"Could you just momentai already?! We've got something serious to deal with here! These Sand Liches are out to eat everyone and I haven't gotten anyone to laugh at a single joke of mine…"

"You've got terrible priorities, bud…"

"Momentai! Everyone's got to have something to keep them going! And I refuse to be like Henry who worries about every little thing that comes up. Now, put the pedal to the metal already before…"

The sight of a massive supernova of white light exploding from the center area of the fight cut across Rapidmon's words, causing the two digimon to stare in stunned silence as the blazing star flared within the heat of the desert once before dying down.

"See what I mean?" asked HiAndromon after a second as they both digested what they saw. "Every time you say 'momentai' something bad happens…"

"…Momentai…"

* * *

"What's going _on_ here?!" exclaimed Kenta fearfully as Henry once again tried to approach Noriko, only to be forced back by a strange pressure emanating from her body. White light danced around the edges of her eyes as she sat stock still in the same position that she was in when she first touched Ayaka's cards. Shielding his eyes from the intensity of the light Henry shook his head, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"I don't know! But it looks like she's using that card somehow." Henry gritted his teeth together and looked down at the ground where Ayaka's cards had spilled. The card that Noriko was touching was lying face down, and electricity was crawling from it and up Noriko's arm like a blue spider. Noriko was silently mouthing words to herself, but neither Henry or his friends could make sense of them.

"But how?" asked Kenta. "She doesn't have a digivice or anything on her…"

"Who _cares_ about the _how?"_ demanded Beelzemon as he took a step forward. "Isn't this a _good thing_ when it comes to you guys? Every time you chumps have your partner digivolve that's where you save the day!"

"But we've never had it happen like _this_ before!" Replied Henry, uncertainty filling him. "We've got to do _something…"_

"She'll be fine," said Gyōjamon in a calm tone of voice, catching everyone by surprise.

"Wha…?"

"I said that she'll be fine. This may look unnatural to you, but the child is merely performing her program. You don't see it, but she has taken her digivice into her body. She _is_ her digivice, though I do not understand why. All I know for certain is that she is doing what comes naturally for her right now, and that is using the data that is imprinted on your cards to help her partner."

"How do you know this?" asked Henry, his mind still trying to wrap itself around this latest bomb shell. A human becoming a digivice? That was…Henry mentally shook his head in an attempt to clear it.

"I can see the patterns of data as they take shape in her. The image that you see right now is what is being projected by the digivice she has within her. I do not know much more than that I'm afraid. Do any of you have an idea how she could have gotten this way?"

"Never mind that for now!" grated Beelzemon. "We've got a bigger problem on our hands here! If she's got something that can help us, fine. We'll figure everything else out later when we're not busy fightin' for our lives. What's the situation with Crusadermon? She saved my hide back there!"

Henry forced himself to nod in agreement at Beelzemon's statement. Too many questions were running through his mind right now, but the ex-Demon Lord was right in what he had said. Control the things that you can control right now, and deal with the rest afterwards. Turning, the half-Chinese Tamer looked at the blonde haired girl standing next to Kenta.

"Ayaka?"

The girl jumped slightly but she immediately fell into fumbling for her digivice, calling up the holographic imaging system that allowed her to see through her partner's eyes. After a second, the girl frowned.

"I…I can't tell! There's something going on out there. There's some kind of light covering the image…"

"That's probably digivolution," said Henry, more to himself than anyone else. "Noriko did say 'digivolution activate' when she touched that card…so…" Henry raised his green trimmed D-Arc and called up his own holo-circle. "Rapidmon…talk to me. What's going on out there?"

_"Lots of things, Henry!"_ came the rabbit-dog digimon's voice from the digivice. _"But if you want to be specific there's a bright light going on. Feels like a digimon's digivolving. Since Crusadermon's already at the Mega level I'm willing to bet that it's Lumemon…unless Ayaka somehow pulled another biomerge to trigger Crusadermon's Mode change…"_

"It doesn't look like it," said Henry, already looking at Ayaka to confirm this, to which the girl shook her head.

"I don't remember doing anything that could cause it without me being there," said the girl."

"Besides," continued Henry, going back to his digivice, "Noriko's doing something with one of Ayaka's cards. It's complicated but I think that it's related."

_"Got it,"_ replied Rapidmon. _"So it's our one and only angel, huh? This is going to be interesting…"_

"Terriermon…why do you make me feel worried when you say that?"

_"Probably for the same reason you're always worried about taking me out in public. Because you know I'll just make a scene."_

"Terriermon…"

_"Momentai, Henry! I'll be careful out here, don't you worry! Come to think of it…I'm a little interested in seeing what's happening…"_

_And you just_ had _to say that didn't you,_ thought Henry in despair. _This is precisely why I worry about taking you out in public…_

Forcing the thought out of his mind Henry readied a modify card for his partner's use in case things got sticky. It was a Clone card. Not very helpful, but in a pinch it could buy his partner a precious few seconds to escape a problem where his speed couldn't help him while he readied a card that would be more appropriate for the situation at hand.

"Just be careful out there, Terriermon. Help Lumemon and Crusadermon and get back here as quickly as you can."

_"Roger!"_

Lowering his digivice, Henry deactivated the holo-circle and looked at his friends.

"Okay," he said. "We're going to have to move quickly here. Ayaka. I want you to find Miki and Dracmon and get as many of the Chuchidarumon together as you can. I hate to involve them but we may be getting some unwelcome company and we're going to need as much help as we can get to fight off the Sand Liches. After that, I want you to take what's left and get them into their homes. Beelzemon, it might be best if you took your partners with her and got them out of the way." Beelzemon nodded in agreement, ignoring Ai's cries of protest as he quickly took off, barely giving Ayaka enough time to get going. Henry watched them go for a moment before returning his attention to the others. He fought back the urge to swallow nervously. He had an idea that with what was coming their homes would make a poor substitute for bomb shelters, but with a severe lack of anything else handy they were down to whatever was available.

_But then, that's why we have Kenta and MarineAngemon,_ thought Henry as he turned towards the others. As if on cue, Kenta spoke up, his brow furrowing in nervous determination.

"What about the rest of us?"

Henry took a deep breath before resuming.

"Here's the plan…"

* * *

White light surrounded Lumemon on all sides, enveloping him in a strange sensation that felt both at once familiar and yet different. It wasn't as though he wasn't familiar with digivolution. Even though his memories were, at best, fragmented there would always be a part of him that would recognize his past when he saw it. His first encounter with Crusadermon in his present body is a case in point, as he reacted reflexively to the memory of the same Royal Knight he had met in his past life. Digivolution was no exception. He may not have experienced it in _this_ existence but he still knew the feeling that went with it; knew it as intimately as a lover. And yet…it wasn't what he had felt before. Not even his past life had felt this when he had first undergone digivolution. There was a sense of something greater than he flowing in him…that much remained the same, but there was so much more to it than that. Something…something…

_I can't quite put my finger on it,_ thought Lumemon, _but it almost feels like Noriko is here with me. I can't explain it any more than that. It's as though we've connected on some level, and she's lending me power. Is this what the Tamers' digimon feel every time they digivolve?_

A small smile graced Lumemon's face as a feeling of power surged through his body. It was a feeling he accepted…no, _it_ accepted _him…_ full heartedly.

_No wonder the digimon are so deeply connected to their partners. And this is just the beginning…_

An extra pair of wings sprouted from Lumemon's back and a white robe materialized around his body, stretching down past his waist and stopping before his knees. His brown hair lengthened slightly, taking on a shining, almost golden hue and a silver ball affixed to a golden chain appeared in the air before him. Reaching out, Lumemon took hold of the chain and brought it to his chest. Words emerged from his mouth involuntarily as he did so, completing his evolution.

_"Lumemon, digivolve to…Lumemon, Radiance Mode."_

**  
**The light that surrounded him died down and retracted into his body, and the angelic digimon opened up his storm-gray eyes, taking in the scene around him. The battle appeared to have ground to a halt as Crusadermon and even the Sand Liches watched him complete his transformation. The moment was not to last for very long however, and Lumemon raised his ball and chain, the links clinking together like coins as he prepared to make his attack. As though the movement had been a signal a Sand Lich roared towards him. Lumemon watched, not in the least bit concerned as he raised the chain above his head and positioned the ball on the ground in front of him. With a flick of his wrist, the angelic digimon traced a circle in the sand around his body. Fiery symbols appeared around the outer edges and Lumemon's eyes burned blue as he activated his attribute.

_"Dominion Seal: Storm of Swords."_

A beam of light shot up from the circle and struck the sky above them. In response a hailstorm of sword shaped energy fell from the sky, impaling the Sand Lich and shredding its body as it strove forward. Lumemon pushed himself into the air, flapping all six of his wings so he could take flight. The attack, he knew, would do little to destroy it outside of forcing the creature to use up energy to reconstruct itself. That however did not matter…at least not yet. All he wanted was to buy himself a few seconds to free Crusadermon, who was presently pinned to the ground and trying to fight off the glassed Sand Lich.

_Its body is more solid than its other counterparts,_ thought Lumemon, his mind feeling strangely calm as he analyzed the Lich's partially fused structure, thanks in part to the number of heated attacks that had been rained upon it. _My tool should be effective against it…_

_"Heaven's Star!"_ boomed Lumemon as he spun his flail in the air and let it loose like a boomerang. The chain ran through his hands as the silver ball at the end traversed the distance between its owner and the Lich before smashing full force like a falling meteor. Shards of glassed sand flew through the air, sparkling in the light of the day as the Lich screamed in surprise at the attack. Taking advantage of the distraction, Crusadermon's yellow ribbons stabbed through her desert prison, cutting off the makeshift limb that held her down. Separated from the main body, the limb disintegrated into a small dune that quickly exploded as Crusadermon burst free. The Royal Knight surged upwards and reared back her fist, slamming it home into the Sand Lich's jaw and sending it flying backwards. Turning, Crusadermon nodded a thanks towards the angel as he retracted his flail.

"You're welcome," replied Lumemon. "Now what do you say that we get out of here?"

_"Behind you!"_ exclaimed Crusadermon, taking notice of a surge of sand rising towards the angel.

"Wha…?" Turning, Lumemon raised his flail instinctively, only to be saved from the task of mounting a defense as a pair of rockets slammed home onto the creature and detonated with ferocious force, leaving a massive pile of sand sagging to the ground. Blinking in surprise, both Lumemon and Crusadermon turned to see the source of the timely interruption. Floating in the air a short distance off were two digimon with an armored, mechanical appearance. One in particular stood out as he eyed the pair in a calm, almost casual manner.

"You guys just can't do anything without me, can ya?" asked Rapidmon as he reloaded his rocket launchers.

* * *

"Uh!" Noriko gasped as she felt herself come out of…whatever it was that had just happened to her. Blinking her eyes blearily the dark haired girl looked around her, wondering just what the heck was going on. There was a tension running in the air, and for a second she couldn't figure out why.

_Oh yeah,_ Noriko thought, urgency replanting its roots in her body, causing her to all but leap back to her feet. _That's right. The village is about to be attacked! Lumemon got caught out there with Crusadermon by those Sand Liches! Ayaka was going to use her cards to help out her partner and then she dropped them. I went to pick them up and…and…then what? Something happened…_

"Noriko!" exclaimed Henry, seeing that she had finally returned to normal.

"Henry?" the girl asked, her mind caught between the tension of the moment and the confusion brought onto her by whatever it was that had caused her to blank out. "What's going on?"

"Sorry," said the Tamer apologetically. "But we don't have a whole lot of time to talk about this. The Sand Liches are coming this way, and we need to get ready for them. I need you to go with Ayaka and…"

Gyōjamon stepped forward now.

"I believe this child's skills would be better served aiding us, don't you think?"

"Huh?" Noriko once more blinked in confusion.

"Gyōjamon," said Henry, a touch of frustration entering his voice. "We don't have much time left. Any second now we're going to be getting involved in a lot of action and things are going to be getting mes-!"

"Don't we need as much help as we can get?" Gyōjamon asked, his tone remaining even and unruffled. "We _are_ facing an incredibly powerful foe. Any edge that we can get at this point is going to be of the utmost importance at this point, and this girl," Gyōjamon placed one hand on Noriko's shoulder, "can help. She has the Arc within her after all."

_Wha…?_ Noriko's eyes went bug wide as she tried to keep up with the conversation. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it sounded like… An image of herself looking into the reflective surface of a stream of water and seeing a digivice where she should have been flashed through her mind.

"I _know_ that!" grated Henry. "But we don't even know what kind of long-term affects this is going to have on her! There are too many possibilities that could show up at the wrong time!"

"That is not the nature of the Arc," said Gyōjamon. "I would have expected even you to know better than this. You are a Tamer. You hold the same power in your hands even as we speak. The difference is she's been carrying hers within her body…no, it _is_ her body. You know all that is needed. What more do you need?"

"I…" Henry glowered at Gyōjamon, feeling as though he were being forced into a corner. Noriko, for her part, fought past the confusion that settled on her mind like a heavy, suffocating blanket and looked into Henry's gray colored eyes. She pulled her fingers into a tight fist.

"Henry," she began slowly. "I don't really get what's going on but…I want to help out. If there's something that I can do that can help you guys then please… _let me!"_

Henry gripped the sides of his head with his hands before looking at the girl, a look of frustration on his face.

"This is crazy! This…" Henry shook his head and half-groaned, half-shouted in anger over the situation. Finally the half-Chinese Tamer dug into his pants pocket and pulled out some cards. "Okay. Fine. There's not a lot of time so I can only say this. I'm not sure how you did it earlier, but I think that if you just touch these and focus on them, you might be able to help out Lumemon. You _have_ to make sure that you use the right cards, and not just whatever ones you happen to pick up." Henry grimaced, remembering Takato's near disastrous fight with a Devidramon from nearly a year ago, as he had used whatever card he had on him with no sense of what the situation called for. "Trust me," Henry continued, "you'll end up causing Lumemon more harm than good that way."

Noriko became uncertain now. She hadn't understood half of what she had heard and what had just been told to her, but looking back and forth between the cards Henry held out to her and the Tamer himself, Noriko quickly accepted the deck, not wanting to go back on her words. She wasn't at all sure what was going on but she was getting the sneaking feeling that it had something to do with all the strange sights she saw whenever she looked at her reflection. In all of them so far she had seen a digivice where she was supposed to be. If that was the case then that meant…

_…A D-Arc inside of me,_ thought Noriko as she felt the weight of the deck of cards in the palm of her hand. _That's what the…um…shaman?...The shaman guy said anyway. I think he means digivice, and if that's true then what Henry just said to me must mean that I can do the same thing as a digivice._ Noriko chewed her bottom lip. _That just sounds crazy._

Still…she promised that she would help. She _wanted_ to help. If she could do what Henry and Gyōjamon said that she could, then she would give it her all to try and figure out how she did it. Steeling her nerves, Noriko prepared herself for the coming battle.

* * *

Miki looked out through the eyes of her and Dracmon's biomerged form of Lilithmon, her dress swaying in the wind as she watched for any signs of her approaching comrades. Flashes of light and exploding sand lined the horizon, marking their approach. Within her data sphere Miki tensed.

_"You okay?"_ came the voice of Dracmon from the darkness surrounding her.

_"Just a little nervous, that's all. Ayaka told me to expect this to be a hard fight."_

_"Can't say that I blame you for your nervousness. Having fought Crusadermon before I can attest that I'm not willing to throw down with anything that gives_ her _a hard time. But we gotta make the best of it, right?"_

_"You're kidding me, right?"_

_"J-Just trying to lighten the mood. You know it won't do us any good if we let things get to us. Besides, it's not like we're going to be fighting on our own."_

Miki allowed a small, yet still anxious grin to grace her face.

_"That's right. We have Beelzemon and Gyōjamon to back us up. And they're both pretty nice…in their own way…"_

_"…I think you're letting the Demon Lord speak for you. Jeez. Why'd I have to get stuck with you again? This form is really uncomfortable…"_

Miki scowled.

_"That's not very nice, Beanie. I thought we were bonding…"_

Miki felt Lilithmon's face turn into a grimace as she raised her humanoid hand to massage her temples.

_"Again with that name…"_ Lilithmon moaned in Dracmon's voice. _"Of all the stupid, indignant, moronic…seriously…is_ that _the name you want your partner to have when you're trying to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies?"_

Miki stuck out her tongue, an act that was mimicked by Lilithmon on the outside as well. Floating in the air nearby, Beelzemon watched the strange exchange with a mixed look of bemusement and slight annoyance.

"Are you two through with your inner dialogue?" the Demon Lord asked. "We're about to get into a fight here, so quit talking to yourselves."

_"Spoil sport,"_ quipped Lilithmon in Miki's voice before Dracmon threw in his own two yen on the matter, mumbling about how at least _someone_ between them had some sense about them.

_"Yeah, I know,"_ replied Miki to Dracmon. _"Gotta stay focused…"_

Throwing back the sleeve around her decayed, demonic hand, Lilithmon got into a battle stance, preparing herself for the oncoming storm.

_Here we go…_

* * *

"They're coming!" called out Henry, looking up from his D-Arc to see if everyone was in position. Next to him Kenta and Ayaka both nodded and readied their own digivices, cards hovering just above their slots while Noriko simply held onto a card in her right hand. Her arm shook and she swallowed audibly as she wracked her brain to figure out what she could do. She still barely understood what she had been told to begin with, but she wanted to help. For now, that was enough to help her get past the confusion, even though she had little to no idea on what she could do in this situation. That is, outside of what Henry had advised her.

_'Hold the card, think of Lumemon and what you want to do to help him, and let the card do the rest.'_ Noriko again gulped and took a deep breath, trying to calm the heart that hammered away relentlessly in her chest. _Sounds easy enough…_

But perhaps there was something to it. She remembered what had happened when Lumemon had gotten into his fight with Crusadermon. She had seen what he had seen, had felt his urgency. Perhaps all that she needed to do was just that.

_Um…yeah. How do I do that again?_

"They're almost here…" came Henry's voice once again, and Noriko curled her toes reflexively as her body tensed.

_Follow the plan…follow the plan…follow the plan…_

Noriko glanced over at where Lilithmon, Beelzemon, and Gyōjamon were, hovering above the rooftops of the Chuchidarumon village. The plan, as was outlined by Henry, was simple. Retreat back to the village was the sum of it, and hope that the rumored defenses that Crusadermon had mentioned would fire up. If not, then the plan after that was to fall back towards the edge of the village and force the Sand Liches to follow them. If all went well they could the Liches would follow them all the way out into the desert and leave everyone else none the worse for wear. And if not…

No one really wanted to ask what would happen if they didn't stop moving. The idea was, either the Sand Liches stopped, or they did.

Hands tensed on their cards, and Noriko felt a bead of sweat crawl its way down her face. She laughed lightly at herself.

_It's because of the heat…_ she thought deliriously as she wiped away at it with her forearm. _It's just because of the heat…_

Electricity sparked from the corner of her wrists, tapping ever so slightly against the cards that she held. Once more zeroes and ones crossed over her eyes as Noriko set her lips in a thin, determined line.

* * *

"Despicable," Crusadermon grated as she looked over her shoulder at the Sand Liches as they doggedly pursued them. Serrated mouths snapped open and shut hungrily, and sand fell from their mouths, giving the Royal Knight the impression that they were drooling at the prospect of devouring their prey.

"Hey! This is how the plan is supposed to be working,' replied Rapidmon as he pushed his engines as fast as they could go. "Don't complain about how it works unless you want to become that things next meal!"

"This is _not_ the way of the Royal Knights," growled Crusadermon. "We do not run from battle…"

"Guess what?" snapped HiAndromon, not even bothering to look over his shoulder as he pumped his UlforceVeedramon wings for all that they were worth. "We're not Royal Knights! Better get used to how we work!"

"Yeah! Besides, if I know Henry's plans, and I do, things'll work out for us! Even if we end up getting beaten to a pulp and almost devoured…"

"You're really not helping Rapidmon…"

"Momentai! Mo-men-tai!"

"Didn't we already have a conversation about that word?"

"And didn't I tell you to 'take it easy?' Really, how do you expect to even come out of this alive if you don't relax? I used to think you were the easy going ty…"

The sound of Lumemon shouting in surprise caught them all off guard. Turning, the three digimon looked on in shock as the angelic digimon's body took on a hard, gray discoloration and his limbs ceased to move. Lumemon continued to fly through the air for a second, aided purely by sheer momentum before he literally began to drop like a stone.

"What the…?" HiAndromon gaped at the sight. "Dude! Was that Rock Armor?! Did someone just use a _Rock Armor_ card on him while he was in retreat?!"

"Awww… _nuts!"_ exclaimed Rapidmon as he ground to a halt and reversed direction, chasing after the falling Champion level digimon. "Kazu! Crusadermon! Cover me!"

"Just when it can't get any worse…" muttered HiAndromon as he dove after Rapidmon. Crusadermon likewise tsked and readied her ribbons. The razor sharp attachments wove through the air like cobras arching upwards to strike. A Sand Lich dove towards her and she lashed out. Sand sprayed through the air as though it was blood and the Lich howled as its body was once again segmented. Chuckling under her breath, Crusadermon peered through the opening and raised one hand, wagging her pointer finger in a 'come on' gesture at the next available Lich.

"Next."

* * *

"Something's wrong," said Henry, blinking in surprise as his view of Rapidmon's perspective suddenly lurched and began to chase after what looked to be a falling Lumemon. "What's going on?" Turning, Henry looked over at the others just in time to see Noriko once more locked in a daze, electricity crawling up her entire body and dancing around the cards in her hands.

"M-M-Modify…" the girl whispered as her body flared briefly. "Brave Shield…activate…"

* * *

Rapidmon deftly caught Lumemon's inert body, only to lose him once again as the massive, golden shield of WarGreymon materialized on top of the angel, the excess weight causing him to tumble out of Rapidmon's arms and towards the desert floor. Cursing, Rapidmon dove after him once more. Movement caught his attention, and Rapidmon brought his rocket launchers to bear on an incoming Sand Lich…

…Only to be saved from having to fire as HiAndromon's _Atomic Ray_ attack cut across the Sand Liches form, causing the creature to explode from the force of the impact.

"Gotcha covered," grinned HiAndromon at the green armored android.

Quickly nodding his thanks Rapidmon turned back and flew down to the ground where Lumemon had landed. The angel was still frozen in his rock armor, unable to move or do anything except keep the same, shocked expression on his face.

_Not really dignifying,_ thought Rapidmon, remembering his own experience with the card. _Just what the heck is going on here?_

"Don't just stand there!" exclaimed HiAndromon as he landed next to Rapidmon. "Get him out of here! We've got to keep moving!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" shouted Rapidmon angrily as he bent down and placed his arms beneath Lumemon. "Just make sure you keep those things off of me!"

"Heh." HiAndromon smirked and raised his right arm. His fist took on a green aura and he looked at it approvingly. "Somehow I don't think that's going to be much of a problem."

"Huh? Why're you looking so smug fo…?"

Before Rapidmon could even finish speaking, HiAndromon slammed his hand into the ground and the green aura swept out over the desert around them. HiAndromon chuckled for a moment in Kazu's voice as he waited for whatever it was he had done to take action.

Second ticked by like minutes before Rapidmon chose to break the silence.

"Um…what are you doing?"

"Huh?" HiAndromon looked at his hand in confusion. "I don't get it. It worked in the real world. And my hand glowed…"

_"Kazu?"_ came the voice of Guardromon from the android. _"I'm not sure but if I may, I believe that whatever powers that orb gave us then, it appears to be plant based and may require a nearby plant source in order to work."_

_"And here we are in the middle of a desert with not even a cactus or a tumbleweed nearby,"_ groaned Kazu. _"Aw nuts…"_

A shadow fell over the pair as a Sand Lich towered over them. Its serrated teeth separated, transforming into an obscene smile, and like a coiled serpent it dove forward…

It was then that a data stream cut a swath between the predator and its prey, causing the creature to rear backwards in surprise at the unexpected occurrence. Sand flew through the air, obscuring Rapidmon and HiAndromon from view.

_Time to get out of here,_ thought Rapidmon, but as he prepared to leave, his mechanical eyes caught sight of something within the cloud of sand. Vague, humanoid shadows…and something else...

"Are we there yet?" came a childish voice that Rapidmon would never forget even if he was deleted and lost all of his memories. As though to confirm the identity of the voice, another voice spoke up.

"Guilmon…"

_No way…you've got to be kidding me. Of all the chances…_

A gust of wind blew over the landscape, dispersing the dust cloud to reveal a disheveled looking group of humans and digimon that Rapidmon and HiAndromon knew all too well.

"Now I remember why I didn't like those data streams all that much…" came the complaining voice of Takato Matsuki from next to Rika Nonaka, Guilmon, Renamon, Jeri Katou, Ryo Akiyama, Cyberdramon, and two other digimon he had never seen before.

_Looks like our lost sheep have finally shown up…_ thought Rapidmon.


	143. 142: Deadly Reunions: Part 5

Takato shook his head and rolled over, trying to get rid of the dizziness that overwhelmed his senses from his trip through the data stream.

_Finally…that's over with,_ the goggle-wearing boy thought to himself as he caught his breath. _Now all we have to do is figure out where we are and where we're supposed to go and we should be set…_

"Takato…" came Guilmon's moaning voice from somewhere to his right. Takato blinked and tried to find the crimson dinosaur. After a few seconds he finally spotted him wobbling on his legs with Kuzuhamon keeping one hand on him in an attempt to help him catch his balance. Takato smiled at the sight, for a moment thinking of the shaman priestess as a kind of protective sister for the dinosaur.

"Yeah, boy?"

"…Are we there yet?"

Takato chuckled quietly to himself and shook his head in amusement.

"Guilmon…"

"I'm just asking."

Takato pushed himself off of the ground with a slight groan, taking a moment to readjust his goggles while he looked around to make sure that everyone was all right. For some reason there was a lot of sand in the air, making it slightly difficult to make out where everyone was. Fortunately they were all gathered closely enough together where it wasn't too much of an issue as faint rays of sunlight filtered into the cloud, illuminating everyone for him to see.

"Everyone okay?" asked Takato as he took in everyone's rather dirty appearance, hoping that it was just the sand that they had landed in and not something else of dubious origins or bruises.

"Looks to be that way," replied Ryo as Cyberdramon helped him stand up. "Nothing's broken on my end, though I think I might have lost my lunch back a ways when we were flying through the pink tunnel."

"We're fine too," said Rika as she and Renamon both helped Jeri to her feet. Glancing over at Takato the red haired girl frowned slightly. "I still can't get used to how those things work."

"Now I remember why I didn't like data streams all that much," nodded Takato. "Remind me again, why did we take one?"

"…Urocyomon…" breathed Jeri as she finally got her feet beneath her and stood for a few seconds before indicating to Rika and Renamon that she was fine. "Urocyomon said that it was important…"

"That's right," said Rika, her frown deepening as she let go of Jeri and glanced around her. "And just where is that fuzz ball, anyway?"

"Over there," replied Renamon, pointing ahead of them. Following the vixen's paw everyone's gazes fell upon the inert form of Urocyomon as he lay on his side. A blue flame flickered feebly at the end of his tail, and Takato heard the sharp intake of air coming from Kuzuhamon as she saw it.

_That doesn't sound good,_ thought Takato as a gust of wind blew over them, and for a moment, the flame at the tip of Urocyomon's tail flickered dangerously, nearly blowing out before returning to its original strength. The air around the vulpine Rookie rippled and the form of Kuzuhamon appeared next to him a second later. Picking up the unresponsive Urocyomon Kuzuhamon pursed her lips into a thin line as she looked him over. Although Takato couldn't see the totality of the shaman's expression, he got the feeling that whatever she saw, it did not entail good news.

Before Takato, or anyone could say anything about the matter, another, this time much stronger, wind blew over them, blasting away the cloud of sand that they had arrived in. Blinking at the sudden increase in the luminosity of their surroundings, Takato was quick to take notice of the two forms of a Rapidmon and another digimon that looked a little bit like an Andromon except it had sleeker, dark armor, more of a 'finished' appearance compared to the crudity of Andromon's structure, and two shoulder guards, one colored red and the other blue. For a brief moment Takato entertained the idea that they were the same digimon that belonged to his friends Henry and Kazu.

"Hey!" screamed the Rapidmon at the boy. "Takatomon! Get out of there _now!"_

_Hey! He actually_ is _Henry's Rapidmon! He…wha…?_

Takato's thoughts abruptly ground to a halt as a massive shadow loomed over him and his friends. Looking over his shoulder, a move that surprisingly felt like it took longer than it actually did, Takato found himself looking up at a towering, serpentine creature composed entirely of sand. As he watched in a stunned stupor, his survival instinct having yet to activate, the creature snapped open its mouth and let out loose a deafening roar that caused Takato to stagger backwards a bit as a wind blew over him. As though the surge of air current had been a jump starter, Takato's mind immediately began working again.

_That is_ not _good!_

"GUILMONNN!" shouted Takato as he whipped out his gold trimmed D-Arc and pointed it towards the sky. The serpentine sand creature dove forward, its mouth a gruesome smirk as it widened to accept its latest victims. Takato narrowed his eyes in defiance as light began to emerge from the screen of his digivice.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" Called out three voices as one and light flashed across the desert. The Sand monster drew closer, not affected in the least bit by the blazing light…

…That is, until a cry of _Shield of the Just_ rang out upon the air.

A flash of radiant energy lanced out from Gallantmon's shield and struck the Sand lich dead center in its head, causing it to explode into a cloud of flying sand and fused glass that rained mercilessly down on the newly evolved three Mega digimon and their comrades below. Working in tandem both Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon slashed their staffs to the side, summoning a protective dome around their allies, easily deflecting the shards of glittering glass as they struck its surface.

"It sure didn't take us long to find trouble, did it?" quipped Justimon sarcastically.

"Well, whatever it is, it's gone now…" began Gallantmon only to be interrupted by Jeri.

"No! It's not over. That thing is what I told you guys about earlier from before I met up with UlforceVeedramon! It won't go away like that. It'll remake itself. You have to be careful!"

"It looks like she's right, guys," said Justimon, looking down at the ground beneath them. "I think we need to rethink our normal method of fighting here. Look."

All looked down just in time to see the sand swirling beneath their feet. Muttering a curse Sakuyamon dispersed the shield just in time for the ground to explode underneath them, sending everyone flying. Wincing from sand that had found its way into an eye Gallantmon righted himself and tried to locate everyone.

_Jeri! Where's Jeri?!_ His mind shouted as his eyes scanned the new cloud of sand that had risen into the air from the Lich creature's attack. _She has no partner to protect her! She's in danger as long as she stays out here! I have to find he…!"_

Takato gave a shout of surprise from within his data sphere as the Sand Lich suddenly reared out of the cloud and struck at him like a cobra. Sweeping his lance upward, Gallantmon cut a swath through the creature's head, causing the upper area to sag as its connection with the main body was severed. Unfortunately the creature did not slow down as it previously had the last time it had a hole blown through its body and it instead continued onwards, slamming into Gallantmon like a wave and driving him towards the ground with relentless, overpowering force. Gallantmon grunted as he gathered energy around his shield. Firing a _Shield of the Just_ attack at this range was tantamount to suicide, but the idea of being pinned beneath this Sand Lich, enabling it to have its way with him was even less appealing to him. His armor was already creaking from just having the monsters weight pressing down on him. As strong as his armor was, he certainly didn't want to test its limits in a vulnerable position.

_Not like probably blowing my shield to pieces isn't going to be any different,_ mused Takato.

_"Hang in there, Takato,"_ came Rika's voice from within his mind. _"I've got you covered."_

_"Wha…?"_

Before Gallantmon could even release his attack, a series of symbols materialized around his armor, forming a protective bubble around him before expanding outwards, slowly pushing the Sand Lich off of him. A whoosh of air rushed into the Royal Knight's lungs as the strain on his body let up. Staggering to his feet in confusion Takato blinked in amazement at what he was seeing.

_"Rika! How are you…?"_

_"We're connected! Remember how I helped you back in the real world against that blue cable thing? I replaced your attacks with mine and had you power them up! You might want to get moving and_ soon! _This thing is pretty persistent…"_

_"Roger,"_ Takato nodded, taking note of the strain in Rika's voice as she pitied her strength against the crushing weight of the Sand Lich. Raising his lance, Gallantmon took aim. _"On three, release the shield. One…two…_ three!"

The bubble surrounding Gallantmon vanished and the Royal Knight leapt forward. Electricity spiraled around his lance and intensified as he surged forward.

_"Lightning Joust!"_ Shouted Gallantmon, and at the command a beam of pure energy tore free from the lance, ripping into the Sand Lich and drilling through its body. Gallantmon quickly flew through the hole that the blast made and exited the Sand Lich. Spinning around Gallantmon looked to see what kind of affect that his attack had had on the creature.

_Awww nuts…_ Takato groaned from within his data sphere as he saw that the Sand Lich was already repairing the damage that he had made.

_"This isn't going very well, is it?"_ asked Guilmon from the darkness surrounding Takato.

_"Not in the least. And we still don't know where the others are! At the very least we know that Rika and Renamon are okay…uh…I think…"_

_"Gogglehead!"_ came Rika's voice once more. _"Get a move on! That thing's about ready to turn around on you! We have to regroup and figure out what to do!"_

Takato ground his teeth together in frustration.

_"I know that! But I can't find Jeri or any of the others anywhere!"_

The goggle-wearing Tamer-turned-digimon could feel Rika's frustration over the situation seethe its way through the link between them.

_"I'll look for Jeri, Gogglehead. Do you think that you can keep that thing off of me and get it away from here?_

Gallantmon looked over at the Sand Lich as it rose up into the air once more and glared hungrily at him.

_"…Somehow I don't think that's going to be difficult…"_

The Sand Lich roared towards him, its jaws snapping open once again, and Gallantmon flew backwards, hoping that he would be able to draw it away from the others.

_So far so good…_ thought Takato as the Lich snaked towards him, taking no notice of Sakuyamon or anyone else for that matter. Its hungry gaze remained fixated on him. Feeling a bit more confident that he could hold its attention Gallantmon put a little bit more speed into his flight, pulling away from the creature, and just as he expected, it pushed its body forwards in an attempt to close the distance between them.

_"Looks like the plan is working,"_ said Guilmon confidently, and Gallantmon nodded Takato's inward agreement with the dinosaur.

_"Looks that way,"_ said Takato. _"All we have to do is keep it busy for a while until Rika and the others have regrouped. I just hope that the others are…WHOA!"_

Gallantmon's golden irises widened in surprise as the Sand Lich suddenly surged forward, gaining a speed that he didn't believe the creature capable of possessing for its form. Gallantmon just barely dodged to the side as the massive Lich drove past him, hissing in annoyance at its failed attack. Not to be daunted the serpentine creature quickly coiled around and struck again. Raising his lance Gallantmon fired a stream of lightning at the Lich, once more gouging a hole through its face and causing it to disintegrate from the eye up. Wailing, the Sand Lich lurched and wove its body through the air as though in pain, leaving Takato and Guilmon somewhat surprised by this action. He didn't have time to wonder about it however as the Lich quickly reformed its face and struck again, this time striking faster than it had the last time. Gallantmon sidestepped it and quickly fired off another _Lightning Joust,_ eliciting another shriek from the creature as it sailed past him.

_"This thing just doesn't want to stay down…"_ mulled Takato as he watched the Sand Lich reconstruct the damage that he had dealt it.

_"Takatomon…"_ began Guilmon in an unhappy tone. _"I don't like this. I know what Jeri, Kuzuhamon, and Urocyomon said about these guys not being nice, but I don't like hurting them. Not after what D-Reaper did to them…"_

_"We don't really have a whole lot of choice, Guilmon,"_ replied Takato. _"These guys are trying to hurt our friends. And they're relentless. As much as I don't like the idea of hurting them any more than how they already have been, we can't afford to go easy on them."_

The Sand Lich once more rose in the air, a deep guttural growl emanating from its mouth as its fangs parted. The promise of threat that hung about its movements was all that Takato and Guilmon needed to keep fighting it.

* * *

Sakuyamon burst free from the sand dune that had swamped her after being thrown clear from the battlefield. Although she had been temporarily immobilized her abilities certainly weren't, and the same counted for her connection with Gallantmon. Still, some habits were difficult to break. Looking over to check up on Gallantmon's situation the Mega level shaman digimon pressed her lips into a thin line as she saw the Royal Knight dart away from his opponent, trying desperately to draw it away from her and the others. Quickly berating herself for her hesitation Rika turned her attention towards the desert around her, taking stock of the situation. Justimon and Kuzuhamon both looked to be okay, and Urocyomon…it was rather difficult to tell since he just hung limply in the purple and blue garbed shaman's arms.

_At least I can tell where they are, but where's_ Jeri?

"Is that you, Rika?" came the voice of Kazu, causing Sakuyamon to blink in surprise and look around her, her gaze falling upon a dark armored android that she had never seen before standing next to a Rapidmon, the latter of whom was holding onto what looked like a petrified angel carrying a flail.

"Wha…? Who the…?"

"Quick! How many fingers am I holding up?" asked the Rapidmon, pointing his rocket launcher arm at her. Growling under her breath Sakuyamon reached over and slapped the fingerless limb away from her.

_"Not_ funny, Rabbitmon!"

"I told you it was her," said Rapidmon proudly, looking over at the android. The digimon shook his head and grimaced.

"How was I supposed to know? I didn't get a good look when she and the rest got here! I was too busy keeping an eye on that Sand Lich!"

"Hold on," interrupted Sakuyamon, looking back and forth between the two. "You two…" she pointed at Rapidmon and then at the android. "Terriermon and _Kazu?!"_

"If you want better evidence," giggled Rapidmonm "how about… _momentai?"_

"How did you…?" Sakuyamon swung her head over at the android and pointed a finger at him. "Kazu! When the heck did you biomerge?!"

"Waaay too long of a story right now," said the android in Kazu's voice before striking a pose. "But while we're on the subject, what do you think? Me and Guardromon are _HiAndromon_ now! We helped kick some Royal Knight butt back in the real world…"

"Shut up!" cut in Sakuyamon harshly. "We've got a situation here! Rapidmon! Jeri's currently missing. I'm going to need your help finding her and making sure that she's okay. Kazu…" Sakuyamon gritted her teeth as she looked him over thoughtfully. "Just…go help Takato and keep that _thing_ off of our backs!"

"Actually, that's going to be a little difficult," said HiAndromon pointedly as he looked over the shaman's shoulder. Turning, Sakuyamon followed his gaze and she nearly froze as another Sand Lich erupted out of the ground behind them. Before she could do anything HiAndromon launched himself into the air, firing twin beams of energy from his shoulder guards, combining them together as they struck their target. The Sand Lich burst into shards of glassed sand, but immediately began to reform themselves. Seeing this HiAndromon continued to rain blast after blast on the broken Lich as its remains stubbornly attempted to connect back together. Reflexively, Sakuyamon tightened her grip on her staff and prepared to join the fray, only to be interrupted by Rapidmon as he placed an arm in front of her.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, firing up his jet engines and taking off into the air. "Didn't you just say that we need to find Jeri? There's a place we can fall back too! Kazu and Guardromon know where it is, so they'll be joining us as soon as they can! We've got to make the most of the time he's giving us!"

From within her data sphere Rika growled in frustration, but quickly fell into flight behind the green colored android. He was after all right about one thing. They had to make use of the time that they had available.

* * *

Gallantmon ducked and wove through the air, deftly dodging the Sand Lich as it struck after him; jaws snapping shut on nothing but air as it failed to land a hit on him. By stark contrast the Royal Knight was far more successful with his attacks as he lashed out with _Lightning Joust,_ blasting holes through the Sand Lich and vaporizing portions of its body with each shot. Not that it mattered in the short run, as the Lich continuously regenerated itself, leaving Takato and Guilmon to wonder just how it was that they were supposed to defeat the thing.

_"It's taking everything we throw at it and it_ still _keeps on coming,"_ scowled Takato from within his orange colored data sphere.

_"Didn't Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon say something about that when we talked about the sandwiches?"_ asked Guilmon.

_"Guilmon…it's…oh, never mind! I'm a little busy here, boy. What did Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon have to say about them? Did they mention a weakness?"_

_"Um…not really. Well, except maybe for shooting them a lot."_

_"Yeah…that doesn't look like it's working real well, right now,"_ mused Takato. _"At least it doesn't seem to be too bad of a threat. All it does is keep charging towards us. As long as we can fly and stay out of its range it can't hurt us."_

As he thought this, the Sand Lich turned once more, and Gallantmon braced himself to dodge again. Strangely enough, the Sand Lich didn't do that. Instead it crouched down low to the ground and it… _almost…_ seemed to _chuckle_ at him. The sound sent a cold chill down Gallantmon's spine as he watched, waiting to see what the creature would do.

With a powerful roar, a series of solid, glass and rock-like spikes flew free from the Sand Lich's body, catching Gallantmon by surprise. Raising his shields, the Royal Knight blocked the attack. Once the sound of the spikes hitting metal ended, Gallantmon lowered his shield to check on his enemies actions…

…Just in time to see it charge right towards him, mouth open to swallow him whole.

_Ah! There's no time to dodge…!_

_"Fist of Athena!"_

Before Gallantmon's astonished gaze, the battered form of Crusadermon slammed into the Sand Lich with ferocious force, her Pile Bunker shield smashing a crater into the creature and throwing it to the ground. Spinning on a dime, the pink armored knight round-house kicked another Sand Lich as it attempted to take her by surprise. The Lich howled in anger as it was pushed back, but it refused to go down as easily as its cousin and it soon surged forward. Gritting her teeth beneath her helm, Crusadermon stabbed outwards with her ribbons, imbedding them into the Lich's body. As though it sensed what she was planning to do the sand around its body suddenly hardened, catching her off guard upon finding that she couldn't move her favored weapons.

_"Shield of the Just!"_

A beam of pure energy slammed into the Lich, shattering its stony body and sending its pieces flying in all directions. Retracting her ribbons, Crusadermon looked over at Gallantmon, feeling a strange sense of surprise at finding herself face to face with an X-Antibody version of one of her former allies.

Gallantmon waved, and Crusadermon found herself waving back, albeit slowly.

A roar from the two Sand Liches that they had dispatched broke the knights out of their reverie. Turning to refocus her attention on them once more, Crusadermon had only just enough time to see a massive tail flying her way before it slammed into her, catapulting her directly into Gallantmon's body. Both Knights let out a grunt of pain and surprise before a torrential hailstorm of spikes began to rain down on them.

* * *

Jeri beat back the sand that surrounded her and dove up towards the fresh clean air of the digital world, gasping loudly.

"Wha…" Jeri coughed and shook as she tried to make sense of the situation. She could hear attacks being pronounced all around her, mingling with roars, explosions, and the sizzle of electricity. "…What's going on here?"

_"JERI!"_

Hearing her name being called, Jeri looked up to see Sakuyamon come to a landing in front of her. Getting down on one knee the kitsune shaman did a quick once over on the girl.

"Are you okay?"

Jeri nodded. "I…I think so. What's going on?"

_"Trouble,"_ Sakuyamon replied in Renamon's voice. _"Takato and Kazu are trying to buy us some time while the rest of us retreat with Rapidmon back to a Chuchidarumon village near here. We're going to make our last stand there."_

"Wha…? Rapidmon? Kazu? Chuchidarumon vill…"

Looking around her, the brown haired girl quickly sighted a certain, green armored android behind Sakuyamon, carrying a stone-gray, inert angel in his arms as best as he could. Rapidmon tipped her a salute with one rocket launcher before Sakuyamon began speaking again.

"We don't have time to explain anything, right now. We have to get out of here and get onto better ground if we're going to make it out of this in one piece. So if you're ready…" Sakuyamon scooped Jeri up and leapt into the air. Jeri squeaked in surprise and held on tightly to her friend as they left the ground. Looking over the shaman's shoulder she saw the fighting forms of what looked to be a dark armored android and two knights, one of whom she quickly recognized as Gallantmon. As she watched, the Sand Lich that Gallantmon was fighting lurched around, throwing its tail into the other digimon that she now recognized as Crusadermon, impacting her and sending her flying into Gallantmon before following up with a flurry of spikes.

"Ah! Takato! He's…"

"I know…"

"But…"

_"I know!"_

Jeri looked bewilderedly at Sakuyamon, noting the strained tone in her voice. It was clear that whatever was going through her mind right now, the last thing she wanted to do was leave the others behind. More to the point, it looked as though she were forcing herself to keep following Rapidmon rather than turning back.

"Rika…"

Sakuyamon tightened her grip on Jeri and urged a little bit more speed into her flight.

_"They'll be okay,"_ Sakuyamon whispered in Rika's voice.

* * *

"Owww…" Gallantmon groaned and lifted his shield from off of his and Crusadermon's bodies. "…That went well…"

"At least you managed to protect us," commented Crusadermon as she pushed herself up. "And we managed to do what we set out to do. The others, with the exception of HiAndromon, are in retreat back to the Chuchidarumon village."

Gallantmon blinked his golden eyes. "We're near there?"

"Don't ask stupid questions," snapped Crusadermon, crouching down on her feet. "Gather up HiAndromon and start retreating back towards the village. He knows where it is, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. As for myself…"

With a burst of speed, the pink armored Royal Knight flew out from Gallantmon's protective cover and attacked the Sand Lich once more, raking its body with the razor sharp edges of her ribbons. With a howl the Sand Lich disintegrated into a simple dune…a dune that immediately set about moving again.

_Just what does it take to keep these guys down?_ Gallantmon wondered once again.

"Go," said Crusadermon. "I'm faster than you and HiAndromon. I'll catch up."

"But…"

"I said _go!"_

_"She sounds like she really means it, Takato…"_ said Guilmon.

_"That doesn't make this any easier,"_ replied the boy to his partner as they leapt into the air towards HiAndromon. _"I don't like the idea of leaving anyone behind to face those things, even if we fought before. But she's right. We have to move! We'll keep slowing down if we keep stopping, and those things just keep picking themselves up! Now HiAndromon…"_ Takato frowned as he sighted the android digimon as he blasted a Sand Lich into oblivion for what had to be the thousandth time. _"Um…since when did we have one of those in our group?"_

_"Its name is just like Andromon…do you think Kazu and Guardromon biomerged?"_

_"Guess we'll find out…"_

* * *

"Stay… _DOWN!"_ exclaimed HiAndromon as the Royal Knight drew close. The android slammed a fist into the Lich, causing sand to spray into the air. The ground shuddered and roared from the force of the blow, and as though in response another Lich tore free from the ground behind him. Snapping to attention, HiAndromon charged up the cannons on his shoulder guards…

_"Lightning Joust!"_

A stream of electricity struck the Lich, shattering its body and causing it to disintegrate. Laughing in exaltation, HiAndromon waved a hand at the knight.

_"Heeey! Chumley! Fancy meeting you here!"_

_Yup, that's Kazu all right…_ thought Takato, unable to suppress a chuckle at his friend's antics.

"Come on!" Shouted Gallantmon. "We've got to get out of here!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" replied HiAndromon. "This ain't exactly the time to be catching up on current events, is it?" HiAndromon then grinned and looked at Gallantmon. "Then again…maybe it _is_ a good idea to fill you in on _some_ current events…"

"What are you talking about, Kazu?"

_"I do believe he's referring to your Crimson Mode's spear that's imbedded in the ground at the village,"_ replied Guardromon's voice. _"My partner is of the opinion that it holds the key to our victory."_

_"Awww…Guardromon! I wanted to be the one to tell him!"_

Within his data sphere Takato's eyes went wide with shock.

_"Wait! What do you mean by my Crimson Mode's spear being at village?"_

_"Heh. Well, technically it's not really_ your _spear. It…um…it belongs to your ChaosGallantmon form but I think we can overlook that…"_

_"Say wha…?"_

* * *

"Noriko!" shouted Henry, trying desperately to get the girl to listen to him. It was no use though. Lines of electricity ran over every inch of her body and through each and every card that she had in her hands. She stared blankly up at the sky as zeroes and ones raced through her eyes. Once more Henry reached out towards her, only to pull back as a jolt of lightning flashed at his hands.

_It's just like last time!_ Henry's mind thought. _She can't see or hear anyone, and no one can even get close to her to snap her out of it! Even MarineAngemon's hearts don't do anything…_

"What can we do?" asked Ayaka as she watched the scene helplessly.

"I don't know," replied Henry. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Well you'd better figure it out _faster…"_

"Ayaka!" cut in Kenta, trying to placate the blonde haired girl as best as he could. "He's doing the best that he can here…"

"Sorry," Ayaka grumbled. "But this is the _worst_ time for this to happen again…"

"Would you just let me _think_ for a second here?" snapped Henry, his frustration starting to show. "Check on Crusadermon! In the meantime leave this to me!"

Ayaka scowled at the half-Chinese Tamer but otherwise chose not to comment on his sudden rudeness. The situation was rapidly falling apart thanks in part to Noriko's, and Lumemon's sudden paralysis. Even though through their digivices they had found that their partners were receiving help from the rather miraculous appearance of Takato and the others, there was the fact that Noriko couldn't move and no one could touch her so as to get her to a safe place. With that in mind, no one would be able to keep moving as the plan had originally dictated without her being vulnerable. Although none of them could touch her, no one could be sure if the same held true for Sand Liches or even a stray attack for that matter.

And then there was the fact that Henry refused to move until they had found a way to snap her out of her trance.

"Heeey! Guys!"

Ayaka, Kenta, and Henry all looked up to see Justimon and a purple and blue armored shaman that looked eerily like Sakuyamon come in for a landing.

"So…what's up, guys?" asked Justimon upon touching down. "Did I miss anything?"

"R-Ryo…?" stammered Kenta, recognizing the Legendary Tamer's voice in the duality of the Mega level digimon's words.

"That's me," replied Justimon, snapping a salute. "Sorry our reunion had to be like this. Anyway, I take it that we have a situation here?"

"More than one," said Ayaka. "Though I'm pretty sure you know the other one. We saw you fighting in it through the digi-cam."

"Yeah," added Kenta. "We've got Beelzemon, Gyōjamon, and Lilithmon waiting in the wings. We don't think we're going to have an easy time of it though…"

"So I noticed." Ryo then looked over at where Noriko stood. "Now what's this about?"

"It's like she's stuck in some kind of system malfunction or data overload," muttered Henry to himself, tapping one finger against his chin. "It's as though she's receiving more information than she can properly handle and the effect is…what we see here."

"Oookay…"

"He's trying to figure out a way to get her out of that…whatever it is," said Kenta. "What he said. Noriko seems to be some kind of living digivice or something. At least…Gyōjamon said something like that…"

"I think you kind of left me off at the wrong stop," said Justimon. "Who's Gyōjamon?"

"Oh yeah…that's right. You, Takato, and Rika left before you met him…"

"Never mind that for now," said Kuzuhamon as she gently put down the silver furred, fox digimon that she had in her arms. "Let me see if there's something that I can d… Yow!"

Kuzuhamon jumped in surprise as a bolt of lightning jumped forth from Noriko's body and struck her in the shoulder. Fortunately the shock didn't hurt her, leaving little more than a burn mark on her shoulder guard.

"That's what happens every time someone tries to get close," said Henry with a frown. "It happened once before earlier when she picked up one of Ayaka's cards, triggering Lumemon's digivolution. It wore off after a while, but she only used one card then. This time she has a whole deck to go through."

_"And you think that the information that she's taking in will keep her from returning to normal anytime soon, right?"_ asked Ryo, remembering what Henry had been saying earlier.

"That's all I can think of right now," nodded Henry. "Either we reach her or she comes out of it on her own. That last one is the 'safe' way to go about it, but we can't let this go on for however long that could last! We don't know what kind of effects this could have on her body, and we also have…"

"…Our not-so-fun sand box out there," said Justimon, looking out over at the desert. "How much time do you need?"

"Ryo…" Henry looked at Justimon for a moment before nodding his head, his brow furrowing in determination. "As much as you can give me."

From within his data sphere, Ryo chuckled.

"I'll do better than that. I'll give you all that you need."

With that, Justimon tipped the Tamer a salute and leapt back into the air. Kuzuhamon stepped forward.

"I'm afraid that my skills aren't exactly good for battle, despite my level. However, if there's anything that I can do to help…"

"Sure thing," said Henry before frowning. "Um…who are you, by the way?"

"Kuzuhamon; a friend of Ryo's…or more precisely the guardian of his guide over there." Kuzuhamon indicated the inert form of the fox that she had placed on the ground. "At any rate, I am also an acquaintance of your friends Takato, Rika, Guilmon, and Renamon. They are also here as well. I…"

"HENNNRRRYYY!" broke in the voice of Rapidmon, causing his Tamer to jerk slightly. For a brief moment, Henry had an irritated thought flash through his mind about the seemingly endless stream of interruptions that kept showing up.

* * *

"There it is!" exclaimed HiAndromon excitedly as they entered the village boundaries. "Right there. The spear that Noriko used against Henry when he fought her!"

Gallantmon's eyes widened, mirroring the surprise that both Takato and Guilmon felt within as they took in every inch of the azure blade that stood imbedded in the ground ahead of them. Takato felt himself swallow nervously. As much as he hated to admit it, he could feel something pulsating within the weapon. And the power…it practically permeated the air around the village like waves of an ocean. Both combined, made him feel afraid.

Takato supposed that he had good reason to feel so. After all, the weapon had once belonged to ChaosGallantmon; a form that he himself had once taken on before Noriko did, even though unlike her he hadn't ascended to his dark double's version of the Crimson Mode. Takato knew all too well the kind of wild emotions that came with that other side of himself that helped birth BlackGuilmon. If he were to touch those emotions again, would he be able to control himself?

As Gallantmon came to a landing in front of the massive weapon, Takato cleared his mind and weighed his options. He could feel the Spirits of Fire hovering at the edges of his mind, watching him. It was strange how quickly he had accepted their presence even if he wasn't yet used to their power. In a way they felt like kindred spirits, and when they chose him to be the vessel that transported their power they had tested him. This was the same thing all over again. The same kind of test.

He was coming face to face with himself once more. Face to face with fear.

_"Takatomon…?"_

_"We don't have a lot of time, Guilmon,"_ said Takato as he took a step towards the blade. _"Those Sand Liches are coming our way and we have to put a stop to them. This spear…it just might give us the edge we need."_

_"You don't need to worry about me, Takato,"_ said Guilmon, sensing his partner's worry about him. _"I'll support you 110 percent, all the way!"_

Takato smiled. _"Thanks, boy…"_

Gallantmon came to a stop in front of the blade.

"Kazu…go find Henry. Tell him that I'm going to be buying some time for him to come up with a plan to end this fight. I know that he can do it. If anyone can, it'd be him."

HiAndromon cracked a smirk.

"All right. You just be careful out there. Are you going to need a hand after I do that?"

Gallantmon paused as he lifted his hand towards the spear's handle.

"If I do…I'm pretty sure you'll know. Just keep an eye out, just to be safe."

"You got it, Chumley. Personally I think those Sand Liches have more to worry about than any of us."

_That makes one of us then,_ thought Takato as he reached out and took hold of the spear. The blade's luminosity increased subtly as he tugged it out of the ground, and for a second nothing happened. Frowning, Takato was just about to wonder what was going on when, for a brief moment, he could have sworn that he saw the image of his human self reflected in the surface of the metal. A moment later a pillar of light burst forth from the spear and shot upwards towards the sky, enveloping the knight in its embrace as a pair of large, massive angelic wings extended outwards and stretched over the Chuchidarumon village, cupping it within their protective embrace. A fierce wind blew across the landscape, and the Liches felt the sand within their bodies shudder from the pressure that hit them.

The Scion of the Crimson Light had arrived.


	144. 143: Crimson Sun Rising

Crusadermon gasped harshly as she pulled herself free from the desert sand and fell forward on her hands and knees. Her body shook, and pain was in every joint of her body, but she was alive.

_I never thought that the Sand Liches could be this powerful. So overwhelming and_ draining _…just touching them causes small amounts of energy to be taken without being noticed until it's too late. That was never in any of the reports. It's amazing that this area has survived for so long against their assaults. Yggdrasil built the village even better than I had thought considering its decrepit state._

Crusadermon found herself laughing at herself over the thought. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually thought of one of Yggdrasil's creations as being imperfect in some fashion, or even capable of falling to the illness of time. She supposed that her contact with Ayaka really was changing her in ways she never thought possible.

_So…where are they?_ She wondered, getting onto her shaking feet. Her legs wobbled unsteadily and she pin wheeled one arm to steady herself. _I haven't been up for very long, and I certainly don't have the right reaction time right now to defend myself properly. They should have been on me again, so why…haven't they?_

Struggling to open her blurry eyes, Crusadermon glanced around her. Her mind felt heavy with exhaustion, but she was still able to make out a few things here and there. The sounds of growls and hisses, little better than frightened animals trapped in a corner, reached her ears and a bright, red light flooded the air around her, suffusing her with warmth and a sensation of safety.

Oddly enough, Crusadermon found that she didn't feel as exhausted as she did earlier.

Turning her eyes towards the village, the pink armored Royal Knight's gaze stopped when she saw a pair of angelic wings arching outwards into the air, surrounding the homes of the Chuchidarumon like an impenetrable, all-encompassing castle wall. Unbeknownst to her, a smile curved upwards on Crusadermon's mouth.

_This battle is over,_ she thought quietly.

* * *

"What… _is_ this?" asked Kuzuhamon, completely started by the flood of crimson light that had suddenly bloomed in the air around them like a rose. Nearby, the recently arrived Sakuyamon smiled as she set down a wide-eyed Jeri, and reached out into that sea of red, allowing it to bathe her gloved hand for a moment.

"It's Takato," said Sakuyamon in a soft voice before lowering her hand. "He's gone to the next step. His Crimson Mode. Those sand guys aren't going to even know what hit them."

Looking up, Sakuyamon's smile broadened as she saw the silver and gold, metallic wings hovering in the air above them protectively. Shining specks of light fell from them and it took the shaman priestess a moment to realize that they were _feathers_ falling. As she watched a feather floated down in front of her, the air causing it to spiral gently until finally it touched the ground and came to rest.

"He's back," Sakuyamon said, her fingers shifting their grip on her bronze vajra staff, her smile not once changing. "He's really, definitely back. And this time, there's _no_ stopping him."

* * *

The familiar rush of power surged through Takato and Guilmon's combined form, leaving the pair with a rushing sensation as they fought to get a hold of themselves.

_"Takato…I feel...clean. I feel like I just took a bath or something. This feels so good!"_

Takato could only nod dumbly in response to his partner's exclamations as he too was caught up in the same feeling. It was like every one of his senses was toned up to their max, and a current of electricity was running through every bone and muscle of his body. His limbs felt as though they could shatter mountains, and that there was no limit that Gallantmon's newly evolved wings could fly. The sky had no limit. There was nothing to slow them down. Nothing at all.

_It's been so long since I last felt this,_ thought Takato in a dazed fashion. _I can't believe I never really paid attention to what this was…to what Grani gave to us all those months ago._ Takato's eyes softened at the memory of the once former arc that had granted them the power to combat the D-Reaper on even ground all those months ago. _Grani…_

_"Grani! Takato! I_ remember! _I remember_ everything _now! Grani…he gave me his wings so that I could fly!"_

_"Wha…? Guilmon! That's awesome! But…how? How were you able to remember so much all at once?"_

_"I don't know,"_ replied Guilmon. _"I just do. Is that bad?"_

_"No! Not in the least! I just…"_ within his data sphere, Takato shrugged and laughed lightly. _"Never boy. We've got some business to take care of."_

_"Right!"_

Moving as one through their combined form of Gallantmon, the duo tightened their grip on their double-bladed spear and opened their golden eyes. Their armor was much more pronounced than it had been before, with longer, sharper angles at the joints, fingers, shoulder guard, and helmet areas, all of which was colored with a deep mixture of blue and blood red. Long, wings of steel feathers flexed and rippled over the Chuchidarumon village like a pair of embracing arms. Looking down, Takato took note of an orb sitting in the middle of his chest. Where on his previous form of Crimson Mode a Hazard symbol had been, a swirling blue sphere dwelt, its blue energies moving like a vortex.

An azure light shimmered along the edges of his blade, and Gallantmon hefted it lightly. A determined expression crossing Takato's features he swept his wings back behind him and a powerful gust of wind swept throughout the village and beyond its borders, stirring the sand that lay in the desert. Loud cries and snarls could be heard in the distance.

_"For our friends,"_ said Takato and Guilmon as one. _"Let's do this!"_

* * *

The Tamers grabbed hold of whatever support was available as Gallantmon took off, flapping his massive wings and pushing himself towards the battlefield. A powerful gust swept over the village as the Royal Knight flew out into the desert.

"Geez," breathed Rapidmon, lowering Henry to the ground. "Does he have to be so dramatic about his exits?"

"Terriermon…" began Henry warningly.

"Momentai, Henry," snapped Sakuyamon, startling both the android and the half-Chinese Tamer. "We've got bigger things to worry about. Takato's giving us a chance to deal with Noriko and he'll wipe the floor with the Sand Liches sorry butts. I suggest we make good use of the time he's giving us. Now," Sakuyamon glanced around her, "anyone care to explain to me what's going on with her over there?"

All eyes followed the shaman priestess' extended arm as she pointed over to Noriko, who was still wrapped in a luminous glow. Electricity crackled around her body, and as though in response, Lumemon's body jerked and blurred.

"Noriko seems to have taken on some digivice abilities at some point," answered Henry, his expression a portrait of tension. "Right now she's scanning a whole deck of cards and the overload of information is keeping her from snapping out of her trance, and at the same time it's causing Lumemon to freeze because of the influx of data that she's sending him." Growling in frustration, Henry ran a hand through his hair. "This is all my fault! If only I didn't agree to let her stay in the battle and give her those cards…"

_"All right, Henry,"_ interrupted Sakuyamon in Rika's voice. _"I think we can do enough without the self-pitying. It's not going to save Noriko any faster. You've got the most brains in this group and the biggest connection to this girl that I know of out of everyone here. We…_ she… _can't have you going to pieces right now. Not if you want to help her."_

Henry stared at the shaman priestess for a moment before the gentle tugging of Suzie at his pants brought his gaze down to the little girl. Suzie looked up at him with eyes wide and anxious.

"You can do it Henwy," the little girl said to him before her face took on a more determined expression. "Thewe's nothing that you can't fix! You help fix Daddies computew all the time! And he's bettew than you at that stuff!"

Henry took a deep, calming breath and visibly forced himself to relax and calm down.

_Never thought I'd see the day that I'd get a pep talk from my little sister on top of one from Rika. They're both right. Worrying about what I should have done isn't going to change what I need to do to get Noriko out of this. Unfortunately this isn't the same as fixing a computer. I can't reboot Noriko or replace any components that have prematurely aged. I don't think memory defragmentation will help either. Noriko's definitely_ not _a computer, but for some reason she's taken on some of the capabilities of a highly advanced one. If I knew how it happened I could have an idea as to how to work with it but I don't._

_Still…she's a person…_

"If only there was a way that we could communicate with her," mulled Henry aloud, "then we might be able to help her realize what's happening to her and she could power down on her own."

Sakuyamon looked at Henry for a moment before nodding and taking a step towards Noriko.

"Got it."

"Got what?" asked Henry, somewhat startled by the way the shaman sounded. It was as though she already knew how to provide them with the answer that they needed.

"I think I can put you in touch with her," answered Sakuyamon. "I did it a while ago with Takato in order to help him fight that cable monster from when the Royal Knights attacked us. The thing is," Sakuyamon pursed her lips together, "I was able to do that because I already had a pretty strong bond with him. I had a base to start with. I don't know Noriko at all and I've never tried creating a bond with two people that didn't involve myself."

"I might be able to help you with that," supplied Kuzuhamon. "My abilities in program languages aren't very good, but I know at least this much from my time with Alice." Eyebrows raised at the mention of the name, but for the time being no one chose to comment on it. Sakuyamon nodded to the other shaman and looked over at Henry.

"Henry. Right now you're the only one conscious that has a strong enough of a personal connection to Noriko, so you're going to have to be the medium once we're through here. Understood?"

"Yeah," Henry nodded with determination in his eyes. "Let's do this."

* * *

Air warped and wind blew across the landscape as the Royal Knight known as Gallantmon, ascended to his highest evolved form, settled down upon the desert where Crusadermon lay.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his golden eyes full of concern. Crusadermon looked up at him with a dazed expression on her face, unseen beneath her helmet.

"Yes," she breathed, forcing herself to her feet.

"Good. You'd best get back to the village. I'll cover you."

Crusadermon chuckled in amusement.

"Very well. I shall do so. I won't bother wishing you good luck." Crusadermon looked Gallantmon over with an approving eye. "I can see that you won't be needing it."

Gallantmon fixed the other knight with a confused expression, but before he could say anything Crusadermon leapt into the air without further word and took off towards the Chuchidarumon village. Gallantmon watched her go for a few moments to make sure that there wasn't going to be any further attacks on her until she disappeared from his sight. Returning his attention to the battlefield, Gallantmon took a look around him.

_"I don't see any of them,"_ Takato said quietly from within his data sphere, _"but I know that they're out there."_

_"I know,"_ replied Guilmon. _"I can feel them watching us. Takato…they're_ very _hungry. I think they're going to try to eat us up."_

_"From what I've seen so far I can trust you on knowing that they'll try."_ Gallantmon hefted his spear slightly and narrowed his eyes. _"But like I said: they can try. We can take anything that they throw at us."_

Takato narrowed his eyes.

_"We just have to find them first…"_

No sign of life filled the expanse of desert that lay around them, so much so that Takato felt that 'graveyard' would be the best description that he could give it. Grains of sand rolled across the desert floor, but otherwise there was no sign of the Sand Liches that had been on the attack scarce seconds ago. Takato and Guilmon both knew that they wouldn't give up just because their Mega form had increased in power. Far from it, if what Urocyomon and Kuzuhamon had told them was any indication they should have been knee deep in an army of Liches by now.

So where were they?

Somehow, Takato had the sinking feeling that the absence of the Liches was something even greater to worry about than having them there attacking him.

_Urocyomon and Kuzuhamon said that they aren't capable of thinking about anything except the need to 'eat', but from what I can tell they've retreated. I'd be stupid to think that they ran away and don't intend to come back. If they're regrouping and holding off on attacking me…than that means that they're taking another approach. Something that, maybe—just maybe—is meant to compensate for their lack of power. But…what?_

Gallantmon's head moved in time with Takato's, glancing at the Chuchidarumon village off in the distance.

_They couldn't be thinking about attacking that place first, could they?_

Suddenly sand exploded beneath him, whipping upwards into the air as Gallantmon's heavily armored body sunk downwards before stumbling. Sand solidified and wrapped around the Royal Knight, pulling him downwards. Light suffused itself into Gallantmon's wings as he strained to push them free from their captors, but the heavy impact of a wave of sand slamming into him put an end to that, burying Gallantmon beneath a desert filled with a thousand roars.

* * *

Two staffs of silver and bronze traced their way through the ground, inscribing a circle around Noriko until they finally met with a clink. Separating the two shaman moved to either side of the circle that they had drawn and began to write symbols within it, adding triangular patterns that intersected, forming a hexagram. The two shamans continued to work in tandem as they wrote out their symbols within the circle. Their mouths moved, silently speaking incantations. Their bodies glowed as they poured their power and intent into the mandala they were creating. After many, tense minutes, the loud roars of the Sand Liches filled the air, signaling that Takato and Guilmon's battle with them had now begun in earnest.

From where she stood, Jeri could see Sakuyamon grimace and her body tense up upon hearing them.

_Rika…_ thought Jeri, feeling a sliver of anxiety work its way into her mind from the sense of connection she felt with the shaman Mega and the female Tamer who dwelt inside.

_It'll be okay. I can still feel Takato, and I know that she does too. Takato and Guilmon are going to be fine. Just like they have been so many times before._

But even so, Jeri knew that convincing herself of that was a far more difficult task to accomplish if she wasn't there trying to help him.

"Okay, Henry," called out Sakuyamon as she continued to etch the symbols of her spell into the ground. "Get in the middle of this thing and get ready."

"Are you sure? It doesn't look like you're finished…"

"Just do it already, would ya? We're on a time table here. And _leave_ rabbitmon outside of it!"

"Now that's rude," grumbled Rapidmon from his spot next to Henry. "Why can't I come?"

"Because you're habit of talking would make this whole thing a lot harder for us to work, and we can't have Henry getting distracted either just to keep you in line. I'm not even sure what the effect of another mind, never mind one like yours, is going to have on Noriko, and it's already chancy enough as it is just linking up _one._ For all we know she might end up in an even worse condition just by talking to you."

"Jeez," scowled Rapidmon. "Henry. Talk to her. Tell her to momentai or something. I don't want to be left out on the sidelines for this kind of thing…"

"Sorry Rapidmon," said Henry, shaking his head. "Right now I think it's best that we do what she says. Sakuyamon knows more about the intricacies of her magic than we do. If she says that she's worried about what might happen with more people, than we should take that into account. I've never… _spoken_ to someone in their head before outside of yours, and we were biomerged for that. I think this is more like telepathy."

"So? It's not like you're merging with her body or anything, right? That should make things a lot simpler."

"I wouldn't know," said Henry. "Like I said, outside of biomerging with you I've never done this before. I think I should do this alone, Rapidmon."

Rapidmon looked at his friend for a few moments before nodding reluctantly.

"Fine. But if you're brain gets stuck in her head we're going to be in for some pretty confusing times ahead. Oh. And I get to have your room."

Henry bristled lightly at this.

"Terriermon…" Henry sighed and shook his head. "I know. Momentai, right?"

"If you already know what I'm going to say, why ask?"

"Henry!" barked Sakuyamon in irritation. "Would you get a move on, already?"

Rapidmon forced himself to laugh.

"Go get her, tiger," the android digimon joked, patting his partner on the back with a rocket launcher. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Or would do, for that matter," replied Henry.

"Ouch."

Giving his partner's arm a comforting pat Henry pulled away and walked towards the circle. He paused for only a moment to take in the glowing lines that surrounded Noriko Nakata before taking a step into them. A warm current raced its way through his body as his foot made contact with one of the curved lines, and a whisper of a thought made its way into his mind, disappearing…

_…Birds…_

…Before he could even catch hold of it. Taking a breath, Henry continued forward, only to pause again to look at Sakuyamon questioningly.

"How far do you want me to go?"

"As close as you can get to her would be best. It'll be easier for the both of you, I think."

Henry nodded and resumed his trek through the circle, the cascade of energy that he had felt earlier, along with the thoughts, flowing through him even more strongly. This time, an image came to him. An image of wind chimes.

"HEY GUYS!" called out the voice of Kazu as HiAndromon ran into the area. "CHECK IT OUT! TAKATO'S KICKING BUTT OUT THERE AND…!"

_"Alice?!"_ Kuzuhamon jerked and her head whipped around to look at the oncoming Mega level digimon and suddenly HiAndromon stopped dead in his tracks as though he had hit a brick wall. All at once energy flared up in the seal around Henry and Noriko and light burst forth from around them, enveloping their forms like a dying sun.

* * *

_"Takato…"_

A pair of shining wings erupted from the mountain of sand that covered Gallantmon, spearing through the Sand Liches that it was comprised of before separating, arching downwards like a guillotine blade. Sand exploded into the air as Gallantmon arose, fire flaring around his crimson armor.

_"Well that was a close one,"_ breathed Takato. _"You okay, Guilmon?"_

_"Yeah! But it doesn't look like those sandwiches are ready to give up."_

Looking to his right and then his left, Takato noted that his partner was indeed correct. The sand that they had just cut in half was already reforming into two separate entities. One of them quickly lashed out, spears forming on its body and extending themselves outwards.

_"They don't know when to quit do they?"_ asked Takato sarcastically as he jumped backwards, allowing the Lich to slam into its partner. Not to be deterred the Liches separated once more and reconstituted themselves. Black eyes eyed the Royal Knight hungrily and jaws snapped open and shut. Raising his double bladed spear, a ray of light erupted from its metal and shot outwards, piercing the first Sand Lich and causing it to explode on impact. Taking no notice of the fall of its comrade, the other Lich charged forward, this time firing a volley of hardened sand spikes. Sweeping his spear to the side, Gallantmon let loose a wave of energy that disintegrated the spikes and cut a swath across the desert, segmenting the Lich before it could even defend itself. Off in the distance, a series of howls resounded upon the air, alerting Gallantmon to the presence of still more Liches, hidden but for the moment.

From within his data sphere, Takato frowned.

_"Guilmon…how many are out there?"_

_"I don't know, Takato,"_ the digimon replied from the darkness surrounding Takato's data sphere. _"But I know that there's a lot."_

_"And they're evolving too,"_ spoke up a new voice from the darkness, causing Takato's eyes to widen in surprise as a flash of recognition flew through his mind.

_"What the…? No way…it can't be…"_

_"Takato? Is that…?"_

_"Greetings Guilmon and Takato,"_ came the voice once again, and this time there was no mistaking it.

_"Grani?! But how…?"_

A light pulsated from Gallantmon's spear, and the Royal Knight turned to look at it. Upon its reflective surface he found the image of a boy that looked eerily like Takato. A small smile appeared on the boy's face.

_"You have said so yourself. 'A part of me will always be with you.' My data always surfaced whenever you and Guilmon ascended to your Crimson Mode, but I had no way of communicating with you until the advent of the X-Antibody into Guilmon's digi-core caused my data to evolve and the use of ChaosGallantmon's spear to act as a medium."_

A chuckle emerged from the darkness surrounding Takato.

_"You have waaay too many voices in your head now,"_ said the voice of Agunimon. _"But in this case it's hardly a bad thing. After all, your friend here is responsible for restoring Guilmon's memories. I guess it helps that he's part computer to begin with."_

_"Huh?! Wha…?"_

_"Anyway. Never mind that for now. What was that you were saying about those Sand Liches evolving?"_

_"Their data has become a bit more complex. I believe we saw something of their evolution in their behavioral pattern change. According to the digimon Urocyomon and Kuzuhamon the Sand Liches in this area should not only be attracted to us, but should also be attacking us even now. However, as we have seen they have refrained from such actions…at least for the most part. That and their use of long ranged attacks, indicates that they are calculating their maneuvers. They are aware of their weaknesses."_

_"How?"_ asked Takato, shaking his mind free from this recent series of developments to join in on the conversation. _"I thought that their data was…well, 'dead' because of what the D-Reaper did to them. They shouldn't be able to evolve!"_

_"I don't have enough information regarding the Sand Liches to give a proper answer,"_ replied Grani. _"However, I do believe that the disturbance emanating from the Chuchidarumon village is a possible source. I am detecting vast amounts of Catalyst information being transmitted. Presently the others are trying to put a halt to it. I recommend that we give them the time to do so. Unchecked, the Catalyst data could evolve the Liches beyond our capacity to deal with them."_

_"Well…keeping them occupied was the plan to begin with,"_ said Takato. _"But I think we need a more permanent solution. These guys just keep on regenerating. I don't see how 'beating them until they can't move anymore' works as a viable plan for us."_

_"Leave that to me, Takato,"_ said Grani. _"I believe I can create the appropriate counter program that can serve our purposes."_

_"Okay,"_ nodded Takato. _"In that case, Guilmon and I will—ah—just keep them busy."_

_"Are you forgetting us?"_ said Agunimon in amusement.

_"Yeah, you too…"_ grinned Takato nervously.

_"That's better. Now, let's do this."_

Fire flared along Gallantmon's wings and spread throughout his body. The blade in his hands burst with light, revealing a large mass of Sand Liches crawling towards him. Gallantmon took a moment to register the fact that he was now surrounded on all sides.

_"This could be interesting,"_ mused Agunimon.

_"Please don't say it like that…"_

_"Um…Floe-mentai?"_ supplied Guilmon hopefully.

_"Momentai. And I thought you had your memories restored."_

_"I do…"_

It was at that moment that the army of Sand Liches struck.

* * *

Mist surrounded Henry Wong on all sides as he cracked open his eyes. Glancing to the side, the half-Chinese Tamer took stock of the situation that he was in. He was alone in an environment reminiscent of a digital field. Electricity sparked in the particles, and unconsciously Henry felt himself shiver from a cold he didn't remember having felt.

"Hello?" Henry called out to the mists. "Sakuyamon? Kenta? Terriermon? Is anyone out there?"

No response reached the boy, leaving him to wonder just what the heck had happened.

_The last thing that I remember was entering the circle that Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon had drawn, and then HiAndromon showed up. Kuzuhamon seemed distracted for some reason…_ Henry frowned. _…I think she said… 'Alice.' Could she be referring to the same girl who gave us the ability to biomerge in the real world? I take it there's a lot going on that I don't know about._

"Hello? Anybody!" Henry called out again, hoping that his luck would change. No response at all echoed upon the still air and Henry lowered his hands from his mouth.

_If Terriermon were here he'd probably say something about how we're not in Kansas anymore or something. I'm starting to think that he's right. After Kuzuhamon reacted to Kazu's presence the way she did she did something. I don't know what, but it's responsible for me being…wherever 'here' is._

Reaching over to his waist, Henry felt around for his D-Arc, only to frown even more deeply when he discovered that he could not find it.

_Wha…? Where is it?_ Running a hand through his hair Henry looked around the area where he had been lying. The mist had covered the ground fairly heavily, making it impossible to determine where anything was past his ankles. Gingerly, Henry lowered himself into the mist and began to feel around, hoping that his hand or foot would brush against the all-important device.

_I need the luck of Takato just to find anything around here,_ grumbled Henry as he came up with nothing. _This is just great. If I had my digivice then I'd be able to…_

_"Looking for something?"_ asked a voice from within the mists. Immediately, Henry got to his feet and threw himself into a defensive stance, his eyes rapidly scanning the fog for any sign of intruders.

"Who's there?" he called out, grinding his teeth together. He knew it was bad form to let his emotions cloud his judgment, but he had been on edge for a while already and the tension was finally starting to spill over.

_"Can't you guess?"_ asked the voice in an almost mocking tone. _"I mean, you always were something of a brainiac, just like your friend Rika calls you. But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It's not like I've been doing a whole lot to make you aware of my existence or anything. I've been pretty content sitting on the sidelines here, letting you do your thing. Now though, you're going to need some help."_ An outline appeared within the thick fog and Henry zeroed in on it. It was large and bulky up on the top of its humanoid body, almost musculature and it had what looked like a large horn on top of its head. The first thing that Henry thought of was that it was a digimon. There were very few things that Henry knew of that appeared like this, and given the environment that he was in, it only gave him all the more reason to believe that he was facing such an entity.

_Although it's not like digimon are the only digital life forms to exist,_ thought Henry distractedly as he backed up cautiously. As he did so, his foot kicked at something lying on the ground. Without even having to guess, Henry knew it was his digivice.

_"Found it already, huh?"_ chuckled the voice as it took a step closer. _"Go on. Pick it up. You'll be needing it if we're going to be giving each other proper introductions, right? I know your name, Henry. It's only fair that you should know mine as well."_

Frowning in suspicion, Henry slowly bent down, not relaxing his guard for even a moment and picked up his digivice, quickly glancing at it to make sure it was just that before breathing a sigh of relief as its screen lit up expectantly.

_"Satisfied? Now, how about we have a talk. Just you and I…"_

The figure took another step forward, and the mists around it cleared, revealing a purple and yellow armored humanoid with a decidedly insectoid horn situated on its helmet. Raising his digivice, Henry activated the scanner function and called up the digimon's statistics.

Beetlemon

Stage: Hybrid

Type: Variable

Special Attacks: Thunder Fist, Proton Slam, Lightning Blitz

_"Beetlemon. Henry. Henry. Beetlemon,"_ grinned the cyborg insect digimon beneath his helm. _"Pleasure to meet you."_


	145. 144: Storms of Crimson

"What did you do to _ALICE?!"_

This was the first thing that Crusadermon heard upon her arrival in the Chuchidarumon village, which was followed almost immediately by a powerful explosion that sent HiAndromon's body flying through the air whereupon he crashed into the ground with ferocious force. Curious as to what the Mega level android did to incur such wrath, the pink armored Royal Knight turned to see.

She didn't have to wait for very long.

Within seconds of HiAndromon's ill-advised flight, an irate, purple and blue armored shaman of the Kuzuhamon line flew forward, violet energy crackling around her silver staff. At a speed that caught even Crusadermon by surprise, the Kuzuhamon crushed HiAndromon to the ground with one high-heeled boot and grabbed him by his mechanical throat.

"What did you to her?!" Kuzuhamon demanded again, ignoring the android's choked gasps as she pressed her fingers into his neck hard enough to leave imprints. "You absorbed her, _didn't you?!_ Why? She was just a _child!_ Did you think you would gain strength from her?! You greedy, data hungry sons of bitches! You'll do _anything_ to get stronge…!"

Kuzuhamon tirade abruptly snapped off as Crusadermon, deciding that now was the best time for her to intervene before the situation spun out of control, lashed out with her yellow ribbons and cracked the shaman upon her head with them as though they were whips. Kuzuhamon was flung to the side with a scream of surprise and pain, crashing into one of the Chuchidarumon homes.

"Get a hold of yourself," Crusadermon said indifferently. "You're hurting one of my allies there." Turning, Crusadermon leveled a glare at HiAndromon. "Would you mind explaining to me, _calmly_ , why that digimon went off on you like that?"

_"She said something about Alice,"_ coughed HiAndromon in Kazu's voice as he massaged his throat. _"And that's already a…complicated story. She didn't give me a chance to explain it, never mind register that she was asking me a question before she started laying into me like an angry Sumo wrestler."_

"Then you'd best start talking," Crusadermon said, fingering one of her ribbons. "I'm sure she'd be interested in hearing about your story…"

A loud shriek filled the air as Kuzuhamon, now recovered from the Royal Knight's attack, kicked out a chunk of wall from the house she had landed in, causing the debris to fly towards Crusadermon like a heat-seeking missile. _Tsking_ disdainfully, Crusadermon swatted the oncoming wall with one hand, shattering it into pieces.

"Put a pause there," grumbled Crusadermon like a mother listening to a spoiled child's wails. "We have a little problem with our audience."

Spinning on a dime, Crusadermon zeroed in on the battered Kuzuhamon as she stumbled out of the structure, breathing harshly, and quickly launched herself at the other Mega. Pulling back her right fist, the Pile Bunker shield that covered her forearm closed up around it.

_"Fist of Athena!"_

_Just a little hit should be enough to calm things down here…_

_"Spirit Strike!"_

A powerful voice rang out upon the air as four elemental fox spirits of fire, water, wind, and lightning surged through the air, grabbing Kuzuhamon and throwing her to the side at the last minute, narrowly avoiding getting struck by the powerful Royal Knight as her shield laden fist struck the ground. Dust exploded into the air, temporarily obscuring Crusadermon's vision.

"We can't take you anywhere without you causing trouble, can we?" came a voice from within the dust.

_Wha…?_

_"Amethyst Mandala!"_

A golden glow erupted from behind the Royal Knight, dispersing the dust. Whirling about, Crusadermon saw that a Sakuyamon had landed behind her. Before she could get away the golden energy lashed out and surrounded her body, encasing her in a golden ring that quickly constricted itself around her.

"Now you be good," ordered Sakuyamon sternly, "or next time I'll think of something a little more creative involving your head and my staff. _Got it?!"_ Not waiting to see what Crusadermon's response would be Sakuyamon turned and leveled a heavy glare on Kuzuhamon and HiAndromon, the former of whom remained trapped in the clutches of her fox spirits.

"All right. One of you two has some explaining to do, and I mean _now_ or else heads are going to roll! I mean, are you guys serious?! We're in the middle of trying to resolve a problem here and you're picking a fight with each other! Are you out of your minds?!"

"Um… _Ms. Rika,"_ said HiAndromon in Guardromon's voice. _"She attacked us first…"_

_"Right,"_ said Sakuyamon in Rika's voice. _"I feel like doing that whenever I see your partner's face anyway, but you know something? I…don't…_ care _right now! Am I babysitting a bunch of two year olds here?! You!"_ Sakuyamon jabbed a finger at Kuzuhamon. _"Explain yourself!"_

"It's…" Kuzuhamon's mouth transfixed itself into a snarl as she glared at HiAndromon. "He's got _Alice_ inside of him! _My_ Alice! He _killed_ her!"

"Now hold on a second here!" exclaimed HiAndromon, Kazu's anger bleeding into the Mega's dual voices. "I didn't do anything to her! She was trying to help us!"

"Kazu?" asked Sakuyamon in an irritated voice. "Make this quick and make it good."

_"We were fighting UlforceVeedramon, and we were getting our butts kicked! This girl—_

_Alice—shows up and says she's going to help us and she, um,_ merges _with us to give me and Guardromon the ability to biomerge to Mega in the real world. That's all! I didn't do anything to try and harm her!"_

Sakuyamon nodded and snapped her fingers, releasing Kuzuhamon from her bonds, dropping her to the ground. The golden band that surrounded Crusadermon likewise disappeared, and the Royal Knight stretched her limbs, eyeing Sakuyamon warily.

"All right then," said the golden shaman. "Now that that's settled, that means you two can have a chat about it… _after_ we've resolved the current situation. If either of you two so much as pronounce an attack or _look_ at each other the wrong way, I'm going to knock you both into next week! Crusadermon! Hook up with Beelzemon and the rest. Same with you Kazu. Kuzuhamon…you and I have unfinished business at the seal. I want to know what the heck happened that made Henry disappear…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on," said HiAndromon. "Henry _disappeared?"_

Sakuyamon's eyes flashed beneath her helm as she turned towards the android.

"You didn't notice?"

"I was kind of too busy being decked by tall and purple over there…"

"Whatever. It's not going to make a bit of difference right now. _You_ aren't even going to be there…"

"Actually," put in Kuzuhamon carefully as she took slow breaths to calm herself down, "his presence might be required. I'm…not sure myself what it was that happened to your friend, but whatever the case may be we may need someone who can traverse beyond the normal boundaries of existence in order to bring your friend back. Alice is unique in that aspect because of her condition as a spirit. To do so, I would need to get in contact with her…"

"Fine!" snapped Sakuyamon. "Just don't dally, got it? I don't have any time for your games. I want this resolved, and I want it resolved _fast._ If you have something that can help me get in touch with Henry, get him back, bring back Alice if possible, and get Noriko out of her trance, then do it! Now let's go! _Both of you!"_

Not waiting for any affirmation on the parts of Kuzuhamon and HiAndromon, Sakuyamon leapt into the air and headed back towards the area where the others lay. HiAndromon and Kuzuhamon both exchanged a look and without further ado quickly followed her, leaving Crusadermon alone, feeling somewhat bewildered by what had just transpired.

* * *

Jeri held onto an unconscious Terriermon gingerly, her expression a portrait of worry as the long eared digimon shifted and mumbled what sounded like 'momentai' to her. Shortly after the light had ended and everyone realized that Henry had disappeared (when they weren't too focused on watching Kuzuhamon belt HiAndromon clear across the village), Terriermon had dedigivolved and collapsed. There wasn't any reason that Jeri could see as to why it had happened, but she suspected that it had something to do with Henry's disappearance.

_A Tamer and their digimon are closely connected. If the Tamer can feel what their partner feels in a battle, and is capable of biomerging with them, who's to say that with one of them missing they might experience some kind of…I don't know…coma or something? I think the digimon show mentioned something similar, like where their energy gets low if they aren't in the presence of their partner._

Jeri glanced over at Urocyomon, who likewise had fallen unconscious following their arrival here. A blue flame flickered at the tip of his tail, sputtering every so often as though it wanted to go out.

"Um," began Ayaka carefully, "I'm not hearing anything from within the village anymore. Do you think Sakuyamon managed to put a stop to those two?"

"Guess we'll just have to find out," replied Kenta, gulping nervously. "She didn't want any of us to leave our position so we won't know right away."

Ayaka raised an eyebrow at the bespectacled boy. "And here I thought you were finally starting to grow up and stop being a wimp. You're telling me that you're not going to go take a look no matter what she told you?"

Kenta gulped again. "I wouldn't want to get on Rika's bad side even on her _best_ days."

A shadow fell over the two Tamers, and both looked up to see Sakuyamon, followed quickly by HiAndromon and Kuzuhamon, flying on in.

"I guess that we have our answer now," said Kenta, adjusting his glasses as he watched them land near the edge of the circle.

"All right," said Sakuyamon. "Kuzuhamon. Do whatever you have to and reach Alice, and make it _quick._ I'm going to reactivate the mandala and see if I can't get a hold of Henry. I want you to join me as soon as you can."

"Understood," said Kuzuhamon, turning towards HiAndromon, who regarded her warily.

"I… _apologize_ for my earlier actions," said Kuzuhamon. "I wish that I had more time to explain but I'm rather fond of Alice. I do not take any ill treatment towards her lightly, and as I am connected to her, sensing her inside of you…"

"Don't worry about it," said HiAndromon. "Even though I don't really know her, I wouldn't try to hurt her or anything. She's been a big help to us…"

"You and I will talk more about this later," interrupted Kuzuhamon, placing one hand on the android's chest and pressing firmly against it. "In the meantime…" Kuzuhamon mouthed a few words silently and a blue light materialized around her body, extending outwards to cover HiAndromon as well. The android digimon's body went rigid as he felt a surge of energy flow through him like a waterfall, and the world blanked out around him.

_Whoa…_ was the last coherent thought that the visor-wearing Tamer had as his awareness vanished.

* * *

"I can't take this anymore," growled Beelzemon as he watched a pillar of crimson light ascend into the sky. "Someone care to explain to me _why_ all we're doing is just standing here? Pineapple Head needs our help out there!"

"In a battle of powers," said Gyōjamon in a smooth tone, "it is usually best to let the greatest ones duke it out between them and wait for an opportunity to strike once they're worn out. I should point out that our recent exertions these past couple of days have left us all reasonably drained, and Sand Liches can, and will, take advantage of that. It is how they thrive despite the fact that they hold so little power compared to most digimon.

"But does that mean that we have to sit here and watch?" asked Lilithmon, joining in on the conversation. "I mean, just because we're tired doesn't mean we can take a backseat here."

"Yes it does," replied Gyōjamon. "Not unless you want to get hurt out there. You won't do anyone any good by letting that happen because you were too tired to fight. Besides, at this point we don't have a good enough defense against them other than 'hit them until they're dead' which isn't good in our condition, unless we can somehow activate this village's defenses. _If_ they exist at all…"

"Oh, they exist," came the voice of Crusadermon as she came in for a landing. "It just doesn't appear as though they'll be turning on any time soon. Too much useless data imbedded in the structure of this place is preventing them from activating at a decent speed. For all intents and purposes, we're on our own."

"Bet that must be heaven for you," growled Beelzemon. Crusadermon sniffed disdainfully and folded her arms across her chest.

"I enjoy battle, but I am hardly stupid. An enemy that does not go down and stay down after you've defeated them is not the sort of challenge that I enjoy. Especially not soulless creatures such as these. The only thing that makes me feel alive in battle is watching the passion in the other side's eyes, whether it's from their desire to live or to destroy. I see nothing but endless hunger in those things."

Gyōjamon narrowed his eyes as he watched the battle continue to play out.

"In the end such hunger will be their own downfall. Consumption without respect for limits…"

"Yeah, whatever," growled Beelzemon. "I heard the exact same crap from the D-Reaper, and I'll thank you not to spout the same nonsense."

Beelzemon tensed his wings as a particularly bright blast of crimson light flooded the landscape and a series of shrieks resounded upon the air.

"That tears it," the former Demon Lord growled. "I'm going in the…"

Beelzemon was abruptly cut off as Gyōjamon swept his spear in front of him, stopping the blade just short of his neck.

"That would be… _unwise._ You've seen the power that's being unleashed out there, right? Your friend is throwing everything he has into this. If he has to worry about us, he won't be able to fight at his best. In fact, you may end up getting caught in the crossfire."

Beelzemon growled angrily and grabbed hold of Gyōjamon's spear.

"Now you listen to me, bub. I've had it up to here with you…"

"Hey!" exclaimed Lilithmon in surprise, her decayed, demonic hand pointing out towards the sky as she took note of a figure flying through the air. "Isn't that…Justimon?"

Looking up, Beelzemon focused his third eye on the flying figure, and his lower two eyes widened as they caught sight of a red scarf fluttering in the wind.

"About time someone thought to play idiot hero," Beelzemon muttered before flapping his wings and leaping into the air, ignoring Gyōjamon's call to stay.

* * *

Gallantmon swung his spear through the air, sending streams of crimson energy tearing across the desert. Sand sprayed freely as though it were blood as one after another, Sand Liches were shorn to pieces, only to form and reform again and again in their persistent efforts to bring down the powerful Mega level Royal Knight. A Sand Lich burst out of the ground behind him, its body taking on the form of an insect, and spinning on a dime, Gallantmon slammed a wing into the creature. Crimson light shone from within the metallic feathers before flames ignited from within them. The Lich screamed horribly as the flames leapt up into its body, tearing into it and sending it staggering away.

_"Thanks Agunimon,"_ said Takato.

_"Don't mention it. Grani, how's that program coming?"_

_"Slowly. I have been gathering information on our opponents while we've been fighting in order to develop a basic structure to go by, but there doesn't seem to be anything that I can follow. It's as though these Sand Liches don't obey the traditional rules of a digital life form. There are no digi-cores, or base code, and yet they're responding to the Catalyst algorithm emanating from the village."_

_"Urocyomon said that they used to be digimon,"_ supplied Guilmon. _"Does that help?"_

_"Not much, I'm afraid. Live digimon can provide me with the necessary information needed. These are not quite alive, but they're not dead either. A prerecorded digital echo? I have no idea at the present mome—Ugh!"_

Takato had to take a moment to realize that it hadn't been Grani who had grunted in pain, but rather himself as a surprisingly large incisor like claw composed of solidified sand ripped free from the ground and latched hold of him around the waist. Armor creaked and groaned, protesting under the claws attempts to crush him.

_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ Exclaimed Takato in his mind. _Got distracted by all the talking going on in my head! I guess having more than two heads isn't better than one after all. Nuts! This is bad! I've gotta break free!_

Unfortunately for Gallantmon, the Sand Liches weren't giving him the chance he needed to do just that. Four serpentine Liches tore themselves free from the ground and rained spikes down on him. The spikes slammed into his body at the joints, forcing him to drop his spear. Immediately, a Lich latched hold of it greedily and pulled it underneath the surface.

_"No!"_ Gallantmon exclaimed loudly, one hand reaching desperately for the weapon, only to stop as the claw applied still more pressure.

_This…can't…be happening!_ Thought Gallantmon as he pulled desperately on the claw. In spite of his near overwhelming strength, the claw remained firmly affixed to his body, and indeed seemed to tighten all the more. _I can't lose like this!_

_"Takato…I feel weird. I feel like my strength is leaving me…"_

_"Guilmon!"_ An image of his partner's data dissipating from his death throes from so long ago flashed through his mind, and crimson light flared around the Royal Knight's body, exploding outwards and annihilating the sand claw. Falling to the ground, Gallantmon breathed harshly, trying to catch his breath. He didn't have time as a series of sand tentacles ripped free from the ground and latched onto his wrists and ankles.

_Wha…? They just don't quit…_

_"Takato…I'm feeling like my energy is being drained again…"_

_"No…no…NO!"_

Once more a crimson glow surrounded the winged Royal Knight and fire seared outwards from his arms, blasting away the Liches restraints. Surging to his feet, Gallantmon raised one hand and sand exploded upwards into the air as his spear ripped free from the ground, answering his summons. Whipping the blade around, Gallantmon created a torrent of powerful winds that blew away the next volley of sand spikes that flew at him. Bringing the spear to a stop, he pulled it back and threw the spear as hard as he could at the Sand Liches that charged towards him. Reality almost seemed to warp around the weapon as it tore unrelentingly towards their target. Liches were pulled free from the ground as the spear sailed past them, merging with each other until they formed a tunnel surrounding the weapon. Finally, a massive explosion resounded upon the air, detonating the Liches and sending their particles falling from the sky like a gentle snowfall. Leaping into the air, narrowly avoiding another attempt to capture him from beneath, Gallantmon again raised his hand, and the spear rocketed forth from the smoke and dust of the explosion, slamming home into his hand.

"Just when I thought you needed a hand for once," came the chuckling voice of Justimon as he soared towards Gallantmon.

"Justimon!"

"That's me. Heads up."

With picture perfect skill that Takato always admired seeing from the Legendary Tamer, Justimon landed gracefully on Gallantmon's shoulder guard, and tipped the biomerged Mega a salute.

"How's it going?"

"These guys are pretty stubborn," replied Gallantmon, indicating the snarling Sand Liches as they began to reemerge below them. "I keep hitting them, but they keep coming. Guilmon also found out the hard way that if they touch you, they drain some of your energy."

"So I guess just beating them down isn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be," said Justimon, sounding rather disappointed. "Got any plans?"

"Just one…maybe," said Gallantmon. "Grani's working on a program that should shut these guys down."

"Grani?" From within his data sphere, Ryo cocked an eyebrow at his friend. "Are you sure that you haven't been hit over the head or something?"

"No, I'm serious. Grani came back because of my X-Antibody combined with the spear that helped unlock my Crimson Mode. It helped him 'evolve' or something like that."

Shifting his spear, Gallantmon caught the light of the digital day, and before Justimon's surprised gaze, a human looking boy appeared upon the surface of the blade.

_"Greetings, Justimon,"_ the boy said, the metal of the spear singing as the words were spoken. _"It is a pleasure to be able to speak to you."_

"Likewise," nodded Justimon. "You helped out quite a lot during the D-Reaper mess, so it's good to know that you managed to make it back to us. So, according to Takato you have a plan for us?"

_"Unfortunately I don't know if I'm able to create a sufficient counter-program. The data of the Sand Liches keeps shifting too much. However…"_ The image of Grani paused, his expression becoming thoughtful. _"…I do believe that I can come up with a temporary measure until I can come up with such a program."_

"Then you have a plan of sorts," said Justimon.

_"Of sorts,"_ agreed Grani. _"However, it would require that I be taken back to the Chuchidarumon village and the spear placed back within its center as my consciousness resides within it. The village has certain resources that I can utilize. I will only need for you to keep the Liches from causing too much damage until I can set my plan in motion."_

"What do you think, Gallantmon?" asked Justimon, turning to the crimson armored knight.

"I'd say it's worth a shot," replied Gallantmon.

"Okay then," said Justimon, crouching on Gallantmon's shoulder guard. "I'd better let everyone know to expect the welcoming committee."

"Hold on there, Justimon. You should take Grani with you. Someone's going to need to hold these guys off so that we can get a head start."

Justimon hesitated, glancing at the blade for a moment before looking up at Takato. In spite of the fact that the sword was easily larger than he was, he wasn't very concerned about carrying it the distance that he needed to take it. However…

"Are you going to be all right? If things get too tight you might end up cutting it really close."

"I'll be fine. I'll be falling back as I go. I just need you to get back to the village and get things ready."

"All right," agreed Justimon, taking hold of the spear as Gallantmon handed it up to him. "You're the leader here so I'll run with it."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

"I thought Rika gave you the grand speech already. Oh well, guess I'll have to tell you later."

With that, Justimon crouched down and leapt up into the air with a powerful lunge. Within seconds he rocketed past an incoming Beelzemon, who swerved through the air reflexively.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Beelzemon!" called out Gallantmon as vortexes of fire and crimson light began to swirl around his fists. "Get back to the village now! We've got a plan getting set up, and we need to protect the village at all costs! I'm going to be going all out for this one!"

"What do you me…? Oh…"

Beelzemon's eyes grew wide as he saw lightning crackle around Gallantmon's armor and within his eyes, smoldering with all the fury of a thunderstorm. The crimson knight brought his hands together, swirling energies blazing dangerously between them. As Beelzemon watched, a circle appeared between them in the depths of that energy before detonating, illuminating the sky with blood red light.

* * *

_"Not what you expected, is it, Henry?"_ said Beetlemon, trying to fill in the silence that had fallen between them.

"I'm not sure I understand you," replied the half-Chinese Tamer. "In fact, I don't think we've even met."

_"Well, not under these circumstances. In reality, I've been a part of you for a while now; I've just been…staying hidden. Having too many voices in your head can be problematic for some people, and I know that you sometimes enjoy silence. Something that your partner doesn't seem to understand in fact…"_

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Huh?" Henry blinked in surprise as he saw a diminutive, long eared digimon approaching, everything below his head covered by the fog that swarmed around them. "Terriermon?! What are you doing here? I thought Rika told you to wait outside of the circle."

"Phht. Yeah, like Rika can stop me from being with my partner just because she says so. You can never get rid of me that easily."

_"Ease off, Henry,"_ said Beetlemon with a light laugh. _"Terriermon is just so strongly connected to you that when your physical body slipped out of the digital dimension and wound up here, his mind followed."_

"Great. Thanks for ruining my aura of invincibility," scowled Terriermon. "And here I was thinking Henry would finally believe me about how locked doors are wasted on me."

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai!"

Henry chuckled lightly, secretly grateful to have his partner with him in wherever it was that they had ended up.

_Speaking of which…_

"So…just where are we exactly? You seem to know where we are…"

_"In a manner of speaking,"_ nodded Beetlemon. _"We're inside a dimensional barrier that Noriko accidently created when her digivice powers emerged in the spatial warp between the real and digital worlds. It's rather limited. Our presence has thrown it out of whack, making what we see right now, its most basic form. The mist is a type of digital matter that can be manipulated to form any structure and in any size…at least from our perspective and from Noriko's. It's kind of like how the digital world is so large, outstripping the computers that make up the computer network that created it while still being able to exist. This is just a scaled down version."_ Beetlemon chuckled. _"Makes me wonder a few things about the digital world, and just who exactly has been playing around with it. Humans? Or…something else?"_

"You're being awfully cryptic for a…" Terriermon tilted his head to one side. "Um…who are you again?"

_"Beetlemon. Spirit of Thunder and Legendary Warrior."_

"Never heard of ya."

"Terriermon…" Henry sighed. "Sorry about that. Though I do think introductions are important. You seem to know us, but we don't know anything about you. You've said that you were a part of me, but I don't remember anything like that."

_"Forgetting that weird, 'out-of-body' experience that you, Ryo, and Noriko had? It happened when you found Noriko in the Chuchidarumon village. You were struck by a sphere. That was me. I was sent by my…'benefactor' to give you guys a hand."_

Henry and Terriermon exchanged looks.

"Why?"

_"Why what?"_

"Hey! Cut it out! The only mon who gets to ask annoying questions around here is me! Just answer his question already!"

"Terr…" Henry bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from completing his partner's name. In retrospect, his partner was right, at least about the end. Beetlemon was dodging the question.

_Some habits are just hard to break I guess._

_"Why am I helping you? I'm pretty sure the safety of the digital world is reason enough. I mean, that's the reason we gave when me and my own friends fought Lucemon the first and second time…"_

"Lucemon?" asked Terriermon. "Hold on. What Lucemon are you talking about? The one that we've got in our ranks now—and no, I don't care if he's called 'Lumemon' these days—or a completely different guy?"

_"Let's just stick with the first question, okay?"_ replied Beetlemon. _"Trust me. This is way more important than a reformed fallen angel. Something big is coming your way. In fact, it may already be in motion now. I'm not too sure. I've been out of contact with my 'benefactor' for a while, so I don't know what the situation is. At any rate, that's why I'm helping you."_

"What is this threat?" demanded Henry, clenching one hand into a tight fist.

_"One thing at a time here. If things work out, you'll be able to handle it. If not…well, I won't go into details. Terror and discord most likely. First things first though. You've got a girl to save here, right? Rescue her first. Then we'll talk."_

"He's really not giving you any options, is he?" asked Terriermon sardonically.

_"This'll go a lot more quickly if you accept my help,"_ said Beetlemon. _"With my element I have mastery over electrical currents. I can give you the best chance to navigate Noriko's mind. I can't do it on my own though. It's all a part the deal that my predecessor made in order to make sure that the digital world could be safeguarded. I need a human host in order for my powers to activate. You'll be the one in control. All I can do is guide you in their use."_

Henry gritted his teeth together, eventually nodding his head.

"I'll do this. Whatever it takes to get Noriko back to normal."

_"All right,"_ said Beetlemon, extending his hand outwards. _"I promise you, you won't regret this."_

"We'll believe it when we see it," said Terriermon, glowering at the armored digmon.

"Terriermon…"

"Fine, fine. But if the world blows up because you shook this guys hand don't come complaining to me. Oh, and I get to have all of your stuff."

Grimacing, Henry ignored the ranting of his partner and raised his hand, his smooth palm fitting easily into Beetlemon's. A second later power flowed through him, and the sight of mist became eclipsed by a sudden burst of light emanating from the insect digimon.


	146. 145: Shadows and Mists

The sound of chimes rang upon the air as Beetlemon, Terriermon, and Henry made their way through the dark, dank mists. Henry looked from one direction to another, trying to find some discerning landmarks that he could use to identify where they were. He quickly gave up however, not finding a single one. He realized that it was a rather useless endeavor, based on what Beetlemon had told him about where he was, but it was more of a habit for him in an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous situation. Anything that could be of benefit for them was of the utmost importance to them. However, there was nothing but mist and darkness.

"Are we there yet?" asked Terriermon as he plodded along through the mist.

"Terriermon…" groaned Henry, fighting off the urge to slap his face in annoyance.

"I'm just asking, Henry. C'mon! We've been walking through this fog for practically forever! It's as thick as peanut butter! I wish Guilmon were here. He'd eat his way through this stuff."

"Well, he's not so we'll just have to make do with what we have. Besides," Henry glanced over his shoulder and forced a grin on his face, "don't you have an appetite as big as he does?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that…"

_"In answer to your question, Terriermon,"_ said Beetlemon, _"we're almost there. Time and distance aren't really important things here, as we're not technically moving at all. It's just what our minds are used to experiencing, so this is what we see. What we're actually doing though is synchronizing ourselves to Noriko's brainwaves. Once we do that, we'll be able to contact her successfully."_

Terriermon _hmmphed_ in an almost Rika-like fashion as he took a look around him.

"Noriko's brain sure is pretty boring…"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai, Henry. I'm sorry. I forgot how attached you are to her."

Henry once again groaned in frustration. Just how it was that this little digimon was capable of hitting so many buttons in one sentence he had no idea.

_It's really no wonder that Gorillamon was angry with him,_ thought Henry sardonically before being broken out of his thoughts by the sound of wind chimes clanging upon the air again.

"Why do I keep hearing that?" wondered the half-Chinese Tamer, peering into the darkness. "I don't see anything, but I know that there's something out there."

_"That would be a memory coming from Noriko,"_ replied Beetlemon. _"It must be a pretty powerful one to resonate this easily in spite of the fact that we haven't even reached her core yet. Either that or we're a lot closer than I initially thought."_

"Hmmm…" Henry frowned as he came to a stop, listening closely to the sound of the chimes. There was almost a sad, melancholic tune to them, or perhaps that had more to do with the environment that they were in.

"It sounds like it's pretty close," said Terriermon, raising his ears into the air.

"Can you take us to it?" asked Henry.

"Can Guilmon find three week old bread buried beneath two tons of concrete?"

"You always pick the strangest metaphors to give for a simple 'yes.'"

Ignoring the complaints of his human partner, Terriermon kept his ears suspended in midair for a moment before finally pointing to his left.

"Thataway."

Henry turned towards Beetlemon. "Is that the direction that we should go?"

_"We do need to synchronize with Noriko's mind in order to contact her. We can start anywhere, go anywhere. All you have to do is figure out what your instincts tell you."_

Henry nodded and looked down at his partner.

"All right, Terriermon. Take us there."

"You got it!"

* * *

Kazu Shiota opened up his eyes to a world of darkness and sparkling lights. His own body was surrounded by a translucent, coppery glow. This comforted him somewhat, but Kazu quickly pushed away such thoughts and peered out into the shadows.

"Just…where am I?" he asked aloud.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is the landscape of the mind," came the voice of Guardromon as a ball of light suddenly bloomed into life next to him. Startled, Kazu whirled around just in time to see the sphere expand, eventually taking on the form of the familiar, rust bucket of a digimon that had been his partner for these past few months.

"Guardromon! I'm so glad that you're here!" Kazu exclaimed, nudging the android digimon with a glowing elbow, grinning widely. "Now that you're here I feel like I can handle this without screwing things up!"

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you," replied Guardromon, sounding flummoxed. Kazu chuckled.

"Great minds think alike I guess. Not that we're 'great minds' or anything unless we're talking about you being great at helping my mom out with her taxes…although now that I think about it that only leaves you as the 'great mind.' Man, I really need to think about these things before I start talking."

"Why don't we just say that our chances for survival are doubled as long as we're together?" said Guardromon, trying to find a compromise that would set the boy's mind at ease. Sweeping a hand through his unruly hair, Kazu acquiesced to Guardromon's suggestion with a nod of his head.

"Sure, why not? Anyway, now that we're together we can go find Alice and talk to her, or however it was that Sakuyamon lookalike wanted to go about this." Kazu paused and tapped the side of his chin, furrowing his eyebrow. "Um…how do we do that?"

_"The same way that you Tamers seem to do anything it seems,"_ called out a voice above them. _"Follow your hearts."_

Looking up, the two partners found the glowing form of Kuzuhamon descending from the darkness, eventually coming to a stop in front of them.

"Seriously, lady," scoffed Kazu. "That's kinda cheesy."

"Hasn't it helped us before, Kazu?" asked Guardromon.

"I'm not saying that it hasn't. I'm just saying that it's cheesy." Kazu shook his head. "All right. Let's see if we can do this. Knowing my luck I'm going to get lost or something…"

"In your own mind?"

"Guardromon. I could get lost in an empty hallway if I'm not paying attention. My brain isn't exempt. You've seen my grades enough to know _that."_

"True, but I should point out that this discussion is serving only to distract you from the purpose of our being here."

"Right. Finding Alice."

Kazu returned his gaze towards the shadowy landscape, scanning it as though for some sign of the blonde haired girl who had helped him.

_This is so weird,_ thought Kazu, thinking back to his encounter with the girl. _I haven't had time to think about it much. Everything's just been one fight after the next, and just trying to keep moving in between them. She hasn't tried to contact me or anything. She merged with me and Guardromon, didn't she? To help us biomerge. So why haven't we heard a peep out of her? Guardromon always talks to me ever since we biomerged. Sometimes it gets so that I can't shut him up. Alice on the other hand…she's quiet. It's like she's not even there._

A seed of panic welled up in the boy's heart, and he ferociously squashed the feeling. Panic wouldn't help him find Alice, but he was at a loss over what to do, and it wasn't helping that Kuzuhamon was staring at him, waiting to see what he could come up with. Briefly he wondered why she wasn't doing more to help him. She was a shaman, wasn't she? And she already knew the girl better than him or any of his friends.

_Than again, it might be because she's inside me or something. Right now I'm the one whose close…closer than anyone I think. She's right here with me…she's inside me. She's…me?_

Kazu almost felt like laughing at the thought as the image of Alice in his place flitted through his mind. _Almost_ being the operative word here as both thought and image felt strangely distant to him, as though they were unimportant. Slowly, Kazu felt his eyes slide shut and a sense of concentration that he hadn't felt since he summoned his first Blue Card fell over him. Silence filled the air around him save for one moment where he thought Guardromon had called out to him, but after a moment of listening he decided that it had been his imagination. He felt as though he were falling into something…something that _deepened_ with each second that passed by.

After what felt like an eternity, Kazu felt light touch his eyelids, and cracking them open he found what appeared to be an intricate root system springing free from the darkness, wrapping around something that glowed like a protective eggshell.

"Wha…?" Kazu blinked, somewhat bewildered by what he was seeing, and not at all understanding it. And yet…at the same time he felt that this was what he was looking for.

_"Of course it is, right?"_ flitted a strange voice from within Kazu's mind, but he brushed it off and instead walked up to the egg of wood and tugged on the roots.

"Come on," Kazu growled at the stubborn wood. "Just let me see what's in there! Guardromon! Kuzuhamon! Would you guys lend me a…hand?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Kazu's eyes widened in surprise as he took note of the fact that his partner and the Mega level shaman were both missing.

_Okay. Where'd they run off to?_

_"You don't have to yell, ya know. Didja ever think of knockin'? It's what's polite, right?"_

"Huh?" Kazu blinked, finally giving the voice his attention. "Who's there?"

No answer came to Kazu as at that very moment the wooden shell's roots parted and reached out, snarling around his arms and legs before forcefully pulling him into the cocoon. Kazu cried out in surprise as light assaulted his vision, making him clench his eyes closed tightly.

_"Take it easy, kid,"_ soothed the voice. _"This light ain't goin' ta hurt ya. It's all in your head, right? Just open 'em up. You'll be fine. You can't do this job blind, right?"_

_Oh, that's hilarious…_

"Who _are_ you?!" demanded Kazu, but as before the voice did not answer him.

_This is ridiculous!_ Kazu thought heatedly. _I keep hearing voices but it never talks back when I call. Sorta reminds me of girls actually. They just don't like talking to me._

Continuing to grumble irritably, Kazu opened his eyes tentatively. He was relieved to find that the light was not harming his vision in the slightest. He didn't have time to marvel on the matter however, as soon enough the entirety of his focus had something else to occupy his attention. Kazu's eyes went wide as his mouth fell open in surprise. Hovering suspended in the air in front of him, arms folded across her chest with her golden hair spilling down her shoulders, and surrounded by the nimbus of luminous light that flooded the cocoon of wood was Alice McCoy. So stunned was he by the sight of the girl that he didn't even notice that the roots that had wrapped around him had pulled away.

_"Hey, kid,"_ spoke the voice again. _"You should be moving now, right? You know, to get her out of here?"_

"Gah!" Kazu jerked reflexively, slamming his head against a low-hanging root. Drawing in a breath with a sharp hiss, Kazu massaged his head while collecting himself.

_Easy, Kazu. Easy._ Kazu glanced up and then forced his eyes shut as a flood of heat rushed into his face. _Okay. Whoever or whatever that voice is, I'm pretty sure that they're having a laugh at my expense here. But it's right about one thing. I've got to get her out of here._

Instinctively, Kazu took a step forward and placed his hands on Alice's shoulders, shaking her lightly in an attempt to wake her up.

"Hey. Um…are you awake?"

No response came from the blonde haired girl save for the slow, measured breathing that came with deep sleep. Grinding his teeth together, Kazu's mind raced furiously.

_She's not waking up! Oh, man. How am I supposed to do this? Think Kazu!_

Glancing over his shoulder, the brown haired boy was relieved to see that the cocoon retained the entrance that had granted him entry. Grabbing hold of Alice, Kazu began to work his way backwards. Grunting in exasperation, Kazu frowned at the blonde haired girl.

_Either I'm weaker than I thought or she's heavier than she looks,_ thought Kazu sardonically.

"C'mon, Sleeping Beauty," grumbled Kazu as he inched towards the exit. "A little help on your part would be appreciated. Man, you girls can be such a problem…"

"Perhaps if you kissed her like in the story by the name you gave her you'd be able to wake her up," spoke up the unexpected voice of Guardromon as his massive arms reached around Kazu through the cocoons entry and hauled the two children out. Kazu gave a shout of surprise as he turned towards the rust colored android.

"Guardromon! Where were you?! And I'll kindly forget that you even said that stuff earlier about 'kissing Alice.' What are you, nuts? That's just gross!"

Guardromon raised a mechanical eyebrow, somewhat befuddled by the boy's reaction.

"May I ask why, Kazu? Kenta seems to be doing fine from his experience with Ms. Itou, and you humans appear to engage in the activity quite a bit…"

"Guardro _-monnnn!"_ growled Kazu as he rapped his partner on the top of his mechanical head. "Enough already! Where's Kuzuhamon?"

"Right here," came the shaman's voice as she materialized in front of the Tamer and reached out towards Alice, gently folding her arms around her body. Pulling the unconscious girl out of Kazu's arms, Kuzuhamon parted her hair, brushing stray strands away from her face.

"Alice," Kuzuhamon breathed in a quiet voice.

"Hmmm? Kuzuhamon?" murmured the girl, shifting slightly in the digimon's arms. Her blue eyes fluttered open.

"Time to wake up, Alice. We need your help."

"Hm," replied Alice, her eyes closing shut again. "Right. Got to…help the Tamers…get…strong…er. The Royal…Knights…"

"…Are gone, Alice. Beaten. But a friend of the Tamers is lost right now. He's trying to find another friend too, but we have no way of finding them and bringing them back to where they need to be. We need your help. Only you can go to the kinds of places where we can't. You can see what we can't see."

Alice was silent for a moment, still caught in the borderland between sleep and wakefulness. After a moment, the blonde haired girl nodded slowly and pushed open her eyes.

"…Only what I can see," she said, her voice betraying exhaustion. "I understand."

As Kazu watched a light glow surrounded the young girl and expanded, engulfing her three companions. Kazu cried out in surprise as he felt something in his body tingle. Looking down at himself, his eyes widened in shock as he saw his body begin to distort and blur.

"Oh, dear," said Guardromon. "Kazu, I believe something is wrong with my eyes."

"Guardromon!" cried out Kazu as he saw the same thing that was happening to him occur with his partner. "What's going on?"

"Data transportation," came Kuzuhamon's whispered reply in response to the boy's question. "Alice! What are you doing?!"

A small smile appeared on Alice's face as she looked up at Kuzuhamon.

"Showing you the way," was all she said as the light around her brightened in its intensity.

"Alice! _No!"_

_"…See you…home…"_

_"ALICE!"_

* * *

"Come on you slowpokes!" exclaimed Terriermon loudly. "Don't either of you guys know the meaning of the word 'speed?'"

"You're one to talk, Terriermon," said Henry, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "You're not the one moving."

From his spot on top of Henry's head, Terriermon gave a loud _hmmph_ and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Not my fault that my creators made my legs so short. I thought that being modeled after a dog and a rabbit would have some benefits, but no. All I have are long ears that help me create miniature tornadoes and shoot energy blasts. My feet can't take me _anywhere_ fast on my own."

"In your own words Terriermon, momentai," grinned Henry, reaching up and rapping his partner on top of his head.

"Great. Now you're using my own catchphrase against me…"

_"Is he always like this?"_ asked Beetlemon in a slightly amused tone.

"You should see him when he's at home. Not even Mom can get him to keep quiet. It almost makes me wish that I still had to keep him a secret from my parents. He was a lot quieter then."

"And I had to babysit Suzie at the same time," scowled Terriermon. "I tell ya, my having to be quiet was _not_ worth the torment that she put me through. I wouldn't wish the Princess Pretty Pants treatment on anyone. Not even ol' Zhuqs."

_"Do I even want to know?"_ asked Beetlemon, raising a curious eyebrow.

"You don't," replied Henry. "Trust me. Are we getting any closer, Terriermon?"

"Of course we are. At least, that's what these ears are telling me. I don't really get it though. We haven't seen anything from Noriko since we started following that noise. It's been nothing but darkness, mists, and those wind chimes, and they're starting to drive me _crazy!"_

Henry grimaced, resisting the reflex to berate his partner for his usual blunt attitude. He couldn't blame him really. They had been walking for a while now and they had nothing to show for their efforts save for Terriermon's assurances that they were getting closer. Assurances that even Terriermon, he was sensing, was starting to lose faith in.

_There's got to be something that we can do. Beetlemon said something about how we have to synchronize with Noriko in order to find her. Synchronize…I should have asked about that. Could it be anything like what Terriermon and I experience when we biomerge? Two hearts beating as one? Two minds working together?_

Henry closed his eyes as he thought of the dark haired, crimson eyed girl that had reason to be on his mind of late.

_My biomerging with Terriermon came about because we are extremely close. We fill in each other's weak points—like how he speaks his mind more while I have the tendency to hold back. The point is, we both know each other in ways where we can be considered the same entity. One being. I don't have that kind of relationship with Noriko though. What do I really know about her? She's nice…kind. Thoughtful, and a little edgy when it comes to people. She kind of reminds me a little bit of Jeri now that I think about it, but beyond that, I don't really know much of anything about her._

_Funny. A person can be in the same classroom as someone for years and never learn anything about them outside of their name. And when it came to Noriko I didn't even know that. Sure we worked on some class assignments together but that was pretty much it. She was just a face until she decided to lend a listening ear._

The sound of the wind chimes echoed upon the air once more, and again Henry was reminded of how it sounded melancholic with a touch of sorrow added to it. As he listened, a memory came to him from when he had spoken to Noriko's mother in the elevator at Hypnos. They had been discussing whether or not Yamaki could be considered a trustworthy person. Aiko had mentioned that she had difficulty trusting the blonde haired head of Hypnos had to do with something involving her late husband. Though she didn't mention any details explicitly, she had hinted that the former Mr. Nakata (unless Aiko was now going by her maiden name), who had been an investigative reporter, had dug a little too deeply into some inner-government job and had been 'removed.'

Euphemisms for killing and his own disbelief that his government could be capable of such an act, Henry couldn't help but associate the story with the sound of the chimes.

"Henry?" spoke up Terriermon as he shifted on the boy's head. "There's a giant, glowing ball in the sky."

"Wha…?"

Opening his eyes, Henry stared in stunned amazement as he confirmed his partner's words. Hovering in the air above them was a glowing blue ball, energy shifting beneath its surface like the rippling water of a stream reflecting sunlight. It illuminated the air around them with a soft blue aura.

"Is that…?"

_"Yes it is,"_ answered Beetlemon. _"Very good, Henry. You've somehow managed to synchronize with Noriko's thoughts on your own, and all without my help."_ Even though Henry wasn't looking at the insect-like digimon, he could tell just by listening that he sounded rather insulted by how easily his presence had been made unnecessary.

"But…wait. You're saying _I_ did that?"

_"I don't see anyone else here who could have done it."_

"Hey!" exclaimed Terriermon indignantly.

_"Momentai, Terriermon."_

"Ah…geh…" Terriermon stammered for a few moments, taken aback by Beetlemon's use of his favorite catchphrase. "That's fighting dirty," he finally finished, his face falling into a pout.

_"Just take it easy. We still have work to do."_

"Wha…? Do you even _know_ what 'momentai' means?"

_"Let's change the subject. Henry…"_

"I don't know how you could say that I did this," said Henry in amazement. "I didn't even do anything."

_"Sometimes you don't have to do anything special. I should point out that we've been in the midst of one of Noriko's memories. If you know her—have connected to her in some manner—that might be all it takes. Even more so if you're someone she trusts. We partner digimon know how much easier it is to work with our friends once we've really connected to them. Right?"_

Beetlemon looked at Terriermon and tipped him a knowing wink.

"Hate to say it, but he's got a point there," grumbled the long eared digimon.

_"Now we just have to get up there."_ Beetlemon turned towards Henry. _"Are you ready? You've accepted my help this far. Are you going to take it the rest of the way?"_

Henry looked up at the shimmering sphere above him. As he watched, he saw a curl of electricity crawl across its surface, sending a ripple through it. He fancied that he saw the form of a person in there, but he couldn't be too sure.

"I promised her mother that I'd help Noriko," said Henry, gripping one hand into a tight fist. "I won't go back on my promises. I'll do whatever I can to help her."

_"All right,"_ said Beetlemon, nodding. _"How about you, Terriermon? Do you have any objections?"_

"Plenty," said the long eared digimon. "Henry, I don't know about this guy. We don't know anything about him. Heck, I haven't even heard of any digimon known as 'Legendary Warriors.' We've only got his word that he's legit about anything he says. I thought you were smarter than this. Are you telling me that you're going to trust this guy's word that he's not anything like IceDevimon or the D-Reaper trying to nab you?"

"I can't say that I do trust him, Terriermon," replied Henry. "And that's why I'm glad that you're here to keep an eye out. But we're running out of time. If Noriko's in that sphere, we have to rescue her."

"And what if this is all just a trap?"

Henry pressed his lips into one thin line as he found himself unable to answer his partner's question. Seeing his friend's dilemma Terriermon took another look up at the sphere before turning a baleful glare at Beetlemon.

"If you step out of line so much as once, I'm going to do a lot more than annoy you to death."

_"Somehow I kind of figured that you'd say that,"_ said Beetlemon with a light chuckle. _"Well. If you two are committed…"_

"I am," said Henry.

"We are," added Terriermon.

_"Got it. I'd say 'don't worry' but it feels kind of like a pointless thing to say. So…here goes."_

Taking a step forward, Beetlemon's body became immaterial, taking on a ghostly appearance. Mist passed through his body as he walked up to Henry and Terriermon and sunk his body into theirs. Both partners' bodies tensed up as a strange sensation filled them. Energy bloomed within their bodies and Henry's digivice clicked and beeped in reaction to it. A flash of light burst forth from the D-Arc's screen, enveloping both Henry and Terriermon in its intensity, merging their bodies into one.

"TERRIERMON! BIOMERGE TOOO…MEGAGARGOMON!"

Light solidified into a shell of data that rapidly shattered as the massive form of MegaGargomon burst free from it. This time however, the gargantuan, fortress digimon had a slightly different appearance compared to his usual appearance. Green armor remained, decorated with golden slashes, but the gun barrels and missile launchers were gone, replaced by massive energy cannons that sparked with gold and blue electricity as motors spun and whined, charging themselves.

_"Wha…? What_ is _this?"_ asked Henry, attempting to recover from the shock that rushed through his system.

_"You're asking me?!"_ said Terriermon sarcastically. _"This is…whoa! Henry! This is just…plain…awesome! I've never felt this kind of power before! Whoa…it's just…_ whoa!"

Henry shook his head, trying to clear his mind from the rush of energy that flowed through him. It was rather easy to do, as it had a similar feeling to the way biomerging did, only it felt slightly _higher_ than normal, as though it had an extra kick to it. He briefly wondered if this was what Takato felt each time he Mode Changed.

Quickly deciding that now was not the time to be dwelling on this latest development Henry flexed his giant, mechanical fingers and fired up the engines attached to his back. Raw energy burst forth from them and began to push his body upwards. As though sensing his approach, the sphere of energy began to emit bursts of electricity that struck his armored body.

_"Okay…that kind of stings,"_ grunted Terriermon. Raising his gauntlets, energy span around his wrists and expanded outwards, forming an energy shield that deflected the bolts of lightning. Surging forwards, MegaGargomon slammed into the sphere and forced his way through it. The energy sphere shuddered and buckled against his frame, and rapidly shattered in an intense explosion of white light.

After a second the light dissipated, and from within his emerald data sphere Henry saw the limp form of Noriko fall into his outstretched hands, electricity dancing around her body like dying snakes.

_"Noriko!"_ the half-Chinese Tamer called out, his voice booming upon the air like a cannon. _"Noriko! Are you all right?"_

"Henry…?" came the half-whispered response from the girl as she stirred to his voice. Rubbing one hand against her eyes, Noriko sat up and glanced around her uncertainly. "Wha—what's going on?"

Henry breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to know that Noriko was all right.

_"You had an accident earlier,"_ he said, unsure if he should explain in full detail or keep it short to keep from confusing the girl until things had settled down. _"Terriermon and I came looking to help you."_

_"That sounded so lame…"_ quipped Terriermon smugly.

Before Henry could even reply, a new light suddenly burst forth from the sky above them and a series of roots shot out and grabbed hold of MegaGargomon.

_"Wha…? Terriermon! What's going on?"_

_"Beats me! Does this kind of thing usually happen in your head whenever you do something crazy?"_

_"Not normally, no…"_

_"Then how the heck am_ _**I** _ _supposed to know?!"_

_"Well how about that?"_ said the voice of Beetlemon from the darkness surrounding Henry's data sphere. _"It would appear that my brother of wood has awoken now."_

A new flash of light, this one of crimson, followed by the crash of thunder, cut off all further attempts at communication.

* * *

"Ooog…" groaned Terriermon as he slowly opened up his eyes. "Did somebody get the number of the GrandLocomon that hit me?"

"Terriermon!" exclaimed Jeri happily as she all but crushed the long eared rabbit-dog digimon to her chest, causing him to cough and wheeze as he fought for breath.

"Wha…? Easy Jeri! Sheesh! What the heck is going on? Are you trying to kill me? For a second there I thought I was being held by Suzie…or a giant lion or something."

"I'll take that last one as a compliment," laughed Jeri in relief as she released Terriermon. "But sorry about that. I'm just glad that you're all right. Are you all right? What happened to you? After Henry disappeared you suddenly fainted…"

"Wha…? Hey! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I do _not_ faint!"

"Right," cut in Ayaka sarcastically as she pushed her face into Terriermon's vision. "I bet you passing out for no apparent reason is called something else entirely, like maybe you picking up a digital virus or something."

The sound of Kenta's chuckling reached Terriermon's ears, causing them to perk up slightly.

"I think we need to call Nurse Suzie…"

_I'm going to get Henry and Takato for telling the others about that…_

"Okay, okay! I passed out…but _only_ because I have that close of a connection with Henry! Speaking of which, where is he? He and I just got done wrapping up our business with rescuing Noriko and then we got grabbed by tree roots or something…"

"Noriko? You guys met her wherever you two disappeared to?" asked Jeri, blinking her eyes in amazement. "Is she all right?"

"You could ask her yourself you know," called out Sakuyamon. Everyone turned to see the shaman priestess standing in the middle of her circle, smoke rising from its lines and curves as the last embers of its light began to die down. In front of her sat a coughing Noriko Nakata, supported by Sakuyamon's gloved hands as she helped hold her up.

"Phew," breathed Terriermon, wiping a paw across his forehead. "I was afraid that was all just some messed up dream. I'd hate to think that having to listen to all those stupid wind chimes for who knows how long was wasted effort."

Terriermon paused, as though waiting for the expected moment when Henry would level a _Terriermon_ on him, condemning him once more for his blatancy and his sarcasm. However, no such condemnation came. Looking around worriedly, Terriermon's gaze quickly fell on the forms of Kazu, Guardromon, and Kuzuhamon from where they sat, with an unconscious Henry lying in between them.

"Henry?" Terriermon said in a low voice at first before calling out again in a much stronger tone. _"Henry!"_

* * *

Justimon slammed Gallantmon's spear into the ground upon his arrival, breathing a shaky sigh before stepping backwards to survey his handiwork.

_"That's that,"_ the Legendary Tamer commented from within his data sphere. _"Okay, Grani. Do your thing."_

_"Thank you, Justimon,"_ said Grani from within the bladed weapon. Pulses of energy raced up and down the spears edges and handle, tracing their way into the ground where, within seconds, a series of intricate lines and patterns materialized.

_"Whoa. What the…?"_

_"This is the beginning of the code Yggdrasil implanted into this village for its protection. It's severely degraded now, but I believe that I can activate it and, possibly defragment it once the village's defenses are activated. However…"_ Grani paused for a moment. _"…I'm going to need a medium that can channel the right amount of power to carry out this task. And the only one that I am compatible with is Gallantmon."_

The ground shook as blood-red lightning ripped through the air.

_"Hang on there a second,"_ said Justimon before he leapt back into the air.

* * *

Gallantmon pumped his wings as powerfully as he could, striving to put as much distance between himself and the Sand Liches as they tore relentlessly towards him. In his arms he carried the limp form of Impmon, who had been caught up in the last attack that he had leveled upon the creatures. His body was burnt and bruised, but otherwise his breathing was fine, and in spite of the looseness of his body, he was conscious.

"Stupid…Pineapple Head…" whispered Impmon with a mocking grin. "You really need to watch where you aim that thing."

Takato had to bite back a response on that one. While it was true that Impmon really shouldn't have been around when he and Guilmon unleashed their power, the Tamer also recognized that just using that much of his strength had been dangerous enough, not only for himself but for the others as well in spite of the distance that lay between them. It really was reckless of him to try such a maneuver, but the situation was becoming rapidly desperate.

And the desperation only continued to get worse from there.

Throwing himself to the side, Gallantmon narrowly avoided being crushed by a giant sand pincer, courtesy of the now flying, insect-like Lich that chased after him, shrieking for all it was worth.

_"This…is_ not _good!"_ exclaimed Takato as he pushed his wings to go even faster, straining for every inch, every yard that he could put between him and the Lich. He didn't dare look over his shoulder again as the Lich shrieked once again, this time with the noise of a hundred Liches. Following his blasting the army of Liches, they merged together to form the predatory monstrosity that was now hounding him. They were focused now with deadly precision.

For the briefest of moments, he wished that he hadn't sent the others back to the village when they came to join Impmon in his impromptu attempt at rescue.

_If only there had been enough time to hand Impmon off to them,_ thought Takato as he twisted in midair, sending a flurry of crimson feathers flying through the air where they detonated upon landing on the Sand Lich. The creature roared angrily but continued on, regardless of the holes that were punched through its body. Behind it, the Sand Lich slammed its tail down on the desert ground angrily and pumped its oversized wings, charging forward. Its mouth snapped open hungrily as it loomed over Gallantmon. Seeing this, Gallantmon began to gather his power and a crimson aura appeared around his armor as he prepared to unleash it upon his foe.

He never got the chance.

Before he could do anything, a blaze of blue fire slammed into the Sand Lich, throwing its mouth off course where it snapped closed upon air. Veering off to the right, the creature roared in rage and shot a volley of spikes at the blazing inferno. The azure fire receded into the form of a humanoid with a long, burning tail flowing behind it. As Gallantmon watched the tail snapped to the side and unleashed a torrent of blue flames at the spikes, incinerating them upon contact and blasting them back into their constituent particles. Raising one arm, the figure drew forth a spear from the fire, its blade curved like a crescent moon.

_"Amanonuhoko!"_ the weapons owner boomed before unleashing a torrent of golden energy at the Lich, once again knocking it backwards. Gallantmon blinked in surprise at the mysterious figure until it turned, revealing itself to be one of the digimon who had come chasing after Impmon.

_Uh…what was his name again? Gojamon? Gyoshamon? Um…no, wait! Gyōjamon!_

"What are you doing here?" Gallantmon demanded. "Didn't I tell you to go back to the village?"

"My apologies, Tamer," said Gyojamon, giving Gallantmon a respectful bow. "But your ally Justimon requested that one of us make contact with you and urge you to return to the village with the utmost speed, and to aid you should you need it. I volunteered to undertake the mission alone so as to decrease the number of hands that might get caught out in the field."

"I'm already on my way there!"

"Justimon was most _insistent_ that you get there _quickly,"_ emphasized Gyōjamon. "According to him, your friend _Grani,_ if I'm not mistaken by his words, requires your assistance in supplying the necessary power to jumpstart the village's defenses."

Gallantmon nodded.

"All right. I understand," he said, though he clearly wasn't any happier with the situation. Gyōjamon could hardly blame him.

"I shall provide you with the necessary cover," said Gyōjamon, hefting his spear.

"But how? I'm the one that they're after right now! These guys focus on whoever has the most power!"

"I'm sure I can draw their attention somehow," replied Gyōjamon. "Now get going."

Before Gallantmon could even so much as protest, the Sand Lich roared forward, only to be cut off as a stream of fire punched a hole clean through its misshapen head, throwing it off course once more. Gallantmon and Gyōjamon's eyes locked but once and soon enough Gallantmon was flying off towards the village.

"Don't be late!" called out Gallantmon.

"I won't," replied Gyōjamon in a low voice. Once again the Sand Lich surged forward, only to back away as the shaman warrior fired a blast of blue flame in front of it. The Lich hissed angrily, and for a moment Gyōjamon allowed a smirk to appear on his face.

"You are not going anywhere, creature of the desert," the kitsune said as four fiery tails sprouted from his back. "I shall be your opponent."

As though sensing the power that the kitsune held, the Lich leapt towards him and Gyojamon brought his spear to bear, only to be surprised a second later as the creature dissolved into its individual particles. Sand flew by him, supported solely by their forward momentum, raining down on him before finally coming to rest on the desert floor. Gyōjamon looked down at the desert, as though disappointed by this final show of defiance and bottomless hunger that had finally undone its existence.

_Did it use up too much energy just to keep itself in the air?_ The shaman wondered, somewhat taken aback by this unexpected turn of events.

"So…this is how it ends for you," he said coldly. He paused for a moment, taking in the unmoving sand before finally turning to head back towards the village.

The sound of the ground cracking was his only warning.

Granite shaped teeth crushed around Gyōjamon's side as the previously disassembled Lich tore free from the ground. Digital blood, data, and blue fire soared through the air as Gyōjamon's body spasmed in shock as pain ripped through his body.

_Idiot!_ His mind screamed at himself. _Idiot! I should have seen that coming…_

Gyōjamon jerked as the Liche's teeth dug into his sides, crushing his body within their sharp embrace.

"C-Clever…" Gyōjamon gasped. "D-Dispersing your body…to make me think…that you had lost your cohesion. Run out of energy from all the f-f-fighting."

For the strangest reason Gyōjamon almost felt like laughing in spite of the pain that wracked his body.

_A Lich that actually thinks about its attacks…who would have thought?_

Gyōjamon could feel the hot breath of the Sand Lich upon his back as its teeth continued to dig into his body, savoring his pain and the data that leaked from him.

_Is this how it ends for me then?_ Gyōjamon wondered dimly.

A small, fatalistic grin appeared on the shaman's face as a new trail of fire traced its way down his back. A second later the Sand Liches head exploded in a shower of sand and debris.

* * *

Gallantmon landed in middle of the Chuchidarumon village and folded his wings behind him, compacting their data to compensate for their immense size.

"You made it!" exclaimed Justimon, relief clear in his voice as his eyes lighted upon the Royal Knight.

"Looks that way," replied Gallantmon, breathing heavily as he handed Impmon off to the Legendary Tamer. His eyes quickly fell upon his spear, standing upright like a giant exclamation point. Within it was the pulsating essence of Grani, a friend that he had once thought dead.

"Gyōjamon says that he needs my help in activating the defenses for this place."

Justimon nodded.

"All he needs is a push of power and then he can take care of the rest."

"All right," said Gallantmon, walking over to the blade. "Let's do this."

Gallantmon paused briefly, his hands hovering over the handle. Closing his eyes, Gallantmon cast his senses about, as though needing to reassure himself as to the locations of all of his friends. Finally, breathing a sigh of relief he lowered his hands around the handle.

_"Ready Guilmon?"_

_"Yeah!"_

_"Grani?"_

_"Always…"_

_"Then let's do this."_ From within his data sphere Takato took a deep breath as a bright light began to radiate from the core of his being. "CRIMSON LIGHT!"

* * *

Lines of force flooded the Chuchidarumon village, crisscrossing each and every home and Chuchidarumon that occupied them or walked the streets. Slowly, ever so slowly, an energy shield began to rise from the outer edges of the village, narrowly blocking the charge of an irate Sand Lich as it leapt forwards. The Lich roared in frustration it pounded against the barrier, only to retreat with a roar of pain as electricity rocketed outwards and blasted a hole through its body.

Digital blood fell upon the ground as Gyōjamon pushed himself up from off his knees with his spear. His legs were shaking badly as he retracted the last of his tails, but nonetheless a grin decorated his face. Gyōjamon turned to face the Sand Lich as it pounded upon the barrier that lay between himself and the creature. The Lich roared defiance at him, angry at having lost its meal and slammed against the barrier. Gyōjamon remained on his feet as it retreated once again from the barrier's electrical shocks. He watched it for a few seconds, contemplating it before shaking his head.

" _You…_ were too...late," Gyōjamon rasped before his legs finally gave out beneath him. Sand rose into the air as his body collapsed to the ground, hiding the small smile that graced his features.


	147. 146: Recovery

"So you mean to tell me that Grani was inside of you and Dino Boy this whole time, alive, and he never bothered to say hi or anything? You know, to at least let us know that he was okay?"

Takato, Guilmon, and Rika were standing in front of the azure spear that had once belonged to ChaosGallantmon. The red haired Tamer who had been the source of the question had her hands on her hips in an annoyed fashion that matched the expression on her face as she looked the weapon up and down with a critical eye. Next to her, Takato glanced at Rika, taking in her expression and tone of voice. Even though she sounded as though she were irritated with Grani, he could tell, if not from long experience of being her friend then through the deeper connection that they now shared, that this was not the case. Events had been building on them so much of late that Rika, and everyone else for that matter, was reaching her stressing point, and was venting over the smaller details as they came up and tugged on her already strained patience.

From Takato's perspective, it wasn't very much different from being stung by a bee while attempting to scale a mountain.

_Or hold one up,_ thought Takato as his over imaginative mind took the analogy and went a step further with it. For the briefest of moments his brain conjured up the image of Rika, or rather a rather cartoon-like image of her, holding up a massive mountain with her arms, before he shook himself loose of it.

"I'm sure it wasn't quite that easy, Rika," said Takato. "The last time I saw him in a physical body he had been breaking apart. He gave Guilmon and me his power so that we could defeat the D-Reaper and rescue Jeri. Besides, he told me that it was thanks to the X-Antibody that Shibumi gave Guilmon that he was able to evolve and be reborn again when we touched the spear."

Rika did not look convinced, nor did she take her eyes off of the spear to look at her friend. Instead she simply tapped a finger on one arm in an impatient manner before finally breathing an exhausted sigh.

"Well, at least _something_ good came out of this whole mess," said Rika, finally allowing a small smile to grace her features as she took her eyes off of Grani's _body_ and glanced at Takato. "We got a friend back."

"You know, we never actually lost him," smiled Takato. "He was with us the whole time."

"That's cheesy," grunted Rika. "But I can't say you're wrong on that front. He really helped us out the day your Crimson Mode first appeared, and that's been a big help ever since."

"You mean the only two times that it actually showed up after our battle with D-Reaper," said Takato in an offhand manner, causing Rika to again glance at him before returning her gaze back to the spear in the ground.

_It helped when it counted, Gogglehead,_ thought Rika, though she didn't say it aloud as she felt that a change in conversation was needed. And in a way it was. As things stood, there was a lot to talk about. A lot of catching up to do to start with had been required with their friends following the end of the vicious battle against the Sand Liches.

"A lot sure changed while we were gone, huh?" asked Takato.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" asked Rika sarcastically.

"Well, you have to admit that I never thought I'd see the day where Kazu and Guardromon would biomerge and help save the day." Takato chuckled lightly.

"Yeah," supplied Guilmon. "You always used to say that the world would end before that ever happened. Ohhh…Takato. Does that mean that now that Kazu and Guardromon have biomerged we won't be able to go home?"

"I was just joking about that, Guilmon," sighed Rika. "So you don't need to worry. Man, I saw it but I'm still having trouble believing it. And then there's that…I don't know _what_ Kazu did when he helped pull Henry back into the digital world from wherever it was that he wound up. He used _roots!_ _Roots!_ And he dragged him out of a portal or something! What's that about? I'm just…ugh!" Rika groaned in frustration and raised a hand to her head, massaging her temples. "I'm still trying to wrap my mind around half of what everyone was talking about…which wasn't much when you think about it."

Takato nodded in understanding. He could understand where the girl was coming from. Their meeting, such as it was, was cut short mainly to assess the situation that they were in, how much damage had been dealt to the village, who was injured…Takato shuddered as he remembered the condition Gyōjamon had been in when the Chuchidarumon brought him in. At present, MarineAngemon was trying to heal him, but it was slow going. And he wasn't the only one who had injuries to deal with. Even Urocyomon seemed 'out of it' in ways that not even Kuzuhamon was completely sure about. At present the shaman was investigating the matter but she couldn't be sure how long it would take.

As Takato continued his train of thought, Rika unexpectedly broke out into a yawn, one hand rising to her mouth in an attempt to cover it.

"It's okay to sleep, you know," said Takato worriedly, unconsciously raising a hand and placing it on Rika's shoulder as he remembered how exhausted she and Renamon had been once they finished healing the more minor injuries of the Tamers and their partners using her own magic in order to give MarineAngemon some reprieve. She still wasn't used to the spell and as such it took a lot out of both her and Renamon. "Everyone else is trying to catch up it."

_Or at least they're going to as soon as they can…_

The girl looked at his hand for a moment, slightly surprised before allowing a small, embarrassed smile to grace her face.

"I'll be fine," she said, not bothering to shrug off his touch or anything. Takato returned her smile.

"Come on. I'm pretty sure that the world's not going to end if you don't get some rest."

"Yeah!" chipped in Guilmon. "You need your beauty sleep!"

"Just when I think Dino-Boy can't get any weirder," mumbled Rika, shifting her arms over her chest. "I just don't know if I can sleep right now. I'm too wound up and…" Rika was interrupted as her mouth protested against her own words by stretching in yet another yawn. The red haired girl shook her head, trying to force the dreaded Sand Man away from her. "Ugh. This is just great…"

Takato grinned. "You know, we can't have you falling asleep on the battlefield…"

"You just _have_ to fight dirty, don't you?" asked Rika sardonically. "All right. I'll let you win this one just this once. Don't brag about it or I'll be sure to send you to that dreamland I promised you if you ever talked about that dre…" Rika paused and scowled. Takato said nothing in response to that, though he knew full well what it was she was talking about. Reaching up, Rika pressed her hand against his, caressing his fingers slightly before removing it from her shoulder.

"I'm going to check up on Henry before I turn in," said Rika as she headed off.

"'Kay," whispered Takato. He watched her go for a second before looking away. A second later, a yawn tore free from his own mouth, stretching it and causing him to shake his head. Seeing this, Guilmon tugged on his shirt worriedly.

"You should take your own advice, Takato," the crimson reptile said. "You could use some sleep. We used up a lot of power when we went into our Crimson Mode."

Takato shook his head.

"I'm not tired," smiled Takato, only to break into another yawn.

"Your mouth says otherwise," grinned Guilmon. "You should take your own advice. We can't have you falling asleep in the middle of a fight."

"You fight dirty too, Guilmon, you know that?"

"I get it from you, Takato. Let's just make sure that we take a bath when we get home. Your mom wouldn't like the fact that we got all stinky and smelly."

"Are we even talking about the same thing?" asked Takato, raising an eyebrow at his partner.

"Maybe," replied Guilmon. "But we're not going to a place to sleep any faster." With that, the crimson reptile immediately set about pushing Takato away from the spear.

"Hey! Guilmon! No pushing! I…hey!"

"Don't worry, Takatomon. Grani will take care of things."

As though in response, the double bladed spear pulsed lightly. For a moment both Guilmon and Takato looked at the weapon, listening intently for any sign of their friend's voice in their mind. Nothing more than silence whispered in their minds. Not even the voices of their mysterious new allies, Agunimon and BurningGreymon, spoke to them. The absence of the latter two aside, as Takato was unsure about them and their intentions regardless of what they told him before, Grani's silence left him feeling sad.

"See?" chirped Guilmon happily, resuming his pushing of the brown haired, goggle-wearing boy. "Grani says it's okay to rest. Now let's go rest!"

"Hey! Wait! _Guilmon!"_

* * *

Lumemon stood atop of a Chuchidarumon hut, eyeing Takato and Guilmon as they made their way through the village, the latter pushing while the former only semi-resisted being pushed. They were a strange duo, the angelic digimon felt, but it wasn't something that he wasn't already aware of. All the same, his storm gray eyes followed them, a strange, longing look dancing within them. After several seconds, Lumemon became aware of this and shook his head harshly, trying to clear his mind.

_Takato…Guilmon…_

He had wondered how he would react to seeing the two of them following his recovery from Noriko's loss of control and the rather brief explanations that had followed concerning the outcome of the battle, the arrival of Takato and the rest of the Tamers' missing friends being the main topic of conversation thus far. Takato held the far greater importance to him, if only because of the connection that they had shared. It was rather ironic, Lumemon felt. When he first came to the human world as Lucemon he had destroyed Guilmon and had brought harm to his partner as well. And now he held a piece of both of them as a part of his new existence as Lumemon.

_I have to admit,_ thought Lumemon as he watched Takato and Guilmon disappear behind a hut, _I'm a little bit afraid of what I might still have with them. What sort of business might still be left undone._

Lumemon did not know much about how the bond between humans and digimon worked, but he was keenly aware of how deep it ran. That bond between Takato and his partner, BlackGuilmon, however temporary it had been, had been strong enough to allow the dark reptile's consciousness to survive unmolested in Noriko's mind. The fact that so far his own mind remained intact and with none of the voices that he would expected from having to share two souls in one body did nothing to ease his mind. Takato Matsuki was here. In the same village as he was, and always within easy reach. And BlackGuilmon had proven himself to be rather possessive of the brown haired Tamer. So far they had yet to speak to each other, and for the time being Lumemon felt that was for the best. Even without evidence of BlackGuilmon still dwelling somewhere in his consciousness, Lumemon did not relish in the possibility that contact with Takato would bring him back into existence. And then… _then_ where would that leave him?

_I have an idea,_ thought Lumemon with a strange calmness in his mind that belied the harsh beating that resounded in his chest. Lumemon looked down at his right hand, taking note of an eerie blackness that was just now fading to gray covering the skin around the limb. He had noticed it earlier upon his recovery.

_This clinches it. Whatever this is, it only appears when I'm around Takato._ Lumemon pulled his hand into a fist as the grayness of his hand now faded to a pale white. Soon color would return to it, but for now it had all the appearance of a corpse. Yes, one could say that he knew _exactly_ where interaction with the Tamer would leave him.

_A danger to the others most likely and a liability,_ thought Lumemon grimly. Lumemon glanced over at the spear embedded in the ground in front of him, and after a moment further of consideration he flapped his wings and lighted into the air.

* * *

"Still nothing?" Kazu asked Kuzuhamon with a worried expression. Sighing, the blue and purple garbed shaman pulled away from him and shook her head.

"I don't understand," she said in a low, exhausted voice. "I've checked you over again and again, but I can't find any trace of Alice within you anymore. There's not even an echo of her presence." Raising one hand to her face, Kuzuhamon covered her facemask and gritted her teeth. "Damn it," she whispered. "After all this time. I just find you, only for you to disappear on me again…" Again Kuzuhamon hitched a sigh and stood up. "I need to be alone for a while. Thank you for your cooperation, and again, please accept my apologies for my treatment of you when we met."

Kazu simply nodded as the shaman left, any words that he had that could be used to lighten the mood, such as how he always got punched every time he met a girl, not making it past his lips. For the first time that he could remember, he felt that joking would do nothing to calm the situation or make someone feel better. Next to him, Guardromon watched him with a worried expression.

"Well, this is just great," grumbled Kazu, stepping out of the small circle that Kuzuhamon had drawn in the ground.

"I didn't think that this could be considered 'great', Kazu."

"I was being sarcastic, Guardromon," replied the visor-wearing Tamer before heaving a sigh just like Kuzuhamon. Kazu pressed one hand against his skull. "Oh man…this is just too confusing."

"Perhaps that voice that you mentioned being in your mind can be of some help?" suggested Guardromon. Kazu looked at the android with surprised eyes.

"Wait. I didn't even tell you about that. How'd you know?"

"We were biomerged, Kazu. There's quite a lot that I don't know about you, such as the picture of Sora that you keep…"

"All right! All right!" exclaimed the boy, making _shushing_ noises. "I get the picture! At least this tells me that I'm not just hearing things."

"I hardly think that such would be the case. My sensors definitely indicated an abnormality that existed within our file storage interacting directly with our minds. It had a signature similar to that of a digimon, and not anything that resembled human, mental breakdown."

"That's a relief…"

"I should also remind you of our battle in the real world, when young Suzie unleashed some kind of power and a sphere of data merged with us."

"Oh yeah. That's right." Kazu scratched the side of his face in agitation. "I forgot about that. We've been so caught up with everything that it slipped my mind."

"Hmmm… According to Terriermon and your mother that doesn't take much effort."

"Hey! Whose side are you on?!"

"I'm merely repeating what they've said, Kazu," placated the android, waving his massive arms in front of him.

Kazu pouted and turned away, glaring heavily at a speck of dust that floated through the air in front of him.

"Well…whatever. Anyway, it would probably explain a lot. Ever since Suzie let loose those weird, glowing balls on us, I've been feeling a little bit weird. It's like I've got some kind of energy flowing through me or something. It's a little bit like when we're biomerged, but… _different._ It's like it's watered down somehow. Maybe it's sleeping or something like Guilmon. You know it's there, but it's not doing anything where you would think it exists except to waste air."

"Perhaps. My sensors do indicate something different about you, but it's very subtle. It could easily be passed off as an accumulation of excess data from our stay in the digital world. A closer inspection would tell us whether or not there's something more. I'm a little surprised that Kuzuhamon didn't mention anything about this."

"She's got other things on her mind," said Kazu, waving the android off. "I'm not even sure we should bother her about this right now. It's not like whatever this guy—or _thing—_ is, has given us any reason to worry about it. Not yet anyway." Kazu frowned and folded his arms over his chest thoughtfully. "I wonder…you know. Right before we pulled Henry back into the digital world, I could have sworn that I saw something. Something that looked like tree roots. What do you make of that?"

"I do believe that Kuzuhamon wanted Alice to create a bridge between us and Noriko in order to make contact with Henry. It could be that whatever entity is inside of you took advantage of that bridge to take care of Henry for us."

"Man, sometimes the digital world can be really confusing," grumbled Kazu. "But I think you're right about that. Before Henry showed back up, I could have sworn that I felt like something in me was _reaching_ _out_ , but I couldn't tell where it was going. It's kind of weird."

"And still something to be concerned about, even if this power has been beneficial to us so far. Perhaps we should question Suzie about the matter since she was the one who introduced it to us. Or rather, those two, ghostly-looking digimon who brought her into the battlefield?"

"That's right!" exclaimed Kazu. "Man. That _was_ weird. A bird lady and…what else?"

"I believe that the other digimon resembled a scantily clad fairy humanoid."

"And each of us, Suzie, me, Kenta, Ayaka…we each got one of those things put in us. I don't know about you, Guardromon, but there's something fishy going on here, and last I checked fish stink before they're cooked."

"Are we having dinner, Kazu?" asked Guardromon in confusion.

"Huh? No! I mean that since we don't know anything we might have a problem. There's something happening. Something big. We need to get everyone together and put our brains together on this before something happens!"

"Kenta and MarineAngemon are still working to heal Gyōjamon, Urocyomon, and Mako while Crusadermon, Ayaka, Miki, and Drakemon are surveying the village for damage and casualties. We still don't know what's going on with Henry either."

"Rika and Kenta just said that he needs rest. He looked pretty fine to me…"

"I don't think that you can make that call, Kazu."

The brown haired boy looked at his partner with an insulted look before finally chuckling lightly.

"All right. I'll have to give that one to ya. I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. We still have to look into this weird business though. I can't help but wonder if we're being set up for something. But what is it?"

"I believe that we were supposed to reconvene once everyone has made sure that the situation has become stabilized."

"There's a stable situation with us?"

"We have our calm moments."

Kazu looked at his partner, taken a bit aback by the android's response before finally shaking his head and laughing lightly.

"Guardromon. I think you have a long way to go before you understand sarcasm."

"I have a long way to go just understanding humans, Kazu. You especially."

"I'll give you that too. Now come on. We've got to round everyone up and see how they're doing."

* * *

The Chuchidarumon hut, although wide, felt strangely crowded to Noriko as she sat next to Henry's bed. There was reason for this, as Henry wasn't the only casualty of the battle with the Sand Liches staying in the room, nor was she the only visitor. Terriermon sat at the edge of the bed near Suzie and Lopmon, keeping one eye on Noriko and another on Henry. Ai and Impmon were there as well, sitting behind her and looking over Mako as he lay in a bed with a blanket tucked around him. Between the six of them, they produced an atmosphere of tension that made the air stifling and difficult to breathe in.

_As though anyone could feel comfortable when someone important to them has been hurt,_ thought Noriko, squeezing her hand around Henry's. For a moment, her mind paused as it took in the feel of the boy's hand in her own before continuing with its train of worry. She hadn't noticed that she had been holding it or for how long. Terriermon eyed her and her hand warily before letting out a long sigh.

"This is stupid," muttered the long eared digimon in an exhausted tone, causing Noriko to look at him strangely.

"What is?" asked Suzie in confusion.

"A lot of things, mainly having to do with paranoia," replied Terriermon, not seeing the wince that crossed Noriko's face at those words. "And if Henry were awake he'd yell at me about it. Anyway, enough about me, how are you doing, Noriko?"

Noriko fidgeted a bit, uncertain as to what Terriermon had meant by his earlier words, but already guessing as to its nature, Noriko looked away, allowing her bangs to hide her eyes as she dropped Henry's hand. Guessing that Noriko was badly distraught by Henry's condition Terriermon's face softened.

"Momentai. You heard what Rika and Kenta said. Those two may be off their rockers sometimes but they know their stuff. Well, MarineAngemon does. Kenta's just the translator." Terriermon frowned at Henry as he continued to sleep. His expression alone was enough for Noriko to think that he was trying to will the boy to scold him for his sarcasm just to prove that he was all right and proved his assessment correct.

"Yeah," added Suzie. "Momentai. Henwy will be just fine! You'll see! Thewe's nothing that can huwt Henwy when he's twying to help his fwiends and family!"

_If only I felt like I deserved their comfort,_ thought Noriko, looking down at her hands. Noriko winced.

_These hands…they look like mine. There's even that small scar from when Hisa's cat took a swipe at me for holding her the wrong way. But…are they mine? Am I…me?_

The memory of her encounter with Lucemon in an ancient ruin flashed through her mind, or more importantly the sensation of BlackGuilmon's _Pyro Grenade_ as it struck her full in the chest. Noriko resisted the urge to press her hand against her chest. She felt so mixed up right now. She had suppressed the memory for so long since coming home, and then when it returned she didn't feel anything over it. Now however… _now_ that was changed, and part of it had to do with recent events that had begun to make a few oddities that she had noticed clear to her. The digivice that she saw in place of her image every time she looked into a reflective surface being a prime example. That especially pulled on her attention as she wasn't sure what it meant to her except in relation to what her memories hinted at.

* * *

_A bright flash of light…the sound of Lucemon crying out; his voice mixing with BlackGuilmon's howl…_

* * *

_Just what does it mean? What happened to me?_ Noriko raised her eyes to Henry, confusion apparent in her crimson eyes. _Am I a danger to the others?_

No answer came to her, and that disturbed Noriko. She had already caused some measure of harm to Henry. Even though everyone had assured her that it hadn't been her fault, and that his present condition had more to do with Kuzuhamon's abrupt departure from the seal that was meant to contact her than anything she did, the very fact that such an act had been necessary to bring her back to reality was enough to cause her to question herself. She had powers, that much she was sure of now, but what good were they when she had no idea how they functioned or what set them off? Anyone, her mother once told her, that lacked proper knowledge of what it was or how it worked were liable to hurt themselves or others. A person who does not know about the dangers of a gun when picking it up for the first time is equally liable, if not more so, to be dangerous simply by the virtue of that lack of understanding.

_The greatest fighter in the world doesn't fear the second greatest,_ thought Noriko, thinking of how Henry would have phrased it, _but the worst because he can't predict what that person will do. I don't know what I can do. I don't even know what I_ am!

Placing her hands on her legs, Noriko balled them up into fists.

_Henry…I don't know what to do…_

* * *

Terriermon watched Noriko, not sure what to make of her silence or what he could say to her. He didn't think that she was a danger to anyone, though given what had happened earlier with Henry's disappearance, her own 'freeze up' during the battle with the Sand Liches that had set off the chain of events that had followed, and what had happened when she was merged with BlackGuilmon and Lucemon, the long eared digimon had to take a moment to consider things. On the whole he was confident that Henry would make a full recovery and, as had been noted before, on any of the occasions where Noriko had presented a problem she had not been in control of her actions at the time. Still, his concern did line up with those of Noriko's, and although he didn't know what was going through her mind he did have a clue.

_This isn't the sort of thing that anyone can just ignore and go about their day like nothing happened,_ thought Terriermon, feeling sorry for the dark haired girl. _She's been dragged from one corner of two worlds to the next, back and forth like a swing set in fact, and she's not used to this kind of life like the rest of us are. I'd be surprised if she didn't have some kind of breakdown._

Terriermon looked down at the bed.

_I probably shouldn't have said any of that stuff about paranoia. Noriko's probably going to get the impression that I blame her for all of this or something and I get the feeling that 'momentai' isn't going to help much this time._

"Hey," said Suzie, tugging at the corners of Noriko's brown dress. Noriko almost flinched from the contact, as though expecting her body to react negatively and do to Suzie what had been done to Henry.

"Ah! Wha-wha…?"

"Don't wowwy," beamed Suzie, taking no notice of Noriko's tension. "It's just like Tewwiewmon and I said. Henwy will be all wight. You wait and see."

"Mmmm…" Noriko pursed her lips together, uncertain of how to respond. She didn't have very long to think of a way to do so, as a loud cry of frustration from Impmon exploded upon the air.

"What's your problem, Impmon?" demanded Terriermon hotly.

"I can't figure out how to make this stupid communication thingie work!" growled the diminutive, former Demon Lord, turning around to face the others. In his gloved hands he held a familiar, black, rectangular object. Terriermon's ears sprang up as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hold on! I've seen one of those things before! You mean to tell me that you had one of those on you and you _didn't_ tell us?!"

"Do you really want to get into that, helicopter head?" snarled Impmon irritably. "I was planning on bringing it out when we had our meeting, but I wanted to try and use it to get a message out to Yamaki so that he could help us get back home. It's just…"

"Let me guess. You don't know how to use it, right?"

"I don't even know if it's working," grumbled Impmon. "I almost dropped it after Gogglebrain and Pineapple Head blew up that one Sand Lich, and in case you didn't notice I reverse digivolved after that fight was over."

"Here, lemme see," said Terriermon as he hopped off the bed and stretched out one of his hand-like ears. Impmon begrudgingly handed the device over to him.

"Hmmm…" Terriermon scratched his chin thoughtfully as he held the communication device carefully with his ears. "I think I see the problem here. There's a crack in the screen."

_"What?!"_ exclaimed Impmon loudly, all but snatching the device from Terriermon. "I swear, there wasn't one when I was trying to get it to wo—!" Impmon drove to a halt as he got a glance at the screen, and he turned a baleful eye towards the long eared digimon. "Terriermon…"

"Momentai," grinned Terriermon. "Got ya, didn't I? Well, I'm just as much in the dark as you are about how to work these things. Last time we were here it didn't always work when we wanted it to. Hmmm…" Terriermon looked around and settled his gaze on Noriko. "Well, humans seem to have a magic touch when it comes to these gizmos. How about it, Noriko?"

"Um…" the girl tensed up again in her chair. "I don't think I should…"

"Oh, come on! What's the worst that could happen? No offense, but it's not like this thing is a digimon card. I'm pretty sure that it's safe in your hands."

Noriko ground her teeth together, but unable to find a counterargument to back up her own worries she nodded and reached out to take the communication device from the long eared digimon.

The effect was immediate.

Blue and white lightning leapt forth from her arms and danced around the black communication device, causing its screen to light up with a series of zeroes and ones racing across it. Noriko jumped out of her chair in fright, dropping the communication device to the ground with a dull thud while Terriermon, Impmon, Lopmon, and Ai looked on in surprise and amazement. Noriko however, did not share those emotions as a look of horror crossed her face.

"That…that was our only way home, wasn't it?" Noriko whispered, clutching her hands closely to her body. Her red eyes darted to the digimon and the two young girls as panic exploded in her mind. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, and with a sudden burst of speed she ran out of the hut, ignoring Terriermon's calls for her to wait. The three digimon and Suzie, minus Ai as Impmon told her to remain in the hut, rapidly fell into pursuit, only to come to a stop upon their exiting the hut. They looked around, trying to gauge her direction from the tracks in the ground, but so heavily trodden was the ground by Chuchidarumon and the Tamers that neither could make heads or tails of what path Noriko might have taken. A moment of silence went by, during which Suzie turned towards Terriermon.

"Tewwiewmon…" she began in imitation of her older brother.

"Gah! What?! What did I do?"

"I don't know, but I'm suwe Henwy would say it's youw fault."

"Ooogh…momentai…"


	148. 147: Am I Human?

Noriko raced through the Chuchidarumon village, her vision blurring as frightened tears escaped from her eyes. The Chuchidarumon saw her as she ran, casting concerned glances in her direction, but she paid them no mind, so intent was she on her running and on the panic that had settled heavily on her shoulders.

_I'm just a curse, aren't I?_ she thought through the haze of her emotional turmoil. _This is what I get for helping Lucemon, isn't it? Everywhere I go now…everything I do, I'm always messing things up for the Tamers. I hurt Henry again, and now…now I've broken the only means we have for going home. I'm no help to anyone! I'm…I'm…_

Noriko choked down her tears and hung her head. An unwise thing to do, as a second later her now blind footing tripped and sent her careening towards the ground where the impact of her body caused sand to fly into the air. Noriko groaned in pain as she lay still, taking in the moment to fully appreciate how fate seemed to be making fun of her for its own enjoyment.

_Great,_ she commiserated as she pushed her head up from off the ground. _Why don't you just rub salt in the wounds and get it over with? I'm sure that would be a far better use of our time, and it would make me look a whole lot less stupid for tripping over my own shadow._

Punching at the ground in an immature fashion, Noriko pushed herself up to her knees, and was greeted by a massive, brown paw of a Chuchidarumon. Somewhat surprised by the extended mitt, Noriko looked up at the chocolate button-shaped eyes of the mud digimon that looked at her expectantly.

"Are you all right?" asked the Chuchidarumon, its voice, decidedly female, full of concern. For a moment, Noriko just stared at the digimon before she glanced away.

"You shouldn't touch me," she whispered. "I'm…I've got something going on with me right now, and it just causes problems for everyone."

"Oh?" the Chuchidarumon cocked her head to one side. "You seem to be fine to me. Well, except for that rather nasty fall you took there. You should really watch where you're going."

"It doesn't matter…"

"Oh, now stop it," scolded the Chuchidarumon, scowling at the girl. "What could be so bad that you have to put yourself down like that? You humans are so strange. I haven't met many of you, but from what little I've seen recently I could almost swear that you hate yourselves even though you fight so much to protect everything you care about."

"I…what do _you_ know?!" exclaimed Noriko angrily, surging to her feet. "You're just like all of your friends in this village! You don't cause any problems for them! Always relying on having to be saved by them, and then finding out that you're not only _different_ but so different that you end up causing nothing but trouble!" Noriko clenched one hand into a tight fist and wiped an arm over her eyes, trying desperately to not show her emotions. "I…I don't even know if I'm human anymore. I can't even see myself in the mirror. Just a stupid… _stupid_ digivice…"

Noriko took a few, heaving gasps, fighting to regain control over herself.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I'm being unfair. You and your people have been kind enough to take me in when I got here, and helping out the Tamers. I shouldn't have shouted at you."

The Chuchidarumon huffed slightly, looking somewhat miffed by the ill treatment that had been heaped upon her as an unintended target by the human girl's overflowing frustration and anger.

_Truly, I do not understand humans,_ she thought as she took in Noriko's condition. Her interaction with any of the humans had been sorely limited during their stay here, but she still remembered how this one had arrived on the back of the angel digimon, Lumemon, naked and sunburned from her time out in the desert, though fortunately both had rapidly been taken care of during her time here. Honestly, the Chuchidarumon had no idea what to make of any of the humans who came tromping through the village, though so far on every occasion they had rendered assistance as best as they could. The villagers were still grateful for the aid the Tamers had rendered during the incident with the out of control motorcycle that had quite unexpectedly been deposited within their borders so long ago, and had since surpassed that act of kindness with the defense against the Sand Liches. The Chuchidarumon could sense that same inner-goodness that had permeated from the Tamers, but it was drowned beneath the fear and anger from whatever it was that bothered her.

_'I don't even know if I'm human anymore.' What does it mean to be human? Why is that concept so important? Ugh. Why am I even here dealing with this? Surely someone else—the village elder or one of the Tamers—can deal with this._

Even so, as the Chuchidarumon looked at Noriko, she couldn't help but feel some small measure of pity for her. Or perhaps 'pity' isn't the right word. There is a certain maternal instinct hardwired into living creatures that often have them cross boundaries to protect something that is young or otherwise vulnerable, even when they have no reason to do so.

While Noriko was distracted, the Chuchidarumon reached out and pulled her into a warm embrace, folding her giant arms around her and patting her back.

"Buh!" was the intelligent gasp of surprise that emerged from Noriko's mouth as she was pressed against the Chuchidarumon's body. For the strangest reason she felt as though she were a little child holding onto a teddy bear again, only more with said stuffed toy holding her.

"Feel better?" the Chuchidarumon asked, smiling inwardly at Noriko's lack of reaction. It took Noriko a moment for her mind to catch up with the act, and soon enough she began struggling against the digimon's embrace.

"N-No! You-you shouldn't! I'm…"

"Dangerous? Doesn't seem to be the case here. Shouldn't something bad be happening to me now?"

"I…" Noriko paused and thought about it for a second. "My arms are at my side. They're usually what causes the problems."

"Tch. Have to make things difficult, don't you?"

The Chuchidarumon pulled away from Noriko and grabbed hold of her arms. Noriko flinched and tried to pull away, but the dark brown, bear-like digimon held firm.

"Nothing bad is happening to me," the Chuchidarumon chided, and Noriko blinked in surprise.

"I…I don't understand."

"Would you care to talk about it?" asked Chuchidarumon. "My hut isn't that far. You look like you could use an ear to bend."

Noriko thought it over for a moment before finally nodding.

* * *

"Oh, man…" moaned Terriermon as he, Lopmon, and Impmon landed on the roof of a Chuchidarumon hut and scanned around him, using one ear to block the glare of the digital day. "Where could she have gone? This village isn't exactly that big, you know, and it's not like you can head out into the desert without being seen…or eaten."

"Terriermon!" scolded Lopmon.

"What? C'mon Loppy! You know that we can't take two steps out there without those Sand Lich thingies being on us. I don't care if they've been quiet for a while now. They know that they don't have to do anything as long as we can't go anywhere."

"I hate to say this," said Impmon, "but I have to agree with Helicopter Head on this one. 'Specially with the way that human keeps getting into trouble and causing a ruckus…"

"Impmon!" exclaimed Lopmon loudly, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Do you have to be as bad as Terriermon?"

"Hey! I'm not as bad as he is!"

"Got that right," snorted Impmon. "I'm the bad boy in this group. Your twin is just a copycat. Or is that _copydog?"_

"This from the guy who can't clobber me without going Mega and uses unoriginal lines…"

_"Anyway,"_ continued Impmon, ignoring the rabbit-dog digimon's rants. "Ol' long ears and I are just stating that things haven't been quiet when that Noriko girl is around. If she left the village, she'd definitely be attracting a whole mess of the wrong kind of attention." Impmon scowled. "Though that's not sayin' that you guys don't do that pretty well on your own. You're all trouble magnets."

"And you're not?" asked Terriermon, raising an eyebrow.

Impmon grinned devilishly and scratched his chin.

"Not with rugged good looks like mine, though sometimes some mon gets jealous, you know what I'm sayin'? It's more that I'm just sayin' that you guys do it without even trying. It's as natural as breathin' for you. People see you and it's like 'ba-boom! Let's go pick on those guys! They look weak.' And the next thing you know we've got a new city repair contract on our hands. Me? I'm a different story all together."

"Yeah. Because you go _looking_ for trouble."

"You tryin' to make a point or somethin', pipsqueak? Or do you need to be reminded that without your partner I can kick your can from here to the real world and back again?"

"Oh yeah?" exclaimed Terriermon angrily, puffing up his chest. "You wanna fight? Bring it on, _wimpmon!"_

Lopmon looked back and forth between the two arguing Rookies, trying to find a way that she could best put a stop to their argument so that they could return to the pressing issue at hand.

"Uh…guys?"

"That tears it," growled Impmon. "The kid gloves are comin' off!"

"…Guys…"

"Issat so? Doesn't look like you're going to be doing that anytime soon since they're still on. You want me to tie both ears behind my back so that you can feel more confident? I'll even throw in an arm for good measure."

"…Guys…"

"Either way, you'd only end up embarrassing yourself. You'd look like a deranged poodle. Oh, wait. I forgot. You're a dogmon, so there's not much difference. Except that you're dumber."

"Why I ought to…"

It was one of those moments where Lopmon wished that she hadn't left Suzie to stay by Henry's side in case he woke up, as she was sure that the young girl would have easily found a way to silence the two bickering digimon. Terriermon especially at just a word of 'Princess Pretty Pants', however as she was not around Lopmon was left to her own devices, of which entailed a clashing of her normally polite nature with the already rising annoyance towards her comrades. A second before her temper snapped like a dry twig, Lopmon had just enough time to have a thought.

_What would Suzie do?_

_"Blazing Ice!"_

The cries of Impmon and Terriermon as they were blown off the roof resounded through the air, and seconds later those cries were cut off as the wind was knocked out of them by their abrupt crash to the ground. Lopmon breathed heavily for a few seconds, trying to get a hold of herself before glancing over the edge of the roof down at the two prostrate digimon as they groaned their way in and out of unconsciousness.

_Okay, maybe that question wasn't a good one to ask,_ thought Lopmon, remembering Suzie's penchant for her rather explosive tempers whenever she didn't get her way. Lopmon exhaled in exasperation. _I really should learn not to listen to Suzie when she tells me how I should act. It can be such a problem sometimes._

"Jeez, Lopmon," groaned Terriermon as he pushed himself up from off the ground. "I didn't know that you had it in ya. I thought you were supposed to be the non-offending member of our twosome."

"Sorry," apologized Lopmon as she floated down to join her friends. "But you should know that with the way you act sometimes," Lopmon turned a baleful look at a recovering Impmon to indicate that he was not exempt from her critique, "it's like I have to keep an eye on a pair of In-trainings."

"In the interests of not starting another argument that ends like this," said Impmon, peeling himself off the ground and rolling onto his back, "I'm just going to take a page out of Long Ears book and just say momentai. What do ya say?"

"You stole my line."

"Momentai," said Lopmon, a small smile appearing on her face. Terriermon scowled nonetheless.

"We'd better keep moving and see if the others had seen her around. This is really starting to worry me now. Jeez. I _really_ shouldn't have said any of that stuff about 'what's the worst that could happen' and 'miracle hands.' That was just tempting fate."

"It's a wonder you haven't learned to keep your big mouth shut," muttered Impmon. Terriermon glared at the diminutive imp, but otherwise ignored his comment.

"All right. I'm going to go find the others and let them know what's going on."

"They should still be at the center of the village," said Lopmon. Terriermon nodded.

"Then let's go. What about you, Impmon? You in?"

"You'll just cramp my style," said Impmon, waving the long eared digimon off. "I'll keep looking and see what I can turn up."

"All right. If you see her give us a signal. Knowing you you'll make it really easy for us to find."

"You got a problem with loud, obvious, and explosive?"

"Only when you're blowing stuff up," crowed Terriermon as he leapt into the air and flapped his ears, catching a draft of wind. Lopmon gave Impmon a quick bow before rapidly following after her light colored twin. Impmon watched them go for a second before turning, sniffing in a bored fashion. Reaching into his crimson bandana he took out the communication device and looked at it. Zeroes and ones continued to crawl across its screen. Their endless march across the screen had slowed down now, but there still seemed to be no end to their number.

_I may not know much about computers and gadgets like that, but isn't this techno language for 'I'm broken?'_ wondered Impmon. Not receiving any answer beyond the endless zeroes and ones that plagued the screen of the communication device Impmon shook his head and got ready to resume his search, only to come to a halt when he saw Takato and Guilmon turn the corner, crouched slightly, and moving as quietly as they could.

"…I could have sworn that I heard it from around here," Impmon heard Takato say as the two partners carefully made their forward.

_He must be talking about Lopmon's little temper tantrum,_ thought Impmon. Just then, Guilmon's head swung around and spied the diminutive trouble maker. His golden eyes lit up happily.

"Hey! There's Impmon! Hiii!"

"Huh? Impmon? Whe…oh. Yeah. Use your eyes, Takato."

"What's going on, Pineapple Heads?" asked Impmon, sauntering over to the two, leaving Takato to raise an eyebrow and mouth _heads_ in confusion before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort to question him.

"Uh, well, Guilmon and I heard an explosion from around here, so we dropped by to investigate."

"That was just Lopmon losing her cool with me and Terriermon arguing. Sorry about that."

"Lopmon lost her temper?" asked Takato, raising an eyebrow. Impmon felt one of his eyes twitch at the boy's question, though he couldn't quite blame him for it. Arguments, even fights were like clockwork between him and his long eared opponent. Lopmon getting angry however was like saying that a Devimon would cuddle kittens and coo over them. It just wasn't likely to happen.

_Everyone's got their limits…_

"Yeah," replied Impmon. "Anyway, I've got a question for you. You didn't happen to see Noriko while you and Pineapple Head were out playing spy, did ya? She…ah…got kind of upset earlier and ran off, so now we're trying to find her."

"Wha…? What happened?!"

"Just the usual issue with her body acting weird. She was getting angsty over what happened to Henry, and I asked her to take a look at something and she…um…well, here." Impmon handed over the communication device to Takato, and the boy's eyes widened in surprise at it as he took it into his hand.

"Hey, Takato," said Guilmon, pointing a claw at the device. "That looks just like the thing that Yamaki gave us the last time we went to the digital world."

"He gave it to me to contact him after I rounded up the rest of you," replied Impmon, placing a hand on one hip. "Sorry for not getting it to you sooner. Things just got too busy to think about stuff like that until after all the fighting ended."

"Uh…huh," nodded Takato, digesting what he had just been told. "Um…there's a lot of stuff on the screen here…"

"That was something Noriko did, and the reason why she took off. She thinks she broke it."

"Ah…" Takato furrowed his brow as he focused his attention on the communication device and pressed a few buttons. Something was off here. "Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean? I couldn't get it to work. 'Course, I take to technology the way a whale takes to a beach…"

A smile bloomed on Takato's face just then, causing Impmon to raise his eyebrows in confusion.

"Takato!" exclaimed Guilmon. "You fixed it!"

"Say wha…?" Impmon's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"I don't think I did anything Guilmon," said Takato, not losing his smile. "But…I don't know. It doesn't look like Noriko did anything. We do have a connection though." Takato's smile widened. "Or maybe she did do something. Last time we had to be in a storm just to get a signal. Well, except in a few cases, but it doesn't look to be a problem here. Where's Noriko now?"

"We're still lookin' for her," said Impmon, somewhat perplexed by this turn of events but not complaining in the least as long as it got them home just a little bit sooner. "The rabbit ear twins are heading off to find the others to see if they happen to know anything. She disappeared awfully fast." Impmon fixed a look at the communications device. "You know, maybe you should send off a message just in case. It's working now, but how often do things go right with us?"

Takato thought about it for a second.

"It usually gets worse before it gets good."

"Exactly. Now get writing or whatever it is that you do to send off messages."

"Okay, okay. Just a short one and then we go looking for Noriko. Now let's see…" Takato removed the stylus from its housing and quickly accessed the message function of the device.

"Done," Takato said a minute later, returning the stylus to its housing. "Now let's go find Noriko. Guilmon?"

"On it!" exclaimed the dinosaur with determination. Needing no more prompting, the crimson dinosaur immediately set about sniffing the air. Impmon grinned.

_This shouldn't take too long now._

* * *

"That's quite the story," said the Chuchidarumon, taking a bite out of a mud ball and chewing it over thoughtfully. "And I'm not sure that I can even understand half of what you were talking about. I'm afraid that there's too much that I don't know."

"I don't even know much either," commiserated Noriko, taking a bite out of her own mud ball. Unlike the Chuchidarumon, her chewing was more mechanical than thoughtful, matching her crestfallen expression. "The Tamers know more than I do, but none of them have ever heard of someone being in my situation. The thing is, I remember dying, or at least I think I did, but I'm still alive somehow. But at the same time I'm… _different."_

"Is different bad?"

"It is when you hurt others!" said Noriko, feeling agitated. The Chuchidarumon waved her off with a giant paw.

"From the sounds of things, it doesn't sound as though what happened with your human friend was your fault. You didn't even stick around long enough to see what the final result was with that communication device. You just ran. Not exactly how someone should face their problems you know."

"I'm just a kid. I'm not supposed to deal with that kind of stuff. Not on the level like this."

"The Tamers seem to be doing fine," said the Chuchidarumon. "But then again, I'm not a human. I don't even know the specifics about your culture, or what qualifies for 'what you do' and 'what you don't do.' I find it odd that children are called upon to fight battles. I wouldn't allow any of the young ones of this village to do that, and neither would anyone else. But we're not talking about us, we're talking about you. Face it. You ran when you should have stayed."

"B-But…I…I hurt Henry!"

"Didn't you just say that the others told you that wasn't the case? Program languages are tricky things to deal with, and your friend had a major interruption in the middle of one. I wouldn't think that it would be an easy ride."

Noriko bit her lip and leaned back in her chair, her hands fidgeting with her mud ball.

"But…I'm not who I used to be…"

"You're Noriko Nakata aren't you? You have her memories, right?"

Noriko hung her head, not answering. The Chuchidarumon sighed.

"Look. I'm not sure how to help you. I'm not sure if anyone can help you with your problem, though to be frank, I don't see how your 'problem' is even one at all. You're here. You remember who you were. That's all that's been necessary for a digimon, and I should point out that we change forms a lot, often into ones that have nothing in common with what we were at an earlier stage. You're familiar with digivolution, right?"

"Yes…" said Noriko meekly.

"Good. At least that speeds things up. We have a saying around here. The body doesn't matter, it's what's inside that counts. Human or digimon. Organic or data, what's the real difference between them? We digimon look at evolution as an advancement in our lives that bring us closer to whatever we are destined to be, good or bad. Maybe you should think of this as your own personal evolution regardless of how it came about. Now, you still have a body, and a way to live. If it's looks you're worried about you don't look any different to any of the other Tamers. Otherwise you have very little to complain about other than whatever extra has been tagged on in your new life. If you don't want to have to worry about that then you should explore it so that you can get a hold of it."

Noriko chewed on her lip now, thinking over what the Chuchidarumon said. She didn't like the way she approached the subject in such a brisk manner, but there was something about what she said that couldn't be ignored. From a digimon's perspective, change was a normal part of life. Not that it wasn't the same way with humans it was more that with digimon the change was significant and abrupt, whereas with humans it was slow and oft not noticeable unless one took a moment to think about it.

Still…Noriko didn't know if she was at all comfortable with being _different_ from any of the others. And alive? Was she still even alive in spite of her being here? She ate food, she could think, speak, and feel pain and pleasure. But did that mean she was alive? Although she didn't think of it consciously, she knew just what question it was that she was asking. It wasn't a question of whether or not her physical self had survived her brush with death, but more of a case of her _soul._ She had never been one for religion and all of its trappings, but the idea of a person having a soul was engrained within her being whether she was aware of it or not. That part of herself that extended beyond the body and the consciousness of the mind. The part of herself that was said to survive death and go wherever it was meant to once its vessel gave up the proverbial ghost. It left her wondering, was she really any different from another living creature, or a person, or was she like an undead creature from the movies, or worse yet, was she like the Sand Liches that terrorized the desert. Empty shells of their former selves. Noriko had an idea that whatever she was now, her body was made up of data.

And data could simply be copied. Recorded. When one got down to it, wasn't that what the human brain did? Was she nothing more than the last recording of Noriko Nakata who simply kept continuing when her real self had already moved on?

The very idea left her more than a little uncertain as to who she was more than the what. Even if being different would be, well, _different_ , not being the real Noriko Nakata was a little more than she could handle.

"This is so confusing," muttered Noriko, laying her head down on the table and resting a hand on it. "It's easy for you to say that, but I don't know if I'm _me_." Raising one hand to her shirt, Noriko clutched it tightly in her hands. "I remember dying. BlackGuilmon shot me…"

"Ah," said the Chuchidarumon, understanding dawning in her mind. "I see. You know…about that. Even if you aren't _you_ ," The Chuchidarumon emphasized that last word, "you have everything that makes up who you were in you, and are experiencing the life that you would have experienced otherwise. Don't you think that you owe it to _yourself_ to keep living that life? Isn't this your second chance?"

Noriko did not answer, and instead continued to massage her mud ball anxiously. The Chuchidarumon watched Noriko, looking for any sign that what she was saying had any effect on her.

"You know," she said in an offhand manner. "I'm sure that your family and friends will be glad to know that you're okay."

Noriko's face snapped up at the digimon, eyes wide with surprise at what she said.

"After all," the Chuchidarumon continued, scratching one side of her dark brown face, taking no notice of Noriko's surprise, "things could be worse."

_She's…she's using my family…all the people that I care about against me! I…_

Noriko's mind raced. She saw what the Chuchidarumon was doing. If she couldn't convince her by making her think about her condition, then she would make her focus on how her family and friends would feel if she really did die. Even if she did, this _image_ of herself was still there, and could still continue functioning in the same capacity without anyone knowing except for herself. And as much as she doubted now that she was anything like the girl that she had been human as, she knew that she refused to let the people she cared about be hurt.

_But…she used that to get to me…_

"You're…" Noriko curled her fingers into two fists, feeling anger seethe through her. "…You're…"

"Awful? You sounded like you needed a good kick to get you going. I'd say that whatever it is you are, whatever you're feeling now is a good indication that everything is all right with you. You just have to deal with the changes that your body has now. Unless you feel like crying forever that is."

Noriko scowled, but she couldn't come up with a counter argument for that. The Chuchidarumon's words sparked something within her that made her want to strive forward. And with that spark came a memory. While she had never been one to pay attention to the digimon franchise, her little brother was a hopeless fan of the show and game, so much so that he would watch even the westernized dubbed version of his favorite anime just to see what had been done with it. During all the times that she had listened to his seemingly endless hours of watching the program, one line had stood out to her, and it came from all people one who had often been seen as the weakest link in the main group of the first season. A certain girl that wore far more pink than was normal or healthy.

_"Sniveling is for babies, and I've done too much of that already."_

Those had been the words that the girl, Mimi Tachikawa if Noriko remembered her name correctly, had spoken when she realized what she had to do to keep her friends safe from harm.

_Not exactly a bad lesson,_ thought Noriko. _Maybe…maybe it doesn't matter what I am. I just have to keep my friends and family happy. Live my life like I always have. And this,_ Noriko looked at her closed fist and took note of the sparkle of energy that appeared around it, _I have to learn what this is. What I am and how this defines me._

She wasn't satisfied with where her thought process had arrived, but for now it would have to do. Everyone was working to find a way home. She couldn't afford to bog everyone down with her own problems.

"Thank you, Chuchidarumon," said Noriko, rising up from the table, her face more calm than it had been earlier. Once more the Chuchidarumon waved her off.

"Eh. Don't mention it."

Before either of them could say anything else Noriko's ears picked up a loud sniffing sound outside of the door leading to the hut. Turning, Noriko raised an eyebrow.

"I think she's here, Takato," came a voice that Noriko's mind automatically identified as Guilmon through the faint recollections that BlackGuilmon left within her.

"Okay then," came another voice, this one decidedly Takato's. She didn't need anyone's lingering memories but her own to recognize this boy. "Let's do it."

The door flung open, spilling daylight into the room, and Noriko winced automatically.

"Noriko!" called out Takato from next to Guilmon. "Are you in here?"

"You know, you could try using your eyes," came the voice of Impmon as he waltzed in from behind the brown haired Tamer. "She's sitting right there in front of us."

"Oh!" Takato laughed and rubbed his hair in embarrassment. "Yeah. Right. Should have thought of that."

"Do you even _have_ a brain? Or were you asleep in class when they were passin' 'em out?"

"Um…well, I do sometimes fall asleep in cla…hey!"

"Took ya long enough to catch on. All right, we're wasting time here." Impmon strolled forward and came to a stop in front of Noriko, who had been watching the bizarre exchange with raised eyebrows. "So this is where you've been hiding? Care to explain what's going on?"

"Impmon!" exclaimed Takato before looking up at Noriko with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry about that. He's always like this."

"And proud of it!" Impmon all but shouted, to which Guilmon nodded.

"He doesn't have 'manners' in his dictionary."

"And you don't even read one, which is why I'm surprised that you'd know what one is, Pineapple Head."

"I know that it's not food and that you find words in it. Takato would read them to me when we were getting ready to go to sleep." Guilmon tapped his chin thoughtfully with one claw. "Come to think of it, I always fell asleep before we finished a section."

Impmon, his jaw slack from surprise looked over at Takato in disbelief.

"Only you would read something _that_ boring to your partner as a bedtime story."

Now Noriko blinked in utter surprise.

"Hey!" said Takato defensively. "He wanted to learn how to read, and I was helping him. It's not every day that a digimon asks to do that sort of thing, and only Renamon and Terriermon ever talk about what kind of books they read. He felt like he was being left out."

Impmon just stared at Takato with a dismissive look on his face. Although he himself knew full well that he lacked the ability to read and write, something that had given him some trouble in the past on more than one occasion, he had no interest, nor saw the need to brush up on such basic necessities. Overall, he saw Guilmon's attempt to learn how to read as an exercise in futility, although that by itself had more to do with his impression of the reptile's intelligence.

"Rika sure pegged you right from the moment you two met. You. Are. A Gogglehead."

The sound of Noriko's barely repressed giggling broke into their conversation.

"You know," she guffawed behind a hand, "you two came here for something else, right?"

"Takato gets easily distracted," said Guilmon apologetically before a quick sniff of the air turned his attention to Noriko and the Chuchidarumon's food. "Oooh…mud balls."

"And you wonder where he gets it from," said Impmon, jabbing Takato in the leg with one elbow. Takato chuckled and returned his gaze over to Noriko. His expression soon sobered and he walked into the hut.

"So, are you okay?"

Noriko's eyes glanced down at the floor and her laughter faded from her lips.

"Well…I don't know. I've got some things to work out. I got stupid and let them get to me at a bad time." Noriko looked at Impmon. "Sorry by the way. About making you chase after me and everything. And about the communication device too."

"Eh? Oh. No biggie. Just make sure that you warn us so that we don't have to go dragging Dino Boy into a game of Hide and Go Seek."

"Impmon!" Takato scolded. "Jeez, you can be worse than Terriermon sometimes. He has a better sense of tact."

"Are we talking about the same rabbitmon here?"

"Anyway," continued Takato, ignoring the diminutive imp. "The communication device is okay. Whatever it was that you did to it, it doesn't look like it did anything long lasting or harmful."

"Huh?" Noriko's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting that, and the Chuchidarumon looked at her with a knowing, almost smug look. "What? Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah. I just sent a message out not too long ago. We should be getting one from Yamaki pretty soon and…" Takato was cut off by the sound of a soft beeping. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the communications device and he smiled when he looked at the screen. "…And that would be him now."

* * *

Lightning flashed across the landscape of his mind, and images flitted across his eyes too fast for him to make them out. Henry groaned and rolled over in his bed, trying to make sense of everything that he was seeing, but nothing held firm long enough for him to focus on. Finally, after what felt like an eternity something changed and the lightning became more regular, illuminating darkness. As it did so, a burst of fire sprang up, mixing with the lightning and darkness, flowing together to form a ring. Streaks of light from an unknown source quickly joined them, followed by what appeared to be sparkling ice, splinters of ashen wood, droplets of water, and slivers of metal and broken earth. All melded together, and a sharp gust of wind drove at them, keeping them together and preventing them from escaping the confines of the ring that they now formed. Henry looked closer, and upon doing so he found that a figure stood at the center of that ring. He couldn't tell who it was, as the figure was obscured by shadows just as it was by the intensity of the light that made it up. All he could tell for certain was that the figure was definitely _female_ , and at the same time… _familiar._

As Henry watched, the figure drew up one hand and brought her fingers together.

_"Arf!"_

_Wha…?_ Baffled, Henry abruptly woke up to find Jeri Katou sitting over him, pressing a wet cloth to his forehead while Suzie and Terriermon looked on with worry.

"It's about time," said Terriermon, relief very apparent in his voice. "C'mon you lazy bones! Time to wake up! We've got business to attend to and for once Takato's got some good news for us! He's gotten in touch with Hypnos."

Still held in the slipping grip of sleep, Henry could only twist his face into a confused expression before giving the most intelligent reply that he could.

"Uh…what?"

"We're going home," said Jeri with a light giggle, patting one hand on Henry's wet-cloth laden forehead.

_Home…_ Henry fell back on his bed. That word never sounded so sweeter. But there was still one thing nagging at him.

"Wait!" Henry arose from his bed, his heart picking up its pace. "Noriko! Is she…?"

"She's fine," said Terriermon. "Aside from a brief freak out about her new powers she's absolutely fine. You might want to check this out though. From what Yamaki's telling us, Impmon and Takato are under the impression that she helped us with her magic trick…"

"Terriermon, he doesn't know about that yet."

"Momentai! He'll just have to pick it up as we go along. Come on, Henryyy!" The long eared digimon leapt up onto his partner's head with a mischievous giggle. "Let's get going! You don't want to keep your _girlfriend_ waiting, do you?"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai, Henry! Mo-men-tai!"

"Tewwiewmon," said Suzie with a scolding tone in her voice. "You awe incujibible!"

"Incorrigible," corrected Terriermon with a grin.

"Tewwiewmonnn…"


	149. 148: a Step towards Home

Kuroda grumbled inaudibly under his breath as his fingers typed away upon his keyboard, continuing his seemingly endless struggle to repair the damage to the Hypnos network. Behind him on her pedestal, Tally eyed him with an expression that bespoke of nerves and curiosity. Unwilling to break the man from his concentration, Tally did not speak, and instead resumed her own work as best as she could. However, the man's ramblings continued to tug at the edge of her hearing and inevitably her eyes were drawn back to him.

"You know," she began, finally fed up with the distant sounds of thunder Kuroda was making, "this is out of my line, but I have to ask this; do you have to be grumbling about the job? You've been at it for hours, and it's starting to become distracting."

"I see a case of pot calling kettle black here," replied Kuroda, his fingers not so much as slowing down in their relentless pace. "If you have time to talk, then you have time to work. I can do both, and since I'm quite annoyed with how the system keeps breaking down over every Wild One that's been showing up and wrecking havoc in the city these past few days, I think that I deserve some way to relieve myself of my stress. I'm at the point where coffee is doing me more harm than good."

_Weirdo,_ thought Tally, her face settling into a pout. "Well, can you do it a little more _quietly?_ I know that I can't understand a word that you're saying now, but noise has a way of carrying in this room."

"I make no promises, for they are like breadcrumbs. They are made to be broken." Kuroda chuckled lightly, as though at an old joke before breaking one hand away and massaging his forehead. "My apologies if I'm bothering you though. I'm rather tired, not to mention irritated, and when both of these meet I mumble to myself. It gradually blows off steam." Kuroda paused. "Either that or I'll go insane and break something. Whichever comes first really. Fortunately the insane half of my mind is lazy, so that usually gives out before my patience does."

"Uh…okay." Tally gave Kuroda a quirky look before shaking her head. _Definitely a weirdo, but at least he apologized. Now that I think of it, I think that's the first time he's actually said 'I'm sorry' over anything that he's done or said to me._

Tally resisted the urge to raise her visor and check the time. She already had an idea as to how late it was getting now, and she still had quite a lot of work left to do. The fate of the world waited on no one, man or woman, and this room was packed with one of each. Still, they were both overworked by this point. Riley had said that she would let her off in a short while so that she could rest, but Tally was adamant that she continue for as long as she was physically able. Not that she wouldn't have appreciated her friend's help, not to mention company, but Riley's skills were needed away from the control room for the time being. Not exactly the best of arrangement for anyone, but with everything that had happened Hypnos' resources had become somewhat stretched in terms of available manpower, and it didn't help things that there had been a fair amount of damage done to the building's infrastructure. Everyone had to work around a wall of problems, and Tally got the feeling that things were going to get worse before they got better.

_If nothing else, we're already working the 'worse' angle. When are we going to catch a break?_

Tally glanced down at Kuroda. The man continued with his ramblings, but at a much quieter, less distracting tone now. Tally liked him better for it.

_He's been pretty relentless so far. I'm amazed that he hasn't gone and completely snapped although 'talking to himself' is not really a good sign._

"You know…maybe you should take a break. You've been at this ever since Yamaki told us that the Tamers went missing and…"

"No breaks," interrupted Kuroda in a monotone voice. "Not yet, anyway. I'll rest until I've either got this thing figured out, or until I'm too tired to work effectively. Until then, no breaks."

Tally again fixed Kuroda with a quirky expression, not at all certain what to make of it. The man had to be either insane already or just…just…

_Come to think of it, I can't think of anything else he'd probably be. 'Dedicated' maybe, but somehow I don't think that fits him very well. He's almost like Yamaki before that whole business with the Devas went down._

Tally furrowed her brow, pausing on the thought for a moment before deciding to take another stab at things.

"Okay then…whether you collapse first from exhaustion or solve our current problem, when you're done, do you want to take a break together?"

For the first time there was a pause in Kuroda's typing, and Tally found the sudden silence rather jarring. She looked at him and he looked back with a surprised expression that seemed to ask her if _she_ was the one who was actually crazy. After a few seconds of neither of them saying a word, Kuroda simply shook his head and went back to work, mouthing something under his breath in his fashion. The clicking and clacking of fingers falling upon the keyboard resumed their echo in the control room. Feeling somewhat disappointed, Tally went back to work herself, and as though unconsciously imitating her colleague she too muttered something under her breath. Tense seconds went by during which neither of them spoke and no other noise filled the room save for the endless sounds of their typing.

"Yes."

Tally nearly missed a click as Kuroda broke the pattern and her concentration.

"W-Wha…?"

"I said 'yes.' In answer to your question. If you want to go on break, I'll go with you."

"Oh." Tally blinked underneath her visor. This was a curveball that she hadn't expected to have thrown her way. Should she be happy? Tally didn't know how to react to Kuroda's unexpected acquiescence. The man could be downright irritating during normal work hours and even more so when working past them, but outside of that? That required some serious consideration.

_But then, I'm the one who made the offer. Like my mom told me. "If you make the bed, lie in it."_

"A-All right," said Tally. "Um…do you have a specific place you'd like to go or should I…?"

"You choose," replied Kuroda, keeping his focus on his computer screen. "Just so long as we keep this professional, I have no problems with this outing."

"Uh…'kay…"

Tally scowled at the man, but nodded nonetheless.

_He has absolutely no tact at all, does he?_ After a moment, Tally went back to work, and the rhythm of her typing blended with Kuroda's, making them sound almost like a single being welded together. _Oh well. Can't complain I guess. At least this way I can learn a thing or two about him. I'm probably going to end up working with him for a while now, so I might as well…_

Tally paused as she frowned imperceptibly at her readouts. Quickly she looked up at the various display panels.

"Did you see that?" she called out to Kuroda.

"I'm kind of busy dealing with the network damage," returned Kuroda, his chair creaking as he leaned back in it. From the sound of it, Tally had the distinct feeling that it was expressing his annoyance far more than it was just him readjusting his body to get in a more comfortable position.

Tally ignored his demeaning tone as she crosschecked her readings.

"I think you might want to put that on hold for a moment. I'm detecting an unusual data convergence…it looks like a signal of some kind."

Kuroda finally turned towards Tally with a raised eyebrow.

"A signal? What kind?"

"Unknown, but it appears to be coming from a layer somewhere in the digital world. It's…" Tally's fingers increased their pace as her expression became a bit more anxious. "…It's aiming straight towards us!"

"What? Activate system defenses! The network is still in a state of shock! It won't be able to handle another su…"

"Too late!"

Though the reality fell far short of her imagination, in Tally's mind, Hypnos was rocked as though by an explosion, and the lights flickered as the network was suddenly struck by the stream of data emanating from the digital world. After a couple seconds, of which to the two Hypnos operators felt was an eternity, the lights stabilized and returned to normal operating conditions. Quickly the two scanned their computers for the condition reports on the network.

"Wha…?" Kuroda was dumbfounded by what he discovered. "The network wasn't affected at all? Wait…this…"

A series of zeroes and ones suddenly flew across the display monitors of the main control room. Tally's fingers became as a blur as she struggled to keep up with them as she analyzed the information that they were now receiving.

"This code…I don't believe it! Something's happening! It's interacting directly with our systems using our own information!"

"More than that," said Kuroda, getting up from his chair. "This is much, _much_ more than that. It's actually _repairing_ the damage that our systems had suffered. And they're _altering_ as well. This is…this…" Kuroda raised one hand to his mouth and covered it. His eyes raced across the lines of code that he saw as it changed abruptly and without warning. "…It's changing. It's… _evolving."_

The zeroes and ones suddenly winked out of existence, and on the display monitors mounted on the walls a message appeared that Tally recognized all too well every time she booted up a computer.

_Welcome to Hypnos._

"We're back online," she whispered. Looking down at her computer, Tally blinked as she saw something else.

"Ah! Kuroda! There's something else here as well. The data stream…it's sent us… _coordinates!"_

Kuroda tapped one finger on the side of his mouth as he took everything in. This turn of events was a fantastic change of luck, but the suddenness that it had appeared with, and the vast alterations that Lady Luck had brought with her were more than enough to make him more than a little bit paranoid. Especially if that one line of code that he had seen scant seconds ago meant anything. Kuroda instantly pondered the wisdom about looking a certain gift horse in the mouth.

_These coordinates. Just what do they mean? And who or what sent them?_

On the wall monitors, a loud 'ping' noise could be heard as a digital envelope appeared on them.

_"You have mail,"_ flashed a message with the tag name 'Tamers' attached to it. Both Kuroda and Tally raised their eyebrows in astonishment and exchanged glances.

"Better get Yamaki," said Kuroda.

"Already on it."

* * *

_"We're all together and we're fine,"_ read Yamaki aloud. Raising one hand, the blonde haired head of Hypnos adjusted his sunglasses. "At least now we know that they're still alive and in one piece."

"Are you sure that you can trust the message?" asked Kuroda. "I mean, we have only this message for assurance that it's from the party that it says that it's from and nothing else. And might I remind you of the strange way it arrived here?"

"It uses the same address and encoded data as the communication device that I gave to Impmon. Not that we can't take the means of its arrival out of the equation, but this is good news. Provided that is, as you said, that its source can be trustworthy. What's the extent of its invasion?"

"The signal infiltrated every major system," reported Tally. "Everything has been compromised, but by the looks of things we're doing all the better for it."

"That concerns me. What can either of you two tell me about this signal?"

"Not much, I'm sorry to say," answered Kuroda. "But from what I saw of the data stream before Hypnos came back online, Shibumi's special algorithm, the one that he is reported as having given to the digimon prior to his accident, was the main source responsible for all of this. It'll take some time to organize everything and conduct an appropriate network scan using an unaffected system, but I'd say that whatever we just got force fed, it was like it caused the Hypnos network to _digivolve_. It repaired and improved any data that the code came across. Congrats Yamaki. I'd say our tank gun just got a _major_ improvement."

Yamaki snorted.

"I'm not sure how this constitutes a gain for us until we can be certain that there will be no negative side effects. Just how did this signal slip past our defenses?"

"Well, they _were_ weak," said Kuroda pointedly. "They were enough to stop most low level Wild Ones and keep the usual riffraff out, but past a certain power level there's nothing that we can do. Not even Yuggoth could do anything to stop this."

Up on her pedestal, Tally grimaced when she saw the dark look on Yamaki's face at the mention of the normally ineffective program.

"At any rate, we've been backtracking the signal using a few independent systems and the data we received. I've had to cross reference all of the information that we had on the Tamers but I think I can say, with reasonable confidence that we've located our heroes on the uppermost plain of the digital world."

"And you're certain of that?" asked Yamaki.

"I said 'with reasonable confidence.' I'm not making a 100 percent promise on anything. I like to leave at least _some_ margin for error when it comes to strange data from the digital world. You never know where it's been."

"In short, sir," cut in Tally before Kuroda could anger her employee, "we think we know where the Tamers are. We just have to figure out a way to contact them and bring them home."

"Contacting them is a simple task," said Yamaki. "If they're communicating by way of the comm. device I gave Impmon then I can talk to them through a secure line without having to rely on Hypnos' resources."

"Yay. Happy gushing for us all," said Kuroda sarcastically under his breath.

"Problem, Kuroda?"

"No sir. Not in the least. What are your orders in light of this recent development?"

Yamaki frowned at the other man.

"For now, I want you and Tally to work out just what this signal has done to our systems. Also…" Yamaki paused. "…I'd like for you two to come up with some contingency plans on how to handle those changes in the event that they become a danger to Hypnos. I want you to write up your recommendations and submit them to me as soon as you're finished."

"Yes sir," said Tally, unable to hide her surprise at the notion of being tasked with taking down Hypnos. Kuroda himself had to admit that he was quite stunned himself. As the blonde haired head of Hypnos exited the room, the two looked at each other.

"Well," said Kuroda, returning his gaze back at the exit, "this is certainly quite the development."

* * *

A knock landed on Yamaki's door. Looking up the man saw that Riley was standing at the entrance to his office.

"Hey," she said in a subdued voice, a tone owing to the exhaustion that she felt. Yamaki nodded in greeting.

"I take it that you know by now," he said, returning his attention back to his laptop screen.

"You mean about how Hypnos is suddenly up and running again, and better than it's ever been? Yeah, I heard about that. Mr. Wong and the rest are all atwitter about it. What happened?"

"I'm formulating ideas. I'm going to need to talk to the Monster Makers about it though to confirm a few things, but I think I've located the source. We've found the Tamers."

Riley's eyebrows shot up.

"Seriously?"

"Quite. I wasn't sure at first, but I'm using a secure connection, separate from the main Hypnos network and am now in contact with Takato Matsuki and the others. Takato has reported an incident that occurred with the girl that disappeared to the digital world before they did—Noriko Nakata."

"They've found her? Is she all right?"

"According to Takato she is. He mentioned something about her being in contact with the communication device and, apparently, enabling it to connect with Hypnos when it would normally have trouble doing so. In addition she appears to have developed 'abilities.'"

Riley blinked.

"Did he say what kind?"

"He doesn't seem certain. However he has broken it down into a nutshell that Noriko seems to have taken on the abilities of a digivice."

"Is that…even possible, sir?"

"Since she was the one who held the comm. device prior to Takato sending out a message, and her abilities interacting with it to the point where Shibumi's Code was imbedded in the first message that Takato sent out to us, there is a distinct possibility. We'll need to run some tests first when she gets back in order to confirm this, but it seems to be the most logical possibility given what Noriko might contain within her. We've seen what has happened from just even the slightest amount of exposure to Shibumi's Code. The Arc for example when it gained sentience and overrode all of our commands. I don't see how this could be any different."

"What about your computer?" put in Riley, indicating the laptop with a nod of her head. "Wouldn't that be affected as well since Takato's using that same communication device to talk to you?"

"I did a scan. I haven't detected anything out of the ordinary. So far."

Riley pursed her lips, uncertain as to what to make of that. Yamaki had always been proud of his computing skills, but she thought that he had long since learned to not be blind to his own shortcomings.

"So what's the situation?"

"Takato has mentioned that they are in a dangerous situation. Rather they are 'out of danger' at the moment, but their position is rather tenuous. I'm going to call a meeting with the Monster Makers as soon as I've verified the conditions of everyone and just what the precise details of their situation are. So far I've only gotten something called 'Sand Lich' and asked for clarification. He's taking his time on that right now."

"Sounds like he and the rest have been pretty busy. Did he say how the others were?"

"He said that they had some injured. I'm still trying to get the details of that out of him as well. He did mention that the digimon Gyōjamon as being one of those who has been critically injured."

"I see. Are you planning on having Mr. Wong and the others build a new Arc to bring them home then?"

"There are no other options that I can think of unless anyone is willing to give a reconstructed Juggernaut a test run. Considering its already 'checkered' history, I don't want to put the safety of the Tamers in the hands of that program. Even a new Arc, however untested it might be, has so far proven to at least be safe. And with the experience that we can draw upon from having created one before, we should be able to refine the process."

"That works in theory, but what about reality?"

"Well then, there's no other way to know except to implement it and have faith." Yamaki allowed a small smirk to appear on his face as he leaned forward and read the beginning of a new message awaiting his eyes only in his inbox. "That much at least, Takato Matsuki showed me."

Riley's lips curved upwards in a smile that matched that of her boss's.

"Yamaki…you're becoming more like that kid every day."

"Hmmph. I'll take that as a compliment."

"Now if only you'd loosen up a little…"

"Don't patronize me..."

* * *

"So that's it," said Takato, looking up from the comm. device and at his friends. "Yamaki says that they're working on a way to get us home and that the best thing to do right now is to stay out of trouble."

"Care to repeat that, Takatomon?" asked Terriermon sarcastically as he pretended to clean his ear. "Did I just hear you say 'stay out of trouble'? It's a little late for that as it is."

"Terriermon…"

"What? I thought we've already established by now that trouble follows us like a magnet. Even Takato admitted that the last time we came this way, and remember everything that we had to go through right now? Never mind that we still have trouble waiting for us outside…"

"Terriermon," groaned Ayaka from next to Kenta, "would it be too much to ask for you to _please_ just shut up? Everyone's trying to think here and you're not helping."

"Mom…"

_"TERRIERMON!"_

"…entai." The long eared rabbit-digimon blinked in surprise as everyone yelled out his name in irritation, save for young Suzie Wong, who merely grinned at the way everyone's voices blended together.

"I hate to say it," said Ryo, picking up the threads of conversation once again. "But he does have a point. Even though Grani's tapped into this place's defenses and Hypnos is sending help we're still not out of the woods yet. What are we going to do about this village or Grani for that matter? Do we just go home and leave the Chuchidarumon to their fate?"

From next to Henry, Noriko Nakata blinked at the question. She remembered bringing up that point once before when Henry had arrived, but there hadn't been an agreeable answer then.

_Not now either,_ thought Noriko, remembering Henry's reasoning from before. _We don't know the situation here, and the others don't seem to know how to fight those Sand Liches and they're the ones who have the experience in dealing with these kinds of situations._ Noriko cast her eyes down at the ground and wiggled her bare toes in agitation. The situation was so tilted against them. If they stayed and fought it was likely that they would end up fighting a losing battle, but if they left there was the possibility that they were consigning the village to a death warrant. Either way it was a lose-lose situation.

"What about Grani?" asked Takato, looking over at the massive spear that lay in the center of the village. "He might be able to help us with that. He's kind of a digimon, and even though his shape is, ah, different from what it used to be, he's definitely protecting the Chuchidarumon. It feels weird to ask this from him, but maybe he could stay and make sure that this place is protected until we can come back and do something about the Sand Liches."

"It's definitely something to consider," said Henry. "We should see to that before Yamaki is able to send us back home."

"I'm going to do that after we're done here," nodded Takato before turning to Kenta. "How are the others doing?"

A second passed during which the boy didn't reply. Ayaka nudged him with one elbow, snapping him back to attention.

"Kenta!" she hissed under her breath, though her expression belied the tone that she had.

"Hmmm?" Kenta adjusted his glasses, realizing that he was now the center of attention. "Oh. Well, Mako is still under the weather right now, but that's nothing that a bit of rest won't take care of, at least, according to MarineAngemon. Gyōjamon and Urocyomon are the ones that he's worried about right now. Gyōjamon's lost a lot of data in the last battle and MarineAngemon's doing everything he can to keep him going. And Urocyomon…" Kenta shrugged. "MarineAngemon doesn't know what's wrong with him. He says that there's something _missing._ Like a flame has gone out or something."

"That's pretty cryptic coming from him," put in Kazu. "Are you sure that you didn't mistranslate or something? Or that your brain is tired?"

"I'm just telling you what he told me," said Kenta a little harshly, "and he had to stay with them to make sure that nothing bad happened. If you want to know so bad why don't you ask him yourself?"

A moment of silence passed, during which the others just stared at him before a low chuckle emerged from Kazu.

"Man, your brain must be fried. You're the only one who can understand him, remember?"

"Shut up, Kazu!" barked Ayaka.

"You'd think that he'd learn to be quiet for once and just listen," grumbled Rika, folding her arms over her chest. "I guess that's just too much to ask for from that knucklehead."

"Hey! For your information I do happen to pay attention!"

"Too bad your mouth is still flapping. Do you have anything worthwhile to contribute to this conversation or are you going to keep attracting Flymon with your mouth hanging open like that?"

"Rika!" scolded Renamon harshly while Takato looked back and forth worriedly between his two friends. Rika leaned back and closed her eyes, looking ready to nod off while Kazu visibly restrained himself.

"Come on you guys," said Takato, intervening. "Let's try not to fight, all right? We're all in this together…"

"With the exception of Lumemon and Kuzuhamon," mumbled Terriermon in the background, bluntly reminding everyone of the angel digimon's absence and how Kuzuhamon had gone off looking for him. Neither had returned so far but Noriko had assured everyone that Lumemon was still in the village area, and everyone's D-Arc confirmed the presence of a Mega class Wild One in the area as well. So far so good, as far as the group was concerned, though their absence was still somewhat worrying.

Almost without realizing it everyone's eyes fell upon Noriko, who blanched visibly from being the sudden center of attention. No one even had to mention that she and her partner were something of a conundrum in their group, as past events had taught them on more than one occasion. Noriko herself was still more than uncomfortable with how they made her look to them. Even if no one said anything she felt as though a line had been drawn in the sand that separated them from her.

Noriko felt herself flinch as Henry's hand touched her shoulder in a comforting manner, and seeing the look in the boy's eyes everyone got the message and returned to the situation at hand.

"Well," began Kazu in a surely manner, "since Rika asked if I had anything to contribute to this mess, it just so happens that I do. I don't know if any of you guys had time to think about this," Kazu indicated Kenta, Ayaka, Miki, Suzie, and Impmon, the latter of whom was lounging about on the rooftop of one of the Chuchidarumon huts, looking for all the world annoyed, "but since we're all together now there are some things that we need to talk about because they could be serious."

"You wanna get out with it already?" asked Rika sardonically.

"In a second," shot back Kazu. "It has to do with our fight with UlforceVeedramon in the real world."

"What about it?" asked Henry, noticing how Ayaka and the others perked up their ears at this.

"You're talking about that weird sphere stuff that went on with Suzie, aren't you?" asked Ayaka. "And all those weird powers that we got out of the deal?"

"You got it," replied Kazu. As one Takato, Rika, Ryo, Jeri, Henry, and Noriko raised their eyebrows. "For you guys who weren't there, Suzie showed up in the middle of the battle with a couple of weird looking digimon. One was a bird, the same one that Kenta tried to help during his tango with DinoRexmon, and the other a fairy, and Suzie let loose some kind of light on us. The next thing we know we've suddenly gained some additional powers. I didn't think much about it at the time, but back when Kuzuhamon was trying to reach Alice inside of me…I heard a voice."

"You heard…a voice," said Rika flatly. At least that was how it appeared to Kazu, used as he was to Rika deriding him for every little thing that came out of his mouth. Kazu was already expecting her to launch into him about the million and one voices he already had in his head, but much to his surprise she didn't do that. Instead she merely looked at Takato with a worried expression on her face. Takato looked back at her with a look on his face that seemed to Kazu as though he were reading her mind. A small chill worked its way up the boy's back as he observed their silent 'conversation'.

"You don't think…?" began Takato after a couple seconds had passed. Takato turned and looked at Kazu. "Did any of you…develop some kind of power that was _elemental_ based?"

"Aren't most digimon attacks based on that kind of thing?" asked Terriermon pointedly from atop a stunned Henry's head.

"I don't mean it like that," said Takato, sounding irritated. "I mean…hey. Henry. Are you okay?"

"…Legendary Warriors…" said Henry, placing one hand over his mouth thoughtfully. "That's what I was told when Terriermon and I met a digimon when we were trying to help Noriko after her freeze."

"Henry?" Takato instinctively put himself into a crouch, preparing to move over towards the boy. "What's going on? Did you…?"

"I met a digimon by the name of Beetlemon. He claimed to be a Legendary Warrior representing the spirit of Thunder, and that he was lending me his power to combat something. He didn't say what…"

"Yeah. He was as vague as his reputation," chimed Terriermon, causing the half-Chinese Tamer to look up at him with a frown.

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai."

"The same thing happened to Takato," supplied Rika. "Something…I'm guessing one of these _Warriors_ possessed him and made him go out of control."

"Um…Rika, Agunimon said that was a test…"

"A test that makes you nearly kill your friends?" glared Rika sharply. "Are you _kidding_ me?! Do you have any idea what that was? What I _felt_ coming from you while we had to duke it out?"

"Hold on," said Henry, getting to his feet. "One of them _made_ you fight with Rika?"

"Well…"

"Yes," said Rika, overriding her goggle-wearing friend. "It did." Rika glared at Takato. "And you're telling me that its intentions were to be _helpful?_ "

"But it was," put in Guilmon, trying to help his partner shore up the defense. "BurningGreymon's just a little wild. Kind of like how I was when I first digivolved to Growlmon."

"I'm pretty sure that there's a big difference between Growlmon and the thing that tried to make Takato kill me…"

_"STOP IT!"_

Rika's argument ground to a halt as everyone's attention became focused on a heavily breathing Suzie Wong, clutching Lopmon tightly to her chest.

"Suzie?" asked Henry tentatively.

"Zephywmon and Kazemon and theiw fwiends…they don't mean to huwt anyone. They'we just twying to help! I met them…they told me so."

"Suzie…" Henry looked at his little sister.

"They'we not bad!" Suzie reinforced. "They'we not! Lopmon wasn't bad! And Impmon…Impmon was bad for a little bit, but Zephywmon's fwiends awen't! They awen't!"

Henry found himself without anything to say. Certainly nothing that could appease his little sister. But one thing was for certain. They were all going to have a lot to talk about.


	150. 149: Step Forward or Step Back?

"Anything?"

Takato sighed in response to Henry's question as he looked up at the massive, blue colored spear that was imbedded in the ground.

"Nope. I'm not getting anything. I think I can sense Grani, but it's like he's just outside of my reach or something."

"Maybe you and I should biomerge, Takato," said Guilmon. "That's how it worked last time."

"Under normal circumstances that would be a good idea," Henry mooted, "but Grani's linked up with the defenses of the entire village." Henry indicated the area where the lower blade point met with the ground. Lines of energy crisscrossed the point where they joined, crawling up the metal in a spider web of vein-like strands. "Maybe that kind of contact would cause problems." Henry rubbed his hand on his chin and scowled. "We should have asked Crusadermon to tag along. She seems to know more about this place than any of us. She might be able to offer a clue."

"A lot of 'maybes' in there," piped in Terriermon from atop the half-Chinese Tamer's head. "And with her bedside manner I think we're all a lot better off with her being where she is."

"Uh…" Takato blinked. "Are you sure about that? I haven't known her for very long, but I don't think she'd have the right kind of tact for dealing with patients."

Terriermon rolled his eyes at the boy's reminder of how the pink armored and highly temperamental Royal Knight had gone with Ayaka, Miki, Dracmon, Jeri, and Impmon to check up on their wounded.

"Better Gyōjamon then us, Goggles-for-brains. Or would you rather be on the receiving end of her witty remarks, not to mention her personality. I don't know about you guys, but I could do with not being near her for a while. She makes me more nervous than any voices inside of your guys' heads."

"Great," grumbled Takato. "Thanks for reminding us of that."

Henry frowned up at his partner, but otherwise chose not to comment on the matter. Concerning the voices and strange abilities belonging to those entities that had identified themselves as the _Legendary Warriors_ the Tamers had yet to reach some kind of consensus over what to do about them, or if they even posed a threat at all. Outside of Takato and Rika's experiences there had been little to suggest that the intentions of these Legendary Warriors was anything but to help.

_Everyone has their own story to share…to an extent,_ thought Henry. _Even Jeri, surprisingly enough, though she's no more sure about the whole thing than any of us. Crusadermon on the other hand…_ Henry's mind paused as he remembered the story that the Royal Knight had told them concerning the Legendary Warriors. That at the very least had proven to be quite informative, especially in regards to Lumemon's previous life as Lucemon. Apparently that time in the angelic digimon's life had been quite well documented by Crusadermon's former master, and the same held true for his battles with these Legendary Warriors.

_Hard to believe that there was another group of kids out there who had come to the digital world,_ thought Henry, _and before us too. Of course, it's not as simple as that. Not if what Crusadermon told us means anything. 'Different worlds'…_

Henry sighed and massaged his temples. He could still remember how deafening the silence had been when Crusadermon had revealed that particular tidbit to them. It was, as Terriermon described it, quite the bombshell.

_It certainly is an eye opener that's for sure. I don't know why I keep being surprised by this. The digital world on its own makes it certain that the impossible becomes possible. But it still doesn't help us decide what we're going to do, and it's not helping that we can't seem to be able to 'talk' to these spirits. I've been trying but so far I haven't heard anything. Even Takato, Guilmon, and Kazu haven't heard a thing from their spirits since they came out of their biomerges. I wonder…could biomerging be the key to contacting them?_

Henry shook his head mentally. There wasn't much chance of conducting such an experiment at this point with the way everyone was tired, and right now they needed to conserve their strength. Warnings aside, however vague that they were, Henry knew that with what was waiting for them beyond the barrier that Grani had set up they would need to be as strong as they could in the event that they had to fight again.

_After all, those Sand Liches just don't know when to stay down even when they've been thoroughly beaten._

Henry looked back up at the spear, deciding that for now it was better to keep perspective on those things that they could deal with. He worried about the idea of the spirits of digimon residing within them, but for the time being there wasn't much that they could do about it. All they could do for now was wait and see, and at the same time try to get home in as one a piece as they possibly could.

Henry watched as Takato walked on over to the spear and rested his hand on its surface. The blue metal pulsed with a luminous glow in response to his touch, and the image of a boy that looked eerily like Takato materialized on the surface. Takato blinked in surprise and nearly stumbled backwards, but his curiosity ensured that he remained connected to the blade. As he looked on, the image of himself raised its own hand and placed it where Takato's was. The spear vibrated as the boy opened his mouth, and words formed.

_"Hello Takato. Guilmon. It is good to see you two once again."_

"Hi Grani," chirped Guilmon happily from next to his partner. "It's nice to see you out of my tummy and in a body again." Guilmon took a moment to look over the spear before revising his opinion. "Ohhh…but you can't move anywhere."

"That's our Guilmon," chuckled Terriermon. "Always concerned over the silly things in life."

"Be a good digimon," chided Henry as he moved in closer to the others. "So it looks like communication isn't just limited to mental connections, is it?"

"Well that makes things easier," said Takato, lowering his hand. His mind was awhirl with many questions, so much so that they were all bleeding together, leaving him uncertain as to what he had wanted to ask to begin with. Looking at the former arc that had now taken up residence in ChaosGallantmon's weapon, one question finally did click with him.

"How come you look like me, Grani?"

"…And that's our Takato," deadpanned Terriermon.

"Terriermon…"

* * *

A gust of wind blew over Lumemon, ruffling his feathers as he sat on top of a Chuchidarumon hut, looking out over the vast desert that surrounded them. Raising one hand, the angelic digimon looked at it, turning it over and taking in every inch of his skin. It looked as normal as it ever did, but he knew that such was not the case. Not as far as he was concerned. Lowering his hand Lumemon drew up his knees and brought his chin to rest on them. As he sat there another gust of wind blew over him, and one of his feathers became dislodged from his wings, fluttering in the breeze before being caught by the gloved hand of a purple and blue armored shaman digimon.

"Kuzuhamon," said Lumemon in a low voice, raising his head.

"You know, you are surprisingly difficult to find when you want to be. Didn't you know that the Tamers were having a meeting?"

Lumemon shrugged.

"Hard to know about something when you aren't there to hear about it. Besides, I wanted to be away from the others for the time being. Is that why you came to bother me?"

"Tsk, tsk." Kuzuhamon wagged one finger at him in annoyance, though from the way she sounded it was clear that her heart wasn't in it. "How like Urocyomon you are…only handsomer."

"I'd like for you to refrain from commenting on my appearance," grumbled Lumemon, feeling a blush of embarrassment rise on his face. "I've inherited some personality traits that don't take too well to compliments."

Now it was Kuzuhamon's turn to shrug nonchalantly as she floated over to the boy and brought herself to rest in front of him.

"So what are you moping for?"

"Moping?" Lumemon raised an eyebrow curiously at the shaman.

"C'mon. You look like you're contemplating your fate. I've seen that look a thousand times on a thousand digimon, and it's always the same. You're keeping yourself hidden because of that, right?"

"You're becoming annoying…"

"All right, all right. It's not like you have to tell me anything, but you should at least come to the meeting. At least meet the rest of the bunch and introduce yourself or something."

"They already know me."

"So I've heard, but I'm sure that they'd like to know more about you, especially since you're so caught up with that girl who has the powers of a digivice. Now come on." Before Lumemon could even react the purple armored shaman reached out and scooped up Lumemon with one hand. The angelic digimon flailed about in surprise, trying to dislodge himself from Kuzuhamon's grasp, only to fail as his strength was no match for that of the Mega's.

"Hey!" Lumemon exclaimed angrily as he continued to struggle. "Put me down!"

"Sorry, but the Tamers are having a meeting and it's important enough where _everyone_ who's able should attend so that no one is out of the loop."

Panic swelled in Lumemon's mind as images of the strange blackness from earlier swirled in his vision. With one final burst of strength Lumemon threw himself forward, nearly breaking free from Kuzuhamon's grasp.

"I said…put…me… _down!"_ Lumemon growled as half of his body hung there, suspended in midair. Kuzuhamon didn't answer him however, as she was too busy staring at him, her mouth agape. Furrowing his brow, Lumemon was about to ask what it was that she was doing when an all too familiar crucifix necklace slid down his face. Lumemon blinked at the touch of its cold metal. He had nearly forgotten about it in the chaos that had been going on. And now, for some reason, it held Kuzuhamon spellbound. Before he could say anything the shaman digimon tightened her grip around him and flipped him over so that she could get a closer look. Her gloved hands reached out and took hold of the cross, turning it over between her fingers. After a few seconds Kuzuhamon licked her lower lip nervously.

"This cross… _where_ did you get it?"

"A human girl gave it to me," he replied. "She put it around me when I was my _separate_ selves. It helped bring me together."

"Tell me about what happened," she said, her hidden gaze not once breaking away from the necklace.

"She…" Lumemon paused and looked at the shaman with a curious gaze. "Why is this so important to you?"

Even though Kuzuhamon's eyes were hidden behind her fox-styled face mask, he could still see the flash of anger within them as she tightened her grip around the necklace. Kuzuhamon's arms trembled as though she were fighting to keep herself from throttling the angel for so much as deigning to ask a question of his own rather than answering hers. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Kuzuhamon collected herself before speaking.

"I knew a human girl with blonde hair and a dark dress who used to wear this. She is very…precious to me. Now…tell me what happened and what you are doing with this. _Please."_

The sound of desperation that was behind the shaman's voice was unmistakable. His expression softening, Lumemon reached behind his neck and unhooked the necklace before placing its two ends in the shaman's hand with the cross.

"All right," he said finally. "This is how it went. She came to me in the guise of an angel…"

* * *

Jeri Katou rubbed a hand through Urocyomon's fur as she pursed her lips together worriedly. The silver furred kitsune breathed shallowly, though fortunately at regular intervals, and had done little else ever since he had locked onto the data stream that had reunited the girl and the others with their friends. It did little to help that she noted a small, ember-like flame flickering on the edge of his tail.

"I hope that he's okay," Jeri murmured to herself before getting up and surveying the hut around her. Ai and Impmon were sitting next to a sleeping Mako. Like Urocyomon the child had remained unconscious since his encounter with the Sand Liches, but thankfully his condition was far more stable and less dire compared to Urocyomon and Gyōjamon. As Kenta had pointed out the child had little more than a bump on his head and just needed to sleep it off. Walking over to the bed Jeri placed a comforting hand each on Impmon and Ai's shoulders. Startled, Impmon looked up at her, almost jumping off of his stool as he did so but quickly relaxed.

"Don't scare me like that," grumbled Impmon. Jeri gave him a small smile.

"Sorry. How are you two doing?"

Impmon scowled, half tempted to blow off her question with a show of bravado as he normally did, but a part of him thought otherwise, and it was that part that answered in his stead, opening fully and honestly to the girl that he had once wronged.

"I feel like I'm worrying like a mother hen here. I know that he's going to be okay, but until he wakes up I don't think that I can relax."

"This is…all my fault," sniffed Ai from next to him. "If I didn't jump in after you…"

As Impmon and Jeri watched, the young, brown haired girl broke into tears as her fears overwhelmed her. An expression of awkwardness and annoyance appeared on Impmon's face as he reached over and patted the girl on the back.

"Hey! C'mon! None of that, got it? Didn't I just get done saying that Mako is going to be fine? I…" the diminutive digimon looked over at Jeri with a pleading look. Jeri couldn't help but smile at him. In all the time that she knew him, Impmon had rarely been good with children beyond providing them with entertainment of a very wrong kind. Comfort was not one of his strong points, though he did as best as he could with what tools he had. Nodding, Jeri reached over and picked the little girl up and sat down on her stool, placing her on her lap while pulling her close.

"Everything will be fine," hushed Jeri in a soothing voice that she normally used for her younger stepbrother. "You'll see." Looking at Ai, Jeri ran a hand through her hair. "You have very pretty hair."

"I-Impmon's been helping me with it," sniffed Ai, poking the tip of one finger at her mouth. Jeri had to fight to keep a surprised laugh from breaking free as she looked over at the blushing Impmon in question as he kicked his legs back and forth in the air like a pair of swings.

"That's my fault," muttered Impmon. "She caught me raiding the kitchen at home and I already eaten a pie that her ma was making. She took the blame for it and in exchange she made me promise to help her with her hair in the morning." Impmon's blush darkened even further as he refused to meet Jeri's eyes. "It was either that or their mom was going to make me live in the doghouse for a week."

"He says my dog stinks," supplied Ai to which Impmon took on an indignant look.

"He _does!_ And then there's the fleas! I don't care if I don't have the kind of blood they suck on those miserable little termites make me _itch!"_

"Fleas aren't termites, Impmon," giggled Jeri. Impmon _huffed._

"They're still annoying," he growled. A few moments of silence went by, during which Impmon shifted uncomfortably, as though uncertain of what to say. As the seconds ticked by Jeri noticed that the light in the hut darkened noticeably and Ai clung tightly to her.

"Looks like it's nighttime now," noted Impmon, hopping down from his stool. After several seconds, and several sounds of Impmon making his way not in the least bit quietly if the crashes were any indication, a flame alighted atop a candlestick courtesy of Impmon's _Bada Boom_ attack, illuminating the room. Impmon looked over at Jeri. "I'd better go see if Kenta and MarineAngemon need any light. You two going to be all right on your own 'till I get back?"

"Sure," nodded Jeri, and Ai nodded at her partner from her spot in the girl's lap.

* * *

The luminous glow of the digital representation of the Earth fell down upon the desert of the digital world like a curtain, and Renamon basked in its glow as she landed upon a rooftop. Looking down the vulpine digimon saw her partner leaning against the huts wall, eyeing her.

"You're late," Rika announced in a playful manner. Renamon leapt down to the red haired girl.

"My apologies. It had taken longer than I had anticipated to check my area of the village. A Chuchidarumon child was trapped beneath some rubble from our battle with the Sand Liches."

"Is it all right?"

A small, barely visible smile appeared on the kitsune's face as she nodded.

"As well as any child could be, I imagine. It wanted to play, but I had to convince him to find its family."

"You've become an old softie, huh?" teased Rika as she stretched and produced a yawn.

"You should get some rest, Rika," said Renamon, taking in her partner's fatigue. "It has been a long day, and we don't know what tomorrow will bring. The situation seems to have stabilized so we should be all right for the time being."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that. Sleep certainly sounds like a good thing right now even if it's in the digital world. No offense, but this place is way too hostile even for my liking."

"None taken. Do you know where the others are staying?"

"Takato mentioned something about using one of the huts near the center of town. The village elder set it aside for us. It's kind of cramped, but we could do worse." Pushing herself off of the hut's wall Rika began to make her way down the beaten paths of the Chuchidarumon village and Renamon quickly fell into step beside her. As they walked they took in the number of Chuchidarumon that bustled about their daily business, unmindful of the Tamer and the Renamon that walked among them.

"It's funny," said Rika, breaking the silence. "You'd almost think that they don't have anything to worry about. Like there's nothing different about what's going on now and what happened in their lives before we ever met them."

"Perhaps this is the kind of life that they are just simply accustomed to," pointed out Renamon. "According to Takato and Henry their existence has been separate from that of the Sovereigns, and even though Crusadermon has stated that they are a storage depot for data there hasn't been any indication that her master has kept a close eye on them beyond what defenses were already installed."

"Defenses that were crumbling by the time we got here." Rika kicked at a loose rock with her foot and stuffed her hands in her pockets. The girl frowned as a pair of Chuchidarumon ran by her, laughing happily. "I don't know, Renamon. Should we even leave these guys to fend for themselves? Those Sand Liches are still out there."

"I do believe Takato intended to discuss the matter with Grani."

"Like we can just ask him to do that for us?" Rika's frown deepened into a scowl. "It doesn't feel right to do that."

"There's only so much that we can do given what resources we have at our disposal." Renamon glanced at Rika ever so slightly. "A place like Hypnos would be required to facilitate what you are thinking, and that is a place that we are only unofficially tied with for the moment. However, I should point out that digimon, even Chuchidarumon, have been fending for themselves for all of their lives. With the exception of Guilmon, Terriermon, myself, and the other partners, we already know how to live on our own and can do so and the same applies for the Chuchidarumon here."

"It's not exactly a very dignified existence," said Rika, glancing at the rough nature of the huts. After a moment Rika sighed. "But it's theirs. I can't even say taking this from them in exchange for protecting them would be any better."

Renamon raised a questioning eyebrow. Seeing this, Rika moved to clarify.

"There've been a few times in human history where cultures were wiped out by a more sophisticated one that offered a 'better life'. Sometimes they did it by force. I guess I can't help but wonder if the same thing would happen here because some people, either because they have good intentions or not, would want to change what goes on here."

Renamon nodded in understanding. Though she found humans strange to understand at times, there were some things that they shared in common with digimon, such as conflict.

_Though it could be said that we simply got it from them as their data and emotions infiltrated our world._

"It's a difficult question, Rika," said Renamon. "That much I know for certain. While it isn't right that we should abandon the Chuchidarumon to the hazards of the Sand Liches, we must remember that we also have ourselves, as well as the safety of the two worlds to look after. The best thing that we can do for now is work towards a middle ground where both of us can continue in our separate ways and build up from there. That path however, won't be easy. Not for anyone."

Rika looked down the streets, a thoughtful expression on her face as she considered her partners words. Before she could fully delve into them however, something made her stop up short in the streets.

"Rika?" Renamon looked at her partner with a quizzical expression as to what caused the girl to stop. A quick glance around revealed nothing out of the ordinary that she could s…

Renamon's eyes narrowed as she caught sight of a figure, humanoid in appearance and armored, silhouetted against the digital Earth. Although there were some digimon amongst their group as well as the Chuchidarumon village that retained a humanoid appearance, none of them were of this design save for that of Justimon due to what appeared to be a scarf fluttering in the breeze. The figure stood tall and proud with its arms folded across its chest. Light glinted off of pure white armor and the form shifted slightly, revealing a facemask that reminded Renamon of the one that she and Rika wore as Sakuyamon, only with a more aggressive, thicker look with fewer curves and less grace. Its bearing gave the figure the appearance of a warrior, and it kindled a memory in Renamon's mind concerning an earlier conversation that they had with the others. A conversation concerning _Legendary Warriors._

"Renamon. You see it, right?"

"Yes, Rika," she replied, the connection that they shared eliminating any necessity for clarification of what her partner was seeing. "Yes I do."

"Hey!" Rika called out to a passing Chuchidarumon. The brown, mud-like digimon halted and regarded the girl questioningly. Rika pointed over to where the figure was standing. "Do you see that guy there? The one on the roof?"

The Chuchidarumon followed Rika's hand and looked over the rooftops of the nearby huts before looking back at her.

"Um…guy?" the Chuchidarumon asked uncertainly. Rika glanced back. The warrior was still there, not moving save for its scarf that continued to blow in the wind.

"Nothing," Rika assured the Chuchidarumon after a second. "Never mind. My mind must be playing tricks on me because I'm tired. Sorry to have bothered you."

The Chuchidarumon nodded carefully before resuming its pace, muttering something about 'strange humans' beneath its breath. Rika ignored it and raised one hand to her mouth, tapping the tip of her thumb against her clenched teeth.

"So…looks like only we can see it," she said finally. Renamon nodded and narrowed her eyes at the figure. As she watched the warrior released its arms and raised one towards them, making a beckoning gesture with its fingers.

"I believe it wishes for us to follow. What do you think we should do, Rika?"

"I say we humor it." Rika's violet eyes flashed in the Earth light. "It's about time we got to the bottom of this thing once and for all. Henry, Kazu…Takato. Something's going on and it involves these things…whatever they are. Are you up to the challenge though?" Rika's voice became worrisome as she looked over at the vulpine digimon. "I mean, you've already been through a lot as it is…"

"I'm as ready to fight as you are," assured Renamon. "I too am curious as to what is going on here. As you said, it's about time that we got to the bottom of this."

As they watched, the warrior lowered its hand and turned, leaping away from the rooftop.

"Ah! Renamon!"

"On it!"

Scooping up the girl into her arms, the vulpine digimon jumped forward, joining their target in the night air of the digital world.


	151. 150: White Moon

"Is this really necessary?" Noriko asked Ryo as they walked down the streets with Cyberdramon chaperoning them and hating every second of it. Noriko didn't need his love of battle to understand his frustration.

"Sorry," apologized Ryo. "But right now, with your partner missing we can't afford to let you be on your own even with the village's defenses up. We can't let our guard down as long as those Sand Liches are out there."

"I can understand that, but it's not like Lumemon's actually 'missing', as you put it. I know where he is. I can feel it," Noriko tapped her head with one finger, "up here."

Ryo shrugged.

"All the same. You don't have your partner with you right now, which means that you're vulnerable. Even with all of the Chuchidarumon around and your special abilities, it wouldn't be a good idea to let you wander around unsupervised. Trust me, if Cyberdramon were ever incapacitated in some way to keep him from following me around, I would be given the same treatment."

Behind them, the great dragon warrior growled in irritation, and Ryo chuckled.

"Sorry about that, buddy."

"Is he always like that?" asked Noriko, regarding Cyberdramon with a wary look.

"Takato mentioned something similar when I first met him. Trust me; he's really one big kitten on the inside. Albeit a kitten with spikes, claws, and the tendency to go looking for trouble on a moment's notice, but he's all right. He's dependable."

Ryo's expression became thoughtful as he looked at his dark armored partner.

_At least I haven't had to use the whip on him lately. He's been pretty well behaved ever since we got back to the real world after that business with the Parasimon. I wonder if Milleniummon's recent activities have had anything to do with that. I'll have to talk to him about that later when no one's around._

As he thought that, the screen on Ryo's gold-trimmed D-Arc lit up, and a dark figure appeared within. It went unnoticed however, and it soon winked out of existence a second later.

Noriko looked at Ryo's face, noting his expression.

"He wasn't always like that, was he though?"

"Huh?" Ryo blinked in surprise before giving her a small grin. Stopping in the street, Ryo gave his partner a pat on his armored side. "I guess you're more perceptive than I gave you credit for. It's complicated, that's about all I can say. Well, except for this. You wouldn't have wanted to meet him when we first met."

"That would depend on _who_ you were talking about," growled Cyberdramon, leaving Ryo with a shocked expression on his face while Noriko raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What's he mean by that?"

Ryo frowned at his partner.

"That's what I meant by _complicated._ Cyberdramon is formed from two separate digimon…sort of. It's a tough call on even _good days_ to tell which one is in control or if they both are, but…" Ryo let his words drift off before shrugging. "It's not something that I like to talk about much."

Cyberdramon growled audibly in his throat. Noriko looked at the dragonic digimon with a look of interest replacing her earlier expression of caution.

"So…he's kind of like Lumemon is, huh?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ryo, raising an eyebrow.

"Um…well, my partner went through the same thing…well, _sort of,_ as you said. I don't know what you went through, but Lumemon is the way he is because he's a, um, _merged_ form of Lucemon and…and…a piece of Takato I think. The other side was BlackGuilmon anyway…"

_Ahhh…_

"A light and darkness kind of thing, huh? Kind of ironic." Ryo thought about the digimon that had just a month ago attacked Takato and Guilmon, causing the chain of events that had led them up to their present time. "How's he dealing with it? Being a new mon?"

"I don't know." Noriko cast her eyes down at the ground. "But I have an idea that he's not any more sure about it than me. I think that's why he wasn't around when we had our meeting. He might not want to talk to Takato."

_I wonder what Takato thinks about it,_ Ryo thought. _He hasn't said anything about Lumemon since we got here and started to catch up. Then again, Lumemon wasn't around when the introductions were going around, and Takato's been keeping himself too busy to think of anything else except getting everyone home._ Ryo shook his head and sighed mentally. _That's something I'm going to have to talk to him about. There's a whole lot of things between them. I can't blame them for not wanting to talk or anything. It would be, well, awkward. I wonder how Jeri is able to interact with Impmon so easily even though she knows what he did to Leomon. That girl has a big heart, that much I do know, and Takato has one almost as big. But…can he forgive Lumemon in the same way that Jeri did Impmon? Better question,_ should _he?_

_Is there a right answer to this?_

Ryo ran a hand through his hair, knowing that it was a situation that was better left out of his hands as he had enough on his plate to deal with as it was. Milleniummon was a far bigger problem in the long run, and there was still so many unanswered questions regarding him and his workings. The _Legendary Warriors_ that Kazu brought up during their meeting for example. He had no doubt that they were a part of the whole deal. The timing, coupled with the strange dream that he had when he was at the Seer Council's temple, was too close to be a coincidence. He had an idea that Jeri knew more about it than she had let on so far, and since she already knew quite a bit about his own problems concerning Milleniummon she was the ideal person to talk to.

_Even if time doesn't seem to be on my side when it comes to that sort of thing…_

Ryo placed one hand on his digivice, unconsciously wondering if he was like the others in any fashion, containing a spirit that had yet to reveal itself to him. If his dream meant anything the answer was _yes._

Ryo pulled one hand into a tight fist.

_Didn't Cyberdramon and Jeri tell me about opening up to the others more? Rika got on my case about how I'm never open to anyone, and because of that she blew my talking to Jeri way out of proportion. The situation is filled with too many 'ifs' and 'maybes' to keep things close to the vest as I normally do._

Ryo sighed again. He felt as though he had become quite negligent in his duties as a Tamer when it came to protecting his secrets from the others all because he didn't know if he could trust them.

_No. I don't think it has anything to do with whether or not I don't know if I can trust them. I think it has more to do with my not wanting to trust them. After what happened with that set-up tournament-turned-training-montage I just stopped trusting people period and worked to solve all of my problems on my own. I…_ we _ **…**_ _can't afford that anymore. I have to tell the others what's going on…what I think could be happening. If we're all getting mixed in with Milleniummon's plans now, whatever they are then everyone has to be on the same page. No one can be left out._

Ryo set his sights off towards the village horizon. _And that's going to have to include Noriko's partner, whether Takato likes it or not._

Ryo raised an eyebrow as he saw a commotion occurring in the direction that he and Noriko were heading towards.

"What's going on over there?" asked Noriko, having spotted it at the same second that Ryo did.

_Never a dull day in the digital world, is there?_ thought Ryo with a touch of humor.

* * *

Renamon touched down on a roof and glanced around her while in her arms, Rika did the same.

"That guy sure disappeared awfully fast," said Rika, looking down at her D-Arc and activating the scanner function. Renamon nodded her head and narrowed her eyes. The irises glowed slightly as she searched for their quarry.

"Something is very strange about all of this," Renamon said, furrowing her brow. "My senses aren't picking up the digimon."

"Yeah, my D-Arc is in the same boat as well, which is really weird. As much as these things can be hard to use they're normally pretty good at picking out where a digimon is. So _where_ is this guy?"

_"How about…right here?"_

"Renamon!"

No sooner was the word out of her mouth than Renamon threw them both to the side, narrowly avoiding getting struck by a glowing energy sword as it sailed through the air. Renamon flipped through the air three times before landing within the streets and deftly put Rika on the ground and assuming a defensive stance. Rika broke out a card from her deck box upon touching down, and both of their eyes rose up to find their attacker. He stood silhouetted against the digital Earth, his saber almost obscured from the light that it emitted. The curves of its armor, and its overall appearance tugged at Rika's memory as she looked it over, gauging its strengths and weaknesses. A second later, it hit her.

"I don't…" Rika's violet eyes widened slightly before narrowing in concentration. "Renamon. Isn't that the Argus guy that we fought back in the real world?"

"It looks that way," said the vulpine digimon. "Though if I'm not mistaken, Dracmon had mentioned something about how Argus had been created from digimon. We shouldn't be surprised to find an entity that looks similar to them here."

"Yeah, but what's it doing here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Rika…"

_"And guesswork won't save you,"_ said the warrior, leaping down and landing in front of the pair before either of them had so much as a chance to blink.

_Ah! No way!_ Rika's eyes widened in horror as she watched the warrior's scarf settle behind him. The sharp hum of his energy blades filled the air and he drew himself up. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Her hands were already moving to slash the card through her digivice, but it just wasn't moving _fast enough._ Renamon was going to be hit, possibly deleted before she could even do anything to save her!

In a roundabout move, completely contradicting Rika's expectations, the warrior rushed forward and kicked Renamon, knocking the wind from her lungs and throwing her into Rika behind her. Together the two collapsed into a heap.

_"Is this all there is to you?"_ The warrior commented dryly. _"Seriously, what was Milleniummon thinking when he paired me off with you?"_

"Wha…?" Rika coughed alongside Renamon as they both fought to pull air into their lungs. "What are you talking about?"

The warrior grimaced.

_"That's right. I wasn't supposed to tell you about him. Oh well. Not like it matters, but if you're curious you should talk to your 'Legendary Tamer' friend when you get the chance. He knows more—better than I do in fact. But that's neither here nor there. You two are strong warriors, I'll grant you that, but are you worthy of wielding my power? I don't give this out to anyone you know, and very, very few are able to pull that off. You don't have to worry about my killing either of you, but defeat at my hands carries certain consequences. Consequences that you should be wary of."_

"You sure like to hear yourself talk, don't you?" growled Rika, feeling anger flare up within her heart. "Who are you? Are you one of those spirit twerps that messed up Takato and nearly made him kill us?"

_"That was BurningGreymon's doing,"_ replied the warrior. _"He's always been a little 'unstable' when it came to testing those who were to wield his strength. But we're not here to talk about the Warrior of Flame be it Beast or Human. This is about you right now. If your heart isn't divided, you will carry the day. If not, you will fall, and you will never be able to get back up for as long as you live."_

The warrior raised his twin energy swords and clicked them together at their pummels, forming a staff. The warrior twirled his weapon through the air like a baton before getting into a defensive position with the staff readied behind him.

_"I will give you thirty seconds to scan me and prepare yourself as you see fit. After that, this battle will be determined by your will."_

Renamon felt one of her ears twitch as she sensed Rika's eagerness for battle against this spirit, but it was tempered back by caution. Renamon frowned.

"It would appear that he's giving us no other choice," the vulpine digimon said.

"As if it matters," said Rika as she raised her D-Arc and scanned the warrior. "This fight is going to end up attracting the others, and even if I'd rather take this guy on my own, there's not a chance that they won't get involved."

Renamon nodded, but oddly enough she found that she couldn't quite fully agree with her partner in this regard. Something about all of this seemed 'off' somehow. She couldn't explain it but she knew that this battle would not be interrupted by any outside forces.

_This village is strangely empty,_ Renamon thought quietly to herself, taking note of the lack of the Chuchidarumon crowd that had been prevalent when they began this chase.

"Lobomon," Rika intoned as she read off the statistics her digivice was giving her. "Hybrid level, variable attribute. Special attacks are _Lobo Kendo_ and _Howling Laser._ " Rika scowled. _"Hybrid level? Variable?_ What's that about? I've never heard of those. Ugh. With this lack of information I don't know if I'm confident in backing you up with just my cards. Are you feeling up for biomerging?"

"More than," replied Renamon. Although she was tired from her most recent exertions, fighting this opponent at the Mega level seemed to be the best course of action that they had available to them. The information that they had on the digimon's power levels was sorely lacking and if what the Lobomon had told them was true, they could not afford to lose here.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" shouted Rika as a burst of light exploded from her D-Arc, enveloping her and Renamon and uniting them in the form of Sakuyamon. The shaman priestess broke free from the orb of digivolution with a slash of her bronze, vajra staff and met Lobomon's gaze. Her gloved fingers neither tightened nor shook, and after a moment Lobomon nodded.

_"All right. Let's see what you've got._ Lobo Kendo!"

* * *

"Uh!" Takato blinked his eyes three times as he stepped away from Grani and raised one hand to his head. A look of confusion crossed his features and he began looking around him anxiously.

"Are you okay, Takato?" asked Guilmon, noticing his partner's sudden change.

"You mean besides his usual absentmindedness, right?" chided Terriermon, prompting a groan from Henry.

"Terriermon…"

"Sorry. Hey! Takatomon! Aren't you going to answer Guilmon's question there? It's kind of rude to leave the poor guy just hanging like that." Terriermon focused his black, featureless eyes on the goggle-wearing boy, taking in the look of concern that now flooded his face. "Hey. Takato. What's going on? You look…I don't know. Henry. Help me out here. He's not looking so good."

_That sounds about right,_ thought Henry, taking a step towards Takato and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Takato?" he asked, pulling him around so that they were now facing each other. Henry's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the look in Takato's eyes. "Hey, what's up?"

"Yeah. What's up? You're starting to frighten even _me_ now with this spaced out, _I'm-freaking-out_ look of yours."

Henry gritted his teeth, holding back on the urge to scold his partner. Instead he refocused his attention on his human friend, who now began speaking.

"It's Rika."

"Rika?" Henry frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I…I can feel her. Something's going on. I think she's in trouble."

"Oookay," said Terriermon. "Is it just me, or is there something going on here that we haven't been clued in on yet? Didn't Rika say something along the lines of this back during that Hazard storm that was going on a while back?"

"Not now, Terriermon. Takato…what are you talking about?"

_"I believe that he is referring to the connection that Rika made between them,"_ came the voice of Grani from the spear. _"Although its origins began much sooner, Rika Nonaka created a link between herself and Takato during the battle with the cable entity in order to combine the best aspects of their attacks as well as get around its immunity against Gallantmon's X-Antibody."_

"Is that true?" asked Henry, turning back to Takato, who nodded grimly.

"Yeah. I don't know how else to explain it, but we…ah…sort of feel each other whenever one of us is in trouble. And right now I can feel that she's in some kind of trouble. I just don't know _where."_

"It can't be that bad," remarked Terriermon. "I mean, we're in a village that's been isolated from the outside digital world. I'm pretty sure that anything that broke in looking to get into a fight with Rika would cause enough of a commotion for us to notice it."

_"Perhaps not,"_ said Grani. _"According to the sensors that this village has within it, there is a low level frequency being emanated from within the village in the location where Rika and Renamon are located. I'll have to refine the scan, but I believe that it is congruent with a biomerge event, during which the mind may experience mental and auditory, perhaps even_ physical _…"_

"We get the point," interrupted Terriermon. "I remember enough of the flashbacks that Henry goes through every time we biomerge to get what you're referring to."

"Wait. I do that _every_ time?"

_"Digimon have faster information gathering processes than a human,"_ said Grani. _"What you might not be aware of, a digimon will notice."_

"Don't care right now," said Terriermon impatiently. "Didn't Takato just say that Rika's in trouble? As weird as this whole thing sounds now, I don't think we have the time to stand here listening to science lectures."

"I hate to argue with logic like that," said Henry. "Do you know where she is, Takato?"

"Too late," deadpanned Terriermon, his eyes following the Goggle-wearing Tamer as both he and his partner took off at a fearsome pace. "Though I think that qualifies as a _yes."_

"Either that or Takato's too wound up to think properly."

Terriermon looked down at his partner from his spot on the boy's head, appearing somewhat startled.

"Henry…" he began in a warning tone.

Henry chuckled. "Momentai. Just making sure that you're paying attention. By the way, it's supposed to be me who does the scolding."

"I'm supposed to be the smart mouth on the team, Henry, remember? Those kinds of lines are _mine!_ You're just supposed to be the brains…"

"Momentai already," said Henry, rapping his friend on the top of his head as he broke into pursuit of Takato and Guilmon. "Mo-men-tai!"

"Gah! Why does everyone keep stealing my lines?!"

* * *

An energy blade clashed with Sakuyamon's staff, sending a shower of sparks flying through the air. Sakuyamon quickly countered with a slash of her staff at Lobomon, who deftly leapt over the attack and flipped over the shaman. Landing behind her, Lobomon struck out once again, only to have his sword rebound off of a hastily raised shield. Sakuyamon grimaced as she strained the protective bubble against the attack, reflecting the strain that Rika was showing from within her data sphere.

_"This isn't good,"_ thought Rika as both she and Lobomon leapt up into the air, buying distance away from each other to prepare a new attack. As though to prove her worries true, Lobomon raised his left arm and fired away a series of energy bursts. Slashing her staff to the side, Sakuyamon unleashed a torrent of energy that cut into the energy bursts, causing them to detonate with explosive force, kicking up smoke that obscured Rika's vision. Before she could even react Lobomon burst free from the smoke, firing a bolt of energy from his left arm cannon. Sakuyamon ducked downwards to avoid the worst of the blow, only to cry out in pain and surprise as the shot clipped the side of her head, blasting off her facemask and shattering it into pieces. Rapidly closing the distance between them, Lobomon brought a fist into her face and followed it up with a powerful blow to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her digital lungs. Sakuyamon coughed as the air left her mouth in one mad rush, and all thought fled her mind. Taking advantage of her brief paralysis Lobomon twisted in midair and brought a leg crashing down over her exposed back and sent her careening into the ground, impacting it and kicking up dust and debris as the shockwave caused several of the Chuchidarumon houses to collapse into themselves. Hacking harshly, Sakuyamon rolled over to her side, trying to rally herself. Pushing herself up to one knee she looked upwards to find the electric point of Lobomon's sword pointing at her face.

_"It's over, Digimon Queen,"_ Lobomon said in a cold, unforgiving voice. _"Time to meet your fate. The fate of all who fall before this blade."_

Beneath the starry night of the digital world, Lobomon lunged forward.


	152. 151: Crescent's Edge

"What's going on?" asked Ryo as he pushed his way through the crowd of Chuchidarumon. The mud digimon parted before him, making room for him and Noriko to pass through. Now given clear line of sight, Ryo's eyes widened in surprise as they fell upon the inert forms of Rika and Renamon, both of them unconscious and glowing slightly.

"Wha…? What happened?" Ryo asked.

"Your friends collapsed in the street," said one of the Chuchidarumon. "One of them, the red haired human, asked me if I saw someone standing on top of one of our homes and then collapsed. We've sent for the village elder and the healer, but we don't dare move them until we know for sure what's wrong with them."

Ryo frowned and pushed forward, quickly moving to Rika and Renamon's side and looking them over carefully. Outside of the strange glow that permeated their bodies they both looked fine physically. Reaching out carefully, Ryo placed one hand gingerly against Rika's neck to feel her pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that not only was her pulse strong, but he wasn't going to be electrocuted by the light. Glancing over at Renamon revealed that she too was still breathing, and at a regular enough pace for him to recognize that she was in no danger of dying.

_That's good,_ thought the Legendary Tamer, _but just what the heck happened to them? And what is this glow?_ Pulling out his D-Arc, Ryo activated the scanning program in the hopes that it could help him identify what was going on. Unfortunately, the digivice did little more than activate its normal holographic circle that endlessly ran a series of zeroes and ones across it, none of which made sense to him.

_One of these days I'm going to have to get Henry to teach me something about binary computer code or something,_ he thought with a tinge or irritation. _It doesn't do us any good if the only person we have available for reading that kind of thing isn't around when he's needed._

"Are they okay?" came the voice of Noriko from behind him.

"They seem so," he replied, "though I can't make heads or tails or what's wrong with them. They're both unconscious for some reason. At any rate, whatever this weird light is around them it doesn't look like it's harmful or anything. We should move them to where MarineAngemon's other patients are so they can be comfortable. Cyberdramon?"

"On it," growled the dragonic digimon as he stomped over and deftly lifted Renamon's lithe form into his arms. Ryo, with Noriko's aid, helped lift Rika onto his back and, after making sure that she was secure, asked one of the Chuchidarumon to inform the other Tamers about what had happened. While it did as he had asked, Ryo and Cyberdramon, with their charges set off.

_Sorry about this, Rika,_ Ryo apologized mentally, knowing that if she were awake the fiery tempered girl would not appreciate being carried around like some damsel in distress, least of all by him. _It can't be helped._ Ryo scowled. _Damn it. Does this have to do with those spirits? Is she possessed by one now? We don't know anything about those things. Could this be my fault because I didn't trust the others enough to tell them about my past and my history with Milleniummon?_

Unconsciously Ryo tightened his grip on Rika's body as he continued to walk down the village path, anger flaring in his chest as he berated himself for his carelessness and self-centeredness. He should have been more careful; more trusting, _especially_ when this business first started to make itself known to him through that card. He should have been…

"HEEEY! RYO!"

_Takato…_

Looking up, the Legendary Tamer saw Takato and Guilmon racing towards him with Henry and Terriermon following not too far behind. The goggle-wearing boy was waving his hand over his head to grab his attention. From the worried look on his face, Ryo came to the obvious conclusion.

"I see that that Chuchidarumon caught up with you guys," greeted Ryo as the two groups came to a stop in front of each other. Takato, in between harsh gasps to catch his breath, raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh…say wha…? Chuchidarumon?"

"I sent a Chuchidarumon go off looking for you. Didn't he find you guys?"

"Afraid not," answered Terriermon. "Ol' Takatomon here has some kind of connection thing going on with Rika, so he sensed that she was in trouble and came running." Furrowing his brow, the long eared rabbit-dog digimon fixed Takato with an amused expression. "You two are going to have a very interesting relationship when you guys get older…"

"Terriermon!" exclaimed Henry heatedly, causing said digimon to giggle mischievously. Ignoring Terriermon's taunts and the slight blush that crossed his face Takato crossed the distance between himself and Ryo and placed a hand on Rika's forehead. The girl moaned slightly on Ryo's back at the contact, her eyes shifting beneath their lids. Takato gritted his teeth, uncertain as to what to make of the reaction.

"What happened?" he asked the Legendary Tamer. Ryo shrugged, as did Noriko.

"She was like this when we found her," supplied Noriko in an attempt to be helpful.

"Including her glowing like a firefly?" asked Terriermon sarcastically, ignoring Henry's ever-increasing exasperation over his antics.

"Including that," nodded Ryo. "Takato, I don't understand what Terriermon meant by this whole 'connection' thing between you two, but do you have an idea as to how she's doing?"

"Not really," admitted the goggle-wearing boy. "I only feel that she's in some kind of trouble, that's it."

"Well, we're not going to be helping her by just standing around here playing guesswork," observed Terriermon. "We'd better get her over to MarineAngemon and have him put his infamous healing hearts to work or something. Maybe that'll help knock out whatever's bugging her."

"I wonder if this is a result of one of those spirits," said Henry, more to himself than to anyone else. Throwing up his hands in annoyance Terriermon grabbed his partner by the hair.

"Hey! Didn't I just tell you that we're not doing anything with all the guesswork? We do what we can to figure out what's bothering her with what we have, but first we've got to make her comfortable, right? The night air is absolutely _freezing!_ Where's your common sense, Henry?"

"Wow, Terriermon. You're starting to sound like an actual doctor."

"I don't do Hippocratic oaths, Henry. I wouldn't be able to do pranks if I did."

"Too bad. But you're right. We've got to keep moving. Ryo, are you taking Rika and Renamon to the hut where MarineAngemon is?"

"That was the idea," replied Ryo.

"Then let's go!" exclaimed Takato. "The longer we wait the less of a chance that we have to fix this!"

Needing no more prompting, the four Tamers and their digimon broke off into a jog, doing as best as they could to move quickly to their destination with as much care as possible. As they moved, Takato glanced over at Rika, his face a portrait of worry.

_Rika. Please be all right. I know that whatever trouble you're in, you have the strength to defeat it._

Even with that thought to reassure him, Takato couldn't help but worry. With a silent prayer within his heart, Takato reached out towards the feeling of _connection_ that he felt with Rika.

_I know that you probably wouldn't appreciate this, and I don't know if I'm even doing this right, but please…let me give you some of my strength. You can hit me later, but for my peace of mind…please use it, and stay safe._

* * *

Time fell to a standstill as the hum of Lobomon's energy sword filled the air. A small smile grew on the warrior's face as he looked down at Sakuyamon.

"So…I see that you still have a little bit of fight left in you."

Digital blood seeped through the gaps of Sakuyamon's fingers as she held firmly onto Lobomon's blade. The shaman priestess' face was livid with pain, but she kept a firm grip on her enemy's weapon.

"I'll give you a _fight,"_ Sakuyamon snarled angrily in both Rika and Renamon's voices. Pushing the energy sword to the side, Sakuyamon surged upwards and deftly brought her other arm up, belting Lobomon full in the face and sending him careening into a Chuchidarumon house. The structure shattered and collapsed from the horrendous impact, and dust was thrown into the air. Not taking a moment to rest Sakuyamon snatched up her staff and flew over to the building's ruins, throwing aside a support beam as she searched for her opponent. Quickly responding to her advance, Lobomon broke free from the rubble, hurling a piece of mud-laden timber at the shaman. Dodging to the side, Sakuyamon caught it in one hand and slashed her staff around her, summoning her four fox spirits of fire, water, wind, and lightning and throwing them at Lobomon. The warrior of light leapt into the air, firing blast after blast at the fox spirits, each shot impacting the spirits and causing them to detonate. Summoning all of her strength Sakuyamon hurled the timber that had been thrown at her scant seconds ago, only to watch as Lobomon cut it in two with his energy sword before it could touch him.

"Why won't you go _down?!"_ Rika howled from within her data sphere as both she and Renamon threw their biomerged form forward. Lobomon did not answer, instead opting to charge forward and lay into Sakuyamon with a series of slashes and stabs. The priestess parried with her staff, blocking the slashes and then catching the sword point with the ring of her staff, trapping it. Twisting her staff to the side, Sakuyamon lunged forward and snapped her right leg forward, kicking Lobomon full in the face and once more sending him flying backwards, smashing through yet another Chuchidarumon house. Sakuyamon landed on the ground, breathing heavily as she surveyed the devastation that she had wrought.

_"We've got to be more careful,"_ Rika said to her partner, trying to reign in her temper. _"We're causing too much damage to this place…"_

_"I don't think it matters in this case, Rika,"_ replied Renamon. _"This place has a different feel to it from before. I don't think that we're fighting in the Chuchidarumon village, but more like a mental representation of it. It may be a result of this spirit trying to contact us."_

_"Wha…? Are you sure about that?"_

_"Quite sure."_

_"It's about time that you noticed,"_ came the voice of Lobomon as he leapt out of the wreckage of the house and landed on another rooftop. _"After all, did it ever occur to you why I was able to match you so easily? Your digivice may have identified me as a Hybrid in terms of level, but the power is not much different from that of a Champion. A Mega such as you should have little trouble handling me. This place,"_ Lobomon gestured to the landscape around them, _"is a representation held within your mind. And since I am here as well I can draw strength from you, just like your partner."_

_"I don't remember inviting you in here,"_ scowled Rika, feeling greatly offended over how this digimon's claims of setting up shop within her mind without her permission, going so far as to join in on the bond that she shared with Renamon. It smacked too much of IceDevimon's attempts to take her as his Tamer. As far as she was concerned there was only _one_ digimon that she would ever allow, or want, to be partnered with, and that was the very same digimon that she was presently biomerged with.

Lobomon shrugged indifferently.

_"Can't say that I wish you did, but I didn't really get a say in the matter anyway. That would have to do with the one who sent me to you. Besides, spirits operate somewhat differently from digimon. The fundamentals are the same, but as long as both sides match up, a spirit can be partnered with anyone. Even a digimon."_

Rika narrowed her eyes.

_"You're crazy. Just who are you guys anyway? What is it that you want?"_

_"I already told you. We're spirits. My name you already know, but if you want an even better description, I'm the successor of the Legendary Warrior of Light. I dwelled in the Digital World belonging to the Three Celestial Angels and participated in the battle against Lucemon, whom you have already met."_

_"Wha…? Lucemon? You mean that…?"_

_"The very same,"_ nodded Lobomon, _"even if he's reformed his ways, and has even reformed his identity. As for what we want…"_ Lobomon shifted his energy blade in his hand, causing its hum to increase slightly from the movement. _"…it's to safeguard the digital world. But I need to know if you're capable of it. If you are worthy of wielding my strength. If you can do that, then I can trust the safety of two worlds to you."_ Lobomon narrowed his eyes beneath his mask. _"And before you say anything, I'm well aware of your battle with the D-Reaper. Being a part of you now has its advantages in information gathering. You might as well be fighting yourself."_

Rika growled angrily at Lobomon, not liking this turn of events at all.

_"This is so stupid! If the safety of the digital world is_ that _important to you then why bother with this at all?! Not that I believe you but what are you going to do if you don't find someone who_ can _handle your power?!"_

_"Those who say something is stupid are said to be stupid themselves. Are you saying that you can't handle me?"_

_"Shut up! Just…shut…_ up!"

A violet aura surrounded Sakuyamon's body and with a quick slash of her staff she sent a stream of purple energy surging towards Lobomon. The wolf warrior of light leapt into the air, easily dodging the attack. Seeing this, Sakuyamon spun her staff through the air.

_"Spirit Strike!"_ She intoned, unleashing her four fox spirits once more. The kitsune's raced through the air, twisting and turning to avoid Lobomon's _Howling Laser_ attacks before slamming into Lobomon's body. The Warrior of Light grunted in surprise as the spirits tore through his armor and twisted around him.

"Gotcha," Sakuyamon grinned. Lobomon returned it.

_"Impressive. You certainly have amazing resolve and determination, but this fight is hardly over just because you damaged me. Let's kick things up a notch and see how you handle_ that!"

Beneath the black body suit that covered her eyes and face Sakuyamon raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

In response to her question, a bright light burst free from Lobomon's body, blowing the kitsune spirits away from him and reducing them to mere data particles. His body warped and began to alter, shifting into something else that was more lupine in appearance. Within her data sphere Rika recognized the new form from her battle with the Argus system, when it had _evolved_ into this structure. Blade-like wings reminiscent of MetalGarurumon snapped outwards from his back, and strong, thick, almost mechanical armor covered his body. The light died down, revealing its new appearance for Sakuyamon to see.

_"Renamon…"_

_"Yes, Rika. I know. We can expect that its power levels have increased dramatically as well."_

Rika scowled angrily and flexed Sakuyamon's right hand, gritting her teeth to block out the pain that rushed through them.

_"We already got messed up pretty bad just from the earlier level. Now this guy has evolved and we don't know what he is or what to expect from him…"_

_"KendoGarurumon,"_ spoke up the wolf as he came down for a landing, crashing to the ground and extending wheels from the backs of his paws. _"Like my previous form I too am a spirit of the Hybrid level, but I am a_ Beast _spirit. My nature is stronger, but less controllable compared to Lobomon."_ KendoGarurumon got into a crouch and growled at Sakuyamon. _"But don't think that I'll be easier to defeat because of that. I mastered my savage nature a long time ago."_

_"Just great,"_ said Rika sarcastically, shifting her grip on her staff. _"Guess it's time to take the dog to the pound."_

_"Joke all you want, if that helps you feel better. Just don't take me lightly or you_ will _die._ Lupine Laser!"

A bright blue energy blast burst forth from KendoGarurumon's mouth, and Sakuyamon jumped into the air. With a quick slash of her staff she summoned a series of purple crystals courtesy of her _Amethyst Wind_ attack and threw them at the wolf. Light glowed at the edges of KendoGarurumon's mouth as he counterattacked.

"Lupine Laser!"

* * *

"Kenta!" barked Terriermon as Henry pushed open the door to their 'headquarters'. "Get MarineAngemon out here on the double! You've got yourself a new patient!"

"Not again," sighed Kenta in exasperation from his spot next to an unmoving Gyōjamon and MarineAngemon. Getting up he looked over at his friends worriedly. "How bad is it? I've already used up my last stamina card and… _Rika?"_ Kenta blinked in surprise at seeing the red haired girl hanging off of Ryo's back. Reflexively Kenta adjusted his glasses to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things. "Why is she glowing?"

"That's what we're hoping to find out," said Ryo, glancing around the room for a decent place to put her. "And she's not the only one. Renamon's in the same way too. Takato, Noriko, and Guilmon are getting her from Cyberdramon since he's too big to fit in here. Is there a clean place where we can put them?"

"Um…" Kenta looked around and spied a pair of bed sheets hanging off of a hammock. Quickly grabbing one of them he unfolded it and placed it on the ground. "This is going to have to do. What happened?"

"We don't know," said Henry. "Ryo found the two of them just laid out on the ground and unconscious, not to mention glowing. The light doesn't seem to be harmful in any way…at least not to us, and the two of them seem to be breathing normally. They're just…asleep."

"Yeah, so can you tell us what's wrong with them?" asked Terriermon, hopping down from his partner as Henry helped Ryo place Rika on the ground gently. Kenta furrowed his brow as he got down next to them.

"Um…I don't know what I can tell you that you don't already know. I'm a Tamer, not a doctor…"

"What about MarineAngemon?"

"There's not much difference. He has healing hearts that act upon damaged data, but he's not always able to tell what the problem is. Just if the damage is too much for him to fix."

"Where can we put Renamon?" called out Takato as he, Noriko, and Guilmon came in carrying the vulpine digimon's body. Henry waved them over to the blanket that Rika lay on.

"Over here." Henry turned back to Kenta while Ryo moved to help Takato and the rest. "So what you're saying is, neither you and MarineAngemon can figure out what's wrong with them?"

"You didn't have any trouble with Gyōjamon," said Terriermon pointedly.

"There's kind of a bunch of big holes in his body," deadpanned Kenta. "I'd say it's pretty obvious what's wrong with him. Look, I'll see what we can do, but I'm not making any promises here. We're going to have to get in touch with Hypnos."

Henry nodded. Given their lack of resources that really was the only plan that they had available to them right now.

"All right. I'll borrow the comm. device from Takato." Henry got to his feet and for a moment looked confused. "By the way, where's Ayaka, Miki, and Jeri?"

"Jeri's with Impmon's partners right now. Impmon came through here not too long ago to light some candles for us. Ayaka and Miki are out looking for any supplies that we can use to keep Gyōjamon alive. He's…not doing well." Kenta indicated the sleeping form of the kitsune warrior with a nod of his head. Henry followed it and grimaced. MarineAngemon was standing guard over the inert Mega, feeding a steady stream of pink and blue, healing hearts into his body. The area around the vulpine's chest was heavily, not to mention crudely, bandaged, owing to Kenta, Ayaka, and Miki's inexperience and no doubt Gyōjamon's bodyweight. Henry had to admit that he was impressed that they had managed to bandage him at all.

_Between the two of them, Rika's got it easy even if we don't know what's going on with her. Can we really pull MarineAngemon away from Gyōjamon with his injuries?_ Henry sighed mentally.

"Keep an eye on Gyōjamon for now. We'll convene with Hypnos and see what Yamaki has to say."

Kenta nodded grimly and Henry went over to where Takato and the others were sitting. His gaze lingered on Rika for a few moments before moving up to Takato.

"How is she doing?" he asked the boy.

"There hasn't been any change," answered Takato, his face a portrait of worry. Reaching behind him, Takato dug into his back pocket and produced the comm. device that Impmon had given him earlier. "I overheard you and Kenta talking."

"We are at our limits here. Yamaki might be able to figure out what's going on with her."

"You know," chimed in Terriermon, "it could be one of those spirit things that have been talking to us lately." No one noticed the way Ryo's hand tightened up at the mention of the word 'spirits'. "Didn't Grani mention something about how Rika and Renamon are caught up in one of those mind-experience things that you guys go through when you biomerge? If that's the case then there's nothing to worry about."

"There's no guarantee of that," said Henry. "But you do have a point."

"But we can't just go on the hope that it's that!" exclaimed Takato. "What if she caught some kind of digital disease or something?"

"Oh great. So she's been infected by a virus," muttered Terriermon. "Real original…not to mention ironic coming from you."

"Terriermon…" said Henry warningly before turning back to Takato. "Look. I'm not saying that we shouldn't contact Hypnos. We should, but at the same time Terriermon does have a point about what Grani said. If he's right, Rika should be able to come out of this on her own…hopefully." Henry groaned in frustration. "If only we knew something more about these spirits or whatever they are then we'd be able to have more confidence in knowing what's going on and how to handle the situation."

Noriko glanced furtively at the trio of Tamers before raising one hand tentatively.

"Um…Lumemon might know something. Back when he was Lucemon…" Noriko paused to glance at Takato to see how he would react to the name. So far he merely looked at her with curiosity and open expectation. "…and when he and I were merged I saw some parts of his past. I think he knew digimon who used to be spirits and were called, um, _Legendary Warriors."_

"Sounds about right, Henry," said Terriermon. "That was what that beetle guy told us when he introduced himself."

"Where is Lumemon?" asked Takato. Again Noriko looked at him uncertainly.

"Well, he's still in the village talking to Kuzuhamon. I don't know how exactly to put it since we don't have a map or a sense of direction around here…"

"Can you take us to him?" asked Henry. Noriko nodded.

"That's what I was going to do before Ryo and I found Rika. I can show you where he is."

"Then let's go!" said Takato, his expression taking on a determined expression. Looking down at Rika one last time he reached out and gave Rika's hand a soft squeeze, unmindful of the people gathered around him. Henry raised an eyebrow and Noriko blinked while Terriermon held back a snicker. Ryo, for his part, looked on gravely, feeling as though he were responsible for her present condition.

_Stay strong, Rika,_ Takato whispered in his mind as he let go. _We'll be back as soon as we can._

Getting up from his spot on the ground, Takato surveyed his friends and nodded, signaling that he was ready to go.

"So, Takato," began Terriermon with a wide grin. "You never mentioned what the nature was of that link between the two of you…"

"Not now, Terriermon," hushed Henry, pressing down on his partner's head to keep him quiet. The long eared digimon squirmed under the treatment and glared heavily at Henry.

"What? C'mon! Can't a mon just ask a simple question?"

"Not now," Henry emphasized again. "We've got other things to worry about."

"Yeah, we do," said Ryo in a tone that caught everyone's attention. "You guys. While Noriko's leading us to Lumemon, I think that you should know something about these spirits."

"What do you mean?" asked Takato, raising an eyebrow.

"That we're going to have to be careful with them, no matter what Lumemon says. I…have something to tell you guys. I've been holding it back but I think that now is as good a time as any to fill you in on it. It's about some of my 'adventures' in the digital world, and why Cyberdramon acts the way he is."

"Is this going to be a long story?" asked Terriermon sarcastically.

"Terriermon…"


	153. 152: Secret Heart

"Hey Miki," asked Ayaka as the two girls made their way through the village, their arms holding fresh bandages for Kenta's use.

"Hm?" responded the dark haired girl, glancing over at her pigtailed friend. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering…what do you think about us being Tamers now? Well, what do _you_ think of being a Tamer? I mean, a lot has happened since we started, and I haven't heard you talk about it since you first grabbed Dra…er, _Beanie."_

Ayaka cringed at the name. Out of _all_ the possible names her friend had to choose to give to a digimon she had to choose _that_.

_Really, she makes him sound like a pet or something. I know Crusadermon wouldn't stand for that kind of treatment. She'd probably throttle me first._ Ayaka's expression changed from disgust to something resembling resentment mixed with uncertainty. Within the mess of bandages she held her fingers twitched, as though wanting to touch her throat. _And she has tried too…_

Pushing such thoughts to the back of her mind, Ayaka focused her attention on her contemplating friend. She reminded herself that that incident was in the past, and that Crusadermon had since become more amiable towards her in the time that they've had to become acquainted. What mattered now was what Miki thought of the whole thing.

Miki's face was set in a thoughtful frown, giving Ayaka's question the weighty consideration that it deserved. After a few seconds of silence, the short haired girl sighed.

"You know, I haven't really thought about it in the time that I've been a Tamer. Well, maybe a little bit when I learned about Beanie's life and his reasons for coming to Shinjuku," Miki took a moment to glance up at a nearby rooftop to see her impish, mask-wearing partner hop onto it and begin running off to build up for the next jump, "but not since." Miki gave her friend an embarrassed smile. "Too much going on I guess. But if I had to give an answer, yeah, it's scary sometimes. Well…okay, a _lot_ of the time." A pained look appeared on Miki's face as she said that, but the look was gone as soon as the girl had spoken. "But some of the things that I've experienced…I think that they're worth it. I mean, who ever would have thought that I'd biomerge with Beanie to become a digimon as powerful as Lilithmon? That," a dreamy look appeared on Miki's face just then as she clasped one hand to her cheek, "felt _so_ liberating. I felt…I don't know. More confident I guess. Like I could do anything." Miki gave a sigh that caused Ayaka to blink at the peculiarity behind its sound; like the look in her eyes it held a strange note to it that reminded her of Takato whenever she caught him looking at Jeri for too long.

Sure enough, Miki confirmed Ayaka's suspicions when she spoke again.

"I wonder if Ryo's doing anything after this adventure is over."

Ayaka coughed as she accidently swallowed some saliva down the wrong tube. She had not been expecting that from her friend, not in the least, and the surprise was certainly enough to startle her. Sensing her friend's shock, Miki turned towards Ayaka with a scowl on her face.

"What?"

"Sorry. I just…whoa. Setting your sights awfully high, aren't you?"

"A girl can dream, can't she?" Miki huffed and pretended to toss her hair with a shake of her head. "Besides, just about everybody's got someone now, especially if my Mega form is any judge. I could go on about the list, but I think I'll just remind you that _you_ already have Kenta…"

"I do _not!"_ exclaimed Ayaka hotly, nearly dropping her share of the bandages. "I…since _when_ did you get _that_ crazy idea?!"

"Demon Lord of Lust, remember? I can pick up on things like this even if they happen to be… _tinted_ I guess. Anyway, I've seen the way you two step around each other like you're walking on broken glass. Takato's been like that with Rika and Jeri during that meeting at Hypnos…"

"Wait. What?"

"Focus, Ayaka," said Miki in an authoritative tone. "We're talking about you and me right now, remember? Oh, and Kenta by proxy since you and he are…to-ge-ther."

Ayaka felt her face go red as her friend phrased each syllable like a nursery rhyme. Miki smirked and, as though to add insult to injury, she shifted her load and raised one hand, pulling her fingers into her palm until only the pinky finger remained extended in a cutesy sign.

"So…what happened? And don't tell me it was because of your undying love for MarineAngemon's cuteness. That's part of the package, and right now from the way you're reacting I know something big had to go down to change the way you look at the kid you called 'Four-Eyes' back in first grade. C'mon. You saw him and the goof troop that he went around with as weird and unsociable and you thought his friends were nothing but trouble. I remember how livid you were when you were seated in front of him when Ms. Asagi gave us the seating arrangement too."

"I get it, I get it," grumbled Ayaka, shifting her burden. "I just…I kissed the idiot, okay?"

Miki's eyes lit up in excitement.

_"You_ what?! Oh…Ayaka! Wha…I…whoa. I don't know what to say!"

"Then don't," Ayaka blushed, frowning in annoyance. Miki giggled.

"How _can_ I? I mean…you…you _kissed_ a boy! Well, it was Kenta of all people but still… Wow… _Kenta!"_ Miki eyed Ayaka. "Well? _Details!"_

"Wha…?" Ayaka blinked, surprised over how the conversation had taken a rapid departure from the original subject that they had started on.

"How did it happen? What was it like? Come _on!_ This is an important time of your life here! You've nabbed a potential boyfriend before _anyone_ in our class! Are you going to let a chance like this get away from you?! You could use this time to mold him into the boyfriend of your dreams before _high school!"_

"Guhhh…" said Ayaka, irked by her friend's demands. In her conscious mind, an image of Kenta, older and definitely more mature looking appeared, teeth sparkling and wind blowing through his hair. Shaking her head fiercely, Ayaka blushed _deeply._ For some reason the image just did _not_ sit well with her when it came to Kenta.

"Sh-sh-shut up!" she demanded. "That's…he's f-fine just the way he is!"

"Wow. Never thought I'd hear those words coming from you. So, are you going to spill or what?"

"I…" Ayaka groaned in exasperation. "This _isn't_ what I wanted to talk about, Miki."

"I gave you my answer, didn't I? Besides, I'm finding this more fun to talk about. You…and Kenta." Ayaka giggled. "I always thought that you'd end up with Kazu with the way you two always fought."

_"What?! Miki!"_

* * *

"Foolish humans," mumbled Dracmon in a bored fashion as he watched the two girls chattering away to each other. "Don't they know that we're on a time schedule here? Just what in the digital world could they be talking about?"

"I believe that they are talking about us," came Crusadermon's reply as she flew out of the sky and landed behind the diminutive imp with all the grace of a swan. "Or at least they started on that road and have since moved on to which humans they like and despise."

Dracmon scowled at the Royal Knight beneath his mask, reflexively tensing at her presence before forcing himself to relax. Stiffly he turned away from her and folded his arms across his chest as he continued to watch the two girls.

"Meh. Sounds boring. I don't know why humans would want to talk about things like that. It sure doesn't make my top ten list…unless you want to talk about my not liking being shunted into being a _tamed_ digimon."

"You're hardly alone in that aspect," grunted Crusadermon, "but…"

Dracmon looked back at Crusadermon, noting that she had left her sentence drifting.

_"But…?"  
_ "…Why do you not like being _tamed?"_

"Why do you?" returned Dracmon, knowing full well that Crusadermon's pride had been hurt by her new role.

"You already know the answer to that."

"Phht. Royal Knight pride. That doesn't surprise me. I don't know if I should be bothered or relieved that you've slipped into being tamed so easily now since you and your partner biomerged into that _Rose Mode_ of yours."

A pall of silence fell between the two digimon as they now mirrored each other's stance. Dracmon shifted uneasily.

_What is this? We're talking and associating with each other like…like we're_ friends _or something! Why? We don't have anything in common with each other, and we've been at each other's throats! Well, her former comrades have, but still. My point stands. Even if we're partnered to humans who happen to be friends, we're…we're_ enemies! _She and her allies hunted down and slaughtered us X-digimon mercilessly! Now…now we're having to work together just to stay alive…_

"This is just so stupid," deadpanned Dracmon.

"Couldn't agree with you more," replied Crusadermon. Dracmon raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh yeah? And why's that? I know why I think so, but I want to know why you're agreeing with me."

"You mean besides what's already running through your mind? I never thought I'd end up fighting alongside my enemies. You were all supposed to be deleted long ago but as you can clearly see that didn't happen." Crusadermon lowered her armored face to take in the two girls that were their partners. "And to think that it's because of those humans that we have been brought so low."

"Don't start linking us together just because we're in the same boat, _Royal Knight._ You think just because we're on the same side that we're suddenly buddies like those two down there? I still haven't forgotten everything that your old boss put us through, and all because some crazy virus went out of control! How many digimon have you deleted like they were flymon on a windshield? Or did you even care enough to keep count?"

"I can't say that it was important enough," said Crusadermon, tossing her head in the air in a whimsical fashion before adding, "at the time."

"At the time?" Dracmon guffawed. "I don't see you as being the regretful type."

"Never said that I was, but I have a new existence now. As do you. I let go of my old allegiances. Perhaps you should do the same before they cause you problems with your partnership."

"Oh yeah? You're one to talk. Have you told your much-loved _partner_ about Project Arc? Or about what Yggdrasil had you doing? Or what he has in store for the digital world? As long as we're here, that's going to affect things, and just from seeing these Tamers in action I know that they won't just stand by and let things go the way that your boss plans for the digital world. They'll want to stop him, and if you're so on about your new _allegiance_ you'll have to stand against him. Ain't that right? I said, _ain't that right?!"_ Dracmon glared heavily at Crusadermon as he all but spat the words out of his mouth now. The Royal Knight watched him for a few seconds before looking out over the desert of the digital world.

"I heard you," she replied. "I must say that your information gathering abilities is quite impressive."

"You're avoiding the question. But whatever. I've got an even better one. What are you going to do about it?"

Crusadermon looked out over the desert, her eyes narrowing beneath her helm.

"…Wouldn't it be better to just let Yggdrasil recreate the digital world?" she asked. "You've seen how it is, with all of its disorder and chaos. Living from one day to the next and never knowing whether or not it's going to be your last because some digimon finds you to be a tasty treat…or even in my case, just attacks you because you're there."

Dracmon snorted.

"It's been my experience that whether it's this digital world or the one your boss created, you'll find angels and devils all the same."

"But with order."

"Oh yeah? Well let me tell you something. I grew up in a home that _had_ order until some megalomaniac showed up clear out of the blue and tried to tear it down and remake it. Things got messy, but we survived. And then came the D-Reaper and the Digital Hazard and made things even tougher on us. It was still my home though. Right up until you guys showed up and started your scorched earth policy for dissenters for your boss's plans. We were doing fine on our own until you guys started mucking around with things. Sure, things were chaotic. Things were messy. Things were _dirty._ But you know something? It was _our_ dirt! And we were trying to live with it and make things better. You just had to show up and make our lives harder because you didn't want to adapt to our situation. 'Burn it to the ground' was your answer to any problems. 'Burn it down and start anew'. Now you fought for that human city, where your partner lives. She fought because it's her home and she doesn't want to see it destroyed. You fought to protect her and…" Dracmon paused, and then threw up his hands in disgust. "You know what? Forget it! I don't know why I'm even bothering. I don't think I'm even going to get through to you. How the heck am I supposed to drill the whole 'home is where the heart is' into you idea when you don't even care about _anything_ except yourself? Why don't you go busy yourself with blowing up a Sand Lich or something? Save my mouth the wear and tear of talkin' to ya."

"I…care about Ayaka."

Dracmon whirled on Crusadermon, his mouth agape and his eyes furious.

"What? What did you say?"

"I said, 'I care about Ayaka.' Do I have to spell it out for you, little wretch?" Crusadermon leered over Dracmon, and although she tried to not show it, the stiffness in her body and her slightly heavy breathing revealed her anxiety over the confession. "I have been a part of Ayaka and…and…" Crusadermon flexed her fingers. "She and I…what she made me feel…I have no words to describe what I experienced. What I was _made_ to experience, and all because I decided to trust her with my back."

For an instant, Dracmon almost found himself nodding his head in agreement. But then he remembered who and what Crusadermon was, and all the crimes that she wore around her neck. There was just too much to forgive.

_"Liar,"_ he hissed, his words seething with anger. "If you really did care, you would do something. You wouldn't be stuck here, waiting for your _god_ to unleash destruction upon the digital world."

"That is only for the new world," said Crusadermon, waving off his words dismissively. "The DexDoruGreymon have nothing to do with the old world."

"And you base this off of _what?!_ What you were told? You can't honestly believe that Yggdrasil will settle for that after he unleashed the X-Virus to cull digimon out of this world! It's still sweeping throughout the worlds you know! Not even the _diplomatic immunity_ that the various kingdoms were granted will save them! Nothing…absolutely _nothing_ will be left of this place except sand and ravenous Liches!"

"Perhaps the humans will come up with something," replied Crusadermon. "We need but return home and inform their 'Hypnos' agency. They were responsible for the final defeat of the D-Reaper were they not? Or did your information gathering not cover that?"

"It did," grated Dracmon. _Oni did._ "But even so…"

"There is little that we can do with the resources available to us, and we will be opposed on every side if we seek to infiltrate Yggdrasil's territory. There are the Sand Liches, and the remaining Royal Knights. Omnimon and Magnamon especially, will oppose us. Even if I were empowered by the Sephiroth and in my Rose Mode; even if Gallantmon were in his Crimson Mode, our power would not be sufficient. As powerful as Gallantmon is in his ultimate form, he does not possess the resources of Yggdrasil, who created his matrix. That and none of us are in our top fighting form. To storm the gates of Skuld would be futile, not to mention suicidal."

"DinoRexmon would have done it," said Dracmon, remembering his former superior's attempted attack on Hypnos. So much had been riding on that strike…

Crusadermon snorted derisively.

"DinoRexmon was a fool."

"Why you…! How _dare you?!"_

Dracmon launched himself at Crusadermon, rage blazing within him. In response, Crusadermon swatted him to the side, sending him crashing down to the roof and nearly causing him to roll off. Grabbing hold of the edge with his claws, the diminutive demon hauled himself back up, but before he could do anything Crusadermon grabbed him by the pointy end of his leaf-shaped mask. Dracmon snarled and slashed his claws through the air at Crusadermon, but to no avail. Crusadermon snorted again.

"You're no better," she said to him. "Look at you. Attacking out of blind rage. That was what DinoRexmon did, isn't it? Except with him it was urgency. You know, I never did find out what you X's were so interested in the human world for, but I'm willing to bet that it had something to do with our conflict. 'Dragging the humans into it' or such nonsense like that. DinoRexmon wanted to ensure that before we destroyed your group, correct?"

"It wasn't like that! It…we found out that we were being used and…"

"All the same, he took an action that led to his demise because he didn't think. Didn't think that there were other alternatives, or that sometimes a more careful game has to be played to get to what you want to accomplish. Now before you go off reminding me about how the digital world is going to be a dead place of sand because of the X-Virus, or the final stages of Project Arc, let me remind you of something. One is that we have, in our hands, or rather mine right now if you want to be technical, a digimon that is _immune_ to the X-Virus. We have a _seed_ that can be used to combat my former master's creation. We have a human agency and the Tamers that defeated the Chaos, something that not even the Royal Knights were capable of even with their Sephiroth's at full power. We have the remainder of your rebel group working against Yggdrasil…don't give me that look, I know your side had a falling out with WarGreymon! And lest I forget, there is one last factor that you're not considering."

"And that is…?" growled Dracmon.

"Gallantmon."

"Say wha…? _That_ Pineapplehead?!"

"I meant _my_ Gallantmon!" snarled Crusadermon. "The one in the Royal Knights."

"What about him?"

"He is the only Royal Knight who is outspoken against Project Arc. Knowing his passionate, emotional personality, it is certain that he will stand against Yggdrasil once he has had enough. And as long as the last part of Yggdrasil's 'experiment' remains free to roam the digital world, Project Arc will not be able to enter its final stages."

"The last part of the experiment? Are you talking about Doru…?"

"I think this conversation is over," cut in Crusadermon. "Now you have a lot to think about. Now I can understand your eagerness and desire to fight for your cause even if I never cared for such things and still don't, but there is one thing that I will not allow you to do. And that's to endanger Ayaka because of your foolishness. Do anything that jeopardizes her safety and I will _personally_ load your data. Is that understood?"

"I…" Dracmon bit his lip as Crusadermon tightened her grip around his mask. "Yeah. I get it."

"Good." Crusadermon let go of the imp, allowing him to fall on his butt on the roof. "Now I believe that we have to catch up to our partners. We're being left behind it seems."

With that, Crusadermon leapt into the air, leaving Dracmon to watch her departure with a confused expression hidden beneath his mask.

_Since when did she grow a heart?_ the little demon wondered in amazement, unaware that Crusadermon was wondering the exact same thing.

* * *

Sakuyamon breathed heavily as she fought to catch her breath and push away the pain that seared through her entire body. Every joint, every bone ached, and her nerves sang their chorus with a full orchestra punctuating behind them. With a sharp hiss through her teeth the shaman digimon pushed herself up off the ground…

…Only to be shoved back down as an enormous form slammed down on top of her.

" _Is this all that you have?"_ asked KendoGarurumon, pinning a battered Sakuyamon beneath his powerful paws. The lupine digimon leaned his head back, huffing in frustration.

"Shut up!" growled Sakuyamon in Rika's voice as she strove with all of her strength to meet the wolf at eye level. She failed however as the wolf forcefully shoved a paw at her throat, causing the shaman to cough and choke from its pressure.

_How is this possible?_ Rika thought in disbelief. _This can't be happening! We're a Mega and we're getting creamed by this guy!_

_"Rika, you have to calm down,"_ came the voice of Renamon from the darkness surrounding the girl's azure data sphere. _"Remember, this digimon has integrated himself into our being. He's drawing power from us just as we draw strength from each other. In a way we're fighting ourselves…"_

_"Your partner is right,"_ growled KendoGarurumon with a growl. _"And I have to say that I'm rather disappointed in you. All of this strength that you have and yet you're not bringing it to bear on me. I know a little bit about you, Rika Nonaka and Renamon. I know that the way you two are fighting now is not even the full strength that you've used before, and_ that _is only the tip of the iceberg that you are capable of. Even your 'lover boy' has been sending you strength, but you've been ignoring it. What's the matter, don't want to feel dependent on others?"_ KendoGarurumon chuckled lightly at the fearsome snarl that Rika made as she struggled against the wolf's strength.

" _No. Of course not. You've stopped being afraid of that quite a while ago. But there's still something blocking the path to your power and mine. A fear of some kind, that much I can tell."_ KendoGarurumon leaned forward until his maw was hovering right next to Sakuyamon's ear. _"After all, there is a reason why your 'Kabuki Mode' has not made an appearance in a while. Did digivolving into Kuzuhamon do that to you?"_

_"I…said…shut…_ up!"

In a sudden rush of strength Sakuyamon threw all of her weight to the side in one last ditch effort to dislodge her opponent. His footing upset, KendoGarurumon rolled to the side and quickly got into a crouching position. White light played at the edges of his mouth as he prepared to fire at the shaman digimon…

_"Lupine La-!"_

…Only to be caught completely off guard as Sakuyamon unexpectedly rushed forward and planted a sure and powerful kick directly to his jaw, snapping it shut and sending him flying backwards at the exact moment that his attack went off. Shards of data flew through the air as an explosion rocked the wolf's form before he finally shattered completely. Sakuyamon fell backwards, leaning on one arm as she breathed in and out, trying to catch her breath.

_Armor's a wreck,_ thought Rika distractedly. Glancing to her side, the violet eyed girl grimaced as she saw the condition that her vajra staff was in, bent and twisted from KendoGarurumon's attempts to play 'fetch' the hard way.

_"Nice one,"_ drifted KendoGarurumon's and Lobomon's voices, melding together as Rika and Renamon's did when they biomerged. Sakuyamon's breath caught in her throat and within a second she was on her feet again, her senses already extending themselves to detect any sign of their opponent.

_"Renamon?"_

_"Nothing Rika. Not yet anyway…"_

Rika's eyes took on a hard edge to them.

_"Well this is just great…"_

_"Nice to see that you still have some bite to you,"_ Lobomon and KendoGarurumon continued, blissfully unaware, or perhaps uncaring about Rika's inner dialogue with her partner. _"But is it enough to face our power when it's been combined? Especially when you're so divided? What's that American saying? A house divided against itself cannot stand? There's a lot of irony here…"_

_"What are you?"_ growled Rika. _"A traveling head doctor or something? Why don't you come out here and fight already? You're so on about me and Renamon being 'worthy'. We can't prove ourselves if you don't show yourself and keep hiding. Or are you scared?"_

_"Didn't I already say that the one who calls things stupid is stupid themselves? As for me being a head doctor…do I really need to point out that I_ am _inside your head?"_

_"And didn't I tell you to shut up and fight? I'm getting sick and tired of this already."_

_"All right. If you insist…"_

Light burst in front of Sakuyamon, causing her to raise her arms to shield her eyes. Hidden as they were beneath the black mask that was a part of her bodysuit, she could feel the intensity pounding against them and it pained her. Soon enough a figure began to materialize from within the light and take shape. As it did so the light collapsed and surrounded the figure. Rika narrowed her eyes in both confusion and caution as she scrutinized the figure. It reminded her heavily of Lobomon due primarily to the mask that it wore being identical to his and the fact that it stood on two legs, but the armor was significantly different, reminiscent of KendoGarurumon's but not quite due to the figure's two-legged nature. In one, gauntlet covered hand, was a sword-like weapon with two large, curved blades sitting on its forward most end, appearing as fangs. The warrior nodded at Sakuyamon before speaking.

_"Beowulfmon. Legendary Advanced Warrior of Light. Fusion form. Just in case you were wondering."_

"I wasn't really. Are we going to get this over with now? This is getting kind of boring."

_"If it makes you feel better to say those things,"_ Beowulfmon hefted his sword and pointed its blades at Sakuyamon, _"then by all means continue to do so. Sarcastic comments won't save you though."_

"Just shut up and fight."

"Frozen Hunter!"

Swinging his sword faster than the eye could follow, Beowulfmon unleashed a torrent of white light that rapidly took the form of a wolf. It stormed towards Sakuyamon, the air howling with the passage of the blazing light, and the shaman priestess dove to the side. Quickly tapping the pipes that remained attached to her belt, Sakuyamon summoned forth her fox spirits and sent them flying towards Beowulfmon. Bringing his weapon to bear, the Warrior of Light jumped forward, and tore through them with a cry of _Beo Saber._ Sakuyamon raised her hands, her mouth already chanting a spell, but before she could finish she made a gargled, half strangled sound as Beowulfmon thrust forward towards her neck with his sword, its twin blades fitting perfectly around it and jabbing the blunt end of their base against her throat. Seeing that he had robbed the shaman priestess of her voice, Beowulfmon continued to push forward until he slammed her back into the wall of a Chuchidarumon hut, pinning her once again. Raising his left arm, a series of compartments popped open along his gauntlet and he took aim.

_"It's over,"_ he said to her. "Cleansing Light!"

Sakuyamon screamed in agony as her body was blown through the hut, decimating it and forcing her form to break apart until the two bodies of Rika and Renamon fell tumbling to the ground. The two rolled with the impact as best as they could, but both were painfully aware that the act had done little to spare them from the attack.

_Too fast…_ Rika's mind gasped as she pushed herself up onto one knee. "Renamon! Are you okay?"

"As well as I can be…" groaned the vulpine digimon, doing her best to keep the sound of her pain out of her voice and failing.

_No…this can't be happening. I'm…I'm losing! I'm failing my partner!_

"Just hang in there, Renamon! I'll get us out of this!"

_"Care to tell me how?"_ asked Beowulfmon, crushing a piece of rubble beneath a foot as he made his way through the hut's ruins. _"You've just lost your biomerge, and both of you are exhausted. Without any energy you two can't fight."_

"I won't quit," growled Rika, staggering to her feet and getting in front of Renamon protectively. The vixen's azure colored eyes widened in surprise at this and for the first time that she could remember, panic exploded full bloom in her heart.

"Rika! Don't!"

_"Don't be stupid,"_ said Beowulfmon. _"You can't fight a digimon without your partner."_

Rika couldn't help but grin at her opponent. Battered and exhausted as she was, she could still find some measure of humor in their situation.

"Remember…someone who calls others 'stupid' is stupid themselves. You said that yourself." Rika wheezed slightly and grabbed hold of her left arm as pain shot through it. But she refused to give into it; refused to even acknowledge it. She was a Tamer, and she would _not_ be beaten down no matter what was thrown at her. After a few seconds Rika laughed softly.

"You're right about one thing. I am kind of holding back. Holding back on a lot of things, and maybe…just maybe you're also part of it. 'I might as well be fighting myself.' That was what you said." Rika gave a harsh chuckle. "Guess that last shot cleared my head a little bit. This is what this fight is about, isn't it? It doesn't have anything to do with my fighting you. Winning out against myself…that's what your stupid 'test' or whatever this whole thing is, is for, isn't it?"

_"The mindscape works in mysterious ways,"_ said Beowulfmon with a nod of his head. _"You Tamers have shown that this kind of scene has been a reliable method for you to strengthen your inner-self and self-evolve to your own next level. It's a particularly strong trait in your goggle-wearing friend, and because you're connected with him your own part of this trait has also grown. It may even work with his."_

"Whatever," said Rika with an exhausted sigh. "But that doesn't mean that I trust you or anything."

Beowulfmon grinned.

_"That might come once you and I connect. We'll just have to see."_

"Yeah. Guess we will. In the meantime…" Rika looked over her shoulder. "Renamon? Are you still in this?"

"Always, Rika," said the vulpine digimon as she pushed herself to her feet and took a protective stance next to her partner. "For as long as you'll let me fight by your side and protect you."

Rika winced slightly, noting the scolding tone in Renamon's voice for her standing in front of her the way she had, but Rika didn't regret it once. Renamon was everything to her, and she would die protecting her just as readily as Renamon would her. Reaching behind her and removing her digivice from her belt, Rika got into a battle position. A small light began to glow from the D-Arc's screen.

"Together then. From here on out. You, me, Guilmon, Takato…" Rika's eyes softened imperceptibly at her friend's name. "We're going to get stronger together. And we'll start here."

Rika took a deep breath and smiled.

_"Biomerge activate!"_

A brilliant explosion of light burst outwards from Rika's digivice, enveloping the two once more and expanding outwards. Beowulfmon staggered backwards, for once straining against the light that so often had been his to call his own. Beowulfmon's grin widened into a smile as he peered into the supernova in front of him, beholding Sakuyamon, wrapped in a flowing white robe and carrying a shining silver staff in her hands.

_And this is only the beginning,_ thought Beowulfmon, astounded by the sight but no less happy to see it.

_"All right,"_ the Warrior of Light said to the reborn shaman as the light died down and she descended to the ground. _"You've tapped into the same well source as I have. Now…"_ Beowulfmon shifted his weapon and pointed it at her before charging towards her. _"…SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED!"  
_


	154. 153: Choosing Destiny

_"…SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED!"_

_What we've learned…_

The thought resounded through Rika and Renamon's mind with such resonance that no difference could be discerned between them. Lifting her silver staff, the white clad shaman priestess spun it in her hand, and a series of musical-like melodies emerged from holes that ran up and down the staff's length. Alternating the speed of the spin Sakuyamon twirled it above her head, her fingers dancing along its surface and touching each of the holes as it moved like liquid moonshine. The notes changed with each motion, and Sakuyamon's mouth moved with them. Within the azure depths of Rika's data sphere, those same movements were matched by her own lips, and she clasped her hands together into a prayer. The air around her warped, creating strands of energy where her staff had passed, forming a sphere around her. Beowulfmon only noted this for a fraction of a second before the strands of energy snapped apart and rushed forward, catching the wolf warrior's blades and shattering them. Beowulfmon's eyes widened in surprise, but he had no time to contemplate this unexpected act as the strands wrapped themselves around his body, clamping down on all of his movements and immobilizing him. Beowulfmon grunted as he struggled hopelessly and looked at Sakuyamon, who stood hovering in the air with a radiant light surrounding her. With one last elegant snap of her wrist, the shaman digimon ceased in the spinning of her staff and brought it to rest by her side.

_"Not bad,"_ Beowulfmon conceded, a small smile on his face. _"Not bad at all. You've done better than I thought you would. Choosing a flute as your choice of weapon? Not what I would have done…"_

"You are you," responded Sakuyamon, not moving an inch from where she stood, "and I am me. I have had my fill of swords. Their only purpose is death."

_"And you prefer life. Yes. You came to realize that when the two of you first biomerged to become Sakuyamon. That was why I was drawn to you. That and your warrior spirit. Your determination to protect what you cared about at all costs. Even yourself. It looks as though you have what it takes to handle my power. Whether or not you have what it takes to handle your future…I'll leave that in your hands."_

"You still haven't answered my questions. Who are you, and what is it that you want with us?"

Beowulfmon chuckled at the shaman.

_"Didn't I already answer that? All the others did when their 'partners' asked, so if you don't know you can always ask them. Or better yet, ask the light that you've acquired. It shines through all things, and as the Shrine Maiden you have access to resources that go far beyond what my spirits can grant you. I'm just here to complete the puzzle."_

Beneath her fox-shaped mask, Sakuyamon raised an eyebrow.

"Will you _please_ stop being vague about everything?!" Sakuyamon demanded, her teeth setting themselves on edge. "Why do you have to act like this?"

_"To get you to look into yourself and find your answers. You already voiced your distrust towards us, which is fine by me. Our alliance is worthless without questions, and our bond is worthless without both sides proving themselves to each other. Well, it's been kind of one-sided as far as your side goes…"_ Beowulfmon laughed again, and shook his head. _"Great. I'm starting to sound a little bit like Agunimon. He'd probably have told you guy's right from the start. I'm not like him, what can I say? Like you said, I am me. Anyway, if you really want to know everything about us, why not just take a look?"_

"What?"

_"Take a look. You're a shaman. I'll open up everything that I am to you, and you can decide for yourself whether or not to believe me and my friends. You have your light now. I won't stop you any further."_

Her mouth pursing itself together in suspicion Sakuyamon tapped her fingers against the side of her staff, causing its rings to jingle slightly and the holes in the staff to whistle in an almost angry manner. Several long seconds passed with the shaman digimon looking at the Warrior of Light until finally the strands of energy that connected the two increased in intensity. Within her data sphere Rika closed her eyes and slowly, carefully, opened her mind and cast it out to the digimon in front of her. She could see him in her mind's eye, waiting and expectant for her response.

_"Rika? Are you sure about this?"_

_"No. I'm pretty sure that this is a trap of some kind, but we don't have much choice right now. We have a chance to see what this is all about, and he's inviting us in. We don't know what's going to happen, so we're just going to have to be on our toes. This could easily be a part of his 'test' after all. Or whatever it is his boss has planned for us."_

_"All the more reason to not get involved in this manner…"_

_"I know. This sounds like a stupid idea…very 'Takato-ish' I guess, but I think we need to take this chance. We need to know something about these guys, and even catching them in a lie will tell us something."_

_"Very well, Rika. But be careful."_

Rika nodded to the darkness around her and once more focused on expanding her senses. For what felt like an eternity she didn't feel anything except for the song of the shadows around her. The girl furrowed her eyebrows as she pushed even further into the recesses of Beowuflmon's mind, sending out streams of light to brighten her way until finally…

_Why are there train whistles?_ wondered Rika as a vision of a grassy field came into view.

* * *

Rika's violet colored eyes fluttered open with a groan, and she turned over onto her side, finding Renamon resting peacefully next to her. She looked at the golden furred vulpine digimon for several seconds before pushing herself up off the ground and taking a look around her. She was in a hut, lit by several, carefully placed candles.

_What happened?_ Rika wondered. _The last thing that I remember is…ugh…that's right._ Rika raised her hands to her neck and massaged its stiff muscles. _Lobomon. We fought Lobomon and…he showed me something…_

Rika felt something creak and then pop in her neck as the thought floated through her mind, eliciting another, more satisfied, groan from her mouth. Yes. She remembered everything now. Resting her arms upon her knees Rika furrowed her brow in concentration, thinking over everything that she had learned and seen in the 'dream world' that she and Renamon had been forced into.

* * *

_Light surrounded Sakuyamon and Beowulfmon as the last of the images finished flitting through her mind. The shaman digimon focused her gaze on the Warrior of Light, regarding him carefully. A million questions spun through her mind, but only one thing remained certain in her mind, blocking them out._

_"I understand," she said to the wolf warrior, and as though her answer was enough, his form shifted, becoming transparent and then disintegrating into shards of data that quickly dispersed._

* * *

_Things are a lot more complicated than I first thought they were. Ryo…_ Rika snorted. _…You really should have trusted us more. It would have saved us all the big headaches that we've been getting landed with lately. Not that I can blame him anymore I guess…or should have to begin with._

Rika found herself laughing quietly in the dimly lit room at how immature she had been when she first met the Legendary Tamer. A part of her wondered how things would have been if she knew then what she knew now…

_No point in asking those kinds of questions,_ Rika thought. _I've got to see about waking up Renamon and finding out where the others are. Everyone needs to hear about this…_

Casting her mind outwards touched on the link that she shared with the Goggle-wearing Tamer that had literally become her 'dream boy' as much as she was his 'dream girl'. She detected a sense of urgency filtering down through the connection, but not much else came through.

_Takato?_ She sent the thought out tentatively, only to receive no response or change in the boy's emotional weather. As strong as the link was between them, Rika was not surprised by this lack of alteration. Anything more than sensing emotions, she remembered, was always more difficult when one of them wasn't biomerged, or at least so far when she herself wasn't biomerged with Renamon. Still, it had become an almost reflexive habit to send a thought towards Takato in the hopes that he would at least receive it, if only because it comforted her to do so. In her opinion, practice made perfect, and if she was going to be closer to the other Tamer…

Rika's mind paused on the thought before coming to the decision to simply let the mental conversation die for the time being. Things were already complicated enough between the two of them without thinking about anything further until they had more fully settled the issue that lay between them.

"Rika!" exclaimed Kenta's voice from behind her, startling the red haired girl. Turning her head sharply, she saw her friend and fellow Tamer all but rushing towards her from the other side of the hut, an expression of anxiety and relief on his face.

"Wha…? Kenta! What are you doing here?"

The bespectacled boy pushed his glasses up as he looked her over.

"Keeping an eye on you guys while the others go off looking for a way to help you. What happened to you and Renamon? I was told that you two just collapsed in the middle of the street and Ryo…uh…er…that is…" Kenta's words began to pause and stammer out of his mouth as he remembered Rika's dislike for the Digimon King, or more precisely her dislike for being in the kind of position that she had been in. As though sensing what he was preventing himself from saying, Rika raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Ryo did _what?_ What did Ryo do, Kenta?"

Kenta had to visibly fight back a shudder. There was something about the way she was talking that set off alarm bells in his head. It wasn't the normal, heated way of speaking that she had whenever she heard Ryo's name, but simple curiosity.

_Well, she could be warming up to him,_ Kenta thought, but dozens of memories of watching her argue and generally be angry at the Legendary Tamer told him otherwise.

"He…uh…didn't really do much…" Kenta said evasively. Rika's eyes narrowed dangerously. Normally she would have dismissed the issue by this point, finding it too troublesome to bother with, but Kenta was acting in a manner similar to Takato whenever he tried to hide something, something that had since the moment their friendship solidified, always been able to peak her curiosity and cause her to focus on him until she squeezed the information out of him. In all the time that she had known Takato, he had proven to give up what she was looking for, unintentionally as much as intentionally, whenever she exerted just a little bit of pressure on him. Her birthday had been one such occasion, as well as every incident that had occurred between them since then no matter what the situation was. Her instincts told her that there would be no exception with Kenta.

_If anything he'll probably cave sooner…_

"Kenta… _what_ did Ryo do?"

The boy glanced to the side, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"Ryo carried you here on his back," he mumbled under his breath.

"What? Care to repeat that? I didn't quite catch it…"

The sound of Renamon's change of breathing, followed by a groan as she now awoke, interrupted their conversation. A relieved smile breaking out onto her face, Rika placed one hand on her partner's shoulder and waited for the vixen to reorient herself as her icy blue eyes fluttered open and took in her surroundings.

"Rika…are we…?"

"We're back, Renamon," the girl replied with a nod. "How are you feeling?"

"I am…moderately fine," the vixen replied, rolling over so that she could stand up.

"Hey!" exclaimed Kenta, waving his arms about. "Um…you probably shouldn't be moving so soon after…whatever it was that happened to you guys. I mean, no offense, but you guys don't look good right now."

Renamon found herself unable to reply in words as all of her concentration was presently focused on just holding herself up. The vulpine digimon's breathing became harsh and her arms shook with the strain.

_How embarrassing…_

"Rika. I'm afraid that that battle was…perhaps too strenuous on me."

Kenta raised an eyebrow at this.

"Battle? You guys were just sleeping. Or were you two dreaming about fighting?"

"It's…complicated," said Rika. "Look. Neither of us are really in any condition to go out anywhere right now…" _too many biomerges and too many fights._ "…But we need to get the others. There's something we all need to talk about. It's important, and it has to do with our safety and the digital worlds."

"Okay," nodded Kenta. "You guys stay here then. I'll head out and try to find the others. They were going off to find Lumemon since he might know something about these spirit things that…"

"Kenta!" snapped Rika, losing her cool for just a split second over the boy's incessant chatter. "Go and find the others! This is _really_ important!"

Kenta jerked visibly, but quickly recovered and with a nod of his head he took off. Upon his exit, Rika let go of an exhausted sigh, and for a moment allowed her shoulders to sag.

"Weren't you a little harsh with him?" asked Renamon after a moment.

"He wouldn't stop talking," Rika replied. "And yeah, I'm already sorry for it. But you were there with me, right? If what that wolfmon said was right, we're in big trouble."

"Are you sure that he can be trusted? _Any_ of these spirits?"

Rika scowled.

"No. I'm still not convinced that any of them can be trusted, not after the way that they've been messing with us. But I'm not sure that we have much of a choice here. Too much is riding on the line here, and I don't think we can just walk away."

Renamon nodded in understanding before looking away from her partner. There was so much to think of…so much that they didn't understand. And she had the distinct feeling that this was only the beginning.

* * *

"Takato?" came the voice of Guilmon as the group of Tamers strolled through the streets. "Are you all right? You're being awfully quiet."

Ahead of him Ryo, Henry, Noriko, and Terriermon both looked over their shoulders at the boy, but Takato didn't take any notice of them. The expression on his face was that of total preoccupation.

"Wow. He's zoned out," said Terriermon. "Well…more than usual anyway."

"Terriermon…"

Ryo ignored the long eared digimon's antics and continued to keep an eye on their resident Gogglehead, not sure as to whether or not he should be worried by his silence. He hadn't said a word since they had finished their discussion concerning his problems involving Milleniummon and his worries concerning the spirits that had begun possessing them. Replaying the conversation in his mind, Ryo remembered that Takato had been quite stunned, though that wasn't to say that the same didn't hold true for Henry, Terriermon, and Guilmon, it was more that they were at least vocal. Takato had become… _silent._ Thoughtful looking too, but it was mainly the silence that Ryo wasn't sure how to take. As confident as he normally tended to be, even with his current position with his friends, someone who did not share what was on their mind in the face of a revelation was someone that he could not predict. In spite of all the times that Takato had shown himself to be quite the friendly and understanding person, Ryo could not shake himself free of any worries about the boy's reaction. Would Ryo's holding out on him and the others cause a breach of trust? Or…?

"Takato?" Reaching out, Guilmon tugged on Takato's shirt, causing him to jerk reflexively.

"Ah! Yes Ms. Asagi, I'm awa-!" Takato blinked and glanced around him. Upon realizing that everyone was looking at him as though he had lost his mind, a sliver of crimson crossed his features. "Um…"

"Wow, Takato. Your teacher really has you traumatized, doesn't she?" giggled Terriermon, placing his paw on his mouth.

"Terriermon…" began Henry, though the slight, chuckling sound in his voice told everyone that he found it difficult to actually scold the little digimon for his antics.

"Sorry, guys," said Takato, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I…um…was just thinking."

"Yeah," said Terriermon. "We could see the steam coming out of your ears. Want to relieve the pressure and tell us about what's on your mind?"

"Well," Takato took a quick glance at Ryo before continuing. "A lot of things. This whole Milleniummon stuff, and the spirits…it's a lot to soak in."

Ryo nodded in understanding. He could easily sympathize. He had been very much in the same way when his adventures first began, and it had only gotten even worse when he discovered that the dark, digital god was his actual partner. There were times where Ryo wondered why it was that his sanity hadn't snapped long before the disaster that had sent him into the digital world's past. He imagined that it would almost have provided a relief.

_Though where the safety of the digital world is concerned…_ Ryo swiftly banished the idea and focused on the present. This was not the time to be thinking about such things.

"I'd like to apologize again for holding back something this important from you guys…" began Ryo, only to be interrupted by Takato.

"No! It's…" Takato pulled back a bit from his near outburst. "No. It's okay. I really can't blame you for it. It sounds like you went through a lot, and it couldn't have been easy trusting anyone."

"He trusted Jeri," Terriermon said pointedly, causing Henry to reach up and rap his partner on the head.

"That was different. Ryo said that it got to the point where he _had_ to tell her…"

"I'm just pointing it out, that's all. I mean, we're only talking about the fate of two worlds here…"

"Terriermon!"

Ryo winced as Henry's voice increased in its intensity, but at least Terriermon finally got the hint and quieted down.

"Look. We really don't have time to talk about this. We have to find Lumemon and see what he knows about these spirits. It'll get us on the right track to figuring out how to resolve this situation and going home." Henry turned to Noriko, who was watching him expectantly.

"He's close by," said Noriko, closing her eyes and focusing on her partner's location. For the briefest of instants, a thin aura of light surrounded her body and disappeared upon her reopening her eyes. Noriko took a look around at the huts surrounding them, gauging their location in the village before she pointed off to her left. "He should be right around that corner. I think he's up on one of the rooftops with Kuzuhamon."

"All right then," said Takato, his face firm and full of determination. "Let's get going."

* * *

Kuzuhamon held Alice's necklace in one hand, her gloved fingers caressing its shape as she looked at it.

"I see," she said after a few moments. "So you have no further idea about what's going on with Alice or where she could be."

Lumemon shrugged.

"I'm sorry to say that is the case. I'm not connected with her beyond that necklace there. She helped my two halves merge, but that was it. Sorry that I can't be of much help."

"No," said Kuzuhamon. "You have been of tremendous help. We have something that belongs to Alice. Even if I don't know where she is, I can use this to find her. We're almost at the point where we're going to part ways." Kuzuhamon pursed her lips together. _Now if only Urocyomon and Gyōjamon were recovered._ Shaking off the feeling of impending dread concerning her two comrades, Kuzuhamon returned her attention to Lumemon and _tsked._ "I'm sure that the meeting is over now…"

Again Lumemon shrugged.

"I'd rather keep some distance between myself and the Tamers right now. Takato in particular. I…seem to be experiencing some problems whenever he's near me."

"That's because you're imperfect."

Lumemon's gray colored eyes widened in stunned surprise and he whirled on the shaman digimon.

_"What?!_ You already know what's wrong with me?"

"I may not be as powerful as my other sisters," Kuzuhamon nodded, "but I can tell just as well as the best of them when there's something wrong with a digimon. I can't always tell what the specifics are, but you happen to stand out like a sore thumb. It's your two sides. The part of Takato that created BlackGuilmon as you told me, and then there's the part of you that's Lucemon. Mainly the instability comes from the loss of the Digital Hazard from both of you, which was the reason why you two were merged. You're each filling in the gap left by the Hazard, but you were originally two separate entities. It wasn't a DNA evolution that fused you together, or even a fusing of multiple digimon of the same species to achieve the next level. You remained at the Rookie level with two personalities made as one; two personalities, and two subconscious and unconscious desires and wants. And neither of them were from a similar being either. You're in a state of chaos right now, and you're going through a stage where you're trying to sort your existence out."

"So…" Lumemon scowled. "…Are you saying that a part of me, the part that is still BlackGuilmon, wants to…"

"…Be with Takato? I can't say for sure, but if that was what he wanted the most, then that's what you want too. But with the conflicting part of you that wants the opposite, such as being with Noriko, your _true_ partner, your two sides are clashing and striving to separate, or gain control over your combined form. Sooner or later, you're going to have to make a choice as to what existence you want to live. Otherwise…" Kuzuhamon pointed at Lumemon's right hand, and the angel digimon followed it. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the skin change back and forth between blackened scales and white skin. Human nails fluctuated between reptilian claws before returning to normal. Grabbing hold of his hand by the wrist, Lumemon clenched his teeth and _willed_ the limb to return to normal. The hand shifted but once to its reptilian appearance before returning to its humanoid shape. Lumemon let go of a shaky breath and released his hand.

"You see?" asked Kuzuhamon. "There's not a whole lot that anyone can do to help you right now either. It's going to be about what _you_ want the most that will determine what form you take for the rest of your life. You took the appearance of Lumemon because BlackGuilmon's existence was dying."

"But…so was Lucemon," rasped Lumemon as a bead of sweat crawled down his face. "His body was destroyed before we became one. Right now I'm more 'Takato' than I am Lucemon."

"Then perhaps BlackGuilmon is absorbing his data and resurfacing. His existence was the dominant one at the end of it all even if you took on Lucemon's angel shape. If BlackGuilmon's existence expands with the external force of Takato's presence acting upon his subconscious desires…" Kuzuhamon let her words drift off, leaving the rest to the angel's imagination.

"This can't be happening," Lumemon breathed. Kuzuhamon frowned beneath her fox mask as she felt pity for the luckless angel. The look on his face made her think that he was standing at the edge of the abyss, seeing the end of his existence and the hopelessness in striving to prevent it.

"I am sorry, Lumemon. But like I said. It all depends on what you want, and just how badly you want it."

_And it looks like you're going to have a chance to face it sooner than you expected,_ thought the shaman as she looked down at the village below them. Four Tamers and three digimon were heading in their direction, and at the head of them were one Takato Matsuki and his partner Guilmon.

* * *

"Glad that's over with," said Impmon as he pushed open the door to the hut his partner's were staying at and stepped inside. Glancing around the room, the diminutive digimon's eyes fell on Jeri, who remained sitting where she had been when he had left. Turning, the brown haired, amber eyed girl smiled upon seeing him and raised one finger to her lips in a shushing manner, indicating the sleeping form of Ai in her arms. In spite of himself, Impmon's heart virtually melted at the sight of his partner sleeping comfortably and after closing the door gently behind him he padded on over and hopped up onto Mako's bed.

"So…what'd I miss?" Impmon asked in as low a tone that he could muster.

Jeri laughed lightly and combed one hand through Ai's hair. In response, the little girl shifted in Jeri's lap before settling back down.

"Just your partner needing a little nap," Jeri replied. "It is nighttime after all, and I imagine the stress of the day finally got to be a little too much."

Impmon sighed and kicked his feet in agitation. Jeri watched him with a concerned look on her face.

"You're worried about them, aren't you?" she asked. Impmon fixed her with a quizzical stare.

"Eh? What're you talking about? Why wouldn't I be worried about them? They're my partners and they're stuck with me in the digital world, which last I checked ain't exactly the nicest of places to be even on its good days. This is a little much for them. I kinda wanted to wait until they were older and could handle themselves better but, you know. Not everything works out the way we'd like them too."

Jeri looked down at Ai, her expression becoming downcast. A part of her wondered if Impmon was referring to her loss of Leomon. After all, even though she never said it out loud or really acknowledged it even to herself, she had imagined becoming a Tamer that fought with the others, especially by _Takato's_ side, but things had long since changed.

_In more ways than one,_ thought Jeri, remembering what had passed between herself, Takato, and Rika. Jeri felt like kicking herself. It was times like this where she felt helpless. She wanted to comfort her friends, but sometimes she just didn't know what to say or how to help them. Henry seemed more at ease with himself since they had their conversation, especially now that he was watching out for Noriko, but the others seemed to go back and forth between uncertainty and confidence. Out of all of them, Kazu and Kenta at least, seemed the most sure of themselves, Kazu especially since Kenta had been strangely _distracted_ of late. For some reason Kenta's distraction increased tenfold whenever he was in the same room as Ayaka.

Closing her eyes, Jeri focused herself, remembering the experience that she recently had concerning the aspect of the D-Reaper that had continued to exist within her long after its physical manifestation had been defeated. She still had many questions regarding it, but one thing that it did remind her of was that there seemed to be a latent ability hidden within her that allowed her to connect with the others. She remembered that part of herself using it to connect with the other Tamers to show what she was capable of because of her exposure to the D-Reaper. Could those abilities be able to help her help her friends?

Better question: should she use them?

_It would be like peaking in on them while they're changing,_ thought Jeri as a tint of shame rose up within her. _And besides, I don't even know how to activate this…ability. I only know that the other part of me had done it. I didn't see how it was…_

Jeri bit her lip, knowing that in a way she was lying to herself so that she could block off the ability. While it was true that she didn't know how to activate the links, she felt them floating at the edges of her consciousness, just waiting for her to pick them up like strings. That would be all that she needed. She felt that deep inside of her that the answer was a lot simpler than she believed it to be. Still, the question begged. Where was the line that she drew in the sand concerning using this link to help her friends and invading their privacy?

Before she could more fully pursue the question, a light groan emanated from the bed in front of her, catching her attention.

"Did you say something Impmon?"

"Huh? That wasn't your stomach?"

"Uhhhn…I-Impmonnn…"

Both Jeri and Impmon, their eyebrows arching upwards in confusion looked at the bed and saw Mako sitting himself up, rubbing his eyelids in a sleepy manner. His hair was ruffled and in a complete disarray, and his clothes were dirty, but otherwise he looked fine. His waking up only served to drive that point home, as Impmon's relieved grin showed.

"Mako! Welcome back to the land of the living! How're you feelin'?"

"Kinda sleepy," the boy acknowledged. A second later his stomach growled, and Impmon couldn't help but laugh.

"Looks like you're somethin' else too. You hang tight. I'll fetch you somethin' to eat. Jeri? Do you mind keeping an eye on him while I nab some of those mud balls?"

"I don't mind at all," said Jeri with a small smile. She neglected to mention that she was currently holding onto Ai still and had no intention whatsoever of disrupting her sleep, but her response was more than sufficient for Impmon's needs. Satisfied with her answer the diminutive digimon hopped down off of the bed and rapidly exited the hut. Turning her attention to Ai's brother, Jeri gave him a comforting smile. The boy looked at her dully, apparently still not fully awake. After a several seconds a light appeared in his eyes.

"Wha…what happened?"

"You were knocked out during a fight. You've been sleeping ever since."

"Fight?"

"That's right. Impmon protected you and your sister from danger. Everything's going to be all right. After all, Impmon's here."

Mako appeared to become more relaxed, but there was something in his eyes that still spoke of restlessness. As though he were forgetting something, Mako's expression turned into a frown and he scanned the bed around him. Jeri was just about to tell him that he was in a village inhabited by Chuchidarumon when the boy pulled back his blankets and began to rummage around, stuffing his hands in his pockets and pulling them out. As he did so, an increasingly alarmed look appeared on his face.

"Um…is everything all right?"

"Ah…" Mako was starting to look as though he were panicking, leaving Jeri to wonder just what it could be that had the boy in this state. "My and Ai's digivice. It's…I can't find it. Do you know where it is?"

Jeri blinked.

_Awww…nuts._


	155. 154: Demons

The car carrying Morgan Hughes came to a stop and the driver looked over his shoulder.

"We're here," the man said, to which Morgan gave a dull nod and opened the door. Stepping out onto the sidewalk along with one of Hypnos' field agents, Morgan breathed in the night air of Shibuya and slammed the door shut behind him. Bidding the driver a 'thank you' he took a glance down the street and began walking, barely noticing the car pulling away.

Time had passed since Riley had interrogated him, and in a surprisingly short amount of time she had worked out a way to get him to leave Hypnos grounds and see Amaya Abe, the person he had arrived at Shinjuku to see. With a sudden upsurge of good fortune that had apparently been dodging the government agency, the crimson haired woman had tracked down the location of Amaya and informed him that she had been transferred to a hospital in Shibuya, the closest available place that had Hypnos connections whereby she could be easily monitored. Afterwards she had arranged for as quick of a transportation as possible in the shattered ruins of Shinjuku and let him go with a Hypnos agent as escort. 'Insurance' she had called it. What precisely that meant he could only hazard a guess, but he reasoned that he was not originally meant to leave her or Hypnos' jurisdiction. He also reasoned that, should they have discovered anything about his other reasons for being in Shinjuku and the groups he represented, he would not be where he was now.

_I don't care anymore,_ thought Morgan as he continued his trek down Shibuya's sidewalks, ignoring the bustling night activity that went on. _I just don't care anymore. All I want is to see Amaya. That's all that matters no-_

"Oof!" Morgan Hughes wheezed as a child wearing a backwards, olive green-colored cap and a red over shirt, accidently slammed into his side, sending them both spiraling slightly on the sidewalk. Morgan managed to quickly regain his footing, looking bewilderedly at the boy who had, unlike him, collapsed on his rear.

"Sorry about that," the boy apologized, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'm kind of in a hurry, so I wasn't looking where I was going."

Morgan felt slightly irked by the situation, but nonetheless accepted the boy's apology. Reaching out, Morgan helped the boy get back to his feet, much to the child's surprise.

"Just make sure that you pay better attention to your surroundings next time," Morgan told him gruffly before letting him go. The boy's brown eyes looked at him in amazement before a wide grin crossed his features.

"Sure thing. I'll…ah…make sure of that. Thanks bu-ddy!" With that, the boy took off, muttering something under his breath about how someone named _Shinya_ was going to kill him for being late. Shaking his head and putting the incident out of his mind, Morgan looked around him to regain his bearings. It was at this moment that the agent of Hypnos approached him.

"The hospital is this way," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Morgan nodded and followed the agent.

* * *

Morgan and the agent stood outside of the hospital room that the nurses said held Amaya. Dry swallowing, Morgan took a moment to still his beating heart and he used his tongue to wet his lips anxiously.

_God I feel so thirsty…_

"Are you going to go in?" asked the agent, breaking Morgan out of his reverie. Morgan refrained from jumping in surprise. The agent was so quiet, never speaking when necessary, that it was sometimes easy to forget that he was even there. He had done so often enough during the drive to Shibuya that he would find himself surprised to find that, yes, he did have an escort travelling with him. Morgan nodded at the man.

"Just collecting myself. I haven't seen her in years and now…after all this time…"

"I'll give you some privacy, if you want it."

Morgan nodded, grateful for the agent's sense of discretion. Reaching out, he took hold of the door knob and pushed it open.

"Thank you," he said to the agent before closing the door behind him with a low click.

* * *

Morgan stood at the door for a few seconds, taking in the appearance of the room around him. Unlike most of the hospitals that he had been in, this room was relatively less 'sterile' in appearance though there was still more white than he would ever feel comfortable being in. For the briefest of moments, he wondered why hospitals insisted on having such a color in a place that was built to help people feel better. It had such a hostile feel that it made him believe that doctors only let people in to watch them die. Shaking his head, Morgan focused his attention on the unconscious form of the woman that he had loved in his college days and went over to her. Standing at the edge of her bed, Morgan looked down at her. His hands trembled, and his lips worked themselves as though striving to speak. After several long seconds Morgan sighed and pulled a chair up to her bed and sat down in it, leaning his chin into his hands. He once more looked at her thoughtfully.

"It's been a long time," he spoke quietly, and he winced. She lay so still beneath the blankets of her bed, her body doing the minimum that was necessary to stay alive. A strand of hair lay across her face, giving her the appearance of vulnerability. Once again he sighed and pressed his hands to his forehead before bringing them back to rest against his chin.

"Look at me, talking to someone who can't hear me. If you _could_ hear me…if you were awake you'd tell me I was crazy. That I was wasting my time or something like that. But…I don't know. I just wanted to see you. I wanted to know…why? Why didn't you tell me when you left? I would have gone with you, you know. Taken responsibility. I…" Morgan turned one hand to his face and pressed it to his eyes. "Damn it! You don't know how badly I wanted to see you. How much I loved you, and now that I've finally found you…I can't even talk to you. Oh Amaya…"

Reaching out, Morgan brushed aside the strand of hair over her face and took hold of one of her hands, giving it a soft squeeze as he did so. As he sat there, holding onto Amaya's hand, contenting himself with having at long last found the love of his life, a black aura, invisible to his eyes, flared around him and Amaya's bodies. With each passing second that ticked by, the darkness surrounding them deepened, becoming larger until it licked at the air like the hungry tongues of a bonfire.

* * *

A scratched and battered Allomon staggered in the midst of the digital desert before collapsing heavily, kicking up a cloud of sand into the air. A shadow fell over his body and turning his exhausted head, the blue scaled dinosaur let out a whimper. All pride had been stripped from his being, lost to the will, the _need_ to survive at all costs against the relentless monstrosity that loomed over him, and even that hope, as slim as it had been to begin with, was now fading.

"Please…" Allomon whispered. "No more…please…"

A low hiss sliced through the air as the shadow shifted, and a drop of acidic drool landed on the dinosaur's scales, dissolving them and causing their owner to mewl in pain.

_This_ is _how the world ends,_ thought Allomon as he tried to crawl forward. _Not with a bang…but a whimper…_

As though to punctuate the thought, a massive claw slammed down on top of Allomon's body, pinning him to the ground, taking no care in where its claws landed as one of them skewered his arm, releasing a howl from the dinosaur's mouth. In that moment of time, Allomon had time to think of a candle and how easily a flame lit atop of it could be blown out by the slightest gusts of wind. Here he was, the flame against the wind, though it was not so much a light gust as it was a hurricane. Had he further time to reflect, he would have found irony in the fact that he himself was a fire breather.

Allomon shuddered as he felt the hot breath of his attacker beat down upon the ruins of his feather headdress.

_Oh no, oh no…please…just get it over with. Don't toy with me anymore…_

A hiss whispered within Allomon's ear and a second later agony exploded around his skull as razor sharp teeth found purchase and sank in. The world went white for a split second, and then darkness obscured his vision. The last thing that he heard as the oblivion of deletion took hold was a loud and long roar that tore the heavens asunder. A roar that was rapidly taken up by a thousand others.

The cry of the DexDoruGreymon shattered all silence, leaving no peace even for the grave. The digital world's death knell had arrived.

* * *

Heart beat.

_Everything that I have worked for…everything that I had wanted to accomplish…is over._

Heart beat.

_There were so many things that I wanted to try. So many wrongs that I wanted to put right. A place where no one had to feel fear, or be in danger…that was my goal. My dream. Surely, even the Dreamer can sympathize…his dream was lost even if for a time._

Heart beat.

_And now…I am trapped in the very thing that was made to contain what is my dream…endless…and forever more…_

Heart beat.

Liquid blackness moved over the form of Oni as he hung, suspended by a series of blue cables that wrapped around him with a vice-like grip, clenching painfully against one arm in particular as it held within its grasp an obsidian-like sphere that pulsed angrily with a deep, blood-red crimson. Oni glanced at it, wondering at how something that existed as a natural phenomenon could look so sinister and evil, like an eye that sought nothing but destruction. He found it fitting in a way. After all, it was yet another reason why he believed that the digital world needed to be destroyed. Not the only reason, but one more to an already long list.

As he watched the almost-living blackness snaked its way up the cables, and Oni groaned as he felt energy drain out from his body. This wasn't the first time that this had happened. Every now and then the Digital Hazard that he had removed from the digimon Lucemon and the child-creature would act up and crawl the length of the cables, envelop them all within its embrace. It was during those moments that he felt as though something had awoken, but moments really were all they were. Whatever happened it never lasted long.

_…Although the time spans are…increasing,_ Oni noted with some measure of fear. Everything that he had experienced thus far gave him plenty of reason to be concerned, especially since he wasn't able to see what was going on beyond the cable-filled walls that surrounded him.

Oni groaned as one of the cables around his arm squeezed even tighter, sensing the advance of the Digital Hazard.

_Any more and this thing'll tear my arm in two. Damn it. To think that I would come this close to fulfilling my dream, and it all ends like this…_

_"Giving up already?"_ chided a voice from the sea of blue that surrounded him. Oni blinked in surprise at it.

"Wha…?"

_"I asked if you were giving up? You know that there's a way for you to get out of this mess and still complete the task that you set out to do. You just need to reach for it."_

"Who's there?" growled Oni, narrowing his white eyes. A series of shadows coalesced in front of him and taking shape. It had a centaur like appearance with a four legged lower body and a humanoid upper one. Two, pointed objects protruded from the area where the two forms met, and to Oni's surprise their jaws snapped open, growling dangerously at him. Twin, bat-like wings slowly raised themselves up from the entities back and a low laugh resounded upon the air.

"…You," said Oni dangerously. "GranDracmon. But how…?" Oni leaned forward, ignoring the protests of his arms and legs, and took a closer look. "No. You're not GranDracmon. You're that cheap imitation that appeared in the dream world that this place created when the human girl was here. I take it that the residual distortion of reality has allowed you to continue being able to exist. The last echoes of GranDracmon's _voice_ from that blasted angel…"

_"Now, now,"_ chided GranDracmon's shadow, wagging a finger at Oni. _"Language."_

"What do you want?"

_"What any dark creature that desires destruction wants. And that is the same thing that you do. Our goals are one and the same."_

"Do you take me for a fool?!" Oni demanded, straining against his bonds. In response the cables tightened their grasp, but Oni ignored them. "You desire more destruction than just that of the digital world! Our goals are _not_ one and the same!"

_"And here I am offering you the way to destroy that part of this world. There's nothing that says that you have to follow through on anything more than that, and if there was…"_ Oni could have sworn that he saw a gleam coming from the shadows that made up GranDracmon's face. _"…surely the Tamers would be able to defeat you."_

Oni looked at GranDracmon with a disgusted look on his face before scoffing at him.

"Your _voice_ doesn't work on me the way it did on that fool of an angel, _Lucemon._ I am a higher existence compared to you. Even fallen as I am, you are still like _dust_ to me. You have no power over me."

_"Oh? Very well then. Sit here in your prison if that is your wish. Enjoy it and partake in its 'gifts'. Drink of it, if it suits your fancy. I shall leave you to your walls."_

With nothing more to say, the shadowy form of GranDracmon offered Oni a slight bow before breaking apart, vanishing into the azure depths that surrounded them. Oni relaxed and lowered his head, his expression softening in contemplation.

_He's right though,_ Oni thought to himself once silence had returned to him. _I do know the way out of here. However it's not just something that I can take lightly. There's much risk involved, and now that I know that_ he _is in here with me…_ Oni clenched his white eyes shut and shook his head. _…I don't think I can take that chance. Sacrificing that much and risking so much more, with GranDracmon's echoes in here…_

_…Is it just too great of a risk? That I can't take it to fulfill my vow to Amaya Abe that children would not have to fear death anymore at the hands of this accursed digital world?_

For the first time in a long while, white shone on Oni's wings, peaking past the shifting darkness that the Hazard imposed on his body, and his claws clenched themselves as they began to become transparent.

_I don't know anymore…if this is even the right thing to do…_

_"Taisuke…"  
_ The name floated through Oni's mind and a dark aura materialized around Oni's body. Crying out, Oni's claws twitched, aching to touch his face and hide the sparkling white tears that began to bloom within his eyes. He felt an all too familiar sadness reach into the very core of his being, reigniting his core. And with it came…something else. Something _similar_ to that sadness but different. Something that had long, older roots to it that stretched deep and pushed into him. As though in response to this sudden intrusion, the Hazard sphere sent out a series of roots of its own that forcefully pushed their way into Oni's skin and spreading like wildfire up his arm and into the center of his being. Crimson light flared in his pale eyes and Oni roared in anger. Yes. Yes, _this_ was the right thing to do. This pain…it was _all_ because of the digital world. A pain that would continue to threaten the safety of the human world and claim lives for as long as it existed! It _had_ to be destroyed, and yet…

_I can't do anything here,_ thought Oni, his body beginning to enlarge and warp. _I have to escape this prison…no. I must_ claim it! _I must take its strength and make it_ mine! _All of this! Every last ounce of it! It will all…serve…_ me!

Blackness exploded from Oni's body and the crimson sphere of the Digital Hazard sunk into his palm. Tendrils ripped free from his back and extended outwards, lashing onto the cables that imprisoned him and multiplied, forming a web-like structure that bonded together to take on a membrane appearance. The cables, sensing the sudden change in their data began to shift in an attempt to turn upon the Hazard but the blackness that had seeped into them solidified, tightening their own grip around them. A suffocating atmosphere beat upon the air and Oni's now blood red smile widened. He licked his lips in expectation.

"Time to get this show on the road," he whispered, and red fire flared around his body, expanding outwards until it encompassed the entirety of his prison. Opening his mouth Oni let loose a powerful roar that echoed with the voices of a million torn souls, shattering data and warping space around him. The roar extended outwards through the walls of his prison as it distorted and reshaped itself until it gained a new strength of its own and ripped free from its throat and… _broke_ free to the surface.


	156. 155: Inner Fires

In the candle lit room of the Chuchidarumon hut, Gyōjamon's eyes snapped open and he rose up from his makeshift bed. Absently, one hand went to his sides as his body registered the pain of his injuries, but his mind, through its long years of training, ignored it. Unfortunately for him MarineAngemon, who was tending to his injuries, was not as likely to do so, and flew in front of him with his face drawn up into an irritated scowl.

"Pih! Pihpuhpuhpih!" the tiny, pink colored fairy berated. Gyojamon could not help but chuckle at the other Mega.

"I'm perfectly aware that I should not be moving," said the vulpine digimon with a touch of humor in his tone. "Nevertheless, I sense something coming. I cannot just ignore it."

MarineAngemon scrunched up his face and puffed out his chest, putting on the appearance of a thousand doctors and nurses that have ever had to deal with difficult patients.

"Pihpih _pih!"_

Gyōjamon raised an eyebrow at the fairy.

"Quite the stern one, aren't you?"

"Pih!"

Gyōjamon shook his head and let go of a sigh. Looking around him, the warrior kitsune took note of the fact that the hut he was in was empty save for himself and Urocyomon. His eyes paused on Urocyomon's still form and his body all but froze at the sight of the small blue flame that burned at the tip of his tail.

_His fox fire!_ Gyōjamon's mind cried out in shock, but before he could say anything about it his senses again hit him full force. Groaning Gyōjamon nearly collapsed back down to the bed and clutched one side of his head. Something was coming. Something _huge_ , and not only that, dangerous beyond anything that he had ever felt before in his life. _Damnation! I don't have time to play around here! I can't ignore this!_

With a flick of his hand, the warrior shaman summoned his spear and, using it as a crutch, pushed himself to his feet. MarineAngemon's mouth fell open and he flew in front of Gyojamon, making loud, agitated _pihs_ and _puhs_ , trying desperately to get his patient to settle down.

"Not now," growled Gyojamon. "This is important. I know full well that the damage that I've received during the battle is extensive but…" Gyōjamon groaned once again as his body flickered and for a brief second became unstable. Falling to his knees, Gyōjamon panted heavily, trying desperately to regain his strength. MarineAngemon floated over to him, concern apparent on his face.

"Pih?"

"No…" rasped Gyōjamon. "No…I am _not_ 'okay'. It would appear that I won't be able to leave this place under my own power without severe repercussions." Gyōjamon glanced at MarineAngemon and a twinkle appeared in his eye. "Am I not mistaken?"

MarineAngemon paused before slowly nodding his head.

"Pih."

"In that case, I need you to find the Tamers and apprise them of the situation. We have a predator coming this way, and they need to be on their guard. Do you understand?"

"Pih! Pihpihpihpuh!"

"As if I'm going to be going anywhere in this condition," grumbled Gyōjamon, clutching at his sides. Eying him warily, MarineAngemon blew another healing heart at him before taking off, exiting through an open window. Gyojamon breathed a sigh of relief as the healing data of MarineAngemon's heart worked its magic on his body. It irked him that in spite of his training he should still be so susceptible to his injuries.

_I've taken far worse than this and was still able to keep going in spite of it,_ thought Gyōjamon, looking down at his ravaged body. His eyes narrowed and he pressed one hand against his bandaged chest and abdomen. He winced as a fresh wave of pain, dulled somewhat by MarineAngemon's hearts, flowed through him. _Why am I affected this heavily?_

The answer was obvious to Gyōjamon, even though he told himself that it was too soon to be certain about anything. Nonetheless, the wet heat that he felt around his injuries, emanating through his bandages, told him more than any doctor, angel, or fairy could have.

_Seems like my fire is almost out,_ thought Gyōjamon.

At the thought of fire Gyōjamon returned his attention to Urocyomon. The blue fire still burned slowly at the tip of his silver tail. Gyōjamon sighed.

"Just what did you do _this_ time, you little fool?" he asked aloud, though he didn't expect an answer. "Pushing yourself too hard again? I warned you that something like this would happen if you…well, never mind." Gyōjamon looked away, allowing his hair to fall over his eyes, obscuring his features as he gathered his thoughts. "I take it that the human's just think that you're exhausted right now, or something of that sort. They probably don't know anything about your situation, or what that fire means." Gyōjamon sighed again, only to have it devolve into a coughing fit as a shudder passed through his body. Once again his body blurred but once before returning to normal. Turning, he once more regarded Urocyomon with a calm stare before reaching over to him and placing one hand on his chest.

"Your survival is more important now," said Gyōjamon as a light blue aura surrounded his body and encompassed Urocyomon's. The younger kitsune shifted and winced in response to the touch. Gyojamon's eyes narrowed as he intensified the blue aura that connected them together.

"The flame _must_ pass on."

* * *

Time felt as though it had drawn to a standstill when Lumemon's gray colored eyes met with that of Takato's crimson ones. The angelic digimon felt his body tense up under the pressure of the boy's gaze and he forced himself to look away, opting to focus his attention on Noriko Nakata, who was standing in between Henry and Ryo.

"Hey!" called out Takato, cupping his hands around his mouth so that he could be heard. "Um…Lumemon, right? We'd like to ask you some questions! Is that okay?"

"Oh, great," mumbled Lumemon, his face taking on a sulking appearance. "They probably want to throw me out to the Sand Liches or something…"

"Lumemon!" hissed Kuzuhamon. "They just want to talk to you."

"You don't have the history with them that I do…"

Kuzuhamon felt an eye twitch beneath her helm at the angel's impertinence.

"…And I still have that issue regarding Taka…"

Kuzuhamon didn't wait for the angel to finish speaking, and instead did what came naturally to her whenever Urocyomon acted up. Placing one hand against his back, Kuzuhamon gave him a sharp shove, causing Lumemon to squawk in surprise as he fell forward. The ground rushed up to greet him, and pain exploded across his face scant seconds later as he made impact with the desert floor.

"Owww…" groaned Lumemon as his right leg dangled in the air for a few seconds before falling downwards and planting itself in the street with a soft _thud_. The Tamers each blinked in surprise at this sudden and unexpected occurrence.

_Very graceful Lumemon,_ Kuzuhamon's mind deadpanned. _I guess it didn't occur to you to use your wings, did it? You certainly know how to leave an impact on people…and the landscape._

"Yup," began Terriermon, as though in response to Kuzuhamon's unspoken thoughts. "He definitely came from you, Takato."

"Terriermon…"

Takato frowned and took an uncertain step forward, only to be beaten to the punch as Noriko dashed forward, blowing past him in her rush towards her partner. Kneeling down, Noriko pushed Lumemon over onto his back, wincing at the large red mark that covered his face.

"Hey," she said gently, "are you okay? That looked like a pretty nasty fall there."

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled Lumemon as he got his bearings. Furrowing his brow the angel looked up at the rooftop and glared at Kuzuhamon, who was presently looking as though she had done nothing wrong. "I'm fine."

With only some minor assistance from his partner, Lumemon got to his feet and after making sure that he was going to be steady, he looked over at the other Tamers.

"So…uh…what did you want to ask me?"

Ryo, Henry, and Terriermon all looked at Takato, who seemed to be at a loss for words. Hardly surprising they felt, since this was the first time that Takato was actually meeting Lumemon outside of the rush of battle and holding a conversation with him. The meeting was, if nothing else, rather eerie due to the similarities that lay between the two. Aside from the angelic wings, darker colored hair, and gray colored eyes, Lumemon could easily have passed as a relative of Takato in the same manner that fraternal twins share similarities.

_But there's more to it than that,_ thought Henry. _Takato's going to be talking to the digimon that contains one part of BlackGuilmon, a digimon he created to replace Guilmon when he was deleted, and another part of Lucemon, the digimon responsible for deleting Guilmon in the first place. I have to admit, I'm not sure what to say about this either. It was only a month ago that I tried to destroy Lucemon, and I sometimes feel…I don't know. Like I'm angry with him. I know, or at least I should know, that this isn't quite the same digimon as before, but just knowing that isn't enough to see past that. At least…not yet anyways. And if I feel like this, I can only imagine how Takato is feeling right now._

"Man," whispered Terriermon from his spot on Henry's shoulder. "Talk about having an Elephant in the room."

"Terriermon!" shushed Henry harshly. The rabbit digimon quieted quickly, and Henry returned his attention to Takato and Lumemon. He hated to admit it, but Terriermon did have a point. There were things that lay between those two that would be difficult to discuss in the open. Henry knew that it had been difficult enough for Takato to open up to them about the aftermath of Guilmon's death to begin with. Although his own problems following that series of events were minor in comparison, Henry could definitely sympathize.

_Still…if someone doesn't talk soon we're never going to get past this._

Henry looked over at Ryo, and gray eyes met with the Legendary Tamer's blue ones. Reading the message hidden within them, Ryo nodded his head in agreement before taking a step forward to touch off the conversation.

Only to have Guilmon beat him to the punch.

"We just want to know about those Legendary Warrior things that got stuck in everyone's heads," said Guilmon.

Lumemon blinked and looked at Takato.

"Is that what you wanted to know?"

"Uh…yeah," responded Takato. "Sort of. You see, one of our friends, Rika, has fallen unconscious and Ryo mentioned something about them being in league with an old enemy of his by the name of Milleniummon…"

_"Milleniummon?!"_ Lumemon's mind reeled in surprise at the name and focused all of his attention on Ryo Akiyama. "So…the rumors are true then? The dark god of the digital world still exists and is _your_ partner?"

_Does he have to be so blunt like that?_ wondered Ryo as he scratched the back of his head in agitation. Although he had already mentioned those aspects of his story to Takato, Henry, and Noriko, it still sounded strange to hear another say it out loud, especially from someone that shouldn't have had prior knowledge about it.

"Wow," said Terriermon. "Nice to know that everyone in the digital world knows about your little secret except us."

Henry's exclamation of _'Terriermon'_ did not surprise anyone.

"You know about this guy?" asked Noriko, causing Lumemon to take on a stumped expression. Lumemon scowled at himself.

"I…remember only a little bit from my previous life. A digimon by the name of Milleniummon has existed and caused harm to the digital world on numerous occasions. Having never faced him in battle, and only heard from hearsay I cannot say as to what extent his powers are, but it's suffice enough to know that they are vast. The tale of the Legendary Tamer known as Ryo is quite renown throughout the digital world as he is the only human who is capable of defeating him. I heard a rumor that their partnership was the reason behind this, though Ryo was said to be special in other ways."

_Having one's destiny tied up with the digital world for all eternity has something to do with that, I'm sure,_ commiserated Ryo, though he didn't say that out loud. From his perspective, the less that they dug around with his past the better. However, in order to find something about the Legendary Warrior spirits and what they meant in regards to their current situation that meant revealing a few things about said past. Not wanting more to be said than necessary Ryo moved to put the conversation back on its original track.

"Anyway, about those 'Legendary Warrior' guys…what can you tell us about them? Are they any threat?"

Lumemon was silent for a couple seconds as he thought things over. Eventually he just shook his head.

"If they are a threat, it would be to those who are enemies of the digital world. In my previous life as Lucemon I…had been a corrupted digimon. I fought them in all of their incarnations and was defeated on every occasion, my own inner darkness included. At least…that was what Ophanimon told me when I was reborn." Lumemon sighed. "I'm afraid that there's not much that I can tell you. I lost the majority of my memories before I encountered you as Lucemon and even fewer survived my…my second birth." The Tamers noted Lumemon swallowed as he said that, as though the memory pained him in some way. "All I can say for sure is, as far as the Legendary Warriors are concerned, there _shouldn't_ be anything to worry about. They have always been hailed as heroes except in one case where half of them were corrupted. Otherwise there is no way they could be dangerous for you." Lumemon paused before amending, _"Unless_ Milleniummon did something to them."

Lumemon eyed Ryo, and everyone else's gaze followed his. For the first time that Ryo could remember since his earliest battles against the dark digital god, Ryo felt like sweating.

"It's possible," the Legendary Tamer acknowledged. "Is that everything? Is there anything else that you can tell us about them that could help?"

Takato nodded and looked at Lumemon.

"We could use anything right now."

"Well…I think there's one other way that a warrior's spirit could be harmful to its user. I'm only going off of a faint memory of something that I read, but this concerns the spirit of darkness, and to some extent the others as well I think. The spirits require…I don't know. A kind of similarity between them and the user in order to synchronize or something of that nature. Or maybe the spirits have a set of guidelines that must be met. I'm not entirely sure, but it might be similar to whatever it is you go through when you biomerge to your Mega forms."

"And if that requirement isn't met?" asked Henry, his face set in a grim line.

"Insanity…possibly death are the end results. One of the Celestials that govern the world that I'm from, Cherubimon, had been corrupted and likewise corrupted the Spirit of Darkness for a time…"

"How can darkness be corrupted?" asked Terriermon.

"Not now, Terriermon," hushed Henry. Lumemon continued.

"…Cherubimon used the spirit to experiment on other digimon in an attempt to find a suitable host to bring out its powers. Those experimented digimon remain in his fortress unfortunately." Lumemon's wings all but wilted visibly as he spoke. "They are literally little more than shadows of their former selves. The Sand Liches out there are more alive than they are."

Lumemon became quiet as he finished. Although he didn't say it out loud, he had an idea that he had been the one to have corrupted the celestial Cherubimon. Even if he had been a different digimon then, having a different existence, the knowledge of his crimes hung heavy on his shoulders.

Takato, who had been watching Lumemon carefully, saw the expression on the angel's face and cast his eyes down towards the ground in deep thought. Truthfully he didn't know what to think of Lumemon, and this was not helped by the fact that they hadn't interacted much since the group had been reunited. Part of this, Takato was sorry to admit, stemmed from the fact that he was leery about talking to him due to the nature of their first encounter when he was Lucemon and that a part of Lumemon was essentially a part of himself; BlackGuilmon. He couldn't imagine what Lumemon was like on the inside, or how much of him was still Lucemon, or the animalistic BlackGuilmon that he had created and it put him off in the same way that Jeri had been when Beelzemon had tried to rescue her from the D-Reaper.

_Jeri…Beelzemon…_

Takato bit the inside of his mouth. It was strange. He had accepted Beelzemon as a friend so readily when he had arrived in the real world, willing to make up for his mistake. Jeri had forgiven him long since for the death of Leomon, and unlike her he had gotten his partner back. The scars remained, but they would heal much more readily than Jeri's would. It left Takato ashamed to know that while she had been able to take that step and forgive a trespass against her that he found himself daunted by the task.

_Why am I hesitating? I should be doing all that I can to work with him and to forgive him! I mean, it's not like he's the same digimon that he was before. Besides…hating him for what he did…wouldn't that be like…hating myself? He_ is _me! Or at least a part of me._ Takato drew one hand up into a tight fist. _There are so many things that I want to ask him…_

Drawing in his breath, Takato took a step forward. The motion did not go unregistered by Lumemon, and he backed away with a flutter of his wings, startling everyone.

"Hey!" said Takato in surprise, raising his hands in a peaceful gesture. "It's okay."

The look of fear that Lumemon sent him caught Takato's attention and it floored him.

_Why…? Why is he afraid of me?_

Before anything more could be said, a loud howl suddenly filled the air, and a powerful sand filled wind tore through the village.


	157. 156: Shelter

Takato gasped reflexively as sand blew into his mouth, causing him to choke. In an effort to block out any more of the sand he covered his head with his arms and lowered his head.

"Guys!" Takato called out as best as he could, spitting sand and trying desperately to breathe through the severe wind that blasted him. The sand was everywhere, blinding him. Thinking quickly Takato pulled his goggles down over his eyes, but though they did much to protect his eyesight they did little to improve his vision. He could not make out where any of his friends were. "Guys! Where are you? Are you all okay?"

Whatever responses were made, if any had been made at all, were lost in the wind as it slammed against Takato's body, nearly knocking him off his feet. A hand quickly wrapped itself around his wrist however, bringing him to an abrupt halt. Blinking blearily beneath his goggles, Takato followed the arm, an arm that was looked human, and watched as the flurry of sand parted just enough to reveal the form of Lumemon. His dark brown hair blew and…

Takato gasped as he looked at the angel, his jaw dropping in surprise. As he watched, an eerie blackness crawled its way up Lumemon's white robes and wings, and the darkness of his brown hair deepened. But it wasn't just these transformations that caught Takato's attention. It was the eerie, golden irises that were reminiscent of Guilmon's that stared back at him. There wasn't any wildness in them, but the change from gray to the gold left Takato unnerved all the same. He wasn't the only one who had noticed the change however, as Lumemon quickly took note of it himself.

_More like he expected it,_ a quiet part of Takato's mind whispered. He didn't have time to dwell on it though as within seconds a panicked expression overtook Lumemon's face and, as though Takato's touch burned him in some manner, he threw Takato's arm to the side with a cry. Once again Takato was left dumbfounded as the angel grabbed the sides of his head. Electricity clambered its way up his body as cloth and feathers finished their transformation from white to black. His golden eyes snapping open once again, Lumemon brought his gaze to bear on Takato and then grabbed him by his blue shirt.

"I can't protect you," Lumemon said to the Tamer, tears breaking out of his eyes as he lifted Takato into the air. "I can't protect _anyone!"_

With that, Lumemon threw Takato away from him and into a surprised Guilmon. Tamer and digimon both let out a squawk as they crashed into each other and collapsed to the ground. Clutching his arms close to his body, Lumemon took in a rasping breath before launching himself into the air, unfurling his now black wings, pushing them as hard as they could go in order to get as much distance as he could from the village below and the occupants within. Takato's mouth moved listlessly in an effort to call out to the angel. No words emerged, though it was not from lack of trying. Spots of white light sprung up in his vision, and Takato quickly realized that he was rapidly being suffocated by the sand that was blowing around him. Coughing, he quickly shoved his shirt over his mouth, hoping to filter the air around him.

"Guilmon!" he called out over the roar of the wind. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…" Guilmon hacked as he tried to talk. "…Takato! The air doesn't taste good. I can't smell anyone either. I can't _breathe!_ "

_That's bad,_ thought Takato as he helped Guilmon get back up to his feet. Tugging off his blue shirt he quickly wrapped it around his partner's face and used his white undershirt as a replacement filter.

"Ryo! Henry! Terriermon! Noriko! Where are you guys? Say something! Come on! Even a 'momentai'…"

"…Momentai…"

"Ask and you'll receive," gasped Ryo's voice as he and the others, using Cyberdramon as a barrier against the worst of the wind made their way over to Takato. Ryo extended his hand to Takato and Guilmon. "Come on, we've got to find some shelter until this passes!"

"But…Lumemon! Guys! He took off! He's acting really weird for some reason!"

"I don't think we've known him long enough to guess at what qualifies as 'acting weird' with him…"

"Terriermon!" scolded Henry as he held Noriko close to him. The girl was presently pressing against him tightly and hadn't heard the majority of the conversation, so Henry put forth the question that he knew she would have asked had she overheard. "What do you mean Lumemon left?"

"He's just…gone! His appearance changed all of a sudden and then he knocked me into Guilmon! I don't know, but it looked like he didn't want to be near me! We've got to find…him."

Takato's words trailed off as an energy sphere passed over him and his friends, cutting off the harsh wind and brushing off the sand that pelted them. Looking around, Takato's eyes fell upon the rather disheveled form of Kuzuhamon as she approached them.

"I'm afraid that there's not much that we can do about that at the moment," she told them, brushing sand off of her armor and out of her black hair. "This storm is most unnatural, and it appears to be bypassing the defenses set up around this village."

Cyberdramon growled and nodded.

"There's a massive dimensional warp crossing this part of the digital world. It's playing havoc with the data in this area."

Ryo and the others looked up at the cybernetic dragon, taken off guard by his words.

"How do you know…?" Ryo paused and shook his head, silently berating himself for even deigning to ask such a question. "Wait. Let me guess. Milleniummon's influence, right?"

Cyberdramon's answering growl was all the response that he was ever going to need.

"Well that's just great," grumbled Terriermon. "But what are we going to do about the others? And the Chuchidarumon for that matter? I don't know about you but this storm looks pretty nasty, and if it's bad enough to break through the village's defenses…"

"What about Lumemon?" asked Noriko, her eyes looking frantically around her. "I can't 'see' him anymore! What's going on?!"

"Oh, Lumemon has decided to fly off into the wild blue yonder…"

_"Terriermon!"_

"Sorry…"

A blast of wind struck Kuzuhamon's force bubble, making it shudder and ripple from the strain, causing Kuzuhamon to tens up from the unexpected strength behind it. It was a subtle reminder that although she was a Mega, unlike her normal counterparts as well as Sakuyamon, Kuzuhamon was not particularly powerful.

_Not good at all,_ thought Henry, gritting his teeth together. Noriko was their best shot at finding Lumemon now that he had taken off, and with things the way that they were they didn't dare try and go after him until the storm had abated.

"Wha…?" Henry felt Noriko push away from him, her eyes going wide with fear. "Lumemon…he's _what?!_ He's gone?! We've got to go after him!"

"We _can't_ right now," said Henry regretfully, but firmly. "We've got to take care of ourselves first, and in this storm we're only going to end up getting lost and most likely separated trying to find him! As a digimon he'll be fine, but we have to see to ourselves first and try to come up with a plan!"

"But…those sand things are out there!"

_This isn't getting any easier,_ thought Henry bitterly. Before he could say or do anything else however another shockwave slammed home, and this time Kuzuhamon's bubble was disrupted, quickly shattering under the force of the wind and everyone stumbled as they were struck anew.

"Awww… _nuts!"_ exclaimed Takato, thrusting his white undershirt over his mouth once again. "Aw man, this isn't getting us anywhere! We need to hold this storm off and get our bearings! Guilmon! Are you up for some digi-modifying action?"

"Anything's better than eating sand," wheezed Guilmon.

"All right," replied Takato, pulling out his cards from his pants pocket. Now let's see…I think I've got a Taomon card in here somewhe…Ah!" Takato let loose a cry as a sharp blast hit him full force, nearly knocking him down and sending his cards scattering into the air where they quickly disappeared. Takato fruitlessly chased after them, ignoring the cries of his friends as they called for him to not separate from them. All that was on his mind at that moment were the cards; cards that were their best chance of getting out of this mess in one piece…

_"Kahuna Waves! Puh!"_

_Huh?_

Takato blinked in surprise as the world around him suddenly became a lot calmer, not to mention _pink_. A reflective heart bubble descended upon him and lifted him up off of the ground, joining him with his friends.

"Wha…?" Turning, Takato fixed his friends with a curious gaze. "Did someone just…?"

"It wasn't one of us," replied Henry, and in emphasis behind him Ryo pointed ahead of them.

"Look!"

A lone, pink heart floated over to their protection and soon joined with theirs, depositing the two figures of Kenta Kitogawa and his partner MarineAngemon. Kenta leaned forward and exhaled heavily.

"Man. Talk about a close one. I told you before Takato. See what happens when I'm not around? You guys always get into trouble."

"Gee, Kenta," chided Terriermon. "This kind of thing happens even when you're around…"

"Terriermon…" groaned Henry.

"What? Momentai!"

"We've got to get a move on," said Kenta, turning to MarineAngemon. "We've got to see if any of the others are around and get into shelter quickly. The village elder is getting the Chuchidarumon into their homes…"

"Pretty sure they don't need to be told to do that in this storm."

Kenta ignored the long eared digimon's antics and nodded at MarineAngemon, who in turn nodded back. As though by some unspoken command, the heart bubble began moving and a strained look appeared on MarineAngemon's face .The winds buffeted the bubble but it remained stable and on course.

"We can't really see a thing in this," said Takato, raising his goggles and looking around, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to get a better view of their surroundings. "And I lost my cards too…"

"We've got cards too," said Ryo. "But I can't think of any card that I have that would change things for us."

"Well," said Terriermon. "This is a lot different from fighting your average digimon. I mean, how do you fight digital nature?"

"That's funny," said Henry. "Aren't some of your bigger cousins capable of doing just that?"

"Do you see any of them around here?"

Henry scowled and turned towards Noriko, who was presently holding herself and looking greatly concerned. Reaching out, Henry placed one hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Don't worry. As soon as this storm quiets down enough, we'll try to find your partner."

"Okay…" Noriko replied, though the look on her face spoke of little confidence in the matter. From over where he stood Takato saw this and his expression softened. Looking out towards the sand filled village around them, Takato felt a whirl of confusion sweep through his mind.

_Why…why would Lumemon just take off like that?_

Only the howl of the sand storm spoke in response to his silent question.

* * *

"Ah, man," groaned Kazu as he staggered through the storm, holding his shirt over his mouth and nose to block out the sand. "Guardromon! Are you sure that we're going the right way?"

"Indubitably, Kazu," replied the massive, rust colored digimon as he marched forward. "My internal sensors are functioning in tandem with the map that I made of the village. This area matches the layout of the center of the village. We should be coming up on our 'rest area' soon."

"I sure hope that you're right," grumbled Kazu. "I'm getting sand in my shorts and that's not doing a whole lot of good for me right no-ahhh!"

"Kazu!" exclaimed Guardromon in surprise as the boy was suddenly blown to the side by a sharp wind. Kazu tried to call out to his partner but the storm stole the air from him that was desperately needed to form words, not to mention the fact that he was tumbling end over end in midair. His eyes bulged in their sockets as he saw that he was flying straight towards a rather hard looking wall belonging to a hut. Before he could so much as curse about his rotten luck a group of yellow ribbons surged through the air and snagged him before he could strike the hut, bringing him to an abrupt halt and dumping him unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Nice one," said Ayaka as she and Crusadermon appeared. Ayaka was holding tightly onto her partner as she looked Kazu over. "Are you okay?"

"You mean besides being tossed around like a ragdoll by mother nature and digimon? Yeah, I'm fine."

"Is Kenta with you?"

"Last I checked he was keeping an eye on things in the center of town with MarineAngemon. Which is where we should be right now…"

"We're working on that," said Ayaka. "Crusadermon. Can you keep a ribbon on Kazu so he doesn't get lost?"

"Of course," replied the Royal Knight as she extended one of her ribbons like a snake and wrapped it around Kazu's waist, securing it around him tightly. "Is your partner around?"

"Right here!" came the voice of Guardromon as he sloshed through a sand dune. "I don't think we're going to be able to make it to our home base. We're very close to shelter. We should take refuge in one of the huts before this storm gets any worse."

"I have to agree with the tin can," chimed in Crusadermon. "This is getting very bad, and I cannot vouch for our continued safety under these conditions. We should have stayed with Miki and Rika at the hut…"

"But Kenta's out here somewhere!" exclaimed Ayaka loudly before suddenly coughing. Quickly wrapping her arms around the girl, Crusadermon brought her remaining ribbons about to act as a makeshift shelter. It wasn't much, but until they found a safe place to stay there wasn't much that they could do.

"Hate to burst your bubble," said Kazu, getting to his feet, "but this isn't the best time to be taking off to look for your boyfriend. I'm pretty sure that Kenta's got MarineAngemon with him, so that means he's safer than anyone else. That little guy may not look like much, and neither does Kenta, but those two are tougher than you give them credit for."

_I give them_ plenty _of credit!_ grated Ayaka angrily, remembering Kenta's battle against DinoRexmon and Argus, but she bit down on her response. As much as she hated to admit it, Kazu was right. The idea didn't sit well with her as she didn't like the idea of leaving someone out in this storm, but she wouldn't be doing anyone any favors by stumbling around blindly trying to find missing lambs.

"A-All right," Ayaka choked, fighting back tears and feeling as though she were giving up. "Let's see if we can go back the way that we came…"

"There's no time for that!" exclaimed Kazu, his words nearly drowned out as a gust blew over them, nearly drowning them all in a wave of sand. "We've got to find shelter _now!"_

"There's the hut that you nearly crashed into," said Guardromon. "That's as good a place as any right now."

"Got it," said Kazu, turning towards the building. "Now all we need is a door…"

In response Crusadermon lashed out with her ribbons and stabbed them into the wall of the hut. With a quick, upward slice, the ribbons carved quick, surgical slashes and she quickly tore a neat chunk out large enough to encompass even Guardromon's size, surprising the three Chuchidarumon who cowered within. Ayaka groaned in exasperation at her partner.

"Crusadermon…"

"Nag her about her lack of tact later," called Kazu as he rushed forward. "Let's get moving! Sorry about this everyone. Crusadermon has no sense of politeness…"

Picking up her partner, Crusadermon dashed forward, followed quickly by Guardromon. Once everyone was inside, Crusadermon used her ribbons to pull the chunk that she ripped out of the hut neatly back into place while the Chuchidarumon packed the scars down with mud, using it as cement. Standing back everyone waited to see what would become of their efforts. The repairs held and Ayaka let go of the breath that she didn't know she had been holding.

"So…what happens now?" she asked.

"Now…I guess we wait," replied Kazu.

* * *

Surrounded by the glow of data, Grani peered out into the desert around him, extending his senses through the network of defenses that lay imbedded within the village that had since become the abode for his 'body' and his friends. The sand storm was problematic as far as his standard visual capabilities were concerned, but his programming made it so that it was little more than a minor inconvenience. As he watched, he saw the Tamers and digimon racing in every direction, trying to find shelter from the storm. High above the village he saw Lumemon flying away at a rapid pace. Grani frowned at this.

_Strange. Why is he leaving? And furthermore, what is happening to him? There appears to be some kind of instability in his data structure. I can't tell what it is from this distance, but his signature is different from what it used to be. It's as though there's a second, underlying pattern beneath his own…perhaps…separating?_

Grani's frown deepened. Unlike the others, he had been aware from the beginning about the dual nature of Lumemon if only due to the fact that he had been a part of the digimon when they were merged with Noriko. A strange existence, but not one that was wholly unfamiliar with him even though the other two existences that he had briefly shared a body with were different from Takato and Guilmon.

_Could this instability be the reason why he's leaving? Could he have become a danger to the others? No, I don't detect anything of that nature in my scans…although there's the possibility that this strange storm is causing damage to my sensors._ Grani groaned audibly as he once again tried to reactivate the defenses. _This is no good. The village defenses have collapsed under the pressure. I'll be able to reactivate them once the storm abates, but until then we're vulnerable._

Turning his gaze to the edge of the village, Grani was relieved to see that the Sand Liches that had parked themselves on the borders were being torn asunder by the storm. In spite of all of their efforts to enter the village, their bodies kept disintegrating as the wind lashed at them, forcing many of the more intelligent ones to dig into the desert and hibernate.

_Better keep an eye on him,_ thought Grani as he turned his attention to rewriting areas of code so that they would not be completely helpless in this situation.


	158. 157: Plight of Angels

Lumemon pushed his black wings as hard as he could, straining them against the relentless force of the wind that tore at him, threatening to send him literally flying out of control and towards a path of deletion. He refused to accept this fate however, as another force far greater than anything that the nature of the digital world could throw at him, pressed against his sanity. He didn't need to see his hand change into a claw to motivate him to get as far away as he possibly could from the source of his distress.

_A flash of yellow goggles. Startled, crimson eyes…_

" _I'd rather keep some distance between myself and the Tamers right now. Takato in particular. I…seem to be experiencing some problems whenever he's near me."_

" _That's because you're imperfect."_

_"I can't protect you. I can't protect_ anyone!"

_A partner digimon's life is defined by the human that they protect,_ thought Lumemon, blinking back tears, _and I…who_ am _I partnered to?! Takato birthed me…a part of me anyway and Noriko made me whole. But now I'm being torn apart because of those two! My mind wants to protect Noriko at any cost, but my heart,_ Raising his black, reptilian hand to his chest, Lumemon squeezed his black robe in between his _claws, cries for Takato._

Clamping his eyes shut against the storm, as well as to blot out his tears, Lumemon forced away the sounds of a small boy crying in his mind. It was the voice of the part of Takato that had separated from him. The one that Noriko had affectionately named 'Taka-chan', and desired to return to Takato Matsuki and take the place that he had been meant to fill.

_"I want to go home…"_

Those words, the ones that BlackGuilmon had spoken to Noriko in what seemed like an eternity ago, rang through his mind. They tore at his digital heart, and in response he pushed his wings even harder as though by moving faster he could escape his thoughts as well; striving for that whiteness that would blanket his mind and blind him to the reality of his existence and the troubles that pursued him. To forget…

_…To forget Noriko. To forget Takato. I don't know who I can protect anymore, and if I don't know…I can't save them. My existence, my reason for being is…meaningless…_

_"Now, now,"_ came a voice from the sand filled wind. _"Who's to say that your existence is meaningless? Who says that you have to be a partner to defend someone?"_

"Wha…?" Lumemon blinked in surprise and suddenly ground to a halt in midair. "Who's the-?"

Lumemon didn't get a chance to finish his question as a fist sized pebble rocketed forth from the storm and smashed directly into Lumemon's forehead, silencing both the voice and his own thoughts. His wings gave out a second later, and the storm was quick to take hold of him, blasting him away and into the depths of the desert.

* * *

_"Digi-Modify! Candlemon activate!"_

"I don't think this is funny," grumbled Terriermon as a ball of flame appeared on top of the rabbit-dog digimon's horn, illuminating the darkened hut.

"Sorry Terriermon," apologized Henry after handing the card back to Suzie. Thanking the young Tamer for the use of the card he stepped forward and surveyed their surroundings.

"Where is everyone?" asked Takato, joining Henry's side with Guilmon snuffling around behind him. "Shouldn't there be a Chuchidarumon living here?"

"I don't know Takato," said Henry. "But they did allow us the use of three of their huts near Grani since they aren't big enough to house our entire group. So far we've only explored two of them. We were heading in the direction of the main camp area, so maybe we got lucky."

"Or maybe the Chuchidarumon that live here got caught in the storm and ducked in somewhere else," pointed out Kuzuhamon shutting the door behind them and making sure that it was secure.

"That's probably closer to it," spoke up Ryo, carefully making his way around a table. "We just about got lost out there. We would need to be pretty lucky to stumble on one of those huts while moving blindly."

Cyberdramon growled slightly and Terriermon chuckled.

"This from the guy who says he defeated a digital equivalent to a dark god and has a partner who happens to be pretty good at tracking, that's pretty funny. And I should point out that we also have Guilmon with us, and his nose _always_ knows."

Ryo laughed.

"I'll give you that. Plus we also have Takato for our good luck charm."

"You mean _bad_ luck, don't you?"

"Hey!" exclaimed Takato angrily while Henry rolled his eyes at his partner.

"Terriermon…"

"Survey says 'momentai', Henry. I thought we discussed this already."

Noriko, who was presently fumbling around to keep her footing, kept her eyes trained on the floor.

"What do you mean by 'good luck charm?'" she asked, stepping carefully over a pot.

"Takato just has the habit of pulling off the impossible sometimes," grinned the Legendary Tamer. In response to the compliment, Takato fidgeted uncomfortably and accidently bumped into a nearby stand, knocking a small, ceramic pot to the ground where it shattered with a loud crash.

"…Which can be both a blessing and a curse," muttered Terriermon in the quiet of the shadow-filled room.

"Terriermon…"

"Do we need to go over this again?"

Henry sighed and pulled out a stool from the table and sat down in it. The sound of the wind howling outside filled the air even through the thick walls of the hut. Although it was muffled, the knowledge of its existence made everyone more than a little uneasy as they all sat down. Noriko placed herself next to Henry, massaging her hands together anxiously

"So," said Noriko, breaking the wind-filled silence, "what do we do now?"

"There's not much that we can do," Henry replied, his voice low and pensive. "For now, all we can do is wait until this storm passes."

From next to Takato, Guilmon's ears drooped.

"But what if it doesn't?" the dinosaur asked. "There's something funny about it. It feels weird. _Smells_ weird."

"I've got to agree with Guilmon on this one," chimed in Terriermon as the flame continued to flicker on top of his head. "This storm is creepy. Well, creepier than your normal storm anyway. What could Lumemon have been thinking taking off in this?"

"Terriermon…" began Henry warningly and as though his voice had been a signal Terriermon looked over at Noriko's forlorn face. The girl almost seemed to shrink within herself at the mention of her absent partner.

"Oops. Sorry."

Forcing a smile onto his face, Takato looked reassuringly at Noriko.

"Don't worry. As soon as things settle down we'll go looking for your partner. I'm pretty sure he'll be safe, and with everything that's going on I don't think he's going to be going very far either. We'll find him."

Noriko looked at Takato for a moment before turning away. Takato's face fell at the desolate expression on her face.

_Oh great. Knowing me I probably made things even worse for her._

Reflecting on recent events, Takato felt that he was being rather foolish with his optimism in regards to the angelic digimon. Strange things had already been in the process of happening to him before he flew off. Takato could only imagine what was happening to him now. He didn't know much about Lumemon; heck, he hardly knew him at all outside of his name and where he came from. The factors that resulted in his 'birth' were unique and as a result anything could be happening to him. His appearance in particular caught his attention…

_He kind of looked like he was turning into BlackGuilmon or something,_ thought Takato, and he unconsciously shuddered at the thought. The idea of seeing his best friend's dark counterpart once more had a rather unappealing taste to it. Still, it did provide something to think about.

_Is that why he took off the way he did?_ Takato mused. _Because he didn't want to turn into BlackGuilmon in front of me? Did he think he was becoming a danger to everyone? Is that why he said that he couldn't protect me or anyone?_

Takato had to admit that the whole thing was weird. _Startling_ was actually a better word for what happened, but that lay mainly in Lumemon's sudden transformation. His last words to him, cryptic as they were, he found odd. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out what he had meant by them.

_Well, seeing as how we're in a safe place we should probably talk about him now. I should tell them about what happened._

"Pih?"

"UWAAAH!" Startled by the sound of MarineAngemon's voice, Takato nearly flung himself out of his chair. The pink fairy inclined his head at the goggle-wearing Tamer with a curious expression.

"Pihpihpih?" MarineAngemon said questioningly.

"No, he's always like that," said Kenta, approaching his partner and pulling him into a hug. "He doesn't mean anything by it."

Terriermon couldn't help but giggle and look at Takato in a mocking manner.

"Jeez, Takatomon. The D-Reaper doesn't make you flinch, but MarineAngemon makes you cry out in terror. Do you still wet the bed or something?"

"He did mention something about it once a while ago when he told me and Kazu about a dream he had involving digimon," mentioned Kenta, eliciting a _deep_ blush of embarrassment from Takato.

"Wha…? I did _not_ wet the bed! I told you! My hand was numb from the rain! That dream was real! I saw…" Takato stopped short of spilling the details about how he had seen Rika and Renamon for the first time in that long ago dream of his and how _real_ it had seemed then. Shaking his head, Takato forcefully decided to change the subject. "…Forget about it. I think we need to talk about…"

"No," interrupted Terriermon casually. "Tell us about what you saw. C'mon. What was in this dream of yours that was so real? It'll help the night go by faster. C'mon!" Terriermon winked at the boy and wagged a finger at him. "Time's a'wastin'!"

"Terriermon…"

"No!" said Takato firmly. "I think that we need to talk about Lumemon. Listen guys. We didn't get much of a chance to talk about it while we were out in that storm, but something weird was happening to him…"

"It's a problem of his," put in Kuzuhamon. At this everyone's eyes focused on the purple garbed shaman priestess. Noriko's no less than anyone else's as she instantly became attentive.

"What do you mean?" Noriko whispered. Kuzuhamon looked over at Takato.

"What was happening to him before he left?" the shaman asked. Scratching his cheek, Takato wracked his memory for what he had seen.

"He was…his robe and wings were changing color. And his eyes looked a little like Guilmon's."

"You know something, don't you?" asked Ryo pointedly. Kuzuhamon nodded.

"Yes. He had spoken to me of this just before you arrived. It has to do with the way he had been created, and his own connection with you," Kuzuhamon turned towards the goggle-wearing leader of the Tamers, "Takato Matsuki."

"Me?" asked Takato, pointing at himself.

"Him?" asked Noriko.

"Is there anyone else named 'Takato Matsuki?'" asked Terriermon, rolling his eyes.

"Terriermon…"

"Why would Takato have anything to do with this?" asked Noriko, ignoring the long eared digimon's antics. "I…I know that part of him kind of came from him, but…"

"That is what's behind it actually," replied Kuzuhamon. "As you know, he came from two separate digimon originally. Two digimon that had two different agendas and reasons for existing. In addition to that, the digimon known as 'BlackGuilmon' came from Takato, and if I'm not mistaken like calls like. Isn't that the basis behind the digivices? In this case, it's a bit similar. A person's soul will always call to that part of them that was separated or lost, and the fragment will always be seeking it. This resulted in an imperfect evolution for Lumemon, and it's causing chaos within his digital patterns. I don't know much about BlackGuilmon, but I suspect that the instability is causing his patterns to emerge over that of the normally dominant data of Lucemon."

"Is there anything that we can do to help him?" asked Takato. Kuzuhamon shrugged.

"I don't have sufficient knowledge or ability to know how to even approach this problem. No digimon that I've ever met, even DNA evolved ones, have ever experienced such an occurrence." Lifting her gloved hand, Kuzuhamon looked at the silver crucifix that she held. "I can only guess at how this was even allowed in the first place. All I can say is that it's something that he's going to have to work out for himself, or die trying."

_"Dying?"_ asked Noriko, her voice choking bitterly. "That's what's going to happen to him though, right? He's going to die and we're…"

"That's not what I said…"

"…And _we're just going to sit here?!"_ exclaimed Noriko, ignoring the shaman's words. "I knew it! None of you are going to help him because of what he did to you!"

"Hang on," said Takato. "We're not going to abandon Lumemon or anything. We're going to…"

"Lucemon was the one who hurt you and your partner!" cut in Noriko, blinking back tears that now threatened to spill past her eyes. "I've seen that part of you! The part of you that…that…that _other_ partner of yours became! Don't you _dare_ tell me that…"

"Noriko."

Henry placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, and although his touch was gentle, the feeling of a barely repressed tremor racing through his fingers caught her attention. Blinking, Noriko's words stumbled and ground to a halt. Looking over her shoulder she caught sight of the fury that blazed behind his gray eyes. It was only then that she noticed the mistake that she had made. In her moment of anger and panic she had blasted Takato for things that even she knew herself that he wasn't the sort of person to do. Although she had been in Takato's class once when she was younger, she had seen that he had been a good kid, and the Taka-chan that she encountered, despite being angry and sad, hadn't been very different. His rescue of her from the clutches of GranDracmon and later sacrificing himself to merge with Lucemon, the digimon who had destroyed the original Guilmon and even him as well, was a perfect example of Takato's inner nature. Even the worst part of him refused to ignore those around him when they were in trouble.

Noriko's lower lip trembled and something akin to a squeak escaped her mouth. Looking down at her lap, Noriko allowed her bangs to hide her eyes.

"I'm sorry…" was all she said. Hitching a breath Noriko repeated it. "…I'm sorry…"

Henry sighed mentally, giving Noriko's shoulder a comforting squeeze before glancing over at Takato. His friend had an expression on his face that looked as though he had just been slapped.

_Can't say that I really blame him. Noriko said a lot of harsh things, and BlackGuilmon is probably still a tender issue with him. I'm going to have to keep an eye on him. It's bad enough that Noriko is already worked up about Lumemon, but Takato…who knows what he might do to get her to feel better. He's not the kind of person to leave things alone when they hit close to home. No…_ especially _when they hit close to home. He'd end up trying to do something about it, even if it's not a good idea._

Outside the wind continued to howl.

* * *

"Everyone hang tight!" shouted Beelzemon, trying to be heard over the roar of the storm that had suddenly and inexplicably surrounded them. "I'll get us out of this!"

Jeri clung tightly to Ai and Mako as Beelzemon forced himself to keep moving while holding onto the three. The two children coughed, trying desperately to breathe but in the sand filled air such an act was becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish. The powerful gusts of wind just sapped the air of much needed oxygen, and with the storm obscuring their vision they were having a difficult time trying to locate a hut that they could hide out in.

_This isn't good,_ thought Beelzemon, closing two of his eyes tightly while widening his middle, third one. _There's something going on with this storm that's messing around with my third eye. I can't see straight. Heck, I can barely even see what's around me. I…_

A loud roar exploded onto the air and suddenly Beelzemon found himself blasted backwards, eliciting cries from his charges as he was forced to fly through the air. Black wings ripped their way out of his back as the Demon Lord forced a Mode change in an attempt to ride out the winds currents. Quickly executing a back flip in midair, Beelzemon released his wings, only to be buffered by an even more savage gust. Beelzemon winced as the sand particles tore into his wings, and he was swiftly thrown to the ground. Crashing onto his back, Beelzemon rolled over so that Jeri and his partners lay beneath him, shielding them from the worst of the storm.

"Beelzemon!" cried out Jeri.

"Just…stay down," rasped the Demon Lord as his arms trembled from the storm's onslaught. "I swear, I'm going to get you…someplace safe even if it kills me."

"I-Impmon…" gasped Ai. "I…I…"

"We believe in you, Impmon!" shouted Mako, only to quickly regret it as he immediately started coughing from the strain that it put on his lungs.

_It's so hard to breathe out here,_ thought Jeri, holding onto Ai and Mako all the more tightly. _And Beelzemon…he can't keep this up for much longer. There's got to be something that we can do…_

The ground shook beneath them all of a sudden, startling them and causing the younger Tamers to cry out fearfully. Cursing Beelzemon scooped all three of them back up into his hands and put as much power as he could into his third eye, straining it to its limits to find a place that they could use for shelter.

_Damn it! You've got to be kidding! We're in a freakin' village! The huts might as well be right next to each other, so why can't we_ find one?!

Beelzemon's center eye twitched as it caught sight of some movement from within the depths of the sand storm. The ground shook once more as a massive shadow came into view and a loud shriek filled the air. Now Beelzemon could make out a form. It was long and serpentine, but at the same time it had a quadruped appearance with wings affixed to its back, making it resemble a dragon. The figure loomed over them now and a low hiss could be heard over the storm. It penetrated the air and Beelzemon felt a shiver run its way through his spine. Something about that hiss reminded him frighteningly of when he had faced Megidramon. It contained an unstoppable hunger that refused to be placated.

For an instant, the sand parted and a dragonic creature with black and red scales and a steel plate bolted onto its face appeared. It made a low guttural growl and it turned its head downwards. In spite of the fact that the plate completely covered its face, obscuring its vision, Beelzemon had the distinct feeling that it saw them and was now regarding them in the same manner that a predator did cornered prey.

"Aw, nuts," was all Beelzemon had time to say before the creature lunged forward with a victorious roar.


	159. 158: Shadows of X

"Hey," said Kazu to Ayaka as they sat in the hut, waiting for the storm to end. "Can I ask you something?"

The coppery haired, pigtailed girl turned an annoyed look onto the visor-wearing Tamer before groaning.

"What is it?"

"Why'd you kiss Kenta?"

Ayaka looked at Kazu with a confused expression.

"What?"

"Do I have to spell it out for ya? Sheesh. You girls sometimes…"

"Shut… _up!"_ fumed Ayaka, ignoring the looks that the two of them were getting from the Chuchidarumon and their partners. "I heard what you said. Why's it matter to you anyway what I did? Are you jealous or something?"

Kazu scratched the side of his head in discomfort.

"Nah. I don't see the appeal with someone who's got a horse's face like yours…"

"You _really_ know how to woo a girl, don't you?"

"Hey! I'm just curious, that's all. Besides, it's better than just sitting here and listening to the wind, or having the Chuchidarumon stare at us. They have that tendency and I have to say it's pretty creepy."

"We're sorry," intoned the trio of Chuchidarumon from the table that they sat. In spite of their apologies they continued to stare at the two humans with their large, dark colored, button-like eyes. Staring back, both Ayaka and Kazu repressed a shiver.

"I can hardly argue with you on that," grumbled Ayaka.

"Glad that we agree on something for once," nodded Kazu. "So spill. Why did you kiss Kenta?"

"How did you even _hear_ about that? Did Kenta say something about it? He was probably bragging I'll bet…"

"Uh…actually it was Chumley…I mean, _Takato_ , who spilled the beans to me about it."

"He told _Takato?!_ Just what the heck is he _thinking?"_

"Hey! Take it easy! I'm pretty sure he was just depressing or something. Whenever one of us has something going on we usually went to one of our closest buds, like Takato, and chew things out. That's how we did it before we became Tamers and that's what we've been doing ever since. Actually it was an accident that Takato told me about it. He was supposed to keep it a secret, and he lets his mouth get away from him when he's put under a lot of pressure…"

Ayaka scowled angrily.

"Either way, Kenta blabbed." Ayaka growled and clenched one hand into a tight, vein popping fist that made Kazu regard her anxiously. "I can't believe him…"

_Good luck, Chumley,_ thought Kazu, shifting nervously. _You really know how to pick them…_

"Okay, but you still haven't told me what it is you see in him."

"Rrrrgh! Why is _everyone_ suddenly so interested in _knowing_ that!" exclaimed Ayaka, startling the Chuchidarumon and drawing Crusadermon's attention.

"Well, you've gotta admit, Kenta is the last person that I'd expect to pick up a girlfriend before he even reaches high school."

"That's because he's so goofy looking," huffed Ayaka, draping one arm over a knee. "And he's not exactly the most confident person in the world either. He whines a lot, and even when he's not he still sounds like it. And then there's the fact that he hangs out with _you_ , which is positively a downside…"

"Great. Thanks for that," grumbled Kazu, but Ayaka paid no attention to him.

"He's just…different I guess. I don't know. I didn't think much of him even as a Tamer until we got stuck together investigating Dracmon and got involved in the fight at Miki's house. The way he was after that bird digimon was destroyed, and even a little bit before then…it was as if I saw a different side to him. And then, when I found Crusadermon at my house, she…she…um…" Ayaka glanced up at her partner, who presently was pretending not to be paying attention to the conversation. "…A-Anyway, Kenta stood up to her even though he didn't have MarineAngemon with him to help and I got thrown into him. I was upset, and caught up in the moment and…" Ayaka brought her arms up around herself and hugged herself tightly. Looking away she blushed. "…I just wanted to be comforted. I wanted to feel safe and close to someone."

Kazu sat there in awe at Ayaka's words.

"Ayaka…"

"So there you have it," said Ayaka in a disgruntled fashion, though the slight choking of her voice told the boy a different story. "Satisfied?"

Kazu opened his mouth to say something, found that he couldn't and then looked away, scratching the back of his head in annoyance.

"Man," he sighed. "I really don't understand girls."

"Let's keep it that way," huffed Ayaka. "I'd rather that you _didn't_ hang out with girls, let alone me. Got it?"

"You're crazier than a fruit bowl, Ayaka."

"Ca-raaazier than a fruit bowl!" boomed Guardromon from his spot next to his Tamer, imitating the boy. Kazu gave his partner an annoyed look.

"C'mon! What do I keep telling you about getting your own lines? I have those trademarked!"

"Really?" asked Guardromon, perplexed. "I was certain that I had reviewed Japan's laws regarding copyright when reviewing Guilmon Bread…"

"I was being sarcastic you lug nut!"

Crusadermon watched the two bicker while her own partner massaged her forehead. She remembered that day that they met outside of her house, and how she had nearly throttled Ayaka in her anger at having been turned into another Tamed digimon. How that day felt like an eternity ago now, and much to her surprise it was something that she felt ashamed for having done. Although she was new to the whole partner idea and still maintained her pride as a Royal Knight, Crusadermon had come to appreciate the bond that she now had with Ayaka. For the strangest reason she felt as though the human… _completed_ her somehow.

_Ironic that it was because of that earlier disgust that Ayaka has formed an attachment with that other human. I wonder what things would be like if I hadn't been so opposed to being tamed from the beginning. Would they have bonded in the way they did, or would they remain separate?_

No answers came to Crusadermon, and in the end she simply shrugged it off. On matters pertaining to the human heart and emotions involving romance, Crusadermon was not the most insightful at even though she remained more aware of them then most digimon. If anything, Crusadermon reasoned, this would be the perfect time to study the emotion in greater depth. It would perhaps an even greater understanding as to how it made humans so much stronger than they were.

As Crusadermon continued to muse upon her recent adventures, she frowned beneath her helm, wondering at the strange tremor that she felt reverberating through the ground. It was almost as though something _large_ was stomping through the village. Pondering on its oddity, the Royal Knight's eyes were drawn to a section of the hut. She noticed a strange _rippling_ making its way through the wall, and for an instant, Crusadermon could have sworn that she saw a green, grid-like structure behind the mud.

"Ah!" Crusadermon started, pushing away from the wall that she was leaning on to get a better look at the grid, but it disappeared quickly, receding back into the mud. Seeing her agitation, Ayaka turned towards her partner with a raised eyebrow.

"Is everything all right, Crusadermon?"

"I…don't know," she breathed in response. "Something is… _odd."_

_"That's one way to put it,"_ came a cool, mechanical voice from one of the Chuchidarumon. Turning in surprise, Crusadermon and Ayaka focused on the Chuchidarumon family to see a strange, red and blue glow surrounding them and emanating from their eyes.

"Okay," said Kazu, taking note of the occurrence. "That's creepy."

_"My apologies,"_ said all three Chuchidarumon at once. _"This is Grani. I am communicating to you via the Chuchidarumon, as they were created by this village to act as caretakers. I have tried to get in touch with the other Tamers, but so far you are the only one that I have been able to reach. I believe that this has something to do with a strange distortion effect being created by some digimon who have entered the village…"_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," interrupted Kazu. "Hold up! What's going on here? You're Grani? And you're talking to us through the Chuchidarumon?"

"He _just_ said that to us, Kazu!" grated Ayaka angrily. "Stop interrupting! This sounds serious!"

_"Quite serious I'm afraid. I haven't been able to get the village's defenses to activate due to the storm, and as a result some digimon have entered the area. They have distortion capabilities that are breaking down the digital mainframe of this village and…"_

"Distortion abilities?" Crusadermon cocked her head to one side.

_"Yes. I have intercepted Jeri Katou's analysis of the digimon in question as she, Ai, Mako, and Beelzemon are on the scene. They are called_ DexDoruGreymon…"

Crusadermon felt her body go rigid at the name.

"No…" she whispered before repeating the word in a louder, almost frantic voice. _"No!"_

* * *

Orange colored flames leapt up as Beelzemon brought Leomon's sword to bear just as the dragon creature slammed home into him. Its jaws clamped downwards, skewering itself on the point of Beelzemon's blade, seemingly uncaring for the damage that it did to itself in its pursuit of the Demon Lord. Beelzemon howled in pain as its teeth sunk into his wrist, nearly biting off his hand as data from both his wrist and the dragon's now open wound sprayed into the air. His cry was quickly followed by ones from Jeri and his two partners.

_"Get them out of here!"_ exclaimed Beelzemon fiercely, throwing the trio away from him. Flames flickered around his free hand and he slammed it home against his attacker, but surprisingly the dragon did not so much as react to it, instead digging all the more deeply into his arm until Beelzemon felt his digital bones snap under the pressure. His mind went white and pain rushed on him in one, smooth motion and another yawl was ripped free from his mouth. The dragon relished in his pain, pushing backwards and forcing him down to his knees.

"Beelzemon!" shouted Jeri. Instinctively her hand brought out her digivice and activated the scanning function. Although she no longer had a partner to aid her in data analysis the digivice worked as fine as ever and rapidly displayed the stats that she was looking for.

DexDoruGreymon

Stage: Ultimate

Type: Virus

Special Attacks: Bloody Cave, Metal Meteor

"What are you still doing here?!" shouted Beelzemon, fighting through his pain in a desperate attempt to get Jeri's attention. "Get _out_ _of here!"_

"I can't just leave you!" Jeri shot back over the wind of the sand storm, rising to her feet in one sudden motion. It was then that she remembered that Impmon's partners were there with her, and virtually helpless to not only aid their partner but to protect themselves as well. Unused as they were to the hazards that came with taming they sat on the ground, paralyzed by the sight of Beelzemon's fight with the DexDoruGreymon. Another roar of pain tore free from Beelzemon as he pushed against the dragon, racking at its face with the claws of his free hand. In spite of his best efforts the dragon didn't take any notice of his attack and continued to press against the Demon Lord. It was a one-sided contest. In spite of Beelzemon's superior strength and level he had been caught badly off guard and was now off balance, the latter of which was not helped by DexDoruGreymon's obviously greater body weight.

_I can't lose here!_ Beelzemon's mind shouted at his body, blotting out the pain with all of his strength and throwing everything he had against the dragon's attack. _I'm not going to lose to some stupid Ultimate! Not here…not now…_

"Beelzemon!" came the cries of Ai and Mako as they finally snapped out of their paralysis and found their voices. "You can do it! Beat up that mean old dragon! Show him whose boss!"

_And_ especially _not in front of my partners!_

A new roar erupted from Beelzemon's lips and the orange flame that had summoned his sword quickly reformed around the arm trapped within DexDoruGreymon's mouth. Gritting his teeth Beelzemon actually _smirked_ as he stared the creature in its plate covered eyes.

_"Fist of…the BEAST KING!"_

The back of the DexDoruGreymon's head literally exploded as the roar of a lion filled the air. The creature didn't even have time to roar in pain, and instead jerked backwards from the force of the explosion, taking Beelzemon flying into the air with the motion, all but ripping his arm out of its socket in the process. Beelzemon tumbled through the air as the dragon's mouth disintegrated into shards of data particles, followed swiftly by the rest of its body, before the Demon Lord impacted the ground, jarring his body. A fresh wave of pain swept through him, but fortunately it was considerably more tolerable compared to what he had suffered scant seconds ago. The howl of the wind filled his ears now, and the soft beat of his digital core moved in time with it, almost lulling him to sleep. A part of him wished that he could continue laying there like this, feeling the pain dull and lessen, but the images of Ai, Mako, and Jeri refused to let him rest. Forcing himself to roll over, Beelzemon moved to support himself, only to nearly collapse as he put his body weight onto his injured arm. Hissing through his teeth, Beelzemon ignored the pain and got to his feet, one clawed hand holding onto his limp arm, which continued to clutch uselessly at Leomon's sword.

"Hey..." he called out listlessly. "…Jeri. Ai. Mako. You guys okay? Yell out if ya can hear me."

Nothing but the wind responded to him, and Beelzemon staggered forward, nearly collapsing once again as he felt a strange lightheadedness overtake him. He swayed on his feet for a second before he shook his head to clear the cobwebs and get his bearings. Closing his two, normal eyes and widening his demonic, third one Beelzemon focused his penetrating gaze onto the sand filled village.

_Still can't see much,_ Beelzemon grumbled. _I don't get it. There's something weird going on with this storm and it's messing up my ability to 'see' what's around me. If I can't find Jeri and my partners they could die. This storm is too dangerous to get caught out in…_

Once more the ground shook and Beelzemon's third eye was drawn to an ominous, not to mention familiar black shadow approaching him through the sand storm.

_You've gotta be_ kidding _me! There's_ more _?!_

A loud, hungry hiss echoed and a DexDoruGreymon lunged forward.

_"Darkness Claw!"_ shouted Beelzemon as he cut a swath of dark energy at the second dragon. This time the claws dealt far more significant damage, ripping clean through the armor plating on the creature's head and eliciting a cry of surprise from its owner, who veered away from Beelzemon.

_This one ain't as durable as its brother,_ thought Beelzemon with a grin. Fire materialized around his arm once more and within seconds he sent another _Fist of the Beast King_ hurtling at the DexDoruGreymon. The dragon deftly ducked underneath it and lunged forward once again…

…Only to be skewered through its skull by a razor sharp, yellow ribbon as it lanced out from the sand storm.

_What the…?_

"If you have time to stand there and gawk," came the condescending tone of Crusadermon as she appeared at Beelzemon's side, her other ribbons wrapped gently around Jeri, Ai, and Mako and holding them aloft, "then get moving! We don't have much time! We've got to get out of here and into shelter! Grani is trying to raise the shield again but until he can we've got to get the humans to safety! Now _move!"_

Beelzemon nodded and staggered forward. Rolling her eyes beneath her helm Crusadermon grabbing hold of the Demon Lord by his uninjured wrist and proceeded to drag him towards the hut where her partner sheltered in. As they moved another loud shriek filled the air, and Crusadermon cursed audibly and scanned the surrounding terrain for any other pursuers. For the time being, there were none to be seen, though with the storm obscuring her vision that meant little. Finally they came up upon the hut that she originated from and ripped out the door that she had carved into the wall earlier, quickly placing her charges within before dragging Beelzemon in after her. Even though it pained her to run from the possibility of a fight Crusadermon quickly closed up the hole and turned towards the glowing Chuchidarumon.

"Status!" she barked.

_"Presently a swarm of DexDoruGreymon is flying over the area, and are drawn to the collection of data here. I am attempting to dampen all digital signatures within this village, though I cannot say anything about its effectiveness until the swarm has passed."_

"Keep at it. Is there anything that I can do to help?"

_"Unfortunately no."_ The Chuchidarumon paused and tilted their heads to one side collectively. Crusadermon slowed her breathing and listened carefully. She could hear the shrieks and cries of the DexDoruGreymon as they flew over the village. A section of the ceiling warped above them and Crusadermon's breath caught. Unraveling one of her ribbons, she prepared to launch herself upwards at the first sign of danger, but after several moments passed the warp stabilized and disappeared. Crusadermon waited, feeling the pressure of the swarm of DexDoruGreymon above her. Although she would never be sure, she could have sworn that she heard the heavy beat of their many wings over the wind of the sand storm. After what felt like an eternity Grani finally spoke once more through the Chuchidarumon.

_"The swarm has passed. The dampening effect worked."_

Crusadermon let go a breath that she didn't know she had been holding and turned her attention to their huts newest arrivals. With the exception of Beelzemon they all looked none the worse for wear and were presently coughing and dusting themselves off.

"T-thank you," wheezed Jeri gratefully to Crusadermon.

"Are you all alright?" Crusadermon asked.

"I'm okay." Jeri turned to Ai and Mako and looked them over, a worried look on her face. "How about you two?"

"I'm fine," mumbled Ai while Mako nodded fiercely.

"I'm okay! I can take a lot more than that! Just ask Impmon!"

Jeri gave a strained smile and ran a hand through the two children's hair before looking over at Beelzemon. Her smile disappeared all at once as she saw the state that his arm was in.

"Beelzemon…"

"I'll be okay," gritted the former Demon Lord. Next to him Crusadermon scoffed.

"Don't try to act tough. Your fight with those DexDoruGreymon took a lot out of you. I know what it is that they're capable of. In spite of their level they're capable of dealing more damage to an adversary than you would think." Lashing out with her yellow ribbons Crusadermon wrapped Beelzemon's arm up and pulled them taught. "Hold still," was all the warning that the Royal Knight gave Beelzemon before giving a sharp tug. Beelzemon cried out in pain and surprise as his bones were immediately reset. Not even missing a beat, Crusadermon beckoned for the Chuchidarumon to come over to her.

"Grani? Are you still operating through them?"

_"For the time being, yes."_

"Good. Have them cover Beelzemon's injury with mud. They can harden it almost right away, correct? We can use it for a cast until his Overwrite Sequence repairs the damaged data."

While this was being done Kazu, who had been surprisingly silent for the entirety of the exchange since Crusadermon had told him that, under no uncertain terms was he and his partner to follow her outside, finally spoke up.

"All right. You want to explain to us what the heck is going on? What's the deal with this storm and the digimon that suddenly appeared?"

"I know nothing about the circumstances surrounding this storm," Crusadermon paused to glance at the Grani-controlled Chuchidarumon, who simply shook their head in unison at her unspoken question, "but concerning the DexDoruGreymon…"

"Yeah," panted Beelzemon, interrupting her. "How'd you know what they were called? I never saw them before, and Jeri only just analyzed them."

"Don't interrupt," said Crusadermon, narrowing her eyes beneath her helm. "Now…the DexDoruGreymon…they are my former master's 'final solution'. The key to completing his 'Project Arc' that was launched some months ago by your time."

"Project Arc?" asked Ayaka, furrowing her brow.

"Some time ago a cataclysm occurred in the digital plains prior to the attack by the D-Reaper entity on the digital world of the Southern Quadrant, and it affected nearly every level. Early speculations believed it to have been caused by a massive overload of data via overpopulation of the digital world. My master, Yggdrasil, is responsible for managing and processing information and unfortunately he was the most directly affected by the cataclysm. However, I and my former partner, Dynasmon, have found the problem to have triggered, perhaps even aggravating it, by a massive, system wide corruption of digital information. The event is called the 'Digital Hazard', and it occurred around the same time that you," Crusadermon looked pointedly at Kazu, "and your friends infiltrated the plain of the Sovereign Zhuqiaomon."

"Digital Hazard…" Kazu rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he thought back to that terrible day. "Man, the only time that I can think of is when Guilmon…" Kazu paused as he looked over at Jeri and Beelzemon, gauging their reaction. Between the two Jeri was attentively listening while Beelzemon looked away shamefully.

_Come to think of it, I think Henry did say something about how Guilmon had a Hazard sign on his chest. And there's always been some kind of talk about a 'Digital Hazard' in the card game but not enough to go on._

Seeing that Kazu understood what she was referring to, Crusadermon continued.

"As a result of that incident, Yggdrasil sought to purge the digital world of excess data, leaving only the major kingdoms intact as they would be able to manage the chaos that was to follow and then move the plains to a new digital world. To facilitate this he created the X-Virus to infect and delete unwanted and… _unnecessary_ digimon. In short…genocide."

"Wha…?" Jeri's mouth dropped open, and she was quickly followed by Ayaka, Kazu, and Beelzemon.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" exclaimed Beelzemon loudly. "You mean to tell me that…?"

"…That everything that has occurred, such as the emergence of the X-Antibody that exists within your body and Guilmon's, Dracmon's reason for entering the real world, and the appearance of other digimon wielding the X-Antibody, are all a result of the unleashing of the Digital Hazard within the digital world. The DexDoruGreymon are the final key that is designed to complete Yggdrasil's 'Project Arc', which is meant to wipe out all digital worlds and restart everything from scratch. Certain… _resistance_ _groups_ and the appearance of the X-Antibody have 'polluted' Yggdrasil's new world. As such, he desires to begin anew with a blank slate."

"There's got to be something that we can do!" shouted Kazu, reeling from this latest bombshell and the implications that it contained. "This is…this is _crazy!"_

"Looking back on my master's actions, you may be close to the truth. However, if the DexDoruGreymon are here, then the project is reaching its final stages. There is nothing that we can do to stop it. The digital world, and everything in it, is going to be destroyed."

Crusadermon paused and surveyed each of the humans and digimon around her, taking in their horrified expressions and feeling guilt rise up within her for her part in the implementation of Project Arc.

"I am sorry," was all Crusadermon could say in the silence that rang throughout the hut.


	160. 159: Stepping into the Shadows Maw: Part 1

"Guilmon, what's wrong?"

The question seemed rather redundant, even from Takato's point of view. His partner had gotten down into a low crouch, his pupils dilating, and growling dangerously as though he felt threatened by something. Takato and the others save for Noriko and Kuzuhamon were quite familiar with this habit of Guilmon's. At another time, Takato would have been relieved to see it manifest once again as it would serve as yet another reminder that the Guilmon he always knew had come back to him, however such was not the case now. Takato felt an extreme amount of apprehension following their entry into the empty hut, and the apprehension had only grown as time passed. He had never been one to be claustrophobic, and from the way Guilmon was acting Takato had plenty of reason to doubt that such a phobia was cause of his anxiety.

The wind howled around their tiny hut as Guilmon continued to growl dangerously.

"Whatever it is," said Terriermon, raising his ears, "there's a _lot_ of it."

Henry raised an eyebrow at his partner.

"You hear something, Terriermon?"

"Just a little. Mother Nature is being pretty loud, but I definitely hear something. Something's flying above us. A _lot_ of something's."

"And awful," growled Guilmon, finally speaking. "They feel worse than the Sand things that we fought earlier."

"He's right," said Kuzuhamon, gripping her hand tightly on her silver, vajra staff. "I sense an unquenchable hunger in the air. Far more than anything that the Sand Liches had."

"Can you tell us what they are?" asked Takato. Instinctively he looked up at the ceiling, and he swallowed nervously. All of a sudden a feeling of pressure bore down on him, as though there was something eyeing the village hungrily.

Kuzuhamon shook her head.

"No. I'm afraid that if I took a _look,_ I'd make us visible to whatever's out there."

"But the others are out there!" exclaimed Takato.

"And if they have any sense, they'll stay quiet and out of the way."

"Good luck getting that with Rika," deadpanned Terriermon. Hearing this, Takato's eyes widened and he nearly bolted for the door, only to be stopped by Kuzuhamon's strength as she threw an arm in front of him and forcefully pushed him backwards.

"Huh-wha…?" Takato sputtered in surprise, only to be silenced as Kuzuhamon raised one finger to her lips in a shushing manner.

"We cannot step out," she said. "Something is going on to the digital makeup of this village. I'm detecting a type of suppressing energy field engulfing the area. It's emanating from the center of the village where your Mega form's weapon is."

"Grani," mused Henry aloud. "He must be using a program stored here to mask us from whatever it is that's out there."

"That sounds about right," agreed Kuzuhamon, nodding her head. "At any rate, we might disrupt the suppressor field if we leave the confines of this hut and venture out into the open. We will cause a distortion in its energy, and it will be noticed."

Terriermon turned towards Takato.

"Momentai, Takatomon! Rika was conked out of it, remember? There's no way that she's going to be leaving anytime soon…"

"Uh…actually," spoke up Kenta nervously, "she woke up a short while after you guys left. She wasn't able to get up and leave, so she sent me to get the rest of you guys. She said that she had something important to tell everyone."

"…Leave it to Kenta to drop that news on us at the last minute," said Terriermon, his long ears drooping.

"Sorry," apologized the bespectacled wearing Tamer. "We tried to make it back there, but the storm was a little too much."

"What did she want to talk about? Did she say?" asked Takato.

"Only that it was important. She didn't say anything else."

"Momentai, Takatomon," said Terriermon cheerfully. "You're the one who has a connection with the ol' Queenie. You've gotta know whether or not Rika's in trouble, right? And it's not like everyone else is going to be dumb enough to wander around in this mess spoiling for a fight. Well, except maybe Impmon…"

"Terriermon…" warned Henry, while Kenta exchanged a confused look with MarineAngemon before looking at Takato.

"What does he mean by you having a connection with Rika?"

"I'm willing to bet it's a long story."

"Terriermon!"

"What? I'm dying to know what's been going on between them, Henry! Rika mentioned it a while back when Argus went out of control, and it's not like we're going to be doing anything until the horde of doom either turns their noses up at us or tries to eat us."

"You're not being helpful, Terriermon," grumbled Henry. "At any rate, I'm pretty sure that Takato wants to be left alone about that for now."

"Awww…you're no fun."

"Thanks, Henry," said Takato, breathing a sigh of relief as he was once again grateful for his friend's sense of tact and respect for another's feelings. Leaning back in his seat Takato cast his thoughts to the bundle of emotions that lay tucked away in the corner of his mind in what appeared to him as knotted colors of dark purple with blue patches that looked almost thrown in as an afterthought. They were Rika's feelings, that much he knew for certain, and although he could tell they were filled to the brim with worry he knew just from feeling them that Rika was fine. Not that the knowledge gave him any comfort.

Takato scowled down at the ground, opening fists that he didn't know he had made. The tension was really starting to get to him. Trapped in a sand storm with some unknown force flying by them, and virtually no possibility of checking up on their scattered friends to make sure that they were all right until the danger had passed. Briefly he wondered how Rika, Jeri, and the others were doing. It couldn't be easy, that much he knew for certain. Especially if the sensation he was getting from Rika's side of their connection meant anything. As strong as he knew Rika, or any of his friends for that matter, were Takato didn't like the idea of leaving them alone. Not at a time like this when danger beat so heavily around them, especially when he didn't know what situation the others were in, or if they were safe at all. For all he knew they could be out there, lost in the storm like Lumemon was and…

Takato's mind paused on the thought of the four winged, angelic digimon and his eyes glanced over at Noriko, who worriedly chewed over her lower lip. He could think of any number of times he had been in her position, where his partner or his friends, if not both, were separated from him and he had no idea as to how they were doing. It didn't help either that his imagination was going out of its way to supply the worst case scenario.

_And she's going through it all for the first time. She hasn't had anyone to support her either, and she's partnered to a digimon that's caused problems for us too. I remember how reluctant we all were to accept Impmon as our friend after what he did to Leomon. Rika had a lot of guts taking off just to bring him back. Jeri was pretty strong too to forgive him. Me?_ Takato clenched one hand into a fist. _I was ready to kill him during our fight. I couldn't forgive him for the longest time either._

As Takato lost himself in his thoughts, his gaze moved over towards the door and lingered there for several long seconds. Guilmon, seeing his partner's loss of attention, looked curiously at him.

"Takato?" he asked. "Are you okay? You look kinda funny."

"Guilmon, he _always_ looks funny."

"Terriermon…"

"What? Momentai!"

"Hm? Oh, sorry Guilmon," apologized Takato, snapping back to reality. "I was just thinking about the others."

"We're all pretty worried about them, Takato," agreed Henry with a nod of his head. "But until this storm lets up there's not much we can do. Hopefully everyone is keeping their heads down." Henry cast a glance over at Noriko, who seemed to shrink into herself. Although no one said it out loud, the question of whether or not Lumemon had managed to evade the strange _something's_ that had flown over the village hung heavy on everyone's minds. It didn't seem likely, as Lumemon had apparently set himself on a course that led outside of the boundaries of the village, and since Noriko seemed to have lost her ability to track him there wasn't much hope as to his survival. _Hope_ however remained, though it was a long shot at best. Sensing that the silence needed to be broken, Takato spoke up.

"Don't worry, Noriko. We'll get him back."

Noriko simply wrapped her arms around herself and hung her head, hiding her face with her bangs. Such words never sounded as empty as they did now. Even Takato admitted to himself that for all of his optimism it didn't ring true even to his ears.

Once again, Takato's eyes wandered over to the door and he listened to the wind howl outside. Several tense minutes went by, during which no one said anything until finally, as though the oppressive atmosphere had become too much for even the normally controlled, half-Chinese Tamer, Henry broke it.

"It's late," he observed. "If we're going to have as best of a chance as possible to find him and stay in one piece we're going to have to get some rest and keep an ear out for the weather."

"What are you thinking, Henry?" asked Terriermon. "We take shifts listening to the storm while everyone else tries to sleep?"

Henry nodded.

"You and I will take the first watch and one of us can switch us out in an hour or so."

"I want the watch after you!" interjected Noriko suddenly, and everyone focused their attention on her.

"Uh…" began Terriermon. "No offense, but you don't have a partner."

Noriko's crimson eyes flashed angrily as she brought her gaze down heavily on the long eared digimon.

"What difference does it make whether or not I have a partner? I can listen and keep watch as well as anyone!"

"Um…I guess there really isn't any difference," conceded Terriermon, rubbing the back of his head, squirming uncomfortably beneath the girl's gaze.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Henry, looking at the girl with quizzical concern. Noriko nodded.

"Yeah. I…I haven't really done much to help you guys out. Fact is…I've caused you more trouble than not."

"Noriko…"

"Pihpihpih."

Noriko blinked as MarineAngemon floated on over to her and blew a series of crimson hearts at her, causing her to edge back nervously. Seeing this, Kenta gave a reassuring smile.

"It's okay. He's just trying to make you feel better. MarineAngemon's hearts pack a lot of optimism."

"I get the feeling that we're going to need it," said Terriermon, ignoring the look that his partner shot at him. "You sure grew up during the past week, Kenta. What happened to you?"

"Oh, he just got a girlfriend," replied Guilmon, smiling gleefully at the bespectacled boy who immediately turned bright red. "Just ask Takato. He knows about it a—mmmph!"

"Ah!" Takato cried out as he clamped his hands around Guilmon's mouth, silencing him. "Guilmon!"

"Mmmph! Mmmph! Tkffef! Dfft!"

While Terriermon's mouth dropped open in complete and utter stupefaction at this unexpected news, Henry gave a mental sigh and looked over at Noriko. Taking in the impatient look that danced within her eyes, he couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind.

* * *

Noriko looked up at the shadow filled ceiling as the flame dancing on Terriermon's horn continued to burn strongly. In spite of the fact that the long eared rabbit-digimon and his partner had long since fallen asleep the effects of the Candlemon card continued to manifest themselves, illuminating their abode. Letting out a soft sigh Noriko breathed into her hands, feeling slightly chilly. She had heard that deserts were cold at night, and now it looked as though it were proving it to her once again.

_Funny,_ thought Noriko, puffing into her hands and shifting the blanket around her body to keep warm. _I've learned more about geography in the entire time I've been in the digital world than in all the twelve years that I've been going to public school. Well, at least when it comes to Mr. Morri's class anyway._

Noriko thought back to her home, and wondered how things were going. She hadn't quite gotten around to asking how things were, save that some digimon known as Royal Knights had apparently attacked and caused quite a bit of trouble. Danger had become an ever-increasing fact of life for the city of Shinjuku, and broken city streets and cars were the norm, another fact that got on the nerves of many motorists as their insurance did not cover acts of digimon. She wondered if her friends Hisa and Ayame were doing. She hadn't seen them in so long now that it felt as though an eternity had passed.

Noriko broke herself away from her distracted thoughts to look at the Tamers. They and their digimon were now all sleeping soundly. A couple hours had passed since they had agreed to take their turns to keep watch, and she was on the Second Watch. Noriko pushed the blanket away from her body and listened carefully. Silence greeted her ears, and Noriko's eyes took on a determined look to them. What she had been waiting for, _hoping_ for had finally come to pass. The storm had begun tapering off around fifteen minutes ago and now she couldn't hear it anymore. Her red eyes flickered over to the Tamers before glancing over at the door, taking in everything that lay between her and the exit before getting up and dropping her blanket to the floor. Noriko stepped carefully through the hut before finally coming to a stop in front of the door. Her heart was banging away fiercely in her chest, so much so that she was afraid that one of the digimon would hear it. Noriko swallowed nervously and reached out towards the door tentatively. For a brief moment she paused, wondering just how badly the storm had messed things up around the village. Would the door be able to open?

Realizing that the only way she would know for sure was by checking, Noriko's hand crossed the remaining distance to the door knob and pulled. The door didn't so much as creak as it opened, and a cool breeze whisked into the room with a soft sigh. Noriko breathed in the air softly, her breath whispering. It was a tranquil night out, and the faint rays of the Earth's blue light were visible upon the village. The sand storm had ended. Casting one last look over her shoulder at the Tamers, Noriko's expression softened.

_Sorry Henry. This is something that I have to do…_

And with that, she took one step into the night. The gentle sound of the door closing behind her was not heard by anyone.

* * *

Rika Nonaka awoke with a start and threw her covers off of her, one hand going to her face as she felt a shudder reverberate through her body. Something had disturbed her from her sleep. Not that that was much of a surprise as she had been feeling wired during the entire time that the sand storm had been howling outside. She had tried to leave, but her strength gave out on her before she could even reach the door and Miki, with Renamon's help had to restrain her and tell her that rest was her highest priority at the moment, a case that garnered additional solidity as even Renamon had a hard time moving. As much as she hated to admit it, they had a point. They wouldn't do anyone much good by getting lost in the storm, never mind being barely able to move. So in spite of her desire to search for her friends and make sure that they were all right, at Renamon's behest she stayed put to wait for a break in the storm. As time passed, exhaustion eventually overcame her senses and she fell asleep.

Until now.

_Something's not right,_ thought Rika. Getting up from off the floor, she tested her legs to see if they would support her and was rewarded for her efforts. Satisfied, Rika focused her attention on what could have possibly awoken her. She couldn't quite tell what it was; just that she felt a feeling of uneasiness pervading her.

_It's not anything that that Spirit of Light told me,_ she thought with a sense of certainty. _Even though that by itself makes me worried enough already._

Closing her eyes, Rika reached out with her mind, and as though a silent summon had been sent, Renamon materialized behind her from out of the shadows. A small smile curved upwards on Rika's mouth as she reopened her eyes.

"Renamon?"

"I have recovered sufficiently, Rika," the vulpine digimon replied, a subtle smile growing on her muzzle, obscure to the world around her. "As have you, I see."

Rika nodded and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Yeah, it feels great to be able to walk properly again." Rika glanced over at their sleeping roommates and frowned at them. _It doesn't look like whatever I felt affected them. What the heck is going on here? Maybe I'm just making too much of this, but I can't shake this strange feeling that something's going on out there. It's too quiet…_

Rika blinked as she felt a light bulb turn on in her head, and she immediately felt like slapping her forehead in disgust. She should have realized the change outside sooner. The sound of the storm had ended completely, which could only mean…

"The storm is over," replied Renamon, her ears twitching noticeably. "We can search for the others now." Renamon looked over at Miki and Dracmon, indicating them with a nod of her head. "Should we wake them up before leaving?"

Rika shook her head.

"Let 'em sleep. They may not have been through as much as we have in the past few hours, but they've done above and beyond the number of biomerges that we did when we first biomerged. They're going to need their strength for what's coming." Rika scowled angrily. "If only we could be sure about what's coming…"

Renamon tilted her head to one side.

"Do you still have doubts concerning what the Warrior of Light told us?"

"You have to ask? The guy isn't exactly on my top ten list of favorite people or mon right now, and frankly I find him annoying. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Ryo in fact. Ugh. We're wasting time here. Let's go find Gogglehead and the others and fill them in on the situatio…"

Before Rika could even finish her sentence, the door to the hut swung open without regard for the privacy of the occupants within the hut. Renamon immediately got into a defensive stance, but quickly relaxed once she saw Kazu standing at the door with Guardromon behind him.

_He looks tense about something,_ thought Renamon, observing the strained expression on his face with her sharp eyes.

"Yo!" called out Kazu into the hut, as the darkness of night obscured the room. "Hey. Kenta!" Kazu called out over his shoulder and Guardromon. "Are you sure this is where you left them?"

"I'm right here, Kazu," said Rika sarcastically. "And at least I can tell that you're you and not a digimon in disguise or something. You're still as observant as ever. You want to use those eyes of yours for something other than checking out digimon cards?"

"I told you this is where they were," drifted in Kenta's voice, causing Kazu to snort.

"Great. And here I was hoping that we found the wrong one."

"Excuse me?" growled Rika, taking a step forward, only to be stopped by Renamon as she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"We are glad to see that you are both all right," spoke up Renamon before her partner could continue deriding the boy for his lack of tact. "Have you seen any of the others? Are they safe?"

Renamon's eyes took note of the way Kazu's expression changed, and she frowned noticeably.

_Something's wrong…_

"That's what we call a 'good question'," replied Kazu. "We've got trouble."


	161. 160: Stepping into the Shadows Maw: Part 2

Takato stirred from his sleep and blinked blearily, feeling as though something had disturbed him in some manner but couldn't quite place what had caused it. Getting up, the goggle-wearing Tamer scratched the back of his head and surveyed the dimly lit room around him, pausing to smile at the light that flickered on Terriermon's horn. A heavy weight lay upon his legs, pinning him to the ground, and looking down Takato's smile grew as he saw that the source of the weight was Guilmon. Reaching out, Takato patted his partner on the head, and Guilmon opened his gold colored eyes.

"Morning already?" Guilmon asked listlessly. "Just give me one of everything. No…make that _two_ of everything…with peanut butter on top."

"You're obsessed," chuckled Takato, patting his partner's head again. "C'mon boy. We should check on Noriko. I think it's about time that we had our turn on watch now."

"Mmmnnn…" Guilmon groaned and closed his eyes. "Just five more minutes. Sleepy-bye, nappy-time, Takatomon…I'm tired."

"I can see, but we have an appointment to keep. You can sleep as much as you want after we've had our turn."

Guilmon's ears twitched slightly and he groaned again.

"Do we have to? I thought that we only took turns to wait for a break in the storm, and I'm not hearing anything. Doesn't that mean we don't have to listen anymore?"

"Well…wait. The storm's over?" Tilting his head to one side, Takato listened carefully and noticed that his sleeping partner was indeed correct. The howling of the wind outside had ended. The storm had abated. His brow furrowing slightly Takato looked around him. "Why didn't Noriko tell us that the storm ended?"

"Maybe she fell asleep?"

"Hmmm…" slipping his partner's head off of his legs, much to the reptile's disappointment, Takato stood up to get a better view of the hut. Surveying the room for a few seconds Takato's frown deepened. "I don't see her. She's not here, Guilmon."

"Huh?" Guilmon raised his head, sleep crumbling away from his eyes at the mention of Noriko's absence.

"I said, she's not here." Takato took a few steps away from where he had been lying, continuing to look around him. There was no sign that Noriko was sleeping with them, half-buried underneath a blanket or table. "Everyone else is here except her. Where could she have gone?"

"Maybe she needed to use the bathroom."

Maybe…" Takato didn't feel certain about that possibility however. Although it sounded logical, it didn't sit right in his mind. He had good reason to wonder about it, and all he needed was a single name for the seed of doubt to grow within him.

_Lumemon._

"Guilmon? Do you think you're up to the challenge of finding her? Just to make sure that she's okay?"

Guilmon got to his feet, and nodded, understanding his partner's desire to check up on the girl.

"What about the others?" asked Guilmon. "Shouldn't we wake them up? Henry said that we were all going to work together to find Lumemon once the storm stopped."

"Let's see where Noriko is, first," said Takato. "Guilmon. Can you tell how long she's been gone?"

Sniffing the air, the crimson scaled digimon nodded his head.

"Not very long. Her smell is still new."

"Good. Then let's find her."

"Okay, Takatomon!"

* * *

Noriko Nakata made her way through the empty streets of the Chuchidarumon village, her eyes taking in each and every shadow that she saw. In spite of herself she had to admit that the night of the digital world held a translucent beauty to it that was hard to ignore even under the present circumstances. The blue coming from the digital representation of the Earth fit the darkness perfectly and vice versa, both sides accentuating each other while at the same time taking away all possibility that shadows were something meant to be feared. It was as though the monsters that existed beyond the confines of the village did not exist and that everything had been just a figment of her imagination.

Shaking her head, Noriko pulled herself away from the beauty of the moment and continued down the streets. She was almost at the edge of the village now. She couldn't afford to be distracted by such things at a time like this.

_I just hope that I'm going in the right direction,_ thought Noriko. _I haven't been able to see Lumemon's perspective or sense where he is ever since he took off._ A flash of fear burst forth in her mind, and Noriko quickly squashed it. Closing her eyes she felt something within her activate and a holographic circle appeared in her mind's eye, dominating her vision. Although the Tamers hadn't explained anything about their digivices to her, she had seen them use them often enough to get an idea that this was somehow a type of compass function meant to locate their partners, or something of that nature. The red arrow at the edge of the circle swung wildly from one direction to the other, as though uncertain as to where it was meant to be pointing. Cursing under her breath, Noriko wondered if any of the others experienced this kind of trouble when they first started out.

_I'm still new to this whole digivice thing,_ thought Noriko, clenching her makeshift shirt in one hand. _I should have asked for some pointers, seeing as how I'm literally my own digivice now…_

Again Noriko pushed such thoughts to the side, uncertain about them and not at all inclined to pursue them beyond the here and now. All that mattered was whether or not her newfound 'abilities' could be used to find Lumemon. She had to find him. She wanted to know what it was that could have made him leave the way he did.

_Kuzuhamon said that it was his connection to Takato, but I thought…_ Noriko sighed mentally and lowered her head. _I guess I was stupid to think that. After all, a part of him came from Takato. That means a part of him still wants to be with him._

As much as she hated to admit it, she felt a little bit jealous over the hold that the goggle-wearing Tamer still held over Lumemon, even though he was partnered with her now. It felt odd that she should feel so strongly about the connection that the two of them shared with each other now. From the very start when he had been Lucemon they didn't get along very well. He had been cold and indifferent, and Taka-chan was little better than a spoiled, angry child who occasionally showed signs of caring about others more than himself. Lumemon, the new digimon who was birthed from their merging, she barely knew at all and yet for some reason she felt strongly protective of him. More so than she had felt about anything in her entire life, save for her little brother, Daisuke who always needed her looking after him.

_Is this what it means to be partners? You end up caring for someone you barely know anything about?_ Noriko hugged her arms around herself. _Everything feels so much more intense…_

A slight breeze blew over her, causing her hair to tickle her face. Realizing that she had stopped moving, Noriko mentally berated herself for her lapse in attention and resumed her journey…

"Noriko!"

…Only to be stopped by the voice of one Takato Matsuki as he and Guilmon rounded the corner and spotted her.

"Ah! T-T-Takato!" gasped Noriko, clutching at her shirt again as her heart jumped in surprise. "W-W-What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," said Takato, rubbing the back of his head as he and Guilmon approached her. "The storm's over. How come you didn't wake us up?"

Noriko glanced away, feeling uncomfortable underneath his crimson eyed gaze that was so similar to her own. Turning away so that she didn't have to look at him, she stiffened her body, making it a sharp exclamation point to match her words. She had to be strong, and she had to show Takato that no matter what he said or did he would not convince her to turn away from what she intended to do.

"I'm going to find Lumemon. He's my partner, and there's no reason why you guys should have to drag yourselves along to help me."

Takato and Guilmon exchanged confused looks.

"Um…I think I'm a bit confused," said Takato. "Why are you saying that? I mean, there's a lot of reasons why we should help you, I mean…um…well, I can't just let you go out there. It's not exactly safe."

"That's exactly why I don't want anyone involved," replied Noriko firmly. "It's not safe, and you guys have already gotten into enough trouble on my account."

"We do that a lot anyway," shrugged Takato. "But that's still no reason to just take off on your own you know. We'd worry about you guys. There's no way that any of us would let you take off on your own with all the trouble that's out there. Lumemon's not here to protect you and we still have to find him…"

"Takato," spoke Noriko firmly. "I want to make this perfectly clear, okay? This is _my_ business, not yours. Lumemon's my partner, and I'll do this on my own."

Takato sighed audibly.

_This is getting us nowhere…_

"You're still worried about our history with him, aren't you?"

Takato took note of the way Noriko's body jerked as though she had been stung by a bee.

_Bulls eye…_

"Noriko, you don't have to worry about that. Well…" Takato scratched his head nervously as he realized that was something he couldn't exactly promise on everyone's account. He himself was still rather uncertain about the angelic digimon, and even more so about how Guilmon felt, but he knew that he could put it behind him given enough time. It had been that way with Impmon before and Jeri had found the strength to forgive him for destroying Leomon. That was no easy feat, of that Takato was sure, and it only emphasized the often hidden inner fortitude that Jeri had within her. And ever since, Impmon had become quite a good friend to everyone.

_Even though he still gets on everyone's nerves every now and then,_ thought Takato warmly.

"I don't have a problem with Lumemon," said Guilmon, causing Takato and Noriko to whirl about on him in surprise.

"Guilmon?" asked Takato, thunderstruck.

"Wha-what are you talking about?" said Noriko, no less stunned than he was. "Lumemon…he…he…" Noriko fought to speak the rest of her words but for some reason they refused to move past her lips. Nonetheless Guilmon knew what she was trying to say. Closing his eyes, Guilmon smiled and tapped one claw against his white chest.

"A part of him came from Takato, which means that he's a part of me too. He's like a baby brother, and I'd like to play with him sometime. Besides, I see that he makes you happy, and you're worried about him because he's not here now. People who make each other happy…they should be kept safe."

_Guilmon…_ Takato stared at his partner, absolutely floored by his partner. Although he knew Guilmon had always been a pillar of forgiveness and acceptance (something that Terriermon attributed to his low attention span and bottomless stomach), he still hadn't expected this. After all, Guilmon had been distrustful of Beelzemon when he arrived to help them in the fight against the D-Reaper, and for very good reasons. Once they fought together that had changed, but there were times where Takato wondered how things would be had Impmon not made that fateful decision to lend them a hand and fight by their side.

_One thing's for sure,_ thought Takato, _we'd definitely be D-Reaper pizza by now._

Noriko hung her head down, hiding her face with her hair.

"I…I don't know what to say," she said after a few seconds. She didn't know what to do all of a sudden. She hadn't been expecting this. Not at all.

_I can't just say that he's lying and trying to make me feel better,_ thought Noriko, her gaze fixated on the ground beneath her. _I can hear it in his voice…see it in his eyes. He means what he says. That digimon…he's like a little kid. Quick to forgive and way too innocent for his own good._

"Even…" Noriko swallowed before continuing. "Even if you say that, I can't just let you guys come along. Lumemon…he's…he's…"

"He's your partner," finished Takato, his expression softening as he shook himself loose from his surprise. "Believe me, I get where you're coming from. But it's not safe out there. You can't just go out there by yourself."

"I _have to!"_ screamed Noriko, shaking her hands angrily in front of her, no longer caring if anyone heard them or not. _"I'm supposed to help him and all he's done…all_ anyone's done _ **…**_ _is help me!"_ Noriko finally raised her head and looked at Takato in the eyes. "I've done nothing but be in the way. Just once, I'd like to do something for Lumemon."

Seeing the resolve in Noriko's eyes, Takato hitched another sigh. There wasn't any way around this. Noriko was determined to see this through even if it meant her death.

"Then," began Takato slowly as he reached into his pockets and pulled out his gold trimmed D-Arc and a single, solitary playing card, "I guess you're going to have a reason to hate me now."

Noriko blinked, confused.

"Huh?"

_"Digi-Modify!"_ shouted Takato as he slashed the card through the slot on his digivice. Blue electricity sparked as the card's information was scanned. _"Lalamon's Sing a Song activate!"_

Noriko jumped backwards, half expecting an attack of some kind coming from Guilmon, but strangely enough nothing happened. Guilmon merely opened his mouth and a soft lullaby came forth. It had a soft, gentle sound to it that caught her attention, lulling her with a sense of security and warmth. Before she knew what was happening, Noriko's eyes drooped and she staggered on her feet. Catching herself at the last minute, Noriko fought to keep her eyes open. The song continued to pervade the air, engulfing all of her senses with its beauty.

_Wha…? What's…going on…? I feel so…sleepy all of a…sud…d…en…"_

Noriko's eyes drooped once again and this time there was no stopping it. The world around her disappeared into a fit and welcoming sleep and she fell forwards, collapsing onto the sandy ground with a soft, but heavy thud. Seeing this, Guilmon closed his mouth and looked over at Takato.

"Did we really have to do that, Takato?" he asked. "She was only trying to find her partner."

"I know Guilmon, but she was going to take off. I didn't want her leaving the village, and this was the best way that I could think of without hurting her." Takato looked at the card he held in his hand. "It's a good thing that I found this when we left the hut. I don't know what we would have done otherwise. Funny…I don't remember seeing this card before in any of the sets before. I never had this card before."

"Maybe one of the others dropped it during the storm," suggested Guilmon.

"Hmmm…maybe." Shaking his head, Takato quickly pocketed the card and his digivice before going over to Noriko and lifting her head up from off the ground. Takato looked at her for a few seconds in deep thought before looking out towards the edge of the village and the vast expanse of desert that lay beyond it.

_Somewhere out there is Lumemon._ Looking back down at Noriko, Takato's expression became firm as he made a decision.

"Guilmon…we're going to go find Lumemon."

* * *

Noriko groaned as she finally came to and with some effort, she opened up her eyes. The world swam in her vision, causing her to groan again and shift where she lay. Distantly she heard voices speaking. She tried to focus on them but for some reason she had a difficult time doing so. It felt as though she was a little _too_ relaxed, and although she felt her strength rapidly returning, sleep continued to hold her tightly within its grasp. Falling back a bit mentally, Noriko listened intently, hoping to pick up something from the voices and make sense of them so that she could remember where she was and what she was doing. The last thing that she remembered was heading towards the edge of the village in an attempt to find Lumemon, but Takato found her before she could…

_Takato!_

That did it. Noriko's eyes snapped open and she sat up with a gasp, surprising MarineAngemon who was tending to her.

"Pih?" the diminutive fairy said inquiringly as over in a corner Rika Nonaka paused long enough to look at her before returning her attention back to Henry.

"So he's gone? Are you sure about that?"

"It's like he said, Rika," said Terriermon from on the boy's shoulder. "We woke up and found both him and Guilmon missing. Sheesh. How many times do we have to repeat it?"

"Knock it off Terriermon," scolded Henry before looking back at Rika. "Anyway, it's pretty obvious what's happened. A Chuchidarumon delivered Noriko here and woke us up. I think Takato's gone off to find Lumemon on his own."

Noriko's hands balled up into fists as the news hit home to her. _Takato…he went in my place? No. No…_ No!

"That idiot." Rika sighed and massaged her forehead. "After I _just_ got done with telling him…never mind. We've got to find him, and _fast._ Do you have any idea how long he's been gone?"

"It couldn't have been very long, since he asked a Chuchidarumon to send Noriko here. The question is where did he go?"

"Well, why don't we ask our new friend over there," said Rika, pointing over to Noriko. Unconsciously Noriko shrunk back before berating herself for acting that way. She was a Tamer, and that meant that she had to act like one.

Still, she had to admit that the red haired girl approaching her had a rather intimidating personality.

"Glad to see that you're finally awake," said Rika, getting down on one knee so that she was on eye level with Noriko. "You mind telling me what's going on?"

Noriko paused, not liking having to be the subject of interrogation, especially from Rika. What little she had already seen of the girl was enough to set her on edge, especially with the forceful, direct way that she spoke. There was no sense that she would pull her punches, and she highly doubted that Rika would spare her any anguish over her involvement concerning Takato's disappearance. However, a quick look at Rika's eyes told her that although her suspicions would most likely correct, she saw an assertive questioning look that demanded only answers first. If there was to be anything else, it would most likely come later, if at all, once their current predicament had passed.

"I…I was going to go find Lumemon on my own," admitted Noriko. "Takato stopped me. He used a card on his digivice and G-Gillmon?" Noriko scrunched her face up in confusion. _Was that his name? I can't remember._

Rika nodded her head in understanding nonetheless.

"Guilmon. I gotcha. What did he do?"

"He…put me to sleep. Some kind of weird lullaby song or something. I think it was a digimon attack."

"So you don't have any idea where they could be right now."

"O-Only that they could be out in the desert. That's where I was heading, and I know that's where Lumemon went."

"Makes sense," piped in Terriermon. "Unless he took a ride on a data stream, that's about the only place a person could go around here."

"Do you know how to find your partner?" asked Rika, brushing off Terriermon's comment and Henry's subsequent response. "I heard that you merged with him and your digivice and you seem to have some of the same abilities as one, like tracking…"

"I don't know," said Noriko, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I haven't been able to find Lumemon at all. I used some kind of tracking thing earlier before Takato found me and it didn't help."

"Do they ever?" asked Terriermon sarcastically, only to be tapped on the head by his partner as a friendly reminder to stay quiet. Rika sighed.

"He's got a point," she said, causing Terriermon's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Hold on. You're agreeing with me? What gives?"

"You mean besides the fact that we haven't really done much to figure out the full uses of our digivices? We only started to learn about them not too long ago, but we haven't really mastered the basic functions. The compass only works when we're in a certain range and even then it's not entirely dependable."

"There is that," agreed Henry, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But even so that shouldn't have affected things too much. Lumemon shouldn't have been able to get very far in the sand storm."

"But we don't know how much a digivice can be affected when it's merged with a human, do we?"

"Hey Henry," said Terriermon. "Do you think it has something to do with what Kuzuhamon talked about earlier? About how Lumemon's 'imperfect' or whatever? And about his style change?"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Rika, raising an eyebrow. Terriermon shrugged.

"I don't know really. You'll have to ask Kuzuhamon. She seems to know the most about what's going on."

Rika nodded. "Kuzuhamon, huh? Where is she now?"

"I think she went to check up on Urocyomon," said Renamon, phasing into view next to her partner. Rika narrowed her eyes and got to her feet.

"All right. Then let's go to his hut. I have a feeling we're going to need Urocyomon anyway. He's supposed to be good at traveling through the digital world after all."

* * *

Urocyomon groaned and opened his eyes, frowning at the strangeness of the environment that he found himself in. A simple, crude hut with walls made of packed mud by the looks of things with random odds and ends imbedded into its surface. The staple in building materials as far as the digital world was concerned even though most of them defied common sense that would make even a vagrant drifter throw their hands up in disgust.

_At least with mud there's something resembling sense to it,_ thought Urocyomon. _Better than buildings made of stone sitting atop television sets or having them imbedded into support pillars._

"Awake at last?" came an all too familiar voice, and Urocyomon felt the fur around his tail poof out slightly by sheer instinct. Forcing himself to calm down, the silver furred fox threw an arm over his face, covering his eyes.

"What are you doing here, Kuzuhamon?"

Peeking out from behind his arm, Urocyomon found Kuzuhamon sitting next to him, a ball of light in her hand and illuminating the room. A small, relieved smile graced her features at his response.

"Nice to see you too, Urocyomon. Feeling better?"

"I feel terrible," said Urocyomon bluntly. "What happened?"

"You exhausted yourself to have a data stream deposit everyone right on top of the other Tamers," came another voice, this one more gruff and masculine. Urocyomon's eyes widened, and he all but flew up to his feet. Looking around wildly he found that the form of his teacher, Gyōjamon, leaning against a wall with his spear in his hand.

"Gyō-Gyōjamon…" he whispered. "Wha…? The last report we had on you was that you had gone to the human world and…" Urocyomon paused as he took in his teacher's condition. For some reason he looked strangely haggard, like a rag that had been used well past its prime. His hair was ragged and dry, and his skin pale…although Urocyomon reasoned that could easily be just a trick of the light from the illumination spell Kuzuhamon had cast. Even so, to see his teacher looking like this was a bit of a shock to him. His eyes drifted downwards and saw a massive number of bandages wrapped around the Mega's torso, indicating that he had been severely injured at some point. "What happened?"

"Battle," shrugged Gyōjamon indifferently. "Happens to everyone who gets caught up in one. I hear that you've had your fair share as well."

"I…"

The door slammed open and the shadows of Rika Nonaka and Renamon fell upon the trio of digimon in the hut. Urocyomon scowled at the human girl, disliking the unexpected interruption of his reunion with his teacher.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?" he asked sardonically.

"Glad to see that you're feeling better," replied Rika sternly, though she forced a small smile on her face to put the young fox at ease. "We have an emergency and we need your help." Rika paused and set her teeth on edge before continuing. _"Please."_

Urocyomon blinked in surprise, as did Kuzuhamon from next to him. Rika continued.

"I know that you guys don't have anything to do with us, and that you were only ordered to escort Takato, Ryo, and I to meet our friends and go home, but Takato, Guilmon, and another digimon called Lumemon have disappeared. We need your help in finding them. You said before that you're a tracker…"

_"Training_ to be one," sputtered Urocyomon. "I'm not a master at it or anything. It was pure luck that _anything_ I did actually worked. Gyōjamon," Urocyomon nodded towards his teacher, "is the one that you want for that!"

"I'm a little _indisposed_ at the moment," said Gyōjamon, gripping at his injuries. "And you're better rested than I am for this mission. You still have a duty to see these humans home after all. You can't abandon it."

"I'm not saying that I am," replied Urocyomon. "This is…It's just that I just woke up and now I'm being told that I gotta go into a forest full of hungry wolves! This is pretty last minute for preparations and I'm not feeling one hundred percent here!"

Rika ground her teeth together. She was more than ready to tell the fox digimon to tough it out since this was as much preparation as they could possibly get considering the circumstances. However she realized Urocyomon's point of view. She was making a rather large request from him and it wasn't as though these three digimon of the Seer Council owed anything to them. She felt that she'd have a hard time blaming Urocyomon if he decided to back out.

_Well…maybe after I beat the stuffing out of him,_ thought Rika with a flash of anger, but a gentle paw from Renamon resting on her shoulder turned that anger into ashes and she waited as patiently as she could for Urocyomon's response.

Gyōjamon chuckled as he looked back and forth between the human Tamer, her partner, and Urocyomon.

"You may not feel one hundred percent now," he said to his student, "but that's going to have to change." Pushing himself up to his feet, Gyōjamon brushed off Urocyomon's protests and walked over to where the silver furred Rookie lay, holding out his Naginata towards him. The curved metal of its blade gleamed in the light cast by Kuzuhamon, whose lips were now pressed together in a thin, grim line. Rika and Renamon watched the scene unfold with surprised and curious gazes. However their surprise was no less than Urocyomon's as he looked at the weapon before him.

"W-Why are you holding out the Heavenly Jeweled Spear?" he questioned breathily.

"You're taking it," said Gyōjamon. "You're going to need it out there, especially with your limited energy reserves. Or did you think that you could fight off Sand Liches and still track at the same time at your level?"

"Bu…wha…I…"

"Consider this your final lesson as my student. Pass and you shall be the next bearer of the fox fire. Fail…" Gyōjamon let his words drift off and shrugged, wincing at the pain that the action caused him. His breath felt strangely short and increasingly difficult to pull in with each passing second. In spite of that, he was prepared to stand here for all eternity if that's what it took for Urocyomon to take his destiny into his hands. He could still see the uncertainty in his eyes, and Gyōjamon felt like laughing at it, remembering the first time he had been given the Amenonuhoko. He had been just as intimidated then as his student was now.

_However there's no time for that kind of thing. There may not be a ceremony held this time, but it's hardly necessary. It never has been._

"You have a duty," he reminded the younger fox, and finally Urocyomon reached out and grasped the shaft of the spear in his hands. A soft glow washed over Urocyomon, causing him to blink in surprise as he felt new energy flow through him. He hadn't changed by any means, but he felt refreshed now, and ready for the tasks ahead of him. Seeing this Gyōjamon nodded and looked at Kuzuhamon.

"Take care of the youngster. He has a habit of getting lazy when nothing's going on, and panicky when there's too much."

"I will," said Kuzuhamon solemnly before getting to her feet. Reaching out, Kuzuhamon took Urocyomon's paw into one hand and helped him to his feet. The fox's eyes met that of his teacher's for a second and in that second time slowed to a standstill. Gyōjamon realized that there were many things that were left unsaid between them, and many things that were still to be taught but now… _now_ time and circumstances had taken that away from them.

_He's going to have to learn on his own from here on out…_ Gyōjamon smiled at his student, and Urocyomon visibly relaxed upon seeing it. _Oh, how I wish I had such a path lying ahead of me, and that I could watch you go through it. Urocyomon, I believe you are ready for whatever journeys lie ahead of you. Just don't trip over your paws too much and you'll do fine._

"We'll be back for you," said Urocyomon with a fierce nod. "I promise."

Gyōjamon smiled and nodded.

_All things in due time…_

"Best get going, kit."

"Yes sir." Urocyomon inclined his head and after a second of hesitation turned with Kuzuhamon and left the hut. Rika and Renamon paused, looking at Gyōjamon with curioius glances before they too departed; Rika already calling for Kuzuhamon to explain something to her about Lumemon.

_Good luck,_ thought Gyojamon as his form glowed blue, became transparent and slowly dissolved into sparkling particles of data. _Until our next meeting…_


	162. 161: Eye of the Storm

_It's like looking at a ghost town…_

Those were the thoughts that passed through Private Tsuneto Inoue as he surveyed the broken rubble that had once been the city of Shinjuku. Fires still burned readily here and there, and were being put out as the military was getting to them, but it was slow going. A good number of vehicles had been damaged, and those that hadn't been (those that weren't missing in action) found themselves up against nearly impassible terrain, courtesy of the destructive power wrought upon the landscape by the warring digimon. Tsuneto had to admit that he was impressed. He had seen the pictures from the battles against the D-Reaper and the Devas, but presently none of them compared to this. Off the top of his head, the damage that he saw was only topped by the destruction unleashed during the Second World War from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the fire bombings that had preceded them.

_Digimon don't do anything small, that's for sure. Gojira was cleaner than this when he attacked Tokyo._

Were he younger Tsuneto would have chuckled at the thought, as digimon were quite obviously the same type of Kaiju that for so long had been regularly portrayed decimating Japan. A warning of some kind about the folly of humanity pursuing avenues of power and coming up against the _real_ thing, only to have been forgotten once popular culture got a hold of its entertainment value. Tsuneto, 22 years old and considered wise beyond his years in spite of his natural disposition towards laziness, considered the irony of the digimon situation and the questions surrounding it. Humanity, it could be said, was getting its 'just desserts' for not paying attention to its progress and being ready for it. One look at the shattered city was enough for him to recognize that they were way out of their league, Tamers or no Tamers.

_"OVER THERE!"_ Tsuneto snapped to attention as one of his fellow soldiers shouted, pointing out something from his position on top of a particularly tall pile of rubble. He and the rest of his unit quickly scrabbled up the miniature mountain and within minutes found themselves looking over a tank that had been thrown on its back. A massive burn mark blackened its front, showing off the battle scars that had been attained from its battle.

_And defeat,_ thought Tsuneto. Absently he wondered if the tank's crew was ashamed over how ineffective they were in the fight, as they all had been, and the idea of seppuku came to mind. Brushing off such thoughts, Tsuneto quickly raced down the pile of rubble after his comrades as they immediately took off, calling for any survivors to answer them should they be in there. This had been the game plan for what seemed like forever to Tsuneto, long after night had fallen for them, and so far there remained no end in sight for the searching for survivors and cornering off of damaged areas deemed unsafe for travel.

_Might as well close off the entire city until things are a bit safer,_ he thought to himself before grimacing. _Of course, with the number of digimon that keep coming through that's not likely to happen any time soon…_

A drop of water fell upon Tsuneto's helmet, and he looked up at the sky to see a dark series of clouds swirling in the sky. More droplets fell upon him before transforming into a torrential downpour. Thunder boomed and Tsuneto cursed as his foot slipped on a now slick sidewalk. Catching himself with his hands, Tsuneto shook his head wearily. He didn't remember rain being in the forecast for this evening. Looking back up, Tsuneto shielded his eyes and once more took in the sky. Lightning arced through the storm clouds before cracking like a whip, giving him the impression that a devilish attitude lay behind it.

_Weird. Those clouds have a green and blue color to them…_

"Tsuneto!" shouted a voice from by the tank. It was his superior officer, Major Touya. "Stop day dreaming and get down here, _now!"_

"Yes sir!" Momentarily putting the storm out of his mind, Tsuneto pulled up on his rifle and dashed forward, water flying forward as he splashed through a puddle.

* * *

In all the time that Tally had worked for Hypnos, she had come to learn one thing about the digital world. It was a _very_ difficult place to control.

Hardly surprising once she thought about it. In the larger picture the digital world was every bit a force of nature as the real world that it had been birthed from; in some ways more devastating and dangerous to its 'Mother Earth', but in other ways it was possible for it to be more vulnerable. After all, the digital world had been created by the thoughts and hopes of fledging humans intermingling with a vast communication network. The artificial intelligence programs that created digimon were more 'man made' when juxtaposed with the digignomes and various other digital life forms (should there be any others if the variety of life on Earth was any indication), but it did not change the fact that they were an integral part of the digital world's nature to the point where one would think that they were acting as that nature. The programs that Hypnos threw at digimon to keep them from entering the real world were more often than not useless. One might as well be arguing with an avalanche for all the good their actions did them, and the irony that arguing with such an event of nature could possibly (and most likely inevitably due to the noise) cause the occurrence was not lost on Tally either. This past year, no, even further than that, Tally had seen Hypnos' interactions with the digital world and their attempts to prevent it from seeping into their world as just that. Arguing with an avalanche and causing it to slide towards them in the process.

And here they were once again. Preparing to do just that once again, if only because they lacked any other direct method that could work.

_Digimon you can at least talk to,_ Tally grimaced as she felt a bead of sweat crawl down her face. _But when it comes to the digital world, when things go wrong, there's nothing you can do but wait for the storm to be over until you can poke your head out from a safe place._

_"DAMN IT!"_

Tally jumped as Kuroda shouted an expletive and slammed a hand against his computer monitor out of frustration. Not that she could blame him, even though it wasn't recommended to vent ones frustrations on expensive equipment. Just a short while ago Hypnos had been infiltrated by a program similar to the evolution algorithm that Shibumi had implanted into the early digimon and miraculously restored all of their previously inoperative systems to full power, repairing damaged data in record time. It had made itself quite at home, and so far remained benign and, oddly enough, appearing as though it were awaiting orders. For the briefest of moments Tally entertained the thought that Yamaki had somehow gained a 'partner' in the form of the Hypnos network, but that lasted only for a moment. Benign the algorithm may have been there it was something new that could not be trusted until every aspect of it had been fully analyzed and catalogued for future reference.

The appearance of a new surge of data emanating from the digital world quickly put an end to that notion.

The digital world is a _very_ difficult place to control, and it is not known for having the best timing when things go wrong in it. As the ever infamous law of the universe states, if there's a chance something can go wrong, in the worst of possible ways, it usually will.

_Murphy sure had it right, that's for sure._

As Tally watched the computer screens a torrent of unrecognizable data ripped across the global network, obliterating vast amounts of data. Tally got the distinctive feeling that in spite of all the problems they were experiencing on their end, the digital world was having it even worse.

Frowning beneath her visor, Tally once again tried to isolate the destructive code, but once again the data eluded her, just as it had her 'partner', destroying every one of Hypnos' attempts to probe it. The only thing that they could tell for certain was that the destructive force of digital nature was coming from the digital world or an area of warped space very close to it. Beyond that as anyone's guess and they were more than welcome to try. She herself was all out of ideas.

_What is it that westerners say in situations like this? Oh yeah. 'Stick a fork in me. I'm done.'_

The familiar sound of doors opening reached Tally's ears, and almost like clockwork Yamaki entered the room, already scowling behind his glasses as he surveyed the operations room of Hypnos.

"Report."

"FUBAR, Yamaki," growled Kuroda, stepping away from his computer. "The situation is absolutely _FUBAR!_ We've got a destructive program ripping through the network and eating away at our defenses. That fancy little algorithm that got installed in our systems is preventing things from being totally destroyed, but it's pretty clear that it's taking everything just to keep going." Kuroda looked up at the screens and cursed bitterly.

"Shit. We can't find the Tamers with the situation like this."

"Do you have an idea as to what it could be?" asked Yamaki.

"Well, let's break the situation down for you, boss. We've got a destructive program ripping us a new asshole. That about sums up what this thing is. If you want a more definitive idea, I'm afraid you'll have to go somewhere else. I'm pretty sure even a dentist would have better luck by this point. If I knew what this thing was, we wouldn't be in this mess, let's leave it at that." Kuroda ran a hand through his head and once again spat a curse. Yamaki ignored him for the time being and looked over at Tally.

"Analysis."

"Hate to say it sir, but Mr. Kuroda described it pretty well. We're reading abnormal data signatures spreading throughout the network. It's like…it's like…"

"It's as though we're watching all of existence playing out in front of us," finished Kuroda. "Destruction and creation. Expansion and contraction. That's what we're basically seeing here. The digital world is about to explode, and things are going to be very, _very_ messy. Did you happen to see what it was like outside by any chance before you got here?"

Yamaki raised an eyebrow.

"No."

"A pity. I would bet that we're about to get some pretty nifty storms soon."

Yamaki gritted his teeth together painfully, once again greatly annoyed by the man's rather biting sarcasm. Choosing to ignore him for the time being he looked up at Tally and nodded to her. Seeing his meaning in his actions Tally's fingers flew across her keyboard and within seconds she had the information that she was looking for.

"Confirmed," she called out from her pedestal. "Satellite imaging systems show an increase in storm related activity. Much of it is focused on the area of Shinjuku, but there are signs that it is spreading globally, particularly in areas where the D-Reaper was reported bio-emerging last year."

"I see," said Yamaki, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "So the increase in atmospheric pressure is a result of the friction between our two worlds at areas where dimensional barriers are already weak." Yamaki looked over at Kuroda. "How long would you estimate a potential complete barrier breakdown?"

Kuroda folded his arms across his chest and sniffed disdainfully.

"Depends on the power of the code that's causing all of our problems. It shows an increase so far, but the data spikes and plummets without any pattern. It's like something that's breathing or incubating. Whatever it is, it's definitely _not_ broken out of its proverbial shell yet. If this were a living digimon, it'd be evolving. I'd hate to be around for when it finally cuts loose. Personally, I'd run but," Kuroda shrugged, "I don't think there'd be a place that's safe."

Yamaki nodded, understanding where Kuroda was coming from. Although he personally never felt fear towards anything having to do with the digital world, he knew full well the feeling that came with wanting to save one's skin but having nowhere to go. Briefly he wondered if this was the terror that sailors felt on the open seas.

_What can we do?_ The blonde haired head of Hypnos wondered as he read the readouts on the computer screens. _I doubt even the Tamers would be capable of handling this, and they're trapped in the digital world with this thing. We have only our programs on this side, but is that going to be enough to do something? Especially when our own systems have been infiltrated by an unknown program similar to Shibumi's evolution algorithm._

Unbeknownst to him, Yamaki's right hand moved absently, attempting to flick a lighter that wasn't there. He felt he was caught up in a losing battle, a feeling that he hadn't experienced since his encounters with the Devas.

_We have no choice. If we're going to try to rescue the Tamers and deal with this at the same time, we're going to have to trust that whatever it is that's infected our systems isn't malevolent. I've spoken to Shibumi about it and he doesn't think that we have anything to worry about. I have my misgivings, but…_

Yamaki grimaced.

_I'm going to have to apprise the Chief Cabinet of the situation again. We may be at the end of our rope here…_

As though to drive the point home, a single, solitary symbol colored blood red flashed across one of the computer screens. A symbol that Yamaki recognized all too easily. A single triangle encircled by a ring with three more surrounding it, connecting to the points of the center.

The _Hazard._

"Sir!" exclaimed Tally suddenly. "I'm reading a sudden spike in energy levels! It's increasing exponentially!"

Yamaki clenched his fists together. As he watched the Hazard sign spread across the first computer screen, encompassing it and then spreading to the next.

"Isolate it!" Yamaki commanded, though he already had an idea that it was a useless endeavor. The Hazard program was pushing, and although Hypnos' defenses had improved markedly from the first appearance of the Digital Hazard, that changed little about the vulnerability of their systems.

"I can't sir! The system is being overrun!" Tally looked out over the computer screens. The Hazard sign was spreading like wildfire, and only a few screens remained wholly untouched. "At this rate the entire network is going to crash!"

"Kuroda!"

"I'm already doing what I can, Yamaki," grated the other man from his own computer console. "But unless we've got some super advanced program that can handle this thing, we're stuck. It's going to take a miracle to get out of this one in one pie…" Kuroda's words ground to a halt as he observed a length of code suddenly dot his screen. "Hold on. Wha…?"

As everyone watched, a series of zeroes and ones overwrote the Hazard symbols. Almost as quickly as they vanished though, the Hazard signs reappeared, roaring forth only to be deleted once more by the ever persistent zeroes and ones.

"What's happening?" demanded Yamaki.

"Uncertain sir," said Tally as she worked to analyze the situation. "But I'm reading an unusual change in the algorithm code that's imbedded in our systems."

"It's a Catalyst effect," confirmed Kuroda. "The code evolved to compensate for the increase in the Hazard's increase in power. Like how the human immune system creates antibodies that match an illness it's encountered before. The system is using a vast amount of energy just to keep up with the Hazard, but we're matching it." Kuroda leaned backwards and ran a hand through his hair, a stunned look of amazement crossing his features. "Shit. If this keeps up I think we may have the ultimate defense here."

"We're still not out of the woods yet. Tally, what's the status on the storms you picked up?"

"Still forming sir. We're starting to receive reports from the ground troops and weather reports. It's not looking good out there."

Yamaki tightened his grip in response.

_Time to call another meeting with the Monster Makers._

* * *

Gallantmon flew through the air, surveying the landscape around him.

_"Takato,"_ asked Guilmon from the darkness surrounding Takato's orange colored data sphere. _"Are you sure this is a good idea?"_

_"No,"_ admitted Takato. _"I have to admit this is definitely one of my less than brilliant ideas, and I can already tell that I've made Rika unhappy."_ Takato swallowed nervously as he felt Rika's frustration and anger filter down to him via the bond that they shared. From the occasional pulse that he got in his temples either she was _really_ angry with him for pulling this stunt or she was making sure that he knew she was mad.

_Or worse, both,_ thought Takato.

_"Then why did we go? I thought that we were a team with everyone else."_

_"I know Guilmon, it's just…I don't want to risk everyone's lives. We've found safe harbor and that hasn't been an easy thing to get around here. Between the Chuchidarumon village and the Seer Council's temple we've been in one fight to the next, and I know that it hasn't been easy on the others who had to fight the Royal Knights before coming here. Those Sand Liches haven't helped either."_ Takato frowned as he surveyed the unmoving desert below. _"Speaking of which, where are they? I hate to say it, but I've been on guard for them for a while now, and nothing's happened."_

_"I think we should just be happy that they're hiding, Takato,"_ said Guilmon.

_"Wait. They're hiding?"_

_"Yeah. I wish we could too. The storm felt weird, and there were also some creepy digimon passing over us. I smell more coming too. This isn't good Takato. We have to find Lumemon. Maybe this was a good idea after all. At least the others are safe."_

_"I hope things stay that way, though Rika…"_ Takato trailed off, not liking the feeling he was getting in his head. _"Anyway, can you tell where Lumemon went?"_

_"It's not easy, Takato. His scent has been blown around a lot. He could be anywhere. Do you think that he got eaten by whatever passed over us? Noriko said that she couldn't see Lumemon anymore and Jeri…"_

_Jeri had the same thing happen when Leomon was killed,_ finished Takato in his mind. Frowning darkly, Takato scanned the horizon, hoping that his now keen digimon eyes would pick up something. However there was nothing to be had save for the vast expanse of desert, the distant village, and an unending wall that signaled the eye of the storm that was passing over them. Takato shivered. When he had left the confines of the village he hadn't expected to see that they had ended up being surrounded on all sides by the sand storm with only a small spot of free space between them and the next onslaught. The fact that the storm so far showed no signs of advancing or retreating did nothing to ease his mind. He couldn't explain it but it felt as though the storm was watching him. _Gauging_ him like a predator eyeing its prey. He didn't think once in his life that he would apply a sense of malevolence to a force of nature, but there it was, and only Grani had prevented them from being swallowed.

_"But you do have an idea where he went, right?"_ Takato asked his partner.

_"A little. His smell stands out pretty well. It makes me think that he wants us to follow him."_

_"Hmmm…"_ Takato furrowed his brow, wondering if he should turn back. _"Is he close by?"_

_"He smells a lot closer than he did before."_

Takato sighed and shook his head. In spite of Guilmon's assurances, the boy felt that what Guilmon was smelling could easily be a piece of Lumemon's scent blown their way rather than something that ran a straight line. He knew Guilmon _believed_ otherwise, and Takato wanted to trust him as the digimon's nose was rarely, if ever, wrong about the direction of what it smelled, but there were limits. Takato had to admit that he had acted rashly by rushing off into the desert after Lumemon. He had no way of knowing for sure where to find Lumemon or if they could find him without assistance. All they had was Guilmon's nose, a scent that may or may not be misleading, and…what else?

Takato thought back to the angelic digimon.

_A part of him used to be a part of me. Doesn't that mean that Guilmon and I should be able to find him? Do we have something of a connection to Lumemon? When he was BlackGuilmon we were able to biomerge so maybe…_

Closing his eyes, Takato reached out with his mind, searching for any sign of the connection that had once brought them together. A part of him instinctively recoiled but he pressed forward as the image of Noriko's worried face filled his mind. As he searched he felt the questing presence of Rika, searching for him through their connection. He remained receptive to it, but otherwise continued intently for the presence of Lumemon. As long as a part of the angel was formed from BlackGuilmon, Takato reasoned that something should remain between them. After all, Kuzuhamon hinted as much when she explained things to them.

Fire appeared in his mind's eye, and Takato's eyes snapped open to find the flaming figure of Agunimon standing before him, tall and proud, with his arms folded across his chest.

_"Agunimon!"_ chirped Guilmon happily as the familiar entity filled them. _"Hi!"_

_"Hey guys,"_ nodded the Legendary Warrior of Flame. _"Thought I'd drop in and see how you two were doing."_

_"We're looking for Lumemon,"_ said Takato. _"His partner, Noriko, can't find him on her own."_

_"I know. I'm connected with you, remember? What you know, I also know, just like I know you took off without your friends."_

_"Ah! I…"_ Takato looked away from the Hybrid digimon. _"Yeah. But it was because I was worried…"_

_"About their safety, yeah, I get that. I understand your reasons for it, but even so. This wasn't a good idea. As much as I hate to say it, you need to turn back now."_

_"Wha…?"_ Takato's eyes widened at Agunimon in surprise.

_"I know that you're concerned about Lumemon, but if you don't turn back now, you risk losing your friends,"_ continued Agunimon. _"Something major is coming, Takato. It's the reason why my friends and I have bonded to you guys, and if you're not all together you won't be able to face it."_

_"What is it?"_ asked Takato. Agunimon shook his head.

_"Something that shouldn't be. Oni. You guys talked about it in your meeting with Hypnos before you were sent to the digital world. From what I've been told he used to be a digignome who followed you guys home last year when you went back on the Arc. Digignomes are extremely susceptible to human emotions and you know how they can grant wishes. They act upon those wishes instinctively. The little guys have rather big hearts, and it can get them into trouble when they're out of their element. They prefer positive emotions, but when a humans negative emotions draw them, they can become corrupted. Oni is a corrupted digignome. He's looking to destroy the digital world, and now he's got the firepower to pull it off. He's kind of the reason why Lumemon came into existence."_

_"I don't understand. What do you mean?"_

_"It has to do with the Digital Hazard. Lucemon and BlackGuilmon are both carriers of the Digital Hazard. The code is connected directly to their digi-core, and Oni took it from both of them. They had to merge in order to survive. I don't know much else, but there's something going on with the way Oni is using the Hazard. It's changing him. Changing him into something that had been sealed away."_ Agunimon clenched one hand into a fist, and fire burst from between the gaps of his fingers. _"Or maybe_ it _knew it could use him to break the seal."_

_"The Digital Hazard?"_ asked Takato. _"Just what is the Hazard? Henry mentioned it once, but I never thought about it before until Guilmon digivolved to Megidramon. I never put that mark on Guilmon when I first drew his pictures, but it showed up when he became real!"_

_"Only a digignome could tell you why that turned up,"_ said Agunimon. _"All I know is they got Guilmon's data from somewhere because they needed something to make him. I don't know much about those guys. I don't think anyone does, not even the Sovereigns or the Celestial Angels. Look, we're wasting time here. You_ have _to get back to the others as quickly as you can."_

_"But Lumemon is still…"_

_"I know,"_ interrupted Agunimon. _"I don't like it anymore than you do. But you have to go back. If you don't the digital world will…"_

Agunimon didn't get a chance to finish as Gallantmon's view of the world suddenly lurched and a brutally crushing weight threw itself full force upon his body, sending him careening towards the ground with a brutal crash.


	163. 162: Our Inner Monsters

_"Awaken fallen one…"_

"Nnngh…" Lumemon groaned and stretched, his wings rustling as they pushed themselves across the sand of the digital desert. Opening his gold colored eyes Lumemon gazed up at an eerily calm sky. The land around him was quiet and still, and nothing save for himself moved for miles around. At least, that was how it appeared to him. His senses however, told him a different story.

"Who's there?" Lumemon mumbled. Shifting to one side, he felt around him with his hand, and came across a good-sized rock that was larger than his fist. A worryingly dark stain of something liquid decorated its surface. As though the sight had been a signal, pain crashed through his skull, and Lumemon balled up, biting his teeth against the silver spike that tore through his mind. Strangely enough, in spite of the discomfort, Lumemon's mind felt lucid. It was as though whatever had weighed on him before had up and left.

_"That's only because Takato isn't anywhere near you yet,"_ chuckled a voice nearby. Lumemon jerked around, but the motion caused another crash of pain in his head, and he once again curled up into a ball. His reflexes felt sluggish and off, and his strength felt weak. The only thing he found to be consistent was the enormous headache that tore through him whenever he moved. Another chuckle floated upon the wind and a shadow descended upon him, blotting out the light of the digital earth above him.

_"There, there. Having troubles are we? That's quite the head injury you have there. Not surprised seeing as how that rock was thrown at you with the force of a Tankmon's Hyper Cannon attack. I'm quite surprised that you're still alive. But then, you always were powerful as a Rookie, whether you were one entity or two."_

"W-Who…?" Focusing all of his strength on ignoring the pain that throbbed in his head, Lumemon looked upwards and found a towering figure standing over him. The darkness hid the being's appearance but the overall shape felt familiar to him. A four legged lower body with a humanoid upper half. Two snarling, shark-like creatures protruded from the entities mid-section, and a pair of bat wings extended outwards. The image prodded at the angel's mind, and a name soon flitted forth from his lips, identifying the being before Lumemon even knew who it was.

"GranDracmon…" he whispered scornfully.

_"That's me…but at the same time, not me. The Lucemon half of you undoubtedly understands, but your dear Taka-chan? He's just the home team and doesn't know the situation outside of the fact that we fought but once and he lost."_

"Get out of here," Lumemon growled under his breath as knowledge came up from inside of him like bubbles from the bottom of a great well. It felt strange that he should know this entity, feel so familiar with him on such a personal level even though he himself had only met him in a life he barely remembered. Nonetheless, he felt grateful for its presence, as he wasn't entirely left in the proverbial dark when dealing with GranDracmon.

_"How rude. And we have such history with each other. Don't you want to know why I'm here?"_

"I could care less," grated Lumemon, rolling over and forcing himself onto his knees. "And…as far as we're concerned…" Lumemon paused to catch his breath before glaring at GranDracmon. "…we don't have any history. You're just a figment of a monster who used me…who used Lucemon. I'm not him anymore, and he's not a slave either."

_"And yet, here I am. The voice of GranDracmon echoes and remains no matter what happens to a digimon's data. But I didn't come here to talk about the past. Rather, the future."_

"Not…interested…"

_"No? Even if it means finding a solution to your present dilemma?"_

In spite of himself, Lumemon found himself grinning mockingly at GranDracmon.

"With you…the cure is often worse than the disease that you spawn…"

_"Touché, Lumemon. I can see that the influence of Takato isn't entirely wasted. You've developed a sense of humor. Or at least wit. But I'm not GranDracmon."_

"Close enough." Lumemon got to his feet, wobbled a bit, but soon steadied himself. His body's natural Overwrite Sequence was healing his injuries. Soon he would be well enough to travel again.

_But travel to…where?_

_"A good question, Lumemon. One that deserves answering."_

"I wasn't talking to you," grimaced Lumemon. He looked around him, taking in his surroundings. Nothing but flat, open desert lay around him. Sighing in frustration, Lumemon glanced at GranDracmon, who continued to stand in front of him patiently.

_I can't listen to him, no matter what happens._

_"Tell me something, Lumemon. Do you know where your heart is?"_

Not saying a word, Lumemon picked a direction at random and began walking. GranDracmon chuckled and fell into step behind him.

_"Does your destiny lie with Takato, or Noriko? You asked where you travel, but who are you going to travel beside? Many digimon walk the middle ground, Lumemon. A good place to be as it offers the best of both worlds without upsetting the balance of the universe. It is however a difficult path to follow, and sooner or later a choice is going to have to be made as to which side one must ally themselves with. Your problem concerning Takato and Noriko is similar. Your heart cannot remain divided. You must choose."_

Fidgeting, Lumemon's gold colored eyes looked down at his once white, now black robe, the manifestation of the dichotomy that had recently arisen in his heart. Closing his eyes, he allowed his consciousness to sink inwards and touch upon the core that lay in the center of his digital body. Two minds made one, and in conflict with one another, all because of a human Tamer that had birthed one of those two parts.

_I thought that my problems were settled when I was born and became Noriko's partner. But that's not the case. I feel better now, but what about the future? Noriko…_ Lumemon closed one hand up into a fist. _How stupid of me. She's going to try to find me. The others will try as well. I get the feeling that that's the kind of thing that they'd do no matter what a digimon has done to them._

An image of a digimon's face, that of Beelzemon who had once been a servant to Zhuqiaomon and tasked with destroying the Tamers, flashed through his mind.

"I thought I heard someone say earlier," mused Lumemon more to himself than to GranDracmon who continued to follow him, "that I didn't need to be partnered to someone to defend them."

_"Quite correct,"_ replied GranDracmon. _"You don't. Certainly the Tamers don't need a reason to help each other out and neither do their partners."_

"I wasn't talking to you!" snarled Lumemon. Flapping his wings angrily, the angelic digimon took the air, urging every bit of speed in order to escape GranDracmon. The demonic digimon watched the angel disappear into the horizon, a cruel smirk appearing on his face, before he vanished into thin air.

* * *

_After all of this time, and all the changes I've been through, I'm still trapped by my past._

Lumemon scowled darkly as he flew through the air, hoping that he had left the voice of Lucemon's darkest past behind him, and at the same time knowing that it was a futile attempt. GranDracmon's essence had touched Lucemon's digi-core, and in spite of its purification at the hands of the Legendary Warriors that part would always remain. Merging with BlackGuilmon wouldn't change that. Lumemon had to face facts, he would carry the sins of his previous existence into his new one and he would never find respite from them.

_But that's neither here nor there right now,_ he thought to himself as he continued to soar through the air, flapping his wings every so often to stay aloft. _I still have to figure out how to fix myself and return to how I was before. The question is…how do I do that?_

Lumemon sighed. He had no answer to that question, or even an idea on how to approach it.

_Kuzuhamon might have known. She seemed to feel that confronting Takato directly might help, but that didn't help things much. If anything, it made things even worse._ Lumemon raised one hand and looked at it with a scrutinizing gaze. _Just what is it about that Tamer that makes you desire to be with him?_ he wondered. _When Lucemon and you combined, you did so when your desires aligned and became one. Our desire was to protect Noriko and get her home. Is that not enough for you anymore?_

Again, no answers came to the angel, and sighing disparagingly he returned his attention to the distant horizon. As he flew he realized his mistake in running from the Tamers. He knew that he had done so out of a sense of preservation, both for himself and for the safety of those around him, but leaving the village in the way that he did would surely incite them to come after him, and the digital world was quite the dangerous place to travel.

_Although,_ Lumemon surveyed the desert around him, _it has been unusually quiet of late. There's a kind of 'stillness' on the air that makes me nervous. There haven't been any signs of Sand Liches or anything else for that matter except…_ Lumemon narrowed his eyes at the horizon. _…there seems to be a wall or ring of some sorts surrounding this area. A sand hurricane? It looks very much like I'm in the eye of a storm. Most likely it's the one that passed over when I ran away._

Lumemon winced suddenly as a sliver of pain wormed its way into his head. Realizing that he still had yet to fully recover from his injuries Lumemon touched down on the ground and assessed the area of his forehead where he had been struck. He distinctly recalled the dark spot on the rock that he had woken up next to, and within short order his finger tips came away with dried flakes of what was undoubtedly old, digital blood.

_It's not 'quite' blood though,_ thought Lumemon absently. _Digimon do have a type of circulatory system, but normally it only manifests in a liquid form in the real world due to the accumulation of false proteins. It's less of an occurrence in the digital world, but digimon often mimic life from the real world since it gave birth to us. Resonance effects emanating from interaction with the real world can cause distortions in digital makeup, causing it to, for a time, take on similar properties and appearances. Old human data is also picked up by our bodies, and interacts with it. I wonder what sort of information is passing this way that caused blood to form._

Shaking his head, Lumemon scrubbed away at the dried digital blood using his black robe. Red flakes fell to the ground and after a couple minutes Lumemon ceased his ministrations. Looking out towards the horizon once more, Lumemon furrowed his brow.

_Something…feels wrong somehow. I feel anxious. Expectant almost, but anxious, and not in a good way._

Lumemon gasped as a vision suddenly assaulted his golden eyes. An image of a knight garbed in red and white armor flying across the desert. Clutching the sides of his head, Lumemon groaned and forced the image out of his mind.

_Takato and Guilmon are coming,_ gasped Lumemon as he reasserted control over himself. He noticed that the nails on his toes had flickered slightly, shifting back and forth between elongating and changing to a reptilian form before returning to their human appearance.

_Not again,_ thought Lumemon shakily. Looking up he now saw something twinkling in the pale _Earth light_ that had not been there earlier. It wasn't a star, as it reflected light differently, and it was definitely growing. Lumemon swallowed, realizing what this meant. _He came after me. It looks like the issue is about to be forced. I could run again, but…that would be futile._

Lumemon clutched at his arm as pain tore through it, causing him to cry out in surprise at its suddenness. Looking down at it, he saw scales begin to form on the surface of his skin, and his fingers begin to fuse together to form claws.

_No…it's happening again! I'm changing. I…AAAGH!_ Lumemon cried out again as the scales marched their way up his arm, and the muscles within suddenly thickened in response to their transformation.

"You idiot," rasped Lumemon as he collapsed to the ground and clawed at the sand beneath him. "Don't you realize…that you _can't_ separate anymore?! Our Hazards have been taken from us! Without them…" an alarm bell went off in Lumemon's mind as he realized his voice was starting to sound like Lucemon. "…Without them we can't survive on our own!"

The change continued relentlessly, and without heed for the angels words. As a tail burst out into the open, Lumemon's eyes bulged as a new voice emerged from his lips.

"I'm…not…trying to separate…"

_Wha…? BlackGuilmon? Then…what…?_

_"Distortions wrought by the Digital Hazard are often…well, as the name implies,"_ Lumemon forced himself to look over his shoulder as the voice of GranDracmon came to him, _"hazardous."_

Lumemon opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came. It was as though his voice had left him.

_"You could almost say that it has,"_ said GranDracmon as he materialized in front of the young digimon. _"After all, your identity is breaking down. Lucemon would have noticed this sooner, but the instability of your merging was responsible for dulling your senses. This whole area is laden with distortive effects of the Digital Hazard. The storm is but one of its manifestations. Much of your 'difficulties' are caused by that part of you that is BlackGuilmon, but the Hazard helped make it possible for it to come out in such a…dramatic way."_

Lumemon coughed as he felt the digital bones in his face begin to reconstruct themselves to favor a reptilian build. He tried to push himself up from off the ground, but his strength gave out and he once again collapsed. GranDracmon observed him dispassionately before shaking his head.

_"I imagine that once the transformation is complete you won't be able to survive for very long. As you mentioned, without the Digital Hazard, BlackGuilmon won't be able to survive for very long. He'd be a reactor without a power source. In short, dead. However, I know of a way that you might be able to resolve your mental dilemma and be able to return to yourself as you are now. In any form you take, you are far too useful to my source to just toss aside to such a fate."_

Lumemon huffed exhaustedly as changes continued to wrack his body. As he watched the fallen angel, GranDracmon folded his arms across his chest.

_"If you are to resolve your mental dichotomy and retain the existence that you have, you have to do only one thing. Kill, Takato Matsuki."_

At that, Lumemon's eyes dilated and a feral look overtook them. Snarling, the half angel, half dragon surged to his feet and threw himself at GranDracmon, who merely greeted the reckless attack with a contemptuous smile. Light burst forth from his eyes and suddenly Lumemon was knocked back to the ground. Dark tendrils burst free from his chest and began to wrap around his body. Lumemon snarled defiantly in spite of the pain and strove to get up, but the tendrils held fast, preventing him from moving. A small shudder passed through the sand as GranDracmon approached.

_"Don't act as though you have a choice in the matter, impetuous one. My master has invested much energy and resources into you. To have you in this state and so close to dying would be…a waste of material. I will have you whole, whether you are willing or not."_ Now towering over Lumemon, GranDracmon's eyes once again glowed.

_"Eye of the Gorgon!"_

Dark energy erupted from Lumemon's body. His eyes shot open as he was engulfed in the shadow's embrace and with a final burst of strength he broke free from the black tendrils, escaping into the sky.

"LUMEMON! DARK DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

* * *

Gallantmon slammed into the ground with ferocious force, barely managing to roll with the blow. A sickening sounding explosion resounded upon the air as something large crashed into where he had landed, sending dirt and debris flying through the air. Rolling to his feet Gallantmon brought his saber up to bear, energy crackling as he reflexively prepared to cut. The Royal Knight Tamer sought the source of the attack, but before he could even execute his counter attack a powerful tail whipped out from the dust cloud, forcing him to leap into the air to dodge it. From within his data sphere, Takato winced as shockwaves from the tail's passing buffered his body, leaving him in awe at the sheer force that had been behind it.

_"I'm glad that we managed to get out of that one in time,"_ said Takato aloud.

_"Uh-huh!"_ agreed Guilmon from the darkness surrounding the boy's data sphere.

_"Just who is this guy?"_ asked Takato, bringing himself to a halt in midair and surveying the cloud-shrouded figure below him. _"Aside from the tail we can't really see who or what he is. Or if he's even a 'she' for that matter."_

_"Takato…something feels wrong here. And I don't mean in the usual 'wrong' that it's been for a while now. This is different."_

_"I'm getting that,"_ agreed Takato nervously. As much as he hated to admit it, there was something about the obscured creature that did not make him feel comfortable. Granted, digimon attacking out of the blue without provocation rarely left him feeling with any sense of comfort, but this… _"We've got to get our bearings here and regroup. If we could only figure out who or what this guy is, than we can handle him."_

_"How're we going to do that, Takatomon? You don't have your digivice to scan him…"_

_"…We'll figure it out somehow, boy. But we're going to have to be quick about this. Agunimon! Is this what you were talking about earlier?"_

_"Afraid not,"_ spoke up Agunimon's voice as he appeared next to Takato in his data sphere. _"But I can tell you one thing: this guy is not all that unknown as you think he is."_

_"Takato!"_ exclaimed Guilmon. _"He's right! I smell Lumemon!"_

_"Wait! Say wha…?"_

Gallantmon's golden eyes focused suddenly on the tail as it flicked through the air like a cobra waiting to strike, and within his data sphere Takato felt himself freeze.

_That tail…no way. It…can't be…_

A thousand years could pass and Takato would never forget that tail. Blood red, plated armor, and tipped with a barbed, spear-like point. It was a tail that belonged to a fearsome dragon that both himself and Guilmon would rather forget and wish had never existed. A dragon that had been born from their combined fury and rage, and had nearly destroyed the entire digital world just by its mere existence. Crimson eyes glowed within the dense layer of the sand cloud and a low, predatory growl drifted towards the Royal Knight on the wind, sending shivers down both Takato and Guilmon's biomerged back.

_"Megidramon…"_

_"No,"_ said Agunimon in response to Takato's whisper. _"That's_ not _Megidramon."_

Seven glowing signs appeared in the dense cloud and the dragonic tail was joined by a second, heavily armored tail with what appeared to be a forked point at its end. Twelve, purple colored, dragon-like wings extended themselves outwards, and a rush of air caused the sand cloud to break apart, revealing a creature that looked to be a nightmare fusion between two separate digimon. Pulsating flesh and twisted veins marred the points where a golden visor and purple scales fused with a bloody head crest. Arms carrying golden, scythe blades that extended themselves from crimson gauntlets and were situated above a second pair of dragon like arms tipped with golden claws. A black aura manifested itself and swirled around the beast as it stooped low, growling dangerously. Twin gazes, one of the dilated, golden eyes of a face belonging to Megidramon, and another hidden behind half of a golden facemask of a digimon Takato didn't recognize, fixated themselves on the Royal Knight, appearing both as though it desired to rend him to pieces or to fire all the power that it commanded from a distance and lay the land to ruins. As Gallantmon watched, scales and flesh competed with each other in an attempt to flow over the other and assume the dominant form, but neither retained the upper hand for long. Within his data sphere, Takato felt his stomach lurch at the sight but he held firm.

_"Wha…? What's going on?"_

_"Looks like Lumemon's two sides are breaking apart,"_ said Agunimon. _"In the process something triggered their digivolution and this is what came out of it."_

For the first time in the short while that Takato had known the Legendary Warrior of Fire looked uncertain.

_"We're in trouble…"_

As though to emphasize the point, the creature let loose a powerful roar that shattered the landscape around them, and struck Gallantmon's body, once more sending him flying through the air.


	164. 163: Search and Rescue

"Hey!" exclaimed Kazu angrily. "There is _no_ way that we're just going to sit here and wait for you guys to rescue Chumley! In case you didn't notice, he's our friend too! You guys may have been the main trio for most of your adventures, but I thought that we were a team!"

Henry sighed mentally and massaged his forehead, already feeling the faint beginnings of a headache developing.

"Kazu, we're only saying that you guys should stay behind so that not everyone is at risk of being in danger." Henry sighed again, wondering why it was that the other boy refused to listen to reason at the most inconvenient of times. "The larger the group that we have to coordinate, the more difficulty we're going to experience in keeping everyone safe."

That had been Henry's line of reasoning when everyone had convened to formulate a rescue plan for Takato, Guilmon, and Lumemon; all three of whom had run off into the desert with the former two chasing after the latter. Himself, Rika, Ryo and their respective partners, accompanied by Urocyomon, Kuzuhamon, and Noriko would search for them while the others held up at the 'fort'. It was a simple enough plan although it put at risk most of their heavy hitters and Noriko would be the most vulnerable due to her partner, Lumemon, being one of the ones that they were chasing after. However, as Ryo pointed out, they had to depend on moving quickly, and that was best accomplished by utilizing those who were already familiar with working together. Himself, Rika, and Ryo fit that ideal to a T, and Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon were in the same boat to a similar vein. Noriko, in spite of having the most vulnerability, was connected to Lumemon, and even though her connection seemed interrupted for the time being, there was nothing that said that the connection couldn't be restored.

_Unless he's been deleted,_ thought Henry distractedly, but he pushed the thought aside for the time being. This was not the time for having negative thoughts.

"Wouldn't having a larger group mean that everyone's got a better chance of staying safe?" continued Kazu, interrupting Henry's line of thought. For a third time, Henry sighed mentally. Clearly, Kazu was not seeing the whole point to the plan.

"At the cost of slowing us down, Kazu, which will make us an even greater target to whatever's out there."

"Oh, c'mon! HiAndromon can move pretty fast. It's not like he's a slouch or anything, and we still have UlforceVeedramon's data copied." Kazu smacked his fist companionably against his partner's torso for added effect. "Crusadermon can move pretty quick and MarineAngemon can protect the civvies…"

"Uh…Kazu," began Kenta tentatively. "MarineAngemon's pretty tired out from all the healing that he's had to do. Even with the rest that he did get, he's not back at full strength, and I used up all of my recharge and stamina cards."

"Sounds like it'd be even more of a gamble," pointed out Ryo to the visor-wearing Tamer. "And as much as I hate to say this, if we have to worry about protecting two people who have no partners we'll be in a tight bind. A digimon who passes out in the middle of a fight or just plain runs out of power is definitely going to throw a monkey wrench into the works, and that leaves us all vulnerable." The Legendary Tamer looked over at Jeri and MarineAngemon with a sympathetic look on his face. "Sorry you guys."

The pink fairy merely nodded his head wearily, his large eyes drooping while Jeri forced herself to smile.

"It's okay," said Jeri. "We can stay here. Grani can protect us."

"See?" said Kazu, placing his hands on his hips in a defiant manner. "Problem solved. Grani can keep everyone else safe while those who can fight can keep up. What's the problem?"

"How about what happens if something shows up that Grani can't keep out?" asked Ryo.

_Thank you,_ thought Henry gratefully. Ryo's words definitely had an effect on Kazu as he opened his mouth to say something, but found that he couldn't. Henry couldn't blame him. So far Grani had shown himself to wield impressive defensive powers via his recent uplink to the Chuchidarumon village, but there were some vulnerabilities. The recent sand storm had nearly compromised them, and only a last minute dampening field had prevented them from being fully detected by the swarm of digimon that Impmon reported; a swarm that, if Crusadermon was correct (and her urgency left them little reason to do so), spelled the doom of the digital world if it was allowed to get out of control. The fact that Impmon had been injured while in his Mega form did not bode well, and the very idea of leaving Jeri alone in the protection of an immobile Grani and a village full of low level Champions did not sit on stable ground either. Even Kazu had to admit that there was nothing good about it, so in the end that left Kazu and Guardromon, along with Ayaka, Crusadermon, Suzie, Lopmon, Miki, and Dracmon as the best able fighters to defend the village while MarineAngemon and Impmon rested and healed. Three Megas with two more resting up and an Ultimate for support in a fortified position. Hardly a bad plan.

_At least in Impmon's case it won't take much longer,_ thought Henry, noting that the diminutive little demon digimon was looking significantly better than he did earlier in spite of his injuries. Digimon healed rapidly, and it showed.

"All right, fine," conceded Kazu, seeing the futility of his argument. "We'll wait, but you guys better move quick out there." Kazu glanced out towards the village boundary and frowned. "Something feels pretty bad out there."

"You'll get no argument from me," said Terriermon, from his spot on Henry's shoulder. Nodding in agreement, Henry, Ryo, and Cyberdramon walked over to where Rika and Renamon stood with Noriko, Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon, already prepared to leave. Rika and Renamon stood in front of each other, practically as opposites in their posture as Rika held her arms over her chest and restlessly placed her weight on one foot, whereas in stark contrast Renamon stood straight with her arms at her side. Serene, and patient as ever, although even Henry could tell that the vulpine digimon was just as anxious as her fire haired partner. Henry's expression hardened slightly as he took in their appearance. Rika's face was awash in anger, frustration, and exhaustion from their recent endeavors and no doubt Takato's rash decision to chase after Lumemon was not doing her any favors. He had considered trying to get her to stay behind, but one look at her eyes told him that she would dig in even worse than Kazu and flat out refuse to be left behind. It would have been typical of her at any point in the past, but recent events left him feeling that her personality wouldn't be the only factor in such an act.

_Just what happened between you two?_ Henry wondered, thinking about the so-called 'connection' that had somehow sprouted up between the two Tamers.

"Are you guys ready?" he asked them.

"Just waiting on you guys," replied Rika.

"All right then," said Ryo. "If everything's set, then let's…"

"Wait!"

All eyes turned towards Jeri who was presently running towards them.

"Jeri?" asked Henry, raising an eyebrow. The brown haired girl came to a halt in front of them and looked meaningfully at them. "What's up?"

"I…I need to talk to Rika." Jeri glanced at the red haired girl before returning her gaze back to the others. "Just for a moment. I'll make it quick."

Henry looked over at Rika, who shrugged and walked over to her friend. Together the two girls broke away from the main group and headed off a short ways to have their discussion. As the Tamers and digimon watched, they noticed a certain agitation in Rika's movement.

"Man, something's eating her," said Terriermon. The rabbit-dog digimon glanced over at Renamon and raised an eyebrow. "I don't suppose you wouldn't mind sharing."

Renamon narrowed her ice-blue eyes at Terriermon before shaking her head. Terriermon pouted. "I didn't think so."

"The matter between them is of a personal one, Terriermon," replied Renamon.

"Yeah, but at this point any mon can see that there's something going on between them and a certain Gogglehead. Rika's mentioned it once or twice. Something big is going on between her and Takato…"

"Why don't you just let it go, Terriermon?" interceded Ryo firmly. The long eared digimon raised an eyebrow at the Legendary Tamer while Renamon eyed him warily.

"Sounds like you know something," said Terriermon. Ryo's expression remained cool and composed, betraying nothing of his knowledge of the internal affairs between Takato and the two girls talking. Henry was not fooled however, and he doubted Terriermon would be any different. Raising one hand the half-Chinese Tamer rapped his partner on his head.

"Ease off, Terriermon. Whatever's going on between them isn't any of our business. Why don't you do what Ryo suggested and let it go? Momentai already."

"Oh, fine," grumbled Terriermon. "But you have to admit that this is kinda weird, and I would like to know _something_. I mean, from what I see it's like those two are caught in some kind of weird love triangle with Gogglehead or something and they're trying to figure out how to share him." Terriermon looked back and forth between Renamon and Ryo, the former of whom simply returned his gaze with a guarded expression while the latter continued to observe the conversation between Rika and Jeri. After what felt like an eternity Terriermon sighed and crawled up on top of Henry's head, defeated.

"Fine, fine. I get the picture. I'll just have to figure things out the hard way."

"Do not take offense, Terriermon," soothed Renamon. "As I said…"

"…It's a personal matter. I get that. It'd be like me rooting through Henry's computer or going through his stuff and coming across something I'm not supposed to know about."

Henry scowled.

"You already do that anyway, Terriermon. And on purpose I might add."

"So? My point is I can see Renamon's point. It's not like I have to be explained these kinds of things."

Henry sighed and shook his head before returning his attention back to the conversation that the two girls were having, or were now concluding as they were parting ways. Rika was heading back over to their side while Jeri watched her go with a nervous expression on her face.

_She probably wanted Rika to not be angry with Takato or something,_ thought Henry. _Can't say that I'd blame Rika for being like that. Really, what could he have been thinking?_

Of course, the answer came almost as quickly as the question. Takato was being who he was, and if there was one thing Henry knew about his goggle-wearing friend it was that he couldn't just leave something alone. And if that something meant it could risk the safety of his friends, he'd tackle it on his own. He had done a number of crazy stunts during their battles with the D-Reaper for Henry to recognize that much.

_Even before that, when Leomon died, Takato became rather protective of all of us, though he wasn't as bad as I was before I biomerged with Terriermon. I'm going to have to have a talk with him later._

Rika came to a halt in front of them and raised an eyebrow.

"Something the matter?"

"Just pondering the mysteries of the universe, Wildcat," nodded Ryo sagely.

"Ugh. Why do I get the feeling you mean a lot more than that?"

"All right," interceded Henry. "We'd better get going." Looking over his shoulder at the others, Henry raised a hand and waved at them. Kazu's group returned the wave, though none of them were perhaps more exuberant about the gesture than Suzie, who was in tears and crushing Lopmon to her chest as she said goodbye to her brother. After several seconds of increasingly frantic waving, Suzie broke down completely and brought both arms around Lopmon and buried her face in the rabbit's fur. Lopmon, in spite of the discomfort Henry was sure she was in, reached up with her hand-like ears and embraced her partner.

"Bye," Lopmon called out as best as she could, prompting Suzie to do the same.

"HENWY! S-STAY OUT OF TWOUBLE!"

Henry simply nodded and waved once more before turning away from the village. As much as he wanted to promise his sister that he would honor her request, he knew that such was an impossibility as far as they were concerned. As Takato himself had put it almost a year ago, they attracted trouble like a magnet.

* * *

"I'm sure you are all aware by now," said Yamaki to the Monster Makers assembled before him, "of the situation that has befallen the digital world."

"If you mean by 'situation' you mean the weird energy readings that are making a mess of our equipment again, then yeah we're aware of it."

Yamaki nodded to Babel. Next to the man, Shibumi stretched and furrowed his brow thoughtfully.

"It's definitely a tricky puzzle. The readings that we're picking up from the digital world is essentially the Digital Hazard operating, though for some reason it seems to be held in check by something."

"Are you certain about this, Shibumi?" asked Janyu Wong, maneuvering his wheelchair so that he could face his friend more fully. Shibumi nodded.

"Absolutely. I've collected all previous information that has been recorded concerning the Hazard, right up to its first appearance when the Tamers were in the digital world. The Hazard's effects normally spread quite rapidly…almost instantaneously in fact. Under normal conditions we shouldn't be capable of operating with as much capability as we have been so far."

"I think we can thank a certain mysterious little program that got stuck in our systems earlier," remarked a thin, blond haired woman. "I have to admit, it's made things a lot easier for all of us when it comes to running the systems. It's almost as though it's 'streamlined' the programs around here…"

"Be that as it may Daisy," said Yamaki, "it's difficult to say as to how far we can trust our systems now that they've been infiltrated. However, in order to rescue the Tamers we have little choice in the matter and must use whatever is at our disposal."

"Well so far it hasn't caused any problems, at least in so far in my analysis of them. Has anyone else encountered anything?"

A series of heads shook in response as the woman took in each and every one of her colleagues. Shibumi placed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

"The program that was installed in our systems is so far an exact replica of the evolution algorithm that I implanted into the digital world after I released digimon into the Internet. There's nothing about it that suggests a subversive attempt to infiltrate Hypnos or anything of the sort. I've checked and rechecked the code even after its recent 'evolution'. All that's happened so far is that Hypnos' defenses have become remarkably more complex and difficult to get through. Right now that's all that's keeping the Hazard at bay…at least on our end of things."

"What do you mean?" asked Yamaki.

"I've managed to run a surface scan of the digital world from my computer, and the Mokumon have also been helping me. There seems to be multiple distortions occurring in the digital world, and the Digital Hazard is only a part of what's going on. I wasn't able to get the full picture but from what I can tell, there's something of great importance going on there and it's affecting the entire digital world."

"What is there that you can project about these distortions?"

"It's too early to say, and the distortions make readings difficult. But we may be looking at a possible collapse of the digital world's structure."

"Are you saying that the digital world is going to be destroyed?!" exclaimed Janyu, shocked.

"As it exists now, that's definitely a possibility. From what I could tell there's a major spatial warp sweeping across the digital world like a tidal wave, and then there's a central one resembling a whirlpool of sorts. _That_ one is the Digital Hazard. The signature is unmistakable. I can't tell you what the other one could be though."

"What can we do to stop it?" asked Daisy, furrowing her brow while Janyu looked as though he were getting ready to leap out of his wheelchair.

"What about the _children?!_ How much time do we have to get them out and bring them home?!"

"I think that the matter of the Tamers should be our first priority," cut in Yamaki, raising one hand to silence everyone before the discussion could degenerate into useless, unanswered questions. "We should focus on those things that we are likely to control and settle the remainder afterwards. So far the Tamers have proven themselves to be our best chance at dealing with anything involving the digital world, and in that spirit I believe that if we are able to rescue them then the digital world has a fighting chance of being saved as well. Shibumi. Do you have anything regarding the location of the Tamers?"

"Not much I'm afraid. Up until the implantation of the evolution algorithm our focus has been on repairing the Hypnos network. I only began running a diagnostic on the digital world surface strata as a test of our systems. I was detecting something that _may_ have been digivice signals, but the distortions overlapped them. My equipment isn't sensitive enough to be of much use."

_That's true,_ thought Yamaki grimly. _Only a few areas, specifically the main control center and an auxiliary unit are capable of analyzing the digital world with near pinpoint accuracy, but both have been tied up with system checks and temporary lockdowns pending the investigation into the catalyst program._

"All right. We're going to have to leave the catalyst program for another time. Right now I want all of you to put your efforts into rescuing the Tamers and bringing them home. I want all of you to collaborate with each other and assess the best method of transportation for this. As soon as you have something coordinate with Riley, Tally, and Kuroda as they'll be in charge of scanning the digital world for any sign of the Tamers." Yamaki surveyed each of the Monster Makers, seeing determination in each of their eyes. For some reason he felt as though he should say something meaningful and uplifting, but he found that such words were unnecessary. Everyone knew their duty, Janyu more than any of the others, and would carry it out to the best of their ability. Anything less meant certain failure.

"If that is all, let's get to it."

* * *

"Hey."

Yamaki flicked his lighter closed and looked over to see Riley standing at his office entrance, a folder in hand and one hand raised up at door, knocking lightly against the wood.

"Anything to report?"

"We've scanned the area that Shibumi said that he had checked out earlier. So far we haven't found anything conclusive. Tally is increasing the strength of the scanners, but we're having difficulty getting anything definite. Whatever's going on in the digital world, it's not making our job easy."

"Understood," said Yamaki, flicking his lighter open and closing it again with a low click. After a few seconds, Yamaki noticed that Riley remained at the door. "Was there something else?"

A small smile graced the woman's features.

"Just that when I visited the Monster Makers, they seemed to be rather enthusiastic about their work. It brings back memories, sir. That's about all I can say."

Yamaki allowed a small grin to grow on his lips and for once the lighter in his hand rested easily without being disturbed. The moment passed swiftly though, and the grin soon disappeared.

"They know how to work together, and they know what's on the line. They can't afford to mess up. Not if we want to get those kids back."

"I know sir. I know. It's just that I've noticed how much calmer you are when you see people working together in such a way for a common interest. It's like you have more confidence that things will work the way you expect them too. You weren't like that before we teamed up with the Tamers."

As though he were responding to Riley's words Yamaki flicked his lighter open and closed it, though there wasn't much force behind the action. Riley's grin remained and sensing that her boss wanted to be left alone she bowed her head respectfully and bidding the blond haired man a quick goodbye she turned and left the office, closing the door behind her as she left. It had been open when she arrived, but she believed that at times like these Yamaki was best left with some privacy. She didn't dote on the man much, as he never liked to be doted on (and was often too consumed in his work to even notice when he was), but she did allow herself the occasional guilty pleasure of doing so.

And as far as she was concerned, seeing Yamaki relax even for a little bit was well worth it.

_After all, he's got a couple of worlds on his shoulders._


	165. 164: Crimson to Black

The massive form of MegaGargomon flew over the desert. Sitting on his shoulder close to his ear was Urocyomon, giving directions every so often as his body glowed with a light blue aura while Kuzuhamon watched him warily to make sure that he didn't overdo it. Sitting nearby, Rika, Ryo, Noriko, and Renamon, watching the pair as they collaborated with the massive, Mega level war machine. Rika gripped onto her 'seat', such as it was, tightly though not for fear of falling due to the confidence that she had in herself and in her partner to not end up in such a situation. Rather it was more that she was tense from what was on her mind, and the gentle mental tugging playing at the edges of her mind.

Rika furrowed her brow and tightened her hands even further as she fought to not focus on the connection that lay in her mind, not wanting to get caught in it at this point in time. All the same she found that she couldn't help but focus on it. She was angry, there was no question about it, and every so often the fire within her would flare, and she would direct its energy into the bond. She knew that it would only signal to Takato the emotional state that she was in, something that on other occasions she wouldn't have been sure about as she didn't like to be read like an 'open book' even to someone like Takato (who often misread her anyway even when she was being blunt and direct to him), but this was a rare occasion that she didn't care. She wanted him to know how angry she was, as he was the source of that anger.

_That idiot!_ Rika grated her teeth together, uncaring of the strands of hair that blew in her violet colored eyes. _I'm going to kill him! I can't believe he just took off like that! After we both promised that we'd be there for each other and get stronger together! Who does he think he is? Some stupid knight in shining armor who has to protect everyone?_

Rika growled mentally, attempting to dig her fingers into the metal chassis of MegaGargomon's shoulder. The fact that Takato, someone she counted on as being one of her closest friends and someone she cared about deeply, fit that description to a T did little to help her in relieving her frustrations. A part of her had an idea as to what went into Takato's decision to head off alone with Guilmon to find the errant angel, and she felt that she couldn't blame him…well, too much anyway. That was how Takato was, and he rarely liked involving his friends in something that might prove to be too dangerous, especially in the shape that they were all in. Noriko's own admitted attempt to do what he himself set out to do helped his case a little, as she felt that given the right circumstances she would have done the same in his place. She had done things that have been called 'not smart' by those not wanting to anger her while still being truthful, and 'crazy' as Kazu himself so bluntly put it. She'd even admit to it proudly. After all, she never would have gotten to where she was now if she hadn't been a little bit bold in her actions. Leaping into a chasm to do battle with the D-Reaper led to the birth of Sakuyamon, and going off alone to rescue a battered and unwanted Impmon gave them not only a strong ally but a close friend. Both were choices that Rika didn't regret making once and she'd do them again if given half the chance.

Yes, she could easily see Takato's point of view. However, that did not change the fact that he had made a promise with her, and had left her behind as though she were something fragile that needed to be protected.

That last did not sting as much as the broken promise did, and after several long seconds Rika unclenched her left hand and looked down at it. For the briefest of moments she found herself remembering his hand wrapped tightly around her wrist, and proclaim to her that despite the danger posed to himself by continuing to hold onto her he would not let her go.

Rika's face softened at the memory of her birthday that had been little more than two months ago and now felt like an eternity. She felt as though she barely recognized herself now. She never imagined that within such a short time things would change so much for her, especially between herself and Takato. A part of her wondered, if Takato had done this back before they had become friends, would she have reacted any differently?

_Probably not,_ thought Rika. _I was too self-absorbed then. If I was insulted though, it probably would have been because Gogglehead would be hogging all the glory. Emphasis on 'Gogglehead hogging the glory'. That would have been a difficult blow for my pride to swallow. Imagine that…_

Rika sighed mentally, narrowing her eyes as she felt her anger ebb just a little bit.

_Great. Now I'm starting to forgive him for acting stupid._

At the thought, Rika's mind went to her conversation with Jeri, a rather perplexing moment now that she thought about it. Not so much in that Jeri had been trying to soothe her anger, she had half-expected that anyway, but more in the way she had expressed her feelings on Takato's actions.

_"Takato's a good person and he cares a lot about his friends…sometimes a little too much I think. Please don't hate him for it, but remind him that he has friends who want to be with him…"_

_Remind him, huh?_ Rika balled her left hand into a fist. Had things not been so dire she probably would have smirked. _Yeah, I'll 'remind him' all right._

"Hey, Rika."

"Hmmm?" The red haired girl turned to see Ryo looking at her with a questioning glance. "What?"

The Legendary Tamer seemed almost baffled by the way she had addressed him as there hadn't been an insult or jibe tagged onto it, as was customary from the Digimon Queen. However, he brushed it off quickly.

"I was just curious about this connection thing that you and Takato have."

Rika's violet eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Why do you want to know about that?"

Ryo leaned back on his spot on MegaGargomon's shoulder and chuckled lightly at the girl's reaction. She sounded as though he was asking a loaded question designed to embarrass her.

_Considering some of the things that have already happened between us, never mind how the whole thing is already affecting her, I can't say that I blame her._

"Take it easy there. I was just curious about why we had to bring Urocyomon with us when you have a link with Takato. Wouldn't you be able to find him on your own without any help?"

A light blush crossed Rika's cheeks and she looked away. In spite of her flustered look Ryo could tell that she was annoyed by the questioning.

"It doesn't work like that," Rika grumbled, checking on their progress through the desert, hoping to find some sign of their goggle-wearing friend.

"I don't know, Rika. Takato found you pretty easily on his own right before we got sent to the digital world."

Rika's eyes flashed as she turned back on the Legendary Tamer.

"And how would you know that?" she demanded heatedly.

"Jeri and I both saw what went down between you two," Ryo replied calmly. "Did you wonder why I ended up in the same place that you two did?"

Her blush increasing in intensity Rika glared at the boy while Renamon and Noriko both watched the two of them warily.

"I really don't think that what goes on between me and Takato is any of your business!"

Ryo sighed.

"Look. All I was asking about is whether or not you two can find each other without knowing where the other person is, and you're making it hard. Sometimes I wish that you'd trust me a little bit, like you did when you lent me your power in the last fight against D-Reaper. I'm not your enemy you know, no matter how many times you see me as one."

That did it. As though a curtain had been drawn Ryo saw a flicker of emotion cross his friend's face before she stilled it.

"I don't… _see_ you as an enemy," she said, meeting Ryo's eyes firmly. "It's just…things are complicated between me and Takato right now, and I'd rather not talk about them."

"I get that much," said Ryo with a nod of his head. "After what you two went through on that rooftop I can definitely get that much. But whatever you two have it must be pretty deep. You know Jeri supports you, right?"

"Let's _not_ talk about this," grated Rika, placing a hand against her forehead in exasperation. "I'm in a bad enough mood as it is over the whole thing and with Takato gone and my having to deal with you…" Rika paused. "Sorry."

"I'm pretty used to it by now," chuckled the Legendary Tamer. "I don't know all of the details, so I should probably stay out of this…"

"Best idea you've had all day so far…"

"… _But,"_ continued Ryo, ignoring Rika's jibe, "I'm pretty sure that Takato knew exactly how to find you without even knowing where you were. Jeri had only managed to leave a message for Takato when he was going to pick up Impmon's partners. She didn't give him any directions and he found you all the same. Then again, it could have been Guilmon's nose that did the job. It knows all. Or at least finds all."

Ryo smiled at Rika, but the girl didn't return it, and instead her gaze drifted over towards the distant, desert horizon. Ryo had definitely given her some food for thought, though it did little to help her in her current predicament.

_From the way it sounds,_ thought Rika, _Jeri knew what was going on…what I was about to do back then. How…?_

Rika allowed her thoughts to die off, not wanting to continue that line of thought as no answer would come to her, whether she asked it aloud or not. Somehow she doubted that Ryo would know. Jeri, Rika felt, could have deduced her thoughts on her own, as she had become quite perceptive over the past few months as to when someone was feeling bothered, and her own acknowledgement of her feelings for the brown haired boy that lay in both their hearts would have helped her in that regard. And there was more to that. Somehow, and Rika couldn't be sure as to how she knew this except perhaps from her increased awareness resulting from biomerging to become Sakuyamon, there was something about Jeri that felt as though it were _growing._ They all were in some regard. Takato, prior to losing Guilmon, had been steadily growing in strength, achieving his Crimson Mode and defeating enemies that not even all of them combined were able to handle. Rika herself had noticed a growth in her own capabilities as Sakuyamon, mainly with how she created spells and how her connections with her friends also served to give her greater strength than she ever thought possible while simultaneously bringing her closer to them. The growth of her bond with Takato, culminating in the creation of the link that they now shared, was the best example of that fact. And it had been forming for a while now, that much she realized if her dream about Takato was any indication.

"Hey Rika," spoke up Ryo once again, breaking the girl from her thoughts. Feeling a flash of annoyance Rika returned her attention to the Legendary Tamer.

_Does he ever just stay quiet?_ she wondered.

"What is it?" she asked, and though she tried to sound respectful, or at least civil, a touch of her irritation still bled into her words and she winced mentally at them. Ryo, for his part, continued as though everything were normal between them, which as far as their conversations went, was.

"You never did mention what you were going to tell us. Kenta said that you sent him to find everyone because you had something to tell us, but…"

"…Right," Rika groaned, already kicking herself for letting such an important thing slip in the wake of Takato's disappearance. "Terrific. Just…great."

Memories from her battle with the Warrior of Light filtered into her mind, and Rika pursed her lips together in deep thought. A part of her felt uncertain as to what to make of the encounter, and the things that she had learned. The fact that some of it involved the Legendary Tamer did double duty on confusing her just as much as it relieved a number of questions that she had about him and his partner. Looking over at the boy, Rika's violet colored eyes fixed themselves on Ryo's clear blue ones in contemplation.

"You really went through a lot, didn't you?" she said after a second. For an instant Rika swore she saw his face tense up, but ever the master of the poker face, Ryo eased a thin smile onto his lips.

"Seems like you have quite a story to tell."

"More like you do. You only touched on what you've been through, but you never did say much about it. I still don't know the full story but…" Rika paused and chewed over her lower lip thoughtfully. "…I'm sorry."

Ryo blinked, for once showing honest surprise.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry. Sorry for getting on your case so much back when we first met. I was… _really_ immature about it. You had a lot more things going on with you than just taming."

_Actually it was sort of taming,_ thought Ryo. _But I get the feeling that she thinks that my journeys from before happened around that time._ Ryo frowned, pondering on that thought for a moment before deciding to let it go. Mentioning anything else, he felt, would only add unnecessary complications.

"Well…thanks I guess," replied Ryo, feeling a sense of discomfort fall over him over Rika's unexpected apology. "I don't know what to say except…thanks."

Ryo felt flustered. He was sure that he should have said more, like perhaps that the apology wasn't necessary, as he certainly felt that it wasn't, but he had the feeling that Rika wouldn't accept that. Their first encounter since the tournament hadn't been the friendliest and looking back on it he would have been the first to point out everything that Rika was apologizing for, and she realized that. In retrospect, her grudge seemed like such a small thing when her rival had to deal with a powerful digital god who had psychologically tormented him and attempted to conquer the digital world on numerous occasions.

Yes. Ryo could definitely say that one tournament was hardly anything that was going to stick around in his mind.

Rika nodded, glancing at Ryo in embarrassment before finally smirking.

"Don't think that my saying that changes anything between us. It's not like I like you or anything."

Ryo grinned.

"I think you've already got someone else in mind, Wildcat. Trust me. I know when I'm beat."

"Funny hearing that from the guy who never loses."

"Are you saying that I was competing to begin with?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Anyway, about what I was going to tell you guys…" Rika paused and looked at Ryo suspiciously. "Hold on. Earlier Kenta was mentioning something about you doing something after I 'collapsed'. I want to know what it is before continuing."

Ryo raised an eyebrow in confusion, wondering what it was that he had done that could possibly cause Kenta to balk.

_Let's see…Noriko and I found her and Renamon lying on the ground and…_

"I just carried you," he replied.

"That's all?"

"That's all. Unless I did something else that even _I_ don't know about…"

Rika _tsked_ and shook her head.

"And Kenta _had_ to get all flustered over something like that?"

Next to her, Renamon, who had been silent throughout the conversation, regarded Rika with cool amusement. Rika, sensing it, let go a sigh.

"Don't say it, Renamon…"

"Well you _do_ have a reputation you know," said the vixen playfully. Ryo chuckled.

"And just now you were going to keep the digital world's secrets if I didn't talk. We're talking about the fate of the world here too."

"I get the picture," said Rika. "Anyway, about what I learned…I _talked_ to one of those 'Spirits' that have been popping up lately. Well, fought with it is more accurate, but we wound up talking towards the end."

"That sounds like how you get along with most people."

"Would you just shut up and listen already? I swear, you can be worse than Terriermon sometimes…"

Ryo couldn't help but grin at the self-proclaimed Digimon Queen, and gestured for her to continue with her story. Taking a deep breath, Rika continued.

"Anyway, do you remember that talk back at Hypnos where something called an 'Oni' got brought up?"

"Yeah," nodded Ryo. "I take it he's at the center of the whole thing?"

"That's about the size of it. I don't really understand half of what I was told, but it looks like Oni, whatever he is, is looking to destroy the digital world. And he's got a hold of something pretty powerful to pull it off."

"And that would be…?"

"The Digital Hazard," spoke up Renamon, a focused look appearing on her face as she gazed towards the horizon.

"Yeah," nodded Rika. "It's that weird symbol that Dino boy has had plastered on him from day one…"

"No," Renamon pointed ahead of them. "The Digital Hazard."

"Wha…?"

Looking over to where Renamon was pointing, air seemed to shimmer ahead of them. Furrowing her brow, Rika tried to figure out what was going on only to quickly receive her answer when a column of crimson light suddenly burst free from the ground, ripping upwards and arching towards the digital representation of the Earth like a volcanic eruption. MegaGargomon and his passengers all cried out in surprise and swerved to avoid hitting the column. The giant Mega level digimon hissed under his breath as a small section of one of his wrist's gun barrels collided with the light, leaving a trail of sparkling data flowing behind them as they flew.

"HENRY!" cried out Noriko in surprise and worry. "ARE YOU OKAY?!"

_"We're fine, we're fine,"_ called back Terriermon's voice before giggling. _"Wow. She sure sounds worried about you. She totally forgot I was even here."_

_"Terriermon…"_

Before the long-eared digimon could even begin to reply, another beam of light ripped free from the ground and launched itself upwards towards them. Reacting on pure reflex, MegaGargomon flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding being skewered on the beam. His passengers, taken completely by surprise by this unexpected movement ended up flying through the air as they were launched from their 'seats'. Kuzuhamon grabbed hold of Urocyomon with ease and glanced around her, trying to quickly locate the other Tamers and digimon.

_No…_ Kuzuhamon's eyes widened beneath her mask as she found them. They were moving through the air at far too fast a pace for her to catch in time, and already another beam of blood red light was breaking free from the ground and reaching towards them. She was helpless to do anything to save them…

_"Biomerge activate!"_ Called out Ryo and Rika, both of them moving in time as they thrust their digivices towards them. A bright light burst free from their D-Arcs and enveloped their bodies, transforming them into pure data and merging them with their partners. Cyberdramon and Renamon's bodies changed and began to take on a more humanoid appearance. Spheres of data surrounded them as their digivolution began to complete themselves, and shattered within milliseconds as they signaled the completion of their evolution.

_"Renamon…"_

_"Cyberdramon…"_

_"Biomerge tooo…"_

_"Sakuyamon!"_

_"Justimon!"_

Wasting no time, Sakuyamon lashed out with her bronze vajra staff and Justimon grabbed hold of it with one arm. Swiftly moving, the shaman digimon swung the scarf wearing hero in a wide arc until he let go, launching himself towards the helpless Noriko, who had no means to rescue herself. Grabbing hold of the gasping girl, Justimon did a barrel roll in midair. A ring of data surrounded his body, and the two of them disappeared, only to reappear a distance behind Sakuyamon, where they began to fall. Before they could get very far however, MegaGargomon's massive hands reached out and broke their fall.

"Thanks for the save," chuckled Justimon, saluting his giant friend as he set Noriko down in MegaGargomon's palm.

"Don't mention it," nodded MegaGargomon. "What's going on here?"

"You should recognize what's going on," said Sakuyamon as she flew over to her friends. "Do you remember what happened when Takato forced Guilmon to become Megidramon?"

Within his data sphere, Henry nodded.

_"Yeah, but I don't remember seeing these then."_ Henry looked worryingly to the side as three more columns of light ripped free from the ground and aimed towards the sky. _"Are you saying that this is what's happening now?"_

Sakuyamon nodded.

"The Digital Hazard has been unleashed."

_"Great,"_ grumbled Terriermon's voice. _"What could Gogglehead be doing that's got him acting up like this?"_

_"This_ _ **isn't**_ _Takato!"_ exclaimed Rika angrily as she gripped her staff in a threatening manner. Justimon watched the shaman warily while simultaneously keeping an eye on their surroundings. Unlike Henry he remembered seeing the digital world becoming enveloped by beams of light emanating from the landscape. Although he didn't know the exact time and date that the digimon known as Megidramon had been created, a story that by itself still stunned and amazed him due to what he had seen from Takato both before and since his 'incident' with dark digivolution. If he hadn't known about Megidramon, he would have definitely believed that the Digital Hazard was in no way connected to the boy.

_"For some reason though, Rika seems to think that it's not in this case…"_

_"The Hazard had been sealed in Guilmon when he was reborn,"_ put in Cyberdramon. Ryo raised an eyebrow.

_"How do you know that?"_

_"I could sense it pulsating within him."_

_"None of the other digimon has mentioned anything like that before."_

Ryo received no other reply from his partner save for a low growl, causing the Legendary Tamer to furrow his brow in deep thought.

_I wonder if his being merged with Milleniummon has anything to do with it. Cyberdramon was always a bit different from other partner digimon because of that. Even some of our abilities when we're biomerged are a bit off from what they should be._ Ryo's frown deepened as he thought of the dark digital god and he looked up at the sky, pondering Milleniummon's motives once more. With each passing day he got the feeling that he was going to see him again. It was no longer a question of 'if' now that he had spoken to him on several occasions, had been saved by him and even borrowed his power. It was now a question of 'when'.

Ryo didn't have time to focus on his worries for very long as now more and more crimson pillars erupted from the digital desert and rose towards the sky. MegaGargomon looked at them worriedly.

"This is bad. We're not going to be able to maneuver through this many very easily. We're going to have to separate and move separately from here on out."

_"That's not too much of a problem,"_ said Justimon in Ryo's voice. _"Anyone who can fly can ferry those that can't. Cyberdramon and I can separate so there's no need to worry about us."_

" _Yeah, but the lower the level the more danger we're going to be in,"_ pointed out MegaGargomon in Henry's voice. _"I don't know about you, but there's something about these things that doesn't feel right."_

_"Yeah,"_ spoke up Terriermon's voice. _"Because the weird, inky blackness crawling up those things is kind of a dead giveaway."_

_"Wait. What?"_

All eyes turned towards the crimson pillars and proceeded to widen as they saw what appeared to be liquid darkness begin to fill them. A dark blue aura surrounded the obelisks and a cold chill was soon felt upon the air. Shuddering slightly, Sakuyamon resisted the urge to hug herself. There was definitely a sense of malevolence in the air and it pulsated like a heartbeat. The last time she had felt genuinely afraid of something had been during the final battle against the D-Reaper when the Reaper form had crawled out of the portal to the digital world to merge with the Mother form in the real world. The sensation then was different as Rika had felt as though she were staring a storm of insanity and horror in the eye. This time however was different as it felt as though she were in the calm of a storm, and waiting for a predator to pounce. She had never before been afraid of the dark, even when she had been a child, but for the first time she imagined that this must be what it felt like to be afraid of those unseen monsters that forever lie at the edge of vision and disappear just as quickly.

_We've got to keep moving,_ thought Rika as sense of frantic worry settled over her heart. _We've got to find Takato. I can feel that he's already in some kind of trouble._ Raising one hand to her chest, Sakuyamon swallowed nervously and worked to compose herself.

"C'mon you guys," she said after a moment. "We're not getting anywhere fast this way. We've got to hurry."

"Rika," said Justimon. "Didn't you say that this was what we're going to face? That we _need_ to face this in order to save the digital world?"

"What's this now?" asked MegaGargomon.

"This isn't the time," interrupted Sakuyamon. "Look, I'll explain on the way but we have to get Takato and get back to the village. We _need_ to get Takato before it's too late." Sakuyamon winced as she felt a sliver of pain float through the back of her mind. Focusing her attention on her bond with Takato, she strove to see through his eyes. The bond reverberated in her mind as strongly as it ever did. After what felt like an eternity she reached out and tested the waters.

_"Takato?"_

A vision of a nightmare dragon assaulted her senses, and at once Sakuyamon doubled over in surprise, coughing as pain erupted throughout her body. Surprised, Sakuyamon fought to regain her composure. She quickly realized that wherever Takato was, he wasn't going to be able to contact her without breaking his concentration, and that, she could tell, he was going to need every ounce if he was going to survive. Clenching one hand tightly Sakuyamon bit her lip and looked off fiercely towards the horizon.

"Urocyomon! _Where_ do we go now?"

The silver furred fox coughed lightly and grimaced.

"These light columns are making a mess of my senses, but I think that we can keep going in the direction we've been moving in. I'm getting a vague sense that we're on the right path."

Sakuyamon nodded and with a forceful nudge with her mind, the shaman priestess began to move forward.

It was at that precise moment that all digital reality began to go to hell.

A loud roar resounded upon the air and the pillars of dark light began to shake. Flames leapt up their sides and they descended downwards like serpents, dragon-like heads appearing at their tops and crimson eyes glowing fiercely. Vicious growls filled the desert and massive cracks began to form along the desert floor and fire appeared within their depths, pulsing eagerly as though desiring to greet the digimon who floated above them. Bringing herself to a halt, Sakuyamon looked at them warily and prepared to defend herself. _You are mine,_ is what the flames seemed to say to her, to _all_ of them. _You are not going anywhere._

Silence held for an eternally long second, one that all of them would remember for years to come before a loud, long, crying sound, like that of a horror filled child broke it. Clutching the sides of her head, Rika felt as though something within her were shattering, but her indomitable spirit rose up against the keening cry. Gritting her teeth, Rika glared at the burning, serpent heads. She would not lose to them. She would _not…lose!_

_Takato's out there. I won't let these rejects keep me from reaching him. I…_ won't!

White light enveloped Sakuyamon's body and her body shifted, losing the armor and black body suit in exchange for the long, flowing white colored robe of her Kabuki Mode, enhanced by the power of the Warrior of Light that dwelt within her. The horror-filled crying swiftly turned to that of pure, unbridled rage and the dragons dove forward just as the fire below turned black and the ground burst upwards in a catastrophic explosion.

Light met darkness, and in that moment, time held its breath.


	166. 165: Forces of Destiny

"This sucks," grumbled Kazu, kicking at sand in a show of frustration. Ayaka watched him with an annoyed expression on her face.

"So you've mentioned for the past 600 times. Can you tell us something that we don't already know?"

"Just ignore him, Ayaka," said Kenta in an attempt to soothe the girl. Ayaka merely _hmmphed_ and folded her arms over her chest.

"Easy for you to say. You've been friends with the toad for about as long as I can remember. I'm still getting used to the idea of having to hang out with you guys on a regular basis, and Kazu grates on my nerves even when I _don't_ see him."

Kenta let go of an audible sigh, unsure of how to respond to that. He knew perfectly well that Ayaka was not fond of Kazu (something that he had once jokingly mentioned that it was her way of expressing a fondness towards, a possibility that had been completely _blown_ out of the water recently), but he hadn't thought that she would be this resentful of having to share space with him, or even friendship, be it with him or any of the other Tamers. Kenta got the distinct feeling that an interesting time was ahead of them, though whether that would be a good thing remained to be seen. He himself certainly had no way of knowing which it could be.

"I'm not exactly thrilled to be stuck here with you either, Ayaka," grumbled Kazu. "But I'm thrilled even less about having to sit things out here and wait for the others to come back with Takato and that Lumemon guy. I mean, I thought we were a team! Aren't teams supposed to be out there helping each other?"

A gust of wind swept over the visor-wearing boy as Crusadermon elegantly landed on the ground beside him, sweeping her ribbons through the air.

"As much as it would pain my partner to hear me admit that I agree with you, I have to say that I'm not all too eager to sit here anymore than you." Kazu fixed the pink armored Royal Knight with a quizzical expression, taken aback by the acknowledgement. "However," she continued, "the Legendary Tamer and his companions did make a number of important points concerning our overall ability to fight and the necessity of speed required for the task of locating your two comrades."

"But…it's Takato! I can't just let this go and wait for the others!"

"Uh…Kazu? Remember what Tai said about thinking with your head and not your heart?"

"Grow up Kenta! Digimon's just a little kid's show." Ignoring the look of shock on Kenta's face, the boy glowered at the ground, fists clenched tightly, and looking as though he was forcing himself to say those words. "As much as I liked it, this isn't the TV show. This is the real deal. Sitting around while our friends are in danger just isn't my style."

"I suggest you make it your style," growled Crusadermon warningly. Guardromon, who had been standing behind Kazu, placed a hand on his partner's shoulder, hoping to calm him down.

"Kazu, please…"

"Are you threatening me, you pink cat, reject?!" shot back Kazu, ignoring his partner as he focused his attention on Crusadermon. The Royal Knight flexed her fingers, and without any warning at all, her yellow ribbons lashed out and wrapped themselves around the boy, pinning his arms to his sides and halting all of his movements save for the ability to breathe and speak.

"Ayaka?" asked Crusadermon dispassionately. "Do I have permission to dispose of this annoying gnat of a Tamer? It seems he's in the mood for committing suicide…"

"Uh…Crusadermon…" began Ayaka worriedly, only to be interrupted as Jeri Katou, who had just rounded the corner from behind a building. A bundle carrying a number of Chuchidarumon 'mud balls' fell to the ground as Jeri rushed forward and grabbed hold of Crusadermon's ribbons, trying to undo them.

"What are you doing?!" demanded Jeri angrily, startling Crusadermon. Instinctively the Royal Knight tightened her grip on the boy, causing him to choke. "Ayaka!"

"L-Let him go, Crusadermon!" called out Ayaka, snapping back to attention, and with that Crusadermon quickly loosened her ribbons and retracted them, leaving a now unsupported Kazu to collapse into Jeri and Guardromon's arms. She looked at the humans gathered around her apologetically.

"I'm…sorry. I reacted without thinking."

"Kazu?" asked Jeri, cupping the boy's face in her hands to make sure that he was all right. Kazu, with some effort, pushed her away in an attempt to catch his breath.

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" he muttered. Jeri let go of a sigh before turning a fearsome look onto Crusadermon and Ayaka.

"Someone want to tell me what was going on just now?"

"Sorry," said Kenta, stepping forward. "Kazu was talking about how we should go after the others, and, um, I guess Crusadermon tried to convince him otherwise."

Behind him, Ayaka fixed her partner with a stern look.

"Tried to convince him a little _too_ much, if you ask me…"

"Kazu," sighed Jeri. "I…" Jeri paused. What could she say to soothe his desire to help his friends? For as long as she had known him she knew that his loyalty to those close to him was rarely matched by anyone else, and if he thought he could (and even if he didn't) he would move the heavens themselves to save them. It had been his defining characteristic, and one that most often got him into trouble when it came to taming.

_Especially these days,_ thought Jeri, remembering how he had changed following the death of Guilmon.

"Look," said Jeri, forcing a smile onto her face. "I can see that everyone's nerves are a little frazzled. So why don't we try and do something to relax, okay? Miki and Suzie are playing with the little Chuchidarumon and…um…" Jeri paused and looked at Crusadermon, who simply stared back at her. With her helmet on there was no easy way to tell what was going on in her mind, but Jeri was left uncertain as to whether it would be a good idea to have a Mega mingle with young digimon.

_Well, she probably wouldn't want to do something like that anyway._

"It's kind of hard to relax when we don't know what's going on out there," said Ayaka, rubbing one arm anxiously. "Come to think of it, I also have to agree with Kazu on this one. We're just _sitting_ here!"

Jeri nodded her head in sympathy.

"I know. Believe me. I know. But sometimes you have to have faith that people you care about will make it home safely."

Ayaka's frowned, slightly confused by her friend's words before a quick nudge and a meaningful look from Kenta struck the chord of memory within her. Ayaka's eyes widened and her mouth transformed into one big 'O', but before she could say anything, Kenta nudged her again.

"C'mon. I think we ought to take a look at Gyojamon and see how he's doing."

"Uh…right," replied Ayaka, giving Jeri one last look before the two of them, including MarineAngemon departed. Crusadermon stood her ground for a moment, watching Jeri before holding out a hand towards Kazu.

"What do you want?" asked Kazu.

"I believe you humans call it 'lending a hand'. It's an experience I'm trying to experience more of."

Kazu glared at the Royal Knight for a few seconds before getting up on his own, ignoring the offer of help. Turning, Kazu spoke up.

"You know…just because you're partnered to Ayaka now, doesn't really mean that you're a part of the group."

"Kazu!" scolded Jeri.

"Let's go Guardromon," said Kazu, moving forward. Guardromon lingered for a second, offering Crusadermon an apologetic look.

"My apologies my lady," said the android, bowing slightly. "He can come off as rough around the edges, but he means well. Please don't take his words to heart. After all, I know that he doesn't."

"GUARDROMON! LET'S GO!"

"Oop. Got to move. Crusadermon. Young Katou." Bowing once more respectfully, Guardromon turned and joined his partner as he stormed off into the village. Jeri sighed as she watched him go.

"Humans," she said after a moment of silence. "We can be so strange."

"You say that as though you aren't one," said Crusadermon. Jeri blushed lightly in embarrassment.

"Sorry. I guess it's just that I just had a chance to look at my emotions from another perspective."

"Well, I would have to agree with you on that account. My interactions with humans have been limited so far, but I can see that there is little about you that make sense. Is it a common habit for you to never say what you mean?"

"You could say that. For a long time I used to pretend to smile so that none of my friends would worry about me or become sad as well. Kazu's different though. I don't know all the details but I know that the two of you fought."

"Yes. I attempted to upload his partner on more than one occasion. I do not expect him to accept me for that."

"Well," began Jeri uneasily, remembering the rather rocky beginnings of her friendship with Impmon, "it's not going to be easy, but I think he'll let it go."

"You think too optimistically."

"With good reason though." A smile graced Jeri's features, and her face took on a radiant glow from it. "You could say that we have a knack for having that kind of faith."

"Faith. You spoke of it earlier, about having 'faith' that those close to you will be safe even in the greatest of dangers." Crusadermon turned her head towards the small brunette. "From what I've heard, that faith has not been consistent."

"No," admitted Jeri. "Leomon was the only one who wasn't able to go home. He sacrificed himself so that we could have that chance."

_Impmon would say that it only made things worse too,_ Jeri thought to herself. _He tried so hard to save me from the D-Reaper, and failed. And then he found out that he couldn't bring back Leomon without killing himself, and I wouldn't let him do that. I know that didn't help him feel any better about what he did, and after what happened to Guilmon because of their battle…_

Jeri let go of a sigh. If it hadn't been for the losses that they all shared from the events of the past year, she would have felt awe over how any single event in their adventures brought with it a slew of others crashing onto them like a domino effect.

"Are you prepared to allow that to happen again?" asked Crusadermon. "Have friends throw their lives away for the sake of protecting the others when you can do something?"

"I…I wish that I could do something. But..." Jeri drifted off, uncertain as to how to continue.

"I see," said Crusadermon, sounding as though she were amused as well as disappointed. "You're quite right. Humans are indeed strange creatures. Faced with their own powerlessness they entreat upon fate to deal them a better hand."

"What would you do?" asked Jeri.

"Perhaps I'm not the best choice to ask that question to. I could act if I chose to, or if Ayaka desired that I act. I have the power to do so. Gallantmon, _my_ Gallantmon, once told me that actions propel fate, intertwining with destiny towards that inevitable end point." Crusadermon _hmmphed_ scornfully. "Of course, he also claimed that one didn't need power to choose your destiny. At least, no more power than the ability to choose and to move one's feet." Crusadermon raised one hand and massaged her helmet as though she were getting a headache. "Ugh. The digital world must be ending if I'm quoting from that Royal Knight of all digimon. He was always too passionate. Led too much with his heart. Almost like Dynasmon, only with a sense of kinship rather than the chains of honor."

"You know another Gallantmon?" asked Jeri before answering her own question. "Oh, right. I think Dracmon said something about that before.

"Your friend is hardly unique," replied Crusadermon. "But…there's definitely _something_ about him, and _any_ Gallantmon for that matter, that is different from other digimon, and I don't mean in how powerful they are. They all like spouting nonsense about friendship. Even Yggdrasil has…taken note of it."

Jeri furrowed her brow, remembering something a conversation that she had heard Henry and Takato having sometime after their first set of adventures with the digital world had ended. It had entailed their encounter with Shibumi, and how Shibumi had postulated the idea that they had been created specifically for their digimon, or possibly vice versa. Whichever the case, it seemed that Henry was of the opinion that their Mega forms represented their inner self given a physical body, and that the digimon were the key to bringing it out of them.

_"Yeah,"_ she remembered Takato saying afterwards, _"but weren't those Mega forms made by a bunch of artists for a gaming company? How could they have made Mega forms that fit you, Rika, and Ryo so well? You make it sound like they knew we were going to become Tamers before we did."_

Jeri couldn't help but giggle a little at the memory. After that, their conversation had devolved into a joking manner about a great gaming conspiracy. It had certainly given her much food for thought later that evening, and even more so now that she knew Gallantmon wasn't quite the original digimon that she, Takato, and the others thought he was. All the same, it left her wondering about the nature of the digital world that created digimon that fit their human partners so perfectly.

"Crusadermon!" called out Ayaka, her voice echoing off of the Chuchidarumon huts as she finally realized that her partner wasn't with her. "Where are you?"

Crusadermon sighed.

"I must go," she told Jeri, and with that she leapt into the air and vanished from sight. Jeri nodded and soon began moving herself. She walked slowly down the streets, taking her time, but uncertain as to where she was going. She paused when she passed a mud ball and bent down to collect them from where she had dropped them. She brushed the sand off of them, all the while thinking of her friends who were out there. More than ever she wanted to protect them and help them, but she knew that she couldn't. She just wasn't strong enough…

_Stop it!_ Jeri scolded herself, remembering her conversation with Rika when the girl had gotten angry at her for thinking that way. But the thought stuck with her all the same. It was one that she couldn't help. All too often since Leomon's death she had been on the sidelines, watching and waiting, or just waiting to see her friends come home safe and sound. She had to watch helplessly when a news report showed Takato trying to keep Rika from falling off of Locomon, and then everyone fight back to back in a nearly hopeless battle against the invading Parasimon. And she hadn't been able to help Takato in his battle against Lucemon when he arrived…

Jeri's hand paused in its reaching towards another mud ball as she noticed that the air around it was warping. A low chuckle resounded upon the air and the warp intensified.

_"Really Jeri,"_ spoke up a voice. _"How many times have we had this conversation? You do yourself far too little credit. You are so much more than what you believe yourself to be."_

"Wha…? Who's there?"

As though in response to her question, a faint glow appeared in Jeri's skirt's pocket. Gasping in realization, the brown haired girl reached into it and pulled out the damaged _SolMilleniummon_ card. Before her surprised eyes, the card began reconstructing itself. Burn marks, frayed edges, and holes disappeared as the paper extended itself, returning to its original, pristine form.

"You…" Jeri whispered, suddenly uncertain. She remembered the stories that Ryo had spoken of, and in spite of her experiences with the entity she was on her guard. Nonetheless, she did not feel any of the malevolence that Ryo had mentioned. Just a vast presence that continued to manifest itself with each passing second and enfold around her like a sphere. "W-What do you want?"

Once more the voice laughed.

_"What I want? You know what I want. The question is…do you have the resolve to help me? After all, only you can break the final barriers between light…and darkness."_

* * *

Gallantmon crashed to the ground with explosive force, feeling his shield shatter in his hand. Within his data sphere, Takato bit back a cry of pain and his partner did likewise, refusing to surrender any sign of pain to their opponent. They lay still for a moment as the cloud kicked up by their landing obscured their battered form, trying desperately to recover. The sound of metal shards hitting armor, remnants from their destroyed shield, filled the air, followed swiftly by the sound of a low, demonic hiss.

_"Well…"_ Takato began as the pain in his head subsided just a bit to allow clear thinking. _"I'm open to ideas."_

_"My head got all scrambled Takato,"_ said Guilmon from the darkness surrounding the boy's data sphere. _"I can't think of any good ideas."_

_"That's okay, boy. Agunimon? How about you? Are you still with us?"  
"Yeah,"_ spoke up the Legendary Warrior of Fire. _"Man. It's been a long time since I've felt like this. Getting in a fight and everything…it makes a mon feel alive!"_

_"I can't believe I'm saying this but please focus. We're kind of in a jam here."_

_"Uh…yeah. Right. Sorry."_

_"So, any ideas on what we should do? This looks pretty bad. Feels it too."_

_"No argument here, Takato. This isn't good. I'm picking up the others, and it feels like they've just ran into trouble."_

_"I know,"_ nodded Takato, a sliver of emotion worming its way through the connection he shared with Rika. _"I can feel it."_

_"We've got to get out of here and help them,"_ insisted Agunimon.

_"But what about Lumemon?"_ asked Guilmon. _"We can't just leave him like this!"_

_"We don't have a choice! The Hazard just woke up, and if everyone's not together we're going to lose_ everything! _Don't you get it?!"_

The ground shook beneath them, and Gallantmon's gold colored eyes snapped open just in time to see a massive, clawed foot descending towards them. An alarm went off inside Gallantmon's head and he swiftly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the giant dragon as its foot smashed down onto the desert floor. Leaping to his feet the Royal Knight leapt into the air, deftly dodging the crimson tail belonging to the Megidramon portion of the creature. Gallantmon pushed his flight capabilities as hard as he could, desperate to gain some distance between himself and the dragonic creature attacking them. Undaunted by this act, the creature turned and began spitting blazing fireballs at the knight, forcing him to duck and dodge in a bid to keep from getting struck. With each narrowly missed shot, Gallantmon's cape sizzled and a portion of it burnt away. Even the white and red armor took on a dark discoloration from the sheer proximity of the flames. Within his data sphere Takato hissed painfully and grabbed his shoulder, as though he were being burned from the inside out by the heat.

_"Wow. Talk about hot stuff."_

_"You've been hanging out with Terriermon for too long, Takato."_

_"Guilmon…"_

_"Guys,"_ spoke up Agunimon. _"This isn't the time to be joking around. We've got to get out of here and help the others!"_

Takato narrowed his eyes and took a look at the dragon digimon below them. Twelve wings imprinted with the crests of the seven sins beat themselves upon the air, and the dragon began to rise upwards. Steam rose from the gaps between the jaws of the creature's marred, mix-and-match face of Megidramon and Lucemon Shadow Lord Mode, and their eyes glared venomously at Gallantmon.

_"Somehow I don't think we have a choice in this,"_ said Takato, echoing Agunimon's words. _"He seems pretty determined to come after us."_

As though to confirm Takato's words, the dragon that had once been Lumemon let loose a powerful roar and expelled a giant fireball from its mouth.

_"Great. Just great…"_ muttered Agunimon under his breath as Gallantmon dodged to the side. The knight's cape began to blacken as the heat passed over them like a giant wave. Seeing this, Agunimon felt a light bulb flicker on inside his mind and a small smile appeared on his face. _"Actually…I think I might have an idea after all. It involves the power of slide evolution…"_

_"If you think it'll work just do it!"_ exclaimed Takato as he threw Gallantmon's body to the side. The dragon creature's claws swiped through the air where they had once been, and it howled angrily in response to its failed attack. A swath of data flew over Gallantmon's body, disappearing rapidly. Takato blinked in surprise. He didn't feel any different, although his data sphere looked to be a lot darker than he remembered it to be. In fact…

The seven sin crests glowed ominously on the dragon's wings, and fire licked at its mouth as it took aim once more.

_This isn't good,_ thought Takato as both he and Guilmon braced themselves to dodge the oncoming attack. The attack didn't come however as, much to Takato's surprise the dragon jerked unexpectedly, its pupils dilating. Takato's surprise grew to even greater degrees when he heard Guilmon snarl and lunge their lance forward. Electricity lanced outwards as an achingly familiar cry left their lips.

_"Demons Disaster!"_

The dragon roared angrily as knight's attack struck home at its face, and its claws flew upwards to ward it off. His mouth dropping in shock, Takato forced their arm back to a defensive position and looked down at his and Guilmon's combined body. Blue and black armor had replaced red and white, and their cape had also taken on an azure tint to it. Their form retained the same sharp angles and alterations that had occurred following Guilmon's rebirth, but this was a new spin on a digimon that Takato thought he would never see again.

ChaosGallantmon.

_"Huh?! What happened?!"_

_"Sorry,"_ apologized Agunimon. _"I forgot that it would cause your partner to run a little wild. Digimon can sometimes shift forms and levels through a process called Slide Evolution. Few can do it, but for us Legendary Warriors it was something of our specialty. I used the same trick here, and shifted over to a form that Lumemon's two separate selves were familiar with. I was kind of hoping to confuse it, and it looks like it worked…"_ Agunimon paused to take stock of the dragon's situation. Its eyes were now open and glaring _angrily_ at them. _"…Uh…sort of."_

_"Turn us back! Turn us back!"_

_"That might be a bad idea. ChaosGallantmon has more power and…"_

The dragon roared and stormed forward, flames roaring forth from its maw. Again, ChaosGallantmon dodged out of the way, only this time, guided by the more aggressive, viral instincts that the form provided them, he lashed out. With an instinctive cry of _Demons Disaster_ , blue electricity shot forth and tore a hole in the dragon's wing imprinted with the Crest of Pride. The dragon howled and a dark aura surrounded its body. Before ChaosGallantmon's surprised eyes the aura expanded outwards and took shape, appearing as a massive centaur like creature. A long hand swept outwards, slamming into ChaosGallantmon's body before he had time to react to it and the force of the blow tore a trench through the desert floor.

_"This is_ really _bad!"_ Takato exclaimed as ChaosGallantmon pushed himself out of the trench. _"That last one took a lot out of us. Agunimon…you're going to have to lend us some of your power."_

_"You sure? When we first started fighting you didn't want to hurt this guy."_

_"We're at the point where we're going to get destroyed if we don't do something! As much as I hate to hurt someone innocent, we can't afford to be gentle!"_ ChaosGallantmon's eyes softened as he looked at the dragon above him. _"Man…there's got to be some way that we can reach him!"_

_"Better get moving first,"_ said Agunimon as the dragon's roar broke through the goggle-wearing Tamer's thoughts. Summoning all of his strength, ChaosGallantmon jumped back into the sky just as a searing fireball fell to the ground, detonating with explosive force. Temporarily obscured by the cloud of sand and fused glass, ChaosGallantmon took a moment to envelop himself in a sphere of data, shifting forms back to Gallantmon.

_"You'll lose power that way,"_ noted Agunimon.

_"I know,"_ said Takato. _"But that kind of thing isn't good for Guilmon, or anyone. We're going to need a clear head for this fight, and we won't get anywhere if all we're doing is trying to match this guy."_ Gallantmon narrowed his eyes, trying to peer through the sand cloud. A large shadow shifted behind the cloud and he raised his lance accordingly.

_"There you are!"_ exclaimed a strange voice from the shadow, and a dark hand shot forth, grabbing hold of Gallantmon tightly, nearly crushing his armor. His lance arm remained free however, and with a cry of _Lightning Joust_ he sliced his weapon through the air, segmenting the shadowy arm at the elbow and causing the hand that held him to let go. Before he could fall back and recover, the two-faced, demonic dragon flew out of the cloud, its giant maw opening just enough to encompass the Royal Knight before snapping shut. Gallantmon caught the roof of the dragon's mouth before it could close completely. Armor creaked and groaned and his digital bones nearly buckled under the pressure, but Gallantmon held firm.

_"I'm really,_ really _sorry about this,"_ groaned Takato as he raised his lance and took aim at the back of the dragon's mouth.

_"Megiddo Flame!"_ growled the dragon in Megidramon's voice, and the mouth suddenly lit up.

The next thing Gallantmon knew was a torrential fireball exploding on him.


	167. 166: War and Loss

Metal burned blood red from the heat that baked off of the creature's armor as it rose into the air and spines, like curved, arching talons grew out of its back and shoulders, appearing as an obscene forest that made a mockery of all life. Bone jaws snapped together, and razor sharp fangs clicked as a low, guttural growl emerged from deep within its throat. Claws, shining silver, opened and closed and a massive, serpentine tail flickered behind a long, bony head crest that bore eyes filled with hatred, and a black aura, almost liquid in the way that it moved around the dragon's body like a living creature, extended a pair of shadowy wings. A blood-red symbol, a single triangle contained within a circle surrounded by three more, smaller triangles, pulsated like a beating heart. The creature drew itself up into the air, testing it with its nose and growled again. The sound had a low, hollow sound as though it were being made in a dank, empty prison cell where hope did not exist. As it did growled, the world seemed to shudder and bend, as though repulsed by the very existence of the creature, desiring to be as far away as it possibly could. The black aura extended outwards, almost greedily, sending tendrils that quickly formed into dragon-like heads. One of these serpents drew close to the desert floor, and the ground _shivered_ from its proximity and distorted, only to return to normal once the head was raised upwards.

Black smoke billowed upwards, obscuring its figure from those that had stood against it. The creature's eyes narrowed dangerously into slits. It could smell those that had dared oppose it. They weren't far off. They were trying to recover.

The dragon's eyes almost seemed to laugh. It wouldn't give them that chance.

A need beat within its breast in time to the pulsating Hazard symbol that sat emblazoned on it. A need that fell to the very core of its being where within lay the cries of a child, frightened and forlorn. There wouldn't be any respite for that voice; no soothing hand to rest its pain. Right now there was only wrath, and it would bring all of its fire down on those who allowed devastation to rain upon…upon…what? The creature snarled. It didn't know. It didn't care. All that was needed was destruction. _Satiation_ to its rage. To a _wish_ that fueled it.

In that moment, crimson eyes burned white and black wings took on hand-like shapes that extended into clawed curves. The dragon's mouth opened up its mouth and let loose a powerful roar that shook the landscape. Data shattered where the dragon stood and began to expand outwards. An all-devouring black hole.

Nothing would escape its wrath.

_Nothing._

* * *

"What… _is_ that?" asked a voice as the smoke began to clear.

Noriko stood behind a rock with the others, staring in awe and horror at the latest threat to manifest itself in the digital world. For once, even Terriermon was speechless.

"Good question," said Ryo, taking out his digivice while Henry did likewise. Twin holographic circles materialized over their screens, displaying the creature's stats for them to see.

Gehenmon

Stage: Unknown

Type: Unknown

Special Attacks: Unknown

"W-Well…" Terriermon bit his lip and swallowed, silently cursing himself for stammering. "…At least we got its name and mailing a-address."

"This isn't the time for jokes, Terriermon," said Henry, though he certainly wished that it was.

"Sorry…"

"Don't be," said Ryo, turning towards Urocyomon and Kuzuhamon. They were standing guard over an unconscious Rika, who was being tended to by Renamon. The vulpine digimon wore a worried expression on her face as the girl shifted uncomfortably and groaned. "How's she doing?"

"It seems that she's fine," replied Renamon. Her azure eyes flickered up to the Legendary Tamer meaningfully. "But…"

"Yeah," Ryo nodded. _"But."_

With an effort Ryo looked back over at Gehenmon. There was no getting around it. He was worried. Scarcely more than five minutes ago they had all been in their Mega forms, and Rika and Renamon in their Kabuki Mode (that had somehow been upgraded) had been striving to hold off a blast of raw power erupting from the digital world. They could all sense that Sakuyamon had gained strength… _incredible_ strength that possibly matched, if not rivaled the power that backed Gallantmon in his Crimson Mode.

That strength stood up about as well as a lit match in a storm. Within seconds Sakuyamon's Mega form lost all cohesion, her concentration broke as all of a sudden a cry was ripped free from her lips, and within short order they were all blasted away. The force of the explosion knocked everyone who was in a biomerged form out of it, and the next thing they all knew the ground was getting closer at an alarming rate.

_Rika was the best shot that we had too,_ admitted Ryo. _If it hadn't been for Kuzuhamon's spells and Cyberdramon's tenacity, we'd all be goners. No question._

Ryo took a deep, shuddering breath and let it go. Never before had he faced an opponent that had been quite this overwhelming in one shot. He didn't think any existed.

_Well…unless you count all those times that Milleniummon settled for toying with me…_

Ryo couldn't help but feel a shiver crawl its way down his back.

_Great. What do we do now?_

"What do we do?" asked Henry, unknowingly repeating Ryo's inner question. The Legendary Tamer furrowed his brow and observed the situation.

"Wait and see what that digimon does," he said. "We don't know anything about it. For all we know it might not have anything to do with us."

"I sure _hope_ it doesn't have anything to do with us!" exclaimed Terriermon. "I'd hate to have to fight that thing! Does it have a _Hazard_ sign on its chest?! Please tell me that it doesn't…"

"I'm sorry to say that it does," grimaced Ryo. He looked over at Henry. "You don't think that Takato has anything to do with this, do you?"

Behind them Urocyomon shook his head in negation.

"No. Impossible. Your friend isn't anywhere close to this place. And that _thing…_ it doesn't have Guilmon's scent to it. That is something else entirely." Urocyomon bared his teeth distastefully as he looked at the dragon. "Something _corrupt."_

"Do you know anything about this… _Gehenmon?"_

"There have been stories," spoke up Kuzuhamon this time. "But I've only heard snatches of them from the Mother. She never spoke much about them, but what she did say referenced a great power that had been sealed away. What that power is, or whom it was sealed by no one knows, but it's been said that there are some digimon who bear the mark of its influence upon their bodies."

"The Digital Hazard," said Ryo.

"Boy, we've heard that one a lot already," said Terriermon. "This thing is pretty problematic. Remind me again why Takato drew it on Guilmon again?"

"He didn't Terriermon," said Henry. "He said so himself at the meeting with Hypnos. The digignomes must have added that after his drawings were scanned."

_And they needed something to get Guilmon just right,_ thought the half-Chinese Tamer. _Dracmon mentioned that there were other digimon who evolve into Gallantmon, so there must be other Guilmon out there. Takato somehow tapped into that knowledge and drew it on paper, scanning it through his digivice. Shibumi said that the digignomes used packets of spare data to create Guilmon. But…where did they get that data?_

A memory of a news report involving a massive, blue cabled entity attacking Shinjuku, targeting Gallantmon, came to mind. Oh yes. Henry was getting an idea as to where the digignomes had gotten the necessary data to create the Guilmon that everyone knew and loved.

"But that still leaves the question of what this Gehenmon is, and what it's going to do."

"It's big, it's ugly, and it looks like the desert would rather that it not be here," chimed Terriermon. "Just look at that air! It's all messed up!"

"Something's happening," snarled Cyberdramon, coming up behind Ryo and flexing his claws in agitation. Ryo tensed up, his hand instinctively drawing his gold trimmed digivice, already anticipating his partner's rash head on charge. Much to his surprise, the cybernetic dragon did nothing of the sort.

"Cyberdramon?" _This isn't like him. I haven't seen him like this since before we encountered the D-Reaper._

Cyberdramon raised a claw and pointed at Gehenmon just in time to see a torrent of data explode upwards into the air, and a hole of darkness appear where desert had been. A hole that began to expand, sending more and more shards of data flying up towards the sky like a tornado.

"That's not good…" said Ryo just as the dragon's roar broke upon the air.

* * *

_She was standing at the alley again, the same place that she and Renamon had met Takato and Guilmon almost a year ago. Not for the first time, but the first time that they didn't end up fighting each other. She could almost say that she burned her bridges at that place and made a pair of friends for the first time. Almost, as that didn't come until much, much later and at the near cost of Renamon's life, but it had been a start. To this day she still didn't know what had possessed her to take the two down to her house and hear them out. It was but one of the mysteries that she believed she'd never be able to solve, just like a pair of dreams that they had about one another, even if Takato didn't know about hers._

_But that was neither here nor there. Only the present mattered, but oddly enough the present involved herself standing in front of the alley. Renamon was inside, she could sense that, and as if that weren't enough Takato and Guilmon, whom she had nicknamed Gogglehead and Dino-boy and, in those early days before she met Kazu and Kenta, the Dimwit Duo was also standing at the mouth of the alley. However, unlike last time his expression had none of the caution or surprise at having encountered her in this place. That too was another one of his bizarre mysteries. Takato had the unerring ability to go anywhere and run into her even when he wasn't trying, all the way from their first encounter to Locomon and finally on that rooftop before their unexpected trip to the digital world._

_'Maybe he's finally expecting me to just show up out of nowhere,' Rika thought to herself, allowing herself to smile fondly at the boy. Takato returned her smile and instinctively Rika took a step forward, only to gasp in surprise when Takato and Guilmon seemed to become more distant. It wasn't through any movement of theirs, but more as though a gulf had suddenly grown between them. Rika continued walking forward, stretching out one hand as she did so, only for the gulf to grow even greater than before. Rika's legs quickened their pace. She could no longer see her two friends' faces and they were growing even further still!_

_"Takato!" she called out. They were little more than dots now. Where were they going? Why were they going? And why now? They were going. They were…gone._

* * *

Rika's violet eyes snapped open as Takato's name left her lips as little more than a whisper. Renamon's comforting hand gripped her shoulders and helped her sit up. Rika massaged her forehead, blinking back the spots that threatened to overwhelm her vision.

"Rika. Are you all right?" asked the vulpine digimon.

Rika shook her head. A thousand emotions swam through her mind. She could barely think straight. Something felt wrong. She couldn't quite pinpoint it at first, but she could tell something wasn't right. Something was… _missing._ But what?

"It's Takato," Rika whispered quietly, her hands rising to grab the sides of her head. The answer to her question hit her all at once and she felt something shatter inside of her. "I can't feel him anymore."

Renamon's eyes widened perceptively.

"What?"

"I can't _feel_ him! He's not there anymore!" Rika's heart slammed painfully hard in her chest and she gripped her shirt tightly. It hadn't been all that long ago that she had tried to get rid of the bond between them. She would have claimed to have been _relieved_ to not have it dogging her everywhere she went. Now however, a frightening empty feeling filled her now. It felt as bad as the time when Renamon had been made to return to the digital world. The mental link that they shared, the constant feeling of presence that had been so dependable before, had vanished. Only this time it felt worse. It was as though something had been torn from her and had been made to never have existed.

_What happened?_ She thought desperately. _Where is he?_

She cast her mind outwards, trying desperately to locate the goggle-wearing Tamer. Nothing. Not so much as a bumbling sensation crossed her mind. All that remained were her thoughts, and the sensation of Renamon's.

"Glad to see that you're back with us, Rika," said Ryo, turning towards her. The fire haired Tamer didn't reply, and instead her hand tightened around her shirt as her breathing increased. Ryo frowned. "Rika?" Again no answer and he looked over at Renamon. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know," replied the vulpine digimon. "She seems to be in shock of some kind, and it pertains to Takato. Something must have happened to him."

"Not good," said Terriermon. "Man, of all the time for our dumb luck hero to disappear on us."

"Terriermon!" exclaimed Henry angrily.

"Sorry."

"Rika!" said Renamon, grabbing hold of her partner in an attempt to get her attention. "Talk to me. What has happened?"

Renamon narrowed her eyes as she was answered with nothing more than Rika's silence. A frightened look fell over the girl's face, and she hugged her arms close to her body.

"Takato…" she mumbled, hanging her head and hiding her face with her loosened hair.

"She's lost it," said Terriermon. "Jeez, something really bad must have gone down to affect her like this. The end of the world might as well not be happening around her!"

"Be silent _please_ Terriermon!" rebuked Renamon. "I'm trying to reach her!"

"Could you try it a little bit faster?" asked Ryo, glancing over his shoulder and at the massive form of Gehenmon. The dragon was now looking in their direction. "I think trouble just spotted us."

As though to emphasize his point, Gehenmon took a step towards them. Desert data shattered beneath its feet and the pitch black hole that formed began to grow outwards. Ripples emanated from the darkness, warping the desert floor. Ryo stepped back cautiously from the rock they hid behind. A slight distortion moved through it, but fortunately did not move any further.

_I'm guessing that's as far as it goes,_ Ryo gulped. _I don't think I want to know what'll happen to us if that thing gets any closer._

Urocyomon gripped Gyōjamon's spear tightly and stood up, only for Kuzuhamon to grab him harshly by his scruff.

"What are you _doing?!"_ the shaman hissed at him.

"Well something has to be done!"

"Not by you! The Tamers were all defeated at the _Mega_ level! Inheritor of the Flame you may be, but do you honestly think you'll make a difference as a mere Rookie!" Kuzuhamon turned towards the humans. "We have to get out of here! _Now!_ That digimon is causing damaging, distortive effects! If we're caught up in it…"

A powerful roar tore through the air and the Tamers, including their digimon, were suddenly blasted backwards. The rock that had served as their shield exploded into shards of data, virtually helpless to stop the shockwaves that battered the landscape. Gehenmon roared again as it spied the Tamers, now without their shelter hiding them from his eyes. Flames licked at his mouth and a crimson glow grew from the shadows surrounding his body. The hazard symbol pulsed even faster as a sphere of blood red energy appeared within its outstretched claws. A low, guttural sound that was disturbingly like laughter filled the air and the dragon spoke for the first time since appearing.

_"Blight Fire!"_

"Aw nuts…" said Terriermon as the scarlet sphere exploded into a supernova and shot towards them. In the time space of seconds Ryo's hand pulled out two cards and slashed them in rapid succession through his D-Arc. He didn't bother looking to see what ones they were. A part of him, as difficult as it was for him to believe, already knew that they were precisely the ones he needed.

"DIGI-MODIFY! TAOMON'S TALISMAN SPELL ACTIVATE! RAPIDMON ACTIVATE!"

Energy rushed into Cyberdramon's body and without waiting to get used to it he quickly threw his hands outward. A red piece of paper appeared in his claws and a spherical barrier appeared around the Tamers and digimon. The sphere rocketed upwards as the cybernetic dragon leapt into the air. Gehenmon's attack struck the ground where they had been standing, obliterating it and shattering it into shards of data, leaving nothing more than a trail of darkness and broken green colored grid lines. Henry gasped upon seeing them.

"The digital world's wireframe!" he cried. "Gehenmon's destroying it!"

"No way," said Ryo, leaning against the surface of their protective sphere. "I don't think I've seen anything that destructive before. At least, not since the D-Reaper."

"I don't think even the D-Reaper could come up with something like this. As bad as it was, it still had to make its way through the layers of the digital world. This…this destroyed all the layers and left the framework exposed!"

"I think it did a _lot_ more than that!" said Terriermon. "Look!"

Following the rabbit-dog digimon's pointing ear, Ryo, Noriko, Renamon, and Henry all gasped. A glimmer of light passed through the darkness that lay where Gehenmon had laid ruin upon the landscape. As they watched, the light grew even brighter, and soon the white, silver orb that was Earth's moon stared back at them in front of a starry sky.

_"Blight Fire!"_

Hearing the cry of Gehenmon pronouncing his attack, Ryo snapped back to attention and turned towards his partner.

"Cyberdramon! Move!"

The dragon growled in response and once again the sphere rocketed away. A crimson column shot past them and impacted with the sky above, shattering data and leaving an enormous, gaping hole of darkness hanging in the sky. As they watched, the darkness vanished, and the blue oceans and white clouds of the Earth, illuminated by the Moon's light, appeared before them.

"This is _very_ bad!" said Henry.

"Like we couldn't figure that out ourselves, Henry?" chided Terriermon. "I'd say this fits perfectly in the bad things category! We've got to do something!"

"But what?" asked Noriko frantically. "That thing already beat you guys!"

"That doesn't mean that we're out though," said Ryo determinedly.

"Yeah," giggled Terriermon, though it didn't sound like his heart was in it. "We're masters at throwing ourselves into stupid situations and hoping something works. Well, technically Takatomon is…"

"Anyway," interrupted Henry, "we're going to have to try something to stop this guy."

"I agree with you on that," said Ryo, "but Noriko does have a point. This digimon took out all of our strongest forms and Rika had her shield up trying to keep that thing's attack off of us. Somehow I don't think we're going to get any better results."

"Momentai!" Terriermon smiled. "I'm sure we'll think of something. Or get the stuffing beat out of us. Whichever comes first."

"Terriermon!"

"Mo-men-tai! I get the feeling we're going to need a lot of that for this one. Henry. Be sure to remind me to remind you about the definition of insanity. It really applies to this situation."

"Terrier-whoa!"

Henry was cut off abruptly as the Taomon shield swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding another blast from Gehenmon. The dragon roared in frustration and the black aura that surrounded it began to grow larger. Space warped and data shattered as the darkness expanded. Seeing this, Henry's eyes narrowed and he gripped his digivice tightly in his hand.

"Ryo. Make sure that you get as far away from here as you can. Get to the village and get everyone out of there."

"Henry!" Noriko's eyes widened in shock. _He couldn't be thinking of…? No! NO!_

"Do you have a plan?"

Henry's hand tightened further on his digivice, and without saying a word he took one last look at Noriko before jumping forward, passing through the shield with Terriermon gripping onto his shirt with his tiny hands. Raising his digivice towards the sky a bright light burst free from it.

_"Biomerge Activate!"_

A shell of emerald data surrounded the human and digimon partners, merging them together. Within seconds the data sphere shattered and the colossal form of MegaGargomon struck the ground with an earth-shattering crash. Missile ports and tubes opened up immediately and green light flared within laser barrels as the giant war machine locked on his target.

_"Mega Barrage!"_ shouted MegaGargomon as he leveled a salvo of missiles and laser bursts on Gehenmon.


	168. 167: Wrath

"So this is the pool that the Mother used to use when communing with the Higher Entity."

The silver clad Sakuyamon, acting leader of the Seer Council, stood in front of the pond, her expression serene and calm as she gazed into its depths. It looked as any other body of water, crystal clear and shimmering in the moonlight. But there was more to it than what met the eye. For time out of mind, from the formation of the Southern Quadrant's Seer Council to the present moment this pond had been there, and was rumored to have existed long before. Legend and myth obscured the truth, but as always, contained that ever-precious grain within them.

Stories, Silver knew, oft told much about those that first wrote them, and what they sought.

But that was neither here nor there. Silver pursed her lips together and cautiously dipped one finger into the pool, sending ripples moving across its surface. In spite of the expression on her face she felt nervous. No one except the Mother had ever used the scrying pool and while it was never officially stated out loud, to have anyone but the Mother use it was heresy.

_Times sure change,_ grimaced Silver. _The Mother is, unfortunately, no longer with us. The Princess is far from ready to assume her mantle, and events are fast moving towards their inevitable conclusion._

Soft white light appeared in the pond as Silver retracted her fingers, and oddly she felt comforted by the sight. It gave her the feeling that whatever power lay behind this wellspring of information sensed her reasons behind her actions were nothing short than the worry for the digital world's wellbeing, and would give what help it could. At least, Silver liked to think that.

The white light broke apart, separating into its wavelengths and swirled around the water. Images soon formed, and Silver's breath involuntarily hissed as she caught sight of the Sovereigns caught in a pitched battle with a swarm of dragons. Green lines laced the broken landscape, marking where the DexDoruGreymon warped and destroyed data as they implemented the final stages of Yggdrasil's 'Project Arc'. Everything that Silver feared to be true had come to pass. Lord Yggdrasil had passed his final judgment. Nothing would be left of the old world, and even the new world would be soon to join it.

_For all of the promises that were made to us, it was all for naught. We were fools to believe that Yggdrasil would allow us to live as we have when he moved the core Terminal to his new world. The Mother always said that he refused to allow anything he could not control to exist._

As Silver continued to watch, Zhuqiaomon, appearing to be injured was overwhelmed by the DexDoruGreymon. Fire bled through the air as he tried to fight them off, but his injuries were too grievous for him to do so. The tiger Sovereign Baihumon leapt forward with a roar to save his companion, but that moment of distraction was all that was needed for his own opponents to gang pile on him. His digi-cores flared and blasted them apart, but more continued to descend. Ebonwumon, the turtle Sovereign, strove to lend aid to both allies, but the sheer number of enemies preoccupied the majority of his attention, even with two heads to divide it with. The DexDoruGreymon swooped down, seemingly oblivious to the danger that the Sovereigns' strength posed to them. Masses of DexDoruGreymon were deleted left and right, but still they came. Relentless, unwavering; they knew no fear. Only the hunger that Yggdrasil programmed into them.

Before Silver's eyes, the scattered data from the destroyed DexDoruGreymon began to be swallowed up by the descending swarm, and several of the Ultimate's began to glow and grow in length and power.

_An enemy that does not feel its own losses is an enemy that cannot be defeated,_ the shaman thought as seven black and red winged, humanoid dragons wearing violet armor appeared and slammed into the Sovereigns. Data flew through the air as claws tore into what had once been the pinnacle of digital evolution. The dragons were thrown back as Ebonwumon rallied his power against them, but they were not as easily broken as their lower level cousins. Bowing their heads, the DexDoruGoramon, the Mega level forms of the DexDoruGreymon, opened their mouths, and spoke with a finality that left echoes upon the air.

_"Metal Impulse!"_

Silver blinked back tears as the once great, sage turtle's frame was shattered under the strain.

_Farewell, teacher…_

Finishing a small prayer, Silver waved a hand over the pool, and the scene shifted to the sky of the digital world. DexDoruGreymon flew everywhere, revealing the framework of the digital world. A second later a torrential beam of pure, crimson energy ripped right through them, decimating them and destroying the bones of the digital world, leaving an exposed Earth lying beneath. The scene shifted again, and a massive dragon with burning red armor raised itself upwards, roaring to the heavens as a familiar Hazard symbol pulsed on its chest.

"So…it has come again. Gehenmon."

_Rumored dragon. A beast that had been locked away. Its presence felt by those digimon born close to the distortions it makes, and forever marked. Guilmon in all of his forms, Lucemon, and MirageGaogamon all share a piece of you in their data. Out of all of them the Guilmon species is the closest. Born to be a 'container'. Created for the sole purpose of using the power of the Hazard. Megidramon is as close as any digimon can be to what the Hazard is. A risk…a terrible risk with a high price._

Silver turned her head up towards the heavens as though beseeching them for answers.

_What price did you pay, oh powers that be? And did you get what you wanted? And you Mother…the things that you hid from us about the nature of the Digital Hazard._

For the first time that she could remember, Silver felt absolutely helpless to do anything to save her world.

_Oh Mother…why are these things happening to us?_

The twinkle of the stars above was the only answer that the digital world gave to her.

* * *

_"Mega Barrage!"_

A barrage of missiles and lasers streaked towards their target with deadly accuracy as MegaGargomon lit into Gehenmon with everything that he had, pouring every ounce of strength that he could into the attack. The half-Chinese Tamer shouted his battle cry as he continued to unload the impressive arsenal that his and Terriermon's Mega form contained, loading and reloading as rapidly as possible.

In spite of all of their best efforts however, not a single one of their attacks so much as touched Gehenmon.

One by one missiles burst into shards of data and lasers disintegrated before they could even get close. Gehenmon growled contemptuously as the massive war machine digimon continued on with his attack, this time firing off his _Gargo Missiles_. The giant missiles lunged forward with a powerful roar from MegaGargomon's shoulder tubes, only to meet the same fate as all of their earlier attacks, breaking apart before they could even strike their target.

_"That's not good,"_ said Terriermon worriedly. Henry, for his part, merely growled and reloaded all of his weapon ports. Sensing his Tamer's frustration, Terriermon spoke up. _"Um…Henry? Normally I'd be all for cutting loose when kicking a bad guy's butt, but isn't the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results?"_

_"Mega Barrage!"_ came Henry's cry as he unloaded another salvo on Gehenmon. As missiles and lasers again flew towards the dragon, Gehenmon stepped forward. Air warped ahead of him, and the attack dissolved into sparkling shards of data. Cursing under his breath, Henry activated MegaGargomon's engines and took to the air.

_"We need a new plan,"_ said Henry.

_"That's what I was just saying! It didn't look like we were doing anything the first time around, so what makes you think that the second will be any di—whoa! Hold on a second!"_

_"Blight Fire!"_

A crimson wave of energy tore towards them, and quickly cutting his engines, MegaGargomon fell down towards the ground, narrowly avoiding being decapitated by Gehenmon's attack. The desert floor shook as the massive android struck the ground, and within his data sphere, Henry furrowed his brow in concentration.

_"Normal attacks are useless. And from what we just saw I don't want to try getting close to him and fight him head on."_

_"I'd say that it's a good bet that we'd be toast if we tried. Maybe if we shoot up the ground and cause all that sand in the air to explode upwards…"_

_"I don't see how hiding ourselves in a cloud is going to change things."_

_"If you devolve me to Rapidmon I can make hit and run attacks until I find a weak point or until you come up with a new plan."_

_"So far any data near this guy is automatically deleted when it enters a certain range…"_

Gehenmon let out a powerful roar, and ground began to shatter, spreading outwards like a tsunami. Yelping in surprise, MegaGargomon threw himself backwards, firing his engines at the same time, trying to gain some distance.

_"I don't know about you,"_ began Terriermon, _"but I don't think we can depend on any range limits from the way this fight is going."_

_"I don't think that I can argue with you there…Ugh!"_

_"Ahhh!"_

Henry froze as pain suddenly wracked MegaGargomon's body. Before either of them had time to react, Gehenmon had whipped one of his shadow dragons at them, and the serpent tore through their side, ripping off a chunk of emerald armor in the process. A bright red hazard sign stood emblazoned on the damaged area, sending ripples flowing across their biomerged body.

_"Can't…move!"_ gasped Henry, his eyes widening in horror as the shadow serpent began to whip around, looking to tear out another part of their body. From his peripheral vision, Henry could see more rushing towards him, jaws snapping open. Henry didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was going through their minds.

_Kill._

That did it. With a supreme effort of will power, Henry snapped himself out of his paralysis and trained his lasers on the first serpent, and promptly fired at it point blank range, severing it in two. Henry blinked as the creature's segmented head fell towards the ground and evaporated into data shards, before spinning about, firing at the others that were still coming towards him. The serpents exploded one by one, and a howl could be heard from Gehenmon as their bodies fell to the ground, twitching like dying snakes.

_"That's interesting,"_ said Henry. _"They were pretty easy to take down."_

_"Think it means anything?"_ asked Terriermon between heavy breaths.

_"I don't know, but I'd say that it's a start."_ Gripping his hands tightly into fists, Henry eyed Gehenmon. Shadow serpents whipped around its body along with its long, powerful tail, and the dragon flexed its claws. Much like Terriermon, it too seemed to be breathing heavily. The heated metal plates that composed its armor glowed even more brightly, and red electricity crackled along its surface. After a moment, it opened its mouth and let out a low, keening sound that caused Henry to grab the sides of his head in agony. The noise pierced his skull like a spike, and MegaGargomon stumbled in time with Henry. The Hazard sign that glowed on his injury increased in intensity, and MegaGargomon's body began to phase in and out of stability.

_"Wha…what's going on?!"_ shouted Henry through the noise that tore into his mind.

_"How should I know?!"_ shot back Terriermon. _"This is_ way _beyond Momentai! Hen-ry! Can't you think of_ something?!"

MegaGargomon pushed himself up to his feet, or at least tried too. The second that the Mega level digimon tried to move, the Hazard sign on their body flared and began to send out a black film across their body. Henry groaned as he felt a strange coldness take hold of him and seep into every corner of his existence.

_"Henry!"_ exclaimed Terriermon frantically. _"Something's wrong! We've got to cancel the biomerge! We've got to—gah!"_

Both Tamer and digimon gasped in surprise as the light that surrounded Henry noticeably darkened and thin tendrils of darkness began to push their way into the data sphere. One of them lashed outwards and connected to Henry's body and quickly began to spread across him like an oil slick on water. Images flashed across Henry's mind. Every moment that he had ever experienced where he had been helpless, or desired to do something to right a wrong surged through him. His desire to get Suzie home and rescue Calumon as quickly as possible, the rampages of the Devas as they destroyed Shinjuku, the pain Takato felt as Lucemon tore away first Guilmon and then BlackGuilmon, focusing his attacks on the Tamer for his part in bringing Megidramon into the digital world. More and more. The neighborhood bully that he had hurt before meeting up with Terriermon, his fears over Terriermon's digivolving…all the negative emotions struck at him before he even knew what was happening. The darkness continued to envelope him, pouring through his body until finally reaching his eyes and swallowing their light within their embrace.

BlackMegaGargomon howled in anger and rage before unleashing a maelstrom of red lasers and missiles upon the landscape.

* * *

"Noriko! No!"

Ryo's cry came too late. Before he could even move to stop her, the dark haired girl, with a speed that caught the Legendary Tamer by surprise, leapt through the Taomon shield and began falling through the air. Ryo cursed under his breath and looked over at Cyberdramon. The dragon warrior nodded and quickly the sphere rushed downwards to intercept Noriko.

_What kind of crazy stunt is she trying to pull?!_ He wondered, though a part of him easily guessed that it was the same sort that Henry had just pulled earlier.

"Faster, Cyberdramon," said Ryo, pulling out a High Speed card from his deck box. Before he could even slash it however they were buffeted by the force of MegaGargomon's attack as it exploded all around them, knocking him backwards. Hearing Henry's war cry, the Legendary Tamer took a second to take in the situation.

The sight of a black armored version of MegaGargomon rising out of a sea of flames nearly made him freeze up in shock.

_Wha…?_

_"Mega Barrage!"_ called out the BlackMegaGargomon as his weapon ports opened up. Without thinking, Ryo slashed his high speed card through his digivice, and Cyberdramon pace promptly accelerated in response. Quickly getting under Noriko, Cyberdramon opened up the shield just enough to allow her to enter, and then quickly sealed it up before beating a hasty retreat. Ryo slashed a strength and Stamina card through his D-Arc as BlackMegaGargomon cut loose with his attack, hoping beyond hope that the Taomon shield would hold up against the missile barrage of the Vaccine Mega.

"Kuzuhamon!"

"On it!" shouted the shaman Mega, thrusting her arms out to the side and summoning a sphere of energy to encompass the Taomon barrier. Kuzuhamon braced herself as the roar of the missiles drew even closer. In spite of her status as a Mega, she did not have much confidence that her barrier alone could hold up under the punishment they were about to take.

The missiles closed in on them, the whine of their engines increasing in intensity.

_Here they come!_

_"Biomerge Activate!"_

_"Renamon! Biomerge tooo…Sakuyamon!"_

Kuzuhamon gave a shout of surprise as light suddenly burst within the barrier and the majestic form of Sakuyamon, clad in white, shimmering robes appeared before them. Spinning her silver staff in her hands, she sent dual rings rushing outwards, colliding with BlackMegaGargomon's missiles in midair and causing them to detonate prematurely. Bringing her staff to a halt, the shaman activated her own shield, wrapping it around her friends and easily deflecting the lasers that escaped her earlier defense.

"Data beats Vaccine," intoned Sakuyamon before turning her attention on her friends. "Sorry about what happened earlier. What's going on?"

Ryo, who was presently helping Noriko back to her feet, blinked, surprised by this turn of events but certainly grateful for it all the same.

"Henry's gone out of control. Gehenmon did something to him. Not sure what…"

"I think it has something to do with that Hazard sign on his side," pointed out Cyberdramon. "He received it during the battle. That was when he changed."

Sakuyamon nodded and looked at the BlackMegaGargomon. Strangely enough, Gehenmon was nowhere in sight. She could still feel his presence however, in the same manner that one was aware of an open wound and that did not bode well. It was as though he were lurking around, waiting for his chance to strike.

_Not good._ Sakuyamon pursed her lips together. "All right. Kuzuhamon, I need you to keep an eye on Noriko there." Sakuyamon looked over at the red eyed girl, who simply glared back. She was breathing heavily, and there was a sparkle in her eyes that told the shaman that she did not want to sit still. Sure enough, Noriko confirmed this.

"I want to help."

"No, you can't," stated Sakuyamon firmly. "You don't even have your partner with you. And even if you did, Lumemon can only digivolve to the Champion level. This isn't the kind of fight that you could help out with."

"I don't care! I'm going to help! I'm _not_ going to stand by while Henry needs…"

Noriko's eyes fluttered suddenly and she staggered backwards, eventually falling into the awaiting arms of Urocyomon as he phased into view behind her.

"Just a little bit of hypnosis," said the silver-furred fox, seeing that everyone was looking at him questioningly. "It looked pretty obvious you guys weren't going to get anywhere with her."

"All right," said Sakuyamon, nodding in approval. "As I was saying. Kuzuhamon. Keep an eye on her. Ryo. Cyberdramon. Suit up you two. We've got to rescue Henry and see what we can do about that…whatever that thing is."

"Gehenmon," supplied Ryo, raising his digivice. "We're ready whenever you are."

"And I'm ready now." With that, the white garbed priestess leapt forward, exiting the barrier and aiming towards BlackMegaGargomon. Ryo did a quick scan of the towering Mega to see if there was anything about the form that they could use.

_Nothing different from this guy that I can see. Same stats as a regular MegaGargomon except that he's built for stealth. That explains why Sakuyamon was able to hold off his attack. I thought he had gone Viral there. The way that he's acting certainly gives that impression._

Ryo narrowed his eyes and looked over at Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon.

"We're counting on you two to hold down the fort. All right, Cyberdramon. Let's do this. _Biomerge activate!"_

White light surrounded the Legendary Tamer and Cyberdramon, bonding them together and melding their data into one. Cyberdramon's body shifted and became more human-like. A red scarf billowed out behind him as a featureless face mask appeared, completing his transformation. Wasting no time, the warrior of virtue known as Justimon leapt out of the sphere, catapulting himself towards the battlefield with the utmost haste. As they flew through the air, Ryo looked at Sakuyamon, wondering just what it was that had happened to her earlier, and what it could have been that had brought her out of her earlier paralysis. All he knew for sure, based on Renamon's assessment, was that it had something to do with Takato, who was presently missing in action.

* * *

Concerning the Tamer in question, Rika's mind was in turmoil. A thousand emotions roared through her, held back only by sheer willpower as she pushed herself towards BlackMegaGargomon. Steely determination flared in her heart as the desire to rescue at least _one_ of her friends burned brightly. However, an overwhelming sense of hopelessness darkened her soul, and her partner was quick to pick up on it.

" _Rika,"_ spoke up Renamon's voice from the darkness surrounding the red haired girl's data sphere. _"What is going on?"_ She had been very much surprised by Rika's sudden resurgence and biomerge, so much so that it had caught her off guard. Nonetheless she opened herself to it, knowing that if they were to survive they needed everything that they could muster.

Even so, she had to admit that the torrent of emotion that she felt churning within her Tamer was overpowering.

_"Not now, Renamon,"_ Rika said fiercely. Renamon felt her heart ache, and nearly gasped in surprise as she felt the trickle of tears flow down their Mega forms face.

_"Rika…"_

_"I said_ not now!"Rika's voice choked a bit before softening just a bit. _"Please. I can't afford to be distracted right now. Not while we're saving Henry."_

Renamon could feel a deep, empty space where before she had felt Takato's presence. It was as though something had severed the bond and tore it out.

_Rika's forcing herself to ignore it in order to help those that she can,_ thought Renamon as realization settled heavily over was very much like her, but it left her with an even more disturbing question. _What has happened to Takato?_

* * *

Gehenmon growled as he watched the two biomerged digimon rushing towards their comrade. His heart beat angrily at the sight of them. For some reason they looked _familiar._ An image flickered through the dragon's mind of these three digimon led by a red and white armored knight, fighting a mass of red liquid in the human world. An emotion that he could not quite identify made itself known, swirling in the dragon's heart. Fear? Wonder? He could not tell for sure, for the next slew of images completely wiped it out. A massive explosion and a towering, humanoid monstrosity covered with mouths.

_"Glory to Chaos!"_ The monster had spoken in the voice of a human girl before sending a blast of energy rocketing outwards. A fiery explosion ripped through the city streets. A child screamed and…

Gehenmon snapped his head to the side and snarled as a more definitive emotion materialized. Horror. Pain. A new image, that of a sorrow filled woman, filled the dragon's mind. Those digimon, those _Tamers_ were responsible for what had happened! But…what…had happened exactly? Gehenmon did not know. Only the emotions that moved within. That and the voice of the creature that had set him free and awakened him.

_"Her child!"_ called the voice from within. _"This world knows only death and destruction! All it will bring is more chaos! More sorrow!"_

Yes. That was all that the digital world would bring. Gehenmon recognized that much. That had been all that had ever been for as long as he had existed. He had been birthed from the destructive chaos that formed the digital world. The destruction wrought by the Chaos from those early years…

Gehenmon's eyes snapped wide. The Chaos. It had been a _human_ program. It had been responsible for all the damage and suffering that the digital world and its inhabitants had gone through. That carnage returned using the voice of a human, and wrought more devastation. More suffering. Suffering that continued to this very day in both worlds.

Gehenmon flexed his claws and growled dangerously. The digital world was built on suffering and destruction. The lowest plain _reeked_ of it as digimon and Liches fed on one another, but it had all started in the human world.

The human world was the birth source of the digital world. It was responsible for how the digital world took shape and evolved. Human emotions and dreams permeated every rock and living creature that had ever existed and would exist. All of it created creatures that continuously sought to destroy everything around them.

The pain that Gehenmon felt within him, the pain that the voice continued to speak of, was all because of humanity and their vicious circle of destruction fed into the digital world's growth.

It had even nearly caused its destruction. On more than one occasion.

If the suffering were to end, then it was not only the digital world that needed to be destroyed. That of the humans had to follow.

Rearing back, Gehenmon let loose an anger-filled roar, causing data to shatter as a crimson aura surrounded him. Yes, he would bring ruin to the digital world and the humans. _Nothing_ would survive.

Data swirled around Gehenmon and drew into his body. His spines arched and grew. His armor thickened and the shadows surrounding him grew darker. The dragon refocused his attention on the three digimon. The _Tamers._ They would be the first to go.

The blood-red light coalesced between the dragon's claws and he thrust it forward.

_"Blight Fire!"_


	169. 168: Callings

Jeri felt her fingers twist around each other in agitation, as though attempting to recreate the sock puppet that she had given to her step brother so many months ago. Her eyes widened perceptively as one thought, no, a name, ran its way through her mind.

_Milleniummon…_

The dark digital god that Ryo had spoken of. The very same digimon that had been embossed on the card that he had given her, and had altered when she had slashed it in an effort to help her friends. A digimon that Ryo claimed could not be trusted, and yet had helped them during some of their most difficult situations.

Milleniummon. The curse that hung over Ryo's neck like a heavy chain and was responsible for his partner's rather aggressive tendancies. His burden even though he never said it out loud.

And here he was, speaking to her.

Not _physically_ per se; at least not in any way that Jeri could see herself, but she could hear him all the same. Milleniummon was here, in the village, and was speaking to her. Memories of her encounters and discussions with him rushed through her mind. Everything that he had said about her inner strength, and her importance to her group of friends repeated themselves. One in particular came to mind as her amber eyes scanned her surroundings for some sign of the powerful digimon.

* * *

_A series of red cables ripped free from the ground and extended outwards, imbedding themselves into the walls around them. As each one hit a screen lit up above them, revealing the images of each of her friends."_

" _What…is…?"_

" _Those are your friends," said Jeri-Reaper. "All of them thinking thoughts that none of the others even know about. Every doubt, every word, everything that they've kept hidden. You've only touched on it a little bit here and there…but not the whole picture like_ _I_ _have." Jeri-Reaper laughed darkly then. "I think that's why Ryo's old friend_ _Milleniummon_ _is interested in you…"_

* * *

Jeri gripped her hands tightly together, nearly folding the SolMilleniummon card in half as she did so. The words of the echo of the D-Reaper, despite her own success against her old, inner-darkness, remained with her. She hadn't had much time to dwell on that encounter, or of what importance it entailed, but now the situation brought it back to mind. The Jeri-Reaper had made her wonder why she had been seemingly chosen to act as a kind of representative for the digital entity to Ryo, his _partner_. Milleniummon had continuously hinted that there was something special about her that was necessary for the safety of her friends and the digital world, and the Jeri-Reaper had shown it to her.

It was the connections that she had with her friends. The bonds that bound them all together.

Yet, she didn't quite understand why this was so important, or what it meant in the grand scheme of things. After all, Takato and Rika had a bond between each other, and as far as she knew neither of them had been the focus of Milleniummon's efforts or warnings of impending danger.

And now Jeri got the feeling that the moment had come for her to learn just why it was she was deemed so important.

_"Quite correct, Ms. Katou,"_ spoke up the voice of Milleniummon, chuckling softly at her. _"After all, you are the web that connects each and every one of the Tamers to each other. Your friend Takato may be the bolt that welds them together, but you are the web. You are deeply and intricately connected to all of them, and now is the time for you to unleash your hidden potential."_

"I-I don't understand," stammered out Jeri after a second of hesitation. "What do you mean? And why are you here now?"

_"I'm here because the digital world is in crisis. Is there anything more that you need to know about? Any other reason that's needed?"_

Jeri held on tightly to the SolMilleniummon card, and as though the gesture contained the entirety of her questions, Milleniummon sighed.

_"Very well. It is true, as I said, that I'm doing this primarily for Ryo."_ Jeri heard Milleniummon's voice drop a bit as a dark _coloration_ ran through his words. _"He is my partner after all. Monodramon is merely…taking care of him in my place. I am too large and powerful for him to tame properly. I have a bit of a wild side as I'm sure you've noticed. Monodramon could tell you that. When he's not trying to destroy everything around him as Cyberdramon that is."_

The air sparkled and shimmered in front of Jeri, and unconsciously she took a step back. Swallowing, Jeri schooled her face still and looked firmly at the shimmer.

"You told me that I was necessary for whatever it is you've got planned. What is it? What is it that I can do? It has to be more than just the connections I have with my friends…"

_"It is,"_ said Milleniummon, and the shimmer shifted, as though nodding at her in acknowledgement. _"But at the same time it isn't. Your bonds are necessary all the same. Did you ever wonder why each of you have exhibited a special 'Spirit' so far? The spirits of Wind for Suzie. Light for Rika. Fire for Takato. Thunder for Henry. Steel for Ayaka. Wood for Kazu…"_

A blue light suddenly appeared in the center of Jeri's chest and expanded outwards, engulfing her in its embrace. Jeri gasped in surprise, at first frightened by the sight until a sensation of presence and unity filled her. It wasn't the kind of feeling that was alarming, far from it. It almost felt like greeting an old friend.

_"And water for you,"_ continued Milleniummon's voice. _"The spirits work best when they're together. The totality of their power is unleashed. Even at the lowest level and separate, as long as they're all together they can stand against nearly anything. And when their spirits merge and become one, even greater power is awakened."_

"I still don't understand," said Jeri, shaking her head in confusion. "Why am I even needed for that?"

_"Because you can bring them all together. It is your own, personal evolution."_

Jeri blinked. "What?"

_"Surely you've guessed by now. Your little head game with the echo of Chaos in your mind…she opened the doors for you. All the barriers were broken down. You've felt them every now and then, especially when you felt worry for your friends."_

Jeri clutched at her chest, remembering a strange stinging sensation that she had felt in her heart the day Lucemon destroyed Guilmon.

"But…Rika…"

_"Both of you are growing in your own way. Rika and Renamon's biomerged form of Sakuyamon ensures that she becomes even more aware of the hearts of those closest to her. It is how the Sakuyamon grow in power. Their heart grows. So has yours, young Jeri. Like Rika, your heart's growth was sparked when you met Takato. A fascinating person. He carried within himself, as did his partner, an inner key that was something of a 'polar opposite' to Calumon. The Digital Hazard was the digital world's way of manifesting that trait of his. The creature that the Hazard has taken form in now is merely a bastardized version. The Hazard, like the Catalyst, is a tool for change, but as its name suggests it is 'hazardous'. Harder to use, and prone to act on impulses. However you look at it though, meeting him was a catalyst for your growth. Unlike Rika however, your growth is even greater._

Milleniummon chuckled.

_"You could almost say that it can encompass a 'world'. It has once before. The D-Reaper left its mark on you."_

Jeri stood there, shock coursing through her system as memories of her encounter with the malevolent program and its remnants afterwards flashed through her mind. She shook her head.

"I still don't get it. What do you mean? I…" Jeri paused as she thought back to when the Jeri Reaper connected her to her friends and showed their thoughts to her. Cables had connected themselves by the hundreds to view screens, representing each of her connections to the others. Almost like…

"No…" Jeri whispered under her breath. The shimmer almost seemed to nod as it towered over her.

_"The D-Reaper was a hive. It operated through agents, making it a collective. The Jeri Reaper and a few of the more advanced forms had some measure of 'individuality', if you could call it that. The Jeri-Reaper especially, but their thoughts were all controlled by the core. The Kernel of Consciousness. You were at that center Jeri Katou. The D-Reaper also made itself a part of you. Your rage and sorrow was given life as a living creature, and it turned upon the real and digital worlds. That experience marked you forever."_

"Are you saying that…that I…?" Jeri found that she couldn't quite continue. In spite of her saying that she was no longer afraid of that part of herself that continued to exist within her, she found herself unable to speak those final words.

_"Need a hand?"_

The warp in front of her reached out and ran over Jeri's hand and much to her surprise it transformed into the very sock puppet that she had given to her brother. Jeri looked down at it, and her eyes grew even wider as the sock puppet turned its head towards her and _barked._

"Ah!" Jeri gasped, wrenching her hand out of the warped air, and it returned to normal immediately upon leaving. Jeri stared at her hand, her heart racing in her chest. "Wha…what did you do?"

_"Showed you what's inside of you,"_ said Milleniummon. _"What has never once left you from the moment your mother died, and was given manifestation when the Chaos chose you as a study subject. The well was poisoned, but that can change. As separate as that other part of you may seem, it is still you, and only you can change what's inside of you. You are the Kernel of Consciousness. The D-Reaper may be gone, but you still have a collective you are connected to. The Chaos merely gave you a way to connect with your collective. Perhaps it even accelerated it…"_

"So I can connect with the others like the D-Reaper," Jeri grimaced, as though the idea left a bad taste in her mouth, "connected with its…agents?"

Deciding to test that assertion Jeri closed her eyes and felt her mind drift and reach outwards. It felt strange doing that with her mind. It was like picking a direction without using her eyes, and for the strangest reason she thought of casting out a fishing line.

Blazing fire ripped across her vision, and Jeri nearly stumbled to the ground as she gripped her head in her hands. Tears blurred her eyes as the vision faded just a bit.

"Takato," Jeri whispered. _He's in trouble._ Closing her eyes once again Jeri strengthened her resolve and cast back outwards. More images flooded her mind and at first she couldn't make sense of them. A giant dragon that at first reminded her of Megidramon until she saw the shifting shadows around its body. Another image, this time of a dark armored MegaGargomon. An aura of wrath surrounded this digimon, firing at a white robed Sakuyamon and Justimon. Emotions surged into her upon looking at each of the digimon, and Jeri gasped, quickly realizing that they were her friends.

_"You could help them you know,"_ spoke up Milleniummon. _"I can see what you see in your mind's eye. You have the power to change your destiny. You don't have to be on the sidelines. The fate of the digital world rests entirely on your shoulders."_

Jeri raised the SolMilleniummon card in her hand, her eyes attempting to focus on it. Her other hand moved into her front pocket and pulled out her gold trimmed digivice. She moved the card over to the slot and hesitated. She eyed the shimmer standing before her.

_"You don't trust me,"_ said Milleniummon, sounding as though he weren't surprised in the least by this. _"Ryo warned you about me. I expect that much from him."_ The warp shifted before Milleniummon continued. _"Be aware, that despite anything that I've said, you have no reason to trust me, and neither does Ryo. I certainly haven't given him any reason to. But, I will say this. If it is not my design, I will not allow harm to fall upon him. I protect what is mine, and Ryo is_ mine. _"_ Again the shimmer shifted. _But I am helpless to do anything except give him a chance. Against me he is invincible. He will always defeat me. Our destinies are entwined together, and as such we are eternal. Whatever form Ryo takes in this life or the next I will be there waiting for him. But…I'm not done with this life yet. Neither is he."_

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," said Jeri, reaffirming her grip on her card and digivice. Jeri half expected Milleniummon to laugh at her and tell her that he expected as much from her. Yet, strangely enough his voice was silent for a second, and when he spoke again it was low and somber.

_"Thank you, Jeri Katou."_

With that said, Jeri slashed the card through her digivice, and a white light exploded from its screen.

* * *

"Nuts," grumbled Impmon as he sat down on the sandy ground, the communication device lying in front of him. "Stupid piece of hardware. Why didn't that Yamaki guy give me a set of instructions so that I could figure this thing out?"

"We could just bring it to one of the older kids," said Mako, attempting to be helpful. "Don't they use stuff like this all the time?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't pay attention to that kind of thing. I'm here to torment them, kick butt and take names. Why would I need to know something like that?"

Mako looked over at his sister, and the young girl looked back. Although neither of them could say that they knew any better, even they could see the obvious drawbacks to Impmon's thinking. After all, it had put them in a situation where the communication device they had been given was virtually useless.

"Well, we could still try," resumed Mako. "One of them might know."

"Yeah," conceded Impmon. "One of them _might,_ but I really don't feel like bugging them. Those guys are doin' nothin' but radiating negative vibes, you know what I'm saying?"

Both Ai and Mako shook their heads, and Impmon sighed.

"It means that they don't want anyone talking to them right now. 'Sides. Right now, it's better to just wait until everyone's back at base camp and ready to go. Preferably _without_ any more detours, though I kinda have my doubts on that. These Tamers have the tendency to get side tracked by just about anything that walks by, and some that don't. Kind of reminds me of one human I saw who kept getting distracted by shiny objects. _While_ she was trying to tell her posse that she wasn't easily distracted."

"Um… 'Kay…" Mako scratched the back of his head and looked back over at Ai, who likewise returned it. Neither of them knew quite what to do in this situation. They trusted Impmon in that same manner that children trusted most adults, but something tugged at the back of their minds that this wasn't a particularly good idea. Something had to be done, and they weren't. It seemed rather odd of Impmon to hold off on just about anything of importance, but then again he did ignore things that was too confusing for him, just as he always did whenever he mentioned the Tamer Henry when he went about his 'geek speak'.

Impmon glanced at his partner's worried expressions and sighed despondently, looking back down at the communication device.

"I know what you guys are thinkin'," he said. "Yeah, I know that I should get the others and have them show me how to work this dumb thing, but they've all got their back hair up right now. They aren't happy." Impmon frowned, remembering the harsh words that he overheard between Kazu and Crusadermon. Even though he hadn't been there, even he could tell that something didn't go over well between those two. Then again, he doubted anyone could have a pleasant conversation with the Royal Knight without it involving fists or getting lacerated. "And when people aren't happy, sometimes the best thing to do is to leave them alone."

Again, Ai and Mako looked at each other. Impmon scowled at them. It unnerved him every time they did that. It made him think that they were one entity or something.

"Hey!" exclaimed Suzie as she suddenly appeared behind the two children and wrapped her arms around their shoulders. "Why awe you two ovew hewe looking so sad fow?"

"Ah!" exclaimed Mako, surprised by the unexpected act.

"Suzie!" added Ai.

"Take that fwown and tuwn it upside down!" crowed Suzie cheerfully, pulling on the two, younger Tamers and steering them over towards where the young Chuchidarumon and her own partner, Lopmon, were. A yelp could be heard coming from within the crowd as a number of them unexpectedly dog piled on Dracmon in the middle of their game.

"But Suzie…" began Mako, only to be cut off by the older Tamer as she continued to drag them over towards the 'play area'.

"No buts! Jewi told us that we should keep evewyone hewe happy, and that's just what we'we going to do. We've got a mission!"

_So how come no one's making sure that the big kids stay happy?_ Wondered Impmon, grateful that he wasn't being pulled into the brutal looking game that had started out as a game of tag. Sighing, Impmon leaned forward and picked up the comm. device. He didn't have the knack for dealing with technology unless it involved blowing it up (in which case he could be considered a natural genius), and under normal circumstances he left this kind of thing for the older Tamers, in the absence of the Monster Makers and Hypnos, to deal with. Especially Henry as he was the resident science geek and computer expert of the group.

_Maybe I can figure this thing out,_ thought Impmon as he looked over the device. _It can't be any different than the game things that Mako let me play on._ Impmon looked up at the sky with a thoughtful expression on his face. _Oh wait. Didn't I break all of them?_

"Yen for your thoughts?"

"What're you doin' here?" asked Impmon as Miki's shadow fell over him. The dark haired girl shrugged in the pale Earthlight, and beamed a smile at him.

"Thought that you needed some company."

"Shouldn't you be helping your partner?"

As though by some signal, Dracmon let loose a cry as a particularly fat Chuchidarumon landed on top of the pile. Miki watched the situation unfold before looking back at Impmon.

"Beanie said that he had it covered. This is the only to get those kids tired out enough to go back to sleep. Once they're wound up there's no stopping them you know."

"You'd be surprised," replied Impmon under his breath, remembering all the times that Ai and Mako refused to sleep or stop talking to him even when they were told a hundred times to just go to bed. Miki looked at him with a quizzical eyebrow raised before settling herself down next to him and glancing at the comm. device.

"Are you trying to figure that thing out?"

"Yeah." Impmon nodded his head in annoyance and embarrassment. "I'm half a step away from plugging this thing with digi-lead."

"That wouldn't be good. Don't we need it to get home?"

"Lucky me. I got me an intelligent babe here. How'd it happen, toots? Did you just happen to be around when they were passing out brains?"

Miki scrunched up her face and huffed.

"You know, I was just about to show you what you needed to do to work this thing. You could at least be a little more polite."

Impmon scowled and raised the comm. device towards her meaningfully. Miki waited for a second, but quickly realized that aside from the disgruntled look in his eyes, she wasn't going to get anything remotely close to an apology from him. Sighing mentally she took the pad and began pressing buttons on its touch sensitive screen.

"Wow. You changed the image," deadpanned Impmon.

"You have to do that if you want to get anywhere, you know. You can't blast everything and expect it to work afterwards."

Impmon _hmmphed_ irritably.

"I'll give you that." Impmon tapped a finger against his face as he leaned forward and watched the girl work. "You got it figured out yet?"

"It's real easy Impmon. I'm just putting together a message now to send off to that Yamaki guy." Miki paused. "Um…should I even talk to him? Except for a couple of meetings I haven't really talked to him."

"So? I don't think it matters. Just fire off a message to him! Ask him when we're going to be picked up or something. Sheesh! We could use a little help out here."

"…Should I tell him that Takato, Rika, Henry, and Ryo aren't around? He might not like hearing that."

Impmon massaged his forehead. _Does this girl have to worry about every little thing? Yamaki'd be better off knowing that Takato and Pineapple Head threw a monkey wrench into the whole rescue operation._

Before the diminutive digimon could even speak his thoughts aloud, an alarm went off in his head and he bolted to his feet, green eyes looking around him frantically. The Chuchidarumon likewise stopped in their game with Dracmon and Lopmon and looked around them, as though expecting something to appear within their vicinity at any second.

"Um…what's going on?" asked Miki as she got to her feet.

"You tell me," replied Impmon. "Get your digi-doohickey out, would ya? My partners don't have theirs handy right now."

Miki nodded and pulled out her digivice from the pocket of her gray dress. Activating the holographic circle, the dark haired Tamer frowned at it.

"I'm…not sure how to work this thing," she admitted after several seconds. "But there's this red, glowing sign on the screen. It sort of looks like what Guilmon used to have on his chest."

"What? Gimme that thing!"

Snatching Miki's digivice out of her hands, Impmon looked at the screen. Sure enough, a pulsating, red hazard symbol was emblazoned clearly on it for all to see.

"What is that Pineapple Head _doing?!"_ Impmon growled, clenching a gloved hand tightly together.

"Pineapple Head?" asked Miki, but Impmon waved her off.

"I've got to get the others," he said, bounding off.

"Hey!" exclaimed Miki, running after him. "You've still got my digivice! Impmon! Wait up!"

From his spot with the Chuchidarumon, Dracmon groaned as he massaged his sore muscles, watching the sky. For some reason it held his attention, _fixated_ him. Something was coming. Something _big._

As though to add emphasis to this mysterious, magnetic feeling, a crimson beam tore through the heavens and literally ripped them open. Dracmon's eyes widened beneath his mask and his mouth dropped open accordingly.

_I did not just see that! Tell me I did not just see that!_

Fire flared at the edges of the hole that had just been cut across the sky, and within seconds, the blue oceans and landmasses of the human world, Earth, began to appear from within it. Dracmon's eyes widened even further and he frantically looked around him for his partner. He quickly found her chasing after Impmon as he jumped from hut to hut.

Dracmon hitched a sigh and began plodding along after them.

"If it's not one thing it's another," he grumbled. _The digital world just can't settle down for even a second, can it?_

* * *

"Dude," spoke up Kazu as he looked at the Earth hanging above them in the sky. "Just what the heck is going on around here?"

"It would appear that some kind of force has destroyed an area of the digital world and laid the path open to the human world."

Kazu sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Guardromon. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have figured that out if you weren't here to back me. Remind me again why I'm supposed to be the brains of this operation?"

"Um…" Guardromon scratched at his armored face. "Because you're a master in forming strategies I believe? Although Rika doesn't seem to think you're capable of such a thing…"

"I was being sarcastic, Guardromon!"

"Oh dear. I don't think I'll ever understand how you humans think."

"I'm starting to think that I won't understand how you think. Not that it matters right now. We've got some pretty big trouble on our hands here, and it starts with a capital T."

"It would certainly appear so," agreed Guardromon. "I believe that it is imperative that we should get the others."

"You got it, Guardromo—Whoa!"

Kazu shouted in surprise as all at once a column of golden light erupted from within the village. The light shot up towards the sky and clouds began to swirl around it.

"Just… _what_ is going on around here?" breathed Kazu. Guardromon did not reply. _Couldn't_ in fact as he was too caught up in the breathtaking light as it surged upwards. His sensors were all but overloading from the influx of data that they were receiving. The android's eyes widened slightly as they caught a familiar pattern imbedded within the information, and soon enough he found his voice.

"Kazu! I believe Ms. Katou is in that direction!"

"What! Are you kidding m—?"

The column of light expanded abruptly, and Kazu and Guardromon were swallowed within the light's embrace.

Guardromon wasn't the only one whose sensors were overloading. Grani likewise was feeling more than a little bit overwhelmed by the data that he was collecting. In his short time that he had existed as a separate, individual being, both before and after his merging with Takato, he hadn't had cause to fear for his existence. Not even his involvement in the battles against the D-Reaper had managed to bring that emotion out of him. This time however told a far different story. The power that he was reading was off the scales, and it was only increasing. It was beyond anything that Gallantmon in his Crimson Mode could ever have supplied. He felt horrifyingly small, as though nothing he could do would matter against the crushing force that rushed throughout the Chuchidarumon village.

Grani had no concept of the divine, or any power that lay beyond that of the material world. Yet faced with this unknown power, Grani found himself wondering if it was moments like these that caused humans to seek solace in such a thing, hoping that they would come out of it all right. The metal blade that composed his body shuddered, as though reflecting the irrational emotions that pervaded his digital core. As it passed through him, a voice spoke to him from the approaching column of light.

_"Have no fears Steed of the Crimson Knight. Merely rest assured knowing that the salvation of the digital world is at hand."_

_"Who are you?"_ asked Grani as the golden wall of light continued to rush towards him. _"What are you?"_

The voice laughed, giving every impression that the power behind it was amused by his questions.

_"Just another partner,"_ it answered, _"whose time for evolution has finally come."_


	170. 169: Ascension

Gold light shone everywhere, surrounding Jeri as she was held aloft in its embrace. A strange sense of comfort and completion filled her, and she basked in the sensation. She found herself wondering if this is what her friends felt every time they biomerged with their partners, and for the briefest of moments she found herself wondering what it would have been like to share this feeling with Leomon. She let the thought go as quickly as it came. This was not the time to think of what-ifs, and maybes, but instead to focus on the here and now. She flexed her fingers and moved her arms outwards as though she were swimming in a pool, and with each movement a thousand warring emotions and thoughts spilled into her heart, causing her to gasp at how overpowering they were. She couldn't quite discern who they were from at first. There was far too much for her to focus on at first. Images flashed through her mind…memories, she quickly found. An image of a blue armored dragon fighting against a demonic digimon. Another of a laughing boy wearing a visor…

_Kazu._ Jeri allowed a smile to grace her face, and she focused on the image of the boy, hoping that by doing so she could contact him. She was sure that his thoughts were in this light with her. She couldn't quite tell how she knew that. Perhaps it was something instinctual.

_"Or maybe it has to do with what ol' Milleniummon told you,"_ spoke up a cheerful, feminine voice with a strange accent.

_"Who said that?"_ asked Jeri bewildered.

_"Just little old me. The Spirit of Water, Ranamon, here to lend you a helping hand. This is quite the confusing mess of mind meetin's that you've gotten yourself into."_

As Jeri watched, blue data began to coalesce in front of her, forming a feminine figure with light, greenish skin and a blue bathing suit. A strange, pointed helmet sat on top of her head, framing her crimson eyes. A small, teasing smile graced the female's features, hinting at a mischievous streak. The female digimon winked at Jeri and wagged a finger at her back and forth.

_"You can be quite the troublesome girl, you know that hon? You just jump into things even when you're not ready for them. But it's not like you really had a choice this time around. Too much going on that depends on you. So let's see what we can do to clear up the air around here, shall we?"_

_"Um…what?"_

_"Hush for now, hon. Just let me work for a second here."_

A light blue aura surrounded the marine digimon for a second, and all at once Jeri felt as though there were more distinct presences in the storm of thoughts and emotions that she felt swimming around and within her. Forms began to appear nearby. Forms that resembled humans and digimon.

_"Wha…?"_ gasped one Kazu Shioda as both he and Guardromon fully materialized. Looking around, an annoyed look crossed his face and he quickly scowled. _"Okay. Would someone mind telling me just what the heck is going on? And what the heck happened to…"_

The sound of Ayaka shrieking cut across the golden light, and Kazu rolled his eyes.

_"…My clothes,"_ he finished in exasperation.

_"Kazu! What are you_ doing?!" shouted Ayaka quickly turning around, only for her eyes to widen in surprise as she came upon Kenta. Her mouth transformed into one giant 'O' as she was rendered speechless, and behind her Kazu chuckled.

_"Sure. Blame it all on me. I'm_ really _sure I had something to do with this. By the way, your butt is showing."_

"Kazu!"

Jeri raised an eyebrow and looked down at herself. Her body was surrounded by a nimbus of golden light, void of clothing, but oddly enough she didn't feel at all ashamed of what she was seeing.

_"I should point out,"_ began Ranamon with a chuckle, _"that you aren't naked physically, though in a way you could say you'll never be more naked than you are now. All this is is a digital representation of yourselves…your inner, truest most self. Right now everyone's minds are connected, and we are all seeing each other for the first time."_

Ayaka spun around, her arms folded over her chest, a livid look on her face.

_"I don't_ want _to be connected! I…I…"_ Ayaka shook her head fiercely, her voice tattering as she spoke. Next to her, the glowing, pink form of Crusadermon sighed.

_"What's the difference between now and when you and I biomerged?"_ the Royal Knight asked. _"You felt no shame then. Everything is represented in form here. There is no holding back. Is there something you'd rather not share with the others?"_

_"I…Crusadermon…this…it's too sudden! I…"_

_"C'mon Ayaka,"_ spoke up Kenta, surprising everyone by taking one of the girl's hands into his own and giving it a gentle squeeze. Ayaka blinked at the boy, who looked strangely more mature and at peace with himself in the pink light that pulsated around his body. _"I'm pretty sure that we're like this for a reason. It's got to be important. We wouldn't be like this if it weren't. Can you…?"_ Kenta broke off and then looked away shyly. The pink glow that surrounded him deepened suddenly, and Ayaka felt her own aura begin to deepen as well.

_"K-Kenta…"_

The floating, glowing form of MarineAngemon chirped happily next to the pair while Crusadermon looked on approvingly. Kazu, for his part, merely chuckled.

_"Nice one, Chumley,"_ grinned Kazu. _"Now I see what it is she sees in you. Good work. Now if you could only lose your uncool image you'd be set."_

_"K-Kazu!"_ growled Ayaka, still holding one arm up protectively over her chest while simultaneously tightening her grip on Kenta's hand. _"Sh-Shut up!"_

_'Maybe that's why she didn't want to be connected or whatever,"_ spoke up the voice of Miki as she, Dracmon, Suzie, and Lopmon floated down towards the group. The dark aura covered girl smiled teasingly at her friend. _"Someone's not ready to face up to the fact that she's in l-o-v…"_

_"Miki!"_

_"…e."_ Miki giggled and came to a halt in front of the pair before looking around her. _"Wow. This is really quite the trip. I don't think I've ever felt anything like this before in my life! Wow! Jeri. What did you do? Have you been taking your vitamins or something?"_

Ayaka blinked. _"Jeri? She did this? How?"_

_"She's connected to all of you,"_ said Ranamon, causing everyone to look at her.

_"Who the heck are you?"_ demanded Kazu hotly.

_"She's one of the Ten Legendary Warriors,"_ answered Crusadermon. _"I believe that everyone gathered here has had experience with them. After all, Suzie did unleash some kind of power when the spirits of Wind showed up during our battle with UlforceVeedramon."_

_"Yup!"_ exclaimed Suzie happily, squeezing Lopmon tightly to her chest. _"That's wight! We can all bi-bi-biomewge togethew now!"_ Suzie squealed happily, glad that she had gotten the word right.

_"But how does Jeri fit into this?"_ asked Kenta. The brown haired girl took a deep breath before answering.

_"It's because of the D-Reaper."_

_"Say what?"_ exclaimed Kazu in surprise.

_"It's true,"_ nodded Jeri. _"When I was held captive by the D-Reaper, it used me to create all of its agents, connecting them to itself. A part of it still remains in me, and because of that I'm more closely connected to those that I care about. Namely you guys."_

_"The use of us Legendary Warriors helped make it easier,"_ added Ranamon, twirling a finger around a piece of her helmet. _"This wouldn't be possible without us here. Everyone here has a spirit connected to them. Isn't that right?"_ Ranamon put on a wider smile, and as though it were a signal Suzie, Kazu, Miki, and Kenta glowed suddenly and the forms of four other digimon appeared before them. The first standing in front of Suzie was a female digimon wearing a visor and large, butterfly wings protruding from her back. Ayaka had a green armored digimon with a pointed helmet and a pair of mirror-like shields strapped to his arms. Next to Kenta stood a small, diminutive bear-like digimon wielding what looked to be a rocket launcher, and before Kazu was a large, heavy-set digimon wearing thick, gear shaped armor. A pair of golden eyes stared out of a visor. Seeing this Ranamon raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips.

_"What? No hello?"_

_"Hey. We got a job to do, right? We'll exchange pleasantries later."_

_"I must agree with our Warrior of Logs,"_ put in the green, knight-like digimon. _"We have far more important things to do than give you the attention you so desire, Ranamon."_

_"My, my."_ Ranamon looked away with an insulted look on her face. _"How rude. And after I went to all the trouble of filling these guys in about what's going on."_

_"Knave. You have only touched on it."_

_"Can we just get to the point?"_ chipped in the fairy digimon. _"We're wasting time here."_

_"Finally,"_ said the large, gear armored digimon. _"A little common sense. Let's try to stay on target, right? I'm Arbormon, Warrior of Wood. And these are my compadres, Kazemon, Ranamon, Mercuremon, and Kumamon. Warriors of Wind, Steel, and Ice. We're here to lend you guys a hand."_

_"Indeed,"_ said Mercuremon. _"Events are coming together that threaten the stability of the digital world. The rise of Gehenmon, the corrupted dragon of the Hazard, is enough to destroy the digital world by its very existence. We cannot allow it to continue."_

_"Hold on,"_ interrupted Kazu. _"You mind running all that by me again? I don't have the slightest idea what it is you're talking about."_

_"The digital world is in danger,"_ put in Guardromon. _"Isn't that reason enough?"_

_"I just want to know what it is that we're dealing with and just who these guys are. I mean, this is practically the first time that we're meeting them in person. I want answers here!"_

_"Which do you want more than?"_ asked Mercuremon. _"Answers or the power to save your friends?"_

A glowing ribbon rose up behind the green armored knight and wrapped around his body, pulling tightly. Crusadermon stepped forwards.

_"I suggest that you answer the boy's questions,"_ the Royal Knight said carefully, the force of threat hidden within her voice. Mercuremon merely smirked and disappeared, quickly reappearing outside of Crusadermon's ribbon trap.

_"Fool. To think that you could capture someone who doesn't have a physical body. I have seen your kind before, Royal Knight. You are hardly as impressive as you think you are."_

Crusadermon growled under her breath, and raised her ribbon threateningly, only to be stopped by MarineAngemon as he flew in front of her.

_"Puh!"_ the angelic digimon exclaimed fiercely. The two digimon looked at each other for a moment before Crusadermon finally stepped back and lowered her ribbon. Ayaka and Kenta both looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

_"We're sorry that there isn't enough time to discuss things,"_ said Kazemon in an apologetic voice. _"I really wish that there was more time. You seem like good people, but right now there's too much going on for us to acquaint ourselves. I'll try and give you the story as quickly as I can. Right now there's a digimon called Gehenmon. He is an immensely powerful digimon that had been sealed away a long time ago, back when the digital world was still new. The blue cable entity that you guys fought before was the program that had sealed it."_

_"Indeed,"_ said Mercuremon. _"When the digignomes were trying to communicate with your friend Takato, they took the sealed data and altered it into the form of Guilmon. After he was destroyed by Lucemon, the data of the Digital Hazard was adrift in the real world, and found a new home in the form of BlackGuilmon."_ Mercuremon looked over at Dracmon. _"I do believe you know what comes after, correct?"_

Dracmon nodded.

_"Oni."_

_"I don't get it,"_ said Kazu. _"What's Oni have to do with any of this?"_

_"Simply put,"_ said Arbormon, _"He took the Digital Hazard out of BlackGuilmon, nearly killing him. Lucemon saved him by merging with him, which is why Lumemon exists. It ain't perfect, so he's going a little nuts right now. Oni, though. He's a corrupted digignome. He got too close to a human who was in pain and fed off of her negative energy. Since he's still a digignome his powers are influencing the Digital Hazard that he took, and it reawakened the Gehenmon data. It's now using Oni as a source to power its existence, just like he's using it to try to destroy the digital world."_

_"What'd the digital world ever do to him?!"_ exclaimed Dracmon angrily.

_"Took the words right out of my mouth,"_ said Kazu. Dracmon ignored him.

_"He said he could help us X-Digimon fight Yggdrasil! That was all a lie! I know that now, but I don't know the_ why!"

_"There's too much to go into,"_ replied Arbormon. _"But let's just say that you humans cause a lot of unnecessary trouble without meaning to."_

_"Hmmm…"_ Guardromon took a look around him. _"We seem to be missing a few players."_

_"Hey, yeah,"_ said Kazu. _"Where's Impmon, Ai, and Mako?"_

_"They don't have spirits,"_ said Mercuremon. _"They cannot join in this biomerge. But there are those who do that we must aid."_ Mercuremon turned towards Jeri. _"You can lead us to them."_

Jeri nodded and closed her eyes. She was a little uncertain as to how to begin, but her previous experience had so far given her an idea on what she needed to do. Quieting her mind she extended her senses outwards. Her thoughts ran along what felt like a series of strings, connected to a series of distant fires. As she moved her mind closer she could feel a sense of panic and frustration flowing through one of the strings.

_"We've gotta save Henry! What the heck happened to him? It's like he's become a different perso…"_

A powerful roar cut across the barely coherent thought, and Jeri felt herself cringe, nearly losing the connection in the process. In a desperate bid to keep the connection, Jeri reflexively grabbed the sides of her head and plowed straight on ahead. She now knew whose thoughts that she was hearing. On top of that she knew just what needed to be done.

_"Hang on everyone,"_ Jeri said under her breath as she spread her arms out. The golden light intensified in response to her movements, and blazing, angelic wings engulfed the group.

* * *

Impmon looked up in amazement as the pillar of light receded, pulling away from him and his partners. Frantically he patted himself down to make sure that he was intact and looked over at Ai and Mako, both of whom were looking more than a little bit dazed and watching the retreating light. Breathing a sigh of relief at seeing that they were all right, Impmon returned his gaze towards the golden light. It was currently molding itself into a shining sphere.

"Impmon?" asked Ai after a second of silence. "What's that?"

"You got me, Ai," replied Impmon. "I've never seen that thing before. It's really weird." Furrowing his brow, Impmon placed a gloved hand on his chest.

_Definitely weird, that's for sure. I could have sworn that, for a second there Jeri was right there next to me or somethin'. But she's not. What's goin' on here?_

As though in response to his question, the sphere of light pulsed and then exploded outwards, leaping into the sky with great, blazing wings extended outwards. Ai and Mako shouted in surprise as it passed over them, and Impmon threw himself in front of the two protectively. The words that would activate his digivolution sprung to his lips, only to pause as he took in the full majesty of the firebird. He did not sense any threat emanating from the creature. Instead a series of small, shining data particles fell down towards the trio, connecting with them. Impmon felt a sense of relief wash through his body as his injuries began to accelerate in their healing. There was more to it than that though. He couldn't explain it, but it felt as though some kind of burden had just been lifted off of his body.

_"I forgive you…"_

"Hah?" Impmon poked a finger in one ear as he wrestled his newly healed arm out of its sling. Did he just hear someone talking to him? He couldn't be sure. It was as though someone were just speaking below their breath…

"Impmon?" asked Ai. "Are you all right?"

"Sure I am?" said Impmon, turning towards his two partners. "Never felt better! Why do you ask?"

"You're crying," supplied Mako, pointing at his eyes. Frowning Impmon dabbed his eyes and was surprised to note that the tips of his gloves were damp. He could feel something wet crawling down his face slowly, and he rubbed his gloves against it, wiping it away.

"It's nothin'. Must've gotten something in my eyes."

Apparently satisfied with his answer, Ai and Mako said nothing more on the matter, and continued to watch the soaring 'phoenix' fly through the air. Impmon joined them. For the strangest reason when he saw it, he felt as though it were speaking to him, filling the hollow spot in his heart.

_Jeri…_ her name passed through his mind with but a whisper, and was gone as soon as it came.

* * *

Justimon flipped through the air as MegaGargomon shot another burst of missiles at him. He narrowly avoided one of them only to be struck by a second, and then two more before he fell towards the ground, crashing into the desert with an explosion of dust and sand. Within his data sphere, Ryo struggled to maintain consciousness, forcing himself to ignore the pain as he pushed himself up to his knees. BlackMegaGargomon's howl could be heard over the sound of his massive engines, and Justimon leapt up into the air just in time to avoid getting crushed by the other Mega. Not that it did him much good as within seconds the living war machine raised one hand and fired a series of lasers from his arm cannons. The lasers slammed home into Justimon's body, throwing him backwards. As he flew through the air, he had time to see Sakuyamon dodge Gehenmon's _Blight Fire_ attack. The desert floor shattered and a black, bottomless hole appeared in its place.

_This really isn't going well,_ was all Justimon had time to think before his body once again impacted with the ground.

The situation had gone from bad to worse. Just fighting off Gehenmon was hard enough if what their earlier experience had been any indication. Being divided and having to fight against their own friend, all the while being unable to rally and figure out a way to help Henry, did nothing to turn the tables in their favor. Recovering, Ryo found it amazing that the two of them had been able to last this long.

_Gehenmon took us all out without even blinking. MegaGargomon in any form packs enough power to level an entire city and still have enough ammunition left over for half of another._

_"Blight Fire!"_

Glancing up, Justimon peered through the dust cloud to see Gehenmon again firing at Sakuyamon. The shaman again dodged and began weaving an intricate spell, attempting to figure out what data patterns would actually be able to touch the dragon. So far everything that either of them had managed to try, starting with MegaGargomon, hadn't even gotten close to Gehenmon, disintegrating before they could do any damage. In stark contrast, Gehenmon's attacks were far more damaging, ripping through whole layers of the digital world, exposing digital framework and the real world that surrounded it.

_Heck, he doesn't even need to attack to destroy anything,_ commiserated Justimon. _His just being here is causing more than enough problems for the digital world. If this keeps up we're not going to have anything left to defend._

The ground shook as MegaGargomon landed near him. A hundred lasers sighted on him, illuminated by the sand cloud.

_Uh, oh._ Leaping forward once more, Justimon barely evaded an explosive storm of missiles and lasers. Heat and fire rocked the desert, turning it into glass as the shockwave knocked Justimon back down. There just wasn't any getting around it. As strong as he was he was outmatched. MegaGargomon may not have had the speed, but his long range attacks more than made up for it. He couldn't even get close either to rid the Mega of the advantage, as it quickly turned out that MegaGargomon had the right kind of ordnance to handle that kind of attack, and in the event that they weren't enough, his armor more than backed him up.

_My own offensive abilities are limited. All I have really is just a wrist mounted laser gun, an arm that can cause mini Earthquakes, which is useless with all this sand around, and an energy blade. Oh, and I can kick really good. Those last two are really my best attacks right now. So let's see…energy sword and kicks versus an overwhelming arsenal of missiles, lasers, armor, and a mind that can put them all too good use._

_…Yeah. We definitely need a plan here._

_"We could separate,"_ said Cyberdramon. _"And you can use your Goliath card on me. I'd be able to match him then."_

_"Barely,"_ replied Ryo. _"And in the end you'd only make yourself a bigger target. I don't think any of the cards that I have on me will do much to negate MegaGargomon's firepower. If only we knew just what it is that's going on with him."_

_"Do you think knowing would change anything?"_

_"It would make a difference. Sometimes a hairs breath is all you need to make luck. I mean, look at Takato. He does it all the time, and with less to work with."_

Ryo felt Cyberdramon growl in agreement. _"Then what do you propose? Your friend isn't in a talking mood."_

_"Hmmm…"_ Ryo furrowed his brow in frustration. _"If only Rika weren't so tied up right now."_

For the strangest reason Ryo felt something rise within him. Something that was large and _dark._ He quickly pushed it down, not wanting to deal with it, and in that second he paid for his lapse of concentration as a missile BlackMegaGargomon had fired found him and impacted with him. Justimon let out a cry of surprise as the explosion flung him backwards. Cracks splintered along his battered chest armor and helmet.

_Gotta regain control here…_

The darkness welled up within him again, and Ryo forcefully pushed it aside once more. As he did so, shadows seeped out from the cracks in his armor and formed a barrier around him, blocking and absorbing an incoming laser. Ryo's mind reeled in shock and he fought to suppress the shadows that were coming from him.

_Wha…what's going on here?_

_"Ryo,"_ spoke up a voice from within the corners of his mind. _"Please don't fight me. I'm only trying to help."_

Ryo's eyes went wide in surprise.

_"Who's there?"_

_"I am Loewemon, the Legendary Warrior of Darkness. I can help you get in touch with your friend…"_

_"You guys…what is it with you guys? What do you want?"_

Justimon's questions were interrupted as the shadow of MegaGargomon's missiles swallowed him. The shadows rose up around Ryo, and the next thing the Legendary Tamer knew he was that the shadows almost seemed to _warp,_ folding around him and obscuring his vision. A muffled explosion reached his ears, and then light again appeared, only this time he was currently behind a rock. He could hear BlackMegaGargomon moving about, scanning the area for any sign of him.

_"What…just happened?"_

_"The shadows are my domain, Tamer,"_ said Loewemon. _"As long as I have darkness, I have strength."_

_"Darkness, huh? Not exactly something that makes me comfortable you know. I've been fighting against it my whole life. Well, most of it anyway."_

_"Yes. I'm well aware of that. Milleniummon has mentioned it on more than one occasion."_

_"Milleniummon?!"_ Ryo felt as though he had just been electrocuted. _"You work for Milleniummon?!"_

_"In a way,"_ replied Loewemon. _"However…"_

_"Forget it! This is his chance to use me and get what he wants! He's been after destroying and ruling the digital world for so long…"_

_"You've already trusted him once,"_ interrupted Loewemon. _"Your battle against Craniummon for example. He contacted you then and you accepted his aid."_

_"I…no! It's not happening!"_

_"Even if by accepting his help you could save your friends?"_

_"Why am I even talking to you? How can you expect me to even trust that guy after everything he's put me through?"_ Ryo shook his head fiercely, cursing the day he had allowed Jeri to keep that Milleniummon card that had snuck its way into his deck. _Jeri…he's just using her to get to me…_

The world warped around him, and in that instant Ryo found himself sitting in front of a dark armored digimon. He was no longer wrapped in the luminous glow of his Mega form's data sphere, and was garbed in his usual cargo pants and red sweater. Quickly getting to his feet, Ryo met the dark warrior's eyes, one hand searching for his gold trimmed digivice. He bit his tongue as he found himself unable to locate it.

"Legendary Tamer," said Loewemon. "You and Milleniummon are polar opposites in many ways. For years you have been his light while he has been your dark. Your experiences have darkened you while he has gained from his time as being a part of Monodramon's consciousness. You have shared your mind with Milleniummon many times, whether you knew it or not. I cannot vouch for Milleniummon in his claims that he wants to protect the two worlds from destruction. I believe only you can know that in your heart. You are his partner after all. And a partner will always need his Tamer."

"I can't trust him!" grated Ryo.

"You can't trust Cyberdramon?"

"Milleniummon's _not_ Cyberdramon!"

"But he still makes his presence known all the same. Every day you live in worry about your partner. Whether or not he's going to be able to control himself, which personality is going to be in charge. It could end if you just simply meet with Milleniummon."

"You really think I can trust that?"

"No." Loewemon almost seemed to _smile_ in spite of the fact that his lion-shaped mask covered the majority of his face. "My own experience makes it difficult to trust him as well. However, I do know that the digital world is in danger, and he has been coordinating us from the moment we were freed from the prison of the Argus program. He wants to stop Oni, and he is helping us become one so that we have the power to defeat Gehenmon. But we need the help of all of the Tamers. On our own we are nothing. You see, we gave up our physical bodies a long time ago."

In spite of himself, Ryo sensed the essence of truth flowing into him from Loewemon's words. It made him wonder just how deep their connection was now. The spirit was bonding to him on a spiritual and physical level and as such he could sense what the Legendary Warrior was feeling.

_Still, that doesn't mean he's telling the truth. He can fool me after all._

"So why do you choose us?" asked Ryo.

"We…had partners once," replied Loewemon. "They are not available for us at this time. You are the closest and the most experienced humans and digimon available that are capable of matching up to each of the Spirits. Normally we would not be able to merge with you without driving you insane or destroying you. Milleniummon's power is making it certain that we can merge without any negative side effects."

"How nice of him. Now let's say, for the sake of argument, that I say no. I figure that the digital world would be destroyed, but are you prepared for that? Would you keep trying no matter how long it takes to convince me? Or would you take over my body like your friend did with Takato? Would you use me for your own ends?"

Loewemon closed his eyes, and his next words were heavy.

"For the sake of the digital world…this is what I have done."

Ryo grunted in surprise as a memory forced its way into his mind. In it, a group of children, battered and beaten, utterly defeated, lay helpless below the triumphant form of Lucemon, digivolved to his Ultimate form of Chaos Mode. Lucemon prepared twin spheres of light and darkness and threw them at the children one at a time. The first sphere, that of light, caught the children and enveloped them in its intensity, preventing them from escaping. Lucemon then threw his second sphere, darkness.

_"No!"_

As Ryo watched, the form of Loewemon leapt in between the two spheres, catching the dark sphere in his hands, striving to keep it separate from the light.

_"Koichi!"_ shouted one of the children in the light sphere.

_"You fool!"_ spat Lucemon. _"Not even the Warrior of Darkness can stand against the power of darkness that I command!"_

Lucemon's words proved true as within seconds the dark sphere expanded, capturing Loewemon. Through some unknown force the two spheres of light and shadow merged together, separating from the children and encompassing Loewemon only, transforming into a strange ball with elaborate symbols and a glowing, crimson light within. The sphere rotated, and the lion warrior began to speak.

_"I know now why I came to the digital world. I wasn't Cherubimon's pawn. I was his greatest gift."_ For a second, the appearance of another digimon, similar to Loewemon, but darker and almost _corrupt_ in his appearance with the multitude of eyes and jagged red swords protruding from his hands, flashed through Ryo's mind. _"Lucemon! You are not the only one who can bring light and darkness together!"_ Loewemon turned towards the children below him. _"I'm glad I met all of you. Thank you for being my friends. I wish I could see you back in the real world. I don't think I'll be able to…"_

_"What does he mean?"_ asked one of the children below. This one, young and wearing a large, orange cap on his head.

_"Protect our world,"_ pleaded Loewemon. _"That's all I ask._

_"Koichi…"_ this one from a dark haired boy wearing a blue, tiger-striped bandana.

_"I…I think…"_ another flash, this time of a boy lying prostrate at the bottom of a stairwell. _"…I'm ready…"_

_"No please!"_

The sphere burst apart, leaving a glowing, spirit like boy in its place. He descended towards the children with two objects floating next to him. Ryo noted a similarity between him and the boy wearing the bandana.

_Twins?_ He wondered.

_"It's up to you now Koji. Take the Spirits of Darkness."_

The two objects, statues Ryo realized, floated towards the bandana wearing boy and merged into his body.

_"My brother. I can't tell you what it means to me to have met you. I have no regrets. No regrets…"_

The body of the glowing boy phased out of stability and unraveled into a long stream of data code, quickly dispersing into the surrounding environment, eventually soaring up towards Lucemon's outstretched palm where it disappeared into a compressed sphere of data.

_"No!"_ cried the boy. _"KOICHI!"_

Ryo felt himself falter a bit in his footing, but he quickly corrected himself. Loewemon observed him for a moment before speaking.

"I promise you," he began slowly, but calmly, "as long as you and I are partnered, I will defend you and those you hold close, to the death if need be. Come what may. Dark god or Armageddon, I will stand by you. Will you have me?"

Ryo closed his eyes, thinking of the boy who had lain prostrate at the bottom of a stairwell, and later of that same boy sacrificing himself to give others a chance to keep fighting. The memories and feelings from them ran deep in him as though they were his own. A part of him still did not trust this _Warrior of Darkness_ , but at the same time he could not deny the essence of truth and honesty that he felt in those shared memories. They were not the kind of thing that could be shared lightly.

Ryo Akiyama looked up at Loewemon, and the warrior nodded.

"Very well," said Loewemon as he held out his hand. Ryo took it after a moment's hesitation, and fiery shadows swam around him, engulfing him in their intensity and ultimately obscuring him. After several seconds, twin red orbs opened as the Legendary Tamer looked out from his data sphere.

_"It's time to get down to business…"_

And outside, a pillar of black fire exploded outwards from Justimon's body.


	171. 170: Shadow and Flame

A long, black scarf billowed behind the warrior as he slowly got to his feet. Flames of darkness licked at his armored body, the last remaining signs of the transformation that had just taken place. Justimon raised his mechanical arm and looked at it curiously, flexing his fingers. For the most part, he looked to be the same, just _darker_. There was a strange, red haze that settled over his mind and vision, but otherwise he felt normal.

_"Whatever normal is for me right now,"_ mused Ryo from within his darkened data sphere.

_"Be careful Ryo,"_ warned the voice of Loewemon. _"Darkness can be a powerful force, but it is a dangerous path to tread upon. Don't take it lightly. The digital world is replete with digimon who have fallen because they allowed darkness to overwhelm them. Your partner, Milleniummon, is no different."_

_"What about you?"_

_"I was corrupted before by Cherubimon's darkness. The sorrow of my own partner was used against him to ensure controlling him was easy. There are reasons why darkness causes so many to fall, for it has pitfalls. Negotiate it carefully. Every power comes with its price."_

_"I get that,"_ said Ryo. He looked up at BlackMegaGargomon as the fortress digimon, having now spotted his target, began to advance on him. _"After all, I have him as a perfect example for me."_

_"Yet it's all too easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment. You'll see what I mean in due time."_

_"In the meantime, we'd best get a move on."_

With that, Ryo's eyes glowed red and he sprinted forward just as soon as BlackMegaGargomon unleashed his salvo of missiles. As Justimon drew close, his body began to phase in and out of view, disappearing within the shadow of one of the oncoming missiles before it smashed into the ground and detonated with explosive force. The other missiles readjusted their course and flew over the explosion, searching for their target. Scant seconds later Justimon appeared at the edge of the flaming wreckage of the weapon, standing unscathed. He took in the remaining oncoming missiles and quickly morphed his arm, reshaping the forearm into a rectangular device. A dark blade of energy ignited at its tip. Pausing for but a second to reaffirm the positions of each of the missiles Justimon slashed the blade to the side.

_"Abyss Blade!"_

Unlike before with his normal forms _Voltage Blade_ attack, nothing emerged from the weapon save for the loud hum of energy as it crackled against the air. The missiles continued to surge towards his position…

…Only to explode seconds later as a series of shadow-shaped scythes tore free from their own shadows and sliced into them, bisecting them at their midsection. Shrapnel and fire flew through the air. As they descended, Justimon locked eyes with BlackMegaGargomon.

_"Now…I think it's time that we leveled the playing field."_

Justimon's words resounded upon the air with such coldness and conviction that BlackMegaGargomon, for the first time since the battle started, began to look a little uncertain. Not waiting to see what further reaction the Mega had, Justimon sped forward, disappearing into the shadows that the fires created and reappearing behind BlackMegaGargomon. Leaping up into the air, Justimon executed a perfect aerial flip and slammed his feet home into the back of the war machine's leg, right behind the knee. BlackMegaGargomon gave a surprised shout and collapsed to the ground. Landing, Justimon turned to look at the Mega in the eyes.

_"Now. I don't suppose that we could have a few words…"_

All that Justimon received was a barrage of laser bursts courtesy of BlackMegaGargomon's wrist cannons. The warrior of shadows dodged to the side, melting in and out of shadows as the lasers ripped by, narrowly missing him by inches. From within his data sphere, Ryo cursed as he took note of a surprising amount of strain that the teleportation move took.

_Hmmm…weird. It's almost as though the light from the lasers saps our energy. Interesting…_

_"Our individual abilities are tied directly to our elements,"_ said Loewemon. _"When that element is absent, our strength decreases considerably."_

_"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."_ Ryo again dodged to the side. A laser sailed over his left shoulder, and for an instant his dark armor sent up a puff of smoke. Ryo gritted his teeth and leapt into the air. As he did so, his scarf lashed out like whips extending itself like liquid shadow and wrapping around BlackMegaGargomon's wrists, binding them together. Undaunted, the giant Mega simply pulled sharply on the scarf, slamming Justimon into the ground. Justimon didn't have a second to recover as BlackMegaGargomon again pulled upwards. As he soared through the air he sent his mind into his scarf and seconds later the scarf unraveled itself, leaving him at the mercy of his momentum and the forces of gravity.

_"Aw nuts…"_ Ryo groaned as he tumbled end over end through the air, eventually slamming into the ground once more. Ryo rolled with the blow and came to a stop. Another laser blast shot over him as he worked to recover, glassing sand not more than a yard away from him.

Cyberdramon growled at his partner's lack of movement and quickly resumed control over their biomerged body. Getting back to his feet, Justimon flipped out of the way just in time to miss being struck by another laser burst.

_"Nice move, Cyberdramon,"_ congratulated Ryo as they landed and spun quickly to face their opponent. Cyberdramon _hmmphed_ disdainfully.

_"Nothing has changed, Ryo,"_ the dragon growled. _"We might as well still be fighting him in our normal form."_

_"What's the matter?"_ chuckled Ryo. _"Not enjoying yourself? I thought you always wanted the 'ultimate battle'."_

Cyberdramon growled threateningly, and Ryo laughed again.

_"But you're right,"_ the Legendary Tamer conceded. _"We may be stronger now, but we still need something else to work with here."_

_"If you can get in contact with him,"_ spoke up Loewemon, _"I can connect with his mind, bring out Henry's consciousness. However, what happens from there I am uncertain. My abilities are limited, and should Henry be infected by some kind of virus there is little that I can do about it. We're going to need Sakuyamon's help. She has the power of light and purification."_

Ryo looked over to where Sakuyamon was flying. She was presently occupied with trying to seal Gehenmon. As hard as she tried however, the Mandala spells that she wove were continuously destroyed as quickly as she created them. All she could do was delay the dragon.

_It's amazing that she's lasted this long considering how powerful this guy is,_ Ryo noted approvingly. _She always was a quick study._

_"Somehow I don't think we're going to be getting Sakuyamon's help any time soon. She's a little tied up right now. We're just going to have to figure this out ourselves. Let's see…"_ Ryo glanced around and looked down at his shadow before looking up at his scarf. Its two ends wove up into the air like snakes. _"I wonder…"_

Without thinking, Ryo stabbed his scarf ends into the ground where his shadow lay, and seconds later BlackMegaGargomon let loose a surprised cry as he found his arms again trapped, and this time with no slack to move them. Firing up his _Abyss Blade,_ Justimon slashed it outwards, and a massive current of shadow smashed into BlackMegaGargomon. In desperation, the war machine shot blast after blast of lasers from his wrist cannons, kicking up a cloud of sand and dust. Ryo felt a foreign, almost cruel smile grow on his face. BlackMegaGargomon was making things too easy for him. Morphing his hand back to its normal appearance, he expanded it and struck it into the ground.

_"Shadow Clap!"_

Another cry was ripped free from BlackMegaGargomon through the cloud of sand and dust, and his massive frame collapsed to the ground seconds later with an Earth shaking crash.

"This time, stay down," muttered Justimon, retracting the ends of his scarf and returning his cybernetic arm to normal. _"All right. We've got to use this time to get a handle on the situation. Loewemon. You said that we could get into his mind, right?"_

_"Yes. However, what we can do there is limited."_

_"Yeah. You said that we need Rika to handle the rest. Only it looks like we're going to have to try to deal with this on our o…"_

Justimon was interrupted as a blindingly searing light exploded throughout the landscape. In an instant, his shadow was obliterated and his scarf quickly returned to its normal appearance, freeing BlackMegaGargomon. Before Justimon could even do anything else, Sakuyamon's body slammed into him, and another explosion, this time from their contact, ripped through the two of them, sending them both sprawling away from each other. The night was silent save for the roars of Gehenmon as the two fought to recover.

_"Ugh…"_ groaned Ryo as he got to his feet. _"What just happened there?"_

_"I could ask you the same thing,"_ grunted Rika's voice from Sakuyamon as she sat up and used her silver staff to stand up. _"You mind telling me what that was all about?"_ Sakuyamon tilted her head to the side as she took in the change to Justimon's armor color. _"And while you're at it, why don't you fill me in on that, too."_

_Do we really have time for that?_ wondered Ryo. In answer to his question, both his and Sakuyamon's bodies gave off a slight glow, and two ghostly figures, one Loewemon and another that he didn't recognize, materialized before them.

_"That was a reaction between our two powers colliding with each other,"_ said Loewemon. _"Light and darkness are forces that have always been in opposition with each other. Brothers fighting a battle over existence. Life and death. Existence and entropy."_

_"I think they get that,"_ said the other figure standing near Sakuyamon. _"They are Tamers, Loewemon. They've seen the show."_

_"What are you two going on about?"_ demanded Rika hotly. _"Lobomon. Do you know this guy?"_

_"He is my brother,"_ said the digimon Rika identified as Lobomon. _"He is the Spirit of Darkness."_

The way Sakuyamon's lips pressed against each other in one thin line gave Ryo the impression that Rika was not at all happy with that revelation.

_"So this is the guy that you were saying could help us help Henry."_

Ryo raised an eyebrow.

_"Hold on. You already know…?"_

_"These spirit guys can talk to us, Ryo. Lobomon here has been giving me the details about Henry from the moment the fight started. I didn't quite know that you were the other half of the equation that was needed. Ugh. I don't think I'm going to live this one down. Accepting help from_ you…"

_"You don't have any problems accepting help from a certain Gogglehead."_

Although Ryo couldn't see her eyes, he felt them flash at him all the same as she looked at him with a livid expression on her face. It was all that he needed to be reminded that Takato remained missing; his fate uncertain.

_"Sorry,"_ he apologized.

_"Sorry?"_ snarled Rika. _"At least he's dependable even if he's got a half hazard way of being that way. Where are you half the time,_ Mr. Perfect?! _You disappear without telling anyo—!"_

_"Rika,"_ spoke up Renamon's voice, cutting across her partner's. _"This is not the time for this."_

As though to punctuate the vulpine digimon's words a fearsome blast of crimson energy tore towards them, shattering data as it went. Sakuyamon and Justimon leapt into the air, barely escaping in time.

"Well," began Justimon, "at least we don't have to worry about MegaGargomon right now…"

_"Mega Barrage!"_

"I stand corrected…"

* * *

"Hmn…?" Noriko's eyes fluttered open and she shifted in Kuzuhamon's arms.

"We should do something," she heard someone say. Who was it? Noriko couldn't quite place the face with the voice, though it sounded familiar…

"No," replied another voice, this one feminine and closer. It belonged to whoever it was that was holding her. "There isn't anything that we can do. You know that neither of us is strong enough to stand against any of the digimon gathered here."

"But I…"

"Only if you digivolve, Urocyomon. Gyōjamon may have passed his spear to you, but you don't have the knowledge or the wisdom to use it. At all. Besides, not only must you protect Gyōjamon's legacy, but we must also ensure that this human child remains safe. We were entrusted with that duty you know."

_Keep…safe? What's going on? What happened?_ Noriko shifted again and winced as she felt something pop in her shoulder. Her arms and legs were stiff. She tried to sit up, only to feel a strong pair of arms tighten around her.

"Huh? Hey. What's going on?" Noriko looked up and found herself staring at the pale face of Kuzuhamon, and she jumped in surprise. A small squeak snuck its way past her mouth and she blushed insanely deep in embarrassment.

"Ah! Wha…h-hey…"

"Welcome back to the land of the waking," said Urocyomon. Noriko looked over to the silver furred fox and felt her body freeze up slightly as she realized that he as well as Kuzuhamon was standing on thin air. Urocyomon scowled and looked over to his side. "If you can call this a good time to be welcomed back that is…"

An explosion sounded a distance off ahead of them and red fire billowed up into the sky. Noriko watched it and all at once memories flew back into her mind.

"Hey!" Noriko exclaimed angrily. "You guys knocked me out, didn't you?!"

"Quite perceptive isn't she?" asked Urocyomon sarcastically. "Top of the class."

"Or maybe it's because you were _never_ at the top of the class when it came to that sort of thing," said Kuzuhamon. "Even a Fresh level would know what happened to them once they woke up."

Urocyomon's tail swished through the air in irritation.

"Everyone's a critic."

"Let me go!" shouted Noriko as she tried to get out of Kuzuhamon's grasp. "Henry! He needs me! He…"

"…Needs help that you can't give him, unfortunately," interrupted Urocyomon, giving the girl an annoyed look. "Your partner is missing right now, Henry's gone out of control, and on top of that we have Armageddon going on out there." Urocyomon tossed his head a bit, indicating the burning landscape behind him. "You go out there, and you're going to be toast in less than ten seconds. That I can promise you."

"Wow. Listen to you," grunted Kuzuhamon as she reinforced her grip on Noriko. "Wasn't I just telling you the same thing a second ago?"

"She's different! She's a _human!_ Let's face it. On their own, they're not in the least bit threatening!"

Noriko screamed just then and a light burst from around her body, lancing outwards. Urocyomon staggered back, shielding his eyes with his paws. Kuzuhamon yelled in surprise and lost her hold on the girl. Noriko dropped downwards, hitting the floor of the protective bubble that they were in. The light surrounded her, infusing her with a sense of power that felt as though it went in all directions. She cried out as she hit the bubble. In her mind's eye she could still see Henry, biomerged with his partner in the form of a dark version of MegaGargomon, attacking his friends and everything around him. She could feel the taste of vomit in her mouth.

_I'm just so…sick and tired of being the only one that's being protected around here! Ever since I got to this place all I've done was sit on the sidelines while everyone else fought! And when I tried to help all I ever did was screw up!_

"Noriko…" began Kuzuhamon, only to draw back instinctively as the light surrounding the girl intensified suddenly. Noriko clawed at the bottom of the shield, trying desperately to break free of it and get down to the battle site. Unlike last time the shield held firm and refused to budge so much as an inch.

_No, no, no, no, NO!_ Noriko screamed in frustration and gripped the sides of her head in frustration. _Please, please, please, don't let it be like this! Just let me help for once! I'm supposed to be a Tamer! Tamers help each other!_

_…Oh, Lumemon… Where are you?_

Noriko hammered the shield once more, only this time the blow did not have as much force behind it as it had earlier. A bad taste lay in the back of her mouth. It didn't matter what she did, she couldn't break past Kuzuhamon's invisible barrier. Noriko choked audibly as she rested her now bruised fist on the shield. The glow continued to surround her body as she hid her face with her hair.

"Open this thing," she said in a dead tone.

"Noriko…" began Kuzuhamon, only to be interrupted by the dark haired girl.

"Open this thing. I'm going to help them."

"You can't be serious," said Urocyomon, resting one paw against his hip. "Look. We've already been through this. You can't do anything."

Noriko's crimson eyes surged upwards and met Urocyomon's golden ones. The silver furred fox felt the fur on his back stand on end ever so slightly.

"Shut up," Noriko said angrily. "I don't care anymore! I want… _need_ to help them! I've got this stupid light or whatever it is coming off of me! It's supposed to do something! It wants out! It's going to do something! I can feel it, and I know that the best way for it to do that something is for me to be _out there!_ Now please!" Noriko span towards Kuzuhamon, her eyes ablaze with fury and need. "Open this shield and let me _out!"_

_Noriko…_

Kuzuhamon felt her face soften beneath her mask. After a moment of deliberation, the blue and purple garbed shaman finally nodded. Noriko visibly relaxed at the gesture.

"But only under one condition," said Kuzuhamon. "We go with you."

* * *

Sakuyamon and Justimon retreated from BlackMegaGargomon's attack as it laid waste to the landscape. Explosions roared, fusing sand into glass and shattering it all in one breath. As he leapt backwards, Justimon found himself grateful that his mask contained no eyeholes. The shards of glass that flew through the air would have caused him considerable trouble if that had been the case.

_Not that I need eyeholes to 'see' that is,_ mused Ryo.

"This is _stupid!"_ exclaimed Sakuyamon angrily as she summoned a shield to protect the two of them from the razor sharp downpour. "We can't really do anything to help him!"

"With your shield we'll be able to get close."

"And what do you suggest we do hotshot? Those spirit guys are telling us that they can use their powers to help Henry and Terriermon, but they practically blew up on us as soon as we got into contact with each other! You wanna tell me how _that's_ going to help Henry?"

_"Blight Fire!"_

Move!" shouted Sakuyamon as she quickly dispersed their shield. The two of them threw themselves to the side, narrowly avoiding Gehenmon's stream of fire. Data was rent and broken into shards, leaving an empty black tunnel that quickly disappeared, revealing the blue oceans of the Earth below.

_"Somehow,"_ began Ryo, _"I get the idea that our problem would be a lot easier to solve if Gehenmon wasn't contributing to this fight."_

"You're telling me. But we've got to deal with him all the same. I've tried every trick that I could think of and nothing works on him. Looks like you've picked up some interesting moves. Do you think any of them would work?"

"Rika, if _you_ couldn't land so much as a scratch on him, I don't think I'm going to do any better."

"Oh, come on. What about that Milleniummon guy? He's your partner isn't he?"

"I _really_ don't think that's a good idea…"

"Well we're running _out_ of ideas!"

Ryo felt himself cringe at the sound of desperation that was in Rika's voice. In all the time that he knew her he had never once heard her react like that. He had to admit that it frightened him.

_She's got to be worried about Takato,_ he thought to himself. _Takato and Henry. And Gehenmon's not helping things any by keeping us pinned down like this. We have what might be a solution to helping out Henry, but we can't figure out how it works. Actually we don't have the time to figure out how it works. We keep reacting to everything that gets thrown at us with no time to rest and think._

_"Why don't you let me do the reacting,"_ growled the voice of Cyberdramon, _"and you do the thinking?"_

_"Cyberdramon?"_

_"Talk to that spirit, Loewemon!"_ growled the Ultimate. _"He has to have a way to help win this fight! He and his allies succeeded once before. I'm certain that they can do it again."_

Ryo shook his head, surprised once more by what his partner just said. More and more lately it seemed as though Cyberdramon had been becoming increasingly logical in his thinking, no longer acting like the battle driven digimon that he had been back before Ryo first met up with the Tamers.

Ryo forced himself to dismiss the thought for a moment.

_"Okay. You've got the driver's seat for a while. Try not to scratch the paint."_

_"Or play around with any unnecessary buttons,"_ growled back Cyberdramon with a strange tone in his voice that sounded eerily of… _laughter?_

_No way…_

Closing his eyes, Ryo felt the world distort around him and the figure of Loewemon appeared.

_"You've come,"_ Loewemon said simply.

_"We need help. You and that Lobomon guy said that you can help us help Henry. In that image you showed me, it looked like you combined the powers of light and darkness."_

Loewemon nodded.

_"The strength of Light and Darkness when they combine increases exponentially. The passions of one's inner heart tempered by vision and awareness. However, it is a razor's path to tread upon. Koji could not easily handle both light and darkness together. They nearly killed him. In fact, they_ would _have had it not been for Takuya, who merged his powers and himself with Koji."_

_"How?"_

_"The material world contains aspects of light and dark in everything. It is larger than any single human. A great web."_

_"I don't suppose that you could stop speaking in riddles and talk some plain sense for once?"_

_"The Digidestined of that world shared the power, Ryo. That was the only way that Koji, or any of the others, could share the burden of Light and Darkness' strength. No human could handle it. It nearly tore apart_ one _human, but all of them working together…"_

_"I have to say this brings new meaning to teamwork."_

_"Your old friend Tai would certainly agree."_

_"…Can we move on now?"_

_"It's not quite that simple."_

_"It never is. That's why we get the fun jobs."_

A dark chuckle emerged from Loewemon.

_"Perhaps. But that's just fate. And what's fate but the end path of the road you chose?"_

_"So you're saying I have no one to blame but myself."_

_"Hmmph. Agunimon would say you were a pessimist. It's fortunate I happen to know better. In this case, certain factors must be met before you can help your friend."_ Loewemon turned and looked off to the side, as though towards something arriving on a distant horizon. _"One of which is arriving as we speak."_

_"What factor is that?"_

Loewemon pointed behind Ryo.

_"Look. And see."_

* * *

Ryo snapped back to attention just in time to see Sakuyamon, her lips transformed into an irritated snarl, saying something to him.

_"Uh…what?"_ he asked, slightly startled by the transition.

_"Did your attention span just up and take a vacation, Ryo? I was…hold on. You were only talking with one voice a second ago."_

_"I let Cyberdramon handle our biomerged form while I had a talk with the Spirit of Darkness. Did Cyberdramon do something bad?"_

"Only if by 'bad' you mean growling a lot and ignoring me when I was trying to get his attention. Anyway, it looks like there's something going on with Henry. He's not doing anything anymore."

Turning, Ryo saw that BlackMegaGargomon had stopped in his advance. He was presently towering over a blazing orb of light descending towards the ground. After several seconds the orb touched down and deposited the forms of Noriko, Urocyomon, and Kuzuhamon directly in front of BlackMegaGargomon. The massive Mega level war machine eyed them for what felt like an eternity, crimson glowing in his eyes.

"What are they _doing?!"_ exclaimed Justimon in bewilderment, caught completely off guard by this act. Next to him Sakuyamon shook her head, equally surprised. _"Loewemon, is this what you were talking about?"_

_"No. I don't understand what's going on. I felt her signal. She should be here."_

_"She? She who?"_

Before Loewemon could even reply, BlackMegaGargomon's weapons ports snapped open and he took a massive step forwards. Justimon cursed under his breath.

"We've got to get them out of there!" Justimon began to run forward, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by Sakuyamon as her arm shot out in front of him. "Wha…?"

"Don't interrupt them," the white shaman said in a firm voice. "I think I know what they're doing."

From within his data sphere, Justimon could only look at Sakuyamon with even wider eyes than before.

_Is she crazy? They're going to get killed out there! Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon are too weak to really protect themselves, and Noriko…she's human and…_ Ryo's mind stopped in its ranting as he remembered the battle that had been fought in the park a month ago. He hadn't been there for the majority of it, but he had heard the details about it from those who had witnessed it, namely Henry and Terriermon (especially the latter, as his mouth never knew silence). Rika had separated from her partner and faced down Takato with no weapons except for herself and the memories she shared with her friend in order to reach him in a moment when he was out of control. She had done it again not too long ago, when Takato had been possessed by the Spirit of Fire. The principle was the same here. He didn't have to see Noriko's eyes to know that she was going to try the exact same strategy.

"Rika…!"

"I said _don't_ interrupt them."

"Rika! This is crazy! She'll get killed out there!"

_"Can't you for once in your life just have faith that things will go right?"_ grated Sakuyamon in Rika's voice.

"I do," replied the Legendary Tamer, his body tensing. "And I have. But there's a fine line between having faith and what the situation is. Did you forget that Gehenmon is still out there?"

Sakuyamon's arm wavered and the roar of the great dragon punctuated the silence.

_"GO!"_ shouted Sakuyamon, and not needing any other encouragement, the dark warrior of justice vaulted over the pristine shaman, streaking towards BlackMegaGargomon and the three figures that stood defiantly in front of him.

* * *

Gehenmon growled angrily as he saw the light that radiated from in front of the digimon that he had corrupted. The MegaGargomon, blackened and emblazoned with the sign of the Hazard, hesitated. Something was wrong. There was something about that light that held the Mega's attention. Gehenmon found himself shaking his head, feeling strangely weakened just looking at that light. It burned his senses and sapped his strength and what was more…it was as though something deep inside of him was being _pulled_ at. As though the light were reaching even the deepest, darkest depths that made up his digital core.

It was a feeling that he had felt once before, in the distant past in a world that had been very different from the one that existed now.

That faint memory merely served to reignite the dragon's anger. Destruction and the obliteration of _all_ that caused pain in the universe. Teeth gnashed together, sending sparks flying through the air. He whipped his tail around in a long, thrashing arc before bringing it down, sending a blade-like energy blast ripping through the air. It struck the desert that was yet untouched by the dragon's presence, obliterating a chunk of it in an instant and sending shockwaves reverberating through the remains. A quake rocked the digital world, sending a crack splintering through the desert. BlackMegaGargomon and the three figures standing in front of him staggered, attempting to regain their balance. The warp surrounding Gehenmon expanded, pulsating even more powerfully than before, and he stomped forward. His mind was blank now. There would be no _Blight Fire_ here. No. Only his fangs and claws would fit the destruction of that cursed light and its owner.

Data broke as Gehenmon charged forward, and the warp pulsed forward as well, blasting rock and sand away from him in all directions as though he were an oncoming tsunami. More cracks broke across the land, and as though pressure had reached critical mass, massive boulders exploded into the air. Noriko's scream was drowned in the roar of the digital world's death throes as her body was tossed through the air like a rag doll, quickly flying out of the reach of Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon, they too made helpless by Gehenmon's approach.

Gehenmon surged closer towards Noriko, his fangs drawing apart. A bloody glow began to emerge from the back of his throat, and Noriko's eyes grew wide at the burning pit she knew was fast coming to greet her.

_"Mega Barrage!"_ came the booming shout of BlackMegaGargomon as a series of missiles struck the dragon. Gehenmon gave a surprised roar as the missiles, each tipped with a glowing red Hazard sign, struck home and detonated on his body with explosive force. The dragon didn't get so much as a chance to recover as BlackMegaGargomon charged forward and slammed into his body with a powerful blow. The Hazard sign that had been branded into his armor was _awhirl_ with sparkling color, and a glow of dark emerald and ruby coated his obsidian body. Time seemed to slow down for Noriko as she watched the massive Mega rained blow after crushing blow on Gehenmon, a look of pure rage transfixing his mechanical face. As she continued to watch, BlackMegaGargomon reared back and again threw a fist forward. This time however, Gehenmon whipped his tail around and caught the arm before it could strike and a series of spines shot outwards, skewering the Mega's hand. The Hazard sign on Gehenmon's flashed once, and a wave of energy exploded outwards, shredding BlackMegaGargomon's armor. The Mega cried out in surprise and pain as one of his two shoulder mounted missile casings exploded. Gravity asserted its mastery over the gargantuan digimon as his legs buckled, and the Hazard sign emblazoned on his body flickered, growing dim. As it did so, his body began to phase in and out of view.

_"HENRY!"_ shouted Noriko. Time accelerated again, and her view of the battle was interrupted as her ascent into the air carried her backwards, slamming her into the arms of Sakuyamon.

"Justimon!" snapped the shaman priestess at her companion as he flipped into the air, _Abyss Blade_ already activated.

"I know! I know! I'll think of something! Just get her out of here!"

Gehenmon growled and hissed as it saw the oncoming warrior of justice racing towards him. In response the dragon quickly flicked its tail and sent BlackMegaGargomon up into the air as though he were a rag doll, sending the damaged Mega flying towards Justimon. Changing his orientation, Justimon looked as though he were trying to come to a stop in mid air. Regardless of whether or not that was his intention, there was simply no time to avoid the other digimon. BlackMegaGargomon crashed into Justimon as his hulking form fell towards the ground with a heavy crash. Justimon felt the air rush out of his digital lungs in one mad rush as the impact threw him to the ground.

Seeing that his two opponents were down and not likely to recover quickly, Gehenmon turned towards Sakuyamon. His eyes gleamed dangerously.

_"Spirit Strike!"_ shouted Sakuyamon reflexively, slashing her staff to the side as she threw herself backwards, trying to put some distance between herself and the great dragon. It was a wasted effort however, the fox spirits bursting apart before they could even get close to their target. Flapping its shadowy wings, Gehenmon took to the air, his eyes set on the glowing human girl that the shaman digimon held in her arms.

_We're not going to make it!_ Sakuyamon cursed under her breath and summoned her shield. In spite of Gehenmon's size he was a surprisingly fast digimon. He was at least as large as MegaGargomon, but unlike that particular digimon he took to air speed with ease. Knowing that her shield would not be enough to hold back the dragon, and knowing that she had no time to affect an escape, Sakuyamon turned her back on her opponent, hoping that her body could protect Noriko for at least a moment longer. Her mind was moving rapidly, but in spite of herself she couldn't think of a way out of this mess. All there was that was standing now, or in this case flying, was herself and Noriko, the latter of whom was doing nothing but glow—

_Hold on…_

"Do something!" shouted Sakuyamon.

"Huh?" came Noriko's intelligent reply, even though the look in her eyes told the shaman that she had already caught on to what Sakuyamon meant. It was just that she didn't have enough experience in these situations to react appropriately.

_Too late…_ thought Rika as Gehenmon's shadow fell upon her. _Jeri…I'm sorry. I couldn't keep my promise…_

It was then that a great fire flared in front of her. Sakuyamon's eyes snapped open, startled only to grow even wider as she was made witness to a massive firebird flew towards her. The great bird's body parted, dissolving into a wave of molten fire that passed by the shaman priestess and slammed into Gehenmon's body. The dragon roared in surprise at the unexpected attack, only for his roar to transform into a scream of pain as his was driven smoking into the ground. More data disintegrated beneath his weight and he fell into an open space of emerald lines and blackness amidst a floating, breaking landscape. The fire regrouped and reformed its phoenix-like appearance while Sakuyamon watched in sheer awe. Before she could say or do anything, the phoenix swept its wings out and encompassed BlackMegaGargomon, Justimon, and Sakuyamon. A bolt of white light descended from the heavens, striking the bird and a sphere of burning data appeared, surrounding its body in a sweep of digital code.

* * *


	172. 171: Desert Cemetery

Plated violet armor trembled as its data struggled for supremacy over a bloody, boney head crest. Silence filled the air and a pair of eyes, one golden and held in a grip of never-ending madness, the other hidden behind a golden mask and otherwise sightless, looked down at the battered figures below. Steam emerged from the creature's mouth and within the halls of its mind, dark laughter echoed endlessly. It paid the owner of the laugh no mind however, and continued to look down at the broken figures. One of them was a red scaled dinosaur with bat wing-like ears, and although nowhere near the size of the dragon standing over him, one could tell that the saurian was rather large; standing easily at almost five feet. Lying next to him was a tousled, brown haired boy with a pair of cracked goggles on the ground, one end of its broken strap still connected to his forehead where it had previously been attached.

The dragon growled slightly, making it sound like a curious, crooning noise, and leaned forward just a bit. Trickles of blood made its way out of the boy's mouth and nose, falling to the ground silently. His crimson eyes were open, but unseeing. The spark that had so often been them before was absent.

His fingers were held loosely around a cracked, gold trimmed digivice, as though his spirit was trying in a desperate attempt to keep hold of it in spite of the body's failings.

Guilmon coughed and rolled over to his side, only to be greeted by a long, nasty looking claw standing next to him. Following the claw with a confused look on his face he saw that it led all the way up to the two-faced, two-bodied dragon towering over him. The dragon was presently unmoving. Just _staring_ at him, or rather something just off to his side.

_What could he be looking at?_ Wondered Guilmon. A quick look to the side revealed nothing more than just the same claw that he saw. _Maybe it's something on the other side?_

Slowly, carefully, Guilmon got to his feet. His balance wavered and the dinosaur placed one clawed hand on the razor sharp toe to catch himself. Shaking his head to clear it from the dizziness that threatened to overtake him, Guilmon took a moment to realize that he was actually _using_ the dragon's claw to keep himself from falling down. A nervous, embarrassed look crossed his face just then and he retracted his arm.

"Ah…sorry," he apologized. Guilmon looked up anxiously at the dragon, his eyes fidgeting slightly at the golden, crazed looking eye that glared down towards him. The dragon made no however, instead remaining intently focused on whatever it was that was on the other side of the toe. Guilmon again followed the dragon's eye, only to nearly lose his balance again. This time Guilmon grabbed hold of the toe and did not let go, instead laying himself over it in a prostrate manner, breathing heavily. Once he was sure that he had recovered sufficiently, Guilmon pushed himself forward just enough so that he could see on the other side.

What he saw made him freeze up in shock.

"T-Ta-Takato…mon…"

Lying on the other side of the massive claw was Takato's unmoving body. His eyes were sighted on Guilmon, but nothing in them registered that they even saw him.

"Ta-Takato!" Guilmon called out, his voice wheezing uncomfortably. The way Takato looked right now…something about it just did not sit well with the crimson reptile. "Takato. You…" Guilmon coughed and wheezed. His chest hurt so much. "…You have red stuff coming out of you."

Guilmon thought hard. He had seen that kind of thing coming from Takato many times in the real world. A result of the oft half hazard nature that was his feet, sending him plummeting to the ground on numerous occasions. And then there was also Guilmon's own rather rough nature when it came to playing. Guilmon quickly learned that great lengths were required to go easy when it came to humans after he first discovered how easily they could be harmed by even innocent gestures. His claws and teeth especially, coupled with his enormous strength, did not bode well for the safety of his Tamer if he let himself slip for even a moment. Although there were times where Takato did get hurt from their occasional roughhousing, never mind the battles that they participated in, Guilmon had become quite expert in being his usual playful, happy self, while not hurting anyone. At least until food was put in front of him anyway.

And now, here lay his partner, unmoving and bleeding.

_How?_ Wondered Guilmon. For some reason his head hurt to remember. _He and I were biomerged. He should have been protected. He and I were fighting the dragon above us and,_ Guilmon gulped and took a quick look skyward to make sure that no change had been made in the dragon's position or intent before refocusing on Takato, _we got burned. And…and…_

Guilmon groaned as memory rushed back into him.

* * *

_A cry was loosed from Gallantmon's lips as his burning form impacted with the ground with devestating force. In spite of the pain, the Royal Knight's mind remained firmly in control of his actions and wasting no time he rolled to the side, throwing off his cape as the fire of the dragon's_ Megiddo Flame _consumed it utterly. Getting back to his feet, Gallantmon had barely enough time to register the dragon's charge before leaping backwards, narrowly avoiding getting crushed by the behemoth. The maneuver was not without its cost however. In spite of the Knight's speed, the dragon proved to be faster still, and with a quick twist of its body, the Megidramon tail portion swept outwards and crashed brutally into him, sending him rocketing away like a comet. This time there was no rolling with the blow when he crashed back to the earth. Pain exploded through every part of his body as armor was bent inwards, and Gallantmon felt something warm and wet burst forth from his mouth._

_"Takato!" Guilmon exclaimed, feeling the pain in his partner's body._

_"G-Guil—!"_

_A shadow fell over the battered knight, and a second later all words and sight were cut off for the both of them._

* * *

_Takato,_ thought Guilmon feeling his strength ebb. _You took as much of that hit as you could…why? I thought…I…_ Guilmon bit his lip and crawled over the claw, not caring if the dragon did anything now. All that mattered to him was Takato.

Landing awkwardly, Guilmon shook his partner's body, trying vainly to wake him up. He still felt warm, which was a good sign as far as Guilmon was concerned. He didn't know much about humans biologically, but he had heard on TV once that if a person was cold than something was very definitely wrong.

_Only…he doesn't feel as warm as I remember,_ thought Guilmon as he caressed one claw gently on Takato's cheek. The boy remained unmoving.

"Takato…" Guilmon pleaded, shaking his Tamer by the shoulder. "…Wake up! You went sleepy-bye with your eyes open! That's not good! This isn't the time to be taking a nap! We're in trouble here! Takato!" Guilmon closed his eyes tightly and allowed his tears to flow freely. _"…Takato…"_

_"He can't hear you, Guilmon."_

"Agunimon!" Guilmon turned his head to see the Warrior Spirit of Flames floating in the air above them. Hope kindled in his digital heart upon seeing the digimon. "Agunimon! Something's wrong with Takato! We've got to wake him up!"

_"I'm afraid that there isn't anything that I can do for him,"_ said Agunimon with a sorrowful shake of his head.

"You mean…" Guilmon's voice trailed off. He was familiar with the concept of death, having dealt it on more than one occasion to numerous digimon in the past, and been made witness to it when Beelzemon deleted Leomon. That moment had driven home the idea more thoroughly and for the first time Guilmon realized that destroying other digimon wasn't something that should be taken lightly. It had given him a distaste for absorbing their data as well as a part of him felt that it was stealing the digimon's chance at rebirth. He did not know if such a thing as revival for digimon after deletion was possible and neither did any of his friends, but Takato held to the idea that since the TV show had so far proven accurate on digimon (at least in so far as their existence and appearances) then perhaps, somewhere in the great and wide digital world, there was a place where the dead could find rebirth and renewal. It gave Guilmon something to hope for, for all of those digimon he had been forced to destroy in defense of the human world.

Unfortunately, unlike digimon, life in the real world, Guilmon had learned, was unique when it came to death. When things died, they stayed dead.

_Takato…Takato!_ Guilmon began to turn frantic as he shook his partner once more, trying to get a reaction out of him. _Any_ reaction would do. Still, there remained no response. _No…no…no…_ No!

Throwing his head back, Guilmon let loose a loud, mournful howl that caught the dragon's attention. The ground shook as the dragon jerked back to attention, brought sharply out of his focus on Takato's inert body. Scales scraped against shattered ground and pebbles and sand fell into the imprint that the dragon's foot had crushed into the ground. A powerful roar split upon the air, reverberating through the desert. Agunimon looked back and forth between the rising, dualistic dragon and Guilmon, a worried look on his face. Guilmon was trembling, but had yet to react to the presence of the behemoth that had so brutally crushed him and Takato.

After what felt like a painfully eternal pause, Agunimon heard a heartbeat and a dark aura flashed around Guilmon. His golden eyes turned towards the dragon, pupils shrinking into dangerous slits.

_Takato…_ Takato! Guilmon surged to his feet, and a red Hazard sign flashed across his white chest. Agunimon stepped back in surprise.

_"Wha…? But I thought that the X-Antibody sealed that! What's going on here?"_

Guilmon gave no answer, and Agunimon honestly didn't expect any. The dinosaur looked to be too far into his rage to pay attention to what was happening to him. Or if he did, he didn't care.

_That's a frightening possibility,_ thought Agunimon, remembering what he had seen in Takato's mind when Megidramon had first appeared. The Warrior of Flames had little more than a second to consider possessing Guilmon and lending him his power in the fight that was sure to follow.

_I don't know what kind of affect the Digital Hazard could have on me, but I do know one thing. Above all else, we can't let Takato get caught up in all of this,_ thought Agunimon. _I've got to get Guilmon to understand that! But there isn't enough time for…_

Agunimon blinked in surprise when the dark aura surrounding Guilmon suddenly vanished and the red reptile shoulder's sagged. Where once rage had been vivid portrait on his face, a deep, sorrowful resigned depression settled over him. The Hazard sign quickly vanished, as though dismissed by Guilmon's change in attitude.

_"Uh…hey,"_ began Agunimon carefully. _"What's going on?"_

"I…can't do it," whispered Guilmon as he sagged even further until his claws touched the ground. Looking over his shoulder, Guilmon cast a sad expression at his fallen partner. "I can't make myself fight. Not…not without Takato. And not in this way either." Guilmon shook his head in emphasis. "He wouldn't want me to be like that. Not like when I became Megidramon. That would be…bad."

Agunimon again blinked in surprise, rather taken aback by this expression of…what exactly? Maturity? Guilmon was, for once, reigning in his instincts to avenge his partner, but at the same time he was consigning himself to a death sentence if he didn't do _something._ They would all be destroyed if they couldn't confront Lumemon's corrupted, fractured form in some manner. And with Guilmon in his present form, retreat wasn't an option either. Guilmon wasn't fast enough and Takato was little more than… _baggage._

_"What are you doing?"_ boomed a loud voice from the dragon. Both Guilmon and Agunimon looked up at the beast. The _Lucemon_ half's mouth was moving; slavering jaws of violet armor shoved against the blood red one of Megidramon's, his words breaking and fracturing as a tongue that didn't fully belong to either half strove to speak. _"Destroy them! Destroy them while you still can! You will only experience heartache as long as they live! You will not know where your place is! Is that what you want?!"_

Agunimon frowned as he listened to the dragon speak. There was something about that voice that seemed… _off._ As though it didn't belong to either half of the two digimon that made up this monstrous creature above them.

_Even in his highest form, Lucemon always sounded like a stupid, spoiled little kid who couldn't take ' no' for an answer. Milleniummon gave us all a look at BlackGuilmon's mind frame. He was either an angry version of Guilmon, or a lost little kid. This voice…it doesn't sound like either of them. So who…?_

The answer hit him like a thunderbolt.

_That's it!_ He thought in realization. _Ophanimon said something about this the last time we saw her, back when the digital world was being rebuilt and our partners went back to the real world! It was something about Lucemon! About why he became corrupted! It wasn't because of his power. It was because of…_

_"GranDracmon,"_ Agunimon said aloud, and the dragon's attention bolted onto him. _"What are you doing here?"_

A low laugh emanated from the dragon's mouth.

_"I think you have me confused for someone else, oh Legendary Warrior."_

_"Oh yeah? Kazemon says that I get confused pretty easily, so I can get that. But I don't think I'm wrong about this. But if you're not going to give me a straight answer…well, when all you have is a hammer…"_

_"Which you don't have. Not without 'his' permission."_ The Lucemon Shadow Lord Mode half of the dragon pointed behind Agunimon at Guilmon as he stood protectively over Takato's prostrate body. _"Your threat has no base to me. But I will tell you at least this much. I am not GranDracmon. Rather, I am simply the effect of his voice on this prideful digimon that came seeking him so many centuries ago. A virus if you will."_ Armor creaked as the dragon grinned. _"I infect, therefore I am."_

_"Whatever. I take it that I can't tell you to take a hike and leave that guy alone without a fight, huh?"_

_"Quite correct. Now, please be so kind as to not resist. My master has plans for this world, and I cannot allow…urgh!"_

The dragon's body suddenly convulsed, and the black aura that surrounded him flexed, turning inward before snapping outwards like a whip. Digital tendons separating the two halves of the dragonic digimon began to weave themselves together, fusing armor and bone into one. The shadows whipped towards the joining areas, stabbing themselves inwards in an attempt to prevent their union. The dragon roared angrily, spewing molten fire into the air. Guilmon threw himself over Takato's body, crashing into it in his attempt to shield his partner with his own.

_"Nor…ri…ko…"_ growled the dragon's two mouths together. The Lucemon Shadow Lord Mode half jerked, and bone could be heard snapping as GranDracmon struggled to control the jaw enough to formulate words.

_"You call to_ her?! _She is not your true partner! Did you not want to return to where you…?"_

Whatever it was that GranDracmon was trying to say, it was immediately cut off as the dragon let loose a powerful roar and leapt into the air, beating its powerful wings.

_"NORIKO!"_ the dragon bellowed fiercely, and with one last, powerful beat of its wings, sand and wind exploded all over the desert. Guilmon clutched his partner close to him, holding him tightly, not wanting to be separated no matter what the cost. Agunimon watched as the flying behemoth flew away, eventually disappearing into the cloud of sand that it had kicked up with its flight. Tense moments passed by, during which the cloud of sand finally settled down, leaving only a few grains falling through the air, glimmering ever so slightly in the pale light cast by the digital Earth. Pulling backwards, Guilmon looked down at his partner. The blood flow had finally stopped and his eyes continued to remain unresponsive to the world around him. Guilmon nuzzled the boy and sniffed.

"Takato…" Guilmon moaned. _"Takato…"_

_"Guilmon,"_ began Agunimon slowly. _"We have to get going."_

"But…Takato…"

_"We have to help the others, Guilmon. We can't just stay here. You know that just as well as I do. The others…"_

A bright, red light cut a swath through the blue light of the digital night and exploded against the night sky. Agunimon's eyes widened as the Earth appeared where night sky had been, and shards of destroyed data fell to the ground.

_"Guilmon!"_

The reptile did not so much as move. He continued to remain fixed where he was. Grating his teeth, Agunimon tried one last gambit.

_"Do you think Takato would want you to stay here while your friends were killed?"_

That did it. Guilmon's body stiffened noticeably and his ears stood up on end. Looking at Agunimon with a lost expression clear on his face, Guilmon shook his head.

"No," the red scaled digimon replied finally.

Guilmon looked back at his partner and shuddered visibly. Takato's unseeing eyes gazed forward at nothing, looking even more distant then they had before. And his skin…had it been this pale before? Or was it merely a trick of the Earth light? Guilmon couldn't tell. The only thing that he knew for sure was that his body had grown even colder in the time that had passed since waking up. Guilmon found breaking away from his partner to be the hardest thing he had ever done, and even Agunimon felt his heart wrench painfully from the look on the digimon's face. It was all he could do to keep from cursing himself for making the two part in such a manner. Unfortunately there wasn't anything that could be done.

_I'm sorry Guilmon,_ thought Agunimon before turning to face the crimson fires that lay off in the distance. _Man, I really hope that this plan works now. We're already missing a huge part of the plan. Hopefully Guilmon can make up for it but…_ Agunimon swallowed. He did not like this at all. Not one bit.

"Goodbye…Takatomon…" whispered Guilmon as he stepped away from his partner. His feet wobbled slightly in the desert sand. "I'll…I'll be back to see you as soon as I can."

_"Are you ready, Guilmon?"_ asked Agunimon. Guilmon swallowed. He wanted so very desperately to say 'no' but he knew that he had little choice in the matter. He could stay here and mourn, but by doing so his and Takato's friends would be destroyed. He couldn't allow that, just as he knew Takato would try to find a way to rescue his friends. But no matter what, Guilmon knew in the depths of his heart, that a part of him would remain here, and that once the battle was over, _here_ was where he would return to, and stay for as long as the digital world allowed him to.

_"Now, now,"_ spoke up a voice that was neither Guilmon's or Agunimon's. _"Why the long faces?"_

The two digimon, one spectral and the other physical snapped to attention just in time to see a pulsing blue sphere descend out of the sky towards them. Data collected around it, creating a ghostly figure that was all too familiar to Guilmon.

"Wha…?" Guilmon blinked to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. "Agunimon? Why am _I_ over there?"

The ghostly figure finished taking its shape, and a crimson cape billowed out from behind it, and a pair of white armored gauntlets folded themselves in a confident manner over a familiar, dark Hazard sign.

Standing before the trio was the red and white form of the Royal Knight known as _Gallantmon._


	173. 172: Crimson Knight

_Eyes covered in a translucent blue light opened up to a world of darkness, broken only by a single, dull spark. Rika Nonoka narrowed her eyes, and took a cautious look around her._

_"Renamon?" she called out while reaching simultaneously for the link that she shared with the vulpine digimon. No response came to her, and making an irritated sound the red haired, blue glowing girl focused her attention on the light before her. It had gotten closer since she last looked at it, and had taken on a more familiar shape. Rika leaned forward to take a closer look, and a second later she gasped in surprise._

_"Takato!" she called out. It was him. She was sure it was him. There was still some distance between them, but she could pick out those features that she had come to be almost intimately familiar with during the past couple months. The dumb, simple, not to mention plain look on his face that never hinted at anything special save for when he was off looking towards the horizon, dreaming his dreams. The goggles that were his trademark weren't on his head, but Rika didn't need those to recognize him by. Especially not in a place like this. She had that feeling that as long as they were here, recognizable items were not needed._

Why's he just floating there? _the girl wondered curiously._ He looks like a puppet who's strings got cut. _Deciding that she wasn't going to get any answers by just staying where she was, she began pushing her arms, mimicking swimming in the zero gravity environment. As she did so, the motion sparked a memory in her._

_"Cool. This is how I fly in my dreams."_

_"You and your dreams…"_

_Rika pushed the memories to the side. They were not important in the here and now. As she drew closer she noticed that the light that surrounded him was…different from that which surrounded her. Duller in a way, like a dying ember in a bed of coals. She couldn't be certain, but it looked as though the light was fading as well._

Something's wrong. I don't think I've ever seen him like this. He looks about as bad as Henry did when we finally beat the D-Reaper.

_Gritting her teeth, Rika drew closer._

_"Hey! Gogglehead! Wake up already, would ya? This isn't funny! Do you know how hard we've been looking for you?" A small smile that belied the true emotions that hovered just beneath the surface graced her features. The smile quickly vanished when she didn't receive an answer, and was quickly replaced by a mixture of frustration and worry. Within short order she finally reached his side. The light that surrounded Takato was almost gone now, dimming to the point of near perceptibility. If it weren't for the nimbus of light that surrounded her Rika believed that she would have had a hard time seeing him even at this distance. As she watched, she reached out and placed a hand on his face. It felt strangely…cold._

_A chill ran down the girl's back and her hand tensed up. Her face hardened. Within the corners of her mind, she felt the boy's presence. It was dim._

Is that why I couldn't sense him earlier? _She wondered. Absently she poked at his face, trying to rouse him, but to no effect._

_"Takato, what did you get into?"_

_Again, no answer came to her save for the continued dimming of his light. Anger, coupled with a sense of dread flared in her heart and she gripped his shoulders tightly._

_"Come on, Gogglehead!" she snapped, shaking him. "Wake…up! Seriously, what's wrong with you? You're…" Rika hesitated before continuing. "…You're starting to scare me."_

_Rika never liked admitting to being frightened by anything. To her, it was shameful to be afraid in battle never mind that it could cause hesitation at the wrong moment. What was more it was something that an enemy could use to their advantage. There were times where she found herself admitting to it, and only during the most extreme of circumstances. Losing friends was something that she would readily admit to, if not to others than at least to herself._

_And right now, a sneaking suspicion was making itself known in her mind that she was going to lose a friend today._

_"…Takato…"_

_And as though her fears were being founded, Takato's body began to become immaterial, Rika's hands slipping through where the faint outlines of where his shoulders were. Her eyes widened in horror._

_"Takato! TAKATO!"_

* * *

"Agunimon?" asked Guilmon tentatively as he pointed over at the ghostly apparition of his Mega form. "Why am I standing over there?"

_"That's not you, Guilmon,"_ replied the Legendary Warrior of Fire.

"But he looks like me. Well, he looks the way I did before Mr. Mizuno fixed me."

_"You're not the only Guilmon out there, my friend,"_ spoke up Gallantmon as he stepped towards the trio. _"But you are unique for our species."_

"Um…thank you?" Guilmon blinked, not sure what to make of this Gallantmon. Agunimon frowned and moved to stand between Guilmon and Gallantmon.

_"Do you mind telling me what it is that you're doing here?"_ Agunimon asked.

_"Why are you suspicious?"_ asked Gallantmon, coming to a stop in front of the other spirit. _"That's hardly like you. Certainly your partner was quite trusting of others. Quick to forgiveness as well. Surely that became a part of your personality since your revival."_

_"Wha…? What do you know about me?"_

_"Just what I observed,"_ chuckled Gallantmon, _"from a certain Autumn Leaf Fair when you came looking for the Beast Spirit of Ice. It was a pity that I couldn't stay in that area for very long. I truly did wish that I could have been of some help to you."_

Agunimon frowned for a second before a grin broke across his face.

_"So you're the 'handsome knight' that Zoe met. Man, after that mess was over she would not stop talking about you for the rest of the day."_

Gallantmon chuckled and moved past Agunimon and halted in front of Guilmon, looking down at him and his inert partner. The Royal Knight's golden eyes narrowed and he kneeled down towards the ground. Placing one hand upon the boy's hair, he ran it over his head and sighed, closing his eyes. Guilmon watched him intently.

"Um…sir? Mr. Gallantmon, sir?"

_"No need to be so formal, Guilmon,"_ said Gallantmon. _"I am here to help."_

"You…you can help him?"

_"His data pattern has remained intact. He may be data right now, but humans are…different from digimon. Unless they take a substantial amount of damage they do not break apart as easily. Their bodies still function under their biological norms, and as you can see there is little about the nature of the digital world that would allow them to function as they normally would be governed."_

_"What do you mean?"_ asked Agunimon.

_"In spite of the internal damage, the boy's body was protected well enough to survive deletion. His mind is a blank however due to the extent of the damage. Human 'death' means a ceasing of function and eventual decomposition, completely unlike digimon who break apart almost immediately once the limit of their ability to survive is reached. Here in the digital world, there are two important factors to consider. Energy and the sense of one's existence. We only need to eat when we feel like it. It's not necessary for continued existence. Only for evolution is additional data required. The sense of one's existence determines whether one feels hungry. It is why digimon are often driven to become savages. They feel the hunger for evolution and the need to sustain it. It is why digimon revert when they don't keep up with their absorption of data. It is a two edged sword in a way."_

Gallantmon's eyes flashed. _"But it is that same sense of existence that keeps this boy's body the way it is. There is no mind to realize any of the biological imperatives. It doesn't even realize that it has died. This body will break down eventually, as data fragments, but only a mind that is aware of its existence determines the rate. It is that lack of recognition that preserves it as it is now."_

_"Okay,"_ said Agunimon. _"I think I get it. But how does that help us? For that matter, why are you even here? How'd you know that we were in trouble?"_

_"I didn't know that you were in trouble. There was something that I wanted to check up on, and you happened to be here. In a way, this works out for all of us."_

"It does?" asked Guilmon.

_"Yes,"_ nodded Gallantmon. _"There is very little that can be done for any digital entity once it has died, but your partner's body remains. As long as it remains and is digital, it can be repaired. The impairment can be corrected, but it requires an extremely powerful program in order to be used. As I am now, I cannot use it. Nor can you, Guilmon, with your X-Antibody residing within your body."_

_"Then what good is that program then?!"_ exclaimed Agunimon. _"In the end we still can't do anything!"_

_"Not necessarily. I propose a trade."_

"Hah?" Guilmon blinked. "A trade? Is that like what Takato does with the others when they're playing with their cards? Sometimes they give each other card's that the other person wants, but usually they'll…they'll…" Guilmon scowled as he tried to think of the right word. "Ohhh…what does Kazu call it? Hag…hagg—el? Ha…"

_"I think you mean haggle, Guilmon,"_ said Agunimon, smiling a little at the dinosaur. _"And I'd say that makes for a good definition. You both have something that the other needs…"_

_"…And I'm willing to give you what I have in exchange for your X-Antibody."_

_"Hey. Why do you need it?"_

_"The digital world is at a crucial period, Agunimon. There is much going on that even Milleniummon isn't aware of."_

Agunimon's eyes widened in surprise at the mention of the dark digital god.

_"Wha…? How did you…?"_

_"…Know?"_ Although Agunimon couldn't be sure, he could swear that Gallantmon was smirking beneath his helm. _"There is much that goes on that passes through the ears of my Master and his servants. Even those no longer in his service. Lord Yggdrasil is presently occupied with his new world. Whatever happens in this one is no longer a concern of his. But we are not here to discuss such things. There are those that need my help in the new world, and only the X-Antibody can aid me in that regard. Guilmon requires the power to bring his partner back to life…"_

"Ah!" exclaimed Guilmon. "Couldn't I just use that X-Antibody thing to bring Takato back to life?" Guilmon blanched. "Um…although I'd still give it to you if you needed it…"

_"The X-Antibody wasn't made for humans,"_ replied Gallantmon. There was a tone in the Knight's voice that suggested mild amusement at Guilmon's interruption. _"Humans cannot, accept programs in their bodies very easily. I would not suggest it with the X-Antibody either. As you can see with yourself, its effects are far reaching and very life-altering. It was born within the data of a digimon. I do not know how it would react with a human. Nonetheless, what I'm trading to you is something that only you can use as it was made for digimon such as yourself."_

"For me?"

_"You are a Royal Knight, Guilmon. You could say that this program is your birthright."_

Gallantmon reached out towards Guilmon and his hand disappeared into Guilmon's chest.

"That feels funny…"

_"The sensation will end momentarily. I apologize if it causes any discomfort."_

Guilmon was about to shake his head and assure Gallantmon that there wasn't any reason to worry, but the strange feeling that he felt in his belly kept him from doing so. After a moment, Gallantmon withdrew his hand, and resting in his palm was a blue sphere. Somehow, although Guilmon didn't know for sure how, he knew that was the X-Antibody.

"Oooh…that was in me?" Guilmon pointed down at his stomach in wonder, and his mouth dropped open in awe as he saw a strange, swirling, flame-like pattern building on it. The flame pattern expanded outwards over his body, glowing with a burning white light that infused Guilmon with a sense of power. He couldn't quite describe it, but it reminded him of the tingling sensation he got when he first went through the digital portal back at his old home.

_"That is the Sephirot, Guilmon. It is a program that Yggdrasil bestows upon his Royal Knights. It is capable of vast amounts of data manipulation, and when it is in the digital world its full potential can be unleashed. My master based its algorithms off of the digignomes that inhabit this world. You could almost say that it's a form of wish-making. It's not quite as advanced however…"_

"You mean," Guilmon stared wondrously at his claws as the flame patterns overtook them, causing them to sparkle and shine like stars, "I can bring back Takato?"

Gallantmon hesitated for a moment before answering.

_"It's only a possibility, Guilmon. Your friend, Takato, hasn't been dead for very long. The damage to his body can be repaired. As for bringing him back…that I am not so sure about. This program is not a digignome, and as strong as my former master is, he is not a god. Even his strength has its limits. I suppose that what happens will have to depend on you."_

"Like how big my heart is?"

_"That's a start."_

Guilmon nodded and turned towards Takato's body. It continued to look away blankly, seeing but at the same time not seeing. "Um…Mr. Gallantmon? How do I…?" Guilmon blinked when he turned around and saw that the ghostly apparition of Gallantmon had disappeared, leaving no trace of his being there. Guilmon's ears drooped. "Ohhh…I didn't even get to thank him."

_"That was weird,"_ said Agunimon. _"The least he could have done was tell you how to use this thing. Whatever it is that he gave you."_

"He said that it was just like those digignomes," said Guilmon. "I bet if I wish really, really hard Takato will come back to life."

_"Hmmm…"_ Agunimon scratched his chin thoughtfully. A part of him recognized that were he anyone else, there was a high likelihood that they would have reminded Guilmon that Gallantmon had told him that the Sephirot program was different from a digignome, and might not work. However, he was not like anyone else, as Kazemon was one to remind him of that on a daily basis. His quick and easy acceptance of Gallantmon's unexpected presence and offering of help with little concern was one such example. _"Okay. I'll lend you a hand."_ Reaching out, Agunimon encompassed Guilmon's claws with his ghostly hands. _"If you'll have me, let's wish together."_

"Right!" Guilmon closed his eyes and focused on the energy flowing through him. In a way it felt almost similar to what he felt whenever he and Takato shared each other's energy. Similar, but not quite. Curling his claws, Guilmon growled, mustering all of the energy that he could into making this wish come true. As he did so, a memory of a chiming bell from a shrine came to mind, and he clapped his claws together.

_I don't have a bell to ring, but I hope this works anyway…_

"I wish that Takato would come back very, very soon."

The feeling of power surged through Guilmon's body, and he felt as though he were being _pulled_ somewhere. As he did so, memories swam through his mind. Memories of all the good times that he had with Takato, but more importantly was the image of Takato's face. The confident light in his crimson eyes as he remembered them, the small, upward curve of his smile whenever he was thinking…

_His Guilmon bread…and if Takato knew I was thinking about food at a time like this he'd call me 'obsessed'…whatever that means._

Guilmon opened his eyes slightly. A new light was emerging somewhere ahead of him. He could feel it like the sun from the real world.

_"Guilmon!"_ came a voice from that light.

"Takatomon?"

* * *

Takato eyes snapped open and he sat up with a sharp gasp. Before he could even get an idea as to where he was a form crushed him into a powerful hug. Reflexively he tried to pull out of it as a memory of a giant dragon crushing him beneath its foot flashed through his mind, but unfortunately his motion only caused the form to tighten its grip on him. His heart was pounding in his chest. He had to get away and regroup! He had to…

Strands of hair, glowing with a blue aura fell lightly across his face, caressing him gently. Fingers dug against his skin, but did not push so hard that they would hurt him, and as Takato began to pay closer attention to his surroundings, he could hear a harsh, whispering sound, as though someone were crying.

"Don't go…" whispered an achingly familiar voice. "Please…don't go."

_Who…?_

As though in response to his unspoken question, the glowing blue figure pulled back, and Takato's eyes widened in surprise as they fell upon the all too familiar face of Rika, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

"Don't go," she repeated. "I don't know what's happened to you, but I know that you can fight this! I'm not going to let you go! I'm not…" Rika paused, as she finally noticed that something was different about the boy that she was holding. Narrowing her eyes, she leaned forward towards him. Takato, for his part, wasn't sure as to how he should react. The way she was looking at him did little to set him at ease. It was often difficult to gauge what Rika would do in a situation. One had to exercise as much caution as possible and hope that she didn't end up hurting them.

"Um…hi?"

So much for caution.

Like a coiled snake finally striking, Rika reached out with one hand and flicked Takato's forehead, causing him to yelp in surprise as her finger tips made contact with his skin. One hand immediately went up to his forehead. "Owww…"

"Yup," said Rika, a relieved smile blossoming on her face. "That's my Gogglehead."

"I'd be surprised if I was someone else," said Takato, massaging his head. "Um…what's going on? Where am I?"

"Figures that you wouldn't know."

"Hey! Come on! The last thing that I remember is…" Takato furrowed his brow and Rika looked at him expectantly. _The last thing that I remember is fighting Lumemon,_ he finished in his mind. _Guilmon and I hit the ground, and we tried to get away, but we didn't get a chance to. After that… I remember that there was a lot of pain._

"Hey. Are you all right?" asked Rika, placing one hand on his shoulder.

"Guilmon!" exclaimed Takato suddenly. "Where's Guilmon? He…"

"Takaaatooo…"

Both Tamers looked off into the inky black void that surrounded them. Two lights were fast approaching them.

"Looks like the welcoming committee is here," mooted Rika as the forms of Guilmon and Agunimon began to close in on them.

"Takato!" laughed Guilmon happily, pumping his arms furiously in an effort to reach his partner. "You're okay! I knew you'd be fine! Ta- _katooo!"_

Bright energy flared around Guilmon as a series of flame patterns materialized on his body, and the crimson dinosaur was sent flying towards the pair. Rika had barely enough time to get out of the way before the exuberant digimon crashed into his partner, eliciting a squawk of surprised from the boy.

"Takato! Oh, it's so good to see you okay again! I knew that if I wished hard enough just like you showed me to back when we were first trying to get me to dedigivolve from Growlmon you'd be fine and you are!"

"I get it boy," grunted Takato. "I'm glad to see you too and but could you…wait. Hold on. What's this about wishing?"

Before Guilmon could even answer Agunimon pried him off of his partner.

_"Easy with him, Guilmon."_ Agunimon eyed Takato. _"How're you feeling?"_

"Very confused…"

"I think that's enough to tell us that you're okay," laughed Rika. "Now do you mind telling us what this is all about? Guilmon said something about 'wishing'…"

_"It's complicated. Takato was…'hurt' while we were in the middle of a fight…"_

"…And Gallantmon came by and gave me a new game that he said I could use to help Takato!" finished Guilmon happily, pointing at the glowing flame patterns on his body. Rika and Takato could only exchange confused glances.

"…Gallantmon?"

_"I said it was complicated. And by the way Guilmon, it's a program, not a game."_

"What's the difference?"

"As interesting as this all is," interrupted Rika, "and as much as I'd like to know what happened, right now I'm just glad that Gogglehead is back, and safe." Rika turned towards Takato and her eyes softened. "Seriously, you had me worried for a second there. I thought you were dying or something. Can you freak a person out any more?"

"Ah…"

"Don't think too hard about it. I was being sarcastic."

Takato could only shake his head in bewilderment. He was very, _very_ confused. One second ago he and Guilmon were fighting Lumemon and the next he was…wherever here was. Takato looked around him. There wasn't anything that he saw that told him where exactly he was. The only thing that was visible was himself, Guilmon, Agunimon, and Rika, and she…

Takato froze and took another look at Rika before turning away, humming quietly to himself as his face began burning brightly. Unless he missed his guess, aside from the blue light that surrounded her she, and himself as well, were both in the nude. He had an idea that her hair being down should have been a dead giveaway, but such was his surprise that it had taken his brain a few seconds longer to catch up. Behind him he could hear Agunimon laughing under his breath.

_Well this is certainly awkward…_

"Um…so…where are we, exactly?" asked Takato nervously.

"Heck if I know," replied Rika, taking no notice of Takato's embarrassment or the reasons thereof. "Ryo and I were fighting some giant dragon monster called _Gehenmon_ when this giant firebird hit us. After that…" Rika shrugged.

"A giant…dragon, you said?" asked Takato, thinking of Lumemon.

"Yeah," replied Rika. "It looked like…um…hang on a second."

Takato was just about to press his friend for a description when an image flitted through his mind of a dragon-like creature that bore a resemblance to Megidramon, only wearing super-heated armor, a larger, more pronounced head crest, legs, a large number of spines protruding from its body, and shadowy wings extending outwards.

"There," said Rika. "How was that?"

"You…you sent that to me?"

"I had to see how our link was doing, and…that seemed like the best way to do it. You saw it right?"

"Yeah. That's…what _was_ that?"

_"Oni using the Digital Hazard in its fullest form,"_ replied Agunimon.

"How'd you know?" asked Rika. "I didn't…never mind. You're connected with Gogglehead right now, right?"

Agunimon nodded.

"You know," began Takato. "I'm pretty sure I've asked this question before, but just who or what is Oni?"

_"A digignome who became corrupted by human emotions. The negative ones anyway. And the use of the Digital Hazard isn't making things any easier for him. They're both kind of feeding into each other now. The Hazard is just wild, and not easy to control. In the wrong hands it could end up controlling those hands. Gehenmon is the ultimate expression of that. It was sealed away because it was so damaging, and now it's back. Milleniummon is gathering everyone to fight it. As he is now he can't do anything, and if things keep going as they are the digital world is going to be destroyed."_

"Well you already know that we're not going to let that happen," said Rika firmly.

"But the question is," said Takato, "how do we get out of here. We can't get around to saving the world if we can't get to the ring you know."

No sooner than the words were out of his mouth that a light broke free from the darkness above them and Jeri Katou's familiar, smiling face appeared with Kazu, Guardromon, Suzie, Lopmon, Kenta, MarineAngemon, Miki, Dracmon, Ayaka, Crusadermon, and Renamon at her side. So surprised was Takato by this occurrence that he didn't even notice Rika slip her hand into his.

"…And that's what I love about you, Takato," she said with a knowing smirk on her face.


	174. 173: The Gates of Darkness: Part 1

"Yo! Chumley!" shouted Kazu from the shining light. "Let's go! We've got a world to save and…whoa!" Kazu's eyes shot open as the two Tamers approached them. His mouth moved, but for once words failed him completely, and so he resigned himself to pointing at Takato and Rika and looking over at the others, as though pleading with them to help him describe what he was seeing. Ayaka scowled at the boy irritably.

"Is there something wrong with your speech, Kazu? You're acting even more stupid than usual!"

"I…they…C-C-Ch-Chum-ha-he-ho-she-they…"

"Kazu," spoke up Kenta worriedly. "Are you feeling all right? You're not making any sense."

Ayaka scoffed and folded her arms across her chest.

"You mean he _makes sense?_ I knew you had a poor sense of humor, Kenta, but I didn't think that hanging out with this clod robbed you of your sense of reality too."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said Rika as she, Takato, Guilmon, and Agunimon passed out of the darkness. As they did so her violet gaze fell upon her vulpine partner and a small smile graced her face. "Renamon…"

"Rika," nodded the golden furred vixen. "I see that you two found each other."

"Well, it wasn't easy. I'm not even sure what happened." Rika furrowed her brow and looked at the others. "Speaking of which, someone care to tell us what's going on here? What's with the light show?"

"Um…that would be because of me," admitted Jeri, raising one hand tentatively. All eyes turned to her quizzically. The light surrounding Jeri increased in intensity, as though signifying her embarrassment at being the center of attention. "I-It has something to do with why Milleniummon needed me."

"Milleniummon?" asked Kazu, raising an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"Later, Kazu," said Takato, remembering that Kazu hadn't been around when Ryo told him his story. "Jeri. Why does Milleniummon need you?"

_"What you see around you, Takato,"_ said Agunimon before Jeri could speak. _"Jeri ties everyone together. Helps make you all stronger. It's her special ability."_

_"And now we have you to help us reach our fullest potential,"_ spoke up a white armored warrior materializing behind Rika. The red haired girl whirled about on the warrior, with a fierce, guarded look in her eyes.

"Lobomon!"

The warrior merely raised a placating hand. _"Take it easy. You know that we don't mean any harm."_

"I'm confused," said Kazu. "What's going on here?"

As though in response to his question, air shimmered behind him and a bulky figure with gear-like armor appeared.

_"It's what we call savin' the world, right? Or did you forget that we're good guys too? We're all in this to save the digital world. Wouldn't be right if we were out to blow it up, now would it?"_

_"I think we can all agree with that,"_ said a cheerful voice belonging to a scantily clad, fairy digimon appearing next to Suzie. A wide smile beamed on her face. _"But we're still missing a few of our members."_

_"'A few' just got brought down some,"_ said an equally cheerful voice, this one from an aquatic looking female from behind Jeri. Her appearance was quickly followed by a small, white bear wearing armor standing in front of Kenta, and a knight-like figure with a mirror for a face and two shields equipped to his arms shimmering into view next to Ayaka.

_"And now we go down to two,"_ grumbled another digimon materializing next to Miki. This one was dwarfish in size and had a long, thick nose protruding outwards on his face. Miki looked down at Dracmon in shock before looking over at the long-nosed dwarf.

"Ewww…how come I get the weird one?"

_"What?!"_ exclaimed Grumblemon angrily. _"Me not weird! Me awesome compared to these wannabe's!"_

"…And that's how you break a tension filled moment," said Kazu, shaking his head and turning to the gear digimon. "Great. Well, nice to know that those two got off to such a great start. I haven't seen you in a while."

_"I know, right? Arbormon at your service. You got a bad guy that needs clobberin' I'm your mon."_

"So these are the spirits that we were talking about earlier," said Kenta as he bent down and looked the white furred teddy bear over.

_"You bet!"_ greeted the bear. _"I'm Kumamon! Pleased to meet you!"_

"Uh…likewise," replied Kenta, raising one hand to adjust glasses that weren't on his face. Kenta sighed. _This is a lot to take in._ "So, uh, where's Ryo and Henry?"

"I don't know," said Jeri with a shake of her head.

"The last time I saw them we were in the middle of our fight with Gehenmon," said Rika. "Henry broke free from whatever it was that thing did to him that was making him attack everything around him and then this giant firebird came in."

_"That would have been us, hon,"_ winked the blue-skinned female digimon. _"We were looking for you guys, and we had to move somehow. Not to mention fast. So we flew."_

"…Well, that's terrific. Now how do we go about finding Henry and Ryo? They're here, aren't they?"

_"Sure they are,"_ said Kumamon. _"They just need a little helping hand, that's all. All we need to do is find them!"_

"That doesn't really answer my question. How do we find them?"

"That's easy," said Takato, smiling. Behind him, Agunimon grinned and finished up as though they were one being.

_"We just will."_

"Yeah!" chimed in Guilmon cheerfully.

Rika blinked at the trio with mock amazement on her face while behind her Lobomon shook his head.

_"Goggleheads,"_ the Warrior of Light muttered under his breath.

* * *

Gehenmon fell into the darkness beneath the digital world, shattered remnants of its landscape floating by him. The dragon growled in pain as smoke arose from the gaping hole in its chest, a souvenir from the fiery phoenix that had slammed into him. The creature's digi-core was exposed now, beating and pulsating as lines of code swarmed around it, structuring a series of web-like tissues to connect it to the main body. Nestled deep within the connective digital tissues that surrounded the dragon's digi-core was a limp figure, dark with hand-like wings and clawed limbs, immobilized amidst the web-like structure that it was contained within. Two antennae twitched at the top of his head, and two eyes, bright white, cracked open.

"Where…where am I?" Oni rasped. His breathing felt harsh, ragged. As though his digital lungs were scraping along broken glass. He looked around him, taking in the digital tissue that flexed and beat around him like the circulatory system of some giant creature. _The last thing that I remember…was the Digital Hazard. It felt as though it were…speaking to me. I don't…I don't understand…_

As Oni ran through his memories again, he failed to notice one of the vein-like structures move towards him, and open a fanged, mouth-like opening. It hovered above him, coiled like a snake until it lashed outwards and struck him full in the back of his neck, clamping down hard. Oni screamed as data flowed out from behind him and into the open air, his arms trembling from the unexpected shock that rushed through his system.

_"You are ours,"_ growled a voice that echoed all around him. _"We have seen and felt the darkness that you carry within you. The darkness that you took from the other world and the horrors that it perpetrated upon this one; what it returned to that world in kind. Pain and suffering have become an endless cycle between the human and digital worlds. You are the conduit that has given us release and focus."_

"Wha…?" Oni gasped as the fangs affixed to his neck dug in even deeper. "Who… _are_ you?!"

_"We are the Voices of the Hazard. We are the Destroyers. We will purify the worlds of their dark depths. You are our focus. You are our center. Our life. Now feed us, digignome. Give us the life we crave so that the circle shall at last be broken."_

"Ah…!" Oni felt his air cut off as something needle-sharp was forced through the injury on his neck. He began choking, and his body shuddered. His strength was fading rapidly. _What's happening to me?! Wha…_

Oni gagged. He was beginning to swell now. Tumors spread across his body, expanding outwards until it filled the hole in the dragon's chest. A hundred images filled his mind, each and every one of them belonging to the human that he met in the real world; Amaya Abe.

_"My child…my son…Taisuke…where are you? Why were you taken from me? Oh Taisuke…"_

The darkness was everywhere. It pressed down on him; suffocating him and it would not release him.

_"I can take this pain from you…if you'll let me. I can make all your dreams come true…"_

Oni's half-choked screams soon turned into a powerful, earth-shattering roar that exploded outwards.

_"Ruinous Desecration!"_

* * *

Ryo Akiyama found himself walking along a gray, sandy beach. Mist floated along the shores as waves crashed. The spray of salt water sprinkled his skin, and Ryo felt a slight chill run through his spine at its touch, and not because it was simply cold. No. There was something about the water that ached of a cold that went beyond the physical. It was much, much deeper, and lay in the bottoms of the hearts and souls of all that lived and breathed. Its shores were many, and touched all horizons and worlds. Far more than all the grains that made up this very beach.

_The Dark Ocean._

"How did we get here, Cyberdramon?" asked Ryo, not needing to look to the side to know that the dragon was there. He could hear the sand shifting where the cybernetic dragon's feet fell.

Cyberdramon's only response was a harsh growl, something that did not at all surprise him in the least. With the sheer amount of time that they had been together one could say that this made up the majority of their conversations, with one of them talking and asking questions and the other…just not speaking save to emphasize his already naked aggression.

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Ryo. "All that we need to do is get out of here and find the others. I just hope that we don't stay here long." Ryo cast his eyes out towards the mist-filled ocean. He couldn't see anything, but he could swear that there was something out there watching him. Something _massive._

_Except it's not exactly easy getting out of this place. The Dark Ocean only lets in those that it wants, and afterwards has a hard time letting go. And even if you do get away, a piece of it stays connected to you. At least, that's how the TV show always made it look._ Ryo frowned. _Ken. Kari. Just how did you put up with knowing that? Just being here gives me the creeps._

Ryo and Cyberdramon continued onwards in silence with little more than the sound of the waves as their company. More than once he cast a glance towards the great expanse of water, but could see little more than the mist that hid it from view. He could only hope that it hid him from whatever prying eyes were out there, but a part of him doubted that Lady Luck would grant him that much grace. As Takato once put it so eloquently, Tamers had the knack for attracting trouble like a magnet. Ryo himself knew full well that he attracted more than his fair share of it. More than most.

After several seconds Cyberdramon came to a halt, and Ryo did likewise, looking up at his partner, puzzled.

"What's up Cyberdramon?"

"Over there," growled the Vaccine Ultimate, pointing ahead of him. Following his partner's direction he saw a shadow figure appear amidst the fog, and it was moving towards them. Instinctively Ryo reached behind him and pulled out his D-Arc and a set of cards, readying himself for battle. His eyes narrowed dangerously as the fog swirled and parted…

"Wha…? Henry?" Ryo's eyes widened in surprise and his stance relaxed noticeably as the half-Chinese Tamer appeared before him. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," replied the other boy, coming to a halt and looking around him. "And just where are we? This looks like something out of the TV show."

"It kind of looks that way. By the way, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine I guess. I feel a little bit lost in a fog though…" Henry paused and chuckled as he realized that the observation was rather self-evident. "It looks like I'm lost in the fog too."

Ryo nodded.

"Well, glad to see that you're back to your old self again. You'll have to give me the full story after we get out of here and help the others." Ryo frowned. "Where's Terriermon?"

"I'm…sort of looking for him," replied Henry, rubbing the back of his head with a look of worry on his face.

"Hmmm…" Ryo looked over at Cyberdramon. "We'll help you look for him. I hope that he hasn't gotten himself into any trouble right no…"

The shift of motion from Henry was all the warning that he had, and with a speed ingrained into him from many a battle with digimon, the Legendary Tamer threw himself to the left, narrowly avoiding a well-placed kick courtesy of Henry Wong. Ryo rolled on the beach and looked up at the boy, startled beyond all belief.

"Henry! What are you doing?!"

"I see you haven't lost your touch," chuckled the boy, not looking up at the other Tamer at the moment. His hair shadowed his eyes, and Ryo felt a trickle of cold crawl across his skin. An image came to him from the digimon TV show that he had seen from when Ken had disappeared into the Dark Ocean.

_This place brings out the worst in all of us,_ whispered a voice in his mind. Ryo pushed the voice to the side. He had an inkling that there was far more going on here than just a bad drink of tap water.

"Henry…what's going on?"

"I was merely observing how you haven't lost your touch. I mean, you know how you dodged my attack, right? Aren't I your friend?" Henry raised his gaze, and Ryo saw a strange, murderous light inside of them. His voice heightened slightly, taking on a cruel, mocking edge to them. "Aren't you supposed to _trust_ your friends?"

Before Ryo's surprised eyes, a razor sharp knife appeared in Henry's hand, slipping up from his sleeve. Moving quickly, the Half-Chinese Tamer threw the knife towards Ryo, who barely ducked beneath it. He heard the splash it made in the water behind him, but he barely registered it. He had more important things to worry about.

"You're not Henry. Who are you?"

"You haven't figured it out?" chuckled the boy as he drew another knife from his sleeve. "Then allow me to give you a clue." 'Henry' passed a hand over his face, and as it lowered his body warped and lengthened. A mask split into two halves of light and dark with a heart emblazoned on the light side appeared over his face. Pants and a shirt that were puffed at the shoulders and hips replaced his vest and under shirt and a flared collar materialized around his neck. Twin sheathes bearing four swords, two hilts facing up and two more pointing down, phased into view, completing the transformation.

"What's the matter, Ryo?" asked Piedmon, smirking at the boy. "Don't you have anything to say to an old friend?"

Again Ryo readied his cards and digivice, and Piedmon's hand snapped outwards, sending his knife flying straight into Ryo's cards, skewering them and sending them flying out of his hands and into the ocean behind him.

"Cyberdramon!" Ryo called out.

"Oh my." Grinned the demonic clown. "Yes. Call out for your partner. Cyberdramon?" Piedmon looked over his shoulder and spun on a dime, quickly grabbing the cyborg out of midair and slamming him into the ground. Without missing a beat, Piedmon drew a sword and brought it down, stopping just at the very edge of his neck. "Poor timing. But I can't blame you. You're a level below me after all."

"GRAAAHHH!"

With an anguished roar, Cyberdramon drove his claws into Piedmon's face, stabbing them into his mask and ripping it off. Piedmon merely laughed as his hair, fully released from its confines, fell over his face. Laughing maniacally Piedmon smashed a fist into the dragon and then contemptuously threw him to the side.

"Is this all you have?" the clown cackled. "Is this as far as you've come? Where is the Legendary Tamer that bested me in combat so long ago and freed the Digidestined? Where is the friendship that propelled him onwards when all he had was only himself?" Piedmon's laughter gradually fell to a halt and he looked up towards Ryo, shaking his hair out of his face. Ryo gasped, his heart nearly stopping in his chest as he found himself looking at the face of a ghost from his past. Tai Kamiya.

"But then, it must be so hard to fight at your best when even your friends of old are seen as your enemies."

Ryo gasped as cold hands clamped down around his ankles. Looking down he found shadowy, misshapen forms crawling out of the depths of the ocean behind him. He couldn't quite tell what they were, save that their outlines only vaguely resembled Divermon, but they only just barely made the cut. Red eyes stared out at him, the only color allowed in this world of darkness and shadows.

Gripping his digivice tightly in one hand, Ryo heaved it over his shoulder. White light burst free from its screen, and the shadow entities screamed and released their hold. Dashing forwards, Ryo cast the arm holding the digivice outwards, sending a whip of digital energy slashing outwards, snapping across Piedmon's face with a resounding crack. Piedmon staggered backwards in surprise and Ryo rolled to the side. Without even thinking he lashed out his energy whip once again, wrapping it around the clown's right ankle. He pulled taught on it.

"Don't think that you can fool me, Piedmon!" grated the Legendary Tamer. "I know your tricks all too well! You like to mess around with people's minds, forcing them to face things that they'd rather not!"

"Oh really?" asked Piedmon lowering his hand to reveal 'Tai's' now scarred face. "But you're the one who put this face on me." Piedmon chuckled under his breath. "I'm not the one in control here, Ryo. _You_ are. I am dead, remember? You deleted me."

"Then this is Milleniummon's doing. Where is he?"

"Here and there and everywhere. This is your world _King_ just as much as it is his. You two are sides to the same coin after all. Wherever you go there you, or rather _he_ is. You only need to look no further than there." Piedmon pointed over to where Cyberdramon lay. Against his will, Ryo looked at his partner. The dragon was presently struggling to his feet, a low growl emanating from his mouth.

"He is always there, Ryo. Waiting inside of that substitute you call a partner. It's why you're always having to control him." Piedmon reached down with one hand and grabbed hold of the energy whip wrapped around his ankle. As though its electric buzz did not harm him in the least, the demonic clown unwrapped the whip from his leg and looked back up at Ryo in the eyes. "You do not trust your partner." Piedmon's smirk widened. "I could care less, but you," with a sharp tug Ryo's digivce was rent from his hand and it flew into Piedmon's, the energy whip disappearing as it did so, "are undeserving of this 'gift' that the digital world bestowed upon you. Today, this day, here and now…shall we bring it back to what this is all about? What it has _always_ been about? _What_ is your destiny, Legendary Tamer? _Who_ is your partner? It is time to stop pretending and hiding, Ryo. The final act is here! The time for you to choose is _at hand!"_

Bright light burst free from the digivice, and Piedmon's form shattered into millions of pieces. His laugh rang throughout the landscape however, not so much as silenced by the whine emanating from the gold trimmed D-Arc. Ryo raised his hands to protect his eyes from that light. It was far reaching…almost _burning_ in its intensity.

A second later a massive explosion ripped outwards, and Ryo suddenly found himself hurtling head over heel towards the dark depths of the ocean below him. He hit the water _hard_ , nearly choking on it as pain ripped through him. He didn't allow himself a moment to relax. In spite of the fact that breathing under water was not a problem in the digital world, Ryo knew that to stay in the waters of the Dark Ocean meant death. Already he could feel its icy fingers gripping at him and…

Ryo bit back a cry of surprise as he looked down to see a pair of red eyes looking at him from below. A tight hand was wrapped around his ankle. Reacting quickly Ryo stamped his foot down on the pair of eyes, watching one disappear completely and suddenly the hand gripping him let go. He pumped his arms furiously, churning them against the tides that threatened to pull him back. He would not be swallowed by this darkness. Not here. Not now. He had come too far for that to happen, and he had too much depending on him. His friends, his partner…his father.

_I…will not…lose! I will not…_ LOSE!

With a gasp of air, Ryo broke free from the water and swam towards shore, pushing his exhausted limbs as hard as he could. The Dark Ocean was not a place to rest in for even a second. There were things in there that took advantage of any opening, and all it took was a moment's hesitation.

Minutes later Ryo washed up ashore and dragged himself forwards until he felt that he had a comfortable enough distance between him and the waves before plopping himself down onto the ground. He rolled over, gasping harshly, looking up at the gray, mist-filled sky above him.

_This…this is crazy,_ he thought. _Just what is going on here? Just what the heck happened?_

No answer came to him. Then again, Ryo did not expect one. Certainly none was going to be had from the denizens of this place unless they came in the form of an attack. In which case, they could keep their answers.

"C-Cyberdramon…" Ryo croaked, coughing before rolling back over and pushing himself onto his knees. "Cyberdramon…"

"The dragon digimon was nowhere in sight. Nothing lay about him except an endless track of beach and the roar of the ocean.

_No digivice…no partner. Only myself. Great. Just what is a guy to do with himself in a situation like this?_

The answer was simple: pick himself up and get moving. He could ill afford to relax at this time. Getting to his feet Ryo surveyed his surroundings. It didn't take long for him to see a shadow, this time a small one, stagger in the mists.

_Probably one of those Divermon wannabe's,_ thought Ryo, getting into a defensive stance. His arms and legs felt like lead, but he was determined to put up a fight no matter what. The mist parted and…

Ryo's mouth fell open as the mist finally cleared. Standing before him was the battered form of Monodramon, holding a smoking, cracked gold-trimmed D-Arc in his claws.

"R-Ryo…" the purple-scaled dragon croaked as he staggered towards his partner. A second later his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.

"Monodramon!" shouted Ryo, rushing forwards.


	175. 174: the Gates of Darkness: Part 2

"Hey there," said Ryo as Monodramon cracked his eyes open with a groan. "Glad to see that you're back among the living."

"What happened?" asked the purple scaled dragon as he sat up in his partner's arms. His head swam as he did so, nearly causing him to fall back down.

"Take it easy there," urged Ryo. "You look like you just went several rounds with the D-Reaper." Ryo immediately became grimfaced. "Come to think of it, that might as well be the case here…"

"What do you mean?" asked Monodramon, only to answer his own question as he took a look around him. Gray. Shadows. Little to no room for whites or blacks save for a beam of darkness emanating from what looked to be, oddly enough, a lighthouse. A memory sparked in Monodramon's mind and he stiffened. "Ryo, is that…? Are we…?"

"Looks that way to me," nodded Ryo. "We fought Piedmon not too long ago. I even got jumped by that 'Undersea Master's' goons." Ryo gave his partner an odd look. "You don't remember any of that?"

Monodramon shook his head and pressed a claw against his face.

"I'm sorry, Ryo, but I don't. Something feels weird inside, and I'm not sure what. It's making my mind feel foggy. How could we even end up in this place anyway? The last thing that I remember is a giant fire bird hitting Gehenmon and then…" Monodramon paused. "Ryo. Was Milleniummon…was he in control of me?"

Ryo chose not to answer that question and instead changed the subject.

"Can you walk, buddy? How are your legs?"

Monodramon bit the insides of his mouth, not liking what Ryo had just done, but decided to try standing up anyway. He guessed that, as usual, Ryo's mind was moving three steps ahead, focusing on what was of immediate importance for survival while formulating a long-term plan. He could hardly blame him. They were in the Dark Ocean. Those that could not keep moving died.

Pushing himself away from the Legendary Tamer, Monodramon checked his balance and took a couple experimental steps.

"It looks like I can move all right…"

Ryo nodded.

"All the same, I think I should carry you for a bit so that you can get some rest. Here; get on my back."

Ryo quickly positioned himself on his knees and beckoned with his hands, signaling to Monodramon to climb aboard. Monodramon nodded reluctantly and a second later, they were plodding along the endless expanse of gray desert.

"So…Ryo. What's the plan?" asked Monodramon after about a minute of walking.

"We're going to look for a way out of here and then meet back up with the others. If they're alive."

"You don't think…that they're…"

"I don't know, Monodramon," shrugged Ryo, a strained look appearing on his face. "Whatever happened we disappeared in the middle of a fight. That's about as much as I know and I haven't seen any of the others since waking up."

"Can't we use our digivice to find them?"

"…Monodramon…" Ryo hefted his partner further up his back and grunted. "You really need to cut down on the snacks, you know that? I think you're starting to get a little chubby. What is it with you digimon and your appetites?"

"Stop changing the subject. We're partner's right?" Monodramon looked at the back of his partner's head with a sorrowful expression. Something was definitely wrong with Ryo. He hadn't seen him acting like this since…

_Since about that time he found out that whole tournament had been a set up just to train him,_ thought Monodramon.

After a second of silence, Ryo sighed.

"The digivice is fried, Monodramon," the teenage boy answered finally. "Trust me, I've tried using it, but I'm not getting anything. I can't even talk to that spirit guy from before." Ryo furrowed his brow in agitation and scanned some cliffs that they were approaching for any sign of digimon. "You'd think that this would be his area of operation. He said that he was a 'Spirit of Darkness.' So why isn't he here?"

"I don't know," replied Monodramon. "I'm still getting used to the whole 'spirit' thing." Monodramon eyed their surroundings nervously. "And I'm still confused as to how we got here."

Ryo trudged onwards, keeping a sharp lookout on his surroundings. He didn't speak, having already said his piece on his own confusion for their being in the Dark Ocean. Instead he let his mind drift through his recent encounter with Piedmon, and on Monodramon's own lack of memories of their being in this world.

_He doesn't remember us getting here,_ thought Ryo, his blue eyes moving from one place to another, never resting but not moving too quickly either, _or anything about our time here. If he doesn't remember then…could Milleniummon have been in control of him? That doesn't make any sense though. If he was in control why didn't he evolve to his Mega form? He could have easily defeated Piedmon, or done whatever he wanted for that matter. The only thing that could have done anything to stop him would have been…me. And right now I'm not exactly batting very well._

Ryo frowned. _Or maybe I did stop him without having to do anything. Piedmon did point out that Milleniummon is a part of Monodramon. He might only be able to evolve…nah. That doesn't make any sense. I don't think that the old school digivice rules would have stopped him. But that still doesn't explain what happened back there._

Ryo grimaced and shifted his partner once again.

_I really hope that Piedmon just hit him harder than we thought._

Regardless, Ryo was worried. Not that he hadn't been worried before, but now he had the distinct idea that whatever it was that Milleniummon had been planning, it was now coming towards fruition.

_What's he planning?_ The question had been on his mind for the past several days now, though with everything that had been going on it certainly felt longer. He had finally come out and told most of the Tamers, starting with Jeri, about the dark digital god, but so far, none of them could give him anything to work with. Hardly surprising as none of them had ever faced Milleniummon before. With little information or experience it was difficult to formulate an opinion, something that wasn't helped by the Spirits who claimed to work for him, claiming that his intentions were benign. Ryo had a hard time believing that. In all of his encounters, Milleniummon's intentions had _never_ been benign. Rather, it was more the opposite in fact.

_Still…_ the memory of his conversation with Jeri on the rooftop of her home, when she revealed to him that the card he gave her had _transformed_ , played through his mind.

_Reborn from the fires of his defeat, this digital god has broken the chains that once held him. Uniting his body with the universe, he seeks his ultimate purpose…_

_SolMilleniummon…_

_No!_ Ryo shook his head mentally. _I don't think that means anything. Form has never been an indication of intent. Sure, most digimon that have tried to destroy the digital world have_ looked _the part of the evil overlord, but that doesn't mean anything. Beelzemon's a good guy…well, at the very least he's on our side even though he started out as an enemy to begin with. And then there's Lumemon…or rather as he was before,_ Lucemon. _And Piedmon's a clown to boot…_

_…Then again, I've never been very fond of clowns. Even when I was just a kid._

Ryo sighed mentally, keeping a firm eye on his surroundings as he continued to walk forward, no closer to reaching an answer to his questions than he was to a destination that could take him home. Still, he had an inkling as to Milleniummon's intent. That inkling was presently riding on his back.

_He may have told me that he's changed, but whatever it is he wants, it's probably to be my partner. He and Monodramon got into an argument about who was my rightful partner back before they DNA digivolved together. I'm willing to bet that that's at the heart of this whole mess._

Ryo closed his eyes, remembering Milleniummon's words to him about how they were 'light and dark.' Two sides to the same coin. Neither one of them capable of existing without the other. Now that he thought about it, Milleniummon was perhaps the only thing in his life that was ever consistent, always evolving to an even stronger form before coming after him again. It was odd. He had had many digimon for partners. Agumon, Veemon, Monodramon…the last of whom had been his most stalwart one to date, at least in so far when it came to being on his side. Milleniummon however...

_He claimed to be my partner right at the very end. He thought that only he was worthy of being my partner. And Monodramon…_

_"He is always there, Ryo. Waiting inside of that substitute you call a partner. It's why you're always having to control him."_

_No!_ shouted Ryo in his mind. _Monodramon is_ not _a substitute! He's my friend! He…_

"Ryo?" broke in Monodramon's voice. "You're awfully tense…"

"Sorry about that buddy. I'm just doing a lot of thinking right now."

"About what?"

Ryo pressed his lips together into one thin line. Another memory came to mind of Piedmon, disguised as Henry, attacking him.

_"I was merely observing how you haven't lost your touch. I mean, you know how you dodged my attack, right? Aren't I your friend? Aren't you supposed to_ _trust_ _your friends?"_

_Is that what he meant? I only dodged that attack because I don't trust anyone?_

More memories flooded him, and in them Jeri's voice floated through his subconscious.

_"I used to bury my emotions. Keep them close to me so that no one else would get hurt by them. I always kept a smile on, but I never let my stepmother get close to me even though she wanted to be my friend. I didn't want someone to replace my birth mother, and because of that I shut out someone who could have helped me get through the pain that I felt from my mother's loss. When I was captured by D-Reaper it used all of the emotions that I kept to myself to help it grow stronger, and in the end I wound up hurting my friends when I wanted to keep them safe."_

_…I feel like I'm burning up…_

Ryo brought himself to a halt and set Monodramon down before falling forward. Catching himself with his hands, Ryo breathed with deep breaths, trying to gain control over the storm that had suddenly sprung up in his mind.

"Ryo!" exclaimed Monodramon, his voice full of worry. The little dragon quickly rushed over to in front of his partner and placed a claw on his head. "Ryo…you feel warm."

"It's got to be the ocean," breathed Ryo, shaking his head. "I was sent flying into it after our fiasco with Piedmon ended. If I remember the TV show right, it didn't exactly do Ken any favors. I may not have a Dark Spore in me, but…" Ryo shook his head. "…Never mind. I just…need a few seconds."

Monodramon looked at Ryo worriedly, flexing his drill-like claws. Again his partner wasn't telling him anything. Why was he holding back? Why—?

"Monodramon…"

"Ah! Y-Yeah?"

"Do you…how do you feel about being partnered to me?"

"Huh?" Monodramon gave his partner a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…you know that I've never had a permanent partner before. Agumon and Veemon were there before you, and then…Milleniummon…" Ryo gritted his teeth tightly as he felt a wave of burning heat wash over his body. Fever? Yes. A fever of the mind.

_It's this place…it's not just the water, it's_ everything. _The air, the sand…this place just seeps into you. Digs at you like claws. There doesn't have to be a digimon out there to do anything to you. The atmosphere is all that's needed to do the work. All you need to do is just…breathe._

"Monodramon…I'm worried that Milleniummon might be trying to get rid of you…and take your place. Because he's…my partner. I don't think he's satisfied with just being a part of you anymore."

Monodramon blanched noticeably, but before he could say anything further, a low tremor shook the beach. Quickly getting to his feet, Ryo reflexively pulled out his broken digivice and a set of cards from his pockets.

"Please tell me that was your stomach," said Ryo, immediately scanning their vicinity. The mist from earlier had lifted, making visuals that much easier to make, but the lack of color beyond gray did little to help him distinguish anything moving that wasn't already at close range or flying.

_At least whatever it is it sounds big,_ thought Ryo. A second later he quickly corrected himself. _Actually, scratch that. I think I'd rather deal with something small, like a Vilemon, rather than something huge._

The beach shook again, and both partners stumbled a bit from the shockwave.

"Not good," said Ryo, and Monodramon nodded in agreement.

"It's getting closer. Ryo, shouldn't we…ah…"

"Hide?" Ryo glanced at his cracked and broken digivice. "I'd say that makes for a pretty good idea right now."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth that a blinding flash of white light rocketed forth from a direction directly opposite from the Dark Ocean. The blast impacted the water, kicking up steam as liquids were immediately evaporated. Ducking down, Ryo had time to note that they no longer had the option of hiding. Whatever it was that was coming their way, it was in the direction where hiding would have been advantageous.

_Those bushes aren't going to offer much protection,_ thought Ryo. He quickly looked to his sides. There really weren't any other options. To his right and left were nothing but endless beach, and behind him was the Dark Ocean, vast, deep, and hungry. Ryo refocused on the bushes ahead of him. _Charge of the Light Brigade. It's better than nothing._

The appearance of a massive, black colored body quickly put a halt to any notions of hiding amongst the local flora and hoping for the best. Ryo's eyes widened in shock as a single, gargantuan foot crushed down on the hapless plants, grinding them mercilessly beneath its weight before the next came slamming down. Ryo and Monodramon backed up as a wind blew over them from the monster's approach. Two arms, each shackled with gun-like barrels rose into the air, and twin red-filled eyes, the only color aside from gray that permeated the place Ryo found, scanned the area before coming to a halt on some target off in the distance.

_BlackMegaGargomon._

Following the fortress digimon's gaze, Ryo found a serpentine digimon flying off in the distance. An Airdramon. A missile tube opened up and a series of rockets burst forth in one mad rush, streaking towards the flying snake.

The Airdramon didn't stand a chance, and was quickly annihilated.

_Henry,_ thought Ryo, returning his gaze to BlackMegaGargomon. His gaze zeroed in on a pulsating Hazard sign emblazoned on the Mega's side. _He's still under the influence of that thing._

"Ryo…" began Monodramon in a frightened voice. "…I can't digivolve."

The Legendary Tamer gripped his digivice tightly. No matter what he did, there wasn't a chance that it would work. Not in the condition that it was in, and he didn't have the tools or ability to fix it.

_This can't be how it ends,_ thought Ryo. His mind racing furiously, the Legendary Tamer took a step forwards, his movement catching the Mega's attention. He didn't have much of an idea as to what he was doing, but he always relied on his instincts. And right now his instincts were telling him to confront the War Machine.

"Hey!" he shouted out with all the strength that he could muster. "Henry! It's me! Ryo Akiyama!"

The android looked at the Legendary Tamer impassively. The look on the android's face was… _disturbing._ That and his silence. Were it not for the glowing Hazard sign marking him, Ryo would have begun doubting as to whether or not this was the same BlackMegaGargomon he had faced not too long ago.

"Ryo?" asked Monodramon. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?"

"Not like there's much of a choice right now," said Ryo. "We've already got his attention now."

"R-Ryo…" boomed BlackMegaGargomon in a loud voice, causing Ryo and Monodramon to immediately cover their ears.

"At least it looks like he recognizes us…"

BlackMegaGargomon raised one gun-barrel laden hand at the pair, and white light licked at their ends.

"…Although that doesn't seem to matter right now," finished Ryo. The two partners dashed to the side just as soon as BlackMegaGargomon unloaded a burst of white light on them, turning the sand that they had just been standing on into smoking, flying shards of glass.

"Ryo!" shouted Monodramon, rolling to his feet. Ryo did likewise, reflexively summoning a Blue card amidst the hand he had drawn for battle. Ryo quickly cursed himself as he remembered that his digivice was damaged, and would not operate as it was now.

_…Or maybe it will if you wish hard enough,_ whispered Ryo's mind, but he quickly discarded the thought. Wishes were not something that he could afford right now. Wishes were fickle things in the face of battle, especially with a broken digivice. After all, it wasn't as though he could wish Milleniummon away.

_Besides, when the wish granter is the digivice itself and there aren't any digignomes around, how can you make a wish come true? Especially when you're in a place that's the digital world's equivalent of Hell?_

An apt question and certainly one that deserved further inspection…as soon as he got out of this mess that is. _If I get out of it._

_"Beat Knuckle!"_ shouted Monodramon, rushing forward in a desperate bid to protect his partner. It was for naught however, as all BlackMegaGargomon had to do was step forward to send both Tamer and digimon scrambling for cover. Once again, Ryo tried to reason with the other Tamer.

"Henry! I'm Ryo! I'm your friend! Don't you remember?! You're not supposed to hurt your friends!"

"Darkness…" growled BlackMegaGargomon. "You have evil inside of you. I can't allow it to get out. It might hurt the others."

"Nuts," deadpanned Ryo before rolling to the side, narrowly avoiding an energy blast as it struck the ground where he had been standing. This time he wasn't quite as lucky as before, and the explosion threw him forward. He struck the ground hard, scraping his cheek upon the harsh sand of the Dark Ocean. Glass rained down on him and he quickly threw his arms over his head to protect himself. Not that it made much difference. The sharp ends of the broken fragments cut into his skin wherever they found purchase. His red sweatshirt offered very little protection despite its thickness. As soon as the razor sharp hailstorm ended, Ryo was quickly up and moving, trying to gain as much distance as he could from BlackMegaGargomon. It seemed fruitless, given the digimon's size, but he had to try all the same. One did not defeat dark, digital gods without trying after all. If that was a conceit, it was a well-deserved one. He had been in worse situations than this and had come out alive each time. Alive, and victorious.

_Guess this is where I get knocked down a few pegs,_ thought Ryo sarcastically as BlackMegaGargomon's foot slammed down on the beach, sending a shockwave reverberating through the earth that sent Ryo sprawling towards the ground. Ryo gritted his teeth as the palms of his hands were lacerated by glass shards from the Mega's earlier attack. His mind racing, Ryo tried to work out a way to get his friend to back off and remember their friendship. At present however, nothing was coming to mind.

_Darkness,_ his mind thought over the thunder of BlackMegaGargomon's landing. A breeze blew over him as the Mega turned in his direction. _He said I had darkness in me…is that because of Milleniummon? Because of Loewemon? Or is it something else all together?_

Ryo looked at the cards he still held in his hand, and at the broken digivice. The D-Arc's screen remained dark and empty. The blue card, yes _blue_ , stood out clearly, shining in the endless shadows of this beach.

_Wishes…_

Faith. Faith was considered one of the cornerstones of the Tamers and even of the Digidestined. At least to some extent, but it was always faith in oneself and in those close to the heart. How often was it that Takato, Davis, or even Tai, had gotten by on simple faith, even when all the odds were against them. Even then, it wasn't whether they kept anything like a word or idea of _faith_ in their hearts or minds; it came out in their actions. A sheer confidence that allowed them to move forward regardless of the risks that their actions posed. It didn't always work out, often because they forgot that old saying, 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' Things like destiny and fate were secondary. Destiny could be chosen, and fate was a ball and chain that Ryo knew all too well. Fate, in Ryo's eyes, was the kind of thing that had the certainty of a guillotine. Hard, final, did not depend on faith or friendship, merciless, and dispensed bad as often as it did good. Rika refused to believe in it. Ryo…as much as he hated to admit it, he found himself trapped by it. He _believed_ in it with the certainty of the condemned. It had been a part of his life ever since he first made that choice to listen to a voice coming from his computer during that one night of power outage.

_Funny,_ thought Ryo with dry humor as he dragged himself backwards. _Old Wildcat Rika wouldn't think much of me now if she saw me like this…_

The Blue card. Fate? Faith? Wishes. It could all end here, or continue as it had been before. As it had always been. Even in this world, he was a slave to his destiny, and he could not trust anyone. One of his friends was, after all, proving that to him right now.

_Except…it's not that simple…_ thought Ryo, feeling as though realization was coming upon him. _Tai and Monodramon didn't know that the tournament was a setup. None of my opponents did. We were all pawns then. Victims. Just like Henry is now from that Digital Hazard. I can't blame Henry…just like I can't blame Tai or Monodramon._

Ryo scrambled to his feet as BlackMegaGargomon's shadow descended upon him. He was out of time.

_"RYO!"_

The air was all but knocked from Ryo's lungs as Monodramon came flying out of nowhere, bowling into his side and knocking them both clear from BlackMegaGargomon's foot as it descended, crashing into the beach with a tremendous explosion. Ryo coughed and got back up, helping his partner up as he did so.

"Thanks for the save, Monodramon."

"No problem," chirped the purple-scaled dragon. "It's what _partners_ do, right?"

Ryo smiled and nodded. A second later his expression hardened and he looked at Monodramon full in the face.

"You know something, I don't think I've ever told you how much I've trusted and relied on you after all these years."

"Huh? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," said Ryo, turning to face BlackMegaGargomon's foot as it lifted up. Sand fell towards them in clumps and Monodramon tugged at Ryo's shirt nervously.

"Uh…okay. Well, in that case why don't we get out of here? This isn't looking very good right now."

Ryo's eyes narrowed. He felt as though a small light had just appeared in his mind. He could feel something behind it. Something _important._ Looking down he could see that the blue color in the card he held had changed, taking on a golden sheen to it.

"No running, Monodramon. We're going to face the future standing tall."

"We'll be standing flat in a second…"

"Do you trust me?"

"Ah! Ryo…"

"Do you trust me?"

Monodramon paused before finally nodding.

"Yeah. I do."

"Then get ready. I'm about to pull another winner out of my hat." Ryo reached outwards with his mind towards that light he felt. It was stronger now. He could definitely feel something behind it. A presence. No. _Presences._ Ryo raised the gold card to his broken digivice. His mind screamed at him that it wouldn't work, but his instinct told him to slash it anyway.

Sparks flew as he dragged the card through the slot, and the D-Arc's screen winked to life.

"DIGI-MODIFY!"


	176. 175: Rising Sun

"Yamaki is not going to like this when he gets back," growled Kuroda, wiping an arm over his forehead.

"We've managed to get a handle on the Hazard program in our systems," said Tally in an attempt to be helpful. "The program that was imbedded earlier has the data repair and destruction ratio in perfect equilibrium. And it's only getting better from there. We're seeing a 0.0001 percent increase in effectiveness…"

"I'm well aware of that," interrupted Kuroda, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I was referring to the situation in the digital world. You've seen the incoming data from that area, right?"

"…Yes. Yes I have." Tally gritted her teeth and looked up at the screens surrounding her. Quickly inputting a few commands on her keyboard she called up the latest scan that they had made of the digital world's structure. Due to the enormous energy requirements that their defenses had they were only able to scan the surface of the digital world, but what they saw was enough to make them sit up and take notice.

_If anything, the Monster Makers should be aware of this by now,_ thought Tally as she saw the breaks in the data and the warps that ran over the remaining surface area, causing the digital information making up the digital world's structure to bend like the waves of a vast ocean. Here and there were crater-like formations scattered throughout the screen, appearing only before an area of the digital world disappeared completely. Tally sucked in her breath with a sharp hiss.

"This isn't good," she said.

"Noted," grated Kuroda. "From what we're seeing, I'm estimating that we'll be seeing a complete and total breakdown of the digital world. Planet wide, system crash. Pun fully intended. Damn it." Kuroda again massaged the bridge of his nose. "At this rate I can't even begin to guess how much time is left. Just what the hell is going on over there? It's like the entire plain of existence has gone nuts! What's the status on the Tamers?"

"Um…not any better. Their signals keep cutting in and out on us. I've informed Yamaki of the situation, but…"

Kuroda and Tally locked eyes with each other and after a second Kuroda looked away.

"Yeah. _But._ There's not a whole lot that we can do on this end, is there? Aside from Juggernaut I don't think we have anything in our arsenal that can manipulate the digital world's information." Kuroda _tsked_. "We don't even have enough information as to what's going on over there to formulate a proper plan. Even if we could tell with complete certainty that Juggernaut would operate at 100 percent capacity in spite of the 'repairs' that were recently performed on it, we have no way of knowing what kind of affect it would have on the digital world. For all we know, we could push it into the brink and destroy it completely. I don't even know what kind of affect _that_ would have on our world either."

Tally watched Kuroda as he leaned forward on his computer console and cursed quietly to himself. The way he looked, it was as though he were quietly pleading with the fates to give him a break.

"This…is why I don't like anything that has to do with the digital world. There're far too many unknown variables with it. There's nothing that we can do that won't cause some kind of trouble. Hypnos first opened the window, and Juggernaut created a door…digimon. Devas. The D-Reaper… Why can't…they just…go _away?!"_

In a fit of frustration, Kuroda slammed a fist down on his console. Tally watched him quietly for a moment before speaking.

"Kuroda…"

"Damn it," he interrupted. "That was really childish of me. Is Yamaki on his way up?"

"He said he'd be up here as soon as possible," said Tally, blinking slightly.

"Good. I may not like the man but…at the very least I feel more confident in his being able to solve a problem than I do in my abilities. That's one thing that I feel, in spite of the short time that I've been here."

Tally blinked again, taken aback by that proclamation.

"Hah-wha…?"

"Tally. When this is over and the world is still here…" Kuroda paused and looked up at her once again. "…I think I will take you up on your suggestion from before."

Tally frowned.

"But…you already said that you would…"

There followed a pause in the conversation, after which a soft, low chuckle emerged from Kuroda's mouth.

"I really must be getting tired now…" Kuroda glanced at his watch. "Shit. It really has been going on for too long."

Tally pursed her lips together in sympathy. She was feeling rather under the weather herself.

A light appeared on her keyboard, alerting her to an occurrence in the digital world. Pressing a few commands, she quickly called up the necessary information onto the screens surrounding her. The sound of her gasp echoed throughout the control room, catching Kuroda's attention.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"I'm picking up a massive amount of information congregating in one area. It looks to be where the central source of the Digital Hazard affects are located. I can't get a better reading than that. There's too much interference." Tally thumbed her mouth, her mind racing and a second later she was rapidly typing in a new set of commands. "I'm activating a group of Tracers and sending them into the warp area between the real and digital worlds. Hopefully they'll be able to boost the signal and provide us with a visual of what's going on. Launching now. We should be getting something in 3-2-1…mark!"

The visual on the computer screens shifted, showing the two Hypnos operators a view of the digital world. Both Kuroda and Tally's eyes widened in surprise as they took in the barren, destroyed landscape.

"Wha…what happened?" asked Kuroda, utterly stunned by what he was seeing. Cracks marred the surface of the digital world, and boulders looked as though they were starting to rise into the air, becoming free of their moorings. Tally's fingers moved across her control panel, taking in the information that the Tracers were sending her.

"This isn't good," said Tally. "We shouldn't be able to see this much for a few minutes. The warp between the worlds has always been difficult to navigate a Tracer through. We've _never_ made it this far before, nor have we been able to get any images of the digital world's surface! Kuroda! Can you get me any readings on barrier activity?"

Kuroda snapped to attention and ran over to his console, quickly calling up the necessary information that the Tracers were sending.

"The barriers are eroding," said Kuroda. "They're extremely thin right now. It looks like the affects of the Digital Hazard weren't just limited to the digital world and our systems. It's expanding outwards. Who knows what could happen if it enters our world?"

"This is bad…I can't find the Tamers' signals anymore! No…wait! Yes! No…"

"Would you make up your mind?!" grated Kuroda heatedly.

"I can't help it!" burst out Tally. "Their signals are fading in and out! It's like…I don't know! When they're readable it's like they're overlapping! I can't figure out what's going on!"

"Use the Tracers imaging system to zoom in on their last recorded location and run a spectral analysis," spoke up a voice from behind them as the main entranceway of the control room opened up. Turning both operators saw Yamaki and Riley enter.

"Ah! Yes sir!" replied Tally, immediately falling to her superiors order. Yamaki nodded.

"Riley. Get up there and give her a hand. We're going to need everything that we've got for this."

"Yes sir," said Riley as she quickly ran up to her pedestal and activated its functions, slipping on her visor as she did so.

"Report," said Yamaki.

"Running spectral analysis on affected area and attempting to filter out unnecessary background data accumulation from the Digital Hazard. Boosting sensor systems."

"I'm getting a visual!" called out Tally. "Calling it up…now!"

A screen activated, displaying a bird's eye view of a vast, broken desert that looked no different from the other images of the digital world's lowest layer, save for the variation in the massive number of canyons and bottomless pits carved into the landscape. Behind a few of them were holes that shimmered, revealing twinkling lights hiding behind them. Yamaki and Kuroda both frowned upon seeing them.

_What is that?_ wondered Yamaki before brushing it off. He had caught sight of something moving on the landscape. It was small, but…

"Tally. Increase magnification at grid 24."

"Working." A second later the picture increased in size and clarity. Tally frowned and tilted her head to the side as she looked at the screen. There appeared to be a sphere of fire hovering in the air. Lines of code were swarming around it. "Um…what the heck is that?"

Yamaki frowned and took a step towards the view screen.

"Riley, is that the location of the Tamers last known signal?"

"Confirmed, sir," replied Riley. "This is the last known location."

Before anyone else could say anything the ground directly adjacent to the sphere exploded upwards, and a massive, dragon-like creature towered over it. Crimson light licking at its teeth and a deep, low, guttural growl emanated from its throat as it sighted the sphere.

"Shit," muttered Kuroda as the dragon fired off a powerful blast at the blazing orb.

* * *

"Jeri," murmured Ryo in surprise as a shining light fell over him, dissolving the shadow-filled beach around him. The normally brown-haired girl, basking in a golden glow that surrounded her entire body, smiled at the Legendary Tamer. His eyes drew to the figures gathered around her, and Ryo's surprise found even greater heights as he saw that the other Tamers were there with her. "Takato, Rika, Kazu…"

"We're all here," grinned Kazu, looping an arm around Kenta's neck companionably, earning him a look of annoyance from a girl that, judging by the pink glow and the Royal Knight standing guard over her, could only be Ayaka.

"Hey, Ryo," said Takato, smiling warmly as he and Rika drew up to the boy. Ryo looked over at him and gave him a relieved smile back.

"Glad to see that you're okay there, bud. You took off and then Wildcat started getting worried about you." Ryo glanced over at Rika just in time to see a dark look cross her features as she looked at Takato. He noted, with more than a little amusement, that the Digimon Queen was holding her knights hand rather tightly, causing Takato some discomfort.

_Hmmm…maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that. Still, the very fact that she_ is _holding his hand is progress…_

"Y-Yeah well, there's a funny story behind that…" chuckled Takato nervously. Rika scowled at him.

"Funny that we're not laughing then," replied Rika in a cool, measured tone. "We'll have a talk about that later…"

"Boy, it sure didn't take you two long to start acting like a married couple," joked Ryo, to which Kazu sputtered in surprise.

"Wha…? Are you serious? I mean, I saw them holding hands…they're _still_ holding hands…and when Takato was at the hospital he thought his mom was Rika for some reason, but…"

"Kazu! Would you shut u—wait. What was that about me?"

Renamon coughed politely, interrupting the conversation.

"As _interesting_ as this conversation is," the vulpine digimon said pointedly, "I'd like to remind you that we have even bigger things on our plate right now."

All eyes followed Renamon as she pointed over to the form of BlackMegaGargomon, who presently looked disoriented by the sudden change in their environment.

_"We need to move quickly and purify him,"_ came a deep, dark voice from behind Ryo. Whirling around, he saw Loewemon floating up towards him. Ryo found himself wanting to ask where the Spirit of Darkness had been but remembered that they had a situation on their hands here.

"All right. How do we do that? You seem to know how to go about that, but I don't."

"It's real easy," said Rika. "It's going to take all of us working together, but Loewemon and the spirit connected to me, Lobomon, are going to be doing most of the work." Rika scowled as she noticed that her friends were all looking at her with raised eyebrows. "What? Your guys' spirits didn't tell you anything when they revealed themselves to you?"

"Most of us were a little busy fighting for our lives, Rika," said Kazu before glowering at the gear-armored digimon standing behind him. "Though these guys didn't bother showing up afterwards except here and there. Even then they didn't say much."

"Well you _do_ tend to be a difficult person to talk to and understand," said Guardromon.

"I hear ya," chimed in the gear-armored digimon.

Kazu's glare shifted over to Guardromon.

"What's that mean?"

"Come on you guys," said Takato. "We're wasting time here. Um…I'm afraid that I'm the one who's the most in the dark about what's going on, but we really should be doing something other than talking. Rika. You said that even though you and Ryo, or rather your Spirits, are going to be doing most of the work, you still need our help, right?"

"That's about the size of it," nodded Rika.

"Okay then." Takato took a deep breath. "Okay…this may sound kind of dumb but…um…everyone join hands."

"Forming a circle?" asked Kazu, raising an eyebrow. "What are we? Little kids? What good is 'forming a circle' going to do here?"

"Actually," began Renamon, a small, barely visible smile appearing on her muzzle, "it's not a bad idea."

"Say wha…?" began Takato, surprised while Kazu looked at Renamon as though she had just grown another head.

"Care to run that by me again?"

"A circle is a fundamental basis in the spells Rika and I create when we're biomerged. It allows for regulation of energy, and in this case that is going to be of the foremost importance."

Lobomon nodded. _"You're going to be channeling the powers of Light…"_

_"…And Darkness,"_ finished Loewemon. _"Neither power is to be taken lightly. Few have been able to handle both at the same time, and even then those that do often end with catastrophic results."_

"Um…wow," said Takato in surprise. "That was…not exactly what I had in mind…"

"So what if it didn't fit with your story-book imagined plan," smirked Rika. "It fit all the same." Rika gave the boy's hand a squeeze before extending it to Ryo. "Let's get this over with. We have a fight to get back to."

Ryo looked at Rika's outstretched hand before taking it into his own. A strange warmth flowed into his hand, leaving him with a strange tingling sensation in it. He wondered if this was a reaction coming from the forces of Light and Darkness intermingling. Looking around he saw the others begin to take each other's hands and join the circle, some doing so with reluctance while others, Ryo noted seeing how quickly Ayaka and Kenta linked together without either of them noticing, had none.

Ryo felt his hand stiffen up in surprise as Jeri slipped her fingers into his. He turned to her with a confused expression on his face, not understanding why she was doing so but she merely smiled at him. Looking over at Takato he saw that Guilmon had taken up position at Takato's other hand, as did Renamon with Guilmon's free claw before joining hers with Kazu's.

_Yeah,_ Ryo chuckled, berating himself for his earlier confusion. _That's all there is to it._

Quickly dismissing such thoughts Ryo focused on the here and now. He could feel something welling up inside of him. Loewemon's hands appeared around the sides of his head.

_"You may feel something…strange,"_ the Warrior of Darkness warned him. _"It is a part of the energy flow."_

"Got it," muttered Ryo as he focused on that sensation. It continued to grow inside of him, and an inky void appeared in the center of his body. Next to him, a light that appeared as a sun manifested itself in the center of Rika's body. Lightning crackled at the point where the two Tamers' hands met, causing them both to stiffen up as though shocked.

_"Don't let go,"_ warned Lobomon. In response Ryo and Rika's hands tightened their hold on each other and energy flowed out from them and into the others.

"Whoa…" Ryo heard Kazu breathe. More and more electricity danced among them, expanding outwards to encompass the ring that they formed. Light and Darkness spread outwards, intermingling as they finally met at the end-point where Crusadermon stood. The lightning bolts extended outwards from each of the Tamers, coalescing at a central point and shot out like a cannon, colliding with BlackMegaGargomon. The android Mega let loose a powerful scream as the bolt slammed home, fingers of electricity clawing at the Digital Hazard sign emblazoned on his side. His engines fired in an attempt to escape the energy, but to no avail. Giving an enraged shout, he pointed his gun barrels at the Tamers and all of his weapons ports opened up and took aim. Crimson ire blazed fiercely in his eyes.

* * *

_Crimson._

Deep within the darkness of his data sphere, Henry's body writhed as the lightning played over his body, the armor of his outward Mega form offering no protection from the pain that assaulted him. It felt as though something were being _torn_ out of his body. He had to get rid of whatever it was that was causing him such pain. Activating all of his weapon systems, he quickly sighted on the group gathered below him. One of them had darkness in him…a darkness that ran deep. He could still hear the sound of waves crashing upon the shore. A world lay within the bearer of that Darkness.

_Ryo never told us anything,_ thought Henry as he zoomed in on his friends and began targeting them individually. _Even now, he doesn't completely trust anyone. How could he have let something like…like_ that _into the real world and not tell anyone?! I have to stop it here! I have to…to…_

_Crimson…_

Henry looked at each and every one of his friends, and blinked. Their eyes blazed with a fierce determination, all of them focusing on a single intent. There was something about the way that they looked that was _familiar…_

In his mind's eye, he saw a dark haired girl with red eyes standing in front of him with two digimon, one a tall shaman and the other a silver furred fox, standing by her side. Her gaze was locked with his, almost piercing into his with their crimson depths. It was as though they were trying to reach him…

_Remember…_

Henry blinked within his data sphere, specks of tears falling from his eyes. He raised one hand shakily towards his face and looked at it, as though he had never seen it before.

_"Wha…what was I about to do?"_ Wondered Henry, glancing from his hand to his friends, and back again. _"I…Terriermon? Terriermon!"_

_"Mooomeeentaiii…"_ groaned the familiar voice of his long eared partner, and Henry breathed a sigh of relief. _"What happened, Henry?"_

_"I…don't know."_ Henry gripped the sides of his head and clenched his eyes shut tightly. His head was throbbing. Forcing his eyes open, Henry gasped as he saw dark, vein-like lines crawling up his body like some sickening infection. He began convulsing and coughing. Lightning began to dance around his data sphere, forcing their way into it and stabbing into Henry's body. The black veins shivered and Henry screamed as they were torn from him. A light burst outwards from his center of being, disintegrating the dark veins and breaking them apart into shards of data.

When Henry next opened his eyes, he and Terriermon were floating amidst the others, all of them wearing worried expressions on their faces.

"He's awake," said Takato, smiling. "Henry! How are you doing?"

"Tired." Henry frowned when he saw Takato. "Oookay…"

"A lot of things happened, Henry," chuckled Ryo.

" _And a lot more is going to happen from here on out,"_ thundered a new voice that was all too familiar to Ryo. _"You're just going to have to bear with us for now."_

Ryo and Monodramon whirled about, their eyes widening in shock and horror as their gaze fell upon a massive, misshapen creature as it flew down towards them. It was tall, vaguely dragon-like in its appearance with four, spindly arms; its hands tipped with cruel looking claws of red and black. A horned, carapace-like helmet decorated its head and a glowing energy field that looked as though it were a separate entity in its own right, rippled and twisted, flexing an extra set of arms. Energy crackled, and the metal of twin cannons sitting on the beasts shoulders creaked from the strain. Blood red eyes looked out over the Tamers, digimon, and spirits, ultimately focusing on Ryo. The creature's lips drew up into a smile and a deep chuckle emanated from the back of its throat.

"Hello, Ryo. How good it is to see you once again."

"Milleniummon," hissed the Legendary Tamer, and all eyes turned towards him.

"Uh…Takato?" asked Kazu. "Would now be a good time to fill me in on what's going on?"

_"Why don't_ I _'fill you in', Shiota,"_ began Milleniummon, only to be interrupted by Ryo as he gave glared at the dark digimon scornfully.

"You mean your biased story, right? Where you tell them that you're really misunderstood and that you're reformed? That's what you've been telling me whenever you talked to me. I'm sure you've fed that same line to Jeri and anyone else you've talked to as well."

Eyebrows raised once again as everyone looked at Ryo, rather taken aback by the tone that he was using. He sounded angry, and…afraid?

_These two really do have a history,_ thought Takato looking back and forth between the two. Milleniummon did not speak. Instead he merely looked at Ryo, who glared at him. _Man, there's just so much going on here that we have no idea about. Even when Ryo first told me and Henry about this guy, I didn't expect…well, I didn't expect him to be so huge. Or for Ryo to sound so angry._

_"He's always kept to himself,"_ came Rika's voice, and Takato jerked in surprise. _"Sorry,"_ said Rika apologetically.

_"No, no. It's okay. I'm just…I guess I'm still not used to you being able to hear what I'm thinking. Hey, how are you able to do that? I thought you could only do that when you were biomerged."_

_"I think it's because of whatever it is that Jeri did that brought everyone together. But that's beside the point right now. We were talking about Ryo."_

Looking over to the red-haired girl, Takato saw Rika narrow her eyes in a calculating manner.

_"Even now,"_ said Rika, more to herself than to Takato, _"he's not opening up to us. He's still holding back. He didn't even say anything about that creepy place that we pulled him out of. What was that all about?"_

_"Maybe he doesn't know himself. Hey, did that look like the Dark Ocean from the TV show?"_

_"I didn't get that good of a look. It was gone almost as soon as we got Ryo out of there. I don't like this."_

_"You and me both. But these spirit guys, they keep telling us that this Milleniummon is all right."_

_"Maybe so. But I get the feeling that we can't trust him at all. Ryo doesn't have to say anything just for me to pick up on that. Did you see this guy's eyes? I'll bet even Calumon would balk at wanting to play with him."_

"Well?" broke in Ryo, finally becoming fed up with Milleniummon's silence. "Do you have anything to say? Why are you even _here?!"_

"Dude," said Kazu, reaching out to place a calming hand on the Legendary Tamer's shoulder. Much to his shock, Ryo shrugged him off forcefully and took a step forward.

_"Answer me!"_ shouted Ryo. "You've played around with my life for so long that I'm not even sure if it's mine anymore! You've been dropping hints for _months_ that you were still around. Monodramon had to call me back to the digital world because he was having trouble controlling you! What do you _want?!_ "

_"What do I want, Ryo?"_ asked Milleniummon finally. _"What have I always wanted?"_

"Me? Or is it the digital world?"

_"Our destinies are tied with the digital world, Ryo."_

"That's _not_ an answer! I don't know why I'm even bothering to ask you at all. I can't trust you! I can't believe anything that you'd say could possibly be true! The only thing that's ever been certain is that no matter how many times I beat you, you keep coming back! It doesn't matter where I go. You're always there, waiting for me. I can never catch a break from you!"

_"Poor Ryo. The weight of his Legend chains him irrevocably. Would it ease your burden if I apologized?"_

"Geez, this guy's more annoying than me," mumbled Terriermon as he crawled onto Henry's shoulder, his expression exhausted. "Who the heck is he again?"

"Terriermon!" hushed Henry, getting to his feet. "Ryo. I think we need a full explanation here."

Monodramon looked between his partner, Milleniummon, and the Tamers with a worried expression on his face. Ryo placed one hand on his head and patted it reassuringly.

"I can't give you guys that."

_"What?!"_ exclaimed Rika furiously. "Are you kidding me?! Why the…"

"Rika…" interrupted Ryo. "It's just…too complicated for me to go into right now…"

_"What can be more complicated,"_ said Milleniummon, _"than that you aren't even from their world?"_

Silence hung heavily in the air, broken only by Takato as he spoke.

"Ryo…what's he mean?"

Ryo clenched one hand tightly, his fingers digging into his palm.

"Takato. Do you remember that episode from the first season of Digimon? The one where the Digidestined met up with Gennai before going off to find Kari?"

"Uh…" Takato blinked. "Yeah. Why?"

"Do you remember what Gennai told Tai? 'There are many other worlds.'" Silence resumed as the Tamers waited for Ryo to continue. "I had a lot of encounters with Milleniummon down the years. More than I'd care to count, and every time he came back he focused his attacks on me. He never pulled out all of his winning cards though. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure he could have destroyed me if he wanted to. For some reason it was like every battle we had he was testing me. And he wasn't the only one. There were…others, who used me just so that I could fight him. Long story short, my last battle with him took me to your world. I was given the choice to go home, or stay here. I chose here." Ryo gave a light, sardonic laugh. "What can I say? Seemed like a nice place to retire. Back to basics. A simpler life. Milleniummon was gone. I didn't want to deal with the digital world anymore. Funny how thigs work out." Ryo glanced up at Milleniummon. "But what does any of this have to do with what's going on now?"

Milleniummon flapped his wings, positioning his body so that he was now face to face with the Legendary Tamer.

_"Can't you guess? It's trust. If your friends can't trust you, then all of this will be for nothing. The digital world will be destroyed and your new home will follow in short order."_

"So what do you want?"

_"What I want is my own concern."_

"The heck it is. I know that you're trying to get something out of this. What is it?"

_"Is your enemy under any obligation to tell you what he plans?"_ Milleniummon laughed darkly and rose up into the air until he was towering over the Tamers. _"You and I are not done yet with our little 'game', Ryo. It never ended just because you came to this world. We still have a long way to go. Then, and only then…"_ Milleniummon allowed a cruel smile to cross his face before his body broke apart into lines of code, surrounding the Tamers, digimon, and spirits. The spirits began to glow as the code accelerated, forming a sphere around them.

"What's going on?" asked Ayaka, fear making itself known in her voice.

_"Evolution,"_ said Agunimon calmly. _"There's not too much that I can say about it. The rest we're going to leave up to you."_

With that, the bodies of each of the Legendary Warriors disintegrated, joining the swarm of code as it raced around them, leaving the Tamers and their partners to each other. Ryo looked at his friends and they looked back. There were plenty of questions in their eyes, and he could hardly begrudge them for them. Nor would he be surprised if their trust for him had frayed. He had hardly been very forthcoming. True, he had given them pieces of information, but even then, that had come at the very end. He had held his cards too close to his chest for too long and now everyone were being thrown together into something with too little information as to what the right decision was.

_Even I'm not so sure anymore. Milleniummon seems to have been preparing everything for the confrontation with that Gehenmon digimon. He wants something, but it looks like he wants to defeat Gehenmon more. He knows he can't do anything with Monodramon keeping him down, at least not directly. Merging like this, and using the powers of each of those Warrior Spirits…he might…_

Ryo felt as though the whole world were tilting dangerously on the edge of a cliff. One false move and they would lose everything.

"I…don't know what to do anymore…"

Ryo didn't realize that he had said that out loud. The Tamers all looked amongst each other and at Ryo, uncertainty clear on their faces. After several moments Takato and Jeri's eyes met. Jeri nodded at the boy, and Takato nodded back. Untangling his fingers from Rika's, he walked towards Ryo and stopped in front of him.

"You know…if there's one thing that I've learned recently, at times like this, it's okay to ask for help."

Blue met crimson as Ryo and Takato's eyes met.

"Takato…"

"You're not alone you know," spoke up Jeri, breaking away from the others and joining Takato's side. "We're here with you."

"Yeah!" crowed Kazu, breaking out of his confusion and shock. "Okay, so you've got a pretty bizarre past that you haven't told anyone about, but who doesn't keep secrets, right? Kenta here has a people size poster of Kari that he hasn't told anyone about…"

"Hey!" exclaimed Kenta loudly, his face flushing in embarrassment while Ayaka gave him a bewildered look. "That was supposed to be a secret!"

"Emphasis on the whole point of this conversation, Chumley. Ryo's just been taken down a peg. We've got to build him back up! While we're at it you might as well tell him about your Kari col…"

"Way to spoil the moment there you guys," said Rika, deciding that this conversation had gone on long enough. "Now how about you two keep your mouths shut? We've got bigger things to worry about here."

"I don't understand what's going on here," said Henry, scratching the side of his head. "I don't understand a _lot_ of it, but the digital world is on the line here."

"Since when has it _never_ been on the line?" asked Terriermon sarcastically. Rika grimaced at the long-eared bunny-dog. It was apparent that his earlier exhaustion was quickly disappearing. Very little kept his mouth down. "Seriously, it's always one doomsday after another around here. It's like they're all waiting in line or something."

_"TERRIERMON!"_ This time everyone shouted Terriermon's name, and a bout of laughter immediately followed.

"So what do we do?" asked Dracmon from next to Miki. "I mean, kinda obvious that we go out there and kick some booty, but it's the doing it that I'm concerned about. You guys looked like you were the ones getting curb-stomped before we showed up."

"We could try holding hands again," suggested Jeri, taking Ryo's hand in hers once again. Light flared around their hands in response to her touch, and after a moment's consideration everyone nodded.

"Maybe we ought to make a wish," added Rika, walking over to Ryo and taking his free hand in hers while joining her remaining one with Takato's. "That seems to be working out real well lately."

"Sounds like a place to start," nodded Takato. "Everyone get ready."

Within short order the circle was reformed. Light flowed through each and every Tamer and digimon. Jeri opened herself up to each of them, feeling all of their thoughts and feelings move through her. Unconsciously she focused herself on their intentions, feeling it take shape within her. An image appeared in her mind. A shape.

_A card._

_SolMilleniummon._

Jeri felt power well up within her, flowing outwards and enveloping everyone in its embrace. The last thing she heard before that power reached its peak were Rika and Ryo exchanging a few last words with each other.

"Rika…I'm…"

"If the next words out of your mouth are 'you're sorry' for not trusting us, I'm never going to forgive you."

Ryo chuckled.

"…You never change Wildcat."

* * *

"Registering a massive surge of data on the Tamers location!" exclaimed Riley. "It's reaching critical!"

"The digimon is preparing to fire!" called out Tally.

_There's nothing that we can do,_ thought Yamaki, his hand clenching around his lighter. _Nothing except trust those kids._

A white light burst across the screens of Hypnos, and a second later Yamaki's faith was rewarded.

Knight-like armor gleamed crimson and gold as the figure, humanoid in appearance, brushed aside the flames that the dragon spat at it, not so much as receiving a single burn mark from the searing heat. The only sign of the fire's passage was the bright orange glow that marked the edges of the circular, spiked blades attached to the figures gauntlets. Angelic wings, shimmering with rainbow-like color, rose outwards, framing a crown-like, eyeless facemask. Rings of fractal code ran around the warrior's body and arms, and a star-like insignia was emblazoned upon its chest. The warrior rose triumphantly and assumed a stance. Its voice boomed throughout the control room as it pronounced the completion of its evolution for all to hear.

_"BIOFORCE DIGIVOLVE TOOO…SOLMILLENIUMMON!"_


	177. 176: the Fury of Battle

_"Together…"_

The sensation of biomerging, at least for those who had already experienced it, was a familiar one, yet at the same time…different. Like before it was whole and unifying, like they had become a part of something greater than what they were. This time however, they could feel everyone's strength flowing into each other, focusing into their digimon as their bodies began to change and alter.

_"…BIOFORCE DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"_

The power expanded like a wave over them, causing each and every one of the Tamers to tighten their grips on each other. The light surrounding their bodies intensified.

_"…SOLMILLENIUMMON!"_

_"…We are one."_

SolMilleniummon looked down at himself, light from his shimmering wings gleaming all over his red and gold armored body. The awe of the Tamers and digimon at their new, combined form met and intermingled within the depths of the digimon's mind. As though the mental contact reminded them of their true purpose, they raised their eyes, sighting the form of Gehenmon as he towered over them. His expression firming, the warrior flapped his wings and rose into the air, assuming a combat stance. Gehenmon growled dangerously, crouching low with his tail sweeping back and forth in a predatory manner. SolMilleniummon raised one arm and Gehenmon raised his head in response. Both were moving in unison, mimicking each other as though this were a dance that they had played many times in the past; an _endless waltz_ of life _._

Light flared in SolMilleniummon's hand and stretched outwards into a spear-like point, and crimson fire licked at the edges of Gehenmon's fangs. As though a signal had been given SolMilleniummon charged forward at the same moment that Gehenmon let loose a torrential burst of flame.

_"Lightning Lance!"_

_"Blight Fire!"_

An explosion rocked the digital world. The battle had been joined.

* * *

"Incredible," breathed Kuzuhamon as she watched the two digimon become swallowed by the intensity of their attacks.

"I'll say," agreed Urocyomon, resting his spear upon his shoulder in a casual fashion. "So this is the legendary 'Super Ultimate' level. The historical texts back at the temple claim that only six digimon of that level have ever existed. The pinnacle of evolution that transcends even the Mega level. I never thought that I'd live to see one."

"I thought that it was just a myth…"

Noriko looked back and forth between the two vulpine-like digimon, confusion etched into her features.

"Um…I don't understand. What is it that just happened? Where are Henry and the others?"

"Right there," said Urocyomon, pointing at the crimson and gold armored warrior as he flew out of the smoke that had been kicked up by the battle. "They biomerged together. Everyone is fighting as one digimon, combining their powers into one entity. SolMilleniummon."

Noriko looked back over at the warrior, catching him with her eye.

SolMilleniummon

Stage: Super Ultimate

Type: Vaccine

Special Attacks: Lightning Lance, Nimbus Barrier, Corona Flare

Noriko blinked her eyes as the words ran across her vision once more. She shook her head and bit the bottom of her lip in frustration. She understood the concept of biomerging. She had seen it in action when Henry and she fought back in the real world as MegaGargomon and ChaosGallantmon. She had even been merged with both Lucemon and BlackGuilmon as one single entity. However, it felt odd to her that all of the Tamers would biomerge together. Of course, there was much about the Tamers that were odd to her. Just biomerging with their partners was strange enough to her. It strove against all of her sense of reality. A sense of reality that, much to her surprise, insisted on remaining in spite of everything that she had seen and experienced ever since her little brother first found Lucemon in Shinjuku Park.

But that wasn't what was bothering her right now.

_Once again, I'm stuck on the sidelines,_ Noriko thought to herself, clenching one hand tightly at her side. _Why? Why am I always just plain…useless? There's got to be something that I can do to help._

Noriko's thoughts were blown away as the massive form of Gehenmon burst free from the smoke, roaring as he threw himself at SolMilleniummon, crashing into him, fangs gnashing. SolMilleniummon caught the dragon by the top of his mouth, barely preventing himself from entering the gaping maw. Crimson light burned at the back of the dragon's throat as murderous, blood red eyes focused on the warrior. Golden fires flared around SolMilleniummon's fists and detonated against Gehenmon's face, throwing the dragon backwards. A cerise colored beam ripped outwards as the dragon flew through the air, carving a path through the digital world. Noriko gave a yelp as Kuzuhamon grabbed hold of her and Urocyomon, leaping up into the air a split second later.

"Hey!" exclaimed Urocyomon angrily. "What are you doing?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" shot back Kuzuhamon, pushing every ounce of speed she could into her flight. "I'm trying to put as much distance between us and those two as possible. Even a Fresh can tell that this is going to get messy!"

"Are you calling me an egg?!"

Kuzuhamon _hmmphed._ "An egg has more sense than you."

More beams of red light ripped outwards, causing air to break apart into shards of data, revealing the green colored framework of the digital world that lay behind it.

_The digital world is being carved up,_ thought Noriko as one of the beams gouged into the desert floor, uprooting the ground with its destructive force and sending boulders flying through the air. _Oh, Henry…what are we going to do? What are you and the others going to do?_

Once more Noriko cursed herself for not being able to help the Tamers. Feeling that there was only one thing left for her to do, she clasped her hands together and muttered a silent prayer, hoping that the gods that her grandmother claimed watched over the world would smile upon them in their hour of need.

Kuzuhamon, her hearing sharper than the average human allowing her to overhear Noriko's prayer, looked at the girl over her shoulder with a sympathetic look. Kuzuhamon gave Noriko as comforting a squeeze as she could with her arm and then increased the pace of her flight.

* * *

_"Lightning Lance!"_

A stream of raw electricity tore through the air and a second later, a piece of Gehenmon's armor went flying, black blood spraying alongside it. Gehenmon roared with pain and slashed at SolMilleniummon with his claws, rending the earth beneath him as crescent-shaped energy dug trenches into its surface. SolMilleniummon ducked underneath the dragon's attack and then rushed forward, delivering a brutal blow his jaw, nearly dislocating it. Gehenmon quickly retaliated by smashing the palm of his clawed hand into the back of the warrior, sending him careening towards into one of the holes that had been made. Flapping his wings SolMilleniummon brought his descent to a halt and righted himself. He looked up just in time to see Gehenmon barreling towards him, crimson fire bolting from the back of his throat in rapid-fire bursts.

_"Nimbus Barrier!"_ shouted SolMilleniummon. Raising his hands, a sphere of light encompassed his body, and the bolts of fire collided with its surface. The shield trembled beneath the impact, but unlike the landscape of the digital world it held firm and withstood the attack.

_"Hey,"_ spoke up the voice within SolMilleniummon's mind. _"We're actually holding this guy off. Our attacks are even connecting!"_

_"Terriermon's right,"_ spoke up another voice. _"Before we couldn't even get close to this guy, much less hit him. All of our attacks disintegrated before they could touch him, and you saw what kind of damage_ his _attacks have been doing to the digital world. Why is that?"_

_"Why argue with a bad thing, Rika?"_ chuckled another voice. _"I'm just glad that we're doing something. This guys pretty tough…just not as tough as we are."_

_"Typical Kazu…"_

_"Come on you guys! Cut it out! We've got to focus on the battle here!"_

_"You got it, Chumley!"_

SolMilleniummon dispersed the shield just in time to receive the impact of Gehenmon's descent. Grabbing hold of the dragon by the snout as best as he could, the warrior hefted him and tossed him into the cavernous remains of the digital world's interior. Rocks exploded from the monster's crushing weight and began to fall. With a roar of anger, Gehenmon's body glowed, shattering the rocks that threatened to bury him and sending out a shockwave that caught SolMilleniummon in its intensity. The warrior's body phased in and out of stability as the effects of the Digital Hazard struck him to the core.

_"Okay…I'd say that it's safe to assume that whatever protection we do have, it's not invincible."_

_"Brilliant deduction, Holmes…"_

His eyes narrowing into slits, SolMilleniummon centered his hands together, palms just inches apart from each other. Flames gathered together with a golden and silver-white hue, and SolMilleniummon thrust it outwards.

_"Corona Flare!"_ The fire shot out like a rocket, impacting with Gehenmon's body. The dragon drove forward regardless of its intensity, ignoring the searing flesh and armor that broke off. Gehenmon grabbed hold of SolMilleniummon with his claws, taking advantage of the small quarters that their battle was taking place in as it restricted SolMilleniummon's movements, and brought him towards his mouth. His fangs glistened in the light that SolMilleniummon was giving off, revealing every inch of their deadly, jagged edges. SolMilleniummon struggled against the dragon's grasp, trying to free his arms. One of them ripped free and caught one of Gehenmon's fangs as it began to descend towards his head. His arm pushed and strained against the dragon, doing its utmost to prevent the monster's jaw from closing.

Try as he might, SolMilleniummon could do little more than slow the inevitable.

_"Dammit! At this rate we're going to lose an arm! Come on…"_ SolMilleniummon looked down at his remaining trapped limb, his eyes _demanding_ that it break free from the claw that held it imprisoned. Glancing over at Gehenmon's looming maw, SolMilleniummon felt the muscles in his free arm begin to buckle…

_"RrrrAAAGGGHHH!"_

With a triumphant scream and a blast of lightning, SolMilleniummon ripped his imprisoned arm free, sending data flying through the air as he cut his way out. Electricity danced along his gauntlet, extending outwards into a spear-like blade. SolMilleniummon thrust the arm forward, and the spear extended itself into Gehenmon's mouth. The dragon made a sound of gargled surprise as the lance stabbed the back of his throat and burst out from the back. Seeing this as his opportunity, SolMilleniummon flew free from the ruins of Gehenmon's hand and shot up out of the canyon, sending bolts of lightning raining down on the behemoth as he did so. Gehenmon's body shuddered as each and every one of the bolts struck home, piercing armor and skewering the flesh that lay underneath. Gehenmon's howl thundered into the heavens and he raised his shadow-veiled wings to protect himself from the onslaught. Eyes colored with murder watched SolMilleniummon. Fire built up in his mouth and in his heart as well. This warrior… _SolMilleniummon…_ why was he fighting? Did he not know that the digital world and the human world were caught in a cycle of endless violence and destruction? The dragon shook his head mentally. He did not understand the warrior. SolMilleniummon… His attacks…Gehenmon never expected such power. Pain blazed in each of his wounds, though none so far compared to the fire that burned the back of his throat. _Such opposition…_ SolMilleniummon would pay for his transgressions. Oh, yes. He _would_ pay…

Gehenmon opened his mouth, and took aim at the warrior. The heat continued to build up until it reached a crescendo. Fire licked at his fangs as it prepared to launch.

_"Blight Fi-!"_ Suddenly Gehenmon doubled over and began to cough. The sound of flesh sizzling could be heard upon the air as searing pain lacerated the back of his throat. A thousand voices rushed into Gehenmon's mind, confusion in every one of them.

_"What's going on?"_ they hissed. _"What is this?! What has that warrior done to us? Our Fire—!"_

Gehenmon turned his head up towards SolMilleniummon. New anger roared to life in the dragon's heart. A quick flap of his wings was all it took to send him rushing forward, ignoring the spray of data as yet another one of the warrior's attacks struck home, this time in his shoulder.

SolMilleniummon would indeed pay… _dearly._

* * *

The sound of Yamaki's lighter clicking closed resounded upon the air with a sense of finality, punctuating every impact of SolMilleniummon and Gehenmon's blows as they struck home. Yamaki pressed his mouth into one, thin line, his mind racing as he processed what he was seeing.

"Riley," he said finally. Although scant seconds had passed since the battle had started, it felt more like an eternity. "Where are the Tamers' signals coming from?"

"It's difficult to tell, sir," said Riley. "The signal emanating from the Digital Hazard is interfering with our sensors. Tally, can you use the tracers to boost the signal?"

"Already on it," replied Tally as her hands flew across her control console. "Transfering power from non-essential systems and increasing output now. Is that better?"

"Much," nodded Riley. "I'm now able to localize the signals and filter them out better. It looks as though the Tamers digivice signals are…it's the knight sir! They're coming from the knight!"

"So does that mean that the dragon is the source of the Hazard?" asked Kuroda, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Yamaki snapped his lighter open and closed in rapid succession. "Riley! Do we still have access to the Argus files?"

"Argus files?" Riley, Kuroda, and Tally all looked at Yamaki in surprise. Riley was the first to recover.

"I think so. Give me a second."

As Riley turned to accessing the appropriate files for her superior, Kuroda turned towards Yamaki with a questioning eyebrow raised.

"What are you up to, Yamaki? You know that the Argus programs were removed from our systems after that Hazard Storm from last week."

"Actually, Kuroda, I distinctly recall that the main AI systems of Argus, the digimon that were reprogrammed, were removed. They were also the only ones that were active at the time of Argus' loss. The files themselves retained some key programs and were only sealed up while an investigation was being conducted on Itokawa. As far as I know, we were never forbidden access to those files."

"I've got them sir," said Riley, calling up the necessary information.

"Excellent. Is the ZERO Arms Orochi program still in the system?"

"Yes sir. ZERO Arms Orochi is on standby."

_ZERO Arms…Orochi?_ Kuroda's mind burst into a flurry as he remembered the program. "Are you… _serious?!"_

"I don't see how we have a choice in the matter. The program is adequately designed for this kind of task. And the Tamers," Yamaki watched as the combined form of the Tamers disappeared into a canyon with Gehenmon following closely behind, "need our assistance. Most of our programs don't have enough power to combat this entity that they're fighting, or they are too unwieldy."

"As much as I hate to point out the fact that Argus hasn't worked out so well, wouldn't the ZERO Arms Orochi be placed under 'too unwieldy'?"

"I hate to say it, sir," spoke up Tally, "but he does have a point there. Argus' systems weren't fully tested prior to Itokawa's arrival, and the ZERO Arms Orochi hasn't yet received _any_ test trials like the first and second level of Argus did. We don't know how it will react, especially now that we have an evolving program infiltrating our systems."

_A program that so far seems to be benign,_ thought Kuroda looking at the situation on the view screen. SolMilleniummon flew out of the canyon, pursued closely by Gehenmon. The two were now trading fire with each other. A beam of crimson energy rocketed out of Gehenmon's mouth, striking SolMilleniummon on the shoulder, ripping off one of his shoulder guards in the process. Kuroda narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. _Can we really afford to sit back and hope that those kids make it through this fight? With this monster on the loose?_

Kuroda's slid over Gehenmon, his mind playing all the information that he and Tally had been scanning from the digital world. It was literally being torn apart. While it was true that the dragon wasn't the only force doing that, it was certainly by far the most destructive.

_Whole layers wiped out in one shot. The Tamers don't look like they can take many of those shots themselves. If the specs on the Orochi program are as good as they look to be…_

Gehenmon's body took on a ruddy glow and exploded outwards, shredding the remnants of the landscape around the two combatants. Digital boulders tore through the air, smashing into each other and breaking apart. Riley gasped and alarms suddenly sounded throughout the room.

"Sir! I'm reading a _massive_ exchange of data erupting between the worlds!"

"Confirmed!" said Tally, her fingers flying over her control interface. "Multiple egress points are appearing in the barriers! Our shore up programs are having no affect on them!"

"The digital world is going to come crashing down on us, breathed Kuroda. Making a decision, he ran over to his control panel and transferred the files from Riley's station to his.

"Kuroda!" exclaimed Riley in surprise. "What are you…?"

"Giving the Tamers a helping hand and hoping that it doesn't screw us over, that's what! The digital world is breaking apart! You can see that just as well as I can! Yamaki!" Hitting a button Kuroda called up data charts showing the real and digital worlds. "The two worlds are exchanging data every second, right? The Digital Hazard is expanding. It's overlapping into the data exchange. It's effects are going to be felt here in the real world soon enough, and I don't mean like computer crashes or network problems. If the reality of the digital world is any indication then we're going to be seeing some environmental problems. As much as I don't like the idea of trying out any of our programs right now, I'm going to have to go with you on this. _Anything_ is better than nothing, and right now we've got the ZERO Arms Orochi!"

Yamaki nodded and flicked his lighter open.

"Riley. Uplink with the Tracers and see if you can't establish communications with the Tamers. Kuroda, standby to transfer the Orochi program."

"Yes sir," nodded Riley. "Sending out Tracer uplink in 3-2-1…Contact! Establishing visual!"

The view screens surrounding them flickered and the image of the battle disappeared, replaced by what appeared to be a group of children gathered in a ring, a fluctuating nimbus of light flowing through them. Their eyes were all closed in concentration, and their mouths seemed to be moving as one.

_What…is this?_ Wondered Yamaki. _It's like they're moving as a single entity. Almost like the D-Reaper but…different._ Yamaki brushed the thought aside, deciding that now was not the time to focus on such things. The here and now were all that was important.

"Takato!" the blonde haired head of Hypnos called out. As one the children opened their eyes and looked around them in confusion.

_"Yamaki?"_ replied the voice of the Tamer that Yamaki had come to trust. The man allowed a smile to cross his face before continuing.

"Takato. We've been monitoring your battle at Hypnos. You need to end this quickly. The digimon that you're fighting…it's causing tremendous amounts of damage to the barriers. The digital world could very well end up crashing into ours."

_"We're doing what we can Yamaki! Believe me! But this guy just doesn't want to go down!"_

"We realize that. That is why we're going to be sending you some assistance. You all remember the Argus program, correct?"

_"Isn't that that crazy program that tried to kill us last week?"_ asked another voice, this one belonging to Kazu.

"The very same," replied Yamaki. "We have an add-on program that was meant to function alongside it to give it an effective weapon to combat digital threats. It's called the ZERO Arms Orochi. Stand by to receive it."

_"Roger!"_ said Takato, sounding more than a little relieved, and grateful at the news.

"Kuroda!"

"Way ahead of you, boss. I already sent it."

Yamaki turned back towards the view screens, his expression grim.

_It's all up to you kids now…_

* * *

SolMilleniummon saw white burst across his vision as he was caught off guard by a mighty swipe from Gehenmon's tail. The warrior flew through the air and struck one of the boulders that had been shorn from the digital world, the force of his impact causing it to explode into a shower of meteors.

_Well…that's one way to come to a stop…_ thought the warrior inwardly, the Tamers by now too occupied and exhausted from the endless fighting to bother assigning an owner to it. Gehenmon flew towards them with a powerful roar. Fire flared around the warrior's fists and flowed over his rings of data before flying outwards. The shadow's surrounding Gehenmon's body rushed forward, striking at the fire and enveloping them within their embrace, suffocating them. SolMilleniummon leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the demonic dragon. Beneath his healm, his eyes narrowed. _"_

_Where is that program? Didn't Yamaki send it? Why haven't we received it yet?"_

_"Maybe there's a lag time?"_

_"That's so stupid…"_

_"Blight Fire!"_

Spinning in midair, SolMilleniummon flapped his wings and surged downwards, deftly evading the surge of blood-colored fire that Gehenmon had shot at them. Lightning crackled around his arm, and the warrior sent a returning shot back. The shadows emanating from Gehenmon's body flowed outwards and took the impact of the blast, nullifying it. With another roar Gehenmon flew towards them.

_"Looks like it healed up from the damage we dealt to its mouth earlier…"_

_"We can all see that pretty clearly, Chumley…"_

_"This isn't good! Gehenmon's still hasn't so much as slowed down. We've dealt a lot of damage to him already but he just keeps coming."_

_"And Yamaki's promised weapon hasn't shown up yet. Man, what the heck is he thi—hold on!"_

A light began to emerge from SolMilleniummon's arms, suffusing into the air in front of them. A rush of power flowed through SolMilleniummon's body, and instinctively his fingers clasped around a handle just as it began to materialize. His eyes gazed upon what he held in his hands as it finally finished taking on a physical presence. It was a large, cumbersome object resembling a cannon colored red, gold, and blue with two items sitting at the front that appeared strangely like a Greymon's head, complete with a reptilian horn sitting atop of them. Wing-like structures were positioned at the forefront of the cannon-like weapon…and _weapon_ it was. The knowledge of its function was instinctive to them for reasons that went beyond just its appearance. It was the recognition that the Tamers felt coming from the Legendary Spirits that they bore. They knew what it was that they held and what was more they knew how to use it.

_"Oh yeah,"_ crowed a voice in an almost satisfied manner as the warrior ran a thumb across the handle. _"This is what we're talking about."_

SolMilleniummon looked up at Gehenmon as he came surging towards him. Crimson fire glowed in the back of his throat as his maw opened wide. SolMilleniummon stood his ground, almost _inviting_ Gehenmon to get closer.

_"This is where it_ ends!" shouted SolMilleniummon. A targeting scope sprung up on the weapon and lights began to glow at its end as it began to gather energy. An orb of energy coalesced at its tip and SolMilleniummon pulled back.

_"Celestial Blade!"_

The sphere exploded outwards and an energy blade expanded. With a cry from all of the Tamers and digimon, SolMilleniummon heaved the massive cannon-turned-sword and clove it through the air.

Gehenmon didn't stand a chance. The sword of plasma drove itself into his skull, sheering through its armor with frightening ease, causing his attack to detonate in his mouth. Data shattered in a fearsome explosion and Gehenmon's body jerked once before becoming still. SolMilleniummon flapped his wings and moved to the side, allowing the inert body to pass him by. His gaze lingered on the dragon, his eyes contemplating it for a moment.

_"Did…did we win?"_ asked Takato from within the armored warrior. As though in answer to the Tamer's question, Gehenmon's body continued to fly onward, no longer supported save for its own forward momentum. It plowed into a boulder as it drifted through the air, and was at long last still.

_"I'd say that looks like defeat to me,"_ grinned Kazu. _"There's no way that guy's coming back from that. No way at all."_

A sense of relief washed through the body of SolMilleniummon, flowing through all of the Tamers. He looked around him and quickly sighted the blue orb hanging above them. The digital representation of the Earth, surrounded by tears in the night sky that revealed the real Earth behind the digital barriers, appeared like a beacon of hope to them.

_"So what do we do now?"_ asked Ayaka. _"Go home?"_

_"I know I'd like to,"_ said Kenta. _"I don't know about you guys, but I can only take so much of this death-defying stuff. I'm tired."_

_"I've gotta agree with Kenta on this one,"_ said Ryo. _"But we shouldn't just take off yet. Let's hook up with Noriko and everyone else and figure out where to go from here. Man, I hope Impmon and his Tamers are okay."_

Within the ring of light that lay inside SolMilleniummon, Jeri Katou opened her eyes and a smile bloomed upon her face.

_"They're okay,"_ she said, her voice full of confidence. _"We don't have to worry about them."_ Jeri paused and giggled. _"Well, besides worrying about them worrying about us that is…"_

Kazu opened his mouth to ask Jeri how she could be so certain of that when a strange, almost calming feeling washed over him. The feeling of connection that he was feeling with everyone else since biomerging strengthened, and an image of Beelzemon carrying his partners across the desert floated in his mind.

_"Huh? Jeri…?"_

_"I can see what he sees. I feel what he feels. They're okay. Everyone's…okay."_ Light trickled out of Jeri's eyes as she gave an unexpected sob, and everyone looked at her worriedly.

_"Hey,"_ asked Takato. _"Are you all right, Jeri?"_

_"I'm fine,"_ sniffed Jeri. _"I'm just…so…very glad…that everyone is all right."_ Jeri turned her head upwards and smiled at the surrounding light. _"Thank you…all of you for helping us."_

_"It was our pleasure,"_ said the voice of Agunimon from the light.

* * *

_"We are defeated…"_

_"This cannot be…"_

_"But it is."_

Oni groaned, trying to fight his way through the pain that ran throughout his body. He could feel the beating heart of the dragon's digi-core weakening with every second. The heat and pressure that had been with him from the moment that he had awakened was decreasing. It was still there…the Hazard was still alive, but it was… _dying._

_"We cannot die. Not yet."_

_"Not with our dream unfinished."_

_Dream?_ Oni's mind felt sluggish. A result of the energy that had been drained from him.

_"The destruction of the cycle."_

_"The end of all sorrow."_

_"You came to us with that goal. You wanted to use us to meet that end."_

_"You still can. This body is dying…but you still exist. You can be the new vessel with which to transport our power. Your goal is our goal."_

Oni pulled his talons together weakly.

_Goal?_

_"Have you forgotten?"_

The image of a grieving woman, and the memories of a night of blood and nightmares flashed through his mind. _Amaya Abe._

Oni tightened his grip.

_No. I have not forgotten._

_"Then use us as you see fit. This battle is not over for as long as we breathe. The cycle must end…"_

_"The cycle_ will _end!"_

_Yes…_

Oni felt something slither over his body, and his white eyes opened to the shadows around him.

_…It will._

* * *

The Tamers ceased in their deliberation as the sound of something cracking reached their ears. Turning SolMilleniummon's head they located the sound's source as coming from the broken body of Gehenmon. Its armor no longer glowed from the fires that had heated it, leaving it little more than a lifeless husk lying on the ground. SolMilleniummon narrowed his eyes carefully.

_What could…?_

The body jerked as the armor splintered suddenly. An inky blackness oozed out from the crack, and it began to widen.

_"Uh…what's going on?"_ asked Kazu. _"Did someone forget to tell this guy that he was beaten?"_

_"The show's not done yet, Kazu,"_ answered Rika as the crack widened even further, allowing several, black talons to grab its edges. White, ghost-like eyes appeared within the shadows of the body, and a red Hazard sign flared.

_"No, my dear Queen,"_ spoke up a dreadful voice from within the crack. _"The show is not over."_

The claws gave a sharp tug and Gehenmon's body was torn apart, bursting into shards of data almost immediately. Black wings appearing as tattered curtains fluttered around a tall, gangly body that reminded the Tamers of a spider. Wing-like ears flexed upon the head of the creature and a long, spindly tail tipped with a curved, razor-sharp blade whipped outwards. A white smile spread across the creature's face like a scar and it leered up at SolMilleniummon. Upon sighting the warrior, twin, spear-like weapons snapped outwards from the creature's wrists.

_"After all,"_ continued the creature, its voice dripping with all the humor of the gallows, _"as you humans say, the show does not end until the fat lady sings."_

With a shriek-like laugh, the creature leapt into the air, rapidly closing the distance between himself and SolMilleniummon.


	178. 177: Wishing Star

Noriko, Kuzuhamon, and Urocyomon floated in the air, keeping an eye on the situation from afar. Urocyomon looked over at Noriko to see her reaction and winced, immediately regretting it. The look on her face was one of faltering hope and a feeling of complete and utter helplessness.

_She wants to help, but there's nothing that she can do._ Urocyomon huffed and hefted his spear along his shoulder. _Can't say that I blame her. I'm in the same boat myself. I don't like this standing around either. But what can we do? It's like Kuzuhamon said. It's best to have as much distance between us and them while they slug it out. We just don't have the power to mix it up in there._

"Kuzuhamon…"

"The answer's 'no', Noriko."

"But…"

"Look," sighed the violet and blue armored shaman digimon. "I know that you want to help, but we'd only be in the way if we tried. Those two are far beyond anything that either myself or Urocyomon have. I've pointed this out before. I'm not very strong for a digimon, and I'm stronger than Kit over there."

Urocyomon's fur bristled slightly at the comment, but he didn't respond to it. As much as he hated to admit it, Kuzuhamon was right.

_Still…_

"I can't take this anymore," whimpered Noriko. "I've got to do something! I hate just standing here and watching!"

"They've got it in hand," said Kuzuhamon, laying a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "Look."

Noriko followed Kuzuhamon's hand to see SoMilleniummon slash his weapon through the air at Gehenmon. The weapon clove through his skull, effectively decapitating him. Noriko's eyes blinked as the dragon's body tumbled through the air and disappeared from her sight.

"T-That's it?" she asked in a shocked voice. "It's over? Just like that?"

"Don't sound so disappointed," breathed Kuzuhamon in relief. "Now we can focus on getting you and the others home. Come on." Shifting her two charges in her arms, Kuzuhamon began to fly over towards SolMilleniummon.

From his spot in Kuzuhamon's arms, Urocyomon shifted and grinned.

"You know…that was a pretty easy looking fight that they had there…"

A loud, cracking sound filled the air, interrupting Urocyomon. A dark aura emerged from the direction that Gehenmon had fallen, and a second later a black, demonic form rushed towards SolMilleniummon and began to lay into him. Unlike before, SolMilleniummon appeared to be more hard pressed in rallying his defenses.

"Uh…oops," said Urocyomon apologetically.

"Urocyomon, you idiot…" groaned Kuzuhamon, rolling her eyes. Noriko ignored the pair and tightened her grip on Kuzuhamon.

"We've got to hurry," she whispered under her breath. Light suffused from her body and engulfed the two, causing them both to gasp in surprise. Kuzuhamon turned towards the increasingly frantic Noriko. "We've got to get over there and help!"

Kuzuhamon was just about to protest when the light surrounding Noriko intensified, and Kuzuhamon felt new strength flood her body. Data that had long slept awoke, and the violet sparkle of data flowed throughout her body. Kuzuhamon's eyes widened in understanding.

_My powers…they're being_ unlocked! _She's completing my evolution! But how? I'm not her partner!_

Kuzuhamon shook her head, realizing that for now the question was irrelevant. They had a far greater problem to deal with, and the Tamers needed their help. Pressing her lips together, Kuzuhamon quickened her pace and summoned a barrier around her.

* * *

_"Celestial Blade!"_ shouted SolMilleniummon as the dark creature surged towards him. The ZERO Arms Orochi weapon glowed and the cannon components broke apart, revealing a long sword hidden within it. Quickly bringing it to bear, SolMilleniummon blocked his opponents spear-like weapons. Their eyes locked as sparks flew through the air.

_"Oni!"_ shouted SolMilleniummon in Dracmon's voice as recognition flared in the digimon's heart.

_"Hello, Dracmon,"_ laughed Oni, pressing down on SolMilleniummon's sword. _"It's so very nice to see that you continue to survive even though all of your comrades are dead."_

_"You…_ bastard! _That was your plan all along, wasn't it?! You were going to sacrifice us just so you could start a war between the worlds! You didn't care about us! Only yourself!"_

Fire lit up in Oni's eyes and with a sudden roar of anger, Oni spat a sphere of dark energy into SolMilleniummon's face, detonating upon impact and throwing the warrior backwards.

_"How DARE you insinuate that I only cared about myself! You're the reason why I set the plan into motion!"_

_"What's he talking about?"_ asked Miki's voice, echoing the questions that were brimming in all of the minds of the Tamers and digimon. SolMilleniummon's eyes furrowed into a frown, reflecting Dracmon's frustration.

_"I ain't got a clue! This guy's always been nuts! I'm pretty sure that I haven't done anything bad before showing up in the real world. Unless you count my attempt at vandalizing the faces of the Sovereigns. Ol' firebird was not amused if I recall correctly…"_

_"When is he ever?"_ asked Terriermon sarcastically.

_"For your information,_ growled Oni, _"Dracmon hasn't done anything particular to earn my ire. More precisely, it's what you've all done. What existence does."_ Oni let loose a maniacal laugh and clapped a hand over his eyes as though he had heard the universe's greatest joke. _"The Chaos was right. Humans…digimon…all you know is destruction. Even if you're innocent at first, soon enough life will ruin you, and you'll end up just like any of the other monsters out there. Ready to crush and destroy. It's in your bones, humans. Your instincts. Your entire history is replete with conflict and devastation of other peoples! Not even your own world is safe from your ravages! And those instincts were transferred over to the digimon when they began evolving. The game of digimon for example…it influenced all of you children, and digimon evolve through the dreams emanating from you."_

Oni flexed his claws and black lightning sparked at their tips.

_"As long as humans and digimon exist, there will be nothing but destruction. Nothing but sorrow. The only way to end it all, is to break the circle."_

With a flap of his wings, Oni sent a storm of dark electricity flying towards SolMilleniummon. The warrior quickly summoned a barrier to protect himself. The bolts of lightning struck the shield, causing it to shudder under the strain.

_"Sorry,"_ grated SolMilleniummon in the voices of all the Tamers and digimon. _"But we can't just sit by and allow that to happen. It's our job to protect both worlds!"_

_"You can't protect anything,"_ replied Oni, not missing a single beat in his attack. _"You couldn't prevent the death of one child during the Chaos' attack on the human world. You couldn't prevent the devastation of the digital world at the hands of Chaos either. You can't even stop humans from fighting amongst themselves and creating new ways to destroy innocent lives."_ Oni narrowed his eyes. Crimson energy flowed from the Hazard sign emblazoned on his chest and into the palm of his hand. _"What makes you believe that you can make any difference?"_

Oni flapped his wings and dove forward, smashing the red sphere against SolMilleniummon's barrier. Energy crackled as the two forces strove against each other. The barrier warped and rippled and finally Oni's hand passed through as though it as easily as through water. Oni smirked as the sphere flared and detonated, shattering SolMilleniummon's shield. SolMilleniummon cried out in pain, only to be interrupted by Oni as he clamped a clawed hand around his throat. Summoning another sphere Oni reared one arm backwards and threw it at SolMilleniummon as though intending to punch the warrior with it. Reaching up SolMilleniummon caught the arm and deftly kicked the corrupted digignome in his stomach before whipping his free hand upwards. Lightning ran the length of his gauntlet as a blade of raw electricity gouged across Oni's face.

_"Lightning Lance!"_

That did it. With a howl, Oni let go of SolMilleniummon and the two drifted apart from each other. Oni held one hand across his injured face, attempting to stem the flow of data that flowed from the wound. Seizing the opportunity SolMilleniummon's wings flared and he rushed forward, charging the _Celestial_ _Blade_ with all of his power.

_"Tsk."_

Smirking almost disdainfully, Oni caught the sword with his free hand. Hazard signs ran the length of his arm with a red glow, eventually enveloping the sword and causing the area of the blade he was holding to disintegrate. SolMilleniummon's eyes widened in shock and he pulled backwards with a powerful beat of his wings. Calmly, Oni opened his claws and allowed sparkling data to float aimlessly into the air as the shattered remnant of the _Celestial Blade_ drifted behind him.

_"You won't be able to hurt me with that little toy. It might have worked on the Lucemon of old, but not on me. My existence is, shall we say,_ different."

Oni's body blurred and vanished, reappearing in front of SolMilleniummon. A smirk drew across his face and Oni thrust a claw forward. SolMilleniummon screamed as Oni unleashed a torrent of red energy that threw him into a boulder. Laughing now, Oni traced his claws through the air, making intricate designs. SolMilleniummon groaned and picked himself up from off the boulder.

_"What's he doing?"_ asked Henry. The answer to his question came but a second later as red energy flowed through the air, lighting up the spaces that Oni had drawn his claws through, revealing an intricate series of circles and star-shaped designs.

_"Shit!"_ exclaimed Dracmon. _"He's writing a program language! We've got to get out of he—!"_

Dracmon didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Red lightning lashed outwards from Oni's design, stabbing into SolMilleniummon's shoulders and pinning him to the rock. More lightning rained down on him, skewering his arms and legs to further prevent him from moving.

_"Shit…"_ grimaced Dracmon. Oni laughed and drew closer to the immobilized warrior.

_"The game ends, Tamers. You've played all of your cards now. You have nothing left."_ Oni raised a claw and dragged a tongue across the spear point that emerged from his arm. _"Now be good children. It's time to fold."_

SolMilleniummon pushed against the energy lances, struggling to blot out the pain that threatened to overtake the minds of the Tamers and digimon that made up his consciousness.

_"But…if we do that…then you'll be destroying all of the good things in life…"_

An image flashed across SolMilleniummon's vision, filling the hearts and minds of everyone within the digimon's core; a concrete bunker. Within and without, the Tamers and their partners lounged about. Rika leaned against it just outside the main entrance with her headphones on, her head nodding to a beat that only she could hear. Kazu beat the ground fiercely as he was once again defeated by Ryo, who merely leaned back and grinned. Takato was busy deflecting the dirt that Guilmon threw his way as he dug yet another one of his endless holes while Terriermon simply watched and laughed.

_"…Like Shinjuku Park…"_

Another image, this time of Takato giving a soundless shout as he tripped over Guilmon in the kitchen of his home. Bread fell every which way, and Guilmon gleefully snapped them up before they could touch the floor. One would think that there had never been such a satisfied and happy expression on the face of the digimon.

_"…And Guilmon bread…"_

Another image. This time of the happiness and complete wonder that Suzie and Henry felt when their twin partners returned home. Terriermon was rubbing the back of his head and smirking in a smug fashion. Henry and Terriermon both chuckled at the memory. The latter had claimed that nothing could keep him away from his partner. Reality would not permit Henry to live a life of ease without the constant, annoying presence of his partner.

_"Besides. Reality would get annoyed just hearing me gripe about not being able to annoy you. It's a good trade off."_

_"Terriermon…"_

_"Momentai!"_

Still another image, this one of Leomon as he raced like a madman through the park, trying with all of his might to escape from the fearsome clutches of a love struck Jeri Katou. The lion warrior threw a glance over his shoulder and a look of bewilderment crossed his features. Takato, Guilmon, and Calumon had shared that look as well. How it was that the girl had managed to keep up with him despite being only a young human girl chasing down a giant, extremely athletic lion capable of running down even the fastest Olympic sprinters was anyone's guess.

_"There's a lot of heartache in this world,"_ said Jeri, her face full of determination, _"but,"_ Jeri tightened her grip on her friend's hands, _"I wouldn't trade any of my experiences for the world."_

Oni slammed feet first into SolMilleniummon, pushing him back down into the rock. His smile grew across his face and he placed one hand upon the warrior's head. A series of Hazard marks began to race up the length of his arm, aiming towards his hand.

_"I didn't ask you to trade for anything. Just die."_

"How about…not?"

Curved steel flashed in the light emanating from the Earth and Oni jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding Urocyomon's spear as it slashed through the air. Hissing, Oni drew back his arm, preparing to launch his attack at the young fox. Urocyomon met his gaze defiantly and bared his teeth.

"NOW KUZUHAMON!"

_"Reverse Izuna!"_

A fox spirit flew through the air and struck Oni full in the face. Its burning claws raked at him, and Oni slashed at it, dispelling it with a brief flare of the Hazard signs on his arm. Oni gazed angrily at the shaman priestess that hovered in the air, carrying…

Oni blinked as his eyes lighted upon a glowing Noriko Nakata. For an instant, the Hazard signs on his body dimmed and he flexed his ears, as though in confusion.

_"Noriko…"_ Oni shook his head before refocusing on the girl. After a moment, he extended one claw hesitantly. He looked down at it, his brow furrowed in a questioning manner, wondering why he was doing such a thing before returning his attention back to Noriko. The light she radiated reached out in all directions, but did not quite touch him.

_"Noriko…come with me. I shall take you home."_

"Ha…?" Urocyomon raised an eyebrow. "Did you just lose your attention span or something? You were just threatening to destroy both worlds a second ago."

_"She…doesn't belong here. She…"_ Oni shook his head once again, and touched the Hazard sign on his chest.

"Just leave them alone!" demanded Noriko from her place in Kuzuhamon's arms. Noriko squirmed in the shaman's arms, and as though the need to escape her grasp called out to a higher force, her body let off a bright flare that caused Kuzuhamon to let go. Noriko hopped out and passed through the bubble that surrounded them and landed on the asteroid SolMilleniummon was pinned upon. The landing was far from graceful, but a landing nonetheless. Picking herself up from off the ground, Noriko stood in front of SolMilleniummon and spread her arms wide protectively. Her body continued to shine like a miniature star, its light radiating outwards where its faint fingertips touched the demonic digignome. Oni tilted his head to one side, puzzled by the girl's actions.

_"What are you doing?"_

"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to help! Why are you doing this?!"

_"You don't belong here, Noriko. Your mother worries about you. You should…go home."_

"You're trying to destroy my home…you said so yourself."

The glow that surrounded Noriko intensified suddenly, and Oni shook his head once again. One claw reached up to touch the side of his head. Once more memories from his encounter with Amaya Abe flowed through his mind. Back then, he hadn't been concerned with the destruction of the digital world. He had simply wanted to help the woman feel better…to relieve her of the suffering that had plagued her ever since her son had been killed. To do that he took it upon himself to take in her negative emotions. They had… _darkened_ him; that much he knew. He had only to look at himself to see what those emotions were doing to him. Unlike humans, digimon manifested their inner darkness much more readily in their physical appearance.

It hadn't been long afterward that his thoughts began to share that same darkness. He had spent months absorbing Amaya's pain, and there seemed to be no end to it. It was as though a well had been dug within her heart and filled to the brim with a hellish water that refilled whenever it was emptied. It festered within his own heart, and soon his mind turned towards the digital world. It had been the source of Amaya's pain, hadn't it? It had been the source of so much destruction and devastation. He knew what the Tamers had gone through because of the Chaos. He knew about the roles that Jeri and Beelzemon played in the violence that had followed, and even though their actions had been unintentional as far as the Chaos was concerned, it did not change the fact that those events still came about. Beelzemon had fought to destroy the Tamers, and in so doing Jeri enabled the Chaos to evolve and turn into a murderous creature that fed on her inner-rage. She had been scarred by those events…remained scarred to this day. The Chaos left its mark in more ways than one, and Oni knew full well that not all injuries were suffered by the body.

Noriko had been in a similar situation. She had been caught up in something that she shouldn't have been. Rescuing her hadn't been in the plan. Then again capturing the Digital Hazard likewise hadn't been in the plan. When it became apparent that she was involved, but at the same time freed from the two digimon that had been a part of her body, he couldn't just leave her in that warp between the worlds. The memories of Amaya Abe's pain clung too closely to his heart for him to make it stone. How could he abandon another mother's child to the harshness of the digital world?

Oni's claws shook slightly, and he clenched his hand in an attempt to force them to stop. His body flickered, and took on a more grayish color.

_I feel…strangely weak…_

_"Do not lose focus!"_ screamed a voice from within his mind. _"The cycle…you know that it only brings pain to those that live in the two worlds! Do you desire that the inhabitants continue to suffer? There is only one way to end it all…and that is the path of death. All pain will end…no more suffering. No more sorrow. Just the endless peace of sleep. That is what you want, isn't it?"_

_Y-Yes…_

_"Then don't hesitate. Close yourself and embrace us. Release our full potential and end this sham of an existence. It only takes…a second…"_

_…Yes…_

Oni closed his eyes.

_…But…_

A tear trickled out of one eye.

_…But…_

The words of GranDracmon from his visit in the Hazard Seal floated through his mind. The demon digimon had offered him a way out then and only because their goals had been mutual. _"You know that there's a way for you to get out of this mess and still complete the task that you set out to do. You just need to reach for it."_ Those had been his words, and Oni, in spite of his situation, had brushed him off contemptuously. The darkness of GranDracmon was open, there was no doubt as to what his intentions were, and in spite of himself, Oni could not accept it. It had felt _wrong_ then…

_Why…why is that?_ wondered Oni. _If both worlds are destroyed then there's no reason to suffer anymore._

And yet, instinctively, he had offered to return Noriko home. The Tamers…they had chosen their path a long time ago, but Noriko…

_She's not supposed to be a part of this. She should go home…_

_"You're trying to destroy my home…you said so yourself."_

_Of course. What's the point of going somewhere…if it's not going to be there? Home…_

_"Home is nothing,"_ snarled the voices of the Hazard. _It offers nothing to hope for amongst the worlds._

_Doesn't it…?_

Oni felt his consciousness move deep into himself, immersing itself within the waters of Amaya's pain and loss. He partook within its embrace, as he always had. It raged around him like a storm, freezing his body and burning it at the same time. At some points the flow of its waters stilled, offering nothing save for a ghostly, half-imagined moaning that could very well be from the damned. Not for the first time was Oni amazed at the Hells that humans put themselves through. They could die a hundred times before even reaching the end of that fabled road and be left little more than a husk of their former selves.

A countless number of battles flashed through his mind, both in the digital world and in the human world. The D-Reaper ravaging the two worlds, the incursions of the Devas, digimon bio-emerging endlessly…fear and hatred ate away at the barriers. Oni could taste it every time he opened his mouth.

And yet…

A light swam amidst the dark waters that surrounded him. Oni looked into the light and to his surprise he found himself looking at the image of a man sitting beside an unmoving Amaya Abe in a hospital. The man…Oni narrowed his eyes. There was something familiar about him. The shape of his face, the color of his hair…and the way that he held Amaya's hand in his own. So familiar and so tender at the same time. The simple sight told a thousand stories and memories. The water bubbled around Oni and began to warm and lighten, as though he had reached a depth deep enough where volcanic vents lay, heating the ocean floor. A strange feeling awoke in Oni's heart upon seeing the two together. Something…he couldn't tell what, but it was as though something that shouldn't have happened, had been at long last righted. Two people who had been made to part had finally reunited.

_Morgan Hughes…_ thought Oni. _That's right. I remember now. His name came up a lot in the memories that I took from her. She had been so…so happy when they were together. And the child that they made…_

Another memory made itself known in Oni's mind…no, _images._ All of the times that Amaya had been together with her son…holidays, birthdays, time on the beach, family gatherings… Within them he sensed the happiness that she had felt during the time that they had been together.

_I would deny…the chance of this happiness from occurring again? I would keep her from healing? Where did this come from?_

That these memories came from Amaya Abe he did not doubt, but they had been so deeply buried that there shouldn't have been a chance for him to simply stumble across them like this. So how…?

Oni's eyes lighted upon Noriko, and at once he understood.

_Of course. She carries within her the information of the Arc and the evolution algorithm known as the Catalyst. It is…light incarnate. Creation while I hold destruction within me. The light she gave off is the light of her Arc's Catalyst code. It brought up the fragmented and buried memories that I gained from Amaya._

_"Forget them!"_ screamed the voices anew. Anger put a raw edge in their words, and Oni gripped the sides of his head in agony. _"Whatever happiness they could have will be ruined! If not now then later! Why prolong their agony?! And there is still the existence of both of the greater worlds to consider. What life…what_ happiness," the voices spoke the word with contempt, _"could be long lasting?"_

_"Simple."_

Oni's eyes widened and suddenly he saw that he was back at the battlefield.

_No, I never left,_ he thought as his gaze focused on SolMilleniummon as he stood up, having broken free from his prison in the time that Oni had been distracted.

_"What did you say?"_ asked Oni. On his chest, the Hazard sign pulsed angrily. SolMilleniummon tilted his head to the side, and for an instant Oni could have sworn that he felt compassion emanating from the warrior.

_"I know that it's not easy, living with the knowledge that you've lost someone important to you and they'll never come back,"_ said SolMilleniummon in the voice of a young girl. Oni narrowed his eyes and stared into the warrior, seeing past the layers of data that made up his body until he found himself looking at Jeri Katou, surrounded by a nimbus of golden light. Her friends were gathered around her, and a strong look glowed in her eyes like embers. _"But I have moved on. I keep the memories of my loved ones close in my heart where I can never lose them. I lost my mother when I was too young to understand what had happened. I lost Leomon and I didn't understand that either. But I've grown. I still miss them greatly, but neither of them meant to leave me. And even if I never can see Leomon or my birth mother again I'm not alone. They are always with me where and when I most need them, just like my friends are. This may sound corny, but as long as we have others we will always be able to be strong!"_

White glimmered over Oni's body, only to be repressed by the flaring of the Hazard sign.

_"Lies,"_ whispered the voices of the Hazard through his mouth. _"You think you know everything from just your paltry losses? We…have lived an eternity…trapped in a prison. All because those that we counted upon…_ cared _about…stood by us…and died for it. We were strong together, but against the darkness we were not strong enough. And it was all because of you humans. All because of…you…you…"_ The voice of the Hazard choked off and the flashing of its symbol on Oni's chest quickened its pace. Oni's claws became more pronounced and his body began to grow in length. The voices of the Hazard laughed darkly. _"There will be no more talk. There will only be death. This is the end, Tamers. Prepare yourselves…"_

_"NO!"_

SolMilleniummon leapt forward, the rings of data that ran around him rotating rapidly. A bright glow surrounded his body and he crashed into Oni, sending them both toppling to the ground. Oni laughed and sent out dark streams of energy towards SolMilleniummon and wrapped them around the warrior's arms and legs, binding them and rendering him immobile.

_"What good did that do you?"_ asked the voices of the Hazard, leaning forward. Fangs formed within his mouth as his body began to take on a more dragonic appearance. _Some last ditch attempt to catch me off guard? Your powers are not so great that you can harm me with such a simple attack. I have evolved beyond your powers now."_

A dark aura resembling a dragon-like creature with cannons perched on his shoulders surrounded SolMilleniummon's body and a sinister voice laughed. 'Oni' blinked, taken aback by this unexpected act.

_"Wha…? Milleniummon?!"_

_"The Hazard at last shows its true face."_ The shadow laughed again at the creature. _"You are hardly beyond the strength of the Tamers. All that they need is to unlock the power that they have within them. The very body…the very_ creature _that you have forced into your control, shall be your downfall. All that they need to do is open themselves to it, and you shall fall."_ A smile grew across the dark aura's face, and raised a dark claw. Following its direction, Oni gasped as he saw lines of red and white tracing their way up and down his arms.

_"The Chaos! But how—! That Tamer…"_

_"Not just her, Hazard. Everyone. And Oni as well."_ Milleniummon's grin widened as golden flames flared around his back. _"You made a mistake possessing a creature that could grant wishes. The Genie…is tired of you."_

* * *

Jeri Katou opened her eyes within a sea of darkness. She wasn't frightened by it. She had lived with it for years longer than she remembered, and her time as the D-Reaper's host had made her keenly aware of its presence. She had come to accept that darkness as a part of her, just as she had accepted the remnants of the D-Reaper within her.

_Oni…_ thought Jeri, feeling the vast number of presences that surrounded her. She heard the words of Milleniummon echo within her soul as to the nature of those identities and the creature that had professed such hatred for existence. _We are so much alike._

Jeri frowned and looked around her. She didn't know precisely what it was that had possessed her to move SolMilleniummon's body in that manner. She had merely reacted out of instinct; an instinct that all the Tamers shared, but she took control at what could be called the pivotal moment. As soon as Oni, or rather the voices of the Hazard, had grabbed a hold of them she felt herself reaching out instinctively, forming a connection with the creature that they battled. It had been surprisingly easy she realized, and it hadn't taken very long for her to realize why. This digignome had followed them home, gave Ai and Mako their digivice, and recreated the portal that brought back their partners. In a way, it had already been a part of their group just like the Arc had been before it became Grani. None of them knew it, but the connection was there. It was what allowed her to connect with Oni as soon as they made physical contact with him.

Jeri looked around and spotted a small, crouched figure huddling against itself. Swimming closer she found that it was a dark creature with antennae extending off of its head and two, hand-like wings growing from its back. Spindly arms and legs were curled in the fetal position. As though sensing her presence, the creature cracked its eyes open and immediately Jeri knew that this was the true essence of…

"Oni…"

Oni uncurled slightly at her words. The waters surged around them, and Jeri held on tightly to herself until it passed. As soon as it did she refocused on Oni, who was once more curled tightly into a ball. She didn't know why, but seeing him like this…it called to her. Touched her. She could feel the emotions emanating from him, emotions that he had been carrying for so long. She knew them well. They were the kind that, if left alone for too long, would inevitably poison even the most good-natured of hearts. She wanted to help him, but…

_What am I supposed to do?_ Jeri wondered, uncertain. She had come here…but she didn't quite know why she was here. What was she supposed to do? Talk to Oni she supposed. Her doctor had done such when she first met with her following the defeat of the D-Reaper, but where could she begin? Somehow saying 'whatever came to mind' did not seem like a good place to start. She had so many questions, so many things to say to Oni when they first began fighting, but not a single one of them came to mind now. She didn't even fully understand what exactly had been going on when he had begun 'talking to himself' as it were. It was as though there was something in Oni that had used his body to speak.

Jeri looked around her nervously. She could feel another presence hovering around her. A large, angry presence. She refocused her gaze on Oni. He seemed strangely small. Alone. Nothing at all like the frightening visage that he carried during their battle. In a way, he reminded her of her brother whenever he was frightened by the dark.

It was then Jeri had an idea as to what she needed to do. Reaching out she brushed aside his wings and took one of his claws in her hands.

* * *

_"All I wanted…was to do something good. I simply wanted to make the world…better."_

_"You truly believe that to be possible? How many times have we been down this road? You know just as well as I do that to exist means to suffer. It is endless. It is inevitable. This path lies on nothing but sorrow. Amaya Abe is just one unfortunate victim amongst millions."_

Oni floated through the void, curled into a ball. He had lost all control over his body. His mouth no longer spoke with his voice. He could no longer see with his eyes. All that remained to him that he could call 'his' was his sense of consciousness, and the sense that things were going on in the outside world. He felt small now, isolated.

_"You used me…"_

_"Humans and digimon use each other for their own purposes. You and I had similar goals. Who are you to complain how it is executed in the end? It will be achieved."_

_"But…I…what did I want originally?"_

Amaya Abe's face appeared in his mind. It looked so lost. It was as though her will had been broken and she was trying to find a way to repair it, but lacked the knowledge of how to do such a thing.

_"Her smile…"_ thought Oni. _"She didn't have that then. My people…we have always laughed. I did not understand how someone could not. I wanted to see her smile. I did not want to see her continue to be sad."_

Oni felt something, a hand brush aside his wings and take one of his claws within its grasp. It had a warm, comforting feeling to it. Opening his eyes, he found himself looking into the amber colored eyes of Jeri Katou as she stood in front of him. His eyes were drawn to her mouth. Her lips were curled into a smile. Had it been like a sun he imagined that he would have felt warmed by it.

_I don't ever want to see something so beautiful disappear from any world,_ thought Oni. Clasping Jeri's hand with his, a light grew from within the depths of his heart and expanded outwards. He searched the girl's eyes with his own, and then as though he had found what he was looking for he closed them.

The light radiated and then burst outwards like a star going super nova.


	179. 178: Between the Rocks, there Lies Calm

"The Hazard signals are decreasing," reported Riley. "The spatial warp between the world barriers are returning to optimal levels."

"That still doesn't account for the effects that continue to affect the digital world," said Kuroda. "The distortions have decreased, but the digital world is still in a state of flux. I'd say that it's safe to say that there's something else going on over there."

"Can you project what its affects are and whether or not it presents a danger to the Tamers?" asked Yamaki.

Kuroda snorted.

"I'd like to point out that _anything_ can potentially be a problem. Also," Kuroda tapped the screen of his console, "the distortion is far reaching. Something is still going over the digital world and its spreading over it like a wave. It hasn't reached the Tamers' position yet, but it's going to. They're not out of the woods yet, if that's what you're wondering. I'd say we're only looking at the eye of the storm here."

"Oh, great," moaned Tally, lifting up her visor to massage her exhausted eyes. "It just doesn't end, does it?"

Yamaki frowned and clicked his lighter closed once more.

_What is happening in the digital world?_ He wondered.

"Tally. Realign the Tracers and move in on the closest area that's being affected. I want to see what's causing this distortion."

"Yes, sir," replied Tally, her fingers moving over the keyboard. "Here you are, sir."

An image flickered into existence on one of the monitors and Yamaki moved towards it.

"Expand grid 19," he said. A couple more clicks echoed in the room in response to his order and the image on the monitor increased in resolution. Yamaki frowned. Only a bleak blackness stared back at him.

"Are the Tracer's functioning properly?"

Tally furrowed her brow and quickly typed in the commands to run a system diagnostic.

"There aren't any abnormalities detected in the coding of the Tracers, sir," replied Tally. "What we're seeing _is_ a real-time image and not a short out or corruption in data."

_How can we be seeing 'nothing' as real time?_

"Tally, return video perspective back to the Tamers location. Then program the Tracers' sensors to backtrack until they reach the edge of the distortion."

"Yes, sir."

The screen image changed back to the broken debris field with SolMilleniummon descending towards safe ground amidst it. After a second the image shifted, showing only the shattered edge of the digital world that marked the boundaries of SolMilleniummon's fearsome battle. Yamaki found himself marveling at the damage that had been caused in such a short time by the two combatants. It was as though the world was actually flat and someone had broken off a piece of it. The screen shifted again, this time revealing a cracked, barren landscape, its surface swept clean of sand, revealing a pitted, foreboding world. And still again, the screen changed, this time revealing a sandy, desert expanse that fell more in line with the descriptions that the Tamers had given in their accounts of the digital world environs.

The scene shifted again and…

Yamaki tightened his grip on his lighter. There was a shimmering wall standing at the very edge of the desert. It resembled the way heat rose off the ground in the way that it twisted and warbled on the air. Certainly, the desert temperature would have been enough of an indication of the effect on its own, but the shifting rainbow-like hues that moved about and the solidity of the wall as it _encroached_ upon the desert, breaking apart data ensured that its reality wasn't anything but concrete.

"Increase magnification. Focus on that… _barrier."_

The image zoomed in on the energy wall, and the colors snapped into focus. Light swam within it. Yamaki narrowed his eyes and watched it carefully. After several seconds, he saw something, a shadow, vaguely dragon-like in appearance, move behind it.

As though to give confirmation to the Head of Hypnos' observation, a dragonic creature colored blood red and black broke free from the wall and threw itself into the air, a shrill, hungering shriek bursting from its mouth. As it moved a warp appeared upon the desert floor and spread outwards. Golden shards of data began to draw upwards from the desert. More shadows moved behind the wall and within seconds, a _swarm_ of the dragons burst into view, snarling and snapping at each other. The warp increased in intensity and the desert began to disintegrate. Seconds later the view screen turned dark.

Kuroda watched Yamaki for a moment before turning to his control console. Pressing a few buttons, he called up a map of the digital world as it appeared on their sensors. A sphere appeared on the screen, revealing a series of islands and gaping holes stacked on top of each other around a central, blue-colored, smaller sphere.

"This island Earth," muttered Kuroda dourly.

"Kuroda?" asked Yamaki.

"Just mentioning that the Tamers happen to be surrounded by what we just saw on the viewer." Kuroda tapped his computer screen, indicating the map of the digital world. "Trouble's coming their way, and it's packing a shitload of teeth."

"How much time do they have?"

"I…can't give you an accurate answer I'm afraid. At the very longest I'd say today is as long as anyone could give them. And I'm being optimistic with that assessment. All this," Kuroda pointed at the map, "started today, shortly before the Tamers got into it with whatever that thing was earlier. Tally." Kuroda pressed a few buttons and sent the image over to the light haired Operator. "Based on this image how much of the digital world do you think is left?"

"I..." Tally frowned beneath her visor, wondering why she was being put on the spot like this before answering. "I'd say thirty percent of the digital world has been deleted already."

"Hole in one," said Kuroda with a nod of his head. "Pun intended. Even I agree with that and we haven't even conducted a thorough scan of the digital world's sub levels. It's only been a few hours and already a sizeable chunk of the digital world is missing. Those dragons are moving faster than the D-Reaper if I remember the reports correctly. The Tamers are lucky, or smart, to be heading towards the largest 'island' that's left. That should buy them some time…hopefully." Kuroda looked back at the view screen. "Just out of curiosity, why haven't they just flown back to the real world? Aren't there enough holes in the barriers for them to do that?"

Yamaki clicked his lighter closed and looked up at Riley and Tally.

"There are other Tamer signals emanating from the digital world that aren't centered in that digital being," replied Riley. "In addition, the power levels of the digimon are decreasing at a rapid rate. They may be preparing to reverse digivolve."

"The energy requirements for digimon to maintain their level when they've evolved with the assistance of a Tamer," said Yamaki, "are enormous. The higher the level, the more difficult it is to maintain. We have little to no data regarding the digimon that they've merged into. They might not be able to maintain the form for very long."

"At any rate, sir," said Riley, "the data that we're collecting from the Tracers indicates that at the rate that their power level is falling, they won't have enough to breach the barriers and enter the real world."

Yamaki nodded. "All right. Keep an eye on them. Riley, run a diagnostic on the Juggernaut program. It's designed to interact with data from the net and the digital world. Perhaps we can use that to our advantage on the chance that we have no other alternatives, but we have to make absolutely certain that it hasn't been affected by our most recent… _visitor._ Tally, I want you to look into that code that we've picked up. I want to know _exactly_ what kind of affect that it's having on our systems."

"What about me?" asked Kuroda pointedly.

"Assist Tally." The clink of Yamaki's lighter flicking opening signaled an end to the conversation, and the blonde haired head of Hypnos exited the room. Pulling out his cell phone, Yamaki dialed a number and waited for the other end to pick up. He was not disappointed.

_"Yamaki,"_ came the voice of Janyu on the other end.

"How's our retrieval project coming along?"

_"So far so good. It's been going a little slowly, unfortunately, but we haven't been experiencing too many difficulties, especially after the vast majority of the systems have been freed up. I take it that the Tamers are out of danger now?"_

Yamaki hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to tell Janyu that his son and his friends had a new complication coming their way. Janyu, detecting the pause, soon saved the man the trouble.

_"They're not, are they,"_ he said, more of a statement rather than a question.

"There are some difficulties," admitted Yamaki. "But I'm confident in the Tamers' abilities to handle them. Suffice to say they have a window of rest right now, so every effort should be made to bring them home before they encounter what's coming. We're exploring alternative methods on this end. How soon can your project be ready?"

Janyu sighed despondently, and Yamaki imagined that the man was massaging his temples.

_"It's going to take the better part of a day to get things ready. We have the basic algorithms written and we're building a form around it, but the equations for getting it to materialize and be able to transport the Tamers back to the real world…it's like Shibumi said. Einstein had it easy."_

"See if you can't get it to go any faster. We're already running against the clock with this one."

_"How much time do you have?"_

"Kuroda estimates that we have less time than you do right now." Yamaki flicked his lighter open. Although that wasn't what Kuroda had said, Yamaki knew what Kuroda meant. Optimistically they could hope for a day. Realistically the time was, undoubtedly, far less.

_"I see. Is the Juggernaut being considered to open up a window to the digital world then?"_

"Yes."

The word hung heavy on the air. Neither man said it, but they both knew that with things the way that they were now, using Juggernaut would definitely be a last resort option. Yamaki even more so. The Juggernaut had been modified based on information taken from the Deva infiltrations to facilitate transportation to the digital world for any digimon that were captured. The only time that Hypnos had an opportunity to test the new configuration had been during the disastrous attempt to send the digimon Sangloupmon (now Dracmon, Miki's partner) to the digital world. Its systems had been heavily damaged in the process. While it had been repaired there remained a few worries concerning its ability to perform within expectations. And that wasn't all there was to worry about. The Juggernaut created a _window_ to the digital world. A window that could be used by anything on the other side.

Yamaki did not relish the idea of giving the digital world's most recent problem the ability to enter the human world. He, and just about everyone else, were more than a little tired of having havoc wrecked upon them.

_"I'll see what I can do to accelerate our progress,"_ said Janyu after a second. Yamaki nodded and hung up. Yamaki stood in the hallway for a second, flicking his lighter open and closed before turning and heading back to the control room.

* * *

SolMilleniummon landed upon the ground, and his body took on an intense glow. He quickly shrank and split apart, separating into the twenty human and digimon forms that had made him. The light soon died down, leaving the Tamers and their partners to look at themselves over, as though to make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be.  
"Well that was…interesting," said Takato, giving a light chuckle. "Is everyone all right?"

"You mean besides the fact that I had to share my brain with Kazu?" asked Rika sarcastically. "Just peachy."

"Very funny, Rika," snorted Kazu, though he didn't sound as though he were actually insulted by the girl's joke. If anything, the grin that drew up on Kazu's face told a completely different story. Takato had an idea as to why this was. He could feel a strange…Takato's mind paused.

"Hey," said Rika, turning towards him as his confusion filtered through their link. "Everything all right?"

"I…think so," laughed Takato, rubbing the back of his head. "I just feel a little weird, that's all. Being connected with everyone the way that we were…I'm not sure how to describe it. But it makes me…happy."

"Sounds like that's as good a description as any," giggled Terriermon from his spot on top of Henry's head as the half-Chinese Tamer walked over to the other boy.

"Rabbitmon's got a point there," grinned Rika as she, much to everyone's surprise, reached up and pushed down on Takato's head with one hand, ruffling up his hair in the process. Takato squirmed and tried to break free from the girl's grasp, but Rika giggled and bore down on him, eventually trapping him in a headlock. Takato increased his struggles, his mind simultaneously striving to figure out just what it was that was causing Rika to act this way as it was entirely outside of his normal experience.

Takato's musings would soon be interrupted as his feet tripped over Rika's, sending both Tamers toppling to the ground with a sharp yelp from both of them. Rika landed next to Takato, giving a more hearty laugh as she rolled onto her back. Everyone was looking at them now with bewildered expressions on their faces, though perhaps none more so than Takato.

"Uh…Rika?"

The red haired girl's laughs began to slow down, becoming little more than barely suppressed chuckles. She turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling with amusement. Smirking, Rika once more reached out and ruffled Takato's hair before rolling onto her feet and getting up, holding out a hand for the boy.

"Sorry about that," said Rika, giving a light laugh yet again. "I guess I…got caught up in the moment."

Henry frowned and rubbed his chin with one finger, though his look of deep, thoughtful concentration was spoiled by the smile that was tugging at his lips.

"I wonder if there's something about what we became when we all biomerged together that's responsible for the feeling of _euphoria_ that everyone's experiencing."

"Henry," said Terriermon, wagging a finger in front of the boy's face. "Don't you think that you're over thinking it too much?"

"Nice way of putting it, Terriermon…"

"Yeah, yeah, but my point stands. You're putting more effort into trying to figure out why everyone's all smiles and why Rika up and wrestled Takato to the ground. We're usually like this whenever we've gone and won a major fight, so why argue with a good thing? Especially now that we've got something to tease the two 'lovebirds' about. I mean, for a second there she was living up to the nickname Ryo gave her…"

"Henry?" asked Rika, giving the boy a small, mischievous smile that could almost be called cat-like in its appearance. "Would you mind keeping a hold on your partner there? I'd hate to spoil the mood because he doesn't know the meaning of the word 'tact'…"

"So much for momentai," nodded Henry as he reached up and rapped his partner on the head.

"So…uh…" Takato coughed. "Does anyone have any idea what happened out there? I mean, we were fighting that Oni guy and then…well, I'm not really sure…"

All eyes turned towards Jeri instinctively. The brown haired girl allowed a small, sad smile to grace her face.

"Jeri," began Ryo. "I felt it at the end. We all did. You were at the center of whatever it was that happened. We felt you make contact with Oni."

_"Allow us to explain…"_ spoke up a voice from behind the Tamers. Turning as one, they saw a group of translucent warrior-like figures that they had come to know floating down from the sky towards them. One of them, Agunimon, was carrying a small, limp, white-colored creature with fin-like arms. Takato's eyes widened as he recognized it.

"A digignome!"

_"That's right, Takato,"_ nodded Agunimon. _"Oni to be more precise, returned to his original form."_

"But how?" asked Rika, raising an eyebrow. "Not that I'm complaining, but what happened?"

Agunimon chuckled.

_"You could say that he put everything he had into one last wish. He's been drained of much of his energy, including what corrupted him in the first place. The Digital Hazard that took control of him is gone now."_

"So what happens now?" asked Ryo. "That's what you guys came to us for, isn't it? You knew that Oni was out there. And what he was up to."

_"More like Milleniummon knew,"_ said Beetlemon. _"He just drafted us."_

_"Either way,"_ said Agunimon, _"our job is done. All that's left now is to get you all home and from there we'll part ways."_

"You're…leaving?" asked Takato.

_"That's how it is with us, Takato. We sleep until the next time the digital world is in danger. And then we go to find someone worthy of us. It's a Legendary Warrior thing."_ Agunimon's face hardened. _"But right now is not the time to be getting ready to say goodbyes. There are still some things that have to be accomplished. Takato…Lumemon is still out there and needs our help."_

Takato nodded. "Right."

"And we cannot forget that we've still got Beelzemon, his partners, and Grani out there somewhere," mentioned Crusadermon, lifting Ayaka into the air. "I fear that we're going to have to split our forces for this one. Takato…when we were biomerged as SolMilleniummon some of your memories surfaced. You have encountered Lumemon already. Is his…present condition as dangerous as I fear it is?"

"Well…he sure wasn't fun to deal with," admitted Takato while Rika threw a concerned look in his direction.

"Then it is certain that you will need backup. That is… _if_ we are going to retrieve him…"

"Why wouldn't we?" asked Ayaka, raising an eyebrow at her partner. "I thought he was Noriko's partner. And just where is she anyway?" Ayaka scanned the skies, searching for the illusive girl and the two kitsune styled digimon that had been with her. Groaning, Ayaka massaged her forehead with one hand. "Don't tell me that we're going to have to separate into _three_ groups now…"

"Hold on," interceded Kazu. "What's this about Lumemon being dangerous all of a sudden? I don't remember anything coming from Takato about him. Just some weird stuff involving Rika…"

_"Focus_ Kazu," grated Rika, her earlier jovial attitude now gone. "Takato. Just what was it that happened between the two of you when you met? I mean…" Rika frowned. "…I know _something_ happened, and whatever it was it sure wasn't good. Not with the way I found you when everyone biomerged. You…you looked like you were…" Rika furrowed her brow and bit the inside of her cheek, fighting to say what was on her mind while at the same time resisting it. Even though she had been closest to Takato through their link, feeling what he felt, she hadn't gotten much more than Crusadermon did from the memory that she had seen. She had seen little more than an image of what Lumemon had become, and nothing more.

_"Lumemon's body is tearing itself apart,"_ said Agunimon, laying an arm on Takato's shoulder before he could answer his friend's questions. A brief glance at Jeri was all it took for her to nod and walk over to Kazu. Taking hold of his hand a bright glow enveloped the two, causing Kazu to jerk in surprise. A second later the light disappeared and a bewildered Kazu blinked at the brown haired girl.

"Whoa…that's…Lumemon really needs a plastic surgeon…"

"I picked up on that memory and I can agree with you on that," said Terriermon. Agunimon looked over each of the Tamers.

" _For anyone not in the know, you'll have to see Jeri in order to speed things up. She can connect to each of you individually right now. Suffice to say at this point Lumemon's evolved and has become dangerous to friend and bad guy alike. He's out there somewhere, and wherever he is he is most likely going after Noriko."_

"Yeah, and we kinda lost track of her," said Kazu. "…Again," he added after a second. "Man, we just can't keep a tab on her, can we?"

"It shouldn't be too hard to find her, right?" asked Kenta. "And if what that warrior guy says is true then wherever she is we'll find Lumemon too."

"Maybe," said Ryo, raising his digivice, functioning once again as though it had never been damaged, and activated the compass function. "But maybe not. I'm picking up multiple signals in this area. Two are digivice signals and there are a few others…all digimon." Turning his digivice so that it was facing the others he pointed at one of the dots that appeared in the holographic circle. It was a single, red dot surrounded by two, blue colored ones. "This looks like it may be Noriko with Kuzuhamon and Urocyomon. The others," Ryo moved his hand towards the other dots, all blue, "aren't in her area."

"It looks like it's going to have to be like what Crusadermon said," said Takato. "We're going to have to split up and check them out."

"So what's the plan then?" asked Kazu. Takato looked at him, somewhat surprised before shrugging it off. Pulling out his own digivice, Takato activated the holographic circle so that he was looking more closely at what Ryo was showing everyone.

"Okay. We've got two digimon signals and two digivice signals. Man, it looks like we're going to have to be in four groups for this one…"

"Not wanting to be a downer or anything," said Terriermon, raising an ear, "but we don't have enough people here to divide that equally. And…uh…Jeri…doesn't have a partner to protect her."

"I can go with her," said Miki, raising a hand. "Dracmon and I can go Mega so we should be fine."

"I'll go too," said Kazu. "No offense, but you're too new to this game and someone with experience needs to tag along."

"If you want experience maybe Ryo should tag along instead of you," said Miki, smiling at the Legendary Tamer teasingly.

"Actually," said Ryo, ignoring the rather sultry look that Miki was looking at him with, "Kazu would be a better choice. He and Guardromon can biomerge now, and their Mega form can adapt better than Justimon can with HiAndromon's _Copy Paste_ attack. It'll more than make up for any inexperience that the two of you have in case you get in trouble. That means he can protect or help you better than I can."

"Huh?" Kazu blinked in surprise at the Legendary Tamer's statement. "Did…did Ryo just…compliment me?"

"Not really," said Terriermon. "It sounded more like he was stating a fact."

The long eared digimon looked down at Henry, who looked back.

"What?"

"No _Terriermon...?"_

Henry chuckled. "He did have a point though."

"Wow. I guess that there's a first time for everything…"

"Are you two finished?" cut in Rika in annoyance. As soon as she was sure that they were the fiery haired girl turned towards Takato, returning the proverbial floor to their unofficial leader.

"Right. Okay. So that's Kazu, Miki, and Jeri. Two Megas. Um…" Takato frowned at the screen. "Henry. The signal that we think is Noriko's…do you want to investigate that? It's the farthest and Rapidmon's speed would help out a lot there."

"I'm pretty sure that you only had to mention Noriko's name to get him to go," said Terriermon a second before Henry again rapped him on the head with one fist.

"Terriermon…"

"What? Come on! You've been obsessive about finding her and keeping her out of trouble! It only makes sense. Momentai already!"

"That's that," said Rika, placing her hands on her hips. Next to her, Renamon nodded.

"And I think that it goes without saying that Suzie and Lopmon should go with them…even though the little one would only put everyone in danger."

"That's not nice, Renamon," said Terriermon. "I know Suzie can be an…uh…" Terriermon paused as he remembered that Henry's little sister was standing amongst them.

"I was talking about you," said Renamon dispassionately, though a small, invisible smirk appeared on her muzzle. Terriermon chuckled awkwardly.

"Wow. Put my ears into that one, didn't I?"

"I'll go with them," said Kenta. "MarineAngemon can help by playing with Suzie and we can back up Henry's Mega form."

"Come to think of it," put in Crusadermon, "don't you think that Jeri would be better served to go with Henry's group if Kenta were to join them? MarineAngemon has better defensive coverage than either HiAndromon or Lilithmon…"

As the wind swept over the desert, the Tamers continued their planning, and when dawn broke over the digital world in its usual rush of light, the Tamers broke into their respective groups. Sweeping back his hair Takato took a look out over the foreboding desert and set his face into a determined expression, ready to challenge the unknown.

"Okay. Let's do this."


	180. 179: Traveling and Searching: Part 1

"Agh!" exclaimed Miki loudly as she clutched her head. "I can't _believe_ that I wound up traveling with you! Why, why, _why_ aren't I with _Ryo?!_ "

"My word, Kazu. You two aren't even dating and already you're making her cry…"

Kazu gave his partner a humorless stare.

"I really hope that you didn't mean what you just said there."

"But Kazu," explained Guardromon. "Didn't you say once before that you knew no one but sad girls?

"Well…that was different. I told you then that that wasn't what I meant." Kazu shook his head in exasperation and trudged forward through the desert. "As usual you're mistaking what I mean."

"Well, you humans are strange…"

"…And you'll never understand us," finished Kazu, kicking at the ground. "I remember. You've mentioned it over and over ever since we first hooked up as partners. Even before too, I think."

Guardromon eyed his partner curiously.

"Are you all right, Kazu? You're acting rather strange. Well…stranger than usual…"

"Thanks for that. Sorry, Guardromon. I guess I'm just a little bit on edge…not to mention tired."

"Well, you didn't get the recommended hours of sleep during that sand storm as I recall."

"It's not that,"huffed Kazu. "Well, maybe a little," he amended before continuing. "I'm just tired of having to deal with her."

Kazu pointed over to Miki who was presently grumbling something to Dracmon, being too focused on her own displeasure to hear Kazu and Guardromon's conversation. Listening with his sensitive hearing, Guardromon picked up snippets of their discussion.

"…Why'd I have to be partnered with him instead of Ryo?" asked Miki bluntly. "I'd rather be with Kenta or that psycho knightmon any day of the week than with Kazu…"

"You do encourage the wrath of females quite a lot, don't you?" asked Guardromon.

"Is she still going on about that?" asked Kazu, easily guessing what it was that Guardromon overheard. The visor-wearing boy immediately felt sorry for Dracmon for having to put up with the girl. Although he couldn't see _Beanies_ face, he had seen enough of his reactions during their short association to know that he was not particularly fond of having to deal with her whenever she went off on a rant.

"Yes," Guardromon nodded. "She seems most upset over having to travel with you. She mentions her preference for Ryo most prominently."

Kazu groaned and palmed his face. "You know…this is probably _one_ time where Ryo's awesome coolness is actually a bad thing, even if he deserves it…his coolness I mean, not the bad stuff. Girls just won't shut up about him. Even Rika, and most of the time she's just insulting him. Man. It's like listening to a broken record."

"Hmmm…I imagine that is precisely the reason why Ryo is uncomfortable with receiving his fanfare."

"Really?" asked Kazu in surprise. "He sure doesn't look like it."

"Is this a bad time to remind you that your teacher, friends, and family are all of the opinion that you don't pay attention to what goes on around you?"

Kazu tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You know, even though I really ought to be insulted by that you do have a point there. Man, there's a lot that I just didn't see coming at all…"

"Are you referring to the relationships that have sprung up in our group of late?"

"Eh?" Kazu gave his partner a bewildered look before frowning. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Kenta and Ayaka for one, and then there's ol' Chumley and the Barracuda. That one came as a surprise to me." Kazu's frown deepened and he sighed, shaking his head at the memory of seeing the pair holding hands as though it were the most natural thing in the world for them. "You know…I could have sworn that he was going for Jeri with the way that he looked at her like a lovesick dog all the time and stumbling over his words. Remember when he tried to walk her home before Lucemon showed up?"

"It would appear that something has transpired between them since then."

"I kinda picked up on that. And he didn't tell me about it either. What's up with that?"

"I gather that the discussion of emotions is not an easy thing to accomplish, especially not where romance is concerned."

"You've been talking to my mom again, haven't you? Well, you're right about that. Chumley's always had a rough time when it came to girls he liked, or a girl who showed an interest in him. Jeri always got him tongue tied just by being around him. He probably couldn't handle the idea of Rika showing an interest in him. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone could."

"Not even you?" asked Guardromon, raising an eyebrow at the boy. For as long as he had known him, Kazu always claimed to be confident in all manner of things regardless of whether he was skilled in it or not, or even acted confident. The idea that there actually was a line drawn in the proverbial sand marking 'here is as far as I can go' seemed impossible to the android's computer brain.

"Well…I'd think it was pretty cool," admitted Kazu, reaffirming Guardromon's beliefs. "…After I got over the shock of it all. But I don't think it's likely. Did I ever tell you that she kicked me once?"

Guardromon blinked. "Um…I don't believe I heard this story…"

"Well…" Kazu shifted uneasily as he walked. "…Forget I even mentioned it then. I forgot Kenta and I promised to never talk about that…ever. We promised on our card collections. I think I'm going to have to fork my deck over to him now…"

"I'll erase the reference from my memory banks if you want," volunteered Guardromon in an attempt to be helpful, but Kazu waved him off.

"Nah. Forget it." Kazu paused. "Not literally. Anyway, I guess I can't blame Takato for not saying anything…even if I would have wanted to help him with figuring out what to do about the whole thing and all…"

Once more Guardromon raised an eyebrow. As though sensing his partner's surprise, Kazu craned his head towards him, his eyes narrowed and not amused.

"What? You don't think I don't got it in me?"

"I was of the opinion that you would have tormented Takato about the women he attracts."

"…Well, that'd come after," Kazu admitted with a grin. "Man, am I really that shallow?"

"You're predictable."

"Hmmm…" Kazu groaned in annoyance and pulled out his D-Arc. Activating the compass function he scanned the area around them. "Man, how far is this thing? We're looking for a digivice signal but we haven't found squat! Guardromon…how come your sensors aren't picking up anything? Were you bashed around too much in all the fighting or something?"

"You know," grumbled Miki as she stomped over to the pair, "you don't have to beat down on your partner like that."

"Miki," stated Dracmon in an impassive voice. "He's made of solid iron and has about as much personality as the desert around us."

"You stay out of this, Beanie!" scowled the dark haired girl before giving Kazu a disapproving look. "Ugh. Why did I have to get paired up with you of all people?"

"You're still going on about that?" asked Kazu, tilting his head to the side. "I gotta say, you've got a one-track mind. You've never complained about having to hang out with me before when you became a Tamer. So what's eating you all of a sudden?"

"Perhaps because the fair maiden is, as she has said before, smitten with Mr. Akiyama?" put in Guardromon helpfully.

"Eh. It was a rhetorical question…"

_"Mr. Akiyama?"_ Miki raised a disbelieving eyebrow. " _Fair maiden?_ At least one of you has manners."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm Ryo's number one fan! And I have plenty of manners too!"

"I don't care," huffed Miki. "You're hardly the knight in shining armor that I was hoping to have tag along with me." Miki sighed despairingly and her shoulders all but slouched in defeat. "This has just been…a very long day…"

Kazu furrowed his brow and after a moment's consideration he took off his visor and jammed it on top of Miki's head, causing the girl to squawk in surprise and disgust.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"The heat's getting' to ya," said Kazu, pointing up at the sky in an authoritative manner. "That visor isn't going to do much, but it'll keep the sun out of your eyes." Kazu frowned and glared up at the bright sky, questioning the absence of a sun to cause such a phenomenon as the crisp, baking heat that made him sweat. The digital representation of the Earth just didn't seem even remotely bright enough to cause what he was feeling, and then there were the large gaps in the sky of the actual planet Earth…

Feeling that the question was too much for him to waste brainpower on, Kazu pressed onwards with a shake of his head, glancing down at his digivice every so often.

"Hey, Miki. Stay close to Guardromon, okay? Look. I know that you don't like me and the feeling's mutual, but we're both Tamers so we've got to stick together and focus. Anyway, a beginner like you needs to be shown the ropes and you're not exactly used to the digital world like Guardromon and I are. We're _masters_ of survival…and I'm rambling. Anyway, my point is, stay close to my partner. If you get too tired or feel dizzy or anything have him carry you. You'll do that, right buddy?"  
"I am always willing to assist a maiden should she require assistance," said Guardromon exuberantly, pumping his fists into the air. Kazu smiled.

_Knight in shining armor. Takato fits the role better, but Guardromon's got the lines for it…even if they're pretty lame._

Miki pulled on the visor that she now wore, wincing, though she wasn't quite sure if she was doing so because of the thought that it came from Kazu, or because it was hardly the most stylish thing she could imagine wearing.

_Now that I think about it though,_ thought Miki, giving the visor another sharp tug on her head, _style doesn't really seem to be that big of a deal right now. Everything that I've been through so far…I can't imagine wearing a nice skirt or a good pair of shoes and having to deal with dodging a digimon at the same time._

Miki shuddered before bringing her eyes to rest on Kazu's form. He continued onwards, his hair blowing in the wind. The heat that beat upon the air…she hadn't actually remembered feeling it until Kazu mentioned it. She was tired, she knew that much and that had contributed much to her crankiness towards the boy. Well, that and the fact that his presence inadvertently shattered a fond, wishful hope involving a certain Legendary Tamer. For as long as she had known Kazu they had never really gotten along well. Jeri once jokingly claimed that she wanted to fight with Kazu following a conversation that they overheard between him and his two friends, Takato and Kenta. That distinction belonged more to Ayaka however as she was swift to lay the blame of just about anything and everything on Kazu's doorstep simply by virtue of his existence. However that did not change the fact that she rarely saw Kazu as anything more than an unintelligent thug of a boy who was obsessed with a fandom. His becoming a Tamer brought him up in her standards, but outside of that he remained the same old Kazu that he always had been.

Right?

Miki tugged on the visor once again, thinking of the boy's unusual gesture of kindness with a deep frown etched on her face. It had surprised her…

_Ugh. I think that he's right for once. The heat must be getting to me. That and I'm tired._ Miki yawned slightly and blinked blearily. _…I really shouldn't have snapped at him like that. Everyone just thought that I'd be safer if he went with me because of his Mega form's abilities. There's no harm in that…right?_

Miki frowned at Kazu's retreating back and tightened her grip on the visor's rim.

"Of all the times you just had to surprise me," she muttered under her breath.

"Kazu's not as bad as you would think he is," said Guardromon, overhearing the girl's words. Miki turned her frown at the massive android.

"What? Are you eavesdropping now?"

"My apologies," said Guardromon, giving the girl a slight bow. "I do have sensitive hearing. Normally I would not say anything, but I feel that I must defend my partner's honor."

"Why?" asked Miki.

"Probably for the same reason that digimon normally partner up with the humans that they have now," said Dracmon with a look of annoyance on his face. "They're better people than how they appear to be at first glance."

Miki looked down at her partner with a surprised gaze. _Dracmon…_

"Indeed," agreed Guardromon. "I don't know if you were ever aware of this, but during the time that Takato was away at Okinawa Kazu made certain to work at his friend's bakery in his place. No one asked him to, but he felt honor-bound to keep things in order for Takato. He cares deeply about those important to him…in his own way."

"Hey!" called out Kazu from up ahead as he finally realized that the others weren't following him. "Are you guys growing roots or something? We've got to get a move on!"

"We shall endeavor to expedite our journey!" exclaimed Guardromon, quickly sweeping Miki and Dracmon off their feet and setting them atop his armored shoulders. Firing his engines, the massive android flew over to his partner. Upon landing, Kazu shook his head.

"What were you guys talking about that had ya just standin' around? Did you guys forget that we might have to worry about those Sand Lich things from earlier? We've gotta keep moving."

"Sorry," mumbled Miki as she hopped down. "Anyway, how close are we to what we're looking for?"

"We should be right on top of it now," said Kazu, pulling up the compass function. "At least that's what this thing says." Kazu glanced around him, finding nothing but desert stretching in all directions. "It's not exactly reliable."

"You do have your own ways for making it reliable," said Guardromon. "Though perhaps you've hit it on the ground too many times."

Miki all but choked on air in surprise while Kazu just ignored her.

"You've got a good point there, but this thing didn't exactly come with an instruction manual. Oh well. I guess this is as good a time as any to see how this thing works. I mean, it's not like we're about to get killed right away…"

"Huh?" Miki raised an eyebrow.

"Emergency protocol. At least, that's what Kazu calls it. During such times we are in danger and he has no time to figure out what buttons do what. Striking it against the ground has, so far, yielded the fastest results."

"Do you ever bother trying to figure 'em out during peace time?" asked Dracmon pointedly.

"I'm usually stuck in detention when that happens," mooted Kazu. "But it's a good idea to figure this out. It's been getting kinda temperamental with me lately."

"I…don't think I want to know," said Miki.

"Hmmm…I don't get it. My digivice keeps telling me that the signal that we're picking up is right here, but I just don't see it. Miki. What's your digivice say?"

"Hm? Oh!" Pulling out her own digivice, Miki activated the holographic circle and began scanning the surrounding area. As she did so, she found herself laughing a little over how Kazu had to remind her about it. For what felt like an eternity now, she had only used her digivice for biomerging with Dracmon. It was as though she had forgotten that it had other uses.

_Not sure what it can do though,_ thought Miki as she looked at the digivice, taking in the glaringly obvious fact that unlike Kazu it lacked a card slot for her to slash modify cards through. _It's different from what the others use._

Miki's gaze softened slightly as she remembered how she got the digivice to begin with. It had come to her through the sacrifice of Dracmon's former boss, DinoRexmon, to assist the two of them in battle against the attacks by the Royal Knights.

"Hello?" asked Kazu, getting impatient with Miki zoning off on him. "Okay, seriously, I thought gazing off into space was for nerds like me and Takato. Don't tell me you're starting to pick up our bad habits?"

Miki jumped and scowled at the boy. _At least he admits that he has bad habits…_

"Um…I'm not really sure how to work this thing…"

"Here, let me have a look."

Turning the digivice towards Kazu, the boy looked at the holographic circle studiously, something that Miki found rather unsettling. She couldn't remember him focusing on anything for longer than two seconds, and yet here he was looking as though he were a battle commander planning to use the geography to his advantage.

"I've got nothing," admitted Kazu finally.

_Gee. Thanks for shooting down that thought…_

"What do you want from me? Your digivice is showing the same dot on its screen as mine. But I'm not seeing anything around us." Growling angrily Kazu kicked at the ground. "Man, this su—!"

Kazu found himself abruptly cut off as his foot connected hard and sure with a plastic object, sending it flying right out of the sand and into the air. The gleam of a digivice screen framed by a purple ring and strap glinted in the daylight before the familiar digivice landed on the ground with a soft thud. Kazu stared in disbelief for several long seconds, thunderstruck by what he had just done.

Sensing that his partner needed to be taken out of his shock, Guardromon spoke.

"Kazu? I do believe that my memory systems have identified that as Ai and Mako's digivice…"

"I know, Guardromon," said Kazu in a dazed voice. "It's just…" turning, Kazu blinked at the android and pointed in the direction that he kicked the digivice in. "…Did I just pull a _Takato?"_

"You're telling me that kind of luck has a _name_ with you guys?" asked Miki in stark disbelief.

"With luck like his, you've _gotta_ have a name for it," asserted Kazu, flashing the girl a grin.

* * *

"Ooogh…" Noriko opened her eyes and sat up in confusion.

"'Bout time you woke up," came the voice of Urocyomon from next to her. Looking up, the dark haired girl found the vulpine digimon sitting by her side with the spear he received from his teacher resting loosely against his shoulder. Noriko raised one hand to her head and groaned again.

"What happened? The last thing that I remember was…"

"Getting in between Oni and SolMilleniummon, right?" Urocyomon shrugged nonchalantly. "Things just went out of control. I seem to recall Oni going up like a bomb, and then it was all Kuzuhamon could do to get us out of danger before we got caught up in it."

"W-Where is Kuzuhamon?" asked Noriko, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Scouting. And setting up seals to give us advance warning of any intruders that come looking for a scuffle." Urocyomon gave Noriko a pensive look. "What are you?"

"Huh?"

"I asked _what are you?_ You did something earlier…you unlocked Kuzuhamon's power. She's never been a particularly strong Mega. Her meeting Alice helped her evolve into the form that she would normally have taken upon digivolution, but she was still weaker than most Kuzuhamon at the temple where we lived. You radiated some kind of light that brought out even more of her potential. And…I gotta admit it made my fur shine a little bit more." Urocyomon scowled. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing."

Noriko tilted her head to one side, not understanding the fox digimon's perspective at all.

"So anyway," resumed Urocyomon after scratching absently at his fur. "What are you? I thought you were a regular human partner at first but now I'm not so sure."

Noriko lowered her gaze.

"I don't know. Something happened to me a while back when I first came to the digital world. I guess I ended up getting combined with my digivice."

"Hmmm…" Urocyomon looked off to the distance thoughtfully. "Interesting. Almost reminds me of some stories I heard about the servants of the Sovereign of the Eastern Worlds. Programs that looked human but weren't." The curved steel blade of Urocyomon's spear glinted in the light of day. "No one quite knows who or what they are, what their purpose is, or how they came into being. They serve, but I always got the feeling that they served something greater than the Sovereigns." Urocyomon saw an uncertain look in Noriko's eyes and he shook his head. "My apologies. I didn't mean to ramble. It's just that you've grabbed my curiosity with everything that I've seen you do, and last time…it really just took the cake, what can I say? Humans aren't supposed to do that kind of thing."

"Yeah," said Noriko, balling her hands into fists. "Don't I know it?"

"No need to get upset about it," commented Urocyomon, seeing her fists. "After all, it's not like you've…"

"I've already had this conversation!" interrupted Noriko, hiding her face with her hair. Taking a shaky breath, Noriko got to her feet. "I already had this conversation," she repeated in a softer voice. Shaking her hair out of her eyes, Noriko glanced around her. "Where are we?"

"The lowest plain. Desert area. What did you expect?"

Noriko blew at her hair irritably. She didn't know anything about the digital world, but to her mind it didn't seem like a good time to get an explanation of its inner workings. "The others…where are they?"

"I can't say. I lost sight of them when Oni went off. Kuzuhamon doesn't seem to know either. However, I take comfort in the fact that things have been pretty quiet lately. When SolMilleniummon and Oni were fighting, you could hear it no matter where you were."

"That's…true," replied Noriko, narrowing her eyes pensively. After several seconds, Noriko closed her eyes to the world and found her mind drifting. Almost immediately light appeared. It was circular in appearance, and an arrow stood out at its edge, swinging wildly from one point to the other before finally settling on one distinct direction. Noriko's eyes popped open and her skin tingled. It was as though someone had just run an electrical current through her. She didn't question the presence of the circle that she saw in her mind. She had seen the Tamers use their digivices enough now to realize that she must have activated a tracking function along with the ability to scan cards. She looked down at her hands and frowned. She knew she could track Lumemon. Could she track the Tamers as well?

She replayed the memory of her conversation with the Chuchidarumon back at the village that had been their unofficial base of operations for the time that the Tamers had been trapped in the digital world. She didn't know what she was exactly. Human? Humans didn't do the kinds of things that she did now. She was something else, but she remained Noriko Nakata as far as her mind and outward appearance was concerned. She wanted to do something other than stand around and watch on the sidelines while others got beaten around for her sake or for someone else.

_I'm a Tamer now,_ thought Noriko. _I've got to start acting like it. Lumemon…Lumemon and I are partners. We need to stick together. And the others…Henry…I can't just leave it up to them. I don't know where they are or what shape their in. They could be hurt. I've got to do whatever I can to help out._ Taking a deep breath, Noriko pumped her fists into the air with determination blazing in her eyes. _Okay, Noriko. Time to get tough!_

"…I'm glad to see that you made it through all of that in one piece," came a voice drifting upon the air. Raising her eyebrows, Noriko turned and saw Kuzuhamon approaching her and Urocyomon with some familiar faces flying by her side. Sitting atop the armored shoulder pad of a Rapidmon, with Jeri, Kenta, and MarineAngemon following behind in a pink colored, heart-shaped bubble, was Henry Wong. Noriko's crimson eyes locked with his gray ones and time seemed to pause.

"Looks like the cavalry's arrived," noted Urocyomon with a small grin appearing on his face. "That makes things easier."


	181. 180: Traveling and Searching: Part 2

The humanoid image of Grani appeared on the twin-bladed spear imbedded in the ground of the Chuchidarumon village looked up at the sky, his eyes full of contemplation. His sensors, gifts that had been granted to him thanks to the programs that the village had vested in him upon his connecting with it, told him everything that was happening to the Tamers in their distant locations.

_It is fortunate that this area received as little damage as it did from that battle,_ thought Grani. _I wonder how everyone is doing?_

Of course, Grani knew. His sensors told him in full detail that as far as each of the digimon and human partners were concerned they were in perfect health. However, that was not quite the same as seeing it personally. Having been a part of Takato and Guilmon he had gained an appreciation for the sensory input that was garnered just from proximity to another individual and the emotions that came with them. It was one of the reasons why he regretted becoming separated from Takato and Guilmon, but that had been a necessary sacrifice on his part.

"Hey, Mister?"

Grani turned towards the source of the voice, recognizing it as belonging to one of Impmon's Tamers, Mako. The small boy looked up at him with wide eyes.

_"Yes? How may I be of assistance?"_

"Can you tell me how Impmon is doing?"

Grani nodded the head of his image. Even though he knew that it wasn't at all necessary to do such, especially since the image wasn't even a physical body in the same way that the spear was, it still comforted him all the same. Not only that, but he found that it had the same impact upon the two children.

_"My sensors indicate that Impmon is moving at an excellent pace. He will be meeting up with the Tamers Ryo Akiyama and Ayaka Itou soon. They are heading in his direction."_

"Do you know when they will be back?" asked Mako.

_"I'm afraid I do not have the necessary resources or data to give you an answer at this time. I am sorry."_

Mako bit his lip and hung his head. Grani tilted his head to one side, feeling sympathy trace its way through his algorithms. At least, he believed it to be sympathy.

_"Do not worry,"_ said Grani, attempting to comfort the child. _"I shall be monitoring the Tamers and your partner closely. Your partner knows how to get back to this village, and when he reunites everyone he'll bring them back here."_

"Are you sure?"

_"The probability is very high. I am not detecting any hostile signals in his immediate location. Should he encounter any, everyone has shown a high degree of skill in fighting off any threat. Your partner is exceptionally strong in his capability to survive."_

"Right!" said Mako, looking relieved now as he pumped his tiny fists into the air in front of him. "Impmon's strong all right! The strongest there is and the coolest! He's even got my favorite gun helping him!"

Grani tilted his head to the side once more, not quite understanding what it was the child was talking about, but in the end he decided to smile (a strange sensation even though he had no physical body to make one save for the images that he was creating) and nod his head in agreement.

_"Of course."_

"Thanks mister…um…say." Mako poked one finger at his chin in confusion. "What did you say your name was again?"

_"Grani. And you're quite welcome."_

Mako grinned and giggled childishly before dashing off. Grani followed him with his eyes for a moment, seeing that the boy racing off over to his sister, who was presently engaged in teaching some of the younger Chuchidarumon a game that she knew. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it seemed to involve sticks of some kind that the Chuchidarumon had to make out of mud. He was tempted to continue watching them, analyzing the two children and cataloguing their behavioral patterns but he reminded himself that he had other tasks to perform. Dismissing his image Grani turned his attention to the communication device that Impmon had given him prior to taking off after the Tamers. Impmon had claimed illiteracy as far as technology went (and illiteracy in general in all fields except butt kicking), but after Grani had informed him that he could make use of the device, Impmon had promptly left him with it.

_Although I'm sure any one of the Tamers could use it themselves once he meets up with them,_ thought Grani. But as the human saying went, no use crying over spilled milk, and Impmon was in a hurry to get going. The sooner everything was taken care of and everyone could go home, the better. 'Looking' at the comm. device lying on the ground next to him with his digital eyes, Grani activated several key programs in the village and wires sprung free from the desert floor and imbedded themselves into the device's surface. He found himself smiling at the familiar coding he encountered as he accessed its communication files. _How nostalgic. This is the exact same model that I first utilized to communicate with Yamaki back when I was just the 'Arc'. It shouldn't be too difficult to do the same thing. I have advanced in my ability to manipulate data, and the device hasn't changed significantly since I encountered its brother model. Hmmm…_

Red electricity danced over the communication device as Grani set to work. Modifying the circuits and algorithms went much easier than it had the last time he did this. Briefly he wondered if his creators would be pleased with how much he had evolved even without a body.

Grani mentally frowned after a second.

_Hmmm…the distortions in the digital world are interfering with the comm. device's ability to send a message beyond the warped area of space._ His image reappeared on the surface of his 'body' and he looked up at the sky. Amidst the broken blue sky and starry tracked field of the real world's surrounding void he could see a series of specks flying. He knew what they were, having detected them during the battle between SolMilleniummon, Gehenmon, and later Oni. It was difficult not to as they transmitted a powerful weapon for SolMilleniummon to use. They were suspended in the warped area of space, well within the range of the comm. device. Could he...?

_Only one way to find out,_ Grani thought as he turned his attention to the comm. device. Modifying a few key lines of code, Grani set to work.

* * *

"Any progress on contacting the Tamers?" asked Yamaki, flicking his lighter open.

"Negative," reported Riley. "Local field distortions on the digital world's surface are interfering with communication systems. The Tracers are boosting our signals but we're having a hard time directing them through the distorted areas."

"It probably doesn't help that the Tamers have all separated from that god form of theirs and went off into the wild blue yonder," grumbled Kuroda. "What could they be thinking? Separating all over again? Don't they know that will make them harder for us to rescue all in one shot? It's tough enough just sending your little 'present' in just once."

"In case you didn't notice," said Yamaki, flicking his lighter closed with a resounding click, "Their entire group wasn't together. There were still some signals that weren't in the area. They may be investigating them to see if they belong to any of the others. Impmon and his partners for example are located in separate directions."

"I can hardly argue with you on that, but for the most part they're gathered together. So what's the deal with breaking into these fragments like this?"

"That is not something we should concern ourselves with right now. What we should be doing is trying to get into contact with them and get everyone caught up to speed."

"Why didn't you just use the network to contact their digimon?" asked Kuroda pointedly. "You've done it before. I've researched your files, and you proved it during that battle as well. The communication device that you gave to Impmon is pretty much useless, not to mention outdated with your techniques. Never mind the fact that the imp didn't even know how to use the thing anyway…"

"It's not that simple," said Yamaki. "The spatial warps that lie between the worlds make using communication techniques difficult at best, and impossible at worst. We haven't had the chance to find out how sending communication signals directly to digimon would work in the digital world with all of the interference that we encounter. A comm. device that functions erratically is more reliable than an unknown situation."

"Insurance then," snorted Kuroda. "Fine. You called it. Come to think of it, I wouldn't want to bet my life on something that hasn't been tried before and have no chance of getting in touch with anyone in this world. But that didn't stop you from contacting them while they were fighting."

Tally and Riley both listened intently to the conversation. Kuroda was really poking at Yamaki's logic. Both of them couldn't help but wonder just how long it would be before Yamaki snapped at the man. They didn't think he would react quite the way he did with Itokawa, but Kuroda wasn't exactly making things easy with his incessant chatter over seemingly unimportant subjects when he should be working.

Yamaki continued as cool as a cucumber, checking over some bits of data on his computer screen.

"There wasn't enough time to try anything else. I gambled that the Tracers would be able to amplify the signal and that the Tamers biomerged together would localize it. Their position so close to the warped area of space helped as well. However, none of those factors are there anymore, and the distortions in the digital world have not ceased. Now," Yamaki leveled his gaze at Kuroda. "Report back to your station and help us find a way to contact the Tamers. Right now that is our top priority."

"Yes, sir," replied Kuroda tensely before doing as he had been bid. Work continued onwards in silence. Yamaki set his lighter on his console and typed away, going over the incoming data that the Tracers were sending him. He felt that there was a way to contact the Tamers, but their options were sorely limited. The spatial warps heavily limited their ability to communicate with the digimon, and the comm. device he had given Impmon had been silent no matter what messages or how many were sent to it. Of course, that had a lot to do with the fact that its present location was nowhere even _close_ to any of the Tamers.

Yamaki frowned beneath his sunglasses as a message screen lit up on his computer.

_What is this?_ _It looks like it's coming from the comm. device…_

Activating the Hypnos scanners Yamaki checked through the message to make sure that there were no surprises.

* * *

Grani floated through a stream of digital light, a feeling of intense euphoria flowing through every fiber of his being as he did so. As he had hoped, he was connecting to the Hypnos Tracers that he had spotted earlier. He recognized Hypnos' distinct programming language, so he was quick to put together a plan where he could uplink to the government agency by using the Tracers as a booster array. He was certain that this was how they had sent SolMilleniummon the weapon. The malformations that were being wrought upon the face of the digital world were too much for standard communiqués to function with any degree of reliability. He could see the Tracers fast approaching him, and then…he was in.

The rush of information flooded him and Grani had to take a moment to get a hold of himself. Although he had since experienced far more complex coding in the Chuchidarumon village, he was too used to not experiencing data in any form, having spent the majority of his existence locked inside the body of Guilmon. In addition, this data was far less fragmented than what he was used to dealing with back at 'base camp'. The Chuchidarumon village was falling apart due to the vast amount of programs that it stored up over time, many of which had been responsible for giving it the name 'Village of Discarded Data'. The Hypnos Tracers were breathtakingly _clean_ and efficient by comparison even though they were cruder in terms of construction.

Opening his digital eyes, Grani moved into the closest Tracer and began accessing its programming. Its defensive systems moved to protect it, but Grani managed to dismiss them with relative ease. He had grown, and with the Chuchidarumon village backing him it was child's play to rewrite certain areas of code to protect himself. As soon as he became situated, he could concentrate on sending out a message to Yamaki and coordinate with him on what needed to be done.

Grani paused in his workings as he detected something approaching.

_A scan. The Tracer has alerted Yamaki to my presence. He's looking into the situation. Hmmm…_

Extending his digital senses, he traced the scan all the way back to Hypnos, confirming the source. _Perhaps I should try to integrate myself with Hypnos' systems as well…oh!_

Grani had never before frowned, and had he a physical body with which to do so he most certainly would have done so. Not out of anger or frustration, but out of curiosity and surprise. Upon his tracking the signal to Hypnos he had begun moving into it when he encountered…something. What he wasn't exactly sure, but he could feel something moving within the confines of the Hypnos network. It lay in every coding, from the scan to the Tracers. It surprised him that he hadn't noticed it before. Reaching out mentally, Grani spoke, hoping that his actions would not be perceived as hostile.

_"Hello? I can detect you out there. I mean you no harm. I am a friend. I wish to contact Mitsuo Yamaki, the leader of Hypnos."_

He could still feel the presence. It moved closer to him, but he could not see it. It didn't want to be seen, and he could understand that. It was natural to be wary in the face of the unknown. He felt his code tingle sharply as an unseen stream of information ran its way over him. It was the scan. As soon as it was complete, he felt the sensation of something… _relaxing._ At least, that was the best that he could describe it. A barrier was being let down. He was being directed to where Yamaki's computer was active.

A sphere of light appeared before him and Grani smiled at it.

_"Greetings,"_ he said in what he believed to be a warm, welcoming voice. He found himself fascinated by the sight of the program. It moved slightly erratically. In spite of having lowered its defenses there existed some part of it that still regarded him with suspicion. He supposed it was warranted. Living creatures, he had learned, did not need to carry anything harmful in order to inflict harm on another entity. Human beings in particular did not wear their intent out in the open for all to see, and could choose to operate by means of direct and indirect methods to dispatch a threat.

Grani floated in the air, remaining still while the sphere circled around him, as though making a visual inspection and weighing its odds.

_Quite cautious, isn't it? I wonder where it came from. It doesn't appear to be a normal part of the Hypnos network. At least, not from what I recall during the time that I acted as Gallantmon's steed in battle. In fact, I am detecting similar code to the original AI program that created digimon and myself. Curious. I wonder if I could consider this entity as family._

After several seconds the sphere floated towards him, sending out tendrils of electricity onto Grani's body. Grani shuddered and the sphere backed off. It flickered and changed color from a silvery-blue to a dark purple, and then to shining white. Its body expanded, taking on humanoid contours. It tilted its presently featureless face at Grani, as though scrutinizing him. A moment passed during which the entity reached out and touched Grani on his chest. Electricity sparked between them, and the entity pulled its hand back, looking at its fingers. Its body shifted between colors of white and dark purple as it gazed at its hand.

_Even more interesting,_ thought Grani, rather surprised. _It copied and incorporated some of my data into its own. It evolved…_

_"Who are you?"_ asked Grani, but the entity did not reply. Instead, it drifted backwards and vanished into thin air, leaving no trace that it had ever been there to begin with. After a moment of silence passed, a screen lit up unexpectedly in front of Grani, and Yamaki's face filled it.

_"What…? Takato?"_ the blonde haired head of Hypnos stammered in surprise. Setting aside the strange encounter from earlier, Grani squared his shoulders and spoke.

_"My apologies, Mr. Yamaki, but I am not Takato Matsuki. I am Grani, and I have come to see if you can help effect the return of the Tamers to the human world."_

Grani saw Yamaki looking at him skeptically. Grani sighed.

_"I can see that this is going to take some time…"_

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," said Noriko as MarineAngemon's heart bubble transported her with Jeri, Kenta, Henry, and Urocyomon alongside Rapidmon and Kuzuhamon across the desert. "You guys picked up a bunch of signals after you won your fight and now you're checking them out?"

"Yeah," replied Henry, nodding his head. "We're trying to get a hold of everyone in the group. All the signals we detected belonged to digimon and digivices. Hopefully the digimon are the ones we know, but even if they aren't there shouldn't be any serious trouble."

"Since everyone has a Mega in their arsenal there shouldn't be," chuckled Kenta. "I mean, aside from the Parasimon, Mega level digimon are hard to come across." Kenta's eyes then took on a worried look. "Then again, Calumon released that digivolution light before we left last time and everyone evolved to the Mega level."

Henry breathed a sigh. "Thanks for reminding me, Kenta." Henry placed a hand on his forehead and brushed aside his hair as a sign of exhaustion.

_It's been a long day,_ thought Noriko.

"Well…at least all the fighting's done and we can go home now, right?"

"We're…working on that," said Kenta, forcing a smile on his face. Jeri did the same.

"We'll get home. Don't worry. As soon as everyone is together we'll figure something out." Jeri turned towards Henry. "Do you think Yamaki is going to contact us like he did while we were fighting?"

"I don't know. I would think that if they could do that they would have done it by now. It might not be an easy thing to accomplish. Remember that they sent Impmon over here with a communication device."

"Oh yeah…"

Noriko glanced over at Jeri and found herself frowning once again at the bundle in the girl's arms. Only 'bundle' wasn't quite the correct way to describe it as it lacked any covering. A white sprig of an antennae and two, fin-like arms covered a rather large stomach that moved up and down in a slow, methodic rhythm. A digignome. It had surprised her when she first saw that they were carrying the creature, and even more surprised (beyond all reason in her opinion) when, after asking why they were carrying it she was told that it used to be Oni, the creature that they had just fought. From the explanations that Henry, Jeri, and Kenta had given her it seemed that the little guy had absorbed the wrong kind of emotional energy during a time that he had been stuck in the real world. As a result of the overpowering and corrupting nature of said emotions he had embarked on a trail of destruction that brought two conflicting digital forces crashing down on Shinjuku, and ending with severe devastation, both with the city and for the groups involved. Miki's partner, Dracmon, was the sole survivor of one of those factions, and Ayaka's partner, Crusadermon, was the same for the opposing side, at least in so far as either of them knew and reported.

Noriko sighed and leaned back from her spot in the bubble. This was a lot to take in all at once, and she didn't know how precisely she should react to such news. Why it was that the Tamers were caring for someone that had caused them so much trouble felt a bit strange to her. Okay, maybe not a _bit_ strange, but strange nonetheless. The digignome had been an enemy that had set into motion numerous events that caused large-scale destruction. Her own encounters with Oni had been unsettling if not downright frightening, and she had to admit, helping a creature that had ripped an integral part of Taka-chan and Lucemon's existence for use in planetary destruction, and then turning into world-destroying dragon, did not sit well with her.

_This sort of reminds me a little about how I reacted to Lucemon when I found out that he killed Takato's partner. I was so upset then. I thought Mom, Daisuke, and me were doing a good thing by helping him, only for him to turn out to be a killer. Only…he was doing what he thought was right…and by the sounds of it, so did Oni…_

_Ugh. This isn't doing me any good,_ thought Noriko, laying a hand across her face. She felt too mentally exhausted to really get into a debate with herself, or anyone for that matter, about this matter. Guilmon had been reborn, and Oni had been stripped of the emotions that had so corrupted him. Did either of these facts absolve Lucemon and Oni of their actions? Had Noriko the strength and the personality, she would have laughed over the card that fate dealt Lucemon, causing him to be merged with a creature he sought to destroy and reborn. Karma, it seemed, could be cruel in its choice of irony.

_I just don't want to think anymore,_ thought Noriko, leaning her head against the surface of the heart bubble. _All I want is to find Lumemon and go home. I don't know about everyone else, but I've had my fill of being thrown from one dangerous situation to the next. Lumemon…_ Noriko closed her eyes and the compass-like circle appeared in her mind. _…Where are you?_

The arrow sitting at the edge of the circle swung wildly, but did little to tell the young girl where her errant partner was located. After several minutes had passed, during which she contented herself to watch the arrow move about in its search, Noriko fell into a tired, fitful sleep.

* * *

"Oop." Kenta blinked as he felt Noriko's head drop onto his shoulder. Looking at the girl worriedly the bespectacled boy glanced over at the others. "Uh…guys?"

"Easy, Kenta," said Henry. "Looks like she just fell asleep."

"I'm feeling much the same myself," said Jeri, suppressing a yawn. Smiling weakly she indicated the sleeping digignome in her arms. "Watching over this guy is kind of tiring…but in a good way."

"Why'd you bring him along?" asked Kenta, shifting as best as he could so as to not disturb Noriko while he got into a more comfortable position. "I mean, he's not exactly friendly you know."

"Pih?" chirped MarineAngemon, breaking off from his concentration over their flight path to look over at Kenta.

"Yeah, I know," said Kenta with a sigh. "The Legendary Warriors told us to take care of him, but…I still think that it's weird. Even if the whole thing isn't exactly his fault to begin with, he still did a lot of bad things. I just don't feel safe with him around."

"Funny," said Jeri. "I feel safe." Seeing the confused look in Kenta's eyes, Jeri cleared her hope. "I mean…I don't feel like he's dangerous anymore. It's kind of the same thing with Impmon, don't you think? He was lost, but he became a great friend even though he made a mistake."

Jeri looked over at Kenta. Even though he wasn't saying anything, she knew that he was remembering Leomon. The brutality that lay in the proud warrior's slaying was not something that could easily be forgiven. Everyone had agreed to leave the incident in the past, and since Impmon had gone to great lengths to make up for his crime they had all been content to let sleeping dogs lie. The fact that Jeri had been quite accepting of Impmon since the digimon returned to the real world had helped facilitate this. Takato had taken to Impmon like ducks did with water, and Henry and Rika were certainly willing to let things go. For everyone else though there existed a subtle ripple in the waters that only manifested at times like this. Jeri wondered, if it hadn't been for Rika leaving to retrieve Impmon to go home, would anyone else have gone back for him? Or would they have contented themselves with leaving him behind in the war that was soon to follow?

Bringing Oni's body closer to her chest like a maternal mother, Jeri looked down at the space between her and Kenta.

"I just…think that we shouldn't just abandon him. He wasn't bad to begin with. I touched his mind, Kenta. Back when we were fighting him. Towards the end he didn't know what to do, or if he was doing the right thing. He wanted to make the world a better place, and he got lost."

"I know," said Kenta. "But I'm still not sure about him. I don't know if I can trust him, and I don't know if anyone he's affected will forgive him."

Jeri couldn't help but agree with Kenta on that front. She felt very much the same way for the longest time towards Impmon following Leomon's death. The D-Reaper had ironically helped her move past that, though at great cost to two worlds and many lives. She wondered if anyone who had known about her own involvement in those affairs beyond the close circle of friends, family, and Hypnos would be able to look at her without seeing the monster she had let loose.

As Jeri thought, she was quietly reminded of how Takato had once voiced his worries about how she saw him following the unleashing of Megidramon. She could still see the hurt and surprise in his eyes from that day in the digital world. She had reminded him that despite her earlier words, she still saw him as Takato, and as someone who was very close and dear to her.

Of course, not everyone saw things the same way, as Lucemon had made quite clear when he descended into their lives.

"What do you think, Henry?" asked Jeri quietly. The boy looked at Jeri in surprise before frowning in deep thought. Henry stayed silent for several, long minutes as he gave the question the weighty consideration that it deserved. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak…

…Only to be interrupted by a groan emanating from Noriko.

Kenta jerked in surprise, nearly causing Noriko to flop off his shoulder and into his lap. Kenta managed to prevent her from doing so.

"Um…a-a-are y-you okay?" asked Kenta tremulously, looking over at Henry and Jeri for help. Henry got up with a worried expression and kneeled in front of the two. Noriko's eyebrows were furrowed in a frown, and she shifted in her place on Kenta's shoulder. She groaned again, this time louder.

"Is she all right?" asked Jeri.

"I don't know," replied Henry as he nudged the girl gently on her shoulder.

"M-Maybe she's having a bad dream…"

There followed a slight pause before Henry spoke again. "Terriermon…"

Kenta raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. "Uh…did he just say something about me in your head or something?"

"Huh?" Now it was Henry's turn to look surprised. His surprise was soon replaced by embarrassment. "Oh, no. Just habit. Normally by now, Terriermon would have said something in response to what you said earlier."

"I wonder if it's a bad thing that you thought that in his place…"

Henry ignored Kenta and refocused his attention on Noriko. Her eyes were twitching rapidly beneath their lids. Suddenly they shot open, and red stared back at gray.

"Noriko?" asked Henry. "Are you all right?"

Noriko licked her lips and pushed off of Kenta's shoulder, brushing aside her hair.

"I found Lumemon," she whispered. "He's in trouble."


	182. 181: Traveling and Searching: Part 3

_"So…it has come to this."_

Heat. It spoke of rage so easily. A growl reverberated within the beast's throat, a promise of pain and death to all that stood in its way. Marred flesh, split down the middle of a dragon-shaped face, flexed and crawled, striving in its endless dance for dominance. Within the depths of the creature's mind, a laugh echoed.

_"You have made your choice, and yet you can't even reach your destination."_

Flapping filled the air, and the animal shrieks of a thousand DexDoruGreymon joined it. They surrounded him on every side, swarming like predators that had cornered their prey. Fang-filled maws slavered as they eyed their prize. Hunger was in their soulless hearts, but cruelty was stronger yet. They were going to take their time with their catch. They fully intended to take it apart one piece at a time until all resistance ended…and then… _then_ the real fun would begin.

A spiked tail belonging to the digimon species of Megidramon swept around and coiled in agitation. The creature that had once been Lumemon, now divided against himself by forces within that he could not begin to comprehend in his present state, crouched low to the ground. The crumpled and broken stubs of his wings flexed, and he hissed in pain. The DexDoruGreymon had come at him out of nowhere, and in his intent focus on his journey to find _his_ partner, he had not noticed them until they were tearing into his wings. The dragon coughed, and black data spilled forth from his mouth. He had absorbed the data of some of the DexDoruGreymon that he had deleted earlier in an attempt to repair his ravaged body, only to learn quickly to not attempt it again. There was something inherently wrong with their data, and as a result his insides felt as though they were being torn apart.

Had the Lucemon part of him retained its consciousness, he would have recognized it as a symptom of X-Virus infection. Data was breaking down…eating him alive from the inside out. Not that that mattered so much right now. He had plenty enough worrying about what was trying to eat him from the outside in. Between the two, the external factors were much quicker and more worrisome.

For the moment anyway.

A DexDoruGreymon broke free from the core group and dove at _Lumemon._ The dragon hissed and his Megidramon tail swept upwards like a ballista. Its barbed point drove into the DexDoruGreymon's skull, skewering it and causing its body to erupt in a shower of data. _Lumemon_ didn't let it end there, and he lashed out, claws and tail impacting with the swarm, crushing the Death-X digimon with the force of his blows. As though this spur of resistance were a signal, the swarm fell on him, tooth and claw biting rending and tearing wherever they could find purchase. _Lumemon_ roared angrily, ripping the smaller dragons off of his body as he struggled. The DexDoruGreymon went down easily. Of course, they were of a lower level than he was, but they fell far more easily than anything _Lumemon_ had encountered in any life for the Ultimate level. Within the chaos that was his mind he found himself wondering if there was some kind of flaw in these creatures, perhaps due to their undead nature. _Lumemon_ snarled. They certainly didn't _smell_ like anything natural. It was more as though they were rotting corpses given animation and the baser instincts belonging to any animal…the need to feed.

_Lumemon's_ thoughts, if they could be called such, were interrupted as one of his attackers pushed a claw into his chest, digging for his digi-core. He howled and quickly batted the beast off of his body. Immediately upon its impact with the ground, _Lumemon_ crushed it with one massive foot. The dragon squirmed but once beneath its weight before shattering into shards of data.

Such affronts would not be forgiven.

_Lumemon_ paused, staring down at his foot as though something about what he had done caught his attention. His eyes, one golden and the other hidden behind a mask, narrowed. A memory flitted through his mind of a young boy and a crimson scaled digimon lying between his toes, a victim of a similar fate that he had just met out…

_Lumemon_ roared once again as DexDoruGreymon slammed into his injured chest, fangs quickly finding purchase and ripping at armor and scale to reach the heart that lay beneath. _Lumemon_ struck back, unleashing a stream of fire that vaporized them in the blink of an eye. The DexDoruGreymon cried out and rushed to absorb the free-floating data. _Lumemon_ almost smiled seeing them come, and a second later a massive ball of fire slammed into them, adding them to the list of growing casualties.

_Lumemon_ would not let them absorb data. As much as he knew how it did him no favors, instinctively he knew that the opposite would hold true in the DexDoruGreymon's case.

The swarm advanced on him once more, flanking him from behind and smashing into him, pulling him down by sheer weight of numbers. _Lumemon's_ tail swept outwards, cutting down a swath as they came at him, but still they came. Their numbers seemed to be endless. They bit and tore at his body. _Lumemon_ howled in pain as he felt a piece of the Megidramon head crest break off before being thrown to the ground contemptuously. It hit the sand and quickly burst into data, and a swarm of DexDoruGreymon quickly rushed to absorb it. Their bodies glowed as the data infused into them, making them stronger and repairing any damage that they…

_Lumemon_ braced his body and threw himself backwards, catching the swarm of dragons by surprise. They howled at him in righteous indignation but he ignored them. His instincts were _screaming_ at him to stop the DexDoruGreymon from absorbing the data he lost. He rushed forward, only to be gang piled by another assault by the dragons, crushing him to the ground with the weight of their bodies. The glowing DexDoruGreymon ahead of him roared triumphantly and their bodies began to lengthen and alter.

_"Too late,"_ mocked the voice from the shadows as three humanoid beasts wearing armor that looked as though it had been fashioned out of a thunderbolt appeared before him. Wings of blood and black fluttered in the air and tails carrying a massive mace-like appendage struck the desert floor. The ground shuddered beneath _Lumemon_ from the impact. Within his mind he could hear that same voice laughing relentlessly. _"The DexDoruGorumon have just evened the odds…"_

* * *

Growlmon and Kyubimon made their way across the desert with an air of caution to their stride. Growlmon sniffed the air and wiped at his nose as though something about what he smelled bothered him. Kyubimon noted this with some trepidation. Although she couldn't hear his thoughts, she had been his friend long enough to recognize some of his habits and how his body reacted in certain situations. Right now she could see that his muscles were tense, a clear indication that something was on his mind; most likely danger. Although his irises hadn't narrowed into slits, she knew that he was but a step away from it. Her own instincts were much the same way. Digimon naturally could detect each other, and the bigger the digimon the more obvious they were except in the cases of those that learned the wisdom to camouflage themselves rather than flaunt their power. Such was not the case here however, and Kyubimon's instincts were telling her that _numerous_ digimon were in the area somewhere ahead of them. The very same area that Takato and Rika's digivices were pointing them.

_This isn't good,_ thought Kyubimon, narrowing her blue eyes as she stared at the horizon ahead of them. Sensing her partner's worry through the link that they shared, Rika reached down and patted her partner reassuringly.

"Trouble ahead?" the red haired girl asked. Kyubimon nodded.

"I'm not sure what it is, but whatever's out there does not feel right."

"Worse than the usual 'not feel right?'" asked Takato with a slight frown. "Or just the normal 'not feel right?'"

"This feels different from the opponents that we have fought in the past, Takato," replied Kyubimon. "There is something out there that is _hungry._ We should best be prepared to biomerge."

"Are you up for it?" asked Rika, slightly worried. Kyubimon could understand. They, like everyone else, had been biomerging repeatedly in a short period of time, and although the sand storm had given them some measure of respite they had not rested enough to regain their energy. Their most recent battles had not done them any favors either. One thing was certain. If they made it back home in one piece, Rika was going to sleep for a week.

When _we make it back home,_ Rika amended.

"I am always ready," replied Kyubimon to Rika's earlier question. "However, regardless of that, the odds may not be in our favor. As powerful as the Mega level is, it can only take so much punishment."

"We have been getting bashed around a lot lately," noted Takato with a grim nod. "Man, we're so close. Guilmon, do you smell anything?"  
"Bad digimon," rumbled Growlmon, glowering at the horizon. "The same kind that we fought back home without biomerging."

"Huh?" Takato raised an eyebrow in confusion before suddenly remembering 'Rika's lesson'. "Oh! Right. The um…Dex-something-or-other…"

"DexDoruGreymon," corrected Rika. "You need to work on your memory."

"Yeah," nodded Takato. "Man, that feels like such a long time ago…"

Rika's gaze hardened as she looked at the boy, and he blinked upon seeing it.

_Uh, oh…what did I do now?_

Rika however did not seem to be interested in sharing as he wasn't picking up anything from the emotional weather that he felt in the back of his mind.

"Maybe we should turn back…" mused Takato, returning his attention back to the situation at hand. Whatever it was that he did this time, he was going to have to apologize when things had settled down a bit.

_Great. One more thing to worry about._

"I have to agree with you," Rika concurred with a nod of her head. "Whatever it is that our digivices are picking up, I don't think it's worth getting involved in more trouble than we can handle."

"Rika, we can't just leave it be," said Kyubimon.

"Yeah," chimed in Growlmon. "Lumemon could be out there and needing our help."

"Somehow I don't think that he'd be _that_ much in trouble," frowned Takato. "He took us apart pretty easily."

"I got the sense of that," said Rika. "Just what was it that happened to you guys out there? When I saw you in that weird place after we all biomerged you looked…out of it. I'm not sure how to describe it really." Rika pursed her lips together into a frustrated line. Despite what she said she knew _exactly_ how to describe what she had seen. The way Takato had been fading when she found him…it was as though he were… _dying._

She did not like what that thought meant, and she felt her heart pause upon it.

Takato, true to his Goggleheaded nature shrugged, though a thoughtful frown decorated his face.

"Lumemon beat us." Takato paused, half expecting Rika to comment that she didn't believe that the angel could be capable of accomplishing such a feat, but seeing that she was listening intently to him, he shrugged mentally and continued. "I'm not quite sure what exactly happened. Lumemon turned into something…I don't know what. Parts of him looked a little bit like Megidramon, but other parts…I don't know. I think I saw it in a card before…"

"Can you describe it? Or send me an image or something?"

"I can try." Closing his eyes, Takato called up an image of Lumemon as he had encountered him. Disjointed parts of two separate digimon existing side by side in perpetual conflict. Megidramon's parts were easily recognizable, contrasting against purple armor and a series of wings…six? Takato couldn't remember correctly, save that they were glowing with strange symbols that at first made him think of the crests from the digimon TV show. The half of the creatures face that shared space with Megidramon's was flatter, lacking a muzzle, and guarded by a visor…

"Lucemon Shadow Lord Mode," murmured Rika, nodding her head. "Got it, Takato. I saw a card like this a couple years ago. It was in the same tournament that I first butted heads with Ryo, and was one of the prizes. Wow. Just what the heck happened to Noriko's partner?"

"Before he flew off he said something about how he couldn't protect anyone…or something like that."

"Hmmm…" Rika raised her blue-trimmed digivice and frowned at the screen. "I wonder if those spirit guys know anything about it."

Nothing more than the clicks and beeps of her D-Arc responded to her, causing the red haired girl to scowl darkly at it.

"Any luck?" asked Takato, pulling out his own digivice.

"No," grumbled Rika. "By the looks of things Lobomon doesn't want to talk. How about you?"

"Nothing." Takato shook his head. "This is kind of weird. I thought for sure that Agunimon said that they were going to stay with us while we were in the digital world."

Rika _hmmmphed_ dismissively. "That's what they said, but can you say that there's a guarantee of that? How do we know that they didn't just take off once they got what they wanted and landed us with a digignome to babysit?"

Takato laughed lightly and gave Rika a small smile.

"Come on, Rika. You know just as well as I do that they wouldn't do that. I mean, we _are_ connected to them after all…"

Rika's violet eyes met Takato's smile, and she looked at it for a moment before turning away. Takato frowned curiously, feeling a sliver of anger work its way into the back of his mind.

"Um…are you mad at me?" asked Takato.

"Can't you tell on your own?" asked Rika, her tone slightly rough. "Or do you need to be a mind reader to figure that out?"

Takato sighed. The answer was most definitely a 'yes', and he didn't need their connection to know. They had been friends long enough for him to recognize her moods, though defusing them remained something of a challenge no matter how experienced he had become. Normally the best way was to listen to her about what was on her mind. Talking tended to help, but she appreciated a listening ear as it allowed her the opportunity to work out her frustrations. However, resolution to the problem became complicated when he was the source of such frustration, as he had learned on numerous occasions from their first meeting all the way to her birthday.

And as always, regardless of who she was angry at, she was prickly to anyone who caught her in a bad mood.

_She kind of reminds me of a rose sometimes,_ thought Takato before berating himself for the comparison. Given their current, unresolved relationship it felt ill-timed.

Sighing, Takato ran a hand through his hair and stopped. Frowning he felt around his hair, wondering why it felt odd. The answer soon came to him. His goggles were missing.

_Great,_ moaned Takato mentally, lowering his hand into Growlmon's hair. _As if this day can't get any worse. I must have lost them in the fight with Lumemon._

With great effort, Takato forced himself to forget about them. They were gone, buried somewhere in the middle of the vast expanse of desert. They would do him no good right now, and thoughts about them when he had more important things to worry about would cause unnecessary complications.

_Make sure everyone's safe, get them home, keep up morale._ Those were his main concerns now. Takato grimaced as he looked at Rika's frowning face. _And it doesn't look like I'm doing well in any of those departments._

Again, Takato ran a hand through his hair and scratched at it, trying to work up some explanation for why Rika was upset with him. His fingers traced the familiar area of his forehead where his goggles once sat, seeking for inspiration. Their absence bothered him, no matter how hard he tried to forget about them. All leaders of a group of kids that dealt with digimon wore goggles. At least, that was how it was in his mind ever since he saw the first episode of his favorite show. The tradition had carried on ever since, to the second season and then his group. Those goggles. They were a symbol of all the things that the person who wore them took upon himself. They were a promise…

_Promise._

"Oh…" Takato lowered his hand carefully as realization hit him.

* * *

" _Look Takato. I can understand you. Really I can. I also want to be able to protect everyone and everything using just my own strength, but I also know that sometimes you take a blow that you need help getting back up from. No one's asking you to be perfect, or to carry the weight of the whole world on your shoulders for them. That's something we're all supposed to do together, remember? Because 'we're a team,' if I'm remembering your own words right. Sometimes even I forget that, but that's why you, Henry, and the rest are there to help me remember. Just like I'm helping you remember right now."_ _Sakuyamon looked back up at Gallantmon's gold colored eyes, her smirk having now transformed into a thoughtful smile._ _"But since we're on this subject…if you're really interested in getting stronger, you might want to think about talking to Henry and have him introduce you to his teacher. He might be able to help you out with that."_

_From within his data sphere Takato's eyes lit up with excitement and he pumped his fists into the air in front of him._

" _Yeah!"_

" _Good,"_ _replied Rika as Sakuyamon's smile turned into a smirk once again._ _"Because I could use a practice dummy for when I start."_

" _Yea…wait. Whaaa…?"_

" _Just kidding. But I've been thinking of looking into that myself. Thought I'd bring it up since you want to get stronger too so…what do you say? You want to get stronger together?"_

_Takato stared at Sakuyamon, his eyes full of surprise. After a moment a smile grew on his face and he nodded._

" _Yeah. Together. It's a promise."_

* * *

' _It's a promise…'_ thought Takato, his hand drifting over to his chest and clutching at his shirt. _That's what I said to her. We'd get stronger together. And I just left her to go after Lumemon on my own. Okay, she was a little under the weather at the time but…if I'm right…she didn't like that I broke my promise with her like that._ Takato sighed. _I really am a Gogglehead sometimes. I really stuck my foot in it this time…_

"You got that right," spoke up Rika, having heard his thoughts.

"Rika. I…"

"Not…now," she cut off harshly. After a moment's pause her tone softened slightly. "Okay, Takato? We've got bigger things to worry about then our mess of a personal life."

Takato frowned. Although it was true what Rika had said, the idea of leaving this problem between them unresolved did not sit well with him. However, before he could argue the point any further, his digivice began beeping and clicking incessantly. A holographic circle projected itself above the digivice's screen, and a large number of colored dots appeared within it. Takato's eyes widened in shock.

"Bigger things is right…" agreed Takato, looking up towards the distant horizon. Peering forward he saw the faint sign of a dark cloud. As he watched, he began to make out tiny dots shifting and whirling about like a circus house of fleas. Thunder resonated upon the air and a plume of smoke billowed up above the small dots.

"I see trouble ahead," said Kyubimon, and Rika nodded her head in agreement.

"What do you say we suit up for this one?"

It took Takato a second to register that she was directing her question to him, and after a reflexive motion to adjust the goggles that no longer sat on his head, Takato nodded.

"Let's do it."

As though they were one entity, the two Tamers raised their D-Arcs in unison. Light burst forth from their screens and enveloped them in their embrace.

_"Biomerge activate!"_

* * *

_Lumemon_ tore a DexDoruGreymon from off his shoulder and struck another off one clinging to his chest. His breath was coming out in sharp, ragged gasps. Whirling about, he had just enough time to see the air warping around one of the DexDoruGoramon before a wave of energy exploded outwards from his body.

_"Metal Impulse!"_ growled the demonic warrior dragon, and _Lumemon_ raised his arms protectively in front of him. He had no time to escape the attack, and no ability to do so even if he wanted to. The waves struck him, and _Lumemon_ gritted his teeth. He could feel the data of his body shattering under the pressure of the dragon's assault. His arms…his _arms…_

Growling, _Lumemon_ cracked open his eyes. Smoking stubs stared back at him, phasing in and out of view. The data making up his broken limbs began to crawl back upwards, attempting to reform his hands, but the pressure from DexDoruGorumon was making that a difficult task.

The wave finally passed over him, but no sooner had it done so that pain suddenly exploded in his skull, causing him to crash to the ground with ferocious force. A DexDoruGorumon leered over him, its jaws slavering as its flail-like tail lashed about. Leaning downwards, the demonic dragon grabbed _Lumemon's_ arms and spread them apart, revealing the gaping hole in his chest, wherein sat a pulsing, blue sphere.

_Lumemon's_ digi-core.

The DexDoruGorumon opened its jaws and ran a tongue over its fangs, eyeing the digi-core hungrily. Before it could deliver the coup de grâce, the dragon jerked as the Megidramon tail skewered it from behind, puncturing its armor. Growling, _Lumemon_ moved forward and fired a molten fireball directly into the dragon's face, obliterating it in one fell swoop.

The data did not go wasted. Two shadows loomed over _Lumemon_ and pulled the fragmenting information into their bodies. _Lumemon_ glared at the two remaining DexDoruGorumon and lashed out with his tail. It smashed into the side of one closest to him, sending it crashing to the ground. _Lumemon_ rolled to the side, trying to buy himself some distance between himself and his two attackers…

_"Dorudiin!"_

White hot fire tore through the air and smashed into his shoulder guard, causing it to melt and disintegrate. _Lumemon_ roared in anger and surged forward, slamming into the DexDoruGorumon. The two opponents grappled with each other, careening to the desert floor. Data flew through the air as fangs found purchase. A roar was torn loose from the DexDoruGorumon.

_"Metal Impulse!"_

A wave of energy pulsed outwards, and more data flew through the air as it was torn free from _Lumemon's_ body. The once former angel now turned dragon was thrown off his opponent from the force of the blast. The earth shook beneath the force of his impact and _Lumemon_ shuddered from the pain that exploded throughout his body. As though sensing it, a sliver of darkness crawled across his visible digi-core like an oil-slick on water.

_"You won't win here,"_ taunted the voice within his mind. Flesh joined at the center of the dragon's body crawled and flexed. _"You're divided against yourself. You have no partner, and these creatures are Yggdrasil's creations."_

_Lumemon_ growled and flexed his tail, his only remaining weapon available to him now. The two DexoDoruGorumon were circling him like sharks, flames flickering at their claws as they sought an opening. Not that they needed much of one at this point. As far gone as _Lumemon's_ mind was, he recognized that he was in a dangerous position. He could hear the wing beats of the lower level DexDoruGreymon. They were presently keeping their distance from the kill zone, but that wouldn't last for very long. He was badly injured, facing down two Megas, and the swarm as well. His core was exposed, and that above all else would be their target.

An ache tore its way through the dragon's skull as the marred flesh separating the Megidramon and Lucemon Shadow Lord parts strove against each other. As though it were a signal the DexDoruGreymon dove down on him. His tail lashed upwards as if it had a mind of its own, skewering the first one, but the rest struck down on top of him, stabbing their claws into his body and sinking their teeth deep into his scales.

_Lumemon_ howled as he felt something torn free from his body. It took him only a second to realize that one of the DexDoruGorumon had snuck up behind him, using the DexDoruGreymon as a distraction, and had promptly torn his tail off. Before the dragon's shocked gaze, the tail, twitching in the creature's grasp like a dying snake, dissolved into data and was pulled into its body. Time almost seemed to stand still as the former angel stared on in shock.

_"I could help you…"_ spoke up the voice again. _"I could make you whole again. Give you the strength you need to defeat them."_

Something snapped in _Lumemon's_ body and he found himself collapsing to the ground. Time sped up once more, and the DexDoruGreymon fell on him. Claws tore at his already ravaged body, seeking the vulnerable digi-core.

Darkness clouded his vision, and suddenly the pain began to lessen…


	183. 182: Arks of Salvation

The field of battle is a place where action occurs. Blood and sweat is shed amongst fellow comrades in arms. It is a time of stress, where the staunchest of wills are placed under the most extreme mental and physical pressure possible, and many fall before they see the end of the chaotic conflict. Those that survive are never the same, and fewer even still can continue forward and live life, if not for the better than at least a little wiser. These warriors are bound together by the bond of their shared experience, becoming a 'band of brothers' of sorts.

As always, there are different levels of fields of battle. Information gathering, planning, movement, and finally the action itself where all the effort is thrown at the enemy with the hope that everything is pulled off exactly as intended. It is said that no plan ever survives first contact with reality, but with effort, it'll at least come out of it shaken and bruised, and above all else, successful. Such was the case with the Tamers in the digital world. Such is the case of the Monster Makers at Hypnos.

There are, as stated earlier, different levels of battlefields. Everyone fights according to the gifts granted to them. The Tamers fight. Hypnos and the Monster Makers run support. Such has been their relationship these past few months. And such is what is expected from both sides for many more to come.

Hands flew over keyboards, clicking the keys as their owners wrote layer after layer of programming, running diagnostics and simulations, rechecking their calculations to make sure that everything was perfect. Everyone knew that one slipup meant that all their efforts would be in vain, and in the worst case scenario sent the children they were trying to rescue to their fiery, agonizing deaths. Perhaps that was a pessimistic way of looking at it, and perhaps a bit extreme as well, but for the Monster Makers it gave them a sense of what they had to look out for while designing their plan. It was impossible to predict every eventuality but they could predict a fair amount of it. The rest they could pick up on as they went with the systems that they had available. 'Control the things you can control.' That was the philosophy that they were operating under.

When it came to data, the Monster Makers could control quite a _lot_ of probabilities.

Still, a healthy dose of reality kept them on their toes. There was such a thing as being _too_ confident in their abilities after all.

"Hey Tao!" called out Dolphin. "I've got the AI programming all set up. How's the shell going?"

"Almost done," replied Janyu. "Shibumi. Can you run the AI patch into the program now? That should speed the construction process up a bit."

"Consider it done," replied Shibumi from his spot behind Janyu, half obscured by the mountain of paper and notes that they had brought in from the time that they had constructed the original Grani 'Ark' program. Much of the information was unnecessary now, but as Shibumi said when the project began, 'it always helps to have a reference.' Within seconds of Janyu's request, a window popped up on Janyu's computer screen, showing that the program was loading and attaching itself where it was supposed to. While it was doing so, Janyu took a look at the program's physical parameters.

It was spherical in nature, a far simpler design than the original Ark program that they constructed almost a year ago the last time that the Tamers needed a pickup from the digital world. Time was of essence if anything Yamaki had told them was true (and none of the Monster Makers had any reason to believe otherwise. Certainly Janyu didn't as his son's safety was at stake), and the simpler the design, the quicker it could be produced. Clicking a button, Janyu watched as the program ran through its paces, opening a small hatch that would be the Tamers access point. Sending the new Ark to the digital world and then back was to be conducted in the same manner as before, though the process would remain as tricky as before, if not more so due to the decreased complexity in the new Ark's design.

There wasn't much that anyone knew, save for Shibumi, about the digital world save that power and intent spelled the difference between being able to traverse the two worlds. The intent part had not figured into their calculations due to the fact that few, if anyone expected the Ark to gain consciousness at a critical point, first stopping and then crashing through the barriers to deliver its passengers home. The AI hadn't been terribly advanced, but it had been enough to evolve in response to its occupants emotions.

In contrast, the original Ark program was a genius compared to the new one. Again, simplicity was stressed due to time constraints. Indeed, many of the safety systems that had originally been incorporated into Grani hadn't been installed due to that lack of time. Either the Tamers got home or they didn't. It sounded heartless, but when one considered that the digital world was practically tearing itself apart for an inexplicable reason that was what it boiled down too. If they couldn't send a retrieval program in time the Tamers were dead. And with Juggernaut so completely untested in its new portal functions on an already heavily unstable world that only needed an excuse to finish its self-destruction they couldn't afford to take many risks or time.

It was contradictory, and Janyu hated it.

"Well?" asked Dolphin. "How is it?"

"Perfect for what it does," grimaced Janyu as the last of the program finished loading. "Now it all depends on us. How are the calculations for the matter to data exchange?"

"I'm running through them again," replied Daisy. "I'd like Shibumi to check it over when I'm done, but so far it looks perfect."

Janyu looked over at the blonde haired woman. Although she gave him a confident smile, he could see the strain that lay behind it. It was hardly any wonder due to their time schedule and the fact that they were undermanned. Hypnos may be up and running again, but when it came to building an Ark to go to the digital world, the Monster Makers were still the only ones who truly understood the calculations needed to pull it off successfully.

_It doesn't help that most of our group is split apart, helping out other countries with constructing their own systems for dealing with the digital world. Thankfully, Shibumi was able to come back when he did. We wouldn't be able to get this far this quickly if he weren't here._

Returning his attention back to computer screen, Janyu began double-checking the functions of the new Ark as its AI finished integrating itself into its structure. As he did so, he prayed that his son and his friends were all right.

* * *

Beelzemon flew over the desert, two of his eyes closed while his third remained wide open and staring out at the horizon that lay before him. Extending his senses to their maximum once more he nodded as he picked up on the familiar signals that the Tamers gave out, confirming that yes, he was getting nearer to them. Beelzemon smirked.

_Who needs one of those digivice things to locate a bunch of dweebs?_ Wondered Beelzemon sarcastically. _I'm willin' to bet that they don't have nothin' on me. And Ai and Mako were worried about how I was going to find everyone. I've got 'em all figured out right up here in my head. All that huntin' that I did when Chatsuramon gave me the ability to digivolve wasn't f or nothin'. You don't find the same goofballs as often as I do in a place this big without figurin' out how to do it. Two of them are coming this way and the rest... Interestin'. They've split up for some reason. Well, I guess that's hardly surprisin'. I'm picking up some of the others split off from the main bunch. They must be trying to bring 'em all together._

Opening his eyes, Beelzemon flapped his wings to gain more loft, a task easily accomplished by the thermal heat rising from the desert. He could now see two figures moving towards him. One was flying, and the other looked to be…

_Jumping,_ thought Beelzemon as the far off figure began to descend back towards the earth. _Okay. That'd be Justimon. 'Bout time that I could see them. I was starting to think that I was all alone out here._

Beelzemon frowned. Things had been strangely quiet ever since he left the Chuchidarumon village. Before the sand storm they had been up to their eyes in one problem to the next, usually coming in the form of Sand Liches. However the desert wastes had been silent… _empty._ Completely and totally obliterating his reasons for telling his two partners to stay behind in the village. Even the air was still. He thought back to the flaming phoenix that had erupted from where Jeri and the others had been and wondered if that had anything to do with the sheer silence that filled the digital world. It was unnatural.

_Sure, it's always been an ugly pile o' empty, but there was always something livin' around here. Somethin's happened. Even those Sand guys are lying low or vacated to greener grasses._

Something didn't feel right. Beelzemon got the distinctive feeling that, even though the timing of the fire bird's appearance seemed to hit on the sudden quiet of the digital world, the feeling that he had gotten from it wasn't of the kind that would cause digimon, or any other creature that he knew of, to up and disappear. He doubted that the Sand Liches, with their single-minded hunger for data going beyond even his own when he was at his worst, would 'melt back into the landscape' at the sight of the phoenix.

_All the same,_ thought Beelzemon dourly, _I'm glad that Ai and Mako are in a safe place. No matter how quiet the digital world may be, I wouldn't feel right bringin' 'em around here until they were older._

However, even armed with that knowledge, he didn't feel comfortable leaving them alone in the Chuchidarumon village. 'Grani' notwithstanding.

Beelzemon flapped his wings harder, urging more speed out of them so that he could meet up with the two Tamers that were fast approaching him. He always felt anxious about his two partners, and didn't want to be apart from them any longer than he had to. At least when it came to a dangerous situation. His third eye widened and zoomed in on the two approaching figures. As he expected, one of the two was Justimon. Only he was capable of jumping the way he did and make it look as though he were elegantly flying. Not even Gallantmon could match his grace in that field of performance. The other digimon was Crusadermon, with Ayaka in her arms. The two of them were looped around each other in a manner that caused Beelzemon to chuckle. They appeared almost like overprotective sisters. The Royal Knight and her partner had clearly come a long way from their first encounter.

_Soon as we get together, we're going to round up everyone else and see about blowing this pop stand. Hopefully Grani's got things figured out on his end and gotten a hold of Yamaki. I want to wipe the sand of this place off my boots as soon as possible. Me and this place never got along well._

* * *

_He retreated into the darkness of his mind, blocking out the pain that racked his body. A 'safe place' one could say, though it did little to protect him from the ravages of the outside world. At least this darkness was calmer…_ cooler. _It lacked the baking heat of the outside conflict. No pounding heart, no beating skull…nothing of the rage and anger resounded within this place. It almost felt as though he were…_ whole _again. But he knew that such was not the case…right? His fragmentation, manifesting in the monstrous form that had killed Gallantmon, was a sign of that. So why did he feel so whole in this darkness? Calmed by the shadows that surrounded him?_

_No answer came to him. Not even the voice of GranDracmon sought to enlighten him._

_He could still feel GranDracmon's presence hovering near him, suffocating him. The shadows shifted and the demon's voice broke the silence._

_"Is this how you intend to end things?"_

_He gave no answer. Words felt as though they were beyond him. Passions ruled his body. The breakdown of his union, his instability, prevented him from forming those necessary sounds for communication._

_GranDracmon chuckled within the shadows._

_"Takato wouldn't have let things go like this. He wouldn't have surrendered. It's hard to believe that a part of him exists within you, with the way you are now."_

_Ta…ka…to…_

_The image of the boy lying on the ground, his eyes staring up at the sky with such emptiness, flickered through his mind._

_"You wanted to protect Noriko," continued GranDracmon. "You've arrived at your answer…the answer to your question as to who your partner is, did you not? Your battle with Takato proved that. You know who you are…what your place is in things. You cannot simply shut yourself off. Why do you do so? Is it because…ahhh…"_

_The image of Takato's lifeless body flickered through his mind once more, and GranDracmon laughed once more._

_"So…that little speck of light called a conscience continues to exist within you. You found yourself a reason to not fight back…to accept the way things are going. Well…without the Digital Hazard empowering you, you are certainly no match for the swarm. Your instability isn't helping you either, and you're using them to tell yourself that it's okay to fail here. That in some way you are repenting for the death that you caused._

_"Sorry. But I'm not going to let you escape your crime that easily. Just you watch. You cannot overcome the power of your destiny…"_

_As GranDracmon's voice drifted off into the shadows, he felt his body convulse as an invisible lightning suddenly ripped through his body. The feeling of fangs and claws returned to him in full force. His eyes opening, he saw…_

* * *

…A DexDoruGoramon stood over the open wound in his chest, its mouth hovering open just a few feet away from the pulsing blue digi-core lying within, exposed and vulnerable. The dragon moved closer towards it, saliva dripping from its wet fangs and onto the sphere.

A slick of darkness, like oil, moved across the surface of the digi-core, and for an instant, the DexDoruGoramon hesitated.

That instant, was all that _it_ needed.

Like a coiled serpent, the darkness ripped free from the digi-core, tearing a scream from _Lumemon's_ mouth and grabbed hold of the DexDoruGoramon by the throat, spearing its way through the dragon's armor. Static ran across the DexDoruGoramon's body, and within short order its scream soon joined _Lumemon's_. Its claws flung towards the oil-like darkness, tearing at it. The shadow flowed like liquid through its talons, ripping free from Lumemon's digi-core and disappearing into the DexDoruGoramon's body. The dragon staggered backwards, a strange choking sound making its way out of its throat before it became still. Surrounding it, the remaining DexDoruGoramon and DexDoraGreymon eyed their ally warily. Lumemon breathed slowly, data fracturing and bleeding away from his ruined body. His storm colored eyes blinked carefully and feathery wings lifted half-heartedly.

_Feathers…_

_I'm…normal again?_ Thought Lumemon in wonder. He turned his face towards his hand, twitching his fingers absently as the pain in his chest subsided ever so slightly. The thought, and the emotion that went with it, felt distant however. Almost unimportant.

_Data loss…_ Lumemon realized that he was dangerously close to breaking apart and reformatting. His eyes looked to the sky and followed the shards of data that flowed away from his body. The DexDoruGreymon surrounding him were quick to take notice of it, and they eagerly began absorbing it. Surprisingly, a low growl emanated from the back of his mouth in response. It sounded weak however, and the DexDoruGreymon took no notice of it.

However, _someone_ did.

It happened faster than any of the dragons could notice. A tail tipped with a scythe slashed outwards, effectively decapitating the DexDoruGreymon surrounding Lumemon before they could react. The surviving swarm shrieked and bellowed roars. The tail whipped about and retracted back to its owner. The DexDoruGoramon that had just seconds ago been attacked by the darkness from _Lumemon's_ digi-core gave a contemptuous snarl at them before focusing his attention on his counterpart. Dark, blue-colored flames gathered around his claws and he launched it at the other DexDoruGoramon. The other dragon was caught completely unprepared for the assault, and his body exploded in fire, sending him careening to the ground in a flurry flame and smoke. Lumemon eyed his 'savior' with suspicious eyes, and the dragon nodded to him in acknowledgement.

_He's different…_ thought Lumemon wearily. _This one's body has changed. Something has altered his code…_

_"Yes,"_ spoke up the _DexDoruGoramon,_ its voice resonating within the dragon's helmet like wind blowing in a dragon raised its tail to emphasize its point. Where once a metallic sphere connected to it remained a deadly scythe affixed to silver armor covered in a spider-web of knotted, oily-darkness. Black armor and steel wings colored a deep, ocean-like blue replaced violet and dulled gray. Claws once barbed and red were black and serrated, with flowing flame-like curves at their top edges. Red eyes stared out from behind its armored mask, and upon seeing them Lumemon's breath caught in his throat.

"…Gran…Dracmon…"

_"Not quite. I told you before…I am just his voice. But now I have obtained a physical form with which to carry out my mission. For everyone that is steeped in darkness, they contain the essence of a sin. You were Pride. But I…I am different from you. You incubated me. I am not a mere digimon corrupted by the seeds of darkness. I am a servant. A tool. A weapon. GranDracmon's weapon. I…am war made flesh and steel. The Juggernaut for the apocalypse."_

Movement shifted behind the creature, and his tail slashed outwards, causing data to spray into the air. Lumemon fancied that the dragon was _smiling_ beneath his helmet.

_"I have saved you for my master's purposes. I have restored to you the form you have taken in your rebirth…for a time. Your instability remains and this…"_ the dragon pointed a claw towards Lumemon's gaping wound. _"…Needs to be seen to."_

Rearing upwards, the DexDoruGoramon took in the swarm of DexDoruGreymon that was now circling it. Lumemon's gaze followed him.

"I don't…I don't understand…"

_"You don't need to."_ The dragon glanced down at Lumemon and raised a finger. A bolt of energy burst outwards and connected with the angel's digi-core. Lumemon shot up from the ground, his arms wrapping around his body in shock as energy coursed through his system. Data continued to flow out of his body however, and his injury remained. _"I cannot heal you. But I can buy you some time. When I make my move, you will fly as fast and as far as you can away from here."_

"But…" Lumemon stared down at the hole in his chest and at the pulsating sphere contained within. Gingerly he fingered the edges of the injury. His hands were shaking, and his wings felt weak. He could fly but… A quick glance around him did little to comfort him. DexDoruGreymon howled and shrieked. It wouldn't be long before they launched their attack.

Fire burst around the DexDoruGoramon's claws.

_"No more talk. The time for talking is over. Fly…or die. Those are the only options left to you now. You are worth more alive to my master than dead, Lumemon. My existence means nothing. Yours does. You will live. You_ will _move!"_

As though to emphasize his point, the armored dragon fired a stream of flame at Lumemon, carving a line in the sand and dragging it towards him like a knife. Staggering to his feet, Lumemon got out of the way and flexed his wings. They shuddered from the movement, but they would support him. The energy that coursed through his system gave him a renewed sense of strength. Nodding again, the dark warrior turned away from the angel and focused his attention on the swarm of DexDoruGreymon. He raised his claws.

_"Dorudiin,"_ he intoned, and the DexDoruGreymon dove towards him.

* * *

Smoke was billowing up into the air when Gallantmon and Sakuyamon touched down on the ruined battlefield. Pursing her lips together, Sakuyamon surveyed the landscape. The desert floor was blackened in some areas, and the severed remains of DexDoruGreymon, barely recognizable, littered the desert, slowly fragmenting into individual shards of data. One that remained alive raised its head weakly into the air, sensing new prey, but lacking the ability to do anything about them it soon collapsed. Data began to rise from its body almost immediately.

Gallantmon winced.

"What happened here?" the crimson knight asked.

"Search me," replied Sakuyamon. "We'd better be quick about this and find Lumemon. You guys fought him…could he have done this?"

"He was pretty tough the last time we faced him," nodded Gallantmon carefully. "It's possible…"

The earth shook beneath them as another explosion, this one much farther off, echoed through the land. Gallantmon and Sakuyamon exchanged glances.

"Sounds like the party is still going on," said the shaman priestess. Gallantmon didn't answer right away, instead opting to locate the source of the noise. The landscape looked as though there had been one continuous fight carving its way over it.

_There's a lot of these dragon guys here,_ thought Takato in his crimson data sphere as he moved over to where one of the DexDoruGreymon lay. The dragon was most definitely dead, but for some reason it had not yet burst apart as was customary of digimon when they died. Gallantmon frowned beneath his visor, wondering why that was.

He was soon interrupted from his thoughts as a shadow fell over the dragon's body and a small, angelic figure fell out of the sky. Reaching out instinctively, Gallantmon caught the angel in his armored hands. He held his breath as he waited for it to show some sign of life. Feathers stirred, and Gallantmon soon released his breath in one loud sigh.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

The angel froze, and then looked up. Grey eyes were wide with bewilderment, and Gallantmon had to fight to keep his own surprise down.

Looking up at him, in his own hands, was Lumemon.

"You're…alive…" the angel breathed, and surprisingly Takato found himself chuckling.

_"Well…I guess that you'll have to try harder next time, huh?"_

Lumemon's mouth fell agape at the Royal Knight, unable to believe that he had just made a joke about their battle so easily. Takato was _dead!_ He died! He was sure of it! And yet here he was, defying that fact with his very existence.

"H-How…wha…?"

"I could be asking the same question about you," said Gallantmon. "When we last saw you, you were, well, a lot bigger."

_"Not to mention kinda angry."_

_"Guilmon…"_

"I'm sure you guys have a _lot_ of catching up to do," interceded Sakuyamon. "But I think we'd better get moving now."

The shaman priestess pointed towards the horizon, and Gallantmon's eyes widened as a flood of darkness, appearing like storm clouds with small flecks at the edges, suddenly swarmed into view. It was more than just a dark cloud. Gallantmon's eyesight was not as good as Beelzemon's third eye, but it was good enough to pick out the individual DexDoruGreymon that were rushing towards them. Within his data sphere, Takato swallowed.

_"Awww…nuts…"_


	184. 183: Race to the Finish Line

"You're telling me that you mean to _trust_ this program?!" sputtered Kuroda in surprise. _"This_ program?!" To greater emphasize his shock, he raised one hand and pointed at the screen where the image of Grani appeared. Grani raised a digital eyebrow at the human curiously and turned towards Yamaki, wondering what his reply would be.

"The signals that we are picking up indicate that it is the same as the Zero Arms Grani that we created a year ago."

"It also looks a little bit like Takato," replied Riley from her seat. "And he did say that Grani became a part of him during the final battle with the D-Reaper. It's possible that Grani took on Takato's appearance so that we would feel more comfortable talking to him."

"And I add artificial flavoring to my diet drinks to disguise the taste, but that doesn't change what it is. Seriously, Yamaki. How can you even trust that thing? You're going to go on just a few scans and its word that thing is what it says it is?"

"Do you have a better idea?" asked Yamaki pointedly. "Grani showed the potential for evolving, and it knows how to backtrack to the Hypnos systems. It's done so before. It knows how dire the situation is becoming, and it can help guide our systems. That's better than what we can manage right now."

Kuroda gritted his teeth.

"All right. I'll give. But if this thing blows up in our faces, don't forget that I warned you. You've been going on trust too often with too many unknown factors lately. This 'flying by the seat of our pants on a wing and a prayer' doesn't sit well with me…"

"If you feel that you cannot handle your responsibilities," interrupted Yamaki smoothly, "than leave. We have enough personnel to carry out this task."

Kuroda glowered at Yamaki.

"I'll stay," he answered before continuing on in his head. _If only because I don't see anyone else steering on the course of sanity around here…_

"Very well then," Yamaki nodded before returning his attention back to Grani. "Are you prepared?"

_"I have finished downloading the necessary information and required telemetry to carry out operations. All that I require is the Ark program."_

"It's almost finished. In the meantime, we're going to work on contacting the rest of the Tamers…"

_"I can help with that. The Tracers that you deployed have boosted my signals tremendously. I should be able to contact them through their partners as they are better suited to receiving transmissions. Some of the Tamers are in biomerged form, and will be more easily contacted due to their digimon nature. I will relay your orders and supply them with the necessary directions."_

Yamaki nodded and turned towards Riley. "Assist Grani using whatever means are at your disposal."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Grani retreated back to the Tracer. It wouldn't be long now. The new Ark program would be ready soon…how long? Minutes he was certain if the residual information backlog he had been picking up meant anything. Then would come the task of giving it a corporeal form in the spatial warp between the two worlds. An easy enough task for his creators if he himself was any indication. The only difficulty would be making it through the barriers.

_And that's why I'm here,_ thought Grani to himself. _With the numerous programs that the Chuchidarumon village has at its command I should be able to affect their return flight back to the real world by taking some of the processing load off of Hypnos._ Grani frowned. _If only the data at the village wasn't so badly deteriorated…_

Not for the first time did Grani wonder just who it was that had first constructed the Chuchidarumon village. It struck him that with the vast wealth of information stored there that it couldn't have been the Sovereigns. They would have made certain to keep it in repair rather than let it fragment so much. The decayed state that the village was in was the primary reason why the motorcycle _Behemoth_ had run loose…broken free from its program seals.

_Village of discarded data…that may have been what it turned into over time, but the more I look at it, the more that its existence seems…_ purposeful.

Grani shrugged the thought off for the time being. As curious as he was about the truth of the Chuchidarumon village, he had more pressing matters to be concerned about. Moving his mind through the various programs imbedded in the Tracers he quickly relocated the Tamers and activated Hypnos' communication network. He could feel algorithms flowing through him, streamlined by Riley's efficient work. Grani smiled as he felt them doing their job, hacking their way past the interference that the digital world normally imposed upon communication signals. Stretching his digital limbs, he focused on the data patterns of the Tamers and their partners. They were separate, which would make coordination difficult, but if everything worked out the way that they were supposed to…

_I believe we can do this,_ thought Grani, remembering the words of encouragement Takato had spoken to him when he first brought them home. _I know that we can._

* * *

"Whoa!" Rapidmon suddenly drew to a halt. No sooner did he do Kuzuhamon and the heart bubble containing MarineAngemon, Urocyomon, Kenta, Henry, Jeri, and their digignome charge, did likewise. All eyes focused on him curiously.

"Um…Rapidmon?" called out Henry, stepping up to the edge of the bubble. "Are you all right?"

"Uh…" the green android's eyes frowned introspectively. "I thought I heard something."

_Oookay…_ "Could you be more specific?"

"Maybe you just heard us talking," put in Kenta. Rapidmon scowled at the bespectacled boy.

"I'm pretty sure that I would have known if it was one of you guys."

"Right," said Urocyomon, hefting his spear. "Because you have the largest ears in this group, and now they're mechanical and perfect for zeroing in on targets. I used to think that they were just for show."

"Are you insulting me, fox face?"

"Momentai already," cut in Kuzuhamon, earning him a bewildered look from Rapidmon, Henry, and Kenta. "Rapidmon. Do you still hear whatever it is that you heard earlier?"

"…No…"

"Then we should continue. Noriko has pinpointed Lumemon's position. If I recall correctly, the direction we're heading is the same one that Henry said Takato and Rika were heading to. We have to use as much speed as possible, and we cannot afford to lose time to any distractions."

"Finally," breathed Henry with a smile on his face. "Someone with a little bit of focus. Now how about we get moving again?"

"All right, all right," grumbled Rapidmon. "But I still say that I heard something…"

"We'll deal with it later, Rapidmon. Right now we've got to get going."

The group resumed their course, increasing their speed as they did so to make up for the lost time. MarineAngemon huffed as he pushed the heart bubble, and Kenta looked at him worriedly. The little fairy digimon was not used to traveling at Rapidmon's speeds, and the android had been flying slower than normal so as to not leave anyone behind. At least, that was what qualified as _slow_ for Rapidmon while still being able to make a decent amount of time across the vast track of desert. And now they were moving even faster.

The sound of Kenta swiping a stamina card through his D-Arc reached Rapidmon's ears, and his thoughts turned back to the sound that he heard earlier.

_I know that I heard something,_ he thought to himself. _My ears never lie. They may be big and pick up a lot…more than I should from what Renamon says, but they do their job. I could have sworn that I heard someone talking to me, and it didn't sound like any one that I'm flying with. It kind of sounded familiar though. Kind of like…like…_ Rapidmon strained his now mechanical brain for a face to place with the voice that he had heard. It had been so low that he barely heard it to begin with, and it had been greatly distorted to boot.

_Maybe I'm just going crazy and was just hearing things. It wouldn't be the first time. Back home I always insisted that I heard food calling my name, and I'm pretty sure that Suzie's games left me traumatized. Tutus and Princess Pretty Pants…_ Rapidmon shuddered mentally. _That's enough to make even the D-Reaper cry. I wonder why we didn't try using a tutu…_

_"…Erriermon…"_

_Huh?_

"Okay…now I _know_ I heard something that time!"

"What are you talking about now?" grumbled Urocyomon. "Are you still going on about the mysterious voices in your head?"

_"…Come in…iermon…u…ad me?"_

"Hey! Who's there?!" called out Rapidmon, bringing himself to a halt once more and swiveling around.

"Terriermon!" Henry exclaimed, beginning to worry about his partner.

"Oh, great," groaned Urocyomon. "The cyborg rabbit is losing it…"

"Would you be quiet, already?" Kenta scolded the silver-furred fox fiercely. "We're trying to help him!"

"Pih!" added MarineAngemon, to which Urocyomon's eyes widened considerably in surprise. He did as he had been bid fortunately, and frowned curiously at Rapidmon.

"Rapidmon!" called out Henry again. "Talk to me…"

"Someone's trying to get a hold of me! They're talking to me in my head! It…it almost sounds like Takato, but…"

"What? _Takato's_ trying to contact you?"

"Would you listen to me for a sec, Henry? I wasn't finished! I said it _almost_ sounds like Takato, but the voice is different! It's like talking to a machine actually and…man. If only I could hear this guy better…"

Urocyomon knelt and began tracing his claw on the surface of the bubble. A small circle materialized and took on a light, bluish glow. Urocyomon looked back up at Rapidmon.

"Any better?"

"Huh?"

_"Terriermon. This is Grani. Do you read me?"_

"Wha…? _Grani?!_ buh…how…?"

_"I am assisting Hypnos. They are putting together a new Ark program to rescue all of you. I have the coordinates and an estimated time frame for when it arrives to pick you up. All of you must be there as soon as possible."_

"Uh…that's going to be a problem…"

"Rapidmon!" called out Henry. "What's going on?"

"Grani's telling me that Yamaki's got a plan to pick us up! We've all got to be somewhere at a specific time again. Huh? Oh. And he's aware that we're all over the place too. He says that he's got that covered though."

Henry frowned and looked over his shoulder at Noriko before returning his attention to Rapidmon.

"We still have to find Lumemon…"

"Yeah, I know and…" Rapidmon paused, listening attentively to the voice that only he could hear. "Oh. He says that Takato and Rika got him and are on the move. He's going to be contacting them after he's done with us."

"How does he know what's going on?"

"I don't know. He seems to have access to _something_ …uh…eye in the sky? Oh. I guess he hacked into something Yamaki launched earlier…the same thing that let him send us that big sword from when we were all biomerged."

"Henry?" asked Jeri, pulling the digignome in her arms more tightly to her chest. "We're going to meet with Takato and Rika, right?"

Henry massaged his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't see why not," he replied. "They might need our help handling Lumemon." Henry thought back to when he was biomerged with everyone. It had been an amazing experience, feeling the emotions and thoughts of his friends flowing through him, and he knew that when this adventure was over he was going to have a lot to think over. There was one thing he knew for certain though. A memory flickered through his mind. One that he felt come from Takato Matsuki. A giant, two faced dragon that greatly resembled Megidramon…

"Actually Henry," said Rapidmon. "Grani says that we should head to the place where the Ark's coming down."

"Why?" asked Henry. Rapidmon paused as he listened to Grani's voice before relaying the information to his partner.

"Because we have to be ready to get out of here as fast as possible. According to Grani we have trouble coming our way."

"Never a dull day in the digital world," groaned Henry, massaging the back of his head. "Does he know what kind of trouble?"

"Hold on a second. Hey! Grani! Did you hear what Henry asked?" Rapidmon paused before speaking again. "He says that there's a swarm of digimon coming this way. Digimon of a real nasty type. He doesn't know what, but they're making a mess."

"A mess?" Kenta asked fearfully.

"Yeah. I'd say on a scale of one to ten it rates Megidramon. Grani's being pretty specific that we move _real_ fast and not get into a fight with these guys."

"With the way that we're all scattered I don't think either is going to be easy," pointed out Kenta. MarineAngemon turned towards his partner and began speaking in his usual fashion of _pihs_ and _puhs_. Kenta frowned. "I don't know about that, buddy…"

"What did he say, Kenta?" asked Henry.

"MarineAngemon wants to know if Oni could help us, since he's now a digignome and everything. We could wish for a way home or something."

All eyes turned towards Jeri, who shifted Oni's inert body in her arms. The digignome had been unconscious ever since their battle ended and he had been returned to his original form. The happy, childish, energetic nature that they were normally used to seeing with such digital creature's was absent in his sleep, as were the more negative aspects of the forms Oni had adopted before.

"I don't know guys," said Jeri. "I don't think he's up to anything like that."

"I'll be honest," said Kenta, adjusting his glasses in an exhausted manner. "I don't feel that I could trust him with that kind of thing either. He did try to kill us and destroy the digital world. He's done a lot of bad things before too, if Noriko and Dracmon's stories mean anything…"

Henry glanced over at Noriko, who was looking at Oni warily. Her red eyes shifted away and met Henry's gray ones. Her lips pressed together into one thin line and she looked away. Although she didn't say anything, Henry could tell that she was equally opposed to the idea of asking Oni for help after everything they had been through because of him. He could hardly blame her. He felt exactly the same way when dealing with Beelzemon when he started helping them.

"Either way," said Henry. "Even if we could trust Oni, like Jeri said he's in no condition to help us. Rapidmon. Did Grani give you any further information?"

"He downloaded some map program into my head. He says you can access it through me with your digivice. It's supposed to guide us to where we need to be so that the Ark can pick us up."

"What about the digimon? How much time do we have?"

"He didn't give me a time. Hold on. Hey, Grani!" Rapidmon again was silent for a moment, and his eyes narrowed in frustration. "Uh…Grani? Graniii…"

"Sounds like he hung up on you," said Kenta.

"Pih, pih."

"That's kind of mean, MarineAngemon…"

"He's saying bad things about me, isn't he?" scowled Rapidmon.

"Momentai, Rapidmon," interrupted Henry, growing exasperated with how the conversation kept getting off track. "Focus. What's going on?"

"I think it's like Kenta said. I think Grani hung up on me. He was saying something about getting in touch with everyone."

Henry groaned mentally in frustration and tapped one finger against his chin.

"Okay. That…affects things." Henry took a deep breath and calmed his racing thoughts. He needed them quiet so that he could think. Rough waters did little to help him develop a plan that he had become so well known for. "So according to Grani we have a limited amount of time to get everyone together at a specific location. It might be best to assume the worst about how much time we have available…"

"Let's not forget that Grani wants us to steer clear of 'em and not get into any fights."

"I wonder why that is," said Kenta.

"It could be any reason," replied Henry. "If they're as bad as Grani says they are then it could be anything from a deadly program to just the amount of time it would take to fight them off. Either way, until we encounter one…if we encounter one, it's not going to do us any good wondering why they're dangerous."

"Yeah," piped in Rapidmon. "After all, just about everything in the digital world is dangerous in one way or another. What's another digimon that we just happen to not know anything about?"

"Rapidmon…" Henry frowned at his partner before resuming. "Speed is emphasized in getting everyone together…that leaves us with Rapidmon and Crusadermon, but we're still limited in what we can do and how much ground we can cover."

While Henry was thinking aloud Jeri glanced over at Urocyomon. The silver furred kitsune noticed her eyeing him and he raised an eyebrow at her before realization clicked in his mind. Tightening his grip on his spear he stood up.

"I might have a way to bring everyone to the desired location," he said, catching everyone's attention. "But I can't make any guarantees about its success."

Kuzuhamon's head snapped over to Urocyomon.

"No!" she stated harshly, a violet aura materializing around her body. "That ability put too much strain on you the last time. Your flame nearly perished! You may have Gyōjamon's spear, but you do _not_ have his experience or his power!"

"What's he talking about?" asked Henry, curious.

"It's how me, Takato, Rika, and the others arrived where you guys were fighting, remember? Urocyomon can call data streams and have them bring someone to where they need to be."

"That's not how it works," scowled Urocyomon. "I only affect the probability that things might turn out that way. Like I said: there's _no_ guarantee. If something outside my affected factors, and it could be _anything,_ enters it can easily mess up the whole operation. It's even harder with having to deal with four separate teams and having to be very specific about it. It's extremely taxing on my energy, as Kuzuhamon pointed out, and that increases the risk that something might go wrong."

Suzie, who had been surprisingly quiet up to this point stopped rubbing her hand through Lopmon's fur and looked over at Urocyomon.

"You can bwing evewyone home though, wight?"

"Uh…" Urocyomon blinked at the unexpected question. "Well…not really…"

"I think my sister means to ask," clarified Henry, "can you bring everyone to the location?"

"I told you, it's extremely difficult…"

"I know that, Urocyomon. But can you do it?"

Urocyomon paused, seeing the frustration that was rising in the boy's eyes. They were all but storm clouds surrounding his pupils. In the short time that he had been around this human, he had seen him agitated and frustrated, but never to this degree. Events were clearly weighing heavily on his mind, and the way that they kept piling up was not making things any easier on him.

_We're running out of viable options. That Grani fellow from the village…for some reason he wants us to stay out of the way of whatever it is that's coming out way. He wants us to move quickly too. As quick as we can. Everyone's exhausted too. That's not exactly doing any favors for anyone's tempers, and there's the safety of the group to consider. The group and his sister…_

Urocyomon closed his eyes and after a quick consulting with his inner workings he nodded.

"Yes. I can do it."

"All right," said Henry. "I'm not exactly happy with this plan, but it looks like we have to make it work." Pulling out his green trimmed digivice, Henry activated it and a holographic map appeared above its screen. "We'll head to the coordinates and work things out from there."

* * *

"Rika! Look out!"

Sakuyamon ducked beneath an incoming claw a split second before it could collide with her head. A shout of _Lightning Joust_ filled the air, and the limb was severed, bursting into shards of data. The DexDoruGreymon that the arm belonged to screamed, only to be literally cut off as the blast of lightning emanating from Gallantmon's energy saber cut upwards, bisecting its body across its abdomen. The DexDoruGreymon's lower half dropped towards the distant ground below while the upper half continued onwards stubbornly for a few seconds before it too, upon realizing that it was effectively dead, joined it in freefall; a victim of the harsh mistress that is gravity. Spinning around Gallantmon checked on Sakuyamon to make sure that she was all right.

"Nice save," said the shaman priestess to his unspoken question. Gallantmon nodded, relief flooding his mind.

"How's Lumemon?"

Sakuyamon grimaced and looked down at the angelic digimon in her arms. Her hand was pressed against the gaping wound in his chest and glowing brightly. Lumemon did not look good. His skin had become pale and sickly looking. To be honest both Tamers and digimon were surprised that he had managed to get as far as he did with such an injury, never mind get anywhere at all. Lumemon had tried to explain the situation through his shock of finding Takato 'alive' (something that had caught Rika's curiosity though she left that topic alone for now), but his injuries had gone a great way towards making him incomprehensible.

"Not good," she answered. "The wound's not closing up fast enough. It's like it's resisting me somehow. There's something unusual about his data. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it feels like it doesn't want to cooperate."

_"Guilmon,"_ spoke up Takato's voice from within Gallantmon. _"You did something earlier after our fight with Lumemon…"_

_"Yeah,"_ replied the reptilian digimon, nodding the Royal Knight's head. _"It was a gift from another Gallantmon."_

_"Uh… 'Another Gallantmon'?"_

_"Yeah. He said it was a little bit like making a wish on a digignome. I've been trying to wish Lumemon back to being healthy, but for some reason I haven't had any luck with it."_

_"Keep trying, Guilmon. You seem to know more about it than I do."_ Gallantmon threw a look over his shoulder. _"They're getting closer…"_

"You noticed?" asked Sakuyamon sarcastically. "And here I thought that was a completely different digimon trying to take my head off earlier."

_"Very funny. We've got to keep moving and meet up with the others as soon as possible. Man, I hope that they haven't met up with these guys yet…they seem to stretch in every direction! It's like we're surrounded!"_

_"How'll we get out of this, Takatomon?"_ asked Guilmon's voice, reverting to his old name for his partner as the stress of the moment began to get to him. From within his data sphere Takato shook his head.

_"I don't know, Guilmon. But we'll find a way."_

_"While such optimism is warranted, Takato,"_ spoke up Sakuyamon in Renamon's voice, _"it doesn't help us with the 'how' part of the question. We are clearly outnumbered, and in our present state of physical exhaustion we won't be able to hold our own for very long. It's a wonder that we've managed to hold our Mega forms for this long."_

Gallantmon looked back over at the swarm that was surging towards them. In spite of the speed that they were putting into getting away from their pursuers it didn't look like they were getting any further away. Quite the opposite in fact. If the two DexDoruGreymon he had had to take out in the past twenty minutes were any indication they were getting _closer._ Already he could see some specks that had detached from the dark cloud taking the shape of dragons as they zeroed in on them. And their number was increasing.

_Not good…_

Gallantmon's hand tightened its hold on the handle of his weapon.

_Whatever it takes, I'll protect Rika and Renamon with everything that I have. I can't let these guys lay a claw on her! There's got to be some way that we can escape these guys…_

Sadly, no plan was fast forming in Takato's mind. All that the two Megas could do was fly across the desert as fast as they could, and hope that the worst would not happen.

_We can do this,_ thought Takato determinedly. _I_ know _we can!_

And yet, deep in his heart, the worm of false hope moved through him. For the strangest reason he had a feeling that luck would not be with them in the face of such odds.


	185. 184: Soul Scream

"Okay," said Urocyomon, retracting his spear from the sand and wiping his brow. "It's done."

Henry rubbed his chin as he took in the intricate design that the fox digimon had carved into the desert. It was circular in nature, very much like the Mandala symbol that he remembered Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon forming during the battle at the Chuchidarumon village. Its design appeared much simpler in comparison, with fewer characters, leaving Henry with a worried feeling about it. Terriermon shared the same sentiment, and was quick to voice it.

"That's one sloppy sketch job, there…"

"Terriermon…"

"Come on, Henry! I know you were thinkin' it! Takato draws better than that, and we know how bad his artwork can be! I mean, Guilmon didn't exactly come out right, and he doesn't look quite the same as the drawing itself either."

Henry rolled his eyes and then paused.

"Hold on. Were you just making fun of Guilmon?"

Terriermon giggled.

"Kind of slow on the uptake, aren't you? Did your parents draw you too? I thought you said humans reproduce or something…"

"This conversation is moving in a decidedly uncomfortable direction," groaned Henry, shaking his head.

"Then how about we move beyond it?" asked Urocyomon materializing at the edge of his circle so that he could talk to the Tamers. "I admit that this isn't my best work, but we're kind of pressed for time."

"How do we know that this won't end up transporting only half of the others?" asked Terriermon pointedly. "You know, like, having them appear with part of them missing?"

"It doesn't work like that. Well…actually it sort of does, but that depends on whether or not the Data Stream disappears suddenly while the data is in transit."

"Has that ever happened before?" asked Henry.

"It's been known to, but the occurrence is rare enough to be almost non-existent. I'd say that there's maybe a 0.001 percent chance of such an event occurring. Then again, that's when the movement of Data Streams and transportation of objects is natural. As you know, this," Urocyomon indicated the Mandala, "is not. Direct data manipulation by someone inexperienced like me is prone to difficulties. There are a lot of factors to consider…more than I can keep track of. I've narrowed it down to what's important and hoping for the best." Urocyomon scowled. "I wish Gyōjamon were here. He'd have no difficulty transporting three teams to this location."

A somber moment fell over the group, during which Jeri stepped forward, offering the fox digimon a comforting smile.

"I know you'll do fine," she said confidently. "You brought me, Takato, Rika, and everyone else together the first time. I know you can do it again."

"Yeah, except that last time he nearly killed himself," muttered Terriermon under his breath, to which Henry promptly rapped him on the side of his head.

"Terriermon!" he hissed. Urocyomon snorted and turned towards Kuzuhamon, who was kneeling a short ways off. Her hands were on the ground, glowing brightly.

"How's the barrier, Kuzuhamon?" he asked. The dark-haired shaman priestess smiled.

"More than fine, Kit," she said teasingly. "The wind isn't going to blow over your spell tracing anytime soon."

Urocyomon nodded, noting that ever since her power increased she had returned to her normal, confident, playful manner that had been absent since Alice had disappeared. He could only wonder what things would be like once— _if—_ Alice returned to her.

_The two of them combined would be most…problematic,_ he shuddered, his silver fur starting to stand up on end. Seeing this, Kuzuhamon allowed a grin to grace her face, and Urocyomon turned away, ignoring her.

"All right. Let's get this over with." Pulling up his bag, Urocyomon began digging through it, removing select items from it and setting them around the seal. As he did so, the Mandala began to glow, increasing in intensity as each item was placed in its spot. Kuzuhamon watched him carefully. She had been against this at first, but now she could tell that unlike before, he now had the power to spare for this task, and in spite of what he said about himself she could tell that he was skilled enough at manipulating data to accomplish his task.

_Gyōjamon would be proud of him,_ thought Kuzuhamon, smiling to herself. _I wish that he were here to see him._ Kuzuhamon chuckled. _He'd probably have something to say about his technique…something disparaging. All teachers are like that. They only want to bring out the best. Still, I remember how he mentioned to me that he didn't remember seeing a student like him…_

As Kuzuhamon contemplated the young fox, she continued to watch him. As he moved about the circle, she saw something gather around him, and for an instant his body flickered, and a taller figure, and garbed in a familiar robe that she recognized all too well materialized around him like a separate entity

_Gyōjamon?!_ Kuzuhamon's eyes widened in shock at the specter that had appeared. As though the figure had sensed her, Gyōjamon straitened himself and looked her in the eye. His mask vanished and a smile crossed his face. Kuzuhamon blinked, and then Gyōjamon was gone; disappeared as though he had never been. In his place, Urocyomon continued busily with his work, fine-tuning the Mandala.

_He's gone…_ thought Kuzuhamon before her eyes widened even further in realization. _Gyojamon_ is _gone. I don't…he…he must have known when he gave Urocyomon his spear. He knew that he wouldn't be able to make it. That that was going to be the last time that we would see him._ Kuzuhamon's eyes lingered on Urocyomon as they softened. _By the Mother…how am I going to explain it to him? He'll want to return to the village and…_

"Is everything all right, Kuzuhamon?" asked Jeri, causing the shaman to jump in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry?" Kuzuhamon stammered.

"You look kind of worried about something. I was wondering if you were all right."

"I'm fine. I'm…fine." Kuzuhamon offered Jeri a small smile before returning her attention to Urocyomon. He was almost done with the Mandala. Within a short period, he would activate it, and then bring everyone to this location.

_Everyone except his teacher,_ she commiserated.

* * *

_"Lightning Joust!"_

Another DexDoruGreymon's body collapsed to the ground, its neck cleanly severed from its body, where it burst into shards of data. Flying above it, Gallantmon looked over his shoulder at Sakuyamon.

"That's the tenth one," he said to her. "They're getting closer."

Looking away from another Dying DexDoruGreymon Sakuyamon nodded, biting back a frustrated remark over how she could see that perfectly herself. Neither of them needed to be getting on each other's nerves at this point. They just needed to keep moving.

_This is not going to be easy though,_ thought Rika from within her data sphere as the two Megas rushed through the desert, once again trying to put as much distance between themselves and their pursuers as possible. They were attacking them in larger groups now. Glancing over her shoulder at the oncoming swarm, Sakuyamon winced. How long until the number they had just dispatched doubled? Or tripled? Or…? The shaman's thoughts stopped on that point. She couldn't afford to focus on that right now. That last battle only delayed them by a few minutes, but that seemed to be all that the swarm of digimon needed to get even closer to them. _It looks like we're really going to have to bust ourselves to lose them._

_"Rika,"_ spoke up Renamon's voice from the darkness surrounding the girl's data sphere. _"I am uncertain that we are going to be able to lose these digimon."_

_"Way to be positive, Renamon,"_ Rika snorted, though her words belied her true feelings. _"But you're right. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about what's going on with those guys. There's a lot of them and they're all coming this way. Judging from how things look, I'd say that they were coming this route anyway, and we just happened to be in their way."_

Rika felt Renamon nod her agreement.

_"It would be a good idea to begin formulate a plan for how to deal with them. They are relentless, and in the condition that our group is in, I do not believe that we could hold them off indefinitely."_

"Are you saying that we should retreat?" asked Gallantmon, now joining in on the conversation.

_"We may have no other choice,"_ continued Renamon. _"We have no quick method to return home at this point, and as I stated before we are not in the condition for a protracted fight against an enemy this size."_

_"So what do we do then?"_ asked Rika in frustration. _"I mean, I hate to admit it, but you guys are right, but it's not like we can run anywhere. And last I checked this place is a desert. That doesn't give us a whole lot of places to hide in, and I don't think digging a hole and covering it up is going to help us much. I get the feeling that these guys have noses as good as Guilmon."_

_"Why thank you,"_ chirped Guilmon happily.

_"Um…she wasn't complimenting you, boy…"_

_"Huh? Oh…"_

_"Anyway,"_ said Takato, catching the 'are you two done?' look crossing Sakuyamon's face, _"why don't we try using a Data Stream? Those things are a dime a dozen around here, and even though we don't know where they'll send us, it's got to be a better alternative compared to where we are now."_

_"He does have a point there,"_ agreed Rika. _"We just have to catch up with everyone."_

_"…Ato…ka…"_

Gallantmon frowned beneath his helmet as he heard a voice.

_"Did you say something, Guilmon?"_

_"No, but I heard the same thing you did."_

"So did we," answered Sakuyamon, shifting Lumemon in her arms. "Who's there?"

_"It sounded like Grani. I think he's trying to communicate with us."_

"Hmmm…" Sakuyamon shifted Lumemon's unconscious body so that she could hold him in the crook of her left arm more easily while bringing out her bronze Vajra staff. "Let's see what we can do to help him out. It doesn't sound like he's having an easy time."

Spinning her staff through the air, the shaman priestess unleashed a storm of cherry blossom leaves surrounding the two biomerged Tamers.

_"Two hearts,"_ she intoned musically. _"A friend reaches out. Beating stone. My heart calls."_

_"And is answered, Ms. Nonaka,"_ came the voice of Grani to the two Tamers. _"Thank you."_

"Grani!" exclaimed Gallantmon.

_"Greetings once again, Takato. Guilmon. I come with news for you. Hypnos is preparing a way for you all to go home. A new Ark unit is being constructed and will be ready shortly. A location has been selected for you all to rendezvous at. I shall transmit the location to your digivices."_

"Um…I hate to point this out, but we're biomerged. We can't look at our digivices right at the moment and," Gallantmon threw a look over his shoulder, "we're kind of in a jam here."

_"Yes. My sensors indicated as much. I'm streamlining the data so that it can register to you while biomerged, much like when Hypnos communicates with you."_

A screen appeared in Takato's data sphere, projecting just ahead of him. On it was a map of the surrounding area and a compass function indicating the direction that they needed to go.

_"Hey, it worked! All right! Did you get it too, Rika?"_

"Sure did," Sakuyamon nodded. "At least now we have a way to get out of this dump. I don't know about you, but I'm _more_ than ready to go home."

"Then let's get to it!"

With that said, the two Megas began pushing themselves even harder, following the compass' directions.

_"Grani,"_ said Takato after a second. _"Are you still there?"_

_"Yes. I have finished contacting all of the Tamers and I am now monitoring your progress. Is something the matter?"_

_"It's about Lumemon. He's been injured, and Sakuyamon's power isn't helping him. Is there anything you can tell us about what's wrong with him?"_

_"My ability to scan from the distance I am at is limited. I did register an injury on Lumemon's part, but I am unsure as to what caused it or what it is that's inhibiting Sakuyamon's abilities. It is quite probable that he has been infected by a virus, but as to its nature, again, my abilities are limited at this distance."_

_"Got it. Then it looks like our best bet is to get him back to the real world as soon as possible. Yamaki will think of something."_

Sakuyamon pursed her lips together, frowning beneath her mask. Looking down at Lumemon, she found herself wondering why they were going to such lengths for a digimon that had so far caused them nothing but trouble from day one. From his first appearance in their world as Lucemon, to his unusual biomerge with the girl named Noriko, and now as he lay in her arms. His breathing was ragged, his digi-core pulsing slowly. Its once blue color had become a translucent white, giving his pale skin a ghostly appearance. He was dying in her arms, and in spite of her best efforts, there was nothing she could do except delay the inevitable.

And again, the question begged: _why?_

_For the same reason we brought back Impmon,_ thought Sakuyamon as both Rika and Renamon. _He had his reasons for doing what he did, and he's changed because of them. He knows what he did…_ Sakuyamon looked at the angel with a firm, yet sympathizing gaze. _And I know what he's going through._

Rika thought back to the time when she and Renamon were last in the digital world, looking for Impmon. The two of them had discussed how their attitude had changed following their biomerge into Sakuyamon. They had both felt the river of life flow through them then, and from that experience they had developed a newfound respect for the sanctity of life. Neither could leave Impmon to his fate, and they would not do so again with Lumemon.

_Especially since he's got someone to protect now,_ thought Sakuyamon determinedly.

"Come on, Gogglehead!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Let's move!"

"We _are_ moving! Sheesh! You'd think that we were purposefully going slow. This armor isn't exactly lightweight you know!"

"You've never complained before," Sakuyamon smiled teasingly. "And now you can fly without Grani's help. How's that for starters? Got an idea of what he had to go through lugging your butt around? With the way Guilmon eats, I'm surprised that you're even able to get off the ground."

"Okay, now I know you're just making fun of me…"

"Got that right." Rika winked at the Royal Knight beneath the shaman's facemask. "Now come on. We've got to move even faster."

Sakuyamon began to accelerate, breaking past the sphere of cherry blossoms and Gallantmon quickly followed suit. Glancing around him, the Royal Knight noted that there were a number of Data Streams all clustered together and traversing the landscape in an erratic fashion. They swung and shifted wildly, like branches caught up in a tree storm. They would move in one direction and then jerk into another without warning.

_"Guilmon…do you think that there's something strange going on with those Data Streams all of a sudden?"_

_"Mmm…not really. They were like that the last couple times I was here. And the last time you were here too, remember? We always had to hide from them."_

_"I know, but I mean 'different' from what we're used to seeing. There's an awful lot of them and they're all over the place. I don't think I remember seeing Data Streams act like this since Henry, Terriermon, and I got separated from you guys during that weird storm."_

_"Hmmm…yeah. Now that you mention it they are acting kind of funny…did that one over there turn green?"_

_"Wait, what?"_

True to Guilmon's observation, one of the Data Streams had changed in its coloration, shifting away from its pink hue into an emerald one. The Data Stream suddenly shifted away from the others and sped towards them at an alarming rate.

"Sakuyamon!" shouted Gallantmon. "Look out! A Data Stream is coming right for…"

_"Metal Meteor!"_

Gallantmon's cry of warning was abruptly cut off as a massive metal sphere slammed into him from behind, knocking the breath from his digital lungs. Its weight proved to be far more than he could compensate for and within short order, it dragged him down towards the desert floor. Sakuyamon, having heard his call, turned around just in time to see him drop.

"Gallantmon!" cried Sakuyamon. Before she could even begin to move however, the green Data Stream settled over her and her view of the digital world disappeared, changing as she was teleported to somewhere else.

_"Lightning Joust!"_

Gallantmon's energy saber split the metal sphere down the middle, cutting it into two segments that fell away from him and hit the ground. The Royal Knight quickly managed to regain his flight before he could join them, hovering just a few feet away from the surface. Dismissing the _Metal Meteor_ attack Gallantmon's gaze traversed the skies frantically. Sakuyamon and the green Data Stream were nowhere to be found.

"Where is she? Where's Sakuyamon? Sakuyamon! Rika! Renamon! Where are y- _ooof!"_

_"Bloody Cave!"_

Gallantmon rolled with the blow dealt to him by the DexDoruGreymon and came up swinging with his saber. Lightning clove through the air, and the dragon digimon's skull burst asunder from the assault.

"Okay," muttered Gallantmon in an annoyed tone. "From now on, we check to see if there's anyone attacking us after we're shot out of the sky like that and survive. Grani…are you there?"

_"Yes, Takato. It would appear that Sakuyamon has been transported via the Data Stream. Interestingly she has already arrived at the prescribed coordinates. As have a fair number of Tamers already…"_

"Huh? But how… _Urocyomon!"_ Gallantmon laughed. "He must have been trying to bring everyone home faster. We probably should have done that earlier before splitting up. Oh well." Gallantmon shifted his lance. "Now we know what to look for, and that they're safe. So that leaves just us to get there."

In a way, Takato found himself comforted by the knowledge. Even though he wasn't there, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his friends were out of danger…for the time being that is. And it was that thought that suddenly bloomed in his mind like a star.

_"These guys are going to keep on coming,"_ frowned Takato. _"The others are safe for a little while, but these digimon will probably reach the take off spot before the Ark gets there. Grani! How long until Hypnos launches the new Ark?"_

_"They have finished testing. I am going to have to be leaving to help guide it towards the location."_ Grani paused. _"Gallantmon…Takato. Please, do not entertain any thoughts of holding these digimon off until the Ark arrives. They are far more numerous than you, and even though you are at the Mega level, they will surely overwhelm you. The best thing that you can do is continue to move and get to the transport site as soon as possible."_

After a quick moment of consideration, Gallantmon nodded.

"Roger." Turning, the Royal Knight took to the air. "Good luck Grani!"

_"And to you as well."_

_"Yeah…thanks."_ Gallantmon threw a look over his shoulder and grimaced beneath his helm. _"We're going to need it."_

Spinning in midair, Gallantmon unleashed a series of blasts at the vanguard of twenty DexDoruGreymon that were now zeroing in on him. The dragons ducked and wove around the beam, revealing another thirty were quickly following up behind them. And even further beyond, the swarm that had at first appeared as a dark cloud, had begun to take on individual shapes. A sweeping shadow moved across the landscape, causing Takato to nearly mistake it for night to be falling again. The sound of shrieks began to reach his ears from that distant mass of dragons.

_"Somehow I don't think we're going to have a choice in whether or not we fight,"_ said Takato, readying his shield for the attacks that he knew were sure to come. A DexDoruGreymon dove towards him, and he dashed towards it. _"Have to make this quick…"_

His lance wove outwards, slicing the DexDoruGreymon's neck clean off, causing its body to fall towards the earth, disintegrating as it did so.

_"That's one…"_

Spinning, Gallantmon drove a spiked, Chrome Digizoid boot into another dragon's skull, knocking its attack off course and throwing it into another one where its serrated horn blade drove itself between the others armor-covered eyes. A quick blast of _Lightning Joust_ delivered the coup de grâce, deleting both digimon in a shower of sparkling white light.

_"That's three…"_

Turning, Gallantmon found another one charging right for him. Moving as though he were dancing on air, the Royal Knight dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the beast as it dove past him, and drove the point of his lance into its head. With another cry of _Lightning Joust_ , a spear of electricity burst out the other side, quickly eliminating the DexDoruGreymon from the field.

_…And four…_

Five seconds. At six, Gallantmon spun again, lashing out with his _Lightning Joust_ , cutting off the wings of a fifth and causing it to plummet towards the desert. Ducking downwards, Gallantmon spun through the air, avoiding a surprise attack from behind. He swept his lance upwards, cleaving through the dragon's belly before dismissing his lance and grabbing the beast by the tail. With a grunt, he swung the dragon in midair and hurled it into another three more that were flying his way. Bringing his shield to bear, energy swirled around in its central crystal. He waited until the DexDoruGreymon he had thrown had collided with the other three.

_"Shield of the Just!"_

Bright light burst outwards and lanced towards the four DexDoruGreymon, crashing into them with all the force of a meteor. Data flew showered the sky as the light died down, revealing nothing but the still distant swarm behind where four DexDoruGreymon had been.

_Eight…_

Gallantmon summoned his lance once again, already looking for a new enemy. The DexDoruGreymon, perhaps as a result of some predator instinct, were now keeping their distance and circling him. Gallantmon dashed towards the nearest one. As he did so, it reared backwards and fired a massive steel ball at him.

_"Metal Meteor!"_

_Rika is so going to kill me for being late,_ thought Takato distractedly as lightning danced around the edges of his energy lance. _"Lightning Joust!"_

At eleven seconds and one explosion later, steel shrapnel punched into some 18 DexDoruGreymon bodies, and their screams filled the air.

* * *

_"GALLANTMON!"_

Sakuyamon's cry resounded upon the air as the green light that had fallen upon her disappeared, and blinking in surprise she saw that she was standing in the middle of a circle with most of her friends around her. Presently Justimon and Crusadermon were coming in for a landing and were eyeing her, though what expression they had she could not tell, as their faces were covered by their helmets. Not that Sakuyamon cared at the moment what was going through their minds. Right now her own was trying to solve the problem of how she had gotten where she just found herself.

"Wha…? Where…?" Sakuyamon's eyes fell on the circle and traced their way over to where Urocyomon sat, and all at once everything clicked in her mind.

Urocyomon stood up and wiped a paw across his brow, looking quite exhausted.

"Did I get them?" he asked, wobbling slightly on his feet.

As though his voice were a signal, red bloomed across Sakuyamon's vision and she threw herself forward, a scream of pure, undulated rage broke free from her lips.


	186. 185: Divided, Yet We Stand

_"What…did…you…_ DO?!" Sakuyamon roared in Rika's voice as she grabbed Urocyomon by his chest fur and slammed him against an invisible barrier surrounding the circle. The silver furred fox digimon coughed in surprise, air rushing from his lungs in one mad rush. His eyes widened with fear as his senses were assaulted by the sudden, murderous aura rushing off Sakuyamon in waves, and he began struggling against her grip.

_"Rika!"_ exclaimed Renamon, as she fought to get her partner's attention amidst the seething fury of emotions that threatened to drown out their connection. _"Stop it! What is the matter with you? You're hurting him!"_

It was a stupid question, and Renamon knew it. Being biomerged, she knew full well what was wrong with her partner. Their sudden, unexpected transportation via a strange, green beam a split second after they saw Gallantmon becoming crushed beneath the attack of the DexDoruGreymon did little good to Rika's already wired emotions. Still, seeing her partner assault someone over what was most definitely an attempt at rescue was shocking to say the least.

Urocyomon's struggles increased in intensity as Rika tightened her fingers around his throat. He was making choking sounds now, trying to explain the situation, but unfortunately the lack of badly needed oxygen coupled with a vise-like grip clamping down on his neck prevented him from being able to formulate the appropriate words. Sakuyamon, or rather Rika, didn't seem to notice as she bore down on the helpless fox. Her mouth drew up into an animal-like grimace.

"ANSWER ME!"

"Rika!"

"Hey, cut it out!"

With a flash of light the forms of HiAndromon and Beelzemon appeared unexpectedly behind the shaman digimon and grabbed hold of her arms, forcefully pulling her backwards while simultaneously working to unlock her fingers from Urocyomon. HiAndromon pushed and pulled as much as he could, but much to his surprise, Sakuyamon's arm remained locked and refused to so much as budge an inch.

HiAndromon's mind raced furiously as he tried to figure out a way to get through to the Digimon Queen.

"Hey, Rika! It looks like you're pretty angry. So how about you _put_ Urocyomon down and let's have a talk about this, all right?"

_"Let me go, Kazu!"_ growled Sakuyamon. In her voice, HiAndromon heard many promises of bodily harm if he didn't follow through on her command.

"Rika! You're _killing_ him!" shouted Beelzemon angrily. "Don't you get that?! Whatever it is he messed up on he's not going to be able to make amends if you delete him!"

_"Rika,_ please _listen to them!"_ pleaded Renamon desperately. Renamon felt her mind clash with that of her partner's, and for an instant their Mega form phased out of stability, preparing to separate. That was all the chance that Beelzemon and HiAndromon needed, and with one mighty heave, the three Megas toppled backwards, Sakuyamon's fingers passing through Urocyomon's throat as they lost solidity. The young vulpine crashed to the ground, choking and gasping for air. The shield Kuzuhamon held dropped and the raven-haired shaman rushed forwards, grabbing hold of Urocyomon, gloved hands glowing purple as she administered on-the-spot first aid. A flash of light filled the area of the circle, and a second later, the forms of Rika and Renamon appeared, both of them being held by a wary HiAndromon and Beelzemon. Rika, for her part, was glaring angrily at HiAndromon as he restrained her, while Renamon kept her eyes fixed on the red haired girl.

Henry raced into the circle, eyes ablaze with the shock of what he had been made witness to.

"What's going on here?" he exclaimed, looking between the four figures, his gray eyes _demanding_ an explanation for this unexpected, violent occurrence. As though his words struck a chord, Rika's struggles immediately ceased and for an instant, she thought she was back in the parking garage from a year ago.

"Rika!" spoke up Renamon quickly, seizing the opportunity to get Rika to reign in her temper before anything else went wrong. "Please, I beg of you, calm down. Let's hear what they have to say. And remember, everyone here is your friend! You shouldn't have any reason to be fighting them!"

Tense silence filled the air, and even Terriermon and Kazu held their breaths in expectation. After a second, Rika took a deep, shuddering breath and relaxed her body. She nodded to Henry, and the boy nodded back in turn, though he remained wary. Renamon couldn't blame him. In spite of Rika's assurance that she wouldn't do anything there remained an urgent bonfire in her eyes. One that Henry took seriously.

A second later, the frightened voices of Ai and Mako, standing next to Miki and Dracmon, broke the tension.

"Um…is everything all right?"

* * *

"Everything is ready, sir," replied Riley to Yamaki, her fingers flying across her control panel. "Mark Two Ark program established and running. Preparing to launch in three…two…one…mark!"

True to the red haired Operator's words, the sphere of the newly and hastily designed Ark program appeared on the Hypnos screens. Yamaki flicked his lighter open and closed, waiting anxiously.

"How long until it penetrates the warped area and enters the digital world?" he asked.

"Three minutes," answered Kuroda. "Roughly," he amended. "The spatial distortions are getting worse, but it appears that Grani has attached himself to the new Ark and is guiding it appropriately. As long as nothing untoward happens, it should reach the Tamers location in one hundred and eighty seconds. No more. No less."

Metal clicked as Yamaki flicked his lighter open and closed again.

"Excellent. Inform all retrieval teams to stand by for barrier breach and be prepared to move in. Do we have an idea as to where the bio-emergence point is?"

"Yes sir," said Tally. "Our calculations are putting the Tamers in Shinjuku Park, right where Guilmon's old home is."

Yamaki couldn't help but smirk. It seemed to be a rather appropriate place for the Tamers to make their return home in.

* * *

Grani opened his digital eyes inside the sphere of the new Ark, and for a brief moment he thought that he was back inside Takato and Guilmon, aiding them from within their Mega form's data sphere. Of course, the resemblance to that golden, red orb ended there, and soon enough Grani was reminded that he was no longer a part of them. He was now within the new Ark, guiding it to where the Tamers were located.

_It's rather small in here,_ he thought to himself. _But that would make sense, wouldn't it? I'm in the body of a more primitive AI program, and sharing space with it. I wonder how my presence will affect it. It is a foregone conclusion that the humans alone will help it evolve just by being here. I'm not human…and yet,_ Grai paused and looked at his digital hand, _I possess attributes that will enable me to affect the evolution of this program. Mere contact…that is all that is needed here._

Deciding that now was not the time to be thinking about such things, Grani reached out with his mind and a series of electric blue lines, the same data trails that had first been used to bring the Tamers back to the real world, materialized and connected themselves to the Ark. The orb settled within their embrace comfortably and immediately began to descend.

_This is a much smoother ride than I remember,_ thought Grani. _Perhaps my memory of those early days isn't as good as I think. Humans have a hard time remembering their early life. I had only barely begun evolution then. How I have grown since then…_

As the Ark continued to move towards the the digital world, a warp rippled across its surface.

* * *

"I was only trying to get everyone to this location," rasped Urocyomon, massaging his neck carefully. His expression was a mixture of painful wincing and angry glaring. Between the two no one could tell which was more dominant, but anyone who looked would have guessed that one could split hairs on the difference.

"So what happened?" asked Kazu from his spot next to Guardromon, having released their biomerged form once it was clear that Rika and Renamon, or at the very least Rika, were going to keep their cool.

"Variables," wheezed Urocyomon in response. He jerked a thumb towards Ryo and Ayaka. "Those two and their partners were a lot closer than I thought they were, so the Data Streams missed them. And Takato…" Urocyomon looked over at Rika. "What happened? Something had to have happened, or else you wouldn't have tried to throttle me like I was betraying you or something."

Rika kept her gaze steady and met Urocyomon's eyes fully.

"Gallantmon and I were being attacked. He got blindsided and I got grabbed by your Data Stream."

"Can you tell if he's all right?" asked Ryo.

"Yeah," chimed in Kazu. "I mean, the two of you have that connection-thing going."

Rika shook her head in frustration, ignoring the fact that due to the bio-force digivolution that they all experienced, everyone was now aware of the bond she and Takato shared between each other.

"I can't really tell right now. It…gets weird sometimes. It's usually strong when Renamon and I are biomerged, or if Takato and I are close by to each other. Distance messes it up. Right now all I'm getting is a vague impression of him, but…" Rika growled angrily. "…that's not enough to tell me anything. I can't tell if he's hurt or anything!"

"I'd say we can make a case for bad things happening to him," said Urocyomon hoarsely. "Seeing as how the last time you saw him he was getting taken down…"

"But the fact that you still sense him is evidence enough that he's all right," placated Kuzuhamon, catching the sharp, angry look in the young girl's eyes. "All we need to do is reconstruct the Mandala, and do so in a way that we can bring your friend here without any further incident."

"Easier said than done," glowered Urocyomon. "This time it's going to have to be more complex than before. Just what was going on? You said that you were being attacked…"

"Yeah. We were. I don't know how many there were. Takato and I beat ten before I got sucked away, and there were more…a _lot_ more behind us. There were enough to make the Parasimon and D-Reaper invasions look pathetic. Seriously, from a distance it was like looking at _clouds._ "

"Um…is that a lot?" asked Suzie, looking up at Henry.

"Well," he replied grimly, "it's definitely a big number. Parasimon was enough to overwhelm us on just sheer numbers, and that takes some doing since most of us were at the Mega level at the time. It was the same with the D-Reaper. The D-Reaper especially."

"I'll say. There was an army of those guys, and they just kept coming. I think it's safe to say that we passed the triple digits when we were fighting the D-Reaper."

"Ugh!" Rika shook her head in disgust and pulled her hands into tight fists. "This isn't getting us anywhere! We have to get moving already and get Takato here… _now!"_

"She's right about that," said Urocyomon, using his spear to push himself to his feet. "Looks like I'll have to factor in multiple variables with this one. This is going to take time unfortunately…and I don't have much strength remaining…"

"Just do your best," eased Henry. "We'll work on a backup plan in case things don't work out."

Urocyomon nodded and teleported over to the remains of his Mandala etching, followed quickly by Kuzuhamon to lend her support in protecting it from the desert winds. Much of it had been blown over and obscured from weather and fighting, but fortunately enough of it remained that Urocyomon wouldn't have to start from scratch. That much they had going for them.

"Now…" Henry turned towards the others. "How are we going to rescue Takato in case things don't work out?"

"We know the direction Takato and Rika went off in when we split up," said Ryo. "We can use that for reference."

"Shouldn't we try and go now?" asked Kazu. "We can cut down the time that it'd take to get there and rescue Chumley in case Urocyomon's plan doesn't work…"

"But then he'd have to bring _us_ back," sighed Henry. "We can't just charge in blindly. Urocyomon's plan might only be able to work one more time, and we have to give him that time without having to worry about us as well. Besides, we don't have much in the way of being able to communicate with each other while we're in the digital world. We have the Ark coming here, and what sounds like a _vast_ army. And considering what's out there…" Henry paused. "Rika…just what _is_ out there?"

Rika had to restrain herself from shouting at her friend and have him get moving. Every instinct she had was telling her to go and rescue Takato…but for the time being, the cooler head of reason told her to wait.

"DexDoruGreymon," she said to them. "Takato and I fought one in the real world a while ago. It's a dragon type…fires metal balls out of its mouth and is at the Ultimate level. It's not much of a threat on its own, but in groups I'd be worried. Especially with the numbers Takato and I saw. And they're all heading this way." Rika glanced at Henry. "That's why you're not having anyone leave now, isn't it? It's not about whether or not Urocyomon can bring us all back. You don't want to be trying to fight off a swarm of digimon and trying to get home in the Ark at the same time."

"Exactly," nodded Henry. "We're not likely to get any second chances here. If we're going to pull a rescue mission, it's going to have to be with those digimon that have the best speed. That means Rapidmon…"

"And HiAndromon," added Kazu proudly. "Guardromon and I can use UlforceVeedramon's wings and speed to cut across distances even faster than Rapidmon."

"Maybe. How are you and Guardromon feeling? Everyone's been biomerging a lot these past few days…today and yesterday especially, and you and Guardromon are new to it."

Kazu hesitated as he looked at Henry. The words 'he was fine' were on his lips, but the way the half-Chinese Tamer's eyes bore into him he found himself assessing his condition a little more closely.

"…Now that you mention it, I feel a little bit sore." Kazu looked to be ashamed by this admittance, and he quickly pumped his fists into the air. "But we can still do it! Nothing's going to keep us down!"

"Absolutely!" agreed Guardromon. "We are both functioning at seventy-five percent power levels!"

"Yeah!"

"Uh…Kazu?" began Ryo. "I'm pretty sure that that's a 'bad thing' as far as this kind of search and rescue mission goes."

"Huh?"

"It means that you're not fighting at the top of your game. Seventy-five percent leaves a lot of room for error, and in a situation like this, we can't afford even a single one. Not against an enemy this size. Timing is going to be everything." Ryo glanced at his partner behind him. "Cyberdramon could probably do it. He's not as fast as Rapidmon, but with some speed cards he could keep pace. He's got a lot of stamina, and I can monitor him from here…"

"Ryo," interrupted Rika impatiently. "Don't tell me that you think that cards are going to help in this situation. For one they don't last for very long and we don't have enough to go around to last the entire trip. And another, Cyberdramon isn't exactly the best at staying out of a fight."

_This is going well,_ thought Henry sardonically, running a hand through his hair. "Look, this isn't getting us anywhere…"

"You got that right," snorted Rika. "I'm going."

"Wha…?"

Everyone stared at Rika as though she had just lost her mind. Everyone that is, save for Renamon and Jeri, who perhaps understood her reasons best.

"Rika, are you serious about this?" asked Ryo carefully. "I hate to say it, but you and Renamon aren't in the best of condition right now."

"You need someone who'll be able to find him, right? That's me. Unless you know of another person around here who happens to be connected to him…"

Ryo's eyes instinctively glanced over at Lumemon, who presently lay prostrate on the ground with his head resting in the lap of Noriko Nakata. The girl had a worried look on her face and it was clear that she was trying to keep herself from breaking down over the angel. The Legendary Tamer winced at the hole in the angel's chest. How it was that he continued to be alive with that kind of damage was beyond him.

"Rika," spoke up Jeri, breaking the silence that had fallen between the Tamers. Rika glanced over at the girl with a raised eyebrow. Jeri beckoned for her to follow her, and after a moment of hesitation Rika did so.

"How do they do that?" asked Kazu. Everyone turned to him with curious expressions.

"Do what?"

"That. I used to think that it was just Rika and Renamon that did that whole 'talking to each other stuff without saying anything' but it looks like those two can do it too."

"They are close friends," answered Renamon calmly. "When you know someone enough such a bond forms between you. I seem to recall you and Kenta sharing those similarities in the way that you talk to each other." Renamon watched her partner carefully as she and Jeri began to talk to each other.

"Yeah, but Kenta and I have a lot in common. Rika and Jeri…well, aside from their skills at cards they don't have a lot in common."

Renamon's eyes narrowed.

"Recently they have had enough in common."

Kazu's eyes worked themselves into a confused expression for a moment before dawning appeared within their depths.

"Oh…right."

Before anyone could say anything else, a sharp gust of wind blew over the group, and lines of blue data descended into the ground. Looking up, Henry saw a sphere-shaped pod racing towards them.

"It's the Ark!" he called out, not needing the communiqué that Terriermon and the other digimon were already receiving to know what was going on. "It's here!"

* * *

"The Ark has arrived on target," said Shibumi, more to himself than to any of his fellow colleagues. Leaning forward on his desk, the bearded man cupped his hands beneath his chin, his eyes watching the Ark's progress via the connection it had to his computer.

"Yes," said Janyu. "But is everyone where they should be?"

"The Ark was designed for simplicity so we have no way to know from our linkup with it. We didn't have time to add on any subprograms that would be able to tell us anything like that. Yamaki would know since he's using Hypnos' Tracers to give him a bird's eye view of the digital world. So we'll have to ask him what he knows about the situation."

Janyu nodded and immediately pulled out his cell phone. While the man began calling his superior, Shibumi watched the image of the Ark as it hovered on his computer screen. Telemetry data continued to pour into his files.

_So far everything's good. We've managed to strengthen the Data Trails this time so that we won't experience as many problems as last time. In case the Tamers need more time to get to the Ark we can hold it there for much longer than before too. I just hope that we get the signal from Yamaki before too long. These numbers I'm getting are making me worried._

Shibumi waited tensely while Janyu began talking to Yamaki. By the sounds of it, there seemed to be some kind of trouble going on. That was to be expected however.

_Just be careful of the Maelstrom,_ thought Shibumi just as he had told Henry before the final battle with the D-Reaper.

* * *

Another DexDoruGreymon screamed as Gallantmon's lance tore through the back of its neck. Its body disintegrated immediately, but the reduction in his enemy's numbers did little to comfort him. Far from it in fact, it gave him even _more_ reason to worry.

_"Metal Impulse!"_ shouted a DexDorugoramon, and a solid wave of raw power slammed into Gallantmon's body, sending him tumbling backwards. Throwing his body weight to the side, the Royal Knight quickly managed to reorient himself, landing on his feet with all the grace of a dancer. Electric death lanced out from his weapon, cleaving through the air and smashing into the black, red, and violet armored dragon. The Virus Mega shrugged off the attack and dove forward, forcing Gallantmon to leap into the air and retreat. His golden eyes frowned as his mind raced furiously. The battle was not going well. It had not been going well for some time now, and a fair amount of it he owed to himself.

Fifty Ultimate level DexDoruGreymon had been destroyed now, excluding the ten that he and Sakuyamon put down before they were separated. At least, he _thought_ that it had been fifty. Much to his surprise however, one of them had survived simply due to the fact that the blow he had dealt it had not been fatal, merely costing it its wings. Surviving through the laws of mass that dealt the easy death of any Earth dinosaur that had the unfortunate luck of tripping over its own feet was a specialty of digimon that is best remembered by any that face one in battle. Of course, Takato was not much for science, and Guilmon even less so. All the same however, they had neglected the possibility of the digimon surviving, and as a result took no notice of the fact that it was loading the data of all the digimon that they destroyed…neglected it that is until it digivolved to its Mega form and began attacking them.

The battle between them seesawed back and forth, with neither one of them gaining a decisive advantage. This was due more to Gallantmon's desire to keep moving and rejoin his friends as he knew full well that fighting the Mega was significantly different when compared to fighting Ultimates. Keeping a careful eye on the encroaching swarm of DexDoruGreymon Takato and Guilmon knew that any fighting whatsoever would merely slow them down, and that meant that the DexDoruGreymon would get closer until, soon enough, he would be too busy fighting _everything_ to bother with joining the others. The most recent attack of DexDoruGreymon was one such example of this, and it did little except help the DexDorugoramon as it absorbed its companions as they were destroyed one by one. As a result, he didn't take much of an offensive stance, and attacked only when attacked or when he saw an opening.

_Not that it's been making much of a difference,_ thought Takato from within his data sphere. _This guy's been taking everything that I've been throwing at him and not batting so much as an eye…that is, if he had any eyes to bat with. Either way, I'm not doing anything to him! The best I can do is slow him down!_

_"Guilmon! Do you think you can use that…whatever that thing is that you used before? Maybe it can give us an edge or something!"_

_"I've been trying, Takatomon! But it's not working! I don't know why!"_

_"Well, that's just great! Agunimon! Agunimon! Are you there?"_

_"I'm right here, Takato,"_ came the voice of the Legendary Warrior of Fire. Takato's eyebrows raised as he noticed that his companion sounded strangely… _distant_ somehow.

_"You okay?"_ he asked. He felt Agunimon shake his head.

_"Sorry. It's just…whatever it was that kept me here, connected to you and Guilmon, it's disappearing. I don't know what's going on, but I'm starting to disconnect with you. I can feel the same thing happening to the others. I'm guessing that with Gehenmon gone and Oni defeated, Milleniummon no longer has any use for us and has cut the anchors. It makes sense I guess…your world isn't the same world that we were sworn to protect…"_

_"What's the difference?"_ asked Takato. _"It's the digital world, isn't it?"_

_"I know, Takato,"_ whispered Agunimon in a lower voice. _"I know. But I feel something pulling me away anyway. I don't know how much longer I can stay with you guys. My power is growing weaker too. I'll try to give you as much as I can, but I can't give you too much. If I do, I might disappear completely…when you need my help the most."_

Takato nodded, forcing himself to ignore the ramifications of what he had just been told. Another friend was leaving him unwillingly, but he had no time to dwell on it. He could only deal with what was in front of him. He felt like screaming at the injustice of it all but with tremendous effort he pushed his emotions to the side.

_"Okay. Give me what you can and Guilmon and I will take care of the rest."_

_"Got it."_

_"And Agunimon…?"_

_"Yeah…?"_

_"It was nice working with you…even if I don't know much about you."_

Agunimon chuckled from the darkness surrounding the Tamer's data sphere.

_"Likewise, Takato. Guilmon. Likewise. Now, let's make this a fight for the history books."_

_"All right!"_ shouted Takato as he raised his lance above his head. Crimson flames flowed out from the hilt of the weapon and merged into the energy blade. The heat increased in intensity until it took on a blue shade. Lowering the weapon, Gallantmon's golden eyes locked with the DexDorugoramon.

"This is it," the Royal Knight said as though he were pronouncing the very essence of doom on his opponent. The blue flames spiraled and crackled with their intensity, eager to strike. Sensing the challenge from Gallantmon, the DexDorugoramon roared in response and launched itself at him. Gallantmon pulled back in preparation and then charged forward. Flames licked and spoke their language of roaring, burning heat as the digital air fed them. DexDorugoramon drew closer, eager to settle their battle with fang and claw.

_That's it,_ thought Takato, taking a deep breath. _Just a little more…and…NOW!_

_"BLAZING JOUST!"_ shouted Gallantmon as flaming lance met gleaming claws. The two attacks collided with each other, and for a brief instant they were at a standstill, deadlocked in a stalemate. That instant passed with neither side noticing, and DexDorugoramon's claws disintegrated under the sheer heat that Gallantmon's lance was pouring out. The lance drove forward, no longer inhibited by the dragon's attack and sheered through armor, melting it as easily as butter before punching out through its back. DexDorugoramon's body stiffened, but no cry came from its mouth. It had no time for one, nor the ability to do so, and a second later his body broke apart and was blown away onto the wind.

Gallantmon held his ground for a second, tamping down the flames of his lance until they were of a more tolerable temperature.

_"Well that went better than I thought it would,"_ breathed Takato in relief. _"I wonder why I didn't do that earlier…"_

_"I'm sure Rika and Renamon would be able to answer that,"_ laughed Guilmon. Takato chuckled.

_"Yeah, they probably would."_

The memory of Rika and Renamon quickly sobered the Tamer up, and he focused his attention on the link that he shared with the fiery haired Tamer. He could still feel her, but she was distant…little more than a vague impression in his mind. At best, all he could make out was what felt like a bundle of tension, but it was difficult to separate it from his own.

_She was taken by a Data Stream…a rather weird one at that,_ Takato thought to himself. _They could be anywhere by now…_

_"They're probably close enough,"_ whispered Agunimon, surprising Takato.

_"Ah! Agunimon! You're…"_

_"I'm still here,"_ grinned the Warrior. _"Sorry for surprising you like that. Anyway, like I was saying…if you can still sense Rika, it probably means that they're still on this plain."_

_"I hope that wherever she's ended up, she's in a safer place than here."_

_"Me too. We should get moving. Those DexDoruGreymon are getting closer."_

_"But Rika and Renamon…"_

_"…Aren't anywhere near those guys. I'm more used to having connections with other people than you are. I've got a general sense of where she is, and it's definitely in the same direction that we were heading before. As long as we keep going that way, we should be fine."_

_"Ah,"_ thundered a new voice that caught the Royal Knight's attention. _"But doesn't that depend on whether or not you are allowed to keep moving?"_

_"Who…?"_ Gallantmon's gaze swiveled around until it fell upon a figure approaching him. It was dragon-like in appearance, bearing a great resemblance to the DexDorugoramon that he had just deleted. It was different however. Its silver armor was stained with a spider web of black veins, contrasting the violet and black of the DexDorugoramon. Ocean-blue wings extended outwards and a tail whipped behind them, tipped with a deadly looking scythe. Serrated, black claws flexed themselves dangerously, and a pair of glowing, blood red eyes stared out at him malevolently. In spite of himself, Gallantmon felt a shudder travel down his back.

_"Who?"_ asked the dragon in a mocking tone. _"Who else could it be in this world?"_ Crimson eyes flashed dangerously as the dragon smiled beneath his armored mask. _"This is a world of Maelstrom's Gallantmon. I…am…Maelstrom."_


	187. 186: Maelstroms

Spin. Strike. _Lightning Joust._ Parry. Repost.

Duck. Roll. Dodge.

Repeat.

Gallantmon grunted as a razor sharp, scythe blade smashed into his shield, jolting his arm. Staggering backwards, the Royal Knight leapt into the air, firing a _Lightning Joust_ at the armored dragon warrior to discourage him from immediately pursuing him.

Too bad Maelstrom, as the creature had identified himself, wasn't having any of that. With lightning fast reflexes that caught Gallantmon by surprise, the dragon launched himself into the air; the spreading of his wings the only warning that he had that such was happening. The next thing Gallantmon knew, a whip-like, armored tail complete with a scythe-like blade at its tip had wrapped itself around his left leg. The dragon laughed darkly as it pulled taught on the limb, bringing his flight to a dead halt.

_"Going somewhere?"_

Gallantmon didn't get a chance to answer. The tail flexed but once, and soon enough his vision was abruptly filled with the sight of the desert rushing to greet him before pain exploded across his senses. Rolling instinctively with the blow, Gallantmon was up and already swinging with his energy lance, catching Maelstrom in the chest in a shower of sparks. Metal tore and burned, causing the dragon to jerk backwards to avoid the worst of the assault.

That second was all Gallantmon needed as he brought his shield to bear.

_"Shield of the Just!"_

Energy swirled in the central crystal of his Aegis shield and shot out like a thunderbolt. It slammed into Maelstrom with tremendous force, loosing a surprised scream from his mouth. Taking no chances, Gallantmon stormed forward and fired a _Lightning Joust_ into the center of the blast zone, putting as much power as he could into the attack.

_"Metal Impulse…"_

A wave of pure energy exploded outwards, dispersing the two attacks with one fell blast. Gallantmon quickly changed his course and leapt into the air, deftly dodging the explosion while simultaneously raking the blast area with his lance. Smoke and dust exploded into the air and for a moment, all was silent.

Takato breathed heavily. His arms felt like lead weights, and he could feel Gallantmon's armor creaking as all the efforts of the day finally began to take their toll on it.

_"Did…did we get him that time?"_ asked Takato, gasping.

_"Dorudiin!"_ roared a voice from within the smoke, and a great wave of fire ripped free from its embrace, surging towards the Royal Knight.

_"I don't think so, Takato,"_ groaned Guilmon.

_"Aw, nuts…"_

Swerving to the side, Gallantmon narrowly avoided the stream of fire. Before he could put together an affective counter-attack, movement caught his eye. Turning, Gallantmon had only a second to register Maelstrom's presence in front of him before the dragon's fist came crashing into his helm, sending him flying backwards, too dazed from the blow to resist gravity's hold over his body. Sand flew into the air as he plowed into a dune.

Jarred back to his senses by the impact, Gallantmon rolled to his feet and raised his weapons, immediately scanning the skies for his enemy. The battle had been going this route from the moment Maelstrom had arrived, with him doing most of the leading. Gallantmon could barely even call it a fight, at least not without the tagline 'lop-sided' attached to it. He was battered, exhausted, and mainly fighting on pure willpower than anything else. Shaking his head, Gallantmon cleared the blurriness that threatened to settle over his vision. He couldn't afford to be distracted, not for a second. Right now it was taking everything he had just to keep up with his attacker.

"Who are you?!" demanded Gallantmon hotly, continuing to scan his surroundings. For the strangest reason Maelstrom seemed to have disappeared. The only things that he could clearly see was the desert and the giant wall of DexDoruGreymon that continued to get even closer. "What do you want?!"

_"What do I want? You. Dead."_

"I kind of got that," shot back Gallantmon, sneaking a glance at the encroaching DexDoruGreymon. How much time was left before they were on him? He could already see a group approaching…another twenty…no, thirty unless he missed his guess. "Now, how about you give me a reason. I've never seen you before in my life!"

_"You are a thorn to me, Gallantmon. A thorn to my master. You are quite aware of the digimon, Lucemon. My master had…plans for him. However, he is hardly in the position to carry the Mantle of Pride as he is now. And I have you and that Noriko child to thank for that. I cannot allow any further outside influences to affect him."_

A breeze caused Gallantmon's cape to rustle, and he spun in the sand, slashing outwards with his lance. Lightning caught air as Maelstrom ducked beneath the blow and slammed a fist home into Gallantmon's stomach. Armor creaked in protest as the force of the impact bent it backwards. Gallantmon's vision darkened but he fought it back and grabbed hold of the dragon's arm and thrust his lance forward. Maelstrom was not quite as lucky as he had been on previous occasions and the electric blade punched through his back. The dragon staggered, coughing up black blood onto Gallantmon's armor. Retracting his lance, Gallantmon let go of Maelstrom's arm and took a step back. Maelstrom stood stock still, looking down at the hole in his chest, his jaws opening and closing as though he were trying to find the words to describe what he was seeing.

_Going to have to finish this quick,_ thought Takato, raising his lance. He took note of the DexDoruGreymon that were now almost on top of them. They had arrived faster than he thought they would.

The sound of Maelstrom giving a harsh laugh brought Gallantmon to a surprised halt. Spinning, Maelstrom whipped his tail outwards and cut its scythe-like blade across Gallantmon's armored face, digging a trench cross his visor. Crimson blood sprayed through the air and the Royal Knight staggered backwards, crying out in surprise. Maelstrom held onto his chest, spitting up more blood. His tail swung back and forth like a serpent preparing to strike.

The shadow of a DexDoruGreymon fell on him and the tail stabbed upwards with the precision of a surgical scalpel. It tore into the DexDoruGreymon's throat and cut downwards, deleting it instantly. Standing tall, Maelstrom pulled the data of the destroyed dragon into his body, using it to repair the damage that had been dealt to him. The hole in his chest closed up and the destroyed armor reappeared as though it had never left. Ringing his claws, the dragon got into a crouch, grinning darkly at Gallantmon. The Royal Knight wiped a hand across his visor, brushing away blood that threatened to fall into his eyes.

_"There will be no quick exit for you, Gallantmon. Your road ends here. The desert shall be a monument to your shattered dreams."_

Maelstrom leapt forward at the same time that a swarm of DexDoruGreymon descended upon the two Megas, jaws snapping with all the ferocity of ravenous wolves.

* * *

"What is it, Jeri?" asked Rika, glancing around her anxiously as she and the puppet loving girl stepped a short ways away from the other Tamers. They were now far enough away that no one would be able to hear their conversation. "Is this about my going after Takato? Because if it is…" Rika paused and frowned at herself while Jeri looked at her expectantly. "Never mind," she muttered after a second. "Just make it quick. I can't stick around here for very long."

"Even though Urocyomon hasn't finished his spell?" asked Jeri, pointing over to the silver furred fox as he worked on his Mandala. Rika _hmmmphed_ and folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm not going to just sit here and depend on him. I can't depend on _anyone_ to keep that Gogglehead out of trouble! He's always doing something stupid and…"

"…And you think you're the only one that can help him?"

"I…ugh." Rika's scowl deepened. "That's not what I meant. Me and Henry have bailed him out of problems before, and it's not like he hasn't gotten himself out of trouble before either. I guess…" Rika closed her eyes, and the memory of Gallantmon being crushed beneath a giant metal ball a split second before she was whisked away by a Data Stream flashed through her mind. Rika pulled her hands into tight fists. Taking a deep breath, she resumed speaking.

"I was made to leave him there, Jeri. He has no way of knowing where I am. He's not going to just up and go to the Ark where everyone else is. He's going to be freaking out right now, and I know that being attacked by all those DexDoruGreymon aren't going to be doing him any favors. You know just as well as everyone else here that even if it costs him his life…even if he misses his only way home, he's going to come looking for me. We're too far apart to connect properly. The last time we were here and we had an Ark coming he didn't bother climbing in. He stood there waiting for me, and both he and Calumon were nearly left behind! The stupid idiot just doesn't know when to leave well enough alone!"

_He didn't even take me with him when he went off after Lumemon…even after we promised each other to watch each other's backs and help each other get stronger!_ Rika's fists tightened even further on that. That especially grated on her nerves, though it had presently taken a backseat to more pressing issues. She understood his reasons for doing what he did. He never said them aloud, but he was practically an open book to her now.

But it still didn't change the fact that they had made a promise, and he had left her behind.

"Now _I_ can't protect him," she muttered quietly to herself.

"Don't be silly," said Jeri, smiling softly at the red haired girl. "Rika, you've protected him a lot since you became friends. You've helped him when he thought he lost Guilmon. And don't forget, you reached him when he lost control."

"I _know_ that, Jeri!"

"Then after all that," she continued, her expression hardening, "why do you tell yourself that you can't protect him? Or do you want to be the only one doing the protecting?"

Rika's eyes widened in confusion.  
"Wha…?"

"Takato can defend himself just like you can, Rika. I'm not asking you to not be angry with Takato for leaving you behind even though you promised to be there for each other…"

"How did you…?"

"Rika." Jeri let out a light giggle. "We were all biomerged, remember? Some things… _came up_ from the two of you. Kazu knows what's going on between you two. Remember how he acted earlier? I know that you've been angry with him. That's something the two of you should work out. Takato…he means well, but he's…well. Like you call him. He's…"

"…A Gogglehead," finished Rika, allowing a small smirk to grace her features. Jeri nodded.

"And that's why you should be there to remind him of that. After all," Jeri's smile widened, "you're the best at it. I don't think you realize how many times he's picked himself up because of something you said to him."

"That's just ridicu…" began Rika, only to be interrupted when Jeri took hold of her hand. An image flowed into Rika's mind of a battle that she remembered all too well. The last battle of the Deva invasions in the real world, when Vikaralamon had been rampaging through their home town. WarGrowlmon had been pinned beneath the Devas _Fusion Ball_ for the majority of the fight and Takato had been losing the will to keep fighting because he was afraid of losing him.

_"You're not losing anyone, Gogglehead."_ She had told him firmly, her tone brooking no room for argument. It had only been after that, that Takato rejoined the battle, and not only that defeated Vikaralamon with only a little help from Taomon and Rapidmon. She remembered that day well. Takato came out of it as an almost completely different person, ready to journey to the digital world to rescue Calumon even though he had no idea how to go about it. That had been the day that she gave him her full support.

Pulling her hand out of Jeri's grasp, Rika looked away uncertainly, unsure how she should react. The last images flowed through her from the bond that they shared with each other, the remaining effects of their Bioforce Digivolution amplifying Jeri's newfound abilities.

"You see?" asked Jeri,

"I saw. I was there."

"Then don't say that you can't protect him." Jeri's face took on an almost mischievous look to it and she wagged a finger at Rika. "Just be sure to 'remind' him of his responsibilities."

Rika frowned at Jeri, not sure what to make of the way that the brunette was phrasing her words, but she quickly decided that now wasn't the best time to dwell on them.

"And I thought you were going to tell me to not do anything stupid and go after that Gogglehead."

"Well…I wouldn't tell you to do that, but I think we should wait and see what Urocyomon does first. It would be a shame if you weren't here when he was brought back. Besides," Jeri winked at Rika, "you two seem to be able to find each other on your own pretty well."

Rika raised an eyebrow, seeing meaning in her friend's expression.

"Now just what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"We were all merged together, Rika. Some things from you two came up."

Rika was about to press even further when she saw the sad, yet strangely happy look in Jeri's eyes. It wasn't quite easy to see, as it was mixed with a depth of maturity that she didn't remember seeing from the girl before.

_What's going on here?_ Rika wondered. Before she could pursue the thought any further a sharp gust of wind blew over them and the sky darkened noticeably. Turning, Rika saw a series of blue energy lines descending towards them, connecting to the digital representation of the Earth. And riding along those lines was a metallic orb.

"It's the Ark!" she heard Henry call out as the sphere headed towards them.

* * *

"We have contact," informed Riley. "The Ark has arrived at its destination."

"Good," replied Yamaki, adjusting an earpiece as he pressed a few buttons on his control panel. "Grani. What is the status of the Tamers? Are they all accounted for?"

_"Unfortunately,"_ replied Grani. _"I must apologize. Due to circumstances, Takato Matsuki and Guilmon are not present."_

Yamaki gritted his teeth.

"Can you locate him?"

_"One moment, please…"_

Yamaki furrowed his brow.

_We are so close to bringing them home…Takato. What could you be doing at a time like this?_

* * *

The sphere settled down on the desert floor and popped a hatch open. Immediately a holographic image projected itself outwards, taking on the form of a human boy.

"T-Takato?" stammered Kenta in surprise.

"Grani, actually," corrected Terriermon, leaning forward on Henry's shoulder. "Nice ride, though you really need to work on your timing. We're kinda missing someone."

_"Yes, I'm aware of that,"_ nodded Grani's image. _"What's the situation?"_

"Our friend Urocyomon," Henry nodded over to the silver-furred fox digimon, "tried to get everyone here as quickly as he could. Takato and Guilmon were blindsided. He's trying to get them here again."

_"I understand now,"_ nodded Grani. _"I witnessed it while communicating with Takato. I'll see what I can do to help. For now, everyone get inside. We don't have much time before Hypnos has to retrieve the new Ark. The dimensional distortions are getting worse. If we don't move soon we might not be able to retrieve the Ark at all."_

"All right," nodded Henry. "Kazu. Kenta. Get everyone else inside, and be careful with Lumemon! Remember that he's injured."

"You got it!" saluted Kazu, already rushing over to Lumemon and Noriko. Kenta hesitated.

"But…what about Takato?"

"We're working on it. For now just get everyone that needs to be in the Ark inside. Timing is going to be important here!"

Kenta nodded reluctantly and followed Kazu with MarineAngemon in tow. Crusadermon scooped up Ayaka and Miki and flew over to the Ark, dropping them in while Dracmon scrambled behind.

"Boy, they're in a hurry to leave," muttered Terriermon sarcastically. Henry groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Not now, Terriermon. Urocyomon! Talk to me! What's going on over there?"

"The Mandala is almost complete," Urocyomon replied, etching a symbol into the sand. "But I haven't accounted for enough variable shifts yet."

Henry gritted his teeth and looked over at Rika worriedly. Jeri and Renamon were at her side, and she was looking at him expectantly.

_This is going to be very close…_

"Grani. How much time do we have?" asked Henry, looking back at the Ark, only to find that the holographic image had disappeared. Henry pulled one hand into a fist. "He must already be looking for Takato and Guilmon. I guess we have no choice but to wait and see what happens first."

_Takato…hurry back to us…_

* * *

Grani sped through the information highway that connected him to the Hypnos Tracers, and quickly took root within their systems once again. Conducting a quick scan of the environs surrounding the Ark and the last known locations of Takato and Rika it didn't take him very long to locate the crimson knight. Grani's eyes widened in surprise and shock at what he found.

_"Oh…no…"_

* * *

A crimson shoulder guard hit the ground with a thud. The sound went unnoticed amidst the screams of DexDoruGreymon that flew around the owner of the shoulder guard. Gallantmon stepped back, raising his shield protectively. A deep cut ran the length of the shield, stopping at the now cracked central crystal. In front of him, Maelstrom stalked towards him, tail whipping about behind him and the broken, battered body of a DexDoruGreymon clutched between his claws.

In spite of everything that was going on around them, Maelstrom insisted on attacking him, even when cooperation was now a far better survival strategy for the both of them.

_Then again, it's not like he looks like he's really worried or anything,_ thought Takato to himself. _He's been absorbing every digimon that he's been destroying throughout this entire battle just to keep himself going._

"I don't get you," rasped Gallantmon, hefting his saber. "Why do you keep attacking me?"

_"You stand in my Master's way,"_ said Maelstrom as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. _"Both you and the Noriko child. But it is because of you that the greatest changes have been made in Lucemon's being. Before, he had only been purified, but the seed of my Master's touch remained. From that seed, I grew. But you…you gave him a seed from your spirit. And as long as you exist and he remains in contact with you, that seed will always grow until it is beyond even my Master's ability to destroy."_

"I…see. Um…look, I don't want to be rude, but this isn't the time to be settling that kind of thing. We're both being attacked here. If we don't work together we'll both die!"

As if to emphasize his point, a DexDoruGreymon loomed over Maelstrom. Giving a contemptuous snort, Maelstrom's tail lashed out and wrapped itself around the dragon's neck. A quick twist and a loud snap later the DexDoruGreymon collapsed to the ground, its head bent at an impossible angle. It burst into shards of data, and a second later Maelstrom glowed as he absorbed the creature's remains. Maelstrom's body grew and began to alter now, taking on a more humanoid form, yet retaining some of its dragon-like parts such as his tail, claws, and wings.

_"I am not concerned about these pathetic creatures. They are simply cracked mirrors of a real entity. Mindless clones that Yggdrasil created for the sole purpose of rewriting the digital world. I am a higher existence then these things."_

Gallantmon checked his surroundings. No more than fifeen DexDoruGreymon remained standing, and those that did were wounded in some manner. All things considered he hadn't done a bad job of staying on his feet and fending off two adversaries that were out for his blood. But then, it helped that it was practically a free for all.

_Now if only I got a second to get out of here. But this guy isn't giving me that chance. And then there's the…ohhh…NUTS!_

Gallantmon was interrupted as Maelstrom rushed him once again. Sparks flew as claw met energy blade. The Royal Knight flipped through the air, evading the dragon's tail while simultaneously letting loose a blast of _Lightning Joust_. Maelstrom folded his metallic wings around his body, shielding himself from the worst of the blast before firing a blazing stream of flames at Gallantmon, who barely got his damaged shield up in time to ward off the flames.

_This isn't getting us anywhere! All he's doing is keeping me on the defensive! I've got to get out of here and find Rika! Those DexDoruGreymon are almost on top of us!_

_"I'm…sorry…"_ Takato heard Agunimon whisper to him from the darkness surrounding him.

_"Agunimon?"_

_"I've been trying to send you power for a while now…but nothing's happening. I feel my grip slipping. I think…I think this is it…_

_"Agunimon…"_

Gallantmon grunted suddenly as Maelstrom's tail crashed into his body, its razor sharp tail blade imbedding itself into the side of his armor. Pain racked Takato's body, but he held on in spite of it.

_"Don't get distracted,"_ taunted Maelstrom. _"Not if you want to live, Tamer. But then, your fate was sealed the moment you let Megidramon into this world. You've simply been living on borrowed time. I have you now."_

With that, Maelstrom jerked his tail free to deliver the final blow, only to be stopped as Gallantmon grabbed hold of it. With a powerful battle cry, the Royal Knight brought his energy lance crashing down on the tail, cutting it in two. Data flew through the air as Maelstrom howled in pain, retracting the remains of his tail. Not taking a second to rest, Gallantmon lashed outwards, shooting a blast of raw energy from his lance, putting every ounce of his being into the attack. The spear of lightning that erupted outwards punched through Maelstrom's armor, emerging from the other end. Gallantmon didn't stop there though. Unbeknownst to him, white, flame-like patterns appeared all over his armor, diverting power into his lance. The energy blade burned all the more brightly, and with a renewed sense of vigor, Gallantmon reared back and fired.

"LIGHTNING JOUST!"

The attack was easily the strongest he had ever put out, and the flame patterns burned brightly as they fed energy into it. The beam surged outwards, increasing in its intensity as it drove towards Maelstrom, carving a trench in the ground and sending up sand and smoke into the air. The earth split and groaned until finally the blast struck Maelstrom's body. The dragon roared with pain and agony, only to be drowned out by the massive explosion that detonated from the attacks collision.

A plume of smoke rose into the air, and Gallantmon stood there for a moment, gasping harshly before nearly collapsing to the ground. He had never felt so tired before in his life. Not even the final battle with the D-Reaper compared to what he was feeling now.

_"Did we get him?"_ Takato asked aloud, not even sure whom he was asking it too. Fortunately for him, Guilmon was there to answer him.

_"I think so, Takato. That was quite a lot of power we threw at him. I don't think even the D-Reaper would have stood up against that."_

_"Rea…really…?"_

_"Well…maybe,"_ Guilmon admitted. _"But that was really incredible. For a moment there I thought we were in our Crimson Mode again. It felt really good."_

A small smile appeared on Takato's face.

_"I…see. Agunimon? Are you still there?"_

_"…I'm…still here, Takato. I managed to hang on…for as long as I could. I'm afraid that this is where we part though. I can't hold on for much longer."_

_"It's okay, Agunimon. We can take things from here."_

A light glow surrounded Gallantmon's body, and the image of Agunimon split away from him. The Legendary Warrior of Fire met the Royal Knight's gaze.

_"Sorry that it has to be like this. I would really have liked to see how things end up for you after this, but…I guess this is just the way things have to be. The others are waiting for me. I guess they decided to leave without saying goodbye."_

Such was the exhaustion that Takato felt that he could do little more than nod. Guilmon however, was under no such limitation.

_"Hey! That's kind of rude!"_

Agunimon chuckled.

_"Yeah. I know. I'll be sure to give everyone a talking to when this is all over. Anyway, it's been great working with you. Even if it was a little rough on you and your friends."_

_"Yeah…well…"_ Takato laughed exhaustedly. _"…We're pretty used to that."_

Agunimon nodded and grinned. _"Until next time then. Take care, Takato."_

With that, the Legendary Warrior of Fire faded from view, leaving Gallantmon alone in a smoke filled desert. Within his data sphere, Takato closed his eyes, taking a quick moment to rest them before opening them and evaluating the situation.

_"I'm going to miss him, Takatomon…"_

_"I know boy. Even if we didn't really know him, he helped us. But we can't think about it right now. We've got to get moving and…"_

The smoke in front of him suddenly blew apart, and all at once Takato's heart sank as the sight of a countless number of DexDoruGreymon appeared before him. As one, the swarm shrieked as they caught sight of the battered, wounded knight. Gallantmon's eyes looked from one end of the horizon to the next, seeing nothing more than an endless wall of dragons…

…And all of them had their eyes on him.

_Um…this is bad…_ thought Takato, taken aback by the sight. They would be on him shortly. There was no time for him now. He could not run. Much to his surprise, the energy that he had felt running through him so strongly earlier had deserted him.

_"Guilmon…"_

_"I know, Takato. I'm sorry. I don't have enough energy left for flying. I think we used up too much of our strength…"_

_"Sure feels that way,"_ grimaced Takato, struggling to pull up his lance and shield. A part of him wanted to protest the situation. This couldn't be how it would end for him…not after everything he had been through. Not with all the people depending on him. Not… _now._

_I'm…sorry, Rika,_ thought Takato in resignation. _It looks like I won't be able to find you again. But at least, I can hold these guys off for a little while. Keep them from getting to everyone until you're out of here. Grani said that the Ark was coming…_

A part of him continued to hope that this wasn't where he finished up. But try as he might, he just couldn't see a way out of it. It looked as though he had reached the end of his road.

* * *

_"NO!"_ exclaimed Urocyomon in anger as the Mandala gave off barely so much as a glow as he attempted to activate it.

"What's wrong?" asked Henry.

"It's no good…" the vulpine rasped. "I can't…I don't have enough energy remaining. I used up far too much grabbing everyone else." Urocyomon closed his eyes tightly, forcing himself to feed as much energy as he possibly could into the Mandala, hoping against hope that he could somehow activate it. The circle only continued to glow faintly for a few seconds more before it finally gave out and stirred no more. Urocyomon gave a frustrated cry and ignited the tip of his tail.

_"NO!"_

Urocyomon squawked in surprise as he was abruptly and roughly hauled away from the Mandala by Kuzuhamon.

"Let me _go!"_ growled Urocyomon. "I can do this! I…"

"Urocyomon! _You_ are at your limit! If you try any more, your flame will disappear and you will be deleted!"

Urocyomon's only response was yet another growl and an attempt at breaking free from the shaman's hold. Kuzuhamon grimaced and muttered a quick chant under her breath. A violet light appeared around her and moved into Urocyomon's body. The Rookie fox jerked suddenly, eyes widening in disbelief before he slumped in her arms, becoming as limp as a doll. Seeing that he would no longer be causing any trouble, she readjusted him in her arms.

"I am sorry," said Kuzuhamon to Henry and Rika. "There is nothing more that he can do. He no longer has the strength to carry out his task, and no one else can use the Mandala that he drew. The differences that lie between the Gyōjamon, Sakuyamon, and Kuzuhamon lines of magic are too great."

"Don't worry about it," replied Henry, though the tension in his voice belied his words. "We'll figure something out. Just get into the Ark."

Kuzuhamon blinked in surprise beneath her mask, taken aback by the order.

"…But…"

"Oh, for goodness sake!" interrupted Rika. "Just get in there! This place is going to be the center of ground zero if what Renamon and I saw means anything! Do you want to be in the middle of that? With _him_ there?" Rika pointed indicated Urocyomon with a nod of her head. Kuzuhamon pursed her lips together before quickly turning and heading towards the pod.

"You really have a way with people," chided Terriermon.

"Not now, Terriermon," scolded Henry. "Okay. Well, that road is cut off, so it looks like we're going to have to move and find Takato ourselves and hope for the best. Are you ready to digivolve to Rapidmon?"

"Are you kidding? I was born ready!"

"I'm going."

Henry turned to Rika. He honestly wasn't surprised by her words, but he hoped to not hear them.

"Rika…you and Renamon are exhausted…"

"I said I'm _going,"_ she grated, emphasizing her words angrily. "You're not talking me out of this Henry. You've known me for this long. Have you ever known me to just do what someone told me to do?"

Henry ran a hand through his hair. "Very rarely."

_"Rarely?"_ exclaimed Terriermon. "Try _never!_ The last time she took off was to go after Impmon! And that was like looking for a needle in a haystack! A very annoying needle…"

"If you're finished," cut in Rika, "I'm going. Renamon, you're too tired to…"

"I'm going with you," interrupted Renamon. "Wherever you go, whatever you do, you know that I will always be by your side."

Rika looked at her partner, once again amazed by the sheer reservoirs of strength that the vulpine digimon had, and marveling at the lengths that she always went on her behalf.

"Thank you," she said. With a scant nod, Renamon hoisted Rika onto her shoulder.

"Hey, wait!" exclaimed Henry, putting out one hand to stop them.

"No, _you_ wait. You said so yourself, that we can't have too many people going out there looking for him. I know how to find him. You'll only slow us down."

"Wha…?!" Terriermon's mouth fell agape in shock. "Henry! Did she just…"

"We'll be back with Gogglehead!" called out Rika as Renamon immediately began sprinting, phasing in and out of view with every step.

"Of course," whispered Henry. "Renamon can move pretty quickly when she uses her teleportation abilities."

"Yeah, but she's not as fast as I am when I'm Rapidmon!" protested Terriermon. "Is she nuts? Renamon'll run out of gas before she even finds Takato! We've got to go help them!"

"How are you _really_ feeling about digivolving to Rapidmon, Terriermon?"

"Henry! This isn't like that time when I overdid it in our fight with Zhuq's! I can handle it!"

Henry frowned at his friend as a part of his right ear became blurry for a second.

"Uh…tell me you didn't just see that…"

"Terriermon…"

Henry again ran a hand through his hair, wanting desperately to scream but at the same time, not.

_All I can do now is hope that things turn out for the best,_ he thought as he looked back in the direction Rika and Renamon had taken off in. _I just hope that those two find each other before it's too late._


	188. 187: My Wish

Renamon's feet bounded off the desert floor, hurtling her and Rika into the hot desert air. Data Streams swept across the quiet landscape but they paid them no heed. At another time, they would have been disturbed by the silence that surrounded them. Recent events and many a battle had taught them to be on their guard in the quietest moments of the digital world, as calm tended to be a prelude to an attack. However, now more than ever they were both grateful to the stillness. Rika perhaps even more so. She needed every ounce of concentration she could get and could not afford distractions.

Closing her eyes, Rika focused on her bond with Takato. The boy continued to feel like a vague presence in the back of her mind but she was beginning to get the general idea of a direction. Raising a hand, Rika pointed in a direction a slight ways off to the side.

"That way," she said, and Renamon adjusted her course accordingly. Rika furrowed her brow, deepening her concentration. She could feel emotions beginning to filter through her mind belonging to her friend. Yes. They were starting to get closer. The increase in what she was picking up was evidence enough of that. Closer, but still so far.

As though sensing her partner's urgency, Renamon increased her pace. Narrowing her blue eyes, the vulpine digimon peered on ahead. There was something hazy somewhere up ahead. Something that stretched ahead in one long, thin line.

_That must be the DexDoruGreymon,_ thought Renamon. _They are far off. I can barely see them from this distance, and I'm certain no human would be able to. We have a long way to go._

Continuing to draw even nearer, Renamon took note of a plume of smoke rising into the air. It was barely visible from this distance, even to her highly trained eyes, registering as barely more than a wisp of light gray against the sky.

"Rika. We should biomerge."

"Are you up for it?" asked Rika worriedly. Even though she undoubtedly knew the advantages that came with it, she was concerned about her partner's condition and wanted to conserve her energy until they had absolutely no choice remaining.

Unfortunately, Renamon felt that their options were running out, and they could not afford to play it safe. Not in this situation.

"It will get us to Takato and Guilmon faster, and strengthen your sense of your bond. You'll be able to locate Takato faster and coordinate with him. Speed is of the utmost importance right now."

Rika nodded and tightened her grip on her digivice.

"Right. Okay. Get ready," she said, digging into her deck box. "I'll scan a Stamina modify card to give us a boost. We're going to need it to pull this off."

Renamon nodded as the girl fanned through her cards with expert ease and pulled out the necessary card. Before she could begin to slash it through her D-Arc's slot however a powerful blast of wind struck them, blowing them off their feet and sending the two partners crashing to the ground. Rika scrambled to grab what cards she could before they disappeared before getting to her feet. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she blinked in surprise as a dull, red glow fell over her and Renamon. Quickly following its source, her violet eyes widened as she saw a column of crimson light rising into the air and ten, angelic wings emerging from it. Instantly Rika knew what was happening, and who was behind the source of that massive pillar. Her mouth moved, speaking the name belonging to that one and only person.

"Takato…" she breathed, awed once again at the sight she beheld, just as she had been when she first caught a glimpse of it during the final battle with the D-Reaper, and when she finally saw it more fully on the day of her birthday.

Gallantmon, Crimson Mode in all of its glory, had arrived once again.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Rika looked over to Renamon. Renamon nodded.

"Let's go," said Rika, raising her digivice above her head. She quickly scanned the Stamina card through it and the screen glowed brightly, readying itself for what was sure to follow.

_"Biomerge activate!"_ the Digimon Queen called out before the light from her D-Arc exploded outwards, engulfing her and her partner in its embrace.

* * *

Data sprayed through the air as Gallantmon skewered a DexDoruGreymon with his energy lance. No sooner did the dragon fall that another one took its place, charging forward and firing a massive metal sphere at him. Too exhausted to take flight, Gallantmon rolled to the side, barely avoiding the orb as it tore through the ground. He was back up a second later, firing another stream of lightning into the swarm, dropping three more in rapid succession. A DexDoruGreymon charged towards him, ducking beneath his attack. Wasting no time, the Royal Knight counterattacked by quickly rushing forward and smashing the edge of his shield into the dragon's face, breaking its jaw from the force of the blow before following up by flipping in midair and bringing his armored boots smashing down into its skull. The DexDoruGreymon collapsed into a heap, rapidly breaking apart into shards of data. Gallantmon took no notice as he landed, instead dashing backwards, seeking to spread the swarm out and thin their numbers to manageable levels. He felt that it was a wasted effort due to the sheer number that made up the main swarm, but he had to try if only to make himself feel like he was accomplishing something. He had plenty of reason for this. They were already flanking him, cutting off his exit. Within seconds, it would be just him and a swirling hurricane of fangs, claws, and shrieks.

_And the last thing that I'll hear is that horrible growl,_ thought Takato, his labored breath echoing within his helm. He almost felt like laughing at the thought. It reminded him of when Guilmon first came to the real world and had badly frightened him. _And to think, I won't be able to experience things like that again…hanging out with Guilmon…listening to Terriermon's bad jokes…and Rika…_ Takato's eyes softened at that before becoming firm again.

" _No!"_ shouted Takato, shaking his head fiercely. _"I can't think like that! Rika will kill me if I give up now. I have to keep fighting! I have to give the others a chance to get out of here! I won't lose to these guys! I'll find a way to take them down! I don't know how, but I just will!"_

_"Takato?"_ asked Guilmon. _"Who are you talking to?"_

_"Just my fears, boy,"_ he replied, hefting his shield and lance. _"We're going to beat these guys, right? Nothing's going to stand in our way!"_

_"Right! We'll win and then we'll meet the others! We'll be home eating Guilmon Bread just like we used to do!"_

_"That's right!"_ Takato nodded, a grin forming on his face in spite of their situation. The odds were long…impossibly long, but he didn't care. He refused to back down in the face of his enemies as long as he was able to keep his friends safe. The only thing that he had to consider was the 'how'. That was decidedly the tricky part, and his condition wasn't helping in the least. His armor felt like lead weights now even though enough of it was wrecked to considerably lighten the load.

_We'll just have to deal with it,_ thought Takato, continuing to race away from the swarm. It didn't look good for him. The DexDoruGreymon nearly had him surrounded, and the 'exit' narrowed with every passing second. Lashing out with his lance, Gallantmon attempted to 'trim back the brush'. His attack did little good however as the dragons ducked and wove around his _Lightning Joust_ , closing the gap ever more tightly. A column of light from the outside world shrank as he raced onwards. The ability to fly had been bereft of him from the sheer amount of energy he had expended so far, but he strove forward all the same, knowing that every second counted.

Gallantmon felt something nudge in the back of his mind, and spinning on a dime he slammed his shield into an oncoming DexDoruGreymon, knocking it to the side. Another one was on him almost immediately, and he fired a spear of lightning into its face, obliterating it instantly. Still more came at him…two, three… _dozens_ at a time. He fired repeatedly, cutting a swath through the horde, but still they came at him. Finally, a DexDoruGreymon broke through his defenses and crashed into him, crushing him to the ground with one mighty claw. Gallantmon's lance was out, stabbing through the claw and firing a blast of raw lightning through its chest. The dragon exploded into shards of data, and a large, metallic sphere flew through them, smashing into Gallantmon's head as soon as he began to get back up. Lights burst in Takato's head as pain lanced through him. Fighting his way through it, Gallantmon rolled to the side, evading another massive claw as it came crashing down into the sand. He staggered, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his head of the sparks.

He didn't get a chance.

A DexDoruGreymon landed in front of him and swiped a claw at him, smashing him to the side where he rolled into a pack of its fellow brethren. Driven by raw instinct forged into him by the many battles that he had fought his lance slashed outwards and data flew into the air. A claw tore through his cape and raked his armor, causing sparks to fly. He spun in response and smashed a foot into his attackers armored face, crushing its helm from the force of the blow. Another claw slashed at him, smashing into him from behind, and throwing him to the ground face first. A massive weight pinned him to the ground, and Gallantmon struggled to push himself up and throw the DexDoruGreymon off him. His golden eyes looked towards the ever-shrinking exit to the world beyond the wall of dragons, the light vanishing with each passing second as though a curtain was dropping like a guillotine's blade. He could feel the hot breath of the DexDoruGreymon as its fangs drew closer to him.

A presence flitted through his mind and Gallantmon's golden eyes widened in complete and utter shock.

_…Rika?! Why is she coming this…? No! NonononononononoNOOO!_

A flash of violet eyes and all at once urgency beyond anything he ever knew flooded his body. Flame patterns crisscrossed his armor and light shone from them, giving the Royal Knight the appearance of a bonfire. He threw himself upwards as white flames leapt up his back, instantly deleting the arm of the DexDoruGreymon that held him down. Ten metallic, edged wings of white, shining light burst free from his back as data was rewritten. Blue and red armor constructed themselves over the damaged sections of white and a crystal containing a swirling blue vortex materialized in the center of his chest. A double bladed spear appeared in his hands, giving off an intense light that stabbed outwards as though they were daggers in their own right. DexDoruGreymon screamed as the light struck them, forcing them to fall from the sky whereupon they promptly began to disintegrate into shards of sparkling data. The data didn't go wasted however, as their brethren immediately began pulling it into their bodies, evolving as they did so to compensate for the new force that their enemy had become. Gallantmon watched them do so for a second before stabbing his sword into the ground. The earth split beneath the blade and red light shone through its cracks, extending outwards along the entire battlefield and illuminating each and every one of his enemies. Gallantmon eyed each and every one of them with thunder in his gaze before taking a deep breath and sending every ounce of his power into his spear.

_"For the digital world…for my friends…for everything that has ever lived…this battle_ ends here!" Power surged through his body, building to its climactic point until he could contain it no longer. "QUO VADIS!"

Gallantmon's voice resounded throughout the desert and a great column of light broke free from the ground, shattering the swarm of DexDoruGreymon and the DexDorugoramon in one breath. The light continued to extend upwards in one streaming torrent of raw power, becoming a massive, towering obelisk of crimson light. The light was everywhere. It was everything…

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the red light dissipated, retreating to Gallantmon's unmoving form with only smoking desert surrounding him. Of the DexDoruGreymon there was no sign. Not so much as a sparkle of free-floating data was left.

Within his glowing data sphere, Takato had never before known silence to be so deafening.

_"You really know how to make a spectacle of yourself, you know that?"_ came the voice of Rika as Sakuyamon's shadow fell over the crimson knight.

_"Sakuyamon!"_ exclaimed Takato, whirling about and pulling his spear from the ground. His golden eyes fell on the mystic shaman as she flew towards him, a small, relieved smile on her face. _"Wha…what are you doing here?"_

_"Thought you could use some help,"_ she replied. _"But for once it looks like you didn't need it. I don't know whether I should feel insulted."_ Sakuyamon fixed Gallantmon with a hard stare, and within his data sphere Takato swore that he felt her glare through her mask.

_"B-but Rika!"_ began Takato, losing some of his former composure. _"I…hold on."_ Takato frowned and at once Sakuyamon's mouth curved upwards into a teasing smile.

_"You…are such an easy mark, you know that, Gogglehead? But you're finally learning. Now, come on. We've got to get going. We have an Ark to catch."_

_"Right,"_ nodded Takato, spreading Gallantmon's wings. With nothing more to be said between them the two friends leapt into the air in their final dash towards home.

* * *

Grani floated within the Hypnos Tracer, astounded by what he had just witnessed. One moment he had been preparing to merge himself with Takato and Guilmon again to help them survive the swarm of DexDoruGreymon, and the next…

_What was that?_ he wondered, remembering the flashes of white patterns that had materialized over Gallantmon's armor. _It was as though some latent program had activated. Could something have happened to them while we were separated? Or did they always have this inside of them and only activated it now?_ Grani shook his head in amazement. _One thing is for sure, the level of growth that those two have…I have no words to describe it._

Grani frowned, wondering what that meant for him now. His existence had been short, and up to this point had consisted of being a vehicle for the Tamers, later solely for Gallantmon, and then being a part of Gallantmon. Now he was separate, his consciousness tied to ChaosGallantmon's old spear in the Chuchidarumon village, and even though it hardly limited him in any manner he had to admit that he felt somewhat bereft of purpose. The new Ark was not his body by any means, and neither were the Tracers that he imbedded himself in for the time being. There was just him…and the Chuchidarumon village that he had so far been protecting.

_This is something that I need to think on,_ he thought to himself, _but not now. Time is wasting._

Data flowed into Grani via the Tracers that he imbedded himself in, and all at once his frown deepened.

_This isn't right. Something is happening…_

* * *

Henry watched the horizon carefully for any sign of his remaining friends, his gray eyes pulled into a deep frown.

"Henry?" asked Terriermon hesitantly. "Everyone is in the Ark now. Shouldn't we be getting in now?"

"Not yet," Henry replied. Terriermon was silent for a moment, shifting uneasily on his partner's shoulder.

"You know…you're not Takato."

"They'll be here, Terriermon."

"I'm not saying that they won't be, but shouldn't we make sure that no one accidently gets left behind because this thing decided to lift off like the last one did? I know we could try talking to it, but I'd rather that you didn't take any chances. Last time was too much for my nerves. Not to mention my ears."

Henry sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, Terriermon had a point. Last time had been too much of a close call for them, with Takato and Calumon nearly being left behind because Takato refused to get inside when Rika hadn't returned.

_And this time we're on an even tighter clock then last time,_ he thought, remembering what Rika had told them about what she and Takato faced on their way to the meeting place.

"All right, Terriermon. You win." Turning, Henry headed over to the Ark and crawled inside. It was a tight fit, due to the sheer number of digimon and humans that had already squished themselves inside, but there was still room to spare. Giving the horizon one last glance, Henry hoped that it would be enough for Takato, Rika, Renamon and Guilmon once they arrived.

"I sure hope Guilmon is going to be able to fit inside," said Terriermon, unknowingly voicing his partner's concerns.

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai, Henry! I'm sure he'll fit. All we really have to worry about is whether or not the Ark is going to be able to lift off once he's in. You know how much of a bottomless pit his stomach is."

"A bottomless pit cannot possibly exist within a digimon of the level that your friend is at," said Crusadermon pointedly.

"Yeah, we know," said Kazu. "But he eats more than all of us combined so it's something we like to joke about."

"Is that so? I'm surprised. I'd be more concerned about _your_ partner considering his size and the heavy materials he's composed of."

"What can I say? He's big boned. Nothing I can do about that."

Crusadermon scowled beneath her helm, but before she could say anything the vessel jerked and began to rise into the air.

"Hey, what the…?" began Kazu in surprise as the entrance door to the Ark suddenly closed up. "What's happening?"

"We appear to be moving, Kazu," replied Guardromon in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Thanks for the update, Guardromon. Like I couldn't figure that out myself."

"But you said…"

"I know what I said, but I want to know _why!_ Takato and Rika aren't back yet! We've got to stop this thing!"

_Easier said than done,_ thought Henry, looking around the Ark. "Did anyone see a control interface or something when they got in? Anything like what we used the last time we used an Ark?"

"Um…" a shaking of heads was all the answer that Henry received.

"We're in trouble," said Terriermon.

* * *

"Sir!" called out Riley, her head snapping up from her control panel. "I've just received incoming telemetry data from the Ark! It's taking off and is on a course heading back to the real world!"

"What?!" Yamaki looked up at the screens lining the wall in surprise. "What's the cause?"

"Unknown sir. No orders were sent from Hypnos to begin ascent!"

_"There's something happening in one of the deeper layers of the digital world,"_ said Grani as his face materialized on one of the screens. _"I don't have enough data, but something has triggered the survival programs in the Ark."_

"Survival programs?" Yamaki paused. "Of course. When we first created you, the Monster Makers based your program off of the original digimon data, and that included base instincts that drove digimon behavior. They would have done the same thing as last time to save time on creating the new Ark. And now something is happening that's triggering those programs?"

"It looks that way, sir," said Kuroda. "Grani's transmitting the data he's picked up so far. There seems to be a major buildup of energy somewhere on one of the lower levels and its extending throughout the entire digital world. I estimate that we have only minutes before it reaches the surface level. I can't tell what it is beyond that or what is going to happen once whatever it is reaches critical, but I can only guess that if it's making a mere _program_ run for its life, it must be something bad."

Yamaki gritted his teeth angrily. "Are all the Tamers in the Ark?"

_"No, Yamaki. Gallantmon and Sakuyamon are on their way to it now."_

_Sakuyamon?_ Wondered Yamaki. _Why did she go after…never mind._ "Contact them and apprise them of the situation. Riley, stand by to activate Juggernaut. Maybe we can get them out of there if they can't get to the Ark on time."

"Yes sir," replied Riley as Grani's face disappeared from their screen. There was no questioning now in the use of the Juggernaut program. They were out of options and had no time left to explore alternatives. They had to get the Tamers back home no matter what the cost.

* * *

The land blurred by Gallantmon and Sakuyamon as they pushed themselves to their maximum to get to the Ark as soon as possible.

_"Takato…Rika…"_ came the voice of Grani from the darkness surrounding the two.

_"Grani?"_ asked Takato in surprise. _"How are you…? I thought that you merged with me again back there when our Crimson Mode…"_

_"There's no time for that right now, Takato. All of you must listen carefully. Right now there's something building up within the digital world with great potential for destruction. The Ark is preparing to leave. The two of you_ must _be on it before it exits the dimensional barriers separating the real and digital worlds. Do you understand?"_

_"Huh? What's…?"_

_"We copy and understand,"_ interrupted Rika. _"We'll get there as fast as we can."_ Sakuyamon turned to look at Gallantmon. _"You heard him. We've got to get moving! Think you can pick up the pace a li—?"_ Rika's voice abruptly cut off as her body blurred and she began to tumble forward in the air.

"Sakuyamon!" cried out Gallantmon, immediately diving forward and grabbing hold of Sakuyamon by the wrist. Sakuyamon lifted her head, breathing heavily.

_"R-Renamon? What's happening? I feel like we're losing energy all of a sudden."_

_"We are, Rika. We're still exhausted from everything that's happened today and we haven't had a chance to recover sufficiently."_

_"Great. Just great. Of all the times for this to happen…"_

"Sakuyamon! Are you okay?"

"S-Sorry," the shaman rasped. "I guess we pushed ourselves a little too hard. I didn't think that this would happen so soon." Sakuyamon's body blurred again and she ground her teeth together in frustration. Gallantmon's mind raced furiously as he glanced between the shaman priestess and the distant horizon that their way home lay in.

_We've got to get to the Ark, but with Sakuyamon running low on power…oh, man…Rika is really going to hate me for this…_

Moving quickly, Gallantmon pulled Sakuyamon up into his arms in a bridal fashion, catching the shaman digimon off guard.

"Hey! What are you…?"

"No time right now!" he interrupted, pumping his wings and resuming their journey. "You can hit me later for this and I promise not to tell anyone either!" Closing his eyes beneath his helm, Gallantmon gathered as much strength as he could. The white flame patterns returned, covering his body and causing Sakuyamon to blink in surprise at their presence.

"Takato…" she began, but the boy didn't hear her. He felt energy swirling about in his body, increasing with intensity with every second that passed.

_"Takato,"_ he heard Guilmon say from the darkness that surrounded his data sphere. _"I remember this feeling. It's the same one that I felt when I wished you back before. When the other me gave me some weird power…"_

Again, Takato didn't hear. Everything outside of him was distant… _separate_ from what he felt growing inside of him. A hundred emotions were roiling through him. Within the storm that was building he focused his thoughts, his will and intention.

_I've got to get us home…_

The storm took shape within him, and in the central jewel on his armored chest, a small light winked into existence and after a second, flared brightly, startling Sakuyamon. Within her data sphere, Rika blinked, taken aback by the sudden rush of power that she felt emanating from the Royal Knight.

_What is going on here?_ She wondered, but before she could pursue her questions any further, a single beat of Gallantmon's angelic wings obliterated all thought as light exploded around them.

* * *

"Somebody stop this thing!" yelled Suzie with all the force that her tiny body could muster. Lopmon looked up at her partner and placed an ear on her partner's arm, hoping to assuage her before she burst into tears as she was wont to do in extremely stressful situations. She succeeded as often as she failed, depending on the severity of the moment, but time and time again Suzie revealed a maturity that went well above her years.

_I hope that this is one of those times,_ thought Lopmon.

"Suzie, please calm down. The others are doing what they can."

"Yeah," chipped in Terriermon, hopping over next to his twin. "Don't worry, Suzie. Henry's a whiz with computers. I break his all the time and he always figures out how to make them work." The long eared digimon paused and lifted an ear, as though in expectation of something. A frown crossed his face and he turned in an almost insulted fashion towards his partner, who had maneuvered himself towards what he believed to be the front of the Ark, crouched next to a glowing red ring surrounding a blank screen.

"What? No 'Terriermon'?" he asked, putting his tiny fists on his hips.

"Kind of busy here," replied Henry.

"Henry! The world could be ending and you'd still find time to get on my case about my bad jokes!"

"True, but I'm thinking right now. Thanks for letting me know why I always find my computers in a mess every time I get home though."

"Uh…sure, no problem." Terriermon's frown deepened and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Wait. I don't think that was the right way to respond…"

"Forget about it." Henry scowled at the screen. "There's got to be some way that we can communicate with this Ark."

"Well I'm out of ideas," sighed Kazu. "We've already tried talking to it but still nothing. Maybe Guilmon and Takato just have the magic touch for this sort of thing."

Henry shook his head. He wasn't sure if that was the case here. He and Rika had made wishes before, specifically on cards and even 'wished' their way to their Mega forms. Something was missing here, but what?

"Ark," began Henry, forcing himself to put aside the embarrassment that he felt at talking to an inanimate machine.

"Dude, we already did that two seconds ago…"

Henry ignored Kazu and placed his hand on the screen. He couldn't be sure but he thought he remembered Takato doing something similar back when they first used an Ark to get home. Did touch change things?

"Ark. If you can hear me, please stop moving. Our friends are still out there and we can't leave without them." Henry paused, wondering if anything he was saying was getting through. "Please…"

Nothing.

_There's got to be something, but what? Terriermon can't digivolve in the condition he's in and we're too tightly packed in here to let anyone out to try and slow the Ark down. Maybe…hold on._

"Does Impmon still have the comm. device that we used earlier?" he asked, turning towards the others. "Maybe Yamaki can give us a clue about how to talk to this thing!"

It was then that the Ark suddenly came to a sudden stop, surprising everyone and nearly causing Henry to fall onto the screen. The entrance leading to the Ark that had closed up earlier reopened just in time for everyone to get a full view of Gallantmon, carrying Sakuyamon in his arms in a blaze of blinding light, come crashing towards them. A flash of light and one jolt of the Ark later and everyone gave a cry of surprise as the forms of Takato, Rika, Renamon, and Guilmon landed on top of them.

"We really need a better way of piling into these things," joked Takato as he pushed himself up from off of Kazu.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," the visor-wearing Tamer laughed. "Great to have you guys back though."

"Yeah, real great," grumbled Rika, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Now can we get out of here?"

As though in response to the girl's request, the Ark closed the door behind them once more and began to climb the blue-colored Data Trails. Below the Ark sphere, explosions began to erupt from the digital world's surface, pushing upwards into the atmosphere, buffering the Ark and nearly knocking it off its 'rails'. The Ark continued to climb, clinging tightly to its only way back to the human world, desperately refusing to let go.

The Ark ascended past the computer-chip-like squares that passed for the digital world's clouds before one final explosion rocked it, sending it careening into the spatial warp that lay between the two worlds. As it disappeared in a sea of blue and crackling numbers, a loud voice broke upon the air, signaling finality for all who heard it.

_"ALL DELETE!"_


	189. 188: Heading Home

The Tamers fell throughout the Ark pod as they were struck by a powerful shockwave. The main problem aside from the fact that the Ark threatened to tear itself apart from the forces that buffeted it, was that there was very little room for anyone to fall. While this would normally be ideal, this caused immense difficulties for those humans and digimon who happened to be near exceptionally large digimon, such as Cyberdramon, and Guardromon; even more so for the former as he was equipped with steel blades and razor sharp claws. How it was that Kazu prevented himself from being crushed, or how Ryo ended up not accidently being stabbed in the eye no one knew, but were more than willing to chalk it up to good luck.

"Except I'll bet that they just used up all our good luck!" exclaimed Terriermon loudly a second before another shockwave nearly caused him to go flying off of Henry's shoulder. The long eared bunny dog was barely saved from falling into Crusadermon's face by a timely grab on his ears by his partner.

"Momentai, Terriermon!" said the half-Chinese Tamer in exasperation. "Do I have to be you now?"

"Well, if it'll get you to crack a joke for once before we all end up dying…"

"Forget about it rabbitmon," said Rika fiercely. "We didn't come all this way just to get taken out by some explosion! We're going to make it!"

"Oh yeah," Terriermon giggled. "I forgot that we have our very own good luck charm, Takatomon, with us."

"I'm a what now?" blinked Takato as he tried to push Guilmon's crushing weight off of his body, a task made rather difficult due to the additional pile of Impmon and his two Tamers that he found himself in.

"Never mind," chuckled Ryo. "Do you think you can pull off your magic charm with this thing like you did the last time? I know I'd feel comfortable with you in the pilot seat. Somehow I get the feeling that Grani isn't on this ride."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Takato, feeling suddenly worried. "Guilmon?"

"He's right Takato," replied the crimson dinosaur. "I don't feel Grani for some reason."

"Grani? Grani!" Takato cursed quietly in his mind as he disentangled himself from Impmon and his two partners. He quickly surveyed the vessel's surroundings. "Maybe he downloaded himself into this new Ark. Did anyone see a control panel or something when they got on?"

"Don't you think we would have mentioned it if we did?" asked Terriermon sarcastically.

"Terriermon…"

The bickering was immediately interrupted by another jostle from the Ark and everyone cried out in response.

"Everyone hang onto something!" Takato called out, trying to calm everyone's nerves.

"Like we couldn't figure that one out, Gogglehead," shot back Rika.

"Actually he doesn't have his goggles right now…"

"Would you put a lid on it, rabbitmon?!"

A thunderous roar drowned out Takato and Henry's attempts to quiet the feud and the Ark shook violently once again as a wave swept over them. This time they could _feel_ the Ark swerve to the side and its plating trembled in response.

"Oh man," moaned Kenta, cupping his hands around his mouth. His face looked dangerously green. "I think I'm going to be sick…"

_"Not in the Ark!"_ shouted everyone in a panic.

Everyone that is, except for Ryo, who simply looked over at Takato with an expression that spoke of gallows humor.

"Guess it was a good idea to tell them to hang onto something after all…"

* * *

The Ark soared up its connecting data trails. It swayed back and forth as it was pounded by the explosive force emanating from the white ball of fire expanding behind it. The digital world was swallowed beneath its fiery embrace, and the fires threatened to devour the Ark as well. The Ark sped onwards, and even accelerated as though it were driven by the need to outrace the oncoming storm of destruction.

From within the two Tracers, Grani smiled seeing this. Even though it was primitive compared to him, he could feel the need to live beating within his 'younger brother', and he felt a certain pride rising within him as the new Ark ascended towards the Earth at an ever-increasing pace. Glancing back at the rising ball of burning light, Grani returned his attention to the data trails that his sibling rode upon, sending as much data as he could to strengthen them and maintain the guidance that would help them propel their cargo to the real world. Thanks to past experience, he was quite familiar with the data trails and how they operated, perhaps even more so now that he was all but integrating his consciousness into their structure. He knew what was on the line, and if it cost him his continued existence to return the Tamers and their partners home than so be it.

_If only I could still connect to the Chuchidarumon village,_ thought Grani. _But that link was terminated the second that light engulfed the digital world. I wonder…will I be all right once this is all over? The spear that I left there…that contained my data, my core consciousness. I may not be able to feel the connection to the village, but I most definitely feel the spear._

Grani winced as his mind moved away just a fraction from the Tracers and into where his seat of consciousness lay. He could feel the burning heat surrounding his 'body', heating it to intolerable degrees. The fact that he could actually feel what was happening to it spoke volumes. ChaosGallantmon's spear was otherwise, aside from himself, a nonliving object and should not have been able to transmit sensory information.

Grani's digital body jerked within the swirl of information that made up the Hypnos Tracers. Something was definitely wrong now with the spear, and it was beginning to affect him on this side of the link.

_Not good. I estimate that my ability to perform higher level functions will last no more than five minutes. I'm looking at a cascade failure of massive proportions._

Grani felt a spark of pain jolt through his mind, causing his digital body to stiffen in response. He needed no more evidence that he was in trouble.

_The Tamers are in danger. I'm going to have to contact Yamaki and inform him that the retrieval operation just became complicated._ Grani paused mentally before adding an addendum. _He's not going to like this…_

* * *

"Bypass secondary systems and transfer more power to the data trails!"

"I'm trying sir, but there's just too much interference! I'm boosting the signals to the Tracers to help, but it's just not working! We're getting too much interference from whatever's going on in the digital world!"

A loud click resounded through the room as Yamaki's lighter slammed shut. The blonde haired man looked at the incoming data readouts, trying desperately to come up with a plan that would get the Tamers home. Unfortunately, everything he threw at the problem ended in failure no matter what he did. The Monster Makers were working in their respective office to help solve the problem, but they weren't having any more luck than he, Kuroda, Riley, and Tally were.

_Whatever is going on in the digital world it's causing massive amounts of interference with all signals. The network is being affected. If we don't figure out something fast, we'll be looking at a worldwide systems crash, and if that happens we won't be able to get the Tamers home._

Yamaki pushed at his sunglasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. There had to be something that they could do. Something to change the tides of fortune, but try as much as he could, nothing else was coming to him.

_"Yamaki…"_

"Grani!" Yamaki's eyes snapped up to one of the Hypnos monitors. "What's your status?"

_"Problematic. I'm afraid that the problems in the digital world are beginning to affect me now. I don't have much time left before I suffer a cascade failure."_

"Did he just say what I thought he just said?" spoke up Kuroda, overhearing the conversation despite being distracted by his own herculean efforts to help out.

_"I'm afraid so, Mr. Kuroda,"_ replied Grani. As though to emphasize his claim, Grani's image winced and static ran along it. _"I'm estimating just over four minutes before cascade failure begins. My physical body may be lost. The Tracers are too small to contain my essence and will decompile if I try to do so. If that occurs, any contact that you have established with the Tamers will assuredly be lost."_ A downcast look crossed Grani's face. _"I can only offer my apologies, and promise to do as much as I can before my body ultimately is destroyed."_

"Can't he just transfer his program into Hypnos?" asked Kuroda. "I mean, I hate the idea of anything taking up root in these systems, but we can't afford to lose him at this point."

_"The transfer will take too long Mr. Kuroda. I will undoubtedly still suffer systems damage in the process in the event that it is successful and that will hamper our attempts to bring everyone home. Besides, there is already too much information within the Hypnos network that has taken root. Attempting to plant myself in their place will only lead to conflict, and at this point that would be…problematic."_

Kuroda raised a confused eyebrow at this.

"What did you mean by that? Are you referring to the…"

"Never mind that, for now," interrupted Yamaki impatiently. "Grani, do you have any suggestions?"

_"Presently I have none that I can offer. I am attempting to maintain and strengthen the trail links to the Ark. There is a problem with the shockwaves emanating from the digital world. It is putting severe strain on the data trails. As a result, they are suffering from seventy-two percent fragmentation. I do not know how much more they can take before they are destroyed and the Ark is left adrift. I cannot even be certain that this version of the Ark will develop a consciousness of its own to be able to affect any change. It is aware enough to want to survive, of that I am certain, but its development seems to have halted. Possibly due to its simpler design."_

Yamaki clenched the lighter in his hand as he fought to compose himself.

_There must be something…_

"Sir!" exclaimed Tally suddenly. "What about the Firewall program that we installed last year after Takato discovered the digital gate? The one that returned after the D-Reaper was defeated? Could we use that to act as a buffer zone between the Ark and the digital world? Have that absorb the shockwave?"

Yamaki's eyes flashed beneath his sunglasses. It hadn't occurred to him to try and use that. It had been abandoned after the digimon began bio-emerging once again. It had been effective against digimon in the beginning, but he had no idea how it would hold up against an explosion of this magnitude.

_It's certain that this explosion will weaken as its range increases,_ Yamaki's mind raced furiously. _If we can put as much processing power that we can spare into it…_

"How long will it take to run the Firewall?"

"Two minutes sir! We still have it on file and I've been working on tweaking it…"

"Launch it! Kuroda! Riley! Assist her!"

_"I shall do so as well,"_ spoke up Grani. _"Presently there is little that I can do to aid the Tamers except reinforce the data trails. My resources are growing smaller with each passing second, and you will need all the speed that you can get."_

Yamaki nodded before setting his lighter down on his console. His hands went down to the keyboard in front of him.

"All right, everyone. Let's bring those kids home."

* * *

The Ark shook tremulously as another blast struck it. The sound of something tearing and creaking filled the air and within short order, the Ark jerked again. Takato felt his stomach heave as he was thrown backwards and cracked the back of his head against the curved wall. White light burst across his vision and he felt himself becoming strangely distant. Everyone's voices felt far away, like so much white noise. He shook his head violently, trying to clear his vision, and braced himself against the wall to steady himself. He did not notice the thin, glowing, flame-like patterns flash across his arm and flow into the wall before disappearing. Neither did anyone else for that matter, as they were too caught up in trying to keep themselves from getting injured from all the jostling about.

"Ah!"

The sound of Jeri's cry caught Takato's attention, and the next thing he knew, his arms found Jeri flying into them, smashing into his body with brutal force and causing his head to once again rebound against the wall. Takato bit his tongue to keep from crying out, but a small groan escaped his lips regardless of his wishes.

"Sorry," apologized, Jeri in a panicky voice. "Are you all right?"

Takato shook his head to clear his mind, and chuckled.

"Just another goose egg, but I don't think that will do me any lasting harm. Maybe."

Jeri did not look the least bit comfortable with the boy's joke, and she scowled at him. Seeing this, Takato rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Sorry," he apologized before his face softened. "Don't worry, Jeri. We're going to get out of this. Everything's going to be fine."

Jeri didn't reply right away, and instead pursed her lips together into one thin line, frowning as she thought things over. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Jeri nodded, and Takato smiled in relief seeing this.

The Ark shook again, and another round of cries went up. Reflexively Takato tightened his grip around Jeri, and the girl closed her eyes tightly, clinging to him as she waited for the tremors to pass.

_When is this going to be over?_ She wondered, swallowing anxiously. Her heart felt as though it wanted to burst from her chest it was pounding so hard. Every wrenching sound and creak that the Ark made around them…every shake wanted to make her cry out in fear. Briefly she thought about going to look for the digignome, Oni, that she had been holding. The Ark's incessant quaking that had caused her to be thrown at Takato was also responsible for her being separated from Oni. She hadn't even had a chance to see where he had gone. She wanted to go looking for him, to see if he was all right, but at the same time, there just wasn't any time, or a chance to do so. The Ark was shaking so badly now that nobody could move without the danger of becoming a sudden projectile. All she could do now was cling to her friend and wait for everything to be over.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, Oni's eyes flickered open, finding himself resting against Guardromon's legs. His head hurt, but otherwise he felt fine. As fine as one could be he supposed. Briefly, the digignome wondered where he was, and what was happening. His memory felt… _odd_ for some reason. Blurry. Looking around, he found himself recognizing the children and at least _some_ of the digimon surrounding him, but not all. The importance of their identities quickly vanished as he took in the expressions of terror and need on their faces. They were expressions that felt oddly familiar to him, but for the life of him he could not place why this was so.

Oni chirped questioningly, but no one heard him. The Ark shuddered and Oni nearly rolled to the side.

_"Can't someone put a stop to this thing already?!"_ demanded the loud voice of a long eared digimon. _"I'm starting to get Ark sick here!"_

"Terriermon…"

"Please don't remind me," pleaded bespectacled boy making gagging sounds while next to him, a blonde haired girl with pigtails was trying desperately to soothe him.

"Kenta! Just hang in there! We're going to get out of this soon!"

"Henwy!" screamed a little girl clutching fiercely to a dark colored twin to the long eared digimon that had screamed earlier. "Make it stop!"

_Stop?_ Oni's mind seized on the word and a memory surfaced to his mind. A memory of him following a strange vessel that had carried these children to the human world. Was this what was going on now? Had he somehow gotten aboard the vessel? He was having trouble remembering…

The cries of the little girl continued to resound in his ears, and making a decision, Oni listened to the wish within her heart and then sunk through the floor of the Ark, chirping as a bright glow overtook his body.

Reaching open space just in time for a wall of data to appear in front of a torrential fireball surging towards them, Oni spread his wings. Light burst free from the center of his body and spread throughout the sphere. The light connected with the trails of blue data and the Ark's pace increased exponentially. Oni chirped happily and fell away from the orb, watching it depart.

More chirps echoed and Oni soon found himself flying amidst a flock of digignomes, each and every one of them greeting him happily. As they flew together, a loud explosion resounded throughout digital space as the sphere of fire behind Oni slammed into the wall of data.

The Ark continued to climb towards the Earth before finally disappearing into the deep blue sea that lay between the two worlds.

* * *

"The Firewall is holding," announced Tally, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Good," said Yamaki, nodding his head while looking regretfully at the display screen in front of his two operators. Where Grani's face had once been there remained nothing but static. They had lost contact with him scant milliseconds after the Firewall went up. "What's the status of the Tamers."

"They are on course towards the real world," replied Riley. "I'm reading repairs in the data bonds of the Trails. Their fragmentation has fallen to thirty-two percent. I'm also reading unusual patterns in the hull of the Ark."

Yamaki frowned beneath his sunglasses.

"What kind of readings?"

"Unknown at present. They've entered the spatial warp. I can't get any accurate readings until they've cleared it."

"Do we have an estimate as to where they're going to arrive?"

"Their flight path was a little bit off when they entered the warped area. I don't think that they're going to enter Shinjuku Park like we had estimated earlier. Attempting to recalculate." Riley's hands moved across her keyboard as she inputted data into it. A frown crossed her features beneath her visor. "Sir. I think I have their trajectory."

"Tally. Inform all units to stand by and prepare for retrieval. Riley? Where are they headed?"

"They're going to emerge in the Nakano district."

* * *

Aiko Nakata smiled at her son comfortingly as she got up from off the couch. As was normal with him he was sprawled in front of the television, intent on the program he was watching. Normally she would have protested against his watching television at such a late hour as she often worried about how it would affect him, but tonight she decided to allow it. If nothing else, the TV served as an excellent distraction for them both. Daisuke as he was presently bereft of school assignments and his normal allotment of distractions, having been packed off to his grandmother's house in a hurry.

Aiko sighed, walking out of the room and wandering over to a nearby window, passing her mother on the way. She could see her reflection in the window, watching her, but she knew enough to not start up a conversation at this time, not with Daisuke nearby. She had an idea as to what she would say though. She had expressed dissatisfaction with her decision to remain in Shinjuku in spite of it being the center of digimon related activity. It was hardly surprising, but she never pressed it any further than that, which she was quite grateful for. Things had changed since then though, namely in that Noriko had disappeared into the digital world…twice, and with numerous things happening to her in the process. Would this be the time where the older woman would begin to press that they move?

The darkness of night stared back at her, and on the glass, her mother's gaze shifted away and looked back down at the book that she held in her hands. Aiko breathed mentally.

_She probably wouldn't pressure me, but this would be a case where she'd tell me 'I told you so'. She did that back when I was a lot looser and less caring about who I hung out with and who I had sex with. Anyone could have seen where I was heading. Well, everyone except me, that is. I guess that held true even after I grew out of that phase._

Aiko's gaze moved out over the distant city lights. Not Shinjuku, but close enough as far as she was concerned. Thankfully, the news reported that the fighting had ended, but the city was still closed off due to the extreme damage that it had suffered. Of anything else, the reporters were silent on.

_More like the military's being silent,_ thought Aiko. _Oh, Noriko. Please, wherever you are, be okay…_

Distantly, a loud, thunderous sound grumbled in the sky.

Aiko stood at the window a moment longer, noting the fog that began to roll into the yard. She was just about to turn away when her mind snagged on this and she frowned thoughtfully at it.

_That's odd. I don't remember hearing anything about the weather acting up…_

Something clicked in her mind and Aiko quickly backed away from the window. Could it be…?

_Yes. It has to be,_ Aiko thought as the fog began to grow thicker. She had heard about this phenomenon. Digimon tended to appear in the human world by using fog or something of that nature for some reason. She couldn't remember if she ever heard why…

Suddenly a crimson ball slammed dead center in the middle of the yard, and Aiko's family jumped in surprise.

"What was that?" asked her mother, her voice shaking between fear and urgency, preparing to run and to grab whatever weapon was at hand to fend off any burglars or digimon that decided to invade her home.

"Mom. Take Daisuke around back."

"Don't talk nonsense. What are you going to do? What's going on out there?"

Aiko didn't answer. Her hands were shaking as she watched the metal sphere roll slightly to the side. Smoke and steam poured off of the orb's outer hull, as though it had been exposed to some intense heat during whatever journey it had been on. Aiko found herself more than a little curious as to what it was. It definitely didn't look like a digimon. Granted, her experience with digimon was limited only to Lucemon and the news reports, but digimon…

_They usually move, right?_ Wondered Aiko as she took a step towards the window. The smoke and steam was finally dying down, revealing more of the object's structure to her. It was simply just a red, metallic ball. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Daisuke," Aiko called out. "Is that…a digimon?"

Aiko had to admit to feeling foolish, asking her son and youngest child to identify what they were looking at, but he was the only resident in the household who had any knowledge about digimon. He collected everything regarding the franchise. Cards, magazines, toys, manga…all he had to do was look at something and if it was a digimon he could give you its information right down to what it liked for dinner.

_Now if only he'd be like that towards his school work…_

"That's not like any digimon I've ever seen, Mom," replied Daisuke, peering at the sphere from behind his grandmother. "I don't think it is one."

Aiko frowned, not liking the lack of identity given to the giant steel ball.

_It still might be a digimon. It might be like one of those animals that rolls up or something…_

Aiko's thoughts broke off as a hatch opened up at the end facing the house, spilling bright light onto them. Aiko raised one hand to shield her eyes, peering intently into the light. There was something inside the sphere. Something…no, _some things_ were walking down a plank of some kind that was descending towards the ground. For a brief moment Aiko entertained the thought that an alien invasion force had found itself in her mother's front yard, but such thoughts were swiftly banished as the light died down, revealing the disheveled forms of a group of familiar children and digimon.

And standing amongst them was one face that threatened to stop her heart.

"Noriko!"


	190. 189: Slowing Down to Rest

"Everyone, prepare to move out," ordered Yamaki, speaking loudly to be heard over the noise of the helicopters as their engines started up.

"Where're we headed, sir?" asked a pilot standing at attention with a lit cigarette in his mouth. As though remembering its presence, the man quickly pulled it out and threw it on the ground, grinding it out with one foot.

"Nakano district," Yamaki replied tersely. There were already reports flooding in about something landing in front of a local household and a fog materializing. No Wild One signals had been detected so there was virtually no chance that what had crashed was anything other than the Ark.

_Unless our detection grid missed something during the explosion we recorded,_ thought Yamaki. Hypnos sensors had been greatly affected during that time, as had numerous other systems both in and outside of the Hypnos network. Riley was sorting through the system now, aided by the mysterious new properties that Hypnos had picked up, but for the moment, it would take time to sift through the sensor logs. Until Hypnos 'regenerated', they would have to confirm things directly.

Yamaki shuddered. Between what had happened to Hypnos and the digital world, he had no idea which he should be more worried about. Tonight was full of unknowns and he expected to have many more before this was over.

_Hopefully the authorities we contacted in Nakano will be sensible and do as we suggested rather than try to deal with the problem themselves. They'll be way out of their league if things take a turn for the worst…_

"Yamaki!"

The blonde haired head of Hypnos paused just outside the helicopter's entrance, and turned back to see Janyu standing at the main entrance, supported by Gorou Mizuno and Rob McCoy. The man was breathing heavily from the sheer strain that the injuries he received a week ago put on him.

_He must have abandoned his wheel chair to get up here,_ Yamaki observed before raising a questioning eyebrow at the Monster Maker.

"Janyu. What are you doing up here?"

"I…just got a call from my son…Henry…" Janyu waved one hand from around McCoy's shoulder weakly. In it was his cell phone. "He told me where he and the others are. He says that they're all right. I want…I want to go with you."

"You're injured, Janyu. You should be resting."

"I _want_ to see my son!" Janyu asserted, stepping forward. His legs shuddered and the man nearly collapsed, causing his two friends to cry out in surprise and worry. Yamaki sighed mentally. He couldn't afford to stand here arguing with the man. In spite of the fact that he was Janyu's superior, the two of them were more often than not on equal terms with each other. There were occasions where he had gone to Janyu for advice regarding a situation. And now, here he was, demanding to see his son despite the severity of the injuries he had sustained. The man was, if nothing else, determined.

"All right," Yamaki nodded and turned to the pilot. "Help him get in and make sure that he's secure."

"Aye sir."

* * *

Silence hung heavy within the Ark, save for a few sounds of creaking metal and shifting bodies. The Tamers and the digimon were sprawled all over the place. Some clung to their human partners in an effort to shield them from the worst of the crash landing, as Crusadermon and Renamon had done for Ayaka and Rika, while others, such as Guardromon with Kazu, did not have as much luck.

"Oh dear…sorry Kazu," apologized the android digimon as the boy shifted one hand to his head, massaging a bump that began growing there from having been catapulted into his partner's hard iron body.

As though Guardromon's voice had been a signal, more Tamers and digimon began moving, shifting to untangle themselves from the mess that they found themselves in.

"Uh…i-is everyone all right?" called out Takato as he and Jeri parted and took a look around them.

"All things considered," replied Rika, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "I'm peachy. I can't say the same for Kazu though. He looks out of it."

"…Not…out…" groaned Kazu in a muffled voice.

"He's fine," chirped Terriermon, bounding over to the limp boy. "He didn't hit his head _that_ hard if he's still able to talk. And it's not like he would have damaged anything important anyway…"

"And what makes _you_ an expert in all this?" asked Henry, grabbing his partner by his ears and lifting him up.

"Momentai! It's Kazu! He's too thick headed to be taken down by something like this."

"I can hardly argue with you there, but we still have to make sure just in case."

"Where's Kenta and MarineAngemon?" asked Takato, narrowing his eyes to see in the cramped, dark space of the Ark.

"…Right here. I heard what's going on. Hang on. I can't see anything…"

"Gimme a moment and I'll change that," spoke up Impmon, and a second later, a light flared upon one of the diminutive devil digimon's finger, illuminating the Ark.

"Thanks," said Kenta, nodding at Impmon before beginning to clamber on over to where Kazu and Guardromon lay, MarineAngemon floating behind him, casting a worried look at everyone. The fairy digimon's eyes paused on Takato, and he began to make a series of agitated noises.

"Huh?" Kenta blinked in surprise. "Hey. MarineAngemon. Is everything all ri—?"

"Takato," interrupted Jeri. "You're bleeding!"

"I am?"

Jeri's hand went up to the brunette's forehead, where her fingers traced a path along a cut that extended an inch above his left eyebrow. Takato frowned and placed his own hand on the injury, wondering how he could have gotten it until the memory of his battle with the strange digimon known as Maelstrom came to him.

_That's right. He tagged me up here with his tail._

Instinctively, Takato's free hand went down to his stomach, where he had also been pierced, but fortunately, no wound greeted him, and he gave a relieved laugh.

"I must have gotten it during the fight and just didn't notice it after Guilmon and I separated."

"Typical," snorted Rika, though the smile she had on her face belied her tone. "You always overlook the stuff that's important to you."

"It doesn't look to bad," said Jeri, giving the wound further inspection.

"Pihpuh," said MarineAngemon to Kenta, and the boy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, take a look at it, just to make sure. I'll take a look at Kazu."

"I'm pretty sure that it can wait," placated Takato. "I'm worried about Kazu, and I've gotten this far without any problems…"

"How about we open up this hatch and let in some fresh air?" asked Terriermon impatiently. "I don't know about you guys but I don't want to stay cramped in this thing. It's getting stuffy in here!"

"Terriermon…"

Henry shook his head and got up as best as he could. As much as he hated to admit it, Terriermon had a point. They needed to get outside and take stock of their surroundings. Quickly locating the outline of the Ark's hatch he made his way over to it, with Urocyomon phasing into view next to him. Henry looked at the hatch uncertainly, unsure as to what to do next. There wasn't anything that he could see that they could use to open it.

_"Kahuna Waves! Puh!"_ Came the voice of MarineAngemon from behind him, and the lighting of the Ark was briefly illuminated in blue and pink colors as the fairy digimon spread his healing powers wholesale to the entire group. There was some more shifting and Henry found Takato, Ryo, and Rika by his side. Henry frowned slightly, seeing that Takato was still sporting his injury, but otherwise looked fine. A mess, but that was hardly any different from anyone else at the moment.

"Any luck?" asked Takato, and Henry shook his head. Placing one hand on the door, Henry's frown deepened.

"This doesn't make sense. There's a door here, but I'm not seeing how it can open…"

The sound of hissing caused everyone to jump in surprise, and Henry quickly retracted his hand. As they watched, the hatch to the Ark slid open and a plank began to extend itself. Light burst forth from the Ark's interior, casting out onto what was decidedly the front lawn of someone's home in the real world. Stars and a recognizable moon hovered above them in the night sky, and the sounds of sirens from off in the distance greeted them. The cool, night air flowed over the group and everyone breathed it in contentment. Never had it felt so good to them.

"Everyone off," said Takato in a low voice.

"Um…" spoke up Noriko from the back. "Could someone help me here with Lumemon? He's…he's not moving…oh!"

Noriko was caught by surprise as the yellow ribbons belonging to Crusadermon snaked outwards and wrapped themselves around the limp digimon, lifting him into the air and depositing him into her arms with a gentleness that took everyone off guard. The Royal Knight tilted her head to one side in confusion as to why everyone was looking at her before frowning beneath her helm.

"I suggest that we get moving and seek aid for this digimon," Crusadermon said pointedly.

"Oh!" Takato jerked out of his reverie. "Right." With that, the brown haired boy took a step onto the plank and was swiftly followed by everyone else. Within short order the entire group was out on the lawn. The sounds of sirens were growing closer, but no one cared. For them, that only meant that help was coming and they would soon find the rest that they so desperately craved.

Almost immediately upon touching the ground, the front door to the house flew open and Aiko Nakata was running towards them.

"Noriko!" she screamed, rapidly closing the distance between herself and the Tamers. Behind them, Crusadermon tensed, half expecting the woman to launch an attack at them. The other Tamers and digimon, save for Noriko and Crusadermon, backed away to give the woman room.

Crusadermon's fingers twitched around Lumemon's body and her ribbons arched themselves, preparing to strike.

"M-Mom!" stammered Noriko, finally finding her voice.

_Mom?_ thought Crusadermon, blinking beneath her helm in confusion. She had never heard of the term until now. Before the Royal Knight could say or do anything, the older woman threw her arms around Noriko and pulled her into a powerful hug. Crusadermon was left stupefied, until memories from her own youth in the digital world brought forth images of her being held closely in the arms of her first caretaker, Rosemon. It had been one of the few times that she had enjoyed the company of someone close.

Crusadermon relaxed her ribbons as she performed a quick check on the others. The expressions on their faces told her there was nothing to be concerned about.

_Finally,_ she thought to herself, feeling odd in the relief that pervaded her now. She couldn't quite explain why, but for the first time that she could remember, she was glad that they didn't have to fight.

The sound of sirens drew closer, and Kazu found himself wiping a tear from his eye. As he did so, he looked over at the Ark that had bore them home.

_I have to admit that I feel a little weird doing this but hey. Chumley did it once and he got quite a good deal out of it. Anyway…thanks Ark. You brought us home and…_

Kazu frowned and cocked his head to the side.

"Hey." Kazu nudged Kenta with one elbow and pointed over at the Ark. "Wasn't that thing, like, 'not-red' when we were all climbing into it?"

"Um…" was all Kenta had to say on the matter as he adjusted his glasses.

At Kazu's observation, Jeri looked back at the Ark, searching its now empty interior. Her eyes were full of worry. She hadn't seen Oni since they had become separated. He most certainly wasn't among any of the others when they disembarked.

_Come to think of it, Impmon wouldn't have needed to provide us with any light. When Oni went back to being a digignome, he began providing his own light source. After he and I were separated…it was as if he…left._

Jeri's eyes rose up to the sky, and she curled her fingers together, wondering where amongst the stars the digignome had gone.

_Is he even in the real world? Or is he in…the digital world?_

No answer came to the young girl as she stared up at the sparkling night sky.

* * *

Henry hung up Rika's cell phone and handed it back to her.

"My dad says that they've got a fix on our location and are coming to get us."

"How long will it be until they get here?" the crimson haired girl asked. Henry shrugged.

"He just said 'soon' and that we should 'sit tight' until Hypnos gets here."

Rika scowled, but nodded.

"Somehow I don't think that's going to be a problem with any of us," she said, glancing around the Nakata residence living room at the various Tamers and digimon, mainly Suzie, Ai, and Mako who were presently sprawled out on the floor and furniture with utter abandon. Such was their exhaustion that few, if any, were playing favorites with where they rested their head.

"Thanks again for letting us stay in your home," said Takato before wincing as the paramedic tending him ran a cotton swab over the cut on his forehead. Across from him, Aiko Nakata was setting down a tray of tea and passing them out to whichever Tamers and digimon were still conscious. Looking up at the boy, she smiled.

"Well, it's my mothers, so it was her decision, but you're welcome all the same. It's the least that we can do considering you brought my child home. Besides, it wouldn't have been right to just leave you all outside."

Takato smiled back, though his was far less comfortable looking by comparison, showing all of his anxieties at imposing on the family. Aiko, for her part, either chose to ignore them, or simply took no notice. Instead she looked out the window where Guardromon's massive form stood at attention, illuminated by the red and blue lights of the ambulance and various police vehicles that had showed up following the arrival of the Ark.

"Is he all right out there?" Aiko asked worriedly.

"Ahhh…he's fine," replied Kazu as he drank down his tea. "He's absolutely fine with being outside. Well, he's never complained about it before except for when my mom kicks him for stepping in her flower bed. He makes a good watch-bot though. Except maybe for Renamon, you couldn't ask for a better house guard."

"I…see. Well then, is there anything else that you need? Snacks perhaps?"

"Snacks?" Terriermon, who had been going back and forth between dozing and fighting sleep suddenly snapped to full wakefulness. Next to him, Henry groaned, and Kazu snickered.

"Now you've done it."

"I'll have some snacks!" cheered Terriermon, pumping one tiny fist into the air. "You'd better believe it!"

"Me too!" exclaimed Guilmon, his golden eyes sparkling as he sprung to his feet. "Can I, Takato? Huh? Can I?"

"Um…Guilmon…It's not polite to just…"

"Forget politeness," snapped Terriermon, leaping onto the crimson dinosaur's back. "I'm hungry, and I'm sure Guilmon could enough for a dozen people!"

"Terriermon…" Henry sighed. "Ms. Nakata. That's very gracious of you, but…"

"…But out of respect for your fridge, we should probably decline your offer," smirked Rika. "Trust me. These two numbskulls," she pointed to Takato and Henry, "could tell you how their homes are routinely cleaned out. And Gogglehead here lives in a bread shop."

Aiko allowed a small smile to tug at the edges of her mouth, but she didn't appear to have lost any of her confidence.

"In that case, I had best make enough to fill a bread shop, shouldn't I?" With that said, the woman motioned for the two digimon to follow her into the kitchen, to which they eagerly acquiesced. With a look of dread in his eyes, Henry got up from his spot and followed them.

"I'd better be damage control."

"I'll join you…" began Takato only to be stopped by the paramedic who was still tending his injury. The man gave him a firm look that told him that under no circumstances was he to move from his spot until he was finished.

"Just let him do his job, Gogglehead," added Rika for extra emphasis. "I don't think I need to point out that you were the only one who didn't heal up when MarineAngemon went around. I'd say that there's something wrong with it that needs looking into."

Takato frowned.

"But Rika…"

"Um…Takato?" asked Jeri tentatively. "Why don't I go in your place? I can keep an eye on Guilmon for you until you're all set."

Takato nodded his head reluctantly and the brown haired girl smiled at him.

"All right." Jeri turned her smile towards Rika. "Make sure he stays out of trouble this time," she said before skipping off after Henry. Rika watched her go, a sharp blush on her face. Rika _hmmphed_ irritably and looked away from the others.

"Okay," said the paramedic to Takato. "We're just about done here, but I want you to take it easy. That cut looks pretty deep, and you're lucky that it wasn't any deeper or else I'd have you run down to the hospital to get stitches. What did you run into?"

"Um…"

"Never mind. I get the feeling that I don't want to know. Alternate worlds and such is what I've been hearing on the news ever since that big red blog showed up last year, and now here I am in a room full of my kid brother's favorite TV show, only it's all real. If I'm to have any sleep tonight, I think it's better to have a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy here. Anyway. I'm willing to bet that this is going to scar over." The paramedic winced as he inspected the wound once more. Applying a sterile pad over the cut, he quickly wrapped a bandage around it to seal it in place.

"All right. That should do it. Usual rules apply. Change it regularly, keep it clean, and _don't_ fuss with it. I'm sure the last thing you, your friends, or your parents need is a mess in the morning."

"Uh…yeah," agreed Takato, deciding that it was best to just go with the flow for this one. With that, the paramedic packed up his things and left the house. Silence filled the room, broken only by the sounds of dishes and pots clattering from the kitchen. Outside, the police and ambulance continued to hold their vigil over the house and the occupants within.

"So…" began Rika after a moment. "You want to tell _us_ in on how you that cut? I find it really weird that MarineAngemon couldn't do anything about it."

Takato fingered his bandages reflexively before remembering the paramedic's stern advise.

"I don't really get it myself," he replied. "I was trying to get away from all of those DexDoruGreymon that we ran into, and I got jumped by…I don't know really. It looked like one of the DexDoruGreymon when they digivolve but it was…different."

"Hey, Chumley?" asked Kazu. "None of us saw what those things looked like except you and Rika…"

"…And I didn't see their Mega form," added Rika. "But from what you're saying, it sounds like what you fought was out of its usual line?"

"Yeah," nodded Takato. "Guys. I'm not sure that this is over. A lot of things happened this past week, and we got caught up in a lot of things that we had no clue was going on…"

"Like Project Ark," said Crusadermon, shifting in her spot next to a sleeping Ayaka.

"Was that explosion thing part of it?" asked Kazu. Crusadermon shook her head.

"Not that I know of. The DexDoruGreymon, yes, but not that. I heard the attack _All Delete_ being pronounced. I know of no digimon that have an attack like that." Crusadermon shook her head, her own mind full of confusion. She knew what she had heard, but she did not understand it. She could have sworn that she heard _Omnimon's_ voice pronouncing the attack, but nothing she knew of her comrade-in-arms told her that he had that kind of power.

_Has he…evolved?_ She wondered. No answer came to her.

"What about…Lumemon?" continued Takato, his voice dropping slightly as though he were afraid of someone overhearing him.

"Why would Lumemon be a part of my former master's project?" asked Crusadermon.

"I guess nothing," sighed Takato. "But…that digimon that I fought. He seemed to think Lumemon was pretty important. He said that he was important to the plans of his leader or something. Um…he called himself _Maelstrom_ if that helps."

Again, Crusadermon shook her head.

"I don't know of any digimon that carries that title."

"Me neither," added Dracmon from his spot on a sofa, situated right above Miki, who was passed out. "I've been here and there around the digital world, but I've never heard of any _Maelstrom._ You sure you weren't just hearing things? Maybe that cut to your head damaged your brain."

"You just be careful about what you say," warned Rika in a measured tone, "or else it'll be _your_ brain that gets damaged."

Dracmon paled noticeably.

"Uh…"

"Hey, guys!" called out Terriermon from the kitchen, interrupting the conversation. "Food's on! You've _got_ to try this stuff! I tell you, this is…hey! Guilmon! That's mine! Hey!"

"…And that's my cue to make haste," said Dracmon, hopping down from his spot and speedily trotting out of the room.

Kazu gave a chuckle at this as he got to his feet.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I can't do anything else without getting some food in me. My brain needs refueling. You guys coming?"

"I'm not hungry," Rika replied, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly as she raised her cell phone and flipped it open.

Takato was about to answer 'yes', but seeing that Rika wasn't going to be leaving the room, he found himself hesitant to leave her.

"I'm fine."

Kazu gave the pair an odd look before shrugging and exiting the room.

"You should have gone with him," said Rika as soon as the boy left. "You didn't have to stay."

Takato swallowed anxiously.

"I know. I just…wanted to stay."

"I can read you like a book you know. You're feeling guilty."

Takato sighed.

"Sorry," he apologized. Rika, who had been writing out a text message, paused and glanced at the boy out of the corner of her eye.

"Why?"

"I…" Takato swallowed again. "…I broke our promise. I said that we'd watch each other's back and…I didn't live up to my end of it."

Takato had a thousand reasons why he did what he did, but they felt paltry and weak in front of the promise that the two of them had made with each other. The promise that he had broken in the name of protecting her and the others. Rika eyed Takato for a few seconds, unsure how she should be feeling. She wanted to be angry with him, but no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't work up the effort for it.

She closed her eyes, and for a moment, one unbearably long moment, she found herself having a difficult time opening them.

_Ugh. I need to walk around for a bit…_

Getting to her feet, Rika reached out and gave the boy a soft, assuring squeeze on his shoulder and she smirked at him.

"Well…you'll have to make it up to me then, won't you?"

Takato blinked in confusion at the girl. He had expected her to be seething…to fix him with one of her glares that had been known to frighten small children and give grown Megas pause. Yet for some reason he wasn't seeing any of that in her eyes, and nothing save for calm and contentment made its way through their link.

"Huh?"

Rika couldn't help but chuckle at his cluelessness.

"Gogglehead. Go get yourself something to eat before you keel over or something. I need to find a place that has better signal. I can't get a hold of my mom and grandma here."

With that, Rika gave his shoulder one last squeeze and headed out of the room, Takato watching in bewilderment as she went.

He was not the only one. Crusadermon, who had been watching during the entire conversation merely shook her head and looked down at the sleeping Ayaka, who was resting her head in the Royal Knight's lap.

"Humans," she muttered to herself. "I do not understand them at all."

* * *

Rika made her way through the house, hoping that the signal bar on her cell phone would improve, but luck was not with her in that regard.

_Terrific. The one chance that I have to let my family know that I'm fine and am back from the digital world and this stupid thing has to go all weird on me. I'll have to ask Ms. Nakata if I can use the house phone…_

_"Which you know that you could have done earlier…"_

"Spying on my thoughts, Renamon?"

A sliver of amusement trickled into Rika's mind as her yellow furred partner phased into view and fell into step next to her.

"I merely picked it up as I thought to check in on you. My apologies if I have tread on ground I wasn't meant to."

"Hm." Rika shrugged indifferently. "It doesn't matter. You know that I don't hide things from you anyway."

"Yes. I know, Rika." Renamon paused. "Is this why you've decided to wander the house? I noticed that you left Takato behind, yet I don't sense any enmity directed towards him."

"I know. I'm worried about that."

"You don't sound it."

"Hmmph. Maybe I'm just tired. It's been a long day. I don't know." Rika scowled at her phone and finally clicked it closed. "Takato just does dumb things sometimes when he's looking out for others. He means well though. I just have to remind him that he can't shoulder everything on his own just because he's the team leader…even if it took us forever to get around to designating him as one."

"Hmmm…"

"What's that look for?" she asked, noting the contemplative expression on Renamon's face.

"I am just…considering the future, Rika. That is all. Many things have occurred this past week."

Rika nodded.

"Yeah. Takato mentioned that. He's kind of worried, and even though he's normally like that, I can't help but be a bit worried too. Just what happened to the digital world? And then this… _Maelstrom_ guy…"

Renamon raised an eyebrow.

_"Maelstrom?"_

"Something that attacked Takato before we caught up with him. It gave him that scar he has now. By the look of things he really had it in for Takato, and he seemed to think that there was a connection between this Maelstrom guy and Lumemon. How is he, anyway?"

Renamon closed her eyes and shook her head. "Lumemon has not regained consciousness since we arrived. According to Kenta his injuries are improving thanks to MarineAngemon. The…hole in his chest has closed up now. Just in case, Ryo, Urocyomon, and Kuzuhamon will be keeping an eye on him, but for the moment, the worst appears to be over."

"That's good to hear. I guess we'd better make sure that they get something to eat. Ms. Nakata fixed something for everyone to have." Rika grinned. "Guilmon and Terriermon are there, threatening to eat everything in sight."

Renamon's tail swished and she laughed lightly.

"In that case, we had best make sure that someone is present to ensure that they at least show their manners."

"Got that right. Takato and Henry are helpless on their own. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it."

* * *

"…I'm going to eat 'till I pass out!"

The familiar line coming from Terriermon, once spoken barely a year ago at Rika's home, reached the young girl's ears as she and her vulpine partner entered the kitchen. On cue they spied the long eared digimon dancing around from one spot to the next in excitement. Rika raised an eyebrow, wondering what could be the cause of his excitement. The spread of food on the table seemed to be the most obvious choice, but it was hardly the feast that had been prepared by her, Takato, and Henry's family all those months ago.

_He must have been really hungry…_

"You guys are staying out of trouble, right?" she asked.

"Guilmon nearly knocked over Henry trying to get at some rice balls," replied Kazu with a grin. "Jeri managed to get him under control by threatening to ban him from the kitchen."

"With a stomach like his that makes for a good threat," agreed Rika. "So how come it doesn't work on Terriermon?"

"Because I'm better looking?" the long eared digimon suggested.

"I can see that being humble is not one of your strong points," observed Renamon with a barely visible smirk on her muzzle. Terriermon grinned and stuffed a rice ball in his mouth in response.

"Take a seat you two," giggled Jeri. "There's plenty for everyone."

"Don't mind if I do," replied Rika, pulling a chair next to Takato and sitting down in it. "You mind passing the butter?"

Food was passed and shared in the waning hours of the night, and for a time worries melted away.

* * *

"Thanks again, Ms. Nakata," said Henry. He was alone in the kitchen with Noriko's mother, helping her put away the remnants of the 'welcome home feast' that she had hastily put together. The other Tamers, at the insistence of Aiko, had been shooed out of the kitchen and back into the living room to rest up. A good idea, from Henry's perspective as most of them dropped off to sleep almost immediately upon hitting the couch, chair, or floor…whichever suited their fancy. Even Terriermon had gone with them. Content as he was to stay in his partner's company, and as energetic as he tended to be, it seemed that even the 'Energizer Bunny' could only keep going for so long before his batteries finally gave out on him.

"It was nothing, honestly," replied Aiko. "But you are most welcome. You helped bring my daughter home, safe and sound. This is the least that I can do to repay you."

Henry frowned as he put away another dish.

"I…can't say that I really did much," he admitted. "She had Lumemon watching out for her."

"Lumemon…how is he doing?"

"Rika and Takato checked on them when they brought some food up to the others. They say that his life isn't in any danger anymore, but it's still 'wait and see'. He didn't come back with us in very good shape…"

"Yes. I remember. He used to be Lucemon, didn't he?"

Henry nodded.

"I see." Aiko handed the plate she had been working on to Henry, and her gaze met with his. "One of these days, Henry…someday soon I believe, I would like to hear about you and your stories. I would like to know about what happened out there in the digital world."

"I only know about half the story myself," said Henry, glancing towards the hallway that led to the room where Lumemon was being watched over. "But if you want to hear it…"

"I do, Henry. I'll let you pick the time and place. I'm in no hurry, and I'm certain that you're going to be preoccupied for a while, considering all that has happened."

Before Henry could say anything a small voice spoke, surprising the two of them. Turning, Henry found himself looking at a small boy with dark brown hair, wearing a pair of goggles around his neck that looked far too large for his head.

"Mom? Where's their leader?"

Henry raised an eyebrow. _Is this Noriko's little brother?_

"Daisuke," scolded the woman, wiping off her hands on a towel before striding over to the small boy. "I thought I sent you up to bed!"

"Ohhh…but I wanted to see the Tamers. I was hoping that I could meet their leader so I could thank him for rescuing my sister, but I couldn't find him. None of them are wearing goggles like they do on the TV show…"

Understanding clicked in Henry's mind and he chuckled. Stepping forward he got down until he was at eyelevel with the boy.

"Don't worry. I know who you're talking about. He just…um…lost his goggles on the way home. Anyway, the real person you should thank is Lumemon. You know. The one that had angel wings? He's hurt right now, though, so you shouldn't disturb him until he's better. As soon as he's back on his feet, I'll let you know and you can thank him in person."

Daisuke pouted, but nodded.

"Okay. But I still want to meet the leader."

"Daisuke," said Aiko, her voice beginning to grow stern. "You can meet the leader later. Right now you should go to bed…"

"Can't I at least give him my goggles? The leader should always have goggles and that older kid said that he lost his coming back…"

As the two went back and forth, with Aiko now beginning to take a more active front by shooing him in the direction of his room, Henry allowed his eyes to droop for just a second before a question drifted into his mind.

_Just what did happen to Takato's goggles?_

Shaking his head, Henry decided that he must be indeed tired and went back to work. As he did so, the sound of helicopter blades rotating reached his ears. Pausing, Henry listened more closely. The sound was getting louder.

A bright light shone outside, drowning out all the others coming from the police cars. Setting down the plate that he had been drying, Henry walked over to a nearby window and looked outside.

_Two helicopters,_ thought Henry, his eyes widening. _They're landing. Could it be…?_

Henry saw a familiar form stagger out of the closest helicopter almost immediately upon landing.

_Dad…_

"Henry!" Janyu Wong called out as he, Shibumi, Rob McCoy, and Yamaki stepped out onto the front lawn of the Nakata residence.


	191. 190: Healing

Blackness. Complete and utter blackness.

It had surrounded her for as long as she could remember…far longer than she felt comfortable with, yet it was as intimately familiar to her as a friend or lover. Why this was…well, perhaps it was best to not dwell on it. Simply be content to know that, unlike everything else in her life, it had always been there.

Except…that wasn't true…was it? Hadn't there been days where the sun had always shone? If so, then why couldn't she remember them?

She routed through her memory, thinking back on days where she thought that she had happiness, but all she received for her efforts was a well of sadness that threatened to overwhelm her. A lover that she had long abandoned…a child taken from her before his time…

The corners of her eyes grew wet and she made a soft, whimpering sound.

None of it had a place to go…not anymore. It was as though whatever had kept her balanced before had disappeared, and now the dam had been let loose. She hitched a breath, trying to keep it in, to control the wave before she drowned in it but no matter how hard she tried it just kept coming. The waves increased in their intensity and she tried to move her hand to wipe away her tears…

She felt something squeezing her left hand, and in the darkness she furrowed her brow in curiosity. She wondered what it could be that was holding her hand in so tender a way. She felt as though she should recognize that pressure, but for the life of her she could not remember where it came from or who it belonged to.

_Who…?_ She thought to herself as her eyes began to open, instinctively questioning why she attached a person to that pressure. White and gray flooded the landscape of shadow, and seconds later it was replaced by a more diverse spectrum of color. Soft, light, warm colors belonging to a hospital room greeted her, and in the center of it all was a blonde haired, bearded man that she knew all too well.

Amaya Abe's eyes widened as a name emerged from her lips before she even knew she was speaking.

"Morgan…"

"Hey," the man whispered, his lips trembling at the sight of seeing her awaken. "How're you doing?"

She couldn't believe it. There was just no way that he could be sitting next to her bed, holding her hand. She had left him in America…covered her tracks. She never once thought that he would find her no matter how much she wished that he would. But it was him all the same, and no beard, no matter how thick it got, would ever keep her from recognizing him for as long as she lived and breathed. Even, she believed, after she stopped breathing.

"What…?" Amaya swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt constricted. "…What are…are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you," Morgan said, massaging her hand now.

"Morgan…I…oh God…" Amaya turned away and covered her eyes, allowing more tears to flow down her cheeks as she did so. Self-loathing swelled within her heart. To think that he would find her again after all this time.

_How could I have just left him…?_ she began to herself before Morgan reached over and cupped her chin. As though the gesture had been a signal…the gesture that was so painfully familiar to her and often haunted her dreams in the years after she returned home...Amaya threw her free arm around Morgan and pulled him roughly to her, sobbing into his shoulder. Morgan brought an arm around her and soothingly stroked her hair.

"Morgan…Morgan I…"

"I know," he whispered. "I know. I'll be here for you…for as long as you need me."

Amaya's fingers curled around his shirt, hearing his promise with a heavy heart. There was so much that she wanted to tell him…to apologize for, but no matter what her heart felt too heavy to allow her to speak.

And yet, strangely enough, a sensation that she at long last had been freed from something, pervaded her, telling her that she could move ahead.

_Where?_ She asked the silence inside her. No answer came. For the time being, there was just her and her lost love, holding each other in the hospital as the years of separation finally caught up with them.

_If only our son could have met his father…_ she thought to herself, continuing to cling to Morgan.

* * *

Yamaki flicked his lighter open and closed as he sat at his desk, reading over the latest status report. Behind him lay the battered remains of Shinjuku, no longer smoking. More time would be needed to ascertain as to how soon it would be before the general populace would be allowed to come back, but for now it lay empty and deserted, save for the military and those who lived farthest away from damaged areas. At this point in time however, such worries were far removed from Yamaki's mind. As far as he was concerned, the repair and resettlement of Shinjuku was out of his hands.

Two days had passed since the Tamers had returned from the digital world, and things were just starting to calm down. 'Calm' of course, was a relative term as far as the presence of the digimon Guilmon, Calumon, and Terriermon were concerned, especially with the strain that they put on the cafeteria supplies, but for once few of anyone who worked at Hypnos, if any, had any problems with the matter. The titanic battles that the digimon and their human partners had fought, and come out of victorious, was more than worthy of celebration. So, for the time being until the Tamers' families could properly reconvene the digimon were given the right to have what they pleased…under strict supervision of course. Straining food supplies was one thing. Starving was quite another altogether.

_Unusual readings coming from the digital world,_ Yamaki thought, scowling over the report. _The digital world, according to the latest batch of Tracers we sent out, is still there, but it seems to have changed in some manner that we can't yet determine. I'm going to have to hand this over to Tally and Kuroda when they report back in. Riley's got enough on her plate as it is. Hmmm…perhaps I should consider bringing the Monster Makers into this as well…_

Yamaki turned the page of the report. This one was considerably smaller than the previous one.

_Still no sign of Grani…_

A loud knock broke through Yamaki's concentration and the door opened, revealing Riley.

"I have more reports for you sir."

Yamaki nodded. "Just put them on the desk."

Riley did so and then stepped over to look out the window. Yamaki eyed her over the report, seeing the concerned look on her face as she gazed at the city.

"It will be rebuilt," he said, voicing her unspoken concerns.

"I know. It's just…" Riley sighed. "…I hate seeing the city like this. I've lived here for years and to see it end up like this so often…"

"You know that this is the reason why Hypnos was established. It could have been far worse."

"Without the Tamers it would have been worse." Riley looked at Yamaki. "Do you have any further word about them? About whether we're going to incorporate them into Hypnos?"

"I've submitted my proposal based on recent events. I'm sure parliament will be more open to them considering the military's helplessness in the face of the situation. The changes in the digital world will provide them with even more reason."

"Do you really think so, sir?" Riley raised an eyebrow before chuckling at herself as she answered her own question. "Of course you do."

"Something has changed in the digital world. It needs to be investigated."

"Our sensors registered a massive explosion that reordered its data. The thing is, we don't know just how far it has gone, and there's still a number of disorderly information floating nearby. It's like debris…"

"There's that as well," nodded Yamaki. "How's the progress going with Juggernaut? How soon until we can have it ready for testing?"

"Mizuno's working on it. I'll ask him when I get a chance."

"And the Hypnos network itself?"

"It seems to be running fine. The program that infiltrated our systems seems to have settled down and entered a dormant state. I recommend that we should activate our quarantine protocols and isolate it. It would mean having to completely restructure Hypnos. We won't be able to use Juggernaut until then. We could be down for months."

"Better get started then." Setting the report on his desk, Yamaki clicked his lighter closed and set it on his desk. "What's the situation on our guests?"

"They're waiting to have a meeting with you." Riley paused. "Sir. Perhaps we should wait until we have the Juggernaut connection established. Those two digimon, Urocyomon and Kuzuhamon…they didn't come here partnered to anyone. They may want to go back."

Yamaki looked at his lighter thoughtfully.

"Get the quarantine protocols ready, but let the digimon know that I'm ready to meet with them."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"Okay, Rika," said Daisy, leaning back in her chair as she disconnected the young girl's blue-trimmed D-Arc. Rika sat up on the scanning bed and took her digivice, clipping it to her belt.

"So…what's the verdict?" she asked. Although her voice sounded casual, a tinge of nerves caused her arms to tense up. Daisy, seeing this, gave her a reassuring smile.

"You and your partner are fine," she said, and Rika breathed a sigh of relief. Unconsciously she looked down at her stomach, remembering the damage that she and Renamon had taken in battle against the blue-cabled entity that had invaded Shinjuku around the same time as the Royal Knights did. It had been a fearsome battle and she was still amazed that in spite of the injury she and her partner took as Sakuyamon, they had come out of it unscathed.

_Why complain about a good thing?_ Rika wondered to herself, smiling faintly. _If it's one less complication that I can have in my life then I'm all for it._

Still, a part of her couldn't help but worry all the same, even with the clean bill of health.

"Are you sure?" Rika glanced over in the corner of the room where Renamon stood, leaning against the wall. She gave every impression that she was at rest while simultaneously ready to do battle on a moment's notice. "Is everything…?"

"I've been going over the specs since you all returned. The readouts that I made from last time match up with the ones that we just took. Look." Daisy moved slightly to the side and beckoned for Rika and Renamon to join her. The two partners exchanged a glance and did as they had been asked. Rika peered at what looked to be a graph chart on the computer screen. It didn't make much sense to her as she had very little interest in computers as a rule, but she could easily see that the lines depicted in the graph, labeled 'data flow' matched up exactly.

"It looks like…something started really high before dropping all at once," Rika muttered aloud to herself. Daisy nodded.

"That's right. You and Renamon were both exposed to an invasive program similar to what Impmon picked up. At least, that's what it looked like after I finally got some time to compare notes with Shibumi…"

"Hold on. Renamon and I were hit by that 'X-Virus' that got Impmon?"

Daisy nodded.

"Yeah, but as you can see here," Daisy pointed to the graph and her finger traced its way down, "the virus disappeared completely from the two of you almost as soon as you two separated. I've looked into it some more before today, and if I noticed something interesting. There appears to have been something that conducted a data transfer…" Daisy moved the mouse and clicked open another window. "…to something that had an X-Antibody already existing. I picked up some small amounts of data belonging to the X-Antibody in Renamon." Daisy tapped one finger on her chin thoughtfully. "I don't know how it got there, but whatever happened, you definitely got rid of it."

Rika frowned, and touched her stomach as she thought back to the day of that battle.

_X-Antibody…the only person who had that at the time was Guilmon. It was also the same day that Takato and I created that bond. But…wasn't that made after we got shot?_

Rika's frown deepened as she thought back over the events of these past few weeks.

_Now that I think about it…things between the two of us were…already changing…_

"I…see."

"Something wrong? You don't sound too happy about it. You two came through with a clean bill of health. Most people would be celebrating."

"Hm? Oh. I'm just…thinking. Thank you for taking the time to help." Rika gave the older woman a little bow before turning and heading for the exit. Renamon did likewise and disappeared from view. Daisy allowed herself a small, slightly confused smile before shaking her head.

"You're welcome, I guess," she said. "Oh. One thing before you go." Rika paused at the doorway and looked at Daisy. "When you meet up with the others, could you have Noriko come up here? I'd like to go run some tests with her."

Rika nodded and left, her eyes distant and thoughtful.

* * *

"Ah…" Terriermon gasped, patting his now over-sized belly with a look of contentment on his face. "…That…was good."

Noriko blinked in surprise at the long-eared digimon, completely amazed at the sheer amount of food he had finished eating. And that was to say nothing of the other digimon, Calumon, who continued to eat away as though his life depended on it. Empty, dirty plates littered the table. Noriko couldn't help but wince and look worriedly over at the Henry.

"…Um…" she began, trying to find the words to describe what she was seeing, but failing.

"Don't worry," chuckled Henry. "You get used to it. You'd be surprised by how little of an impact they have on the food bill."

"I have a hard time believing that."

Henry shrugged, looking amused. "You'll find out as you go along. Some digimon have large appetites," Henry indicated Calumon, "and others don't."

_"That…_ " Noriko pointed at Terriermon. "…Does not look like a small appetite. And that little guy…Calumon. Where does he put it all?"

"In my tummy," replied Calumon between mouthfuls.

"I know that, but…you're just…just a little guy!"

Calumon paused and looked up at the dark haired girl, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

"What does that have to do with food?"

"It…ugh. Never mind. My mom is not going to be happy…"

"Momentai," soothed Terriermon, ruining the moment a second later by belching inappropriately. "Oops. Excuse me."

"Terriermon…"

"What?"

Henry sighed and shook his head.

"So how's Lumemon doing?" he asked.

"I was told that he's doing better now," Noriko replied, her expression becoming downcast. "I don't know much more than that though. I'm going to be seeing him later after I have my test with that Daisy person." Noriko pulled her arms around herself and bit her lower lip. "A lot really happened…didn't it?"

"Do you need me to go with you?" Henry asked, his voice full of concern.

"I…" Noriko paused and glanced at the half-Chinese Tamer before abruptly looking away. She hung her head down and hid her face with her hair. "…I can handle it on my own."

The sound of a footstep interrupted the pair, and turning, Noriko and Henry both saw Rika and Renamon standing behind them. Rika tilted her head to one side, scrutinizing them with her violet eyes.

"Um…R-Rika!" exclaimed Henry, suddenly feeling flustered. "You're back! How…how did your test go?"

"We got a clean bill of health," the red haired girl replied before looking at Noriko. "Daisy's ready to see you now."

Noriko nodded quickly and got up from her chair, blushing deeply as she offered Henry a little bow. A second later, she took off, moving rapidly while trying not to give every impression that she wasn't hurrying to get out of the cafeteria.

"I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?" asked Rika, giving Henry a knowing smirk. Henry just frowned at his friend, but before he could say or do anything Terriermon spoke up in his stead.

"Just those two tripping over each other the way Takatomon does over his own shadow." Terriermon's ears twitched in agitation as he noticed the glares of the two Tamers leveled towards him. "What?

Rika _hmmmphed_ and pulled up a chair to sit next to Henry.

"Speaking of whom, has Takato come back yet?"

"Not that I know of," replied Henry. "It's going to take a while before the military gets him and Jeri to where Jeri's family is waiting. A fair amount of the regular routes were destroyed while we were gone."

"Leave it for everything to come apart as soon as we're gone," grumbled Rika.

"Come on, Rika. You know that the others did the best that they could. I seem to recall the city being destroyed a lot when it was just us facing one opponent. From what I've heard they had three at once."

"You've got a point there," replied Rika, leaning onto her hands and closing her eyes. Terriermon giggled.

"Wow. And that's probably the only time you'll ever admit to it, too. Good thing that I'm here as a witness."

"Zip it, rabbitmon."

"Sorry."

They sat in silence for a few seconds. The air suddenly took on a tense feel to it. Henry didn't have to look to know where it was coming from.

_Rika...she's anxious about something._

Although the long eared rabbit-dog sitting in front of him remained quiet, Henry could already hear his voice chattering about the source of the girl's current mood.

Takato.

Unlike his rather simplistic partner, Henry reasoned that it was a bit more complicated than that. Given that they weren't being allowed to return home until they got in touch with their family and arrangements could be made to reunite them…a surprisingly difficult task to accomplish but fatigue had gone a long way towards ensuring that things would be slowed down. Presently the military was occupied with the evaluation of Shinjuku's damage and could spare only so many vehicles for transportation. Civilians were not being allowed to return to even undamaged areas until all possible danger zones were accounted for, and the Tamers themselves were resting up and being looked over for any possible damage that had been sustained in their various battles. Most of them had checked out so far…on and on the list went, some of it even contradicting itself, but it boiled down to everyone being restricted to where they could go. Rika was hardly a fan of staying in one place, nor did she approve of having any restrictions imposed on her. Anything involving their goggle-wearing friend would also be a part of her tension, and with good reason.

_I'm sure Terriermon would be able to express it best…even if he needs to be more tactful about it._ Henry had to resist an urge to glower at his partner suspiciously. The long eared digimon was being surprisingly quiet on that front.

He felt as though he should say something, but the more he thought about it the less sure that he was that anything would be helpful. He had seen the tangle of surface emotions from his two friends and how they connected to one another.

_It's not like I have any experience to offer. As much as I hate to admit it…this is probably something that is best solved between themselves._

After what felt like an eternity of uncomfortable silence, Rika stood up and pushed back her seat. Seeing this, Renamon raised an elegant eyebrow at her partner.

"Rika?"

"Sorry, guys. I can't stand sitting in this place anymore. I've got to get some fresh air. I'm heading up to the roof."

"Hey!" called out Henry as she turned to go, causing her to pause briefly and turn to look at him. Henry met her gaze firmly and nodded. "Good luck."

"…Thanks," said Rika after a slight pause. "See you, later," she added, tossing a wave over her shoulder. Henry smiled and looked at Renamon.

"I know that this is probably redundant, but…take care of her."

A small, invisible smile graced Renamon's muzzle.

"Always," the vulpine digimon said before she disappeared from sight.

* * *

"…I'm so bored…"

Kenta sighed. "I heard you the first time, Kazu."

"Can you blame me? We've been cooped up in this building for what feels like forever!"

"Two days, Kazu," said Guardromon from next to the visor-wearing Tamer. Kazu scoffed.

"If this has been two days then I'm Angemon."

Guardromon gave his partner an uncertain look.

"Hmmm…perhaps my sensors were damaged during all the fighting. I'll perform a systems diagnostic…"

"I was being sarcastic Guardromon. Man, sometimes you can be fruitier than a fruit bat, you know that?"

"You do tell me that every day, Kazu."

Kazu groaned and pulled his visor down over his eyes. Leaning against the building's railing, he looked down at the streets below, taking in the cracks and overturned vehicles that remained present from the fighting with the Royal Knights. It felt like so long ago, and yet it hadn't been anywhere near that. Kazu pitched a sigh.

"This place feels deserted," he murmured to himself. Kenta raised an eyebrow at his friend and exchanged glances with MarineAngemon.

"Um…Kazu?"

"Yeah, yeah. The city was evacuated. I know. And the helicopters are off flying about. I know that too. I'm just talking out loud. It's way too quiet around here. I feel like I should be expecting a digimon to come rampaging down the street any second."

"I think you've been fighting for too long…"

"We're Tamers. That's what we do, Chumley. We fight." Kazu frowned, as did Kenta. "I know what you're thinking. That sounded like something Takato said Rika used to believe about digimon."

"Yeah," Kenta admitted. "But…you're not exactly wrong either."

"What are you supposed to do?" asked Guardromon.

"Funny you should mention that," said Kazu. "I've never really thought about it before. It used to be one big adventure. You know, kick butt, take names, save the day. That's it. At the end of the day we could go home and watch our favorite TV show. It's just…looking out over the city and remembering everything that went down this year… I guess I can't help but wonder if this is all there is to our job. Shouldn't we be doing something more? What do Tamers do? What are we meant to do?"

"Kazu? Are you feeling okay?"

"I don't know," said Kazu, attempting to blow off the question. A second later, he realized that he was telling the truth. He wasn't sure at all how he felt. He felt that he should have been happy about everyone returning home, and Guardromon finally achieving the Mega level, but he didn't feel…anything. Not even the rest and amount of meals that he had in the Hypnos mess hall had done much for him.

"You've been like that ever since Yamaki brought us here. Come to think of it, you were acting a little weird since Takato mentioned that we should all stay on our guard. Ayaka said that was the first time she saw you look serious about anything."

"She probably doesn't remember all those times we almost got killed then," grumbled Kazu.

"So what's up?"

Kazu looked at the broken and battered city again. He could hear the sounds of troops and machines moving off in the distance, shouting and clearing away rubble. This was his home. He'd been glad to fight to protect it; glad that he and Guardromon finally achieved the Mega level together, even if they had a little bit of help to do it. Yet looking out over his home Kazu couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to it than just fighting. They won, but they came away with little to show for it and a mess of mysteries. Had Kazu known, he probably would have likened the whole ordeal to a Pyrrhic Victory, where the losses far outmatched their gains even though they won.

_When I first evolved Guardromon to Ultimate I wanted to protect Takato and instead we got taken down. Everything that happened in the digital world…heck, I don't even know what happened there. Sand Liches…Grani…in the end, even though we all worked together we didn't exactly do anything. Something was going on that was bigger than us and we just got caught up in some if its mess. This is more than just 'digimon show up and we beat the tar out of them or send them home'. It's like…it's like…it's something that effects everything. Takato, Rika, and Henry…those guys learned a lot of lessons when they became Tamers. I don't feel like I really picked up anything. I want to help, but half the time I got kicked around and couldn't do anything. And there's so much about the mess in the digital world…if it's even still around…that we don't know about._

As Kazu mulled his thoughts around in his mind the door leading to the roof creaked open and out came Rika and Renamon. The two boys and their digimon all raised their eyebrows while Rika regarded them with bemusement.

"Are you guys like twins or something?" she chided with a smirk.

"Who'd want to be related to this guy?" asked Kazu, pointing at Kenta.

"Yea…hey!"

Kazu snickered before becoming serious.

"So what're you doing here? I'm pretty sure that you didn't come up here just because you like us. Last I checked I'm not in your fan club and Kenta, as hard as it is for me to believe, already has a girlfriend."

"If you would just shut up for three seconds, Kazu, I will gladly forget that you even spoke."

Deciding that silence was the best to go for, Kazu watched as Rika pulled out a card from her deck box and slashed it through her blue-trimmed digivice.

_"Digi-modify!"_ Rika called out as sparks flashed from the D-Arc's scanner. _"Digivolution activate!"_

White light burst free from Renamon's form as the outer layer of data peeled away from her body and formed a sphere. Her form contorted and reconfigured itself, becoming more fox-like in appearance, dropping down on all fours. Eight tails sprouted behind her and a striped bow with bells materialized around her neck.

_"Renamon! Digivolve tooo…Kyubimon!"_

As the vulpine digimon finished pronouncing her evolution, the sphere of data shattered, revealing her Champion level form. Wasting no time, Rika pocketed her D-Arc and card and rushed over to climb on her partner's back.

"You taking off?" asked Kazu.

"You got that right."

"Um…" Kenta adjusted his glasses worriedly. "You know that Yamaki doesn't want us leaving the building unless our parents are coming to pick us up, right? He only gave an exception to Takato because…"

"Chumley," cut in Kazu. "Just let her go. She's going anyway, and there's nothing you can do to stop her."

For the first time that Kazu had known her, Rika gave him an approving, almost respectful smile. Kazu nodded to her and grinned. He wasn't expecting any thanks, and she wasn't inclined to give any, but for this one moment they could acknowledge each other without arguing.

_Or kicking me either,_ thought Kazu, remembering that day so long ago during their first trip in the digital world. A second later he repressed the memory with a shudder.

Taking hold of Kyubimon's ribbons, Rika steadied herself. The wind rustled her hair, playing at the hair tie that held her ponytail; the hair tie that Jeri had given her what felt like an eternity ago.

"Let's go," she said, and with that, Kyubimon leapt into the air.

"Kazu…" spoke up Kenta nervously. "Yamaki knows that we're up here. He's not going to like this."

"…Remind me again what Ayaka sees in you, Chumley?"

"I…uh… _Kazu!"_

Kazu couldn't help but laugh at his friend as a sharp blush burst across his face.


	192. 191: Breaks

"Thank you for coming," said Yamaki to the group of digimon standing in front of him. "There are a number of things that we need to discuss," Yamaki glanced at the two children, Ayaka and Miki, who were standing behind the digimon per his request, "so I will get to the point. I'm afraid that because of certain circumstances, we are going to be shutting down the Hypnos network, which means that after it has been deactivated, we will be unable to access the digital world using any means outside of portals or any abilities you may have. Some of you are partner digimon, but I will put this to all of you regardless. If any of you have the desire to leave, this is the best time for you to do so. However, should you decide to stay, there are going to be rules that you will have to abide by."

Yamaki looked at each of the digimon in their turn. Crusadermon, Dracmon, Kuzuhamon, and Urocyomon. He had to admit that he felt rather strange dealing with them in this way. Most of them were significantly more powerful than he was even if two of them were partnered with humans. He had to admit to having some uncertainty about having non-partnered digimon stay in the human world if they chose to do so, but the necessity to shut down the Hypnos network due to its current vulnerabilities was of the critical importance.

Briefly, Yamaki wondered what the response would be from the government and general populace at the thought of having more digimon living among them. A year ago, he would have been outraged at the thought. There was a good chance that given the destructive capabilities of the digimon gathered here, and that two of them were responsible for it, there would be quite the outcry.

Crusadermon shifted and folded her arms across her chest. The Royal Knight did not look at Ayaka who stood behind her with her friend Miki, watching the scene with interested eyes.

"I am not tied down to this world," she said, taking no notice of the hurt expression that appeared on Ayaka's face. The girl remained silent however, determined to hear her partner's words all the way to the end. Miki reached out and took hold of her hand, giving it a light squeeze as she did so. "I may not be able to leave as I desire as I used to, but that does not chain me. But," Crusadermon paused for a moment, "I…have no place to go. My master has discarded me from his service. I have lived my life serving a purpose. And now, I have none…save for one. My…partner."

Ayaka's eyes brightened up in surprise, missing her friend's beaming smile as she tightened her grip on her hand.

"C-Crusadermon…?"

Yamaki nodded and looked at the others. Urocyomon stretched.

"I don't have a reason to stay here."

Next to the silver furred fox, Kuzuhamon, having dismissed her uniform and fox mask in exchange for the kimono that was the trademark of her _Standby Mode_ , shook her head.

"In that case, I won't be going with you, Urocyomon."

"Say what?" Urocyomon blinked, perplexed. "But we don't have any reason to…oh."

Kuzuhamon nodded. "Yamaki. Before we came to the digital world, there was a human child that lived in our temple for a time…a young girl by the name of Alice…"

Yamaki raised his eyebrows and leaned forward.

"I…see."

"I take it that you're aware of her condition as well?" she asked, noting his reaction.

"The Tamers reported their encounter with her. Alice's grandfather presently helps with some of the programming around here and was involved in the creation of your species. You will want to contact him in respects to Alice McCoy."

"I understand. May I be allowed to see him then?"

"If you will answer me why you feel the need to stay. This is a delicate situation. We don't have a set time for when we close down the gateway to the digital world. If you want we can keep the systems running until after you've seen Alice. Due to her condition…"

"I'm well aware of her condition, Yamaki. I have cared for her in the digital world. She and I developed a rapport. Be it here or in the digital world, I would prefer to stay by her side, even if we are not partners."

Yamaki thought it over for a moment before giving a nod. Kuzuhamon smiled and got up from her seat, bowing as she did so.

"Thank you. If it's not too much trouble, I shall go find Mr. McCoy now. I would like to see Alice as soon as possible."

"I'm afraid that with the current situation I'm afraid that you won't be allowed off of Hypnos grounds until we have an understanding as to what you are allowed to do while living here."

Kuzuhamon raised an eyebrow.

"If you want assurance that I won't act in a violent manner, then you can rest easily."

"It's not a question of my having your word. Digimon are an unknown. Up until now, only tamed digimon have lived side by side with humans, and we have been willing to look the other way because they have been beneficial in protecting the city. However, their status is unrecognized as being protected by any laws. In light of the recent disasters this past year there has been much pressure for the registration and control of any digimon that enter our world. Some advocate getting rid of you all together. Though I still need to gather information, it's been my experience that the recent damage will serve to strengthen their voice. You, being an untamed digimon, living amongst humans…I do not foresee people reacting well to it. Politicians will want your movements restricted."

"I will gladly accept those restrictions as long as I am with Alice," responded Kuzuhamon sternly. "Mr. Yamaki. I cannot be certain that anything I say or do will persuade you of my sincerity. I could easily… _very_ easily, go to her if I so wish it, but I haven't. Without you I cannot go home, and I do not desire to go where Alice is not. I am willing to place myself under whatever yoke you humans require, but please… _please…_ just let me see her. That is all I ask."

Yamaki was silent as his and the shaman digimon's eyes clashed. He was not a harsh man, nor was he unfeeling. Hard, yes. Distant, yes, but that did not mean that he was incapable of emphasizing with someone.

"You will need an escort," said Yamaki after a moment's deliberation. "One of the Tamers is to be with you at all times that you are outside of Hypnos.

"Thank you," said Kuzuhamon. "Actually, there _is_ one Tamer who also has need to visit her. The boy named Kazu. Alice helped him achieve the Mega level. Because of this, I…believe that he holds the key to helping her."

Yamaki raised a questioning eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless.

"I will have someone bring him and Dolphin in. After we have concluded this business you will have to inform me of what happened. In the meantime…" Yamaki turned towards Dracmon. The diminutive digimon was picking at his nails, his colorful mask eyes looking bored. Sensing that he was being watched, he looked up.

"Yeah, I'm going," he said dispassionately. "I wanna blow this pop stand."

If Dracmon heard Miki's gasp of surprise, he showed no sign that he cared. Hopping out of his chair the little demon digimon strode towards the door, ignoring the shocked, hurt expression on the girl's face.

"So where's this Jugger-thingy located?" he asked. "I wanna get out of here as soon as possible."

Before Yamaki could even answer, a shadow flew over his desk from something outside. Turning he saw the form of Kyubimon, with an all too familiar red haired girl riding on her back, bounding from rooftop to rooftop.

_…I can see some problems ahead,_ thought Yamaki, partly wondering whether he was referring to Rika or Miki as he returned his attention to the matter at hand.

* * *

Kyubimon's feet pounded on the hard surface of the rooftop, launching her into the air at breakneck speed. Through the link that she shared with Rika, the vulpine digimon could feel the tension that lay within her bleeding away while simultaneously reinforcing itself. It was a strange contradiction, but one that she had seen and felt numerous times over the course of their partnership. Often this occurred whenever Rika was forced to face a part of herself that she refused to acknowledge. Though she had long since grown past that habit, the temptation to let things be remained.

Gravity asserted control over their flying form and Kyubimon began to fall towards the next available roof. In a flash she calculated the time that they had remaining, the distance, and what was needed to cushion the impact as much as possible. A second later, they were flying once more, fighting the shackles of gravity with every foot. For every descent and ascent, Rika's tension rose and fell sharply, as though the danger forced her to confront herself and her worries.

And she had much to worry about indeed. Things that could potentially alter her life and that of those close to her.

They fell towards another rooftop, and Rika's tension rose in time with it, her grip tightening around the bow, relaxing only slightly as they landed safely and rejoined the sky. Kyubimon's eyes rested on the distant, blue colored horizon. Wind played at her fur, pushing at the clouds that floated in the sky. She didn't have to look or ask to know that Rika was looking at them as well. The distance might as well have been the future for all it meant to them…vague and uncertain. Although there were clouds in abundance, Kyubimon hoped that the lack of dark ones that threatened storms would serve to help her make a choice that she could be comfortable with. Although her partner hadn't said anything, Kyubimon knew that this was why they were out here.

Minutes felt like an eternity as they went from one building to the next before the gentle tugging of Rika's hand on the Kyubimion's neck bow signaled for a stop. Adjusting her descent, she did just that, landing with all the grace that was her species trademark.

Without a word, Rika climbed off Kyubimon's back and touched down onto the roof, taking in the empty city around her.

"Thanks, Kyubimon," said Rika after a moment's reflection. "I really needed to get out of there."

"Of course, Rika," replied Kyubimon, bowing her head. "You are most welcome."

"You know…" Rika narrowed her eyes as she took in their surroundings. "…I sometimes wondered what it would be like…not having anyone in this city. Just me. No classmates. No mother. No people. No one."

"And?"

Rika placed her arms around herself, hugging herself. "It's kind of creepy. I knew it would be quiet, but I didn't think it would be… _empty,_ if you get what I mean."  
Kyubimon nodded, but did not say anything. She merely waited for the young girl to continue speaking.

"I used to think things would be better that way. Funny how things change."

"Rika," began Kyubimon, starting to become concerned. "I'm…not certain what it is you're getting at."

"I guess I'm not making much sense," laughed Rika nervously, shaking her head. "I'm not even sure what I'm saying. I'm not even sure what I want. But I know that I've got to make a decision. About me…about Takato." Rika drew in a breath. "I was so…angry with Takato for leaving me behind because he wanted to protect me. He knows it. He can't help but _not_ know it. And I know he regrets it too. I want to be there for him…" Rika let out another light laugh. "…I can't believe how easy it is for me to say that now."

"Are you worried that he doesn't trust you? Because he didn't let you fight by his side that one time?"

"Something like that, yeah. The thing is I know that he does trust me. He just had to be a Gogglehead."

Kyubimon padded on over to the girl, coming to a halt next to her.

"What happened between the two of you is something that neither of you were quite ready for. Am I mistaken?"

"No." Rika shook her head. "I didn't expect it. It's had us both messed up inside. I wish that things could be back to the way that they were before, but they can't. I can't just leave this thing between us just sitting there, and I can't just act like it never happened. And Jeri…I think I know that she's…" Rika trailed off before shaking her head. "Never mind."

In spite of Rika's words, Kyubimon's eyes were drawn to the green colored hair tie that bound the girl's hair.

_Ah. I see. Rika wouldn't approve either. I suspect however, that unless one of them does something, they will continue to be like this. Still…if Rika is unsure…_

"There is nothing that says that you can't take your time with this, Rika. If you feel this strongly about your feelings…"

Rika shook her head fiercely.

"I can't let this lie forever, Kyubimon." Rika's voice became stronger. "I won't. Regardless of how I feel, or what went on between me and Takato, I think Jeri deserves her happiness."

"And if she won't accept it? What will you do if her happiness comes from yours? Her heart is large, Rika. I feel that this is something that is best left to time, where you can be more certain in your feelings and where you all stand. Even Takato knows that forcing something can only make things worse. He knows that better than any of us."

"This isn't the same as digivolving," frowned Rika. "But you have something of a point there. But…I can't let this lie any longer."

"Very well then. If that is how you feel about it."

"I do."

Nothing more needed to be said. Turning her back on the empty city, Rika swung herself onto her partner's back. Scanning the landscape, Rika reached out with her mind and quickly located where Takato was.

"That way," she said, pointing off to their right. Kyubimon nodded and took one last look around them before leaping into the air.

_It doesn't look empty only,_ she thought to herself as they soared through the air. _It also looks alone…_

* * *

The Jeep made its way down the streets with ease, having long since cleared the city of Shinjuku and was now making good time towards the designated meeting place with the Katou family. The driver, Private Tsuneto Inoue, felt like announcing it to the passengers sitting in the backseat, but a quick look behind him gave him pause and he quickly thought better of it. The two children were strangely silent, and a certain tension lay between them that made him uncomfortable. Looking to the side, he found the red-scaled digimon, Guilmon, sniffing the air curiously and on occasion poking his head out the side like a dog, only without the tongue wagging in the wind.

Tsuneto Inoue decided against informing the reptile as well.

Returning his attention to the road, Tsuneto wondered about the children. It was plainly obvious that one of them, the boy with the scar on his forehead, was a Tamer, but the other? It was difficult to say. She had been to the digital world, and Hypnos recognized her as being involved in digimon related affairs, but the lack of a partner seemed to indicate that she wasn't a Tamer at all.

_That is, unless her partner happens to be invisible,_ Tsuneto thought worriedly. _…Just great…_

Glancing in the mirror, Tsuneto caught the furtive glances that the boy made towards the girl, and the way he kept shifting uncomfortably. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was on his mind.

"Ah…springtime is nice," Tsuneto said quietly to himself.

"Yeah," chirped Guilmon happily, overhearing the soldier's words. "The trees get all nice and pretty, and the Sakura trees are even prettier…but the snow is pretty too, and it has to melt and go away. Isn't that sad?"

"Yeah, it is," nodded Tsuneto, feeling somewhat surprised that he was talking to and agreeing with the dinosaur. He glanced again in the mirror at the two children. "Maybe that's why love hurts. Still worth it, though."

"Hah?" Guilmon looked at the soldier, confused. "Are you saying that snow and trees are like love?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Because both are beautiful and they grow?"

Tsuneto glanced at Guilmon, somewhat surprised by what he had said.

"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah." He paused before taking another look at Guilmon, his eyes full of newfound respect for Guilmon. "You know…you're not exactly what I expected."

"What did you expect?"

Tsuneto looked at Guilmon's gold eyes. There was a life in them that strangely reminded him of a dog that he owned when he was a kid. He remembered that the animal had been wiser than most of the children and adults that he knew at the time, with a greater understanding of people than he could have given it credit for. He opened his mouth to tell Guilmon that he had expected him to act more like the rampaging digimon that showed up like clockwork in Shinjuku, but stopped himself before he did. For some reason it felt wrong. In the end, Tsuneto just shrugged.

"Certainly not this," he said finally.

* * *

Takato was a bundle of nerves.

There was no other way to describe it. When he first heard about Jeri leaving to meet up with her parents he volunteered to be her escort. Part of this had to do with the fact that he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to her until she finally reunited with her family, but at the same time he wanted to use the time to talk to her. There remained things that were left unfinished between them. Things that needed to be discussed.

_Come to think of it, the last time that we actually had a chance to talk about…what…what happened between me and Rika was that time when Guilmon and I came back from Okinawa. We talked for a short while and then Guilmon and I had to deal with that dinosaur digimon. What was he called…? DinoRexmon…? Something like that…_

Takato sighed mentally, knowing that he was really avoiding the issue. One could hardly blame him, save for himself. He faced world-destroying monsters on a regular basis, but could not find the simple courage to talk with a close friend, a girl that he had liked for a long time now, about what lay between them.

_She had the courage to talk to me about it first,_ he thought to himself, pulling his hands into tight fists on his legs. _…And I…didn't. I still don't. Man…I've been a coward a lot lately…haven't I? I've got to change that. I have to change. For Jeri and Rika's sake! I have to…_

"Are you okay?" broke in Jeri, causing Takato to give a surprised yelp and jump in his seat.

"Ah! Huh? I…" Takato rubbed the back of his head as he tried, and failed, to settle down. "…Uh…yeah…um…I-I-I'm fine…Jeri. Um…" Takato coughed loudly into his hand and patted his chest anxiously. "…Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you've been looking kind of tense. I was worried."

A rush of blood flooded Takato's face and he silently cursed himself for being so obvious. Once more, he asked himself how he had been able to hide Guilmon from his parents for so long.

"I'm fine. Really, I'm fine. I'm…" Takato paused, realizing that he was running away from the conversation in spite of his earlier claim to not do so. Feeling further embarrassed, the young boy buried his face in his hands and sighed. No. He wouldn't run anymore. Taking a deep breath, he plunged headlong into the abyss. "Oh, who am I kidding. I'm not fine. I'm…I guess I'm…worried about…" Takato gritted his teeth, fighting down the flash of heat that flooded his face. "…I'm worried about…about…about you…and me…and Rika."

There. He finally said it. He felt as though his entire body was being engulfed by flames. A part of him didn't want to see Jeri's reaction, but he raised his head, meeting her amber gaze with his crimson eyes. She looked at him with an expression full of warmth and understanding, and for a moment, he was surprised by what he saw. Within those amber colored depths lay something that had grown since their trip to the digital world. Something that had changed.

"Do you really believe that we couldn't stay friends? Any of us?" she asked.

"N-No!" Takato stammered. "It's just…we didn't get much of a chance to talk. I mean, the last time we talked about…about what happened it was right before Argus and DinoRexmon arrived and started wrecking the city."

"Well," Jeri smiled, "we've been kind of distracted lately. But, if our merging means anything, then you should know that how I feel about you will never change."

Takato breathed a sigh of relief. In all honesty, he had known that, recognized it from when everyone had bioforce digivolved into SolMilleniummon. How could he have missed it? Everyone's thoughts and feelings flowing into one the way that they had? Takato wanted to kick himself for having any doubts.

"I'm sorry, Jeri. I guess…well, I worry a lot. You know that I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I know. That's one of the things I like about you, Takato. You care about everyone. After we all merged, I've learned a little bit more about what that means. About having a large heart. You're special to all of us because of that. Special to me, and I think, special to Rika."

Takato's expression fell and he cast a look towards the view ahead of them, taking in the streets and buildings as they drew towards them. Takato was silent, unsure of how to respond. Jeri's hands shifted on her dress, as though wanting to reach out and take his hand in hers. However, they soon stilled, clutching at the hem of her dress. Her own eyes took on a sad expression to them, but she forced a smile.

"You know that she cares about you. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been there for you, and the two of you wouldn't be where you are now."

In spite of herself, Jeri giggled, remembering the link that the two Tamers made to protect each other. It was almost ironic how it ended up causing problems for them later on, and in the end brought them closer together than before. She had a hand in that herself of course, and throughout the course of their adventures, she found that she didn't regret it. Her heart, like Takato's, was quite large and could easily accept the possibility of her two closest friends in a relationship. Yet she didn't want to push Takato or Rika into something that neither were ready for. Or want.

Still…the question begged. What did Takato feel for Rika now? She knew that his bond with her had strengthened considerably, but just how far did it reach?

_Maybe…it's not right for me to pry,_ thought Jeri quietly. Like Takato, she didn't want to hurt either of her friends. They both meant a lot to her, but she knew that the situation that lay between them could not go on as it had. Things have changed between them, and they could not afford to ignore those changes.

_What do I do?_ Wondered Jeri. _What Takato and Rika share now…I don't want either of them to lose that. And Rika…_ Jeri closed her eyes, remembering the tangled knot of emotion that she had picked up from her friend whom she looked upon as an older sister. It had been there for so long, without resolution. It lay in Takato too, and they were both too afraid to approach it.

_And they have so much to give to each other too._ Jeri thought on that tangled knot. It had been frightening to see just how badly the two were upset by what happened between them. But she also saw the potential beauty that lay within it.

_"Have you ever thought about giving her a chance?"_

Those words, spoken so long ago in the bakery. Jeri would freely admit that she had said them out of fear then herself. Then, as now, she didn't want Rika to lose something special because of her. At the same time, she would admit to her own worry about not being able to do anything for Takato as she could not keep him safe in the same way that Rika had time and time again. Just as she had told Rika the day she confessed her kissing the boy.

_"I can't protect him Rika; at least, not in the same way that you can. There have been plenty of times where I've felt useless. Takato has you, Henry, Kazu, Kenta, Impmon, and Ryo out there helping him, protecting him. Watching his back and…I can't be there for him…"_

_"Don't you_ _say_ _that!"_ Those words that Rika had spoken in response punctuated through her mind with the same force as they had then, and they caused Jeri to stiffen reflexively.

_She had been angry with me then. For giving up so easily. But I understand better now. I can be there for him, and for the others as well. But…_

Jeri paused in her thinking and glanced at Takato, who was now looking at her questioningly. It took her a second to realize that he had been saying something to her.

"Huh? Oh, sorry! What did you say again?"

Takato glanced away, frowning slightly. "I was saying that I know Rika cares about me, but…me and her…" Takato drifted off, looking uncertain for a moment before shaking his head. "I guess…I still don't know what to do."

Takato shook his head again. Nothing made sense in his mind anymore as far as his relations with Rika and Jeri went. He cursed himself silently for being so indecisive.

Takato's head snapped up when he heard Jeri giggle at him. He stared at her, completely baffled by her reaction. Seeing this, she smiled.

"Well, if you don't know, maybe you should try getting to know her better. You might be surprised by what you'll find."

"Jeri? Wha…?"

"Sorry to interrupt you two," said Tsuneto, "but we're reaching our destination."

Both Tamers and Guilmon looked ahead to see that ahead of them stood the familiar figure of Jeri's father, tall, proud, and searching amidst the crowded streets for them. He quickly found his target and a look of relief broke upon his face.

"Jeri!" the man called out, starting towards them at a run. Seeing this, Jeri turned one last time to Takato.

"I guess that this is where we separate. Good luck…Takato."

Before Takato could say or do anything the brown-haired girl leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, startling him. His face flushing beyond crimson, Takato found himself at a loss for words as she pulled him into a gentle hug.

"Take care of her, Takato," she whispered into his ear before pulling away. Getting out of the jeep, Jeri began running towards her father. It was then that Takato found his voice and tried to go after her.

"Jeri! Wait!"

Jeri paused and spun around like a dancer until she faced him again. She raised one finger to her lips, making a _shushing_ gesture before waving at him one last time. Turning she resumed her run towards her father, leaving Takato dumbstruck in the jeep, his mind awhirl with a torrent of confused emotions.

In the front seat, Tsuneto sighed, feeling sorry for the boy. He hadn't quite fully understood everything that had been said, eavesdropping as he was and not quite in the know, but he knew full well the meaning in the girl's words. He himself had experienced them a number of times growing up to recognize them all too well.

"That's, that," he said in a low voice. "'Till next spring, I guess."

Watching a few moments longer to make sure that the reunited family would be all right, Tsuneto put the jeep into drive and began to head back home.

* * *

Up on a nearby roof overlooking the scene, Kyubimon looked over at Rika. They had arrived just in time to see events play out. Her sensitive hearing had caught the whispers of conversation between the two children. Through the link that she had with her partner, the vulpine digimon knew that Rika had also picked up on what had gone on between them. She could sense Rika's tumultuous emotions as she watched the Katou family and the jeep part ways.

"Rika?" she spoke up after several seconds had passed. The jeep was now heading back to Shinjuku, and Jeri and her father had disappeared into the crowd. The red-haired girl hung her head, hiding her frustrated, anger-filled eyes behind her bangs. She clenched one hand into a fist so tight that her arm shook. After what felt like an eternity, Rika released it and looked back up.

"Let's get out of here, Kyubimon," she said finally. Kyubimon nodded and once Rika had climbed back onto her, taking but a second to look back at the city below them for any sign of their two friends before disappearing from view.

* * *

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lumemon woke up. A groan escaped his lips as his eyes opened to a site that struck him as familiar, but for the life of him he could not figure out where he was. He was lying on a table of sorts…metallic, he believed, with a number of wires connected to his body. Bright lights stared down at him from the ceiling. Shifting uncomfortably, the angelic digimon immediately began to pull the wires off his body…

"Don't do that!" exclaimed a voice, and Lumemon's hands froze, though not because of the voice that had just commanded him to do so. Hesitantly, his fingers moved outwards across his chest, tracing a strange, raised, and somewhat sensitive patch of _something_ that lay on his skin. It felt like it was a part of him, and yet…

Realizing that touch alone wasn't telling him anything, Lumemon sat up while his head looked down. Beneath the mess of wires and sensors taped to his body was a large, X-shaped scar emblazoned upon his chest. The flesh was knotted and ugly to look at, causing Lumemon to wince in disgust.

"Ugh…" he groaned. The sound was throaty in his mouth. _Dry._ He realized he was dehydrated.

"Take it easy there," said a man with red hair.

"What's going on?" Lumemon asked, coughing.

"You're at Hypnos. We've been working to repair your data…"

"…With a little help from me, I might add," broke in the loud voice of Impmon as he hopped onto the scanner bed Lumemon was on and slapped his chest. "That X right there? That's from me. According to the geek guy here, the weird data t'ing I have always shows up as an X for some reason."

"Not… _always,"_ sighed the red haired man. "There are some exceptions, like you and Guilmon."

"But not with this guy, right?" asked Impmon pointedly.

"Well…no…"

"Then I guess it don't really matter. Anyway, fish guy here fixed you up and now you've got a scar…"

"…Fish guy?" asked the red haired man, flummoxed. Impmon fixed him with an annoyed look.

"What? That's what Henry's pops called ya."

The man rubbed his forehead as though he were in pain. "Dolphins aren't fish…they're mammals. And my name is Robert McCoy…"

"Two names? Well, I guess that's too be expected. Rika calls Takato 'Gogglehead', and I call Guilmon Pineapple Head. Anyway, tuna man said that you're all fixed now, and that your weird fluctuating whatcha-ma-callits aren't going to give you any problems anymore…"

"Mc…Coy…?" Lumemon mouthed.

"That's what I said. Sheesh. Is everyone trying to interrupt me, today? I'm supposed to be on a roll here. You know…bathing in praises and thanks. No one ever gives me any credit do they? Ba-boom!"

Lumemon turned to face Rob McCoy more fully.

"Do you know an…Alice McCoy?" he asked. The man's eyes lit up before a pained expression appeared in them.

"…Yes. Why do you ask?"

"For the simple reason that he knows her," spoke up the voice of Kuzuhamon as she phased into the room, carrying a stunned Kazu Shiota. Looking around her, Kuzuhamon nodded. "I believe that our interests are one and the same here. Anyone care to hear me out?"

Impmon looked back and forth between the digimon and the sole human gathered in the room.

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to start talking anyway?" he asked, tapping his fingers in annoyance. "And _still_ no one gives me any credit. Ba… _boom."_

Lumemon groaned.


	193. 192: Awakening

Impmon made his way through Hypnos, humming quietly to himself and avoiding the endless employees that roamed the building. His presence, for the most part, went unnoticed, which sort of irked him but for the time being he was too busy thinking about his ever-growing hunger pains to even care.

Following the rather abrupt entry of Kuzuhamon and the apparently kidnapped Kazu, Lumemon and Robert 'Dolphin' McCoy had joined the shaman priestess in her 'quest' for Alice, the girl who had given the core Tamers, and recently Kazu, the ability to biomerge to their Mega forms. Not really caring to go with them and desiring to stay close to his partners, he had stayed behind and contented himself with roaming the halls, searching for anything that could entertain him or, better yet, feed him.

As Takato and Henry had remarked before, most digimon ran on a one-track mind. Impmon was one of them, whether he admitted it or not.

Impmon stopped in front of a hole in the floor and looked at it in contemplation for a moment before hopping down through it with barely a glance back. Had anyone seen him they would have wondered about his lack of concern for the damage to Hypnos, or how the damage had gotten that far in without any destruction leading to the devastation outside. Impmon, for his part, simply took it as a matter of course; an eventuality of the line of work that he and Hypnos dealt in. Ultimately, it all came down to how convenient the holes placement was for him in reaching his destination.

Landing on the next floor, Impmon continued onwards to his destination, ignoring damaged areas as he passed them, and finally came upon the Hypnos dining area. Sniffing the air, Impmon grinned and his stomach growled eagerly.

_Smells like the big guy is there working his magic,_ thought Impmon, glad to know that Hypnos' resident chef had stuck around. In the time that had passed since Hypnos and the Tamers began to work more closely together, the man had grown to be something of a legend among them, human and digimon alike, and certainly warranted the many attempts Terriermon and Calumon made at raiding the kitchen.

After a rather over-dramatic entrance, Impmon exited the kitchen with his meal held high above his head, presented as though it were the prize of some grand struggle. For Impmon it might as well have been. Considering everything that he and the others had been through, he deserved each and every bite that he had piled on his plate. Scanning the dining area for a place to sit and eat, Impmon caught sight of Crusadermon, standing guard over the two most recent additions to the Tamer group: Ayaka and Miki. The latter of the pair had her head buried in her arms and was sobbing loudly. Ayaka was rubbing the other girl's back in an attempt to soothe her, but the look on her face clearly told Impmon that she knew she was only failing.

_That doesn't look good,_ thought Impmon. He debated for a second about what he should do, checking his surroundings to see if there was anyone else around to deal with the situation before sighing despairingly. _Looks like this is another mess I gotta help clear up._

Impmon walked over to the two Tamers and hopped up onto the table. Crusadermon and Ayaka looked at him, taken a bit aback by his unexpected appearance. Impmon ignored them.

"So," he said, popping a role of bread into his mouth, "what's eatin' you, toots? You got a reason to be cryin' your heart out after getting home?"

Miki sniffed between sobs and looked up, her now red and swollen eyes blinking in confusion.

"…Huh?" she asked intelligently. Impmon began digging into his noodles as he continued to converse.

"I just figured that you might want to talk about what's bugging you, since you're over here crying up a storm instead of doing something about it. Figured I'd make myself useful. 'Sides. I could use a good story to hear while I eat."

"Impmon!" scolded Ayaka, and next to her Crusadermon tensed. Impmon held up one gloved hand in a placating manner.

"Take it easy you two. I'm just looking to help. Now, come on, toots. What's got you down?"

"I…I…" Miki's voice choked and a fresh bout of tears began to well up in her eyes. Ayaka looked back and forth between Miki and Impmon, wondering if she should tell the diminutive digimon what had gone on. True, they were on the same team now, but this was something of a private matter.

_Well…not exactly, since this kind of effects the team._

It was fast becoming clear that Miki did want to talk… _wanted_ anything that could help her, but her tears were only impeding her ability to speak.

"It's about Dracmon," Ayaka said in her friend's place. "He and Miki had it out, and…well, long story short, Dracmon is going back to the digital world. He doesn't want to be partners with Miki anymore."

Bringing his plate up to his mouth, Impmon slurped down his noodles.

"So what if he doesn't?" asked Impmon pointedly. The shocked look that appeared on the two girls' faces, but before anything could be said a razor sharp yellow ribbon skewered itself into Impmon's plate and stabbed into the table, narrowly missing the gloved hand that had been supporting it. A half-second later, the plate split in two and clattered to the table, spilling its contents all over its surface. Impmon looked up at Crusadermon in annoyance, and she returned his gaze with an aura of rage bathing her.

"How _dare_ you?!" the Royal Knight hissed.

"You know…I could ask you the same thing. I just got that food."

"You just asked her if it matters whether or not Dracmon, her _partner,_ stays!"

"Yeah. So? A mon's got a right to make that choice, don't he?" Impmon refrained from mentioning Crusadermon's own history with the topic, and the number of times that they fought over it. "Miki here made her stand, right? If she tried her best to get Dracmon to stay, than that's that."

Crusadermon's fingers flexed, and Ayaka's hand shot out between the two digimon, fear and concern appearing in her eyes.

"Hey, come on you guys! No fighting or anything, okay? This place got blown up enough times already for one week."

Crusadermon paused before retracting her ribbon from the table. All the same, she made a point to aim its tip at Impmon until she brought it to rest back in its original position. Impmon stretched his arms behind his head in an unconcerned manner and hopped down from the table.

"W-w-where are you going?" asked Miki, sniffing.

"To get some fresh air," replied Impmon. "The atmosphere here is kinda bleak."

Ayaka sighed as Impmon left the room and looked at her friend. The girl sniffed once again, hugging herself.

"I'm sorry, Miki," she apologized for what had to be the hundredth time. Just like all those other times, it didn't feel like saying it did any good. The look on Miki's face more than proved that point.

"He's right you know," Miki whispered throatily. "I…I didn't really make my stand with him…"

"Miki, that's not what he said…"

"It might as well have been. You saw me back there. All we did was yell at each other, and then I ran away." Miki forced a smile on her face. "Not exactly what a _partner_ should do, right?"

"I…" Ayaka bit her lip. There didn't seem to be anything more to say. How many times had she and Crusadermon fought? How many times had she wanted to just quit and run away? How many times had any of the Tamers felt like doing just the same?

_Ryo has it tough…tougher than I would have ever thought someone could and he stuck with it. I don't know what went on with any of the others, but it's pretty plain that they stuck it out, and came out better because they did. I tried to run. And Miki…_

"I shouldn't do that anymore," sniffed Miki again, this time in a stronger voice. She dug into her dress' pocket and pulled out her digivice. "If we're partners, I should try harder to understand him…even if he keeps hating me. I know that I can't stop him from leaving but…" Miki furrowed her brow and tightened her grip on her digivice. "Crusadermon? Can you do me a favor?"

Crusadermon raised an eyebrow beneath her helm, but nodded all the same.

"Of course."

* * *

Exiting the dining area, Impmon tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"That went well," he grumbled before shaking his head. "Can't believe that I'm actually thinking about doing this, but…hmmm…" Coming to a stop beneath the hole that he had used earlier, he leapt up into it. "…A mon's got to do what a mon's got to do."

* * *

Dracmon marched down the hall, stomping his feet on the floor angrily. Grinding to a halt he clenched his hands together and glowered at the silver furred kitsune that trailed after him.

"Will you _stop_ following me?"

Urocyomon raised an eyebrow. "Should I point out that we're _both_ following that human ahead of us?" he asked, indicating a man with a similar disposition as Yamaki.

"Well, stop walking behind me," scowled Dracmon, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're makin' me feel all twitchy!"

"Do you have a reason to feel 'twitchy'?"

_"No!"_

Urocyomon twitched an ear in agitation and shifted his spear.

"You know…you didn't have to say it like that…"

"What? You mean what I said to that girl? Forget it! I'm not sorry at all! I just told her the truth, and she needed to hear it!"

Urocyomon tilted his head to one side. "That's…not quite what I meant."

"Ohhh…shut up already," growled Dracmon, dismissing the fox with a wave of his hand. "I don't want to hear it. My ears are still hurting from that girl's bawling." Dracmon clenched his teeth together, remembering the heated exchange that had gone on between himself and Miki, the human girl that he had been forced to call his 'partner' this past week. The very same Miki who had saddled him with the despicable name of 'Beanie' from the moment she laid eyes on him. He was sure that if she had her way he would be wearing unsightly baby clothes right about now. He had every right to want to leave her and go home. As far as he was concerned, he owed her nothing. Sure, she had helped him evolve to the Mega level, and it had been her decision to stick around and help him in a hopeless situation that had helped catalyze the evolution, but he had no reason to stick by her.

No reason at all.

_Not a single one!_ Dracmon hammered the thought through his skull over and over, grinding his teeth against each other.

"How soon until we get to the Jugger-thingy?!" demanded Dracmon hotly as their guide pressed a button leading to the elevator.

"Momentarily," replied the man. "Just be patient."

Dracmon tapped his foot against the ground as the numbers above the elevator door lit up one after another, indicating its ascent to their location.

"Come on, come on, come on…"

Urocyomon glanced at the demonic digimon worriedly.

"I do believe he said 'patience…"

"I ain't one for virtues," growled Dracmon. "Come on! What's taking so long?!"

As though in response to the impish digimon's frustration, the elevator paused one floor below them. Dracmon let out a howl.

"Come… _on!"_ Slashing his nails in front of him, Dracmon let loose a torrent of purple energy that tore into the elevator, rending the door and forcing it into the elevator shaft, blocking it.

In a flash Dracmon was hauled into the air by Urocyomon and pinned against the wall, blue flames igniting around the paw that held his spear.

"What is _wrong_ with you?!" the silver furred kitsune demanded.

"What the heck are you talkin' about? Nothin'! I'm absolutely fine! Now let me down before I change that and start ruining _your_ day!"

"Dracmon…" Urocyomon glanced at their guide, and his eyes flashed. "Excuse us for a moment."

Before the man could even say anything, the two digimon disappeared from view.

* * *

Urocyomon phased into view on the rooftop of Hypnos and dropped Dracmon unceremoniously on the ground. Leaping to his feet, Dracmon glared daggers at the fox digimon. If Urocyomon cared, the casual swish of his tail was the only sign.

"You looking to start a fight? Hah?" demanded Dracmon hotly. Urocyomon narrowed his eyes down to slits, and for the first time, Dracmon felt his bravo and posturing waver. He held his ground though, and met Urocyomon's gaze steadily.

"You know," began Urocyomon carefully, "what goes on between digimon and their partners are not my business. I intend to go home. What happens to you I could care less about…"

"Then why're we up…?" began Dracmon, only to be smoothly cut off by the vulpine digimon.

"…But I can plainly see that you are being affected by your relationship with that Miki child. On top of that, you're taking it out on just about everything around you, and as a result you're starting to bog me down as well."

"Bog you down? That's cr-!"

"You just trashed a piece of their equipment!" roared Urocyomon angrily, his claws tensing on his spear. "I have no idea as to whether or not it's connected with their Juggernaut or whatever it is that they called it! I'm not at all familiar with technology, human or otherwise! I can only _hope_ that you didn't just mess up our only way home and that the whole incident can be forgiven!" Urocyomon took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down. The fur around his tail, arms, and back bristled, and he moved his free paw to smooth it down. "We are _guests_ in their home. The _least_ we can do is show some respect. They _are_ offering us a way back to the digital world _and_ a place to stay if we don't want to leave, after all and that is rare where we come from. Now…you want to tell me what is bothering you?"

Dracmon shifted uneasily, scowling at the roof's floor.

"I've got nothin' to say to you. Get outta my way."

"Dracmon…" Urocyomon growled. His tail swished through the air, and he took another deep breath to calm himself. "Fine. I can't force you to talk, but whatever problem you've got going on… _settle_ it on your own time. If you keep acting like this I _will_ drop you myself and go home without you, and you can spend time getting to know your _partner._ " Urocyomon narrowed his eyes dangerously. "After all, she's _your_ responsibility."

"Puh-wha…? Responsibility?! Hey! I don't think that you know what it is you're talking about!" exclaimed Dracmon angrily. "You're not bonded to any human! You don't know what it's like and…" Dracmon's mouth dropped open as Urocyomon gave him a dismissive snort, turned, and began walking away. _"Hey! I'm_ talkin' _to you! Get back here!"_

In response, the silver furred kitsune vanished. Dracmon let out a roar and slashed his nails around him, letting loose a torrent of violet energy upon the roof, tearing into it. A cloud of smoke was kicked up into the air, only to be blow away by the wind, revealing a panting, stooped Dracmon.

"Stupid…idiotic…fox! Who does he think that he is? Hah? Treating me like this. Hauling me around like a stupid rag doll… He's no better than that dumb girl!"

"I see that we're finally getting to the crux of the matter…"

"Who's there?" demanded Dracmon hotly at the voice that had spoken. He knew that it wasn't Urocyomon, as the voice was significantly different from the kitsune. He recognized the voice as belonging to one of the Tamers' digimon. For the strangest reason, it reminded him of himself.

Dracmon's gaze soon fell upon the form of Impmon, lying on his side at the edge of the roof with a grin on his face.

"A little trouble in paradise, hmmm?" Impmon asked knowingly. "Maybe I can help you with that."

* * *

Robert McCoy staggered backwards in surprise as he looked up at the hospital that he, Kuzuhamon, Kazu Shiota, and Lumemon found themselves in front of.

"This…this is the hospital that Alice is at," Robert McCoy said in amazement.

"You're still surprised?" asked Kazu sarcastically.

"No! I mean…well…" Robert ran a hand through his thinning hair and chuckled. "It's not every day that you end up getting kidnapped by a digimon and transported long distance."

"It kinda is for me," said Kazu, shrugging. "But I get what you mean. A year ago I would have reacted the same way. I guess I'm used to it."

"Well, you kids are on the front lines a lot. My colleagues and I don't get out as much as you do to deal with digimon. But still…this is…incredible. To be able to come this far in so short of a time? Just a second ago we were in Hypnos…"

"It's an advanced variation of the technique that Renamon uses," said Kuzuhamon, smiling. "It helps that my power was given a boost prior to coming to the human world. I wouldn't have been able to do this under normal circumstances."

"I was wondering about that," said Lumemon, looking at Kuzuhamon contemplatively. "When I first met you, your power levels were weaker than even a normal Kuzuhamon."

"That's right. And you can thank your partner for that. All I had to do was access Mr. McCoy's memories and then teleport us here using them. Pretty nifty. I think I can get used to this new me." Kuzuhamon frowned. "I still need to get used to these new powers though. I could have been a bit more accurate and put us in Alice's room directly…"

"I don't think that would have been a good idea," said Robert McCoy.

"Hey," interceded Kazu. "Can we chat about that stuff later? In case you guys didn't notice, we're getting a lot of attention here." Kazu pointed around them, noting the number of people that had stopped in their travels to stare at them. A murmur rose up amongst the crowd. Lumemon's wings twitched in response.

"Perhaps we should have chosen a more secluded spot."

"Too late now," said Kazu, starting towards the hospital. "Come on. We've got some business to take care of."

"Yes," said Kuzuhamon, taking in the hospital. "Yes we do."

* * *

"Help me?" scoffed Dracmon. "Give me a break. You're a tamed digimon…"

"And that affects things how? Unlike fox face number two that means that I know what you're going through."

"But you're still here."

"Doesn't mean that I didn't try to get away. Let me tell you somethin'." Impmon hopped to his feet. "When I first met my partners, they were a bunch of spoiled brats. Fought all the time, and tried to get me to fight them whenever they did. Nearly tore in two, doin' it." Impmon massaged his shoulder, as though in memory of an old wound, but the grin that was on his face did not disappear. "So I left 'em. I thought, 'good riddance'. Had a grand old time on my own, too. Well, right up until I got clobbered by that ol' Mule face of a Deva, Indramon. That was my own fault for thinkin' I could take him without a partner…"

"You goin' somewhere with this?" asked Dracmon.

"Yeah. You might want to think real hard about leaving your partner without working things out. It took me a long time to realize that…not to mention a lot of bruises and none of them were from my partners. I'm a better mon because I have my partners. It's like…how can I put this. Before, I used to just have fun on my own and cause trouble. Now I can still cause trouble, but this time I'm having twice as much fun as I used to. It helps that we help understand each other better than we used to."

"That," Dracmon folded his arms over his chest, "sounds stupid. Why do I even need a partner?"

"I dunno." Impmon shrugged. "Somebody upstairs must've thought it was a good idea."

"That was my boss' idea then. DinoRexmon. Remember him?"

"Yeah," nodded Impmon. "Guy with the big toenails? Pineapple Head stomped him into the ground pretty good. You sayin' that he hooked you two together?"

Dracmon nodded. "We were in trouble with one of the Royal Knights, Craniummon. Miki kept _insisting_ on helping me when she wouldn't have been any good, and then my boss' data came together as a digivice and then biomerged us."

Impmon shrugged. "I ain't ever biomerged before, so correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you need a pretty strong bond to do that?"

"You're asking _me?!_ This… _Arrrggghhh!"_ Dracmon howled and grabbed the sides of his head. "That stupid, stupid, _stupid_ girl was inside my head! In my _core!_ We shared each other's thoughts! I know how far she was willing to go, and all because she wanted to be a Tamer! And after…" Dracmon shook his head in disbelief. "…After…something…something changed in her. Changed in _me._ " Dracmon clenched his fists. "S-S-She's stupid! She's clumsy, selfish, and inconsiderate!" Dracmon stomped away, continuing to rant. Impmon tilted his head to one side as he listened. As he did so, he remembered a moment he shared with Renamon shortly before he threw down with Indramon. He had been pretending to be stronger than he actually was, getting into one fight after another to prove his strength. When Renamon called him out on it, he accidently let it slip that he had partners. And when she delved further…

_"I don't need a partner…"_

The words flowed through his mind and he grimaced at them.

_I really sounded like I was trying to convince myself of that back then. For all I know I probably still don't need a partner, but I know that Ai and Mako give me strength and I…_ love _'em both very much. I'd miss 'em both if I wasn't with them._

"I can't believe I just thought that," muttered Impmon disgustedly, but that was the truth of it.

"You say somethin'?" asked Dracmon.

"Nah." Impmon shook his head.

Dracmon stared at him, not believing him, but he resumed his rant.

"Anyway, there's no way that I'd want to be stuck with a human like her. Not if she's going to be giving me trouble. I can't look after her and myself at the same time you know!"

"…Dracmon?"

Whirling about, Dracmon's eyes widened in surprise. Hovering in the air just outside the Hypnos rooftop was Crusadermon, carrying Miki in her arms.

"How did you…?"

"Her digivice of course," replied Crusadermon tersely as she came to a landing. "How else?"

"Eh." Impmon shrugged. "I just sort of figured that he'd be up here anyway. He's a lot like me."

"Shut up," growled Dracmon before turning his attention to Miki. The dark haired girl touched down on the roof and strode up to the diminutive digimon, a firm look on her face.

"Well?" he asked. "What do you want? I already told you that I'm going home."

"I know."

"So why are you here?"

"I'm here because…" Miki's lip trembled, and in response she frowned deeply. "…Because I'm your partner!"

"You think that means anything to me?"

"Maybe not. But I'm…" Miki swallowed. "…I'm still willing to try. We're partners, and in the entire time that we've worked together we haven't abandoned each other. That may not mean anything to you, but it does to me. _You_ mean something to me, and while I…I can't tell you what to do I won't give you up without a fight. I'll do whatever it takes to be worthy of being by your side, Dracmon. I'll get stronger, and I _won't_ hold you back."

Dracmon tapped his fingers on his arms, staring impassively at the girl before turning away. His body was tense and trembling.

_I can't…I gotta be strong! If I stay…she might…she'll just get caught up in all of this and end up getting hurt! She knows what happened out there! How dangerous it all was! She…_ a memory flashed through the demon digimon's mind from their final battle with the Royal Knights. Miki was leaning against a wall following a deafening explosion caused by the fighting with UlforceVeedramon. She had _bled…!_

_She still wants to stick with this?_ Turning back, Dracmon looked into Miki's eyes, and he saw the determination that blazed within them. Dracmon heaved a sigh. _I can tell that I'm not going to win this one…_

"…You had me at 'Dracmon'…" he said in an irritated tone. Miki raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Didn't I tell ya to not call me 'Beanie' anymore? Sheesh! You humans have really bad memor-ack!" Dracmon was abruptly cut off as Miki grabbed him and crushed him to her chest, crying with joy.

* * *

Urocyomon stood on a rooftop across from Hypnos, watching the exchange with curious eyes. A small smile appeared on his muzzle as he witnessed Miki's reunion with her partner, and he disappeared from view. Reappearing within the hall of Hypnos where he had departed from, the fox digimon nodded a greeting at his guide.

"Sorry to make you wait," he apologized. "It appears that my companion won't be leaving after all. If we may continue?"

The guide nodded. "We will need to take another elevator."

"Very well." Urocyomon paused. "If I may make one final request…"

"Go ahead."

"I would like to see Mr. Yamaki one final time before leaving. I have something that I would like to ask of him."

The man pulled a cell phone from his side pocket and dialed a number. Urocyomon allowed himself a small, invisible smile to appear on his face as he waited.

* * *

"Here we are," said Robert, opening the door to the room and stepping inside. Looking at the bed in front of him, his eyes softened. Lying in it, sheets pulled up to her neck, lay a blonde haired girl resting peacefully. Behind him, the others filed in, and the sound of Kuzuhamon's intake of breath could be heard in the silence of the room.

"Alice…"

The shaman priestess moved to the bed and ran one hand through the girl's hair.

"So this is where you were all this time," she murmured. "It's kind of hard to believe…I knew about her condition even though she never discussed it with me, but seeing it is different from knowing about it. Especially when she's in another place, talking, moving, eating…as if she wasn't still in this world." Her eyes glanced up at the girl's grandfather. "How did she become like this?"

"I was conducting experiments. Delving into computer AI had been something of a hobby of mine after the AI program in college was cancelled. Shibumi wasn't the only one to keep going with it, but I didn't pursue it as far as he did. At one point, I discovered what looked like a distortion in the network…something that I thought of as a layer or spatial warp. It wasn't until Yamaki pulled me in to help out last year that I learned that it was the warp that lay between the human and digital worlds, but I had no way of knowing that then. I was studying it, trying to determine what it was. Alice was in the room at the time. She had been visiting." Robert's eyes lowered. "I can only theorize that the two worlds must have been experiencing an exchange of information and matter. A storm appeared quite suddenly as my test was just starting. There was a flash of light, and then Alice was…unconscious.

"The doctors say that her brain is fine. It's just that she doesn't wake up." Robert looked over at Kuzuhamon. "You said that you can bring her back…"

"I only said that there was a possibility. And that is why these two are here." Kuzuhamon pointed at Lumemon and Kazu. "Your granddaughter has helped them both, sacrificing parts of herself so that they could survive. I can only hope that by bringing those pieces here, that she can be restored."

"How is that?" asked Lumemon. Smiling, Kuzuhamon reached behind her and withdrew a silver crucifix.

"Remember this?" Not even waiting for an answer, Kuzuhamon reached out and placed the necklace around Alice's neck. "Kazu. May I see your digivice?"

"Uh…sure." Pulling out his rust colored digivice, Kazu passed it to the shaman, and she pressed its central button. Immediately, its trademark holographic circle appeared above its screen, swinging wildly. Kazu scratched the back of his head. "Um…I'm not exactly sure what I can do to help you. I can't even figure that thing out…"

"Hush," said Kuzuhamon, closing her eyes as she held the digivice in the center of her hands. Closing her eyes, she began singing under her breath. Almost immediately Kazu felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy. Listening to Kuzuhamon's voice was like listening to the softest of lullabies, and it lulled him easily. Recognizing instinctively that it was a part of Kuzuhamon's attempt to help Alice he didn't bother fighting it, and soon let his lids fall completely. His head drooped, and he began to tilt listlessly on his feet, only being saved from a jarring collapse by Robert McCoy as he grabbed hold of him by the shoulders. Light materialized around Kazu's now unconscious form and drifted up into the air, separating from him. In response, Alice's necklace rose with it. The aura of light hovered, as though uncertain before drifting over to the girl and settling over her like a blanket. The light vanished quickly, and Kuzuhamon ceased in her singing. The shaman and the Tamer both opened their eyes.

"What happened?" asked Kazu, dazed. Kuzuhamon pursed her lips together, not answering. She kept her eyes fixated intently on Alice. Seconds ticked by endlessly, soon becoming minutes until finally, Alice shifted in her bed, groaning slightly.

"That might just be a bodily reaction…" began Robert, not wanting to get his hopes up, but he quickly stopped as Alice's blue eyes slowly opened. Slowly turning her head, she took in the figures of her grandfather, Kazu, and Lumemon before finally coming to rest on Kuzuhamon. The priestess smiled at her.

"Welcome back, Little Sister. Welcome home."


	194. 193: Epilogue: Closing and Opening

Lumemon lit onto the edge of a rooftop, flapping his wings to steady himself before settling down. He peered out over the city, listening to the bustle of the humans that were working on rebuilding it. He drank in the image of Shinjuku and all the sounds within, marking it in his mind. He felt a twinge of sadness. Not for the first time, the reality of his situation struck him, and it struck him hard.

_For better or worse, this is where I'm going to live now,_ he thought to himself, breathing in the city air. Wind played with his brown hair, and the angelic digimon narrowed his gray eyes in response. _I wonder what Lady Ophanimon would say about this…about what has happened to me. Knowing her, she would probably consider this justice. If anything else, it's certainly…ironic._

Lumemon wanted to laugh at himself for the position that he found himself in. It hadn't been all that long ago that he came to this world, a completely different digimon, with a different outlook on how he should dispense his brand of justice against dangers to the digital world. Now he had not only joined the group that he attacked as Lucemon, but he also merged with a piece of the Tamer whose partner he worked to destroy. However, he didn't laugh. Found himself unable to.

_The digimon I am now is different from the one that I was. I'm not sure that I can relate at all to what happened…even though I was the one affected. That's…strange, isn't it? I don't remember much of my old life as Lucemon except that it happened._ I'm _still here, but I'm buried within the new me. Every now and then I feel that old me. Is that important?_

Lumemon sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer. He lost a lot of things by coming to this city, and gained new things as well. But did those new things outweigh what he had lost?

Brushing such thoughts to the side for the time being, he peered at the city, scanning it with his storm-gray eyes, hoping to find some sign of his quarry. As he did so, a familiar, golden furred kitsune phased into view next to him.

"Did you find anything?" asked Renamon. Lumemon glanced at her shook his head.

"Not a thing. I think it's gone to ground again."

Renamon frowned and swished her tail through the air. "If none of the others have anything to report, we may have to guard the area and patrol the city tonight. Crusadermon and Beelzemon might have something. It is almost time for everyone to meet up." Renamon turned to look out over the city, her frown deepening. Lumemon knew why.

"It surprises me to no end how it has been able to elude us," he remarked.

"Yes," replied Renamon. "It's even managed to avoid Guilmon's sense of smell. Out of everyone, he is without a doubt the best when it comes to tracking someone. The fact that it has managed to evade him so far is…unsettling."

Lumemon pursed his lips.

"It's almost time. We should head back to the meeting place."

Renamon nodded, and with that, she disappeared into thin air. Lumemon eyed the space that she occupied thoughtfully. Out of all the digimon, Renamon had been one of the few that he surprisingly felt at ease around. In spite of her rather intimidating gaze, she had never looked at him with any amount of distrust, and simply accepted his presence as it was. He wondered why that was.

_No doubt that's another question that will go unanswered…_

Stretching his wings, Lumemon paused at the ledge and took a deep breath. Again, as he had wondered before, did what he gain outweigh what he lost? His memories of his past life were foggy at best, but there was a hole in his heart where those memories had been, acknowledging that whatever he lost, it was deeply felt. The Tamers and their partners had welcomed him into the group, but he wasn't at all certain if they truly accepted him, or ever would.

_But then, it's not like I've gone out of my way to talk to them. Too much going on, even now. All this moving around…and there are the other newcomers to consider as well. I wonder…are we just a motley crew of digimon and humans who cause nothing but problems and can't fit in anywhere else or with anyone else except here, in this city with each other for company? Protecting what little piece of sanctuary we've carved out for ourselves, even if we carved it by accident?_

No answers. None ever came, and he didn't expect any to either now or later. Breathing in again, Lumemon leapt off the roof and caught a draft. With one flap of his wings, he was off, following Renamon's shifting form as she phased in and out of view towards their destination.

* * *

Light shone off Yamaki's lighter as he clicked it closed. Adjusting his sunglasses, the blonde haired head of Hypnos tracked Lumemon's course through the sky before returning his attention to his path. Although it was not time for him to leave work, he had taken to having a stroll during his break to inspect the city. He was not involved in the reconstruction, but it comforted him all the same to see the repairs being conducted.

Even though those very same repairs were presently involved in, by the Tamers standards, a little bit of trouble.

A little over a month had passed since the battle with the Royal Knights and the Cable Entity had raged through Shinjuku, and life had more or less returned to what could be called normal by the cities inhabitants. Residents continued to stream back in once the evacuation orders had been lifted and enough of the infrastructure had been repaired for safe living. Now the only major inconveniences that remained were the numerous detours that people had to take to avoid the construction areas.

_Though the construction could be going a little bit faster,_ thought Yamaki, frowning beneath his sunglasses.

Although it was true that life was returning to normal at a rapid pace, there were always complications. The past week had been one such case as a digimon—the first one to appear in weeks since Urocyomon had been sent back to the digital world—bio-emerged and began to cause trouble for the workers. Nothing too severe or damaging, but it had been conducting hit-and-run attacks on the construction sites, damaging areas that had been repaired during the day, and slowing down operations. These attacks occurred mostly at night, and Yamaki and the Tamers had only just started catching wind of it.

It was…rather frustrating from Yamaki's perspective.

_The Tamers had detected the bio-emergence…a 'small' digimon they had mentioned at the time, and we couldn't do anything about it. Hypnos was shut down…still is…and because the digimon was so small it managed to give them the slip. However, since it had been so weak, no one believed that it could cause anything close to the damage that has been occurring so far. And with the Tamers only able to conduct patrols after school…_

Yamaki thought back to the proposal he submitted to the Chief Cabinet concerning the incorporation of the Tamers into Hypnos.

_I wonder if I should make an addendum to it concerning their education and overall duties…_

The ringing of his cell phone broke across his thoughts, and giving a frustrated sigh, Yamaki pulled it out of his pocket and hit the answer button.

"Yamaki here."

_"We've received the latest report from our news source in the digital world,"_ came the voice of Riley on the other end.

"Anything new to report?"

_"Yes sir. You might want to come see this. It's…well…"_

Yamaki nodded, continuing to feel frustrated at the lack of information. Considering what it could be that required his presence in the main operations room, it might very well be worth his presence.

"I'll be there."

Hanging up, Yamaki took a brief look up at the sky, catching Lumemon before he disappeared behind a building. Adjusting his glasses once more, he checked his surroundings and assumed a new course leading back towards Hypnos.

Duty called, and the digital world waited for no one.

* * *

"Boss man is on his way back," said Riley, continuing to type away on her control panel. Tally nodded her agreement, following her example. The entrance to the control room opened, catching her attention, and in walked Kuroda, looking ambivalent as he carried a paper bag in one hand.

"You know that you're not supposed to bring food in here," chastised Tally to the man as he sat down heavily in his seat and pulled out a cup of ramen.

"And I would have thought that after a month, you would have known that I don't care about such rules," reposted Kuroda, digging in as he feasted his eyes on the data that was being transmitted to his computer. "I may not be Yamaki's favorite person, but I do have my latitudes. Secret agent man is willing to put up with my…eccentricities as long as I get my work done, and as far as I'm concerned being away from my work just to eat a meal in the break room is unproductive. I prefer to work wherever I am…"

"Yeah, I got that so far," smirked Tally. "Anyway, are we still on for tonight?"

Kuroda reached into his bag and pulled out a second cup of ramen. "I bought this for you," he said, not breaking eye contact with the screen. Tally's smirk transformed into something a little more softer, as though his response, or seeming lack thereof, had been code for her. In a way, it was, as over the course of the past month and the amount of time they had worked together, they both learned something about working together. Chuckling lightly to herself, Tally returned to her work.

"You said that lucky rabbits foot wasn't any good," Tally said to Riley. Raising an elegant eyebrow beneath her visor, Riley looked at her friend over her shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

Tally giggled. "Never mind. Just…never mind."

"…Oookay…"

* * *

"Finally!" crowed Kazu, pumping his fists into the air as he stood triumphantly within the courtyard of Shinjuku elementary. "The day is over and it's ours!"

"Not quite," reminded Henry as he and the others followed behind their visor-wearing friend. Next to him, Takato nodded.

"Yeah. We still have to meet up with everyone and see how things went."

"Like if they caught our mystery digimon," supplied Kenta. Folding his arms behind his head, Kazu snorted.

"Yeah, I already knew that, but I was just talking about how we got out of school. We're taking care of Tamer business, and that's something I like more than listening to Ms. Asagi drone on about vegetables. I tell ya, she's nuttier than a fruit bat."

"Anyone would be, dealing with you."

"Kenta…could you tell your girlfriend to not make everything sound like it's my fault? Ms. Asagi was weird before I showed up."

"Um…" Kenta adjusted his spectacles nervously, crimson staining his face. "We're…um…Ayaka and I…"

"…Are stuck together like Guilmon to bread," giggled a voice from the wall ahead of them. Looking up, Henry smiled upon seeing Terriermon standing upside down on one paw, showing off to the students as they passed by.

"Terriermon…"

"I know, I know," laughed Terriermon. "You're right. It could be worse."

"You mean like what Chumley deals with?" snorted Kazu.

"Well I wasn't going to say it…"

"For once, you show tact," breathed Henry in relief, while Ayaka glared at Kazu threateningly.

"Unlike some people."

"Hey. What's the point in dancing around the issue?"

"You mean besides that it's none of our business?" growled the blonde haired, pig-tailed girl.

"Hey, come on, guys," placated Takato. "It's okay. Let's just go meet up with the others."

"Smartest thing I've heard all day," said Terriermon, leaping off of the brick wall and onto Henry's head. Settling himself, he glanced over at the dark haired girl walking next to his partner. "Hey, Noriko."

"Hey, Terriermon," smiled Noriko warmly. "Have you seen, Lumemon?"

"Nope. He's probably gone off to the park to meet up with the others, same as usual."

"Isn't that where I told you to be?" asked Henry.

"Yeah, but I wanted to see what Noriko brought you today. She's been bringing snacks in for you ever since school started back up."

"Terriermon!"

"What? Momentai, Henry! Why do you need to get all defensive about this? It's not like you're the only one who has a girlfriend or something. At least you've got Kenta to share the pain…"

"That's not…" began Henry, his voice blending in with Kenta's as he too began mumbling denials. The two boys looked at each other for one long moment before turning away. Noriko, sensing that the topic of conversation had taken a turn towards uncomfortable, moved to change it.

"Um…H-Henry. My mom was asking about you, a-and she was wondering when you could stop over to have dinner with us…"

Noriko trailed off as she realized what she was saying. It was too late to take it back however, and the effect was immediate.

"Dinner?" blinked everyone who heard the girl's words. A luminous blush grew over Henry's face and Terriermon laughed out loud.

"Wow. Henry! Sounds like you've already got her mother's approval."

"T-T-Terriermon…"

The group laughed at Henry's sudden flustering, and the feeling of participating in pure, unadulterated laughter without any troubles attached to it. All too soon however, the knowledge that they had to get moving, as they were fast finding themselves the only students remaining in the courtyard, sobered them.

"Well," said Jeri, wiping away tears of happiness, "I've got to get going. I'll see you all tomorrow."

None of the Tamers asked why she was parting ways. Unlike the rest of the group, her home had actually been damaged from the fighting and was made structurally unsound. As a result, she had to travel farther than usual to meet up with her parents where they were presently staying until their home was back on its feet again. This had been her reasoning from the moment that school started. The addition of a Wild One, and the need for the rest of the digimon-armed Tamers to patrol the grounds, made it so that there were few, if any further complaints. No one, least of all Takato and Rika, wanted to place the girl in any unnecessary danger.

Takato waved cheerily as Jeri took off at a brisk pace, smiling at them over her shoulder. Once she had passed out of sight, Takato's face fell, and his hand lowered slowly.

On this, no one spoke. They had all taken note of Takato's change in mood every time Jeri left the group to go home. To some extent, they all felt that they could comfortably guess why. The temporary biomerge that they all shared together had granted them a glimpse of the turmoil that their now former goggle-wearing friend bore on his shoulders.

Moving forward, Henry placed a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Come on. Let's go meet with the others."

"Right," said Takato, forcing himself to snap out of his funk. "We've got a job to do."

* * *

Rika made her way down the streets, her eyes narrowed in deep thought and concentration. Very little of which was paid to the path in front of her, save to make sure that she didn't get caught up with the crowd or with traffic. However distracted she could get, Rika tended to be readily aware of her surroundings. Very rarely was she ever caught off guard, and even rarer did something surprise her.

Shrugging her school bag onto her shoulder, Rika trudged onward, gazing momentarily at a group of children that ran by, chasing after a soccer ball they kicked ahead of them. With a sigh she tore her eyes away from them and stopped at the main entrance to her home. As she did so, the familiar form of Renamon phased into view next to her.

"Welcome back," greeted the vulpine digimon. Rika nodded in return as she pushed the gate open.

"How'd the meeting go?" she asked, not for the first time mindful of the fact that her school let out later than that of her friends.

"As well as can be expected," replied Renamon as they both entered the front yard. "The others have formed a plan, and are now patrolling the city. I was making my rounds of the neighborhood when I saw you walking by."

Rika nodded again, noting that their meeting saved them the trouble of rendezvousing at their agreed upon meeting place.

"Rika!" called out Seiko from within the house. "Are you home?"

"Hi, Grandma!" she returned as she stepped into the house and took off her school shoes. "I'm going to be heading out for a while on patrol! Sorry I can't stay and chat!"

The sound of her grandmother's light footsteps touching the floor reached Rika's ears, and she smiled at her.

"Then you'll be staying out late?" she asked.

Rika glanced over at Renamon, who nodded.

"Looks like."

"I hope that this digimon doesn't cause you too much trouble. You've all been staying out late trying to find it." Seiko shook her head. "Well, I'll be sure to keep dinner warm for you when you get back."

"Thanks Grandma. What're we having?"

"My special egg plant and liver casserole."

Rika couldn't help but grin and clench a fist triumphantly.

_Terrific…_

"If we catch it tonight, then I'll call it a perfect ending. Say hi to Mom for me in case she's asleep when I get back."

"Of course."

Rika entered her room and dumped her bag on the floor unceremoniously. Grabbing her clothes off the rack, she quickly changed into them and clipped on her belt, card box, and digivice. As soon as she did so, her violet gaze paused on the full heart emblazoned on her shirt before shrugging it off. Pausing just long enough to grab something from off her dresser and stash it in her back pocket, Rika quickly joined her partner outside.

"Ready to go, Renamon?"

"Always."

"Party time," she said. In her heart though, a part of her remained separate from the eagerness of tracking down the rogue digimon.

_Got to get my head into the game,_ Rika berated herself, taking out her digivice and activating the tracking function. _I can't afford to be distracted right now._

Rika furrowed her brow, knowing that 'distracted' was just what she was going to be. One month. It had been one month since everyone returned home from the digital world; one month since their lives began to settle back down. 'Settle', but they did not return to normal.

Rika's lips twitched slightly in frustration, and she felt a slight tugging in the back of her mind. It didn't take her long to recognize whom it belonged to.

_Takato…_

Unconsciously her course began to shift in the direction of her friend. In the month that had passed since their return home, with the sole exception of Jeri, she had seen very little of, her friends. She had her reasons for doing so, some of which had to do with getting back into school life and catching up on everything that she had fallen behind on. Other reasons however, stood out more prominently, at least in her mind.

_Jeri…_

That one name said it all, bringing back a number of memories that caused Rika to tighten her fingers around her digivice. Sensing Renamon's concern through their link, she relaxed her grip and continued to scan for any signs of their target.

_How long has it been since I last talked to Jeri?_ Rika wondered. _Last time it had been over the phone and…I didn't exactly end the conversation in a very friendly manner._

* * *

_Rika slammed her cell phone down on the table. Although she showed no other outward sign, her mind was broiling with rage. Rage directed towards her friend, but also towards herself, for letting things go the way that they did. Gripping the sides of her head, Rika leaned forward and groaned in exasperation._

How could she do this? _She asked herself._ How can she just write off his feelings like that? Like they don't even matter? How could she do that to _herself?!_

_Around and around, Rika's mind spun, continuing to search for answers, but finding none. So focused on her inner turmoil that she didn't notice the sound of the door sliding open behind her until her mother's voice spoke up._

_"Want to talk about it?"_

_In the not-so-distant past, this would not have happened. At least, not with her mother. Before, she would have been out late relishing in her life, or sampling some of the fine sake that was in the house. By the same token, Rika would have gone out of her way to avoid her mother, preferring to stay out late in the depths of the city before coming home, and even then she would close herself off in her room to go over battle strategies. Such was not the case anymore, and Rika reflected on how quickly things had changed…_ continued _to change over the course of the year. With the rapid changes occurring, it was all she could do just to stand still and collect her thoughts._

_"Mom? Why do people do the things that they do?"_

_"What do you mean?" asked Rumiko, sitting down next to the girl with a concerned look on her face._

_"Like…why do they decide to leave each other?"_

_Rumiko raised an eyebrow, and for an instant Rika could see a glimmer of pain from an old memory that she knew all too well._

_"There are lots of reasons why," said Rumiko, bringing one hand to rest on her daughter's arm. "Sometimes they leave because they love someone, and sometimes because they just don't love someone enough. Why do you ask?"_

_Briefly, Rika thought about pursuing her mother's words, wondering if any of the reasons she gave involved her father, but she pushed that curiosity aside. For right now, they were not what she wanted to know._

_"Jeri…" she said finally. "After we got home, she talked to Takato. She knows what happened between me and him." Rika scowled. "She knows that he likes her and I know she likes him, but she_ still..."

_Rika trailed off, hesitating for a moment before she continued._

_"She won't budge. She won't be with him! This_ isn't _what I wanted to happen!"_

_"What did you want?"_

_Rika took a deep breath before replying._

_"…Back when Hypnos was contacting you and the other families…I made the decision to do what Jeri did. I didn't want to keep doing this. I didn't want to hurt Jeri or Takato because of what I did. Only Jeri beat me to it. I…"_ _Rika balled her hands up into fists. "…I can't do the same thing now. Not as long as she…" Rika found herself unable to continue speaking, and she gave a growl of frustration. Rumiko watched her with sympathetic eyes, massaging her arm._

_"Have you talked to Takato about it?"_

_Rika let her silence speak for her. She had not gone out of her way to talk to, let alone_ see _Takato since Hypnos let them return to their families. Takato, noticing her absences and sensing her increased anger, had tried getting in touch with her, but had been rebuffed each time with short, succinct replies along the lines of "I'm busy." Rumiko's eyes softened._

_"You can't ignore him forever, you know."_

_"I know Mom, it's just…I'm all messed up inside. I can't even think straight right now! I know that I've got to figure out a way to deal with this, and I'm working on it. I just need time."_

_"That's fine," replied Rumiko, offering her a comforting smile. "Just don't forget what you've learned lately. You don't need to fight every battle on your own."_

_"How can I, when Takato didn't even let me fight with him?"Rika blurted out._

* * *

The sound of her digivice clicking and beeping in alarm broke her out of her thoughts. Her violet eyes zeroed in on her D-Arcs tracking program, finding the compass function pointed in a definitive direction.

"There it is."

"Are you sure?" asked Renamon, phasing into view next to her. "I don't sense anything."

"Well, something's causing this thing to go crazy, and the signal isn't the same as a bio-emergence." Rika's eyes narrowed as the scanner shifted to display a series of colored dots, one two green and one red. The two green dots were moving in on the location of the red one. "Looks like one of the others picked up on it. Let's go."

Renamon grabbed hold of her, and leapt into the air, disappearing from sight almost as soon as their feet left the ground.

* * *

"Are you okay, Takato?"

"Hm?" Blinking, Takato looked over his shoulder at Guilmon, who trailed behind him with a worried look on his face.

"I was asking if you're okay. You've got a serious look on your face like you're thinking about something really hard."

Takato forced a light laugh out of his mouth and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Sorry boy. I guess I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Is that why you didn't want anyone else to come with you while we patrolled?"

Takato nodded. "Yeah. I just need to sort out a few things in my head."

"What sort of things?" Guilmon tilted his head to the side, and looked up at his partner with his big, gold colored eyes.

"Um…I-it's nothing."

"Takato…if it's nothing then how come you're thinking about it?" Guilmon blinked as a thought came to him. "Oh. Is it about Jeri and Rika?"

Takato's shoulders sagged. "Jeez…am I _that_ easy to read?"

"Not really. But you've been kind of sad ever since we went with Jeri to drop her off with her family. We usually talk about things that bother you, but you don't like to talk about anything involving those two. You always get really quiet every time we do."

"Oh," blinked Takato, taken aback once more by how observant Guilmon could be. "Um…do you smell anything, Guilmon?" he asked, hoping to change the topic of conversation.

"I smell lots of things…mostly food."

"Uh…okay, how about that digimon we're trying to find?"

Guilmon shook his head. "Nope."

The pair continued in silence for a moment longer before Guilmon spoke up again.

"Takatooo…how come you changed the subject?"

_Aw nuts…_

"Guilmon…can we not talk about that while we're trying to find that wild digimon?"

Guilmon's ears drooped. "Sorry."

"No," Takato sighed dejectedly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I just…don't want to talk about it right now."

Guilmon nodded and acquiesced to his partner's wishes. Takato took out his D-Arc and activated the scanning function, hoping to take his mind off their aborted talk. He didn't succeed very well in his endeavor, and his mind soon wandered back onto the topic. In the back of his mind, he could feel Rika's emotional weather, and he forced himself to try to still his own. More and more, he felt as though he were being isolated, and the knowledge that presently he was doing the same thing himself was not lost on him. He wondered what else there was he could do about it though, as every other time he had tried to talk to Rika had ended with her telling him she was 'busy' and didn't have the time to talk. The unexpected arrival of the Wild One had given them the best opportunity to see and talk to each other, but unfortunately one look at Rika's eyes told him that anything that went beyond formulating a battle plan was going to get shot down. The distance that had grown between them, connection notwithstanding, made him feel that he was losing her, and it hurt thinking about it.

_First Jeri…now Rika… No!_ Takato's eyes slammed shut and he fought to force such thoughts out of his mind. _No! I have to stay optimistic. I'll just try again to talk to her…try and sort things out. Until then, I can't let Rika know what's going on…I can't let her know how this is affecting me. She's got enough on her plate right now. She doesn't need my problems._

In a subtle irony that he failed to notice, it was this kind of thinking, that he should handle his difficulties without help, that Rika was also angry with him about. Such was his desire to keep her out of the link, that he didn't notice the flaring of it on her end in response to his mood.

The sound of his digivice's agitated beeping brought him out of his reverie, and looking at the holographic circle sitting above the screen, he saw the compass signaling to him a specific direction.

"It's found it!" Takato exclaimed excitedly, breaking into a run. "Let's go, Guilmon!"

"Takatooo! Slow downnn!"

* * *

Ryo Akiyama set his bag down on a chair as he walked into his bedroom, giving a sigh of relief. School was finally over…for the day at any rate, but it was over nonetheless.

_Loaded with a lot of homework though,_ he thought, clicking on his computer. _Math, English, History…the whole nine yards and then some._

For once, Ryo wasn't sure if he should be jealous of the fact that the others had gotten a brief reprieve from their class assignments as Shinjuku had been evacuated during the Royal Knight crisis, and had been extended briefly from the massive amount of damage that the city had been made to suffer. Quite the opposite of his hometown, but that was to be expected as it was far removed from Shinjuku's unending battles. As had quickly become the norm for him ever since becoming a Tamer, his homework load piled up to the breaking point where he was sure that even Guilmon wouldn't be able to pull off the convenient 'a digimon ate my homework' excuse without getting sick.

_At least my teacher is understanding. I'm sure glad he gave me an extension, but after everything that's happened, I have to admit, I still need a break. This just isn't good._

While waiting for his computer to finish loading, Ryo took a look outside his window to check up on Cyberdramon. The large, overbearing, cyborg dragon continued his to stand vigil in the backyard. Not for the first time this past month, and most likely wouldn't be the last time in a long, long time, Ryo wondered how recent events would affect his partner. Everyone had been affected, that much he knew, but for Cyberdramon…

_He's closer to what happened than anyone else. Even me. After all, he's got to deal with that guy living inside of him._ Glancing over at his nightstand, Ryo saw an achingly familiar card sitting on it, still where he had placed it when he got home. It was the Milleniummon card he had given Jeri, returned to the appearance that it had before Jeri transformed it into _SolMilleniummon._

_Just what was it that happened back there? What is his game? He had an opportunity to come out and start everything all over again, but he didn't. He let things go. He helped us and then let everyone return home without so much as batting an eye or making a threat. When we talked…_ Ryo frowned, remembering his discussion with the dark digital god prior to everyone merging together. _…he sounded almost…disappointed. Maybe my mind's just playing tricks on me. That was a pretty hectic time then. I'm probably imagining it. But if I tell myself that, then that means everything…how can I trust anything that happened? We could be sitting on a timer, waiting for it to go off and we won't know when. How can I continue to trust anyone?_

There it was again. The issue of trust. For too long, Ryo had been left to his own devices, dealing with Milleniummon without any backup save for Monodramon, who, in spite of his stalwartness was not in control of himself half the time except when he was in his Rookie form. That by itself was a rarity, and he could not count on that happening at convenient times. True, Cyberdramon had gotten better at controlling himself lately, but he still had moments when he let his savage nature run free.

Around and around his mind went, and he sat down heavily on the edge of his bed, holding his head in his hands. Trust. Could he still trust the others? They hadn't asked any further questions after the battle against Oni ended and they all went home. They left him alone on that front while making sure that they stayed in touch. Especially Kazu and Kenta, though for once they took a far more mature approach to it. Takato was a lot more open and understanding of him, and then there was…

"Ryo!" called out the voice of his father from downstairs. Shooting to his feet, taken off guard by the interruption from his thoughts, Ryo called back.

"What's up, Dad?"

"You have a friend on the phone!"

Raising an eyebrow, Ryo started for the stairs, wondering who it could be.

"Who is it?" he asked, taking the phone from his father. The man looked at him gruffly.

"She says her name is Jeri."

Ryo had to stop himself from showing his surprise. This was not something he expected.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't take too long. You've got a lot of catching up to do, you know. I don't want you being held back another year."

"…Got it," frowned Ryo, remembering the trouble that his last adventure had caused him. Over half a year spent in the digital world followed by his involvement in the D-Reaper crisis had made sure that he missed out on far too much work to be able to make it up, forcing him to repeat the year.

"Hello?" he asked, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

_"Hey, yourself,"_ came the voice of Jeri on the other end, a light giggle in her tone. _"I got home just a second ago, and I thought that I'd give you a call and see how you were doing. Kazu was complaining about how he hasn't seen you in a while, so I was kind of worried."_

Ryo found himself smiling a little.

_Of course. Why should I have been surprised? She's involved herself in my problems from day one when I told her about the Milleniummon card. It makes sense now._

"That's a story and a half," chuckled Ryo. "I've been pretty busy. My dad put his foot down on my Taming duties. He's not going to accept me missing out on anything school related for the rest of the year."

_"That's right. You were in the digital world for a while last year."_

"That's right," Ryo nodded.

There followed a long pause, during which Ryo found himself feeling strangely uncomfortable.

_"Um…Ryo?"_

"Yeah?"

_"I don't mean to pry, but…how are you doing?"_

Ryo was about to answer that he was doing fine, but soon caught the way Jeri phrased her question. Remembering what they had gone through together, how he had confided with her, and of her and Cyberdramon's own advice to trust others more, he decided to take a chance.

_Beats being constantly paranoid,_ he thought with a trace of humor.

"Well…that's also a story and a half…"

_"I'm not going anywhere,"_ eased Jeri. Unconsciously, a relaxed smile grew on the Legendary Tamer's face.

"Thanks, Jeri."

* * *

"Here?" asked Guilmon. Takato nodded, glancing down at his D-Arc. The arrow on the digivice's compass was pointing directly ahead.

"Looks like. Pretty weird that it has to be this place though."

Guilmon nodded in agreement. Takato's compass was pointing them in a direction that was all too familiar to the both of them. More specifically a place. The area was fenced off, but that did not concern either of them as they got around it the last couple of times they had been there, and the lack of a lock on the door posed no barrier either. Especially now that there was a hole in it.

"It looks like we can get into the tunnels without any trouble," said Takato.

"Big scary tunnel," said Guilmon anxiously. "I knew it. Every time we go down there, something bad happens."

"Well that's true. The first time was when you were taken by that weird digital field thing. The second time we were going off to fight the D-Reaper. Not exactly the best track record I can think of as far as luck goes."

"Mm-mm," Guilmon shook his head in agreement. "And now there's a digimon inside it. I'll bet it's as big as a house like the D-Reaper."

"Guilmon, that's ridiculous. If it was that big we'd see evidence of that."

"What kind of evidence?"

"I don't know. Maybe a giant footprint or something." Takato narrowed his eyes to inspect the hole in the door. "I wonder why no one's bothered to check on this place. Well, we're not doing anything standing out here, that's for sure. Do you think that you can get over okay, Guilmon?"

"Mm-hmm!" Nodding, Guilmon got into a crouch and vaulted into the air, clearing the fence with ease that surprised Takato.

"Well, that answers that question. Now it's my turn." Grabbing hold of the chain link fence, Takato set about climbing up. Before he could get so much as a foot upwards, he felt something flare in the back of his mind, and he nearly dropped off the fence in surprise. Swiveling his head about, his red colored eyes quickly spied Rika and Renamon, standing with the sun behind them, eyeing the pair. "Ah…Rika!"

"Going without me, again?" she asked sarcastically, arching one elegant eyebrow. Hit by sudden déjà vu, Takato half got off the fence.

"Well, my digivice picked up the Wild One and I didn't see a phone nearby, so I thought I'd take care of it while we still had the chance and…" Takato paused and frowned. "Hey! Wouldn't you have gone in there on your own too?"

"Well, I'm guilty on that front," said Rika, smiling at the boy as she headed over to the fence. "Looks like we're both guilty when it comes to taking care of things on our own, right?"

Takato caught the hidden meaning behind her words.

"Rika…I…"

"Let's talk about that later. Right now we've got a Wild One to take out." With that, Rika grabbed hold of the fence and with a grace akin to Renamon's she quickly landed on the other side next to Guilmon. Renamon quickly followed, appearing beside her partner. Rika turned and grinned at Takato. "Well? Come on already, Takato. Let's see what you've got."

Her words aroused a light blush on his face, and Takato quickly climbed over the fence, though with far less grace than Rika did. Still, he managed to land on his feet, and he was more than willing to take whatever blessings he could get.

"Okay," he said, rising. "Let's go."

* * *

"How far is this digimon anyway?" asked Rika in annoyance as she and Takato checked their respective digivices.

"I can't tell. You'd think that by now we would have figured out how to read these things better. I mean, we've had enough practice."

"Hmmph. I haven't seen much evidence of it from you, Takato."

"Hey!"

"Maybe you two should try being silent for a change," suggested Renamon, a hidden smile curving on her muzzle. "If the digimon is indeed here, then your chatter is most likely alerting it."

"That's possible," agreed Rika. "But the thing hasn't moved since we got here though. At least, it doesn't look like it has."

"Maybe it's sleeping on the ceiling?" suggested Guilmon, his eyes already looking up.

"I already checked there, Guilmon," said Renamon. "Do you smell anything?"

"There's definitely a digimon smell down here, but it's really hard to pick out." Guilmon scowled. "It's like it's hiding it somehow."

"Terrific," grumbled Rika. "A digimon that can hide its scent _and_ makes it so we have a hard time just finding it? If it weren't for our digivices we probably wouldn't notice if it was on top of us."

"This is a strange digimon," said Renamon, frowning. "I can't sense it as I normally would. Perhaps we should count our blessings that we were able to detect it at all."

"You know, aren't you guys making a Mega out of a Rookie?" asked Takato. "So far, all that's happened is just a slowing down of construction. No one's been hurt, and nothing seriously important has been damaged. It's more in line with something that Impmon would do when he's pulling a prank."

"Can't argue with logic like that," said Rika, "but we should be on our guard anyway."

"Yes," agreed Renamon. "It doesn't hurt to be _too_ careful when dealing with an unknown."

Guilmon tugged at Takato's sleeve, nodding his agreement with the vulpine digimon.

"I think she's right, Takato. Renamon's always been right before, so why not now?"

A pall of silence hung on the air, following which Rika let out a light chuckle.

"Wow. Déjà vu."

"Huh?" blinked Takato in confusion.

"Guilmon said that the last time we were down here."

"Yeah. And Terriermon said something about me and Renamon sitting in a tree. Takato? What did he mean by that?"

"Ah! Um…ah…n-nothing, Guilmon! Well…it meant something, but I don't really want to talk about that right now. It's…um…embarrassing and…uh…Rika would probably kill me if I explained it."

"Don't let your imagination run too far ahead of you, Gogglehead," chided Rika. "Anyway, let's keep moving and see what we can find. And no weird comments this time, got it?"

Takato again raised an eyebrow in confusion, before realization struck him. Abruptly turning bright red, Takato settled on humming quietly to himself and not saying anything further. After a few minutes, Takato stopped and looked at his digivice. Much to his surprise, the holographic circle flickered, and then vanished all together.

"Hey! Wha…?"

"What just happened?"

Takato turned towards Rika to see that she also experienced the same technical difficulties as he did.

"You too?"

"Yeah. Just cut out all at once." In the dim light of the tunnels, Rika's eyes flashed. "I'd say that makes for pretty solid evidence that it's close by."

"Yeah, but what kind of digimon can interfere with our digivices like this? That just shouldn't be possible."

"You of all people should know that 'impossible' is not a limit for digimon, Takato," reminded Renamon.

"Oh, yeah. Right. Well, at least we still have some light."

Takato looked over at the lights glowing on the curved wall…only to see his hopes crushed as the furthest ones winked off with a light cracking sound, shrouding the far off end of the tunnel in pitch-blackness.

"Aw nuts…"

"Great job, Takato," said Rika sarcastically. "Do things normally break when you're around? Or is that just coincidence?"

Takato ignored the jibe and pulled out a pair of cards, speed and power, for the inevitable conflict. Another light broke and went out, further darkening the hallway.

"Renamon?"

"I don't see anything, Rika."

"Well this is just great," growled the red haired girl, pulling out a card of her own. "All right. Looks like we're going to need some light here. Renamon?" Rika dragged the card through the slot of her D-Arc, quickly pulling it away as she shouted the words that activated its effect.

"DIGI-MODIFY! DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

Nothing happened. Her eyes widening in surprise, Rika looked at her digivice.

"It would appear that the scanning function wasn't the only thing affected," noted Renamon.

"What the heck is this thing?"

Three more lights broke. The darkness was almost on them now. Peering forward, Takato tried to see what could be within the tunnel, but he saw nothing.

"Guilmon. Use a Pyro Sphere."

"Right!" Rearing backwards, Guilmon fired off a blast of crimson fire. It rocketed down the tunnel, illuminating the shadows where it revealed a massive, black colored creature that resembled a tattered sheet. Large fangs glistened as the fireball impacted with its body, and it roared in outrage. The sound was deafening, forcing both Tamers and their digimon to cover their ears with their hands.

"Great plan there, Takato!" exclaimed Rika, trying to be heard over the digimon's roar.

"Oh, come on!" shot back Takato. "It was better than just waiting for it to show up in front of us when we wouldn't have any light left!"

"That's not what I meant." Rika lowered her hands. "I mean it. That was a good plan. We've seen the digimon. It looks like a larger, more viral version of a Bakemon, kind of like what BlackGuilmon was even though he's the same type as Guilmon. This should be a piece of cake."

Takato wanted to agree with Rika on that, having seen the ghost-type digimon defeated numerous times by even humans, but looking at this version, much larger than the standard Bakemon, nearly filling the tunnel with its size. But the fact that their digivices were suddenly inoperable went a long way towards making him think otherwise.

_"Zombie Claw!"_ shouted the dark, ghostly digimon, and a rotten, decayed claw shot out from beneath its tattered sheet body. Rika and Takato dove out of the way while their partners charged forward, deftly evading the oncoming attack.

_"Pyro Sphere!"_ shouted Guilmon while Renamon followed up with _Diamond Storm._ Shards of glowing crystals flew through the air with a crimson fireball. The dark Bakemon, too large to evade the attacks was struck full force by them, and the ghost screamed in pain. Realizing the limitations of its size, the massive ghost broke apart, forming into a dozen of the ghost creatures.

"It was a _Lord Bakemon!"_ exclaimed Takato in realization. "Like from the TV show when a bunch of them merged together! When they were concentrating really hard together, this guy was really powerful!"

"That might explain why your digivices weren't working," said Renamon, landing on the ground and assuming a defensive position. "Their unified will might have been strong enough to interfere with your digivices."

"Then let's test that theory out," said Rika, raising her digivolution card again. "If these guys were able to cause that much trouble merged as one, then their focus must be really broken up now that they're separate."

With that, Rika slashed her evolution card through her D-Arc once again. However, just like last time no light or sparks emerged from her digivice, and no digivolution took place.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me!" shouted Rika angrily.

"Takato," said Guilmon, getting into a crouch as the Bakemon swarm surged towards them. "We need a new plan."

"I'm working on it!"

"Better think _quick!"_ ordered Renamon as she launched at the Bakemon. Flipping through the air, she delivered a brutal kick to the closest one, slamming it into the ground. Rebounding off of its body while still in midair, the vulpine digimon twisted and struck another one, sending it careening into one of its comrades. Without missing a beat, she lashed out with one arm and grabbed an oncoming Bakemon that was sneaking up behind her, hurling it to the ground with ferocious force.

Guilmon was quick to join the battle as he unleashed a barrage of _Pyro Spheres_ into the swarm. Two were struck and quickly deleted, but the rest dodged and rushed the dragon digimon, burying him in a gang pile. Guilmon squirmed and unleashed a _Pyro Sphere_ at point blank range on one of the Bakemons face. The _Pyro Sphere_ detonated with explosive force, deleting the one that had been struck and causing the others to throw themselves back in surprise.

"At least they're weaker on their own," noted Rika. "But we can't keep this up on our own forever. The tunnel isn't a good place for fighting. There's not enough room."

"I know," agreed Takato. "But we can't just leave either. If we do, they might go and find some other place to live, and then we're going to be right back at square one. Except they'll be more careful next time."

"You got an idea on what we're going to do, then?" asked Rika. "Because without our digivices there's not a whole lot that we can do to help out."

Takato closed his eyes, frowning as his mind raced, trying to think of some way that they could turn the tide in their favor. Then, all at once in its own peculiar way, Takato's mind seized on an idea that seemed so crazy that he almost balked at it.

_What? No way! That's…that's so stupid I can't believe that I actually thought of it! Well…actually I can, but…_

"You've got an idea, don't you," said Rika, her voice merely stating a fact, and not asking a question.

"Uh…how did you…? Oh…right."

"Quit stalling! If you've got something then use it!"

"But…it's…it's really stupid…"

"Like that's anything new," Rika snorted. "But last I checked when it comes to you, the stupider the idea the more likely it is to work."

"Um…thanks…I think…"

"Come on! Our partners aren't going to last much longer out there!"

"All right," said Takato. "Just get ready with that digivolve card. Here goes something…"

Takato took a deep breath and cupped his hands around his mouth. His heart was in his chest, beating hard. Without a doubt, this was his most bizarre idea to date, but they were out of options. Sucking in another breath, Takato let loose with every fiber of his being.

_"Bakemon, lose your power! Bakemon, lose your power!"_

"Wha…?" Rika looked at the boy, startled by the realization of what his 'plan' was.

_He can't be serious! He's actually going by the TV show?! That's cr—_

Rika 's thoughts halted as she felt Takato's flimsy confidence in his plan, and she squashed her inhibitions before they could even be filtered through their link. This wasn't any different from the times when Takato got WarGrowlmon going by simply screaming his lungs out.

_Well, so far digimon have shown to be the same as they were in the show, so what the heck..._

_"Bakemon, lose your power!"_ Rika shouted, joining Takato. Takato almost stopped, surprised by her actions, but he quickly resumed, this time his confidence growing. Their voices blended together as they shouted in the tunnels, throwing everything that they were into those fateful words. One moment…two…and nothing seemed to be happening except for the battle continuing to become one-sided for their partners.

Until…

A confused expression appeared over the Bakemon, and they began to float around listlessly, their attacks shooting wide from their marks. Grinning in exuberance, Rika glanced down at her D-Arc to see a light emerge from its screen.

_Show time…_

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Rika shouted, slashing her evolution card in a shower of blue sparks. "DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

"RENAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

* * *

"I can't believe you did that," laughed Rika as they emerged from the tunnel's entrance, victorious from their battle. "No, wait. Why am I even saying that? Of course that'd be something you would do. Your brain goes in such weird directions that it'll think of anything."

"I'm just glad it worked," breathed Takato wearily. "I don't think those would have been good last words if it didn't."

"Got that right," smirked Rika. "But that's one of the things I like about you. You can do something completely dumb like tripping over your own shadow and still somehow come out ahead in a race."

"Actually, I did win a race against Kazu doing that."

Rika stared at her friend, and Takato rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well…he says it doesn't count."

Rika chuckled. "He would, wouldn't he? Anyway, we've got to let Yamaki know what happened so he can check out the tunnels. We didn't pick up any more digimon signals, but considering the number, there may be more down there we don't know about." Rika pulled out her cell phone and frowned. A crack split across its screen. "Terrific. Guess we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Walk."

"That's not a bad thing, is it? I mean, if the company is right…" Takato stopped and flushed. "Um…not that I'm what you'd call the right company right now…"

Rika raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that before a thought occurred to her.

_Right. He and I…we still have things to settle between us. Now's as good a time as any…_

She had been wrestling over what to do about this when the situation inevitably came up for far longer than she cared to count. More than once she wanted to go back, act as though nothing had happened, or go down another path and have nothing more to do with Takato than their link and their comradeship as Tamers. However, when she first saw him and his partner start climbing over the fence to get into the tunnels, her heart had unexpectedly reached out towards him, and she knew then and there that no matter what happened, or had happened, she could not just abandon everything that had happened between them. To do that, she realized, would be to deny what she became since meeting him, and to deny how much he had come to mean to her in the short time that they were friends.

Reaching behind her, she pulled out the object that she had stashed in her back pocket and tossed it to Takato.

"Here."

"Huh?" Takato blinked as a pair of Goggles fell into his hands, and he nearly dropped them in surprise. Finally getting hold of them, he looked at them more carefully. Unlike his old ones, these were rimmed with red, but otherwise they shared the same design and blue lenses. Takato looked up at Rika with a confused expression on his face. "Rika..."

"Call it a 'let's start over' gift, Takato," she said. "Sorry for not talking to you every time you dropped in to see me, and for not being around for every meeting. I've…been doing a lot of thinking."

Takato nodded and his eyes became attentive.

"I'm listening."

"I've been doing a lot of thinking about what happened between us. I have to admit, I'm not really sure where to begin."

"Rika…do you…still…"

"I still like you, Gogglehead. But that's not the reason why I'm giving you those goggles. That's because you're our Gogglehead. As goofy as you look in them, you don't look right without them." Rika paused, letting a brief silence fall between them before she resumed speaking.

"I didn't want to get between you and Jeri," she said. "I'm sorry, Takato."

The boy visibly tensed up at the mention of Jeri, but he nodded.

"It's okay. Actually, you don't know how much it means to me, knowing that I'm…um… _that_ important to you." Takato looked down at his new goggles before looking back up at Rika. "Um...I…Rika…I…um…"

"Takato. I'm not asking you for anything. I…I don't care if you return my feelings or not. So I like you. That's not going to change a thing between us. I'll still think of you as a very close, very important friend, and one that I don't want to lose. I know that I've been dodging you these past few weeks, but I needed to get my head sorted out enough to realize that."

Takato smiled.

"Thanks, Rika. I'm really glad to hear that. Although…"

"Yeah?"

"…I kind of wish that I was good enough for your friendship. I broke our promise after all and…"

Rika interrupted the boy by reaching out and tapping the blue lenses of the goggles in his hands.

"Didn't I tell you that these are a 'starting over' present? Treat this as though we're meeting for the first time. The slate is wiped clean."

_Didn't we fight the first time we met?_ Thought Takato sardonically. Hearing his thoughts, Rika smirked and nodded.

"So we have unfinished business still. Tell you what. After we find a phone and get a hold of Yamaki, I'm going to be heading down to where Henry's martial arts teacher is located. I got the address from him a couple days ago. What do you say? You still want to get stronger together?"

Takato hesitated. He wanted to say yes, but there was something still bugging him.

"How does this settle our…'unfinished business?'"

"My pounding you into the mat is going to settle it," Rika smirked, tapping her fist against Takato's chin. "Got anything to say about it, 'little boy?'"

"Just one. If we're starting over like we're meeting for the first time, are we going to have to introduce ourselves? Like I say I'm 'Takato' and you say you're…"

"Don't get carried away, Gogglehead," chided Rika, turning from him and resuming their trek down the streets. "I meant it metaphorically. Not literally. I'm still going to care about you, and I'm still going to put you on the mat." Rika looked over her shoulder at Takato, and gave him a soft smile. "To be honest though, I wouldn't mind meeting you all over again. I keep learning things about you, Takato, and you're always surprising me. I wonder what I'd learn this time."

As he, Guilmon, and Renamon fell into step beside her, Takato found himself blushing lightly. Returning his gaze to the goggles, Takato tightened his grip carefully around them, as though he were holding onto something incredibly important.

"Rika…thanks."

"No problem."

"You know something?"

"What?"

Strapping the new goggles on his head, Takato met Rika's violet gaze with his crimson ones.

"You're really important to me too."

"Don't be stupid, Gogglehead," she replied, smiling. A smile that was matched by Renamon as she and Guilmon walked beside them.

* * *

The world would change in many ways in the years that would follow, and they would change with it. For the Tamers, their bond would run strong and endure through the rapids of change, fully confident that, come what may, they would face them together.

* * *

_In the digital world…_

Urocyomon lowered the communication device that Yamaki had given him nearly a month ago…his means to 'report in' while he inspected the digital world. With Hypnos down for what was most likely a long duration while they sorted themselves out, they needed eyes and ears out there to inform them of the digital world's condition. Having seen what happened to the digital world while he was on his way out, he felt it would be a good excuse to do just that. The Seer Council, he felt, would benefit from his experience, and he knew that with recent events they would want the human world to be informed of the shifts in the powers of the digital world as the vacuum left by Yggdrasil and the Royal Knights was being filled. Things were going to be quite chaotic in the times to come. Anyone could see that, no matter what rock they happened to live under. The human world was important to the fate of the digital world.

_At least, that's what I've always been taught. The human world gave birth to us. It makes sense that it should be protected. If they go, we go. A symbiosis of worlds, or something like that. At any rate, I just didn't want to go back to the temple. I'm not in a hurry to go about cleaning it up any time soon._

While he waited for Yamaki to get back to him, he spied something shining a short ways off in the distance. Narrowing his eyes at it, Urocyomon reached out with his senses. A second later, he gasped.

_No way… This is…just… No way…_

Sprinting forwards, Urocyomon shifted in and out of view, using his species teleportation powers to cut through the distance as quickly as possible. Finally coming to rest in front of what he sensed, Urocyomon gazed upwards, his eyes widening in amazement.

"Well…well…well…" he breathed, drawing out the timing between each word. "What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

Shining steel glinted in the sunlight of the digital world, obscuring the many cracks that were born upon its surface. In spite of them, the double bladed, azure colored spear of the knights known as Gallantmon and ChaosGallantmon, retained a majesty to it. Reaching out with one paw, Urocyomon caressed the weapon's metallic surface.

"You're a long way from home," he said softly. "The last time I saw you, was at that Chuchidarumon village. Did that massive explosion carry you here? Or was the village just…destroyed?"

No answer came to the silver furred fox digimon, but as he took a closer look, the image of an unconscious boy swirled into view. It manifested for only a second before disappearing. Urocyomon smiled.

_I'd better let the boss man know about this,_ he thought, raising the communication device again. As he did so, something in the reflection cast on the blade caught his eye. Two figures, armored and carrying themselves with regality stood at the crest of a nearby hill, looking out over the horizon at something that seemed to please them. Urocyomon whirled about, but they were gone before he could even sight them, leaving him to wonder if he had seen them at all to begin with.

_Royal Knights?_ He wondered. As before, nothing save the wordless voice of the wind spoke to him. Scratching his head, he returned his attention to the comm. device.

_"From now on, they can be happy…"_

_Huh?_ Urocyomon's head snapped up at the voice, but still he saw nothing. Not even his senses detected so much as a sign of a digimon within his vicinity…well, save for a Dorumon and a Tokomon somewhere at a nearby temple. Slowly, _carefully_ , relaxing, Urocyomon glanced about him before firing off a message to Yamaki about his discovery.

_Looks like we're in for some interesting times ahead,_ he thought to himself. _Very interesting times…_

The end.


End file.
